How can you know if your dreams are prophetic or not?

By Mandy Owen, Op-ed contributor Saturday, June 06, 2026

Have you ever wondered if the Lord has been speaking to you, but you have been missing the insight He is trying to reveal because of a lack of spiritual perception? 

If so, consider the following. 

Job 33:14–15 declares: “For God does speak — now one way, now another — though no one perceives it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds” (NIV).

In our natural bodies, we have five primary senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. When one of those senses is weakened, other senses often become stronger to compensate. For example, when someone loses sight, their hearing frequently becomes more sensitive.

While God’s Word is the ultimate plumbline by which we must measure all things, in the same way, the Lord has given us multiple ways to see and hear Him, if we are willing to perceive Him. And it’s entirely possible that we, as finite human beings learning to perceive God’s voice by the Spirit, are weaker in some areas, spiritually speaking, and stronger in others.

Throughout Scripture, dreams and visions are mentioned hundreds of times. God repeatedly used them to send messages, issue warnings, give wisdom, and provide direction to His people. Yet much of the modern Church has ignored the importance of dreams and visions because they approach Scripture with an anti-supernatural bias or caution due to the misuse and perversion of dreams through New Age spirituality and other occult practices.

But those are demonic counterfeits, and not of God. 

Dispensing with dreams altogether is overcorrection — a spiritual version of “throwing the baby out with the bathwater.” We should not throw away something precious that God might use to speak to us, simply because some have polluted it.

Take Jeremiah, for example. He warned against false prophets who spoke visions from their own imaginations rather than from the mouth of the Lord. To use my analogy, you could say that these were people who had “dirtied the bathwater.”

The prophet speaks in Jeremiah 23:32: “'Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,’ declares the LORD. ‘They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,’ declares the LORD.”

Notice how God, through Jeremiah, confirms the existence of true dreamers in this verse, for you can only have a false counterfeit if there is first an original. The Lord did not say to avoid all dreams or dreamers; He specifically said He was against false dreamers.

Consider also the examples of Pharaoh and King Nebuchadnezzar. The Bible records that men awoke troubled and deeply disturbed by what they had seen. In both cases, they sought interpretation and then had to decide whether they would heed the warning God had given or ignore it.

When the Father is against something entirely, He gives clear instructions to avoid it, as He does throughout His Word regarding astrology, sorcery, and witchcraft. Dreams, however, are different. 

How, then, should we tell the difference between a true, Holy Spirit-inspired night vision and a false, counterfeit