Encouragement for Today

June 11, 2025 What if Your Dreams Are Really Prayer Prompts? MARGARET FEINBERG Lee en español

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.” Psalm 139:23 (NIV)

One night, my husband, Leif, bolted awake. “You’re still here,” he said, his voice trembling.

Leif had dreamed we were walking on a glacier’s lake. The ice cracked. He watched, horrified, as I plunged into the frozen water. He desperately tried to pluck me out, but I was beyond his reach. He helplessly watched me struggle until he jolted awake.

“I’m fine,” I assured him.

A few nights later, Leif again snapped awake after the same dream.

Then he had the dream a third time. That’s when he had my attention — or rather, the Holy Spirit had our attention. Leif hadn’t been a repetitive dreamer before, so I thought of the dream as a prayer prompt.

Holy Spirit, are You trying to get our attention? If so, what is the message?

As I prayed, I recognized the dreams weren’t predicting literal danger. Rather, they revealed what I’d been feeling inside. I’d been struggling with my health, and like splintering lake ice, the mysterious illness had caught me by surprise. I had cascaded into a dark hole and was drowning in loneliness. The people who wanted to rescue and resuscitate me felt just out of reach, in part because I was refusing their help.

Those repetitive dreams motivated me to break free from the isolation and reconnect with our community — people who brought healing in unexpected yet beautiful ways — until many, many months later, I finally regained my health again.

Since then, I’ve discovered sometimes the Spirit will use a dream to lead and guide us or to spark spiritual awareness. Now, not every dream contains a divine message. Most of our dreams serve as a kind of “mental housekeeping,” clearing out toxins and stress hormones that accumulate during waking hours — the result of our minds and bodies performing important maintenance and processing functions while we sleep.

But even when dreams aren't from the Holy Spirit, they can still become powerful prayer prompts, leading us into deeper communion with God. Our ordinary dreams often reveal what's happening beneath the surface of our conscious minds — our hidden anxieties, unacknowledged hopes, and unprocessed experiences.

When we bring these to the Holy Spirit through prayer, making them available to His healing touch, ordinary dreams become doorways to spiritual growth and deeper intimacy with God.

Rather than dismissing these dreams as meaningless or obsessing over hidden meanings, we can simply bring them to the Spirit as conversation starters: Holy Spirit, I had this dream. What might it reveal about my heart? How do You want to meet me in these feelings? We can pray as David prayed in our key verse:

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts” (Psalm 139:23).

Our dreams can help us practice the self-awareness and vulnerability that fosters authentic relationship with the Spirit. Like the disciples who brought their questions to Jesus, we can bring our dreams — with all their confusion and emotion — to the One who knows us better than we know ourselves.

Holy Spirit, thank You for the brain's amazing capacity to process through dreams. Help me bring even my ordinary dreams before You as conversation starters. Transform my nights into opportunities for deeper communion with You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

OUR FAVORITE THINGS

If this idea of discovering how the Spirit works in your everyday life inspires you, check out Margaret Feinberg’s new book, The God You Need to Know: Experience the Holy Spirit's Power and Presence Today. You’ll also enjoy the accompanying six-session DVD Bible study: The God You Need to Know: 12 Practices to Awaken Your Relationship with the Holy Spirit. Both offer a groundbreaking look at the Holy Spirit throughout the Old Testament and help you discover that the Spirit's appearance on the day of Pentecost was not a grand debut; it was a culmination of the Spirit's work since the beginning of time.

ENGAGE

For more encouragement from Margaret Feinberg, follow her on Instagram @mafeinberg. Her website is www.margaretfeinberg.com.

Enter to WIN your very own copy of The God You Need to Know by Margaret Feinberg. To celebrate this book, Margaret’s publisher will give away 5 copies! Enter to win by filling out the form here. {We’ll randomly select 5 winners and notify them via email by Monday, June 16, 2025.}

FOR DEEPER STUDY

Genesis 28:16, “When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it’” (NIV).

Acts 2:17, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams” (NIV).

How might you use a recent, ordinary dream as a prayer prompt? What would it look like to bring that dream to the Holy Spirit in conversation?

When have you experienced anxiety dreams? Rather than just dismissing them, how might you see these dreams as an invitation into deeper dependence on the Spirit?

We’d love to hear from you — share with us in the comments!

© 2025 by Margaret Feinberg. All rights reserved.

Proverbs 31 Ministries thanks Zondervan, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, for their sponsorship of today’s devotion.

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