Do you ever have nightmares?

[Equipped_4_Love]

Hey, you guys;

Last night, I had a rather disturbing dream, and it really frightened me, because it was as though I had literally seen the presence of evil -- The whole dream was creepy, but I remember one specific moment where I was absolutely terrified, and it was weird.

So, then, I guess I would consider it a nightmare. Do any of you experience nightmares still? If so, do you think that they happen when your walk with God is starting to drift? For the last couple of days, my prayer life has been a bit weak, and it's almost like I feel myself drifting -- then I have this weird dream. Haven't been that terrified of a dream in ages.

What's your take?!

[livingwaters]

Hmmm....not sure, but it's possible that satan is trying to edge in...he knows what buttons to push. Get back to what works...prayer!!!

God Bless

[Equipped_4_Love]

Amen to that!!! I know I need to continue strong in my prayer life, but I have just had so many distractions lately, although I know that's no excuse. I've felt God's conviction very strong..I know He is not pleased with my lack of prayer at this point.

Anyhow, about the dream -- Ya, it was strange. I was looking at houses to buy, and the neighborhood I was in was very dismal. I just remember there being a very depressive atmosphere about it. I remember looking at one house, and someone else was telling me that the house across from me, that something demonic had happened there, but then I remembered that it was the house I had lived in before.

I was told it was empty, and so I went to look at it, just out of curiosity, and I remember peeking in, and at that moment, a very bright light consumed the room. There was blood on the walls, like something violent had gone on there, and there was a table in the room, with 3 kids sitting at it, and what appeared to be a dead child (or a doll, couldn't tell) on the table, and there was a very bright light in the room -- and it was as though the light was evil. It was very strange.

Anyhow, now that you know the gist of it -- Well, I'm not one to attribute all of my bad dreams to Satan, but it was just weird how intensely terrified I was in that moment of the dream. Honestly, it was so frightening, I felt stiff.....and I remember wanting to wake up, but I couldn't.

[SweetSomber]

I've had nightmares off and on for years and years.

It has no correlation to my walk with the Lord, but rather to the horror I've seen in life.

Like, even last night I had a nightmare, and this lady was verbally abusing me, and then starting to physically attack me by spraying harmful chemicals at me, and I started to pray out loud (in my dream) that God would protect me from her, and from the chemicals, and then she left.

Other times, I'll have dealing with people who are, or have been, REALLY hurt, and I'll have nightmares about an adult promising to protect a child, and then later in the dream cutting off the kid's hand. It's because I feel the pain of others.

[stillforgiven]

I've been a vivid dreamer my whole life, including nightmares and disturbing dreams. Some dreams are obviously spiritual (good and bad), but most are just dreams, (good and bad). I've never noticed a difference in them as my spiritual life changed, even when I was at my closest to God.

[BrckBrln]

I think I was tormented by demons when I was young. I always had one particular type of nightmare which I don't even know how to describe. I just remember being in some room and getting a feeling that somebody, or something very evil, was about to come into the room, and I would get this very strange feeling and I would always yell and my mom would come and wake me. Sometimes, though, I would try to yell but no sound would come out. I can't tell you how scary these dreams were.

Also, I would even see things out of the corner of my eye when I was awake. Things like cartoon ghosts like Casper and whatnot. I know this sounds funny but it was crazy terrifying.

[Equipped_4_Love]

I've been a vivid dreamer my whole life, including nightmares and disturbing dreams. Some dreams are obviously spiritual (good and bad), but most are just dreams, (good and bad). I've never noticed a difference in them as my spiritual life changed, even when I was at my closest to God.

Thanks for responding. It is certainly possible that it was just coincidence...that it has nothing to do with my prayer life, or my nearness to God. I just don't know. Perhaps it was just bad timing.

The weird thing about this dream, was the fact that this dream seemed interconnected to other dreams that I've had. The neighborhood, well, it's been in other dreams that I've had, and in all of these dreams, there was a real feeling of lethargy and depression.....as though just being in that neighborhood brought me down -- and there are 2 or 3 particular houses that keep popping up, where there seems to be a real darkness inside, and they are always vacant.

