Ira Milligan - The Ultimate Guide to Understanding the Dreams You Dream: Biblical Keys for Hearing Gods Voice in the Night

Books by Ira L. Milligan

The Scorpion Within
Rightly Dividing the Word

Available From Destiny Image Publishers

Copyright 2012Ira L. Milligan

All rights reserved. This book is protected by 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 taken from the King James Version. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture marked NIV are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Emphasis within Scripture quotations is the authors own. Please note that Destiny Images publishing style capitalizes certain pronouns in Scripture that refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and may differ from some 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.

DESTINY IMAGE PUBLISHERS, INC.

P.O. Box 310, Shippensburg, PA 17257-0310

Promoting Inspired Lives.

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.

Reach us on the Internet: www.destinyimage.com.

ISBN 13 TP: 978-0-7684-4107-9

ISBN 13 Ebook: 978-0-7684-8859-3

For Worldwide Distribution, Printed in the U.S.A.

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.

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. Im especially indebted to Vicki Camp and Jimmy Skinner for their help in proofreading the manuscript. I would also like to thank all of the dreamers who sent their dreams and gave me permission to use them. Their contributions have greatly enriched this book.

All references to Greek or Hebrew word definitions, with the exception of proper names, are from Strongs Exhaustive Concordance , James Strong, LL.D S.T.D. 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. Bold print, italics, and capital letters are used throughout for clarity of expression and for emphasis. They are sometimes used in the quotation of Scriptures for the same reasons. Comments within brackets are inserted by the author into many Scriptures to clarify and explain use in relation to the symbols under which they are listed.

Part I
Dreams: Gods Primary Means
of Communication

Part II
Key Word Dictionary of Dream Symbols
With Scriptural Illustrations

The first publication of Understanding the Dreams You Dream was barely complete when I began receiving requests for more detailed information on the subject. From these requests, The Ultimate Guide to Understanding the Dreams You Dream was compiled and now published. It is not surprising that the first edition received such a response; almost everyone who obtains even a little knowledge of this subject immediately desires more. My own intense hunger for an understanding of dream interpretation was awakened when the Lord answered one of my Bible study questions with a dream. After that first experience came an earnest study of Gods Word concerning dreams, and from that came a better understanding of how to interpret them. (An account of that first dream and its interpretation can be found in the Introduction.)

From the beginning, I have approached dream interpretation from a biblical standpoint, so I have used both the Bible and my experience as a Christian and minister in the writing of this book. Therefore, at the onset, I would like to clearly state that every dream is not from God .

The Scriptures declare, For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fools voice is known by multitude of words (Eccles. 5:3). In this verse, a fools voice is equated to an idle dream; and as we know, Gods voice is certainly not that of a fool. Also, there are other Scriptures that speak of dreams in a negative context. This is why I feel that a word of caution is necessary when advising people to pay attention to their dreams.

As humans, we tend to err to extremes. We tend to believe either that dreams are just so much nonsense, coming from eating too much, or that all dreams are important and that every symbol has a meaning. Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 is a caution against just such extremes, both in word and in dreams. My personal experience has been that most dreams are indeed meaningful and helpful, although not all.

Having said that, I must also quickly add that I have found that most dreams are from God. As such, they are an accurate reflection of our individual situations. But they are symbolic. Because dreams are symbolic, they appear meaningless. If, in an attempt to understand them individuals try to consult one or more of the books available on this subject today, they will often be left mystified.

The primary obstacle most dreamers must overcome to be able to understand their dreams is symbolism. To solve this problem, most authors instruct their readers to meditate on their dreams, which is good advice, yet it is simply not adequate. These authors usually provide the reader with some examples of what their own dreams have meant to them, but even though personal examples are both interesting and informative, they are quite limited in their application.

It is certainly true that through meditation much can be understood about our dreams; but I have found that when most Christians are told to meditate on their dreams, they do not have the foggiest notion of where to begin. Consequently, I have approached this problem three different ways: 1) specific, detailed directions on how and upon what to meditate; 2) personal examples of dreams from my own experience; and 3) a practical dictionary of symbol definitions.

It has been my experience that it is better to give students a place to begin meditating rather than to simply tell them to meditatehence the symbol dictionary. I have found that a symbol dictionary enables most Christians to begin discerning Gods voice immediately.

Additionally, I have attempted to present in this book both normal and the not-so-normal dream situations. To apply only one type of dream interpretation to all dreams is to be as inflexible as restricting each symbol to only one possible definition. For instance, because all dreams are not parables, an attempt to apply parabolic interpretation to a dream that is not a parable is an exercise in futility.

As with the first edition, my primary purpose for writing this book is to guide you safely through the complex world of dreams. There are several good books that explain why our Western society has traditionally ignored or rejected the information contained in dreams. I have not, therefore, attempted to cover the history of dreams. (For background study, I recommend Dreams: Wisdom Within by Herman Riffel, Destiny Image Publishers, 1990.) However, in contrast, there has been little published on the subject of how to interpret dreams from a Christian perspective. Consequently, I have written solely to satisfy this need. It is my prayer that this book will add to your understanding and enjoyment of Gods most common method of communication.