Understanding the Dreams you Dream Volume
II
E v e ry Dreamer’s Handbook
Ira L. Milligan
Revised Edition © Copyright 2000—Ira L. Milligan Previously released as Every Dreamer’s Handbook, Destiny Image, Inc.. All rights reserved. This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. The use of short quotations or occasional page copying for personal or group study is permitted and encouraged. Permission will be granted upon request. Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible. Scriptures marked NKJ are taken from the New King James Version. Emphasis within Scripture is the author’s own. Please note that Destiny Image’s publishing style capitalizes certain pronouns in Scripture that refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and may differ from some Bible publishers’ styles. Take note that the name satan and related names are not capitalized. We choose not to acknowledge him, even to the point of violating grammatical rules. The word Church is capitalized when it refers to the universal Church, including the whole Body of Christ. When referring to a local body of believers, the word church is not capitalized. Similarly, the Kingdom of God is capitalized, but man’s kingdom is not. All references to Greek word definitions are from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990. The meanings of biblical names are taken from A Dictionary of Scripture Proper Names by J.B. Jackson, Loizeaux Brothers, 1909. Common names are taken from The Name Book by Dorothea Austin, Bethany House Publishers, 1982, 1987.
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Destiny Image® Publishers, Inc. P.O. Box 310 Shippensburg, PA 17257-0310 “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Matthew 6:21 ISBN 0-7684-3030-5 (Previously published under ISBN 0-7392-0207-3 by Servant Ministries, Inc.) For Worldwide Distribution Printed in the U.S.A. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 / 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 This book and all other Destiny Image, Revival Press, MercyPlace, Fresh Bread, Destiny Image Fiction, and Treasure House books are available at Christian bookstores and distributors worldwide. For a U.S. bookstore nearest you, call 1-800-722-6774. For more information on foreign distributors, call 717-532-3040. Or reach us on the Internet: www.destinyimage.com
Dedication This book is dedicated to my brother Alvin, who first provoked my interest in writing. Some revelations in this book were given directly to him by his loving, heavenly Father, and passed on to me in one of our many discussions about the Word of God.
Acknowledgments I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to those precious saints of God who have supported my wife and me with their prayers and substance, allowing us to give ourselves wholly to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. Without them, this book would not exist. I am eternally grateful for them. I’m especially indebted to Vicki Camp and Jimmy Skinner for their help in proofreading the manuscript. I would also like to thank each dreamer who sent their dreams and gave me permission to use them. Their contributions have greatly enriched this book.
Contents Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . One The Dreamer’s Dilemma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Two Bible Numerology 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Three Multiplied Multiples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Four Numbers to Live By. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Five Attractive Opposites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Six Simple Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Seven Coloring Within the Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . Eight Homing in On God’s Will. . . . . . . . . . . . . Nine All Creatures Great and Small . . . . . . . . . Ten Various Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eleven That’s All, Folks! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Twelve Well, Almost All… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thirteen Questions, Anyone?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ix 1 5 15 27 35 43 51 69 87 107 117 133 141
Introduction
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REAMS REMAIN ONE OF THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL SUBJECTS in the church today. Some people simply say, “I never dream.” Others emphatically state, “I never pay attention to dreams. They’re nonsense. They come from eating too much pizza.” Yet others seem to obtain valuable insight from meditating upon their dreams. They claim dreams are a dependable source of guidance and information for their lives. Which group is right? Should we pay attention to dreams, or simply ignore them as just so much junk mail? The Bible gives us a direct answer to this question: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh: and…your old men shall dream dreams” (Acts 2:17). That’s God’s promise—and by the way, one does not have to be an old man to dream. Young men dream too! God is talking about our “old man,” as in our carnal nature. At the present time, He is indiscriminately pouring out His Spirit upon young and old alike. He uses dreams to encourage His children and direct them in their walk with Him, and He uses them to warn sinners to repent. The Scriptures contain numerous dreams; if they were removed, a large portion of the Bible would be missing. Without them, a large measure of God’s guidance for the Church is also missing (including personal instructions for every individual). Everyone has the ability to dream, so no one should be without God’s personal guidance. God has used dreams to communicate
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Understanding the Dreams You Dream Volume 2
with His people from the beginning. He doesn’t change, so He has not changed, and will not change the way He speaks to us. Although dreams are only one of the many ways that He speaks, they are certainly a legitimate source of divine information and knowledge. Dreams are elusive. Everyone has them, but they’re like the morning fog; they quickly evaporate. If we do not make a deliberate effort to capture them, they simply vanish. By the time we get our morning coffee, they’re usually forgotten. Very few are vivid enough to automatically burn themselves into our consciousness. For those who don’t seem to dream at all, my advice is first ask God for dreams, and then pay close attention each morning for His answer. I met one man who claimed he didn’t dream; but after asking for dreams, he received ten in just three weeks. In the Bible, James said we receive not because we ask not, and Paul admonished us to seek God’s gifts (see Jas. 4:2; 1 Cor. 14:1). Dreams are indeed a gift from God. They are one of His ways of imparting a “word of wisdom” and a “word of knowledge” to us (see 1 Cor. 12:8). In addition to wisdom and knowledge, some dreams are prophetic—inspired by and received directly from the spirit of prophecy. These messages should be considered as “thus saith the Lord.” We should no more ignore our dreams than our mail. Certainly all of our mail is not valuable, but wouldn’t it be foolish to throw it all out unopened just because in the past some of it proved to be junk mail? Sometimes, dream interpretation can be heavy stuff, so I’ve written this book in a conversational style interlaced with a little humor to lighten it up a bit. I have already covered the basic rules for proper dream interpretation in my previous book, Understanding the Dreams You Dream, including a comprehensive symbol dictionary. This book complements the former book’s dictionary by teaching the language of dreams. It reveals much more than just what symbols mean; it also explains why they mean what they mean. I trust that God will be glorified and the reader blessed by the information contained herein. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!