It's just strange, and I always feel like God is completely distant during those dreams.....almost like hell would feel -- sort of like I felt inside before I came to the Lord. Last night was the first time I'd actually felt terrified, though. I don't know -- I just think my mind is fixated on this neighborhood, somehow, which is strange, because I don't even think this neighborhood exists...It's just all part of dreamland, you know?!

[chad]

It's funny that you should mention that. This morning I had a nightmare type dream which woke me up at 5am this Morning. (Yes 5am, I was not happy, as I had to work today).

The dream lasted about 10 seconds. In the dream, I was awake in my room, and I heard someone trying to get into the Window. I didn't have time to see who it was when a female came through my window and I was pulling her in the window. She being chased by a male who meant to hurt her or was going to do something to her. I could sense the evil in this male.

I woke up out of the dream and couldn't get back to sleep. About 5 minutes later, I heard the window in my room jolt as if someone had tried to open it. I got out of bed and sure enough the window handle had jolted out of place.

I looked out of my window and saw a person trying to hide at the neighbours door. It reminded me of the dream so I opened the blinds of my window to make sure that I could see her and keep watch to make sure she was ok.

Luckiy the neighbours opened the door after about 2 minutes and let her in the door. I thought nothing of it, until about 20 minutes later, I heard the neighbours door open and 2 people walking out.

I got out of bed and looked out the window, my neighbour had called a Taxi and told the Taxi driver to take care that she made it home. There was a male lurking around the streets who was harassing her, so she came down our driveway and the neighbours to get away from him.

I'm not sure if I did what I was meant to do or what was meant to happen. I know that if I didn't get the dream, I most certainly would have rolled over in bed and went back to sleep.

The worst thing was, just as I was ready to go back to sleep, the alarm clock went off and I had to get up to go to work.

Hey, you guys;

Last night, I had a rather disturbing dream, and it really frightened me, because it was as though I had literally seen the presence of evil -- The whole dream was creepy, but I remember one specific moment where I was absolutely terrified, and it was weird.

So, then, I guess I would consider it a nightmare. Do any of you experience nightmares still? If so, do you think that they happen when your walk with God is starting to drift? For the last couple of days, my prayer life has been a bit weak, and it's almost like I feel myself drifting -- then I have this weird dream. Haven't been that terrified of a dream in ages.

What's your take?!

[Equipped_4_Love]

WOW, chad!! That seems to go way beyond coincidence. There was definitely something going on there below the surface. I'm glad that she was okay.

[chad]

Yeah, so am I. I was ready to call the Police if something did happen. If they came to get her, I would have gone out to help her.

WOW, chad!! That seems to go way beyond coincidence. There was definitely something going on there below the surface. I'm glad that she was okay.

[SweetSomber]

Wow - that is freaky.

I had one friend who always dreamed about the future, and it usually wasn't good. Like she dreamed about someone drowning, and a couple days later she saw someone drown and couldn't save them. she also dreamed that I would get into a car accident, and the very next morning, I did, etc

[*Hope*]

I have terrible nightmares from time to time. Usually though, they reflect something I'm fearing in real life, pain I've experienced, or the result of me hearing the evening news.

I usually have nightmares about someone I love being kidnapped, murdered or leaving for some reason. Sometimes I'm a child in my nightmares. There's one reoccurring dream I have of my Mom (sometimes a different parental figure) drops me off at a daycare. At the end of the day, all of the parents start arriving to collect their kids and I keep waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Finally, evening comes and I'm sitting on the steps alone in the dark and no one ever comes to pick me up. I know it doesn't sound very scary, but when you're in the dream, it seems so real. Just thinking about it starts to make my heart race, it's so weird how real they can seem.

I don't think my dreams really affect my walk with the Lord. On the contrary, I think sometimes they can reflect areas in my relationship with God where I need to rely on Him more. Fears tend to surface in my dreams and reveal where I need to trust Him more...

