I’ve trained thousands of people how to interpret dreams and notice that people sometimes run into difficulty interpreting their dreams, especially when there isn’t a symbol in the common dream symbols lists.  Here’s what I’ve done to help people along: look at what Jesus did and apply it to your life.

So what if we see a symbol that is not in the Bible?

Probably one of the most commonly asked questions I get is: “Where is that in the Bible?”  When we do not see a symbol clearly defined in the Bible, you can use the process that Jesus did in Mark, Chapter 8.  The context of this story is that Jesus and His disciples had just fed 4,000 people miraculously with a few fish and a small amount of bread.  And afterwards they had seven basketfuls of bread left over.

Then He left them, got back into the boat, and crossed to the other side.  The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat.  “Be careful,” Jesus warned them.  “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”  They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”  Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread?  Do you still not see or understand?  Are your hearts hardened?  Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?” (Mark 8:13–18).

When Jesus said, “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees …, ” his disciples immediately thought He was speaking literally so they answered, “Is it because we have no bread?”  At that point, Jesus told them that they must have eyes to see and ears to hear.  What He was referring to was that they must develop symbolic understanding of things.

Let’s break it down more and pretend that this was a dream

Yeast goes into bread, and since the Pharisees were teachers, it is safe to say that the bread represented their teaching.  Their teaching was like nourishment or spiritual food.  But there was something else in their bread or teaching.  Symbolically, yeast causes things to rise or puff up.  So the hidden meaning of this small parable was to be careful because the teaching of the Pharisees causes pride.  A lesson we can learn is to resist the urge to think literally when things in dreams are often symbolic.  Develop symbolic understanding.

Think symbolically

It is interesting that this incident was not even listed as a parable among the commentaries.  In fact, none of the commentaries even mention that this was a spiritual lesson on how to develop the ability to think symbolically and understand these hidden messages that God is sending.  The Holy Spirit revealed this to me one day when I was reading this section from Mark.  And I realized that it is a key to teach people how to understand symbols that we do not see clearly defined.  If we do not see a sample clearly defined, then we can do what Jesus suggested and “think like yeast.”

Your dream life is an exciting place to hear from God and it’s fun to figure out what dreams mean.  Learn to have “eyes that see” a symbol’s meaning as you work out the interpretations.  Have fun with it!

Happy dreaming!

Blessings,

– Doug Addison
www.dougaddison.com
inLight Connection

Doug Addison  is a prominent conference speaker captivating audiences with clean stand-up comedy and high energy prophetic messages which he has shared on television, radio and the internet for over a decade. Doug brings laughter, fun and a unique prophetic style while empowering people to transform their lives, discover their destiny and understand dreams, tattoos and piercings. His powerful messages stay with his audiences long after hearing him.