Week 4- Sarah Jackson - Dream Interpretation

A realization that I came to while listening to Sarah Jackson share on dreams from a biblical perspective was that dreams are more valuable than I thought. Often especially in our western culture we pass them off as something we ate last night or simply something that happened in the day or week before the dream. Mind you it is good to take into account whether you are on medication or what is going on in your heart and life, but also do not through out the possibility that there is more meaning in your dreams than meets the eye. For instance I find that most people can tend to take dreams literal instead of symbolic. This can often happen if you already have a specific desire in your heart.

Another important principle to remember is that using a dream dictionary or a specific method of interpretation is far from fool proof. We all need to realize that we all have unique dream language. A tiger in a dream may mean something different to an Indian from India than a little girl who had a terrifying experience at the zoo. Our dream language is developed over time by the environment and culture we are exposed to. Since God knows us, He knows are dream language and can communicate accordingly. I love that! God intricately knows the desires, thoughts, and meaning of different things in our lives and uses our time of sleep to communicate with us.

Some common reasons for dreams are warnings, directive, destiny, revealing your heart, literal i.e it happens right after you wake up, symbolic, and prophetic. It is important to keep in mind that dreams are like onions and there can be more than one interpretation or layer to anyone one dream. Also before making major life decisions based on a dream it is important to seek confirmation of your interpretation from at least three others and follow the peace of God.

Week 1- Ian Ross: The Father's Heart

The transformation of my heart began with the truth that I am the son that God always wanted. That is the truth not only for me but for any one reading this. You can be the son or daughter that God has always wanted.

Ian shared from the amazing story of the prodigal son. I can picture the father waiting up every night looking down the road for his son to come home. One thing that struck my heart was the fact that the ring given to the son was a signet ring used for final transactions and decisions. This demonstrated that in the very area of failure (wasting his inheritance) is the same area the father chose to trust him in again. The tangible unconditional love of God was present in each session. Every night that week we spent about an hour listening to instrumental music and soaking in God's presence while Ian prayed for each of us to have the truth that we heard in class that day put inside of us.