[stillforgiven]

Thanks for responding. It is certainly possible that it was just coincidence...that it has nothing to do with my prayer life, or my nearness to God. I just don't know. Perhaps it was just bad timing.

The weird thing about this dream, was the fact that this dream seemed interconnected to other dreams that I've had. The neighborhood, well, it's been in other dreams that I've had, and in all of these dreams, there was a real feeling of lethargy and depression.....as though just being in that neighborhood brought me down -- and there are 2 or 3 particular houses that keep popping up, where there seems to be a real darkness inside, and they are always vacant.

It's just strange, and I always feel like God is completely distant during those dreams.....almost like hell would feel -- sort of like I felt inside before I came to the Lord. Last night was the first time I'd actually felt terrified, though. I don't know -- I just think my mind is fixated on this neighborhood, somehow, which is strange, because I don't even think this neighborhood exists...It's just all part of dreamland, you know?!

I wouldn't totally dismiss your dreams of this nature, but perhaps they are showing you more of what's going on inside of you (mentally, emotionally, spiritually) than anything else. For instance, I grew up with two reoccurring nightmares, both terrifying, one extremely so to the point where I would never post about it. I started to ponder what they could mean, and I finally realized each had it's own source.

The most terrifying dream theme was my inner struggle with wanting to keep the people I love safe. In the dreams, it seemed that all of my attempts were thwarted by their own actions. Over time as I would wake up from these and realize what they really were, they began to subside. Now I can't even remember the last time I had one.

The less terrifying dream seemed to indicate my own personal state of being of feeling vulnerable and never safe, and I use it to keep tabs on my own state of wellbeing. What you wrote about your dreams remind me of these of mine. I'm not saying you're not saved. I'm saying perhaps you're feeling insecure about something in your life, perhaps your own Christian walk. I don't subscribe to dream interpretations that come from books. I do think you can use them as a starting place to learn about yourself, and it's not something to be afraid of.

And I do believe that some dreams are spiritually based, but those are usually so unique that you know something was different.

I hope this helps.

[cheech]

Many times when we go back to an old childhood home, it has to do with going back to our old ways or thoughts of the past. Think about how your childhood or old ways were before coming to Christ. In your dream you were told the house was empty...technically when we leave the old behind and become new in Christ, it is like moving out of an old home and leaving it empty. We never want to go back to our old ways because our old ways and thoughts are of the world and we know who roams in the world.

You said that in your dream you were curious too look in your old home...think about what's been going on in your life. You mentioned your prayer life has been weak and you feel yourself drifting. Any old thoughts or ways starting to come back to mind? We should never be curious about our old ways and thoughts...they should remain in the past.

Sometimes dreams mean nothing...sometimes they are red flags.

[SweetSomber]

You said that in your dream you were curious too look in your old home...think about what's been going on in your life. You mentioned your prayer life has been weak and you feel yourself drifting. Any old thoughts or ways starting to come back to mind? We should never be curious about our old ways and thoughts...they should remain in the past.

Hmm, that is a very interesting standpoint. However, it has several flaws. For instance, if we do not look at the mistakes of our past, we cannot help others out of those same mistakes.

For instance, yesterday I was struggles with being very negative in my speech (sinning) but yesterday evening, at college group, there was a great message on the power of the tongue, and I saw clearly that I was not exercising Faith in God's protection, Hope for betterment of the situation, or Love in my words to encourage others. Faith, Hope, and Love - and so I encouraged others that the answer to negative speech is faith, hope, love, and I told them why.

Secondly, those who ignore past mistakes are bound to repeat them. If we don't see what CAUSED us to stumble, it could cause us to stumble again, perhaps in a different way.

Thirdly, we learn from the past. For example, before I was a christian, I stole a lot. I learn from that that I really value material stuff, and now as a christian, I still value material stuff, and give it all away. I'm very generous (I say this not in pride, but to give glory to the One who changed my heart so completely) and I give my dearest things to the PEOPLE I value. It's a love language of mine.