Dream Interpretation: What Your Dreams Could Be Telling You

Curated insights from Awaken the Dreamscape by Jennifer Eivaz

Dream interpretation is the practice of discerning what God may be saying through the symbols of a dream. Most dreams are not literal. They arrive as metaphors, so the work is to identify who the dream is about, whether it is good or bad, what its source is, what its main points are, and what area of life it addresses. 

Scripture presents visions and dreams as one of the most common ways God communicated His will to people, not as random noise from a sleeping brain. The difficulty is that the language is mostly pictures. 

The biblical setting for dreams 

The conviction that ordinary believers can receive and read dreams traces back to the prophet Joel and the day of Pentecost. Joel foresaw a time when God would no longer restrict His prophetic voice to a handful of prophets: “I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh . . . your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions” (Joel 2:28, NKJV). In Awaken the Dreamscape, prophet Jennifer Eivaz notes that when the Spirit was poured out in Acts 2, the apostle Peter stood and declared Joel’s words fulfilled, and a new order emerged in which any believer could have visions and dreams. The detail that the young see visions while the old dream dreams, she observes, points to the maturity needed to read dream language, because dreams are the richer and more complex of the two. 

What dream interpretation is, and what it is not 

Dream interpretation is a learned process, not a quick guess about a symbol’s meaning. Eivaz is candid that her own early attempt to interpret a dream by offering her best opinion failed, which pushed her into a year of study. A specific process undergirds Spirit-led interpretation, she writes, one that has to be studied, developed, and practiced over time. 

The reason a process is needed is that dreams are usually symbolic. As Eivaz puts it, “These dreams are not literal but a mixture of symbols deposited into your dreams by the Holy Spirit that hold meaning and direction for your life”. That is also why a one-size dream dictionary fails. Context governs meaning: “Symbols in the dream do not stand alone, as their meanings will shift depending on the entire backdrop or context of the dream”. The same object can mean different things in different dreams. 

Visions and dreams are a separate language 

Understanding dream interpretation starts with seeing dreams as a distinct form of God’s picture language. Eivaz writes that “Visions and dreams are both the picture language of God, but they do have distinct differences”. The differences are practical: 

	Visions	Dreams
When they occur	Primarily during waking hours, though night visions exist	While sleeping
Complexity	Typically, the simpler and more comprehensible language	Typically, the richer and more complex language of the two
How they read	Often understood directly	Usually symbolic and in need of interpretation

This is why a believer can grasp a vision almost instantly yet feel lost in a dream full of scenes, numbers, colors, and people. 

The building blocks for dream interpretation 

Eivaz organizes biblical dream interpretation around a set of building blocks, a sequence of questions she applies to real dreams readers send her. Worked all the way through on a single dream, the method moves in this order: 

1. Who is the dream about? Usually the dreamer. “Most of the time, the dream is about you, even if other people are somehow involved in the dream”. The people who appear often represent an area of your life. 

2. Is it a good or a bad dream? Some dreams bring peace and encouragement; others steal peace and need a response. 

3. What is the source? Eivaz names three: God, Satan, or your flesh or soul. “Dreams from God are usually lifting, healing, peaceful, prophetic, or problem-solving”, discerned by theme and tone rather than by color alone. 

4. What are the main points? Long dreams carry more detail than you can interpret. Note only the main points and set the rest aside, the way Jesus scaled His parables down to a simple explanation. 

5. What area of your life is it about? Ministry, family, relationships, work, healing, or your walk with God. Naming the area moves the interpretation forward. 

6. Does the dream repeat? “When our good or bad dreams repeat, it’s a signal to pay attention”. Eivaz gives four considerations for a repeating dream: something needs to be addressed, something is going to change, Satan is attempting to establish something wicked, or God is initiating and establishing a blessing. 

Run in sequence, these questions turn a confusing night narrative into a readable message. Eivaz demonstrates the whole sequence on a reader’s dream about a storage unit being emptied, arriving at a picture of a heart being cleared out for a fresh work of the Spirit. 

Why God speaks in symbols, and how to respond 

If dreams carry real meaning, the natural question is why God would hide it inside symbols at all. Eivaz answers from Scripture. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8–9, NKJV), so dreams let Him bypass our assumptions and reach us with plans we might otherwise reject. Searching out the meaning is treated as a dignity, not a burden: “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter” (Proverbs 25:2, NKJV). 

The practical response is simple. Write the dream down, note its main points, and bring it to God in prayer. As Eivaz frames it, many dreams are a gift, “but a gift needs to be unwrapped and examined to see the treasure inside”. And because God weaves His intentions into the night, dream interpretation often surfaces direction that aligns with His larger promise, that His plans are “for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11, NLT). 

Frequently asked questions 

What does it mean when you have a dream? 

Most dreams carry meaning, but that meaning is usually symbolic rather than literal. The dream is most often about the dreamer, and the people, places, and objects in it stand for areas of life that God is addressing. 

How do you know if a dream is from God? 

A dream from God is usually lifting, healing, peaceful, prophetic, or problem-solving in its overall tone and themes. The other two common sources are spiritual attack and your own thoughts or emotions, so the source is discerned by the dream’s tone and fruit rather than by its brightness or color. 

Why do I keep having the same dream? 

A recurring dream is a signal to pay attention. Repetition can mean something needs to be addressed, something is about to change, or God is establishing a blessing, and in each case it calls for prayer and a response. 

Can anyone interpret dreams, or only prophets? 

Any believer can learn to interpret their own dreams. Scripture says the Spirit was poured out so that ordinary believers, not only prophets, would dream dreams and see visions, though accurate interpretation takes study and practice. 

This article was drafted with an AI research tool and reviewed and verified against the source manuscript by Joyce Perez, Marketing Manager.