Bad Dreams

Where do dreams come from? I'm not so much interested in where GOOD dreams come from, just the bad ones. I'd like to know where bad dreams come from so I could go there and shut the door!

I don't have many bad dreams anymore, since allowing Christ into my life, but they still happen. That must mean something.

Maybe it's just my already-ancient mind getting older still but I don't think so. I have a theory. See what you think.

I am currently reading through the Book of Jeremiah. Chapters 39-42 specifically. God had used the prophet Jeremiah to warn His people in earlier chapters about their disobedience. They refused to listen, so Israel was about to receive its punishment.

God instructed those who wanted to escape punishment to follow His instructions and turn themselves over to the enemy. They would live, He told them, in servitude for 70 years, but they would live. If they chose to stay and fight the enemy however, they would die by the sword.

There is a simple message in those chapters - obey the Lord and live, disobey and die. So, what does that have to do with dreams? There are good dreams and then there are bad ones. If dreams are birthed somewhere deep in our minds, what controls the content of those dreams?

I have heard that some Muslims are coming to faith in Jesus through dreams. What a joyous dream that must have been! Could our bad dreams be some kind of warning? Are we being totally disobedient to God in our lives and that is what warrants our bad dreams? Or maybe God is seeking us, like He did with the Muslims. Could He be seeking a closer relationship with us than the one we currently have with Him?

I woke up from my bad dream this morning thinking that I need to walk more closely with God. I need to follow His commands in my life, not what the world tells me to do. Following Jesus will not stop our sin, but it should. I think stopping the sin part is up to us. God gave us free will. Are we using that free will to follow God, or to follow "our dreams"?

There is only one answer that leads to life . . . that leads to GOOD dreams, not bad - and that is to trust in the Lord, with all our hearts & souls, all of our mind and strength. Only then will we have peace in the land that God promised. Only then will good dreams replace the bad.

^"10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” - Jeremiah 29:10-14

Trust in the Lord. Follow Him in all of your ways. He had promised to give us peace. We must repent of our sins, placing our hope and trust in Jesus. Then, and only then, will the bad dreams lessen and the good dreams abound.

All I Have To Do Is Dream - The Everly Brothers
Dreams - Fleetwood Mac