00:05A first century rabbi once said, a dream uninterpreted is a letter unopened. How sad
00:12if God were sending us a letter and we missed it because we couldn't read it. Because dream
00:18visions usually speak in the language of symbols and images, they need interpretation. Their
00:24meaning isn't always immediately obvious. In the writings of Hosea the prophet, they're described
00:30as parables, elsewhere they're called riddles. When we wake up from a dream, we often find ourselves
00:37asking, what does it mean? Dream visions have an uncanny way of provoking questions. We see this
00:44in the experience of a prophet named Zechariah. He lived in the time when God's people were
00:51preparing to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem after their exile in Babylon. At the time,
00:57Zechariah saw a vision of a golden lampstand, two olive trees, and some golden oil. He would
01:04have recognized the lampstand as an important furnishing from the temple, but he didn't
01:09know what the two olive trees were. So, he asks a lot of questions. What are these, my Lord?
01:15What are the two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand? What are the two
01:21olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil? The message was divine,
01:28but Zechariah didn't know what God was talking about. Later in the time of the early church,
01:34we see the apostle Peter having a similar dilemma after his vision of the unclean food on the rooftop
01:40in Joppa. We see him, wondering about the meaning of the vision. Both Zechariah and Peter experienced
01:48genuine spirit pictures, but the meaning wasn't clear to them at first. Dream visions invite us
01:55into a search for understanding. They prompt us to ask questions. The God-Dreams Framework recommends
02:02five questions to help understand the messages of our dream visions.
02:06Into understanding. Setting. What is happening in my life? Emotions. How did I feel in the dream?
02:14Symbols. What do the symbols mean to me? Source. Where did the dream come from? Response. What is the
02:22dream asking me to do? Reflect. Think about your own dreams. Have you been able to interpret them?
02:29Pray and journal. God give me humility as I seek to understand my own dream visions.
