How to Cope with Nightmares

And Unwanted Dreams

Christian help, peace, healing and encouragement when bad dreams disturb your sleep

Every Christian knows that in the Bible God spoke to many people through dreams, many of which needed divine interpretation. But what about nightmares, wet dreams, or downright sinful dreams? Can they be avoided? How does a Christian cope with them?

What makes unwanted dreams particularly upsetting and frustrating is that we seem to have no control over them. Is there a way to regain control? Can unpleasant or even demonically inspired dreams be turned into something good? Can we not only be healed from the upsetting aspect of unpleasant dreams but actually be healed of deep hurts and find greater wholeness because of such dreams? Can dreams that tempt us end up making us spiritually stronger? Could nightmares turn out to be a precious blessing for which we will be forever grateful? These are some of the issues you and I will explore in this webpage.

Where Do Upsetting Dreams Come From? If you have disturbing dreams, you are by no means alone. In fact, although they do not all warrant the term nightmare, unpleasant dreams are so common that many modern studies show that about three-fourths of dreams involve negative emotions.

If you suffer from headaches, you want relief, not a webpage of facts about headaches. Likewise, if you suffer from unpleasant dreams, you want relief, so this webpage is highly practical and focuses on bringing the relief you crave. To treat headaches, however, it is critical to identify the exact source of the headaches. Treatment will vary greatly depending on whether the source of the headache is a brain tumour, eyestrain, a neck problem, or something. Likewise, to treat unpleasant dreams we must identify the source of those dreams.

Note: While retaining confidentiality, I won’t hide anything relevant that I’ve come across in my many years of people unburdening themselves to me. I will trust your ability to seek God and discover from him whether anyone else’s experience is relevant to you, or whether it is as off the planet as it initially seems. If you are unable to hear directly from the One who knows everything because you don’t have a true relationship with God, please read What Your Fantasies Reveal http://www.net-burst.net/love/love.htm immediately. From God?

One Christian who claims to be an expert on dream interpretation insists that every single dream – no exceptions – is from God. Until I heard him say that, I had highly regarded this man’s spiritual discernment. Shocked by his emphatic claim, I thought much about it, but I cannot agree with his assessment. However, there was a time when I took a position on the opposite extreme. And I was wrong.

I once used to naively assume that no dream that is upsetting, disturbing or frightening could be from God. I now confess that this presumption is so thoroughly unbiblical that I am staggered that I ever fell for it. If for spiritual understanding I could rely on what to me seems like common sense, God would have left us a much slimmer Bible. Human dependence upon biblical revelation is profound. As Proverbs 3:5-7 warns, it is critical that I not think myself smart and trust my own understanding. Here’s blatant biblical proof that divinely inspired dreams can be highly upsetting:

Job 33:14-16 For God does speak – now one way, now another – though man may not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds, he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings (Emphasis mine.) We also read:

Genesis 15:12-13 . . . Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the LORD said to him . . . (Emphasis mine.)

After Pharaoh’s dreams, “his mind was troubled” (Genesis 41:8). Likewise, after Nebuchadnezzar’s divinely inspired dreams, “his mind was troubled and he could not sleep (Daniel 2:1). He later had another God-given dream of which he wrote:

Daniel 4:5 I had a dream that made me afraid. . . the images and visions that passed through my mind terrified me. Daniel had a similar experience:

Daniel 7:1,7,15 . . . Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying on his bed. . . . in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast – terrifying and frightening and very powerful. . . . I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me.

Gideon overheard a pagan soldier describing a dream he had just had, which his fellow soldier correctly interpreted as meaning that their entire army would be crushed by Israel (Judges 7:13-15). Try telling me that wouldn’t be disturbing!

A search for biblical dreams that disturbed the dreamer, however, takes us far beyond such obvious instances. In fact, it is hard to find in the Bible any divinely-given dream that did not have an upsetting element. For example, Mary’s husband was told in a dream that they had to completely disrupt their lives and move to Egypt. Moreover, he was told in the dream that people were seeking to kill his son. That revelation would hardly fill him with joy.

If ever there were a positive dream, it was Joseph’s in the Old Testament in which he was told that his entire family would bow down to him, but even then the results were exceedingly disturbing. His dreams provoked a rebuke from his father and hatred in his brothers. As a direct result of those dreams he ended up kidnapped and sold into slavery (Genesis 37:5-28). So it is wrong to dismiss a dream as not being of God, solely on the basis that it disturbs us.

A woman has kindly shared her experience to demonstrate how God could be in a nightmare:

For months I had a recurring nightmare. Every night I would dream that I was walking down a very steep and slippery ramp through a pitch-dark passageway. I grabbed the ramp’s railing to steady myself but it was so wet and slippery that I couldn’t hold on. I was chilled to the bone and apprehensive and confused. Suddenly I could sense a presence behind me. I could see nothing, but I knew it was there. I was so terrified I could neither scream nor run. I cringed, expecting the worst. Then I was stabbed in the back. Amazingly, the stab never hurt, and there was never any blood. After suffering the dream over and over I finally begged God to take the dream away. It was then that he impressed upon my heart the surprising interpretation. At that time in my life I was participating in gossip, saying very hurtful things about someone behind her back (thus the backstabbing in my dream). However, since we prayed for this person after each gossip-fest, I felt I was doing no harm to her or me (hence no pain or blood in my dream). Upon the Lord revealing this, I immediately repented of my gossip, and the nightmare never returned. Another woman shares another example of what, on the surface, would hardly seem a dream from God:

For years I was ashamed and horrified by recurring dreams in which I was abusing a baby almost to the point of death. In the dream I felt no pity for her; only fear that I would be caught. I suffered abuse as a child and would never act that way in real life. I raised three beautiful children without a thought remotely close to abuse. But the Lord showed me that I was the baby. That made perfect sense. I truly hated myself. As I continued with therapy (it was so wonderful to share things and have someone believe me!) my inner healing progressed, and the dreams slowly showed me having compassion and even love towards the baby in the dream. In the last of the dreams I had full compassion and love for the baby and no intent at all to harm her. I now haven’t had such a dream for at least nine months. .

Next Part Repressed Memories?