Job 33:14-18 For God may speak in one way, or in another, yet man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while slumbering on their beds, then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction. In order to turn man from his deed, and conceal pride from man, He keeps back his soul from the Pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.
In early sobriety, dreams are one area that we need to be aware of and may need to pay special attention to. Your newfound gift of sobriety, as well as your practice in sober living, will bring you joy beyond your imagination during the day. However, during sleep you may find an unexpected area of confrontation that can, if allowed, rattle your cage of understanding regarding your mental state. Dreams can sometimes cause a whole array of unknown and untouched emotions. If allowed to run unabated, they can truly unsettle us and cause us to go backwards for a time because of the fear and misunderstanding they cause.
Most of us had never been concerned about our dream life before. We have probably just had the undisciplined practice of letting our dreams continue without ever thinking, knowing, or understanding about our ability to exercise self-control within them. More often than not they brought us pleasure; rarely did we ever have a bad dream. Now that we are beginning a new way of living and truly desire to live a life of sobriety in our thoughts, words, and actions, we’ll sometimes find that the devil has a new gated playground to try to gain access into. He will try to practice his wiles and schemes within our dreams to get us to accept his untruths. He will falsely accuse us and try to get us to believe in imaginary scenarios that he has tempted us to believe are true.
The Problem
Dreams can affect your psyche because they will tempt you into thinking that you have someone or something to fear. Sometimes they will tempt you to think or feel that you have used or even relapsed for a period of time.
Dreams come from a variety of sources: God, the devil, self, outside stimulants (food and drugs), and exhaustion. Dreams are a natural process within the accumulation of rest for the spirit, soul, and body. They can be imaginary or be made up of past events in your life. Dreams can be about incidents, specific time periods, individuals, and the tools you used in your dependency (i.e. relationships, needles, bongs, pipes, etc.). Dreams can also appear prophetic, sometimes referred to as déjà vu. Dreams will touch on what has brought you pleasure and what your heart may have loved the most. This experience can be confusing because of the pleasure factor in them. It is hard to give up something that has gone unrecognized as a danger and often it will lead us to want more time to sleep.
The Time of Vulnerability
The usual time of vulnerability happens at about six months in the first year of practicing a life of sobriety. Dreams usually piggyback upon the feelings of victory over trials and tribulations that have appeared in the past as unconquerable. It is in these times of euphoria that we are susceptible to falling in this area because we are not used to exercising or practicing self-control in our dreams. (1 Corinthians 10:12; Galatians 6:3.) It is in this area that the devil often tries to dump condemnation on us because we feel bad for enjoying something that we know beyond doubt has caused harm to our being and relationships. It is here that we often encounter confusion and fear because we are tempted to think that we have disappointed God or our loved ones because we found temporary pleasure in the moment and, at times, woke up in a hung-over state of mind.
The Solution
When faced with this dilemma, you must do the following:
1) Pray and prepare your mind for the time of sleep. a. Read a passage of scripture and meditate on it rather than on something that transpired in your day, what you fear, fret, or are anxious about. b. Avoid falling into bed and just going to sleep. Take time to give thanks to God for all that He has given to you during the day. c. Offer yourself up to God as a living sacrifice, even during sleep (Psalm 4:4-5; 63:6-7; 119:147-149; 143:5-6; Romans 12:1-2).
2) Ask the Lord to fill you with His Spirit.
3) Put on the whole armor of God with focus on the helmet of salvation. This protects your mind and follows the command that you are to protect the loins of your mind (1 Peter 1:13-14).
4) Ask the LORD for wisdom in this area (James 1:5-6).
5) Begin to practice self-control in this area (Galatians 5:23).
6) Journal your victories for the days ahead, as well as for the testimony it will be for others.
Remember that God is in control of all things, even our minds, and we must persevere in focusing them. God has blessed us with a wonderfully made mind; in it are indescribable wonders in its ability to operate. He will deliver us in time if we are simply diligent in doing, through faith and by grace, all that He prescribes.