Chapter One
The Dreamer’s Dilemma
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that you won the lottery, but after waking, you couldn’t remember the winning numbers? Frustrating! Equally frustrating is dreaming of looking for a specific house or room number, and although you wake up remembering the number, you have no idea what it means. Have you ever dreamed of getting on an elevator and going to the ninth floor? This may mean good things are ahead. But if you’ve dreamed of getting off on the tenth floor, it could be bad news! Although numbers are rather common in dreams, most books about dreams just ignore them. This one doesn’t. Chapters Two through Six provide an in-depth study on numbers, while the remaining chapters focus on the meanings of colors, locations, animals, vehicles, metal, trades, and several other categories. This book concludes listing important rules to follow when interpreting dreams and some commonly asked questions. AVE YOU EVER DREAMED
A Number of Ways to Interpret Symbols ANY DREAM SYMBOLS are relatively easy to interpret because they have a limited number of applications. For instance, an apple in a dream can represent sin, as when Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, or it can portray appreciation, as when a child gives an apple to his teacher. A sour apple may refer to a person with a bad disposition, and a big apple may even represent New York City, because it’s well known as “The Big Apple.”
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Understanding the Dreams You Dream Volume 2
Dreaming about a basket of apples may signify that one is fruitful, bringing forth “the fruit of the Spirit,” or the apples may refer to wise counsel, as in Proverbs 25:11: “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” Dreaming of a rotten apple may mean that one is keeping bad company, as in, “One rotten apple spoils the whole barrel,” or dreaming about stealing a bright red apple may refer to one’s natural passion for forbidden fruit. But there’s certainly a limit to the various possible meanings an apple can convey; however, this limitation does not apply to numbers, the subject we will first examine in this book. Numbers are virtually unlimited in their applications. They can mean almost anything. It is not uncommon for dreams to include numbers within their content. Numbers are the very highest form of symbolism; therefore, their meanings are seldom understood. The number one has the potential of meaning anything from one person to one city to one nation to one universe! It has an unlimited number of meanings, or at least as many as there are things in existence! Because there are endless meanings for every number, of necessity everyone must use a common reference before numbers can be considered useful in dreams. God has provided just such a reference tool for us—the Bible. But before discussing the actual meanings of individual numbers, we need to examine how symbols obtain their various meanings in the first place. How Symbols Acquire Their Meanings HERE ARE FOUR PRIMARY WAYS that symbols acquire specific meanings. One, and probably the most common way, is by the symbol’s inherent character. Because a symbol’s basic characteristics are the same the world over, this is sometimes referred to as a symbol’s universal meaning. For instance, in the Bible, God used innocent lambs to represent His children, and merciless wolves to describe their enemies. The descriptive nature, or character, of these two animals clearly illustrates what they’re depicting. Another example is the inherent characteristics of a motorcyclist. Motorcyclists often symbolize pride and rebellion because of the attitude many of them exhibit. Individuality, or even loner, are other possible meanings, because cycles are usually ridden alone. Besides the
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rider’s attitude, two characteristics of the machine itself are speed and agility. Noise is another. When one dreams of a motorcycle, the dream’s content usually indicates which meaning applies. Another way a symbol may obtain a specific meaning is through a dreamer’s personal experience. An object, animal, person, color, or location may mean something to one person that would not mean the same to another. If you’ve ever ridden a motorcycle and had an accident, motorcycles may mean sudden calamity to you! Another, more probable example is your pet dog or cat; either one may denote something precious to you because of your love for it. In another case, someone unfamiliar with your childhood home or toys would not see them the same way that you do. The Bible has an interesting precedent for personal experience influencing spiritual perception: And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof (Genesis 2:19). In other words, God speaks our language. Often the way we perceive something carries over into our dreams, even when our perception is less than perfect. A third way symbols acquire meaning is through society. Our culture may influence our perception of certain symbols and give them special meaning. If someone says that a disgruntled employee “has gone postal,” most Americans know exactly what he means. But say that to an assembly in East Africa and your interpreter will peer at you sideways with a funny look on his face! Likewise, there are several sayings and parables in the Bible that people from Western societies find difficult to interpret. Occasionally, even colloquialisms are used in Scripture. If one is unaware of a certain Jewish saying, he could get the wrong impression of Jesus when reading the following Scripture passage: And [Jesus] said unto another, Follow Me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God (Luke 9:59-60, emphasis added).
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Understanding the Dreams You Dream Volume 2
Although it sounds like Jesus was being incredibly hard, that is not the case. The man’s father was still alive. When the man said, “Suffer me first to go and bury my father,” he actually meant, “Wait until after my father dies and I get my inheritance, then I’ll follow You.” Jesus was directly addressing this man’s covetousness. He challenged him to forsake his inheritance and take up his cross. If you are trying to help someone interpret a dream and you’re unaware of his cultural perception of a symbol used in it, there’s no possible way that you can offer him a correct interpretation. On the other hand, some symbols first acquire meaning in one culture and later become accepted all over the world. A prime example is a red cross. Although it has no inherent character of its own, it has come to mean medical aid to all nations. And last (and by far the most important when dealing especially with numbers), a symbol acquires meaning by the way it is used in Scripture. By studying the various ways numbers and other objects are used in the Bible, we can see exactly what they mean in our dreams. For numbers, there’s no other dependable source of information available. When a dream is from God (and many are), we can always depend upon the “more sure word of prophecy” to show us exactly what He means, because God does not change.