The first dream I ever had as a deliverance minister, I did not even know I was one yet.
I was walking through a park and saw kids on a playground with their teachers. Something came out of the woods, snatched one of the children, and dragged it back into the trees. Nobody else saw it. So I ran into the woods, and there was a demon trying to eat this child. It lunged at me and jumped on me, and I went into full fight mode. I was boxing it. At one point I had it by the back of the head and was kneeing it in the face, WWF style.
That dream told me exactly where I was with demons and deliverance. Paul says "our struggle is not against flesh and blood" (Ephesians 6:12), and there I was throwing punches, because that was all I knew. Over the next year the Lord used a series of dreams to grow my faith. At first I could not even get the words "in the name of Jesus" out in my sleep. My wife would wake me up because of the noises I was making. Fear had a grip on me. Then I started dreaming that I was casting demons out of myself, and then out of friends and family. The Lord was training me in the night before I ever did deliverance in the daytime.
So if you have been dreaming about demons, I want you to hear this first. You are not crazy, and the dream is not meaningless. Demonic dreams are horrible, but they are also helpful.
Does God really speak in dreams?
Yes. Dreams are not a strange exception in Scripture. They are one of the normal ways God says He speaks. "If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream" (Numbers 12:6). Job says it happens even when we miss it: "For God speaks, the first time in one way, the second time in another, though a person does not perceive it. In a dream, a night vision, when deep sleep falls on people as they sleep in their beds, then he gives a revelation to people" (Job 33:14-16).
Under the new covenant this is not just for prophets. On the day of Pentecost Peter quoted Joel: "your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams" (Acts 2:17).
The Bible is full of it. Jacob saw a stairway between heaven and earth. Joseph dreamed of stars and sheaves, and it cost him everything before it saved everyone. God asked Solomon in a dream, "Tell me what I should give you" (1 Kings 3:5). Joseph, Mary's husband, was told in a dream not to be afraid to take her as his wife. And God is not limited to the mature, the trained, or even the saved. He warned Abimelech, a pagan king, in a dream (Genesis 20:3), and Pilate's wife sent word that she had "suffered greatly as a result of a dream" about Jesus (Matthew 27:19). He speaks in the night to whoever will listen, including people who do not know Him yet.
Every dream means something. The question is who is speaking.
People ask me, "Does my dream even mean anything?" I believe every dream communicates something. The question is never whether it means anything. The question is who is speaking and what it is telling me.
A dream comes from one of three places:
- Your own life. What you ate, what you fear, what you carried all day. "Dreams come when there are many cares" (Ecclesiastes 5:3). We call those pizza dreams. But even a processing dream tells you the truth about what you are carrying, and sometimes it surfaces a root you did not know was down there.
- The enemy. Demons can show up in your dreams, sometimes openly and sometimes in disguise, as something that looks good and then turns.
- The Lord. He speaks, warns, encourages, and gives assignments in the night.
Often the Lord and the processing go hand in hand. He uses what your soul is working through to speak to you about it.
One more thing makes the dream world so valuable: you cannot be fake in a dream. It is raw, unfiltered emotion. That is why learning inner healing has helped my dream interpretation more than anything else. When I dream I am back in my childhood home and something painful happens, I can see what wound or lie that dream is pointing at. If that is new to you, start with What Is Inner Healing?
Why demons target your dreams
Here is something that surprises people. The choices you make in a dream can matter. The enemy tries to take advantage of your raw, sleeping state to get you to come into agreement with him. That is why so many demonic dreams are sexual in nature. They are after agreement, and a lot of people need deliverance after a dream like that because demons take advantage of that space.
If that is you, hear this clearly: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). There is repentance, and then there is forgiveness. You are washed clean by the blood of Jesus. You do not have to carry shame about it. You just have to deal with it.
The good news is that discernment grows. As you become aware of how the enemy works, you will start to sniff it out in the dream itself. You will think, "Wait, this is a demon. Get out of here." Then you can wake up and deal with it.
When a demon keeps chasing you in your dreams
If you have a recurring dream of a demon chasing you or attacking you, most likely you need deliverance. Ongoing attacks in your sleep usually mean there is an assignment that needs to be dealt with, and the Lord is letting you see it.
That is why I say demonic dreams are helpful. When a dream exposes an assignment in my life, my response is, "Gotcha. You laid out your cards. Time to do some business." Read the signs you may need deliverance, and if the dreams keep coming, talk to someone who can pray with you.
Five questions to ask any dream
A dream is revelation without interpretation. It hands you a whole scene with zero explanation. So slow down and ask:
- Is it literal or symbolic? Some dreams are like a memory. Most need interpretation.
- What are the symbols saying? Start with biblical symbols, because Scripture should be your first dictionary. Water, oil, and doves often point to the Holy Spirit. Then contemporary symbols. A car often has to do with what is carrying you or where your life is going, so ask who is driving. Then personal symbols. If your grandmother's kitchen was the safest place in your childhood, that kitchen means something to you that it would not mean to anyone else.
- Who is it for? Most dreams are about you, and people in dreams are often symbols, not the person. A dream about your pastor is probably not God exposing your pastor. He may stand for leadership or covering in your life.
- What is the timeframe? Is it about the past, the present, or something coming?
- Does it pass the test? A dream does not get to skip the tests. "Do not treat prophecies with contempt. But examine all things; hold fast to what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21). Does it sound like Jesus? Does it agree with the Word? Does it build up? Is there peace? Has it been weighed by others?
When God does give you a dream about someone else, it is because He has compassion for them. So pray first, and ask Him for a confirmation before you say anything. I once dreamed I was casting a demon out of a college friend I had not talked to in twenty years. It was specific: depression. After praying about it, I messaged him. He told me he had been struggling with depression, and it encouraged him that the Lord saw him. That is the kindness of the Lord.
Be careful with online dream dictionaries
A lot of people search their dream symbols online. Be careful. Many of the dream dictionaries out there are new age, full of spirit animals and worse. Start with the Bible, then ask what a symbol means to you. If you get stuck on a strange one, ask what characteristics of that thing the Lord might be highlighting.
What to do when you wake up from a demonic dream
- Deal with it right away. Come out of agreement with anything you agreed to in the dream, and tell any spirit attached to it to leave in the name of Jesus. "Submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).
- Write it down. Keep a journal by your bed, or do what I do and use a voice recorder. I step out of the room so I do not wake everybody up, record it, and go back to bed. The more you steward your dreams, the more you remember.
- Ask the five questions. Do not rush it. Sometimes a later dream brings the meaning.
- Bring it to someone. Interpretation is not easy, and you may be too close to your own dream to see it. Share it with a friend who pursues this too.
- If it keeps happening, get help. Recurring attacks are a sign something needs to be dealt with.
Get the free Dream Interpretation handout
I taught all of this as the final session of The Heart of Prophecy at River Church Family. The full teaching is on the class page, along with a free Dream Interpretation handout: the five questions to ask a dream, a dream journal page you can start tonight, and a reading list for further study.
And if your dreams are telling you something needs to be dealt with, we offer Freedom Sessions, free and donation based, in the Kansas City area and online. You can request one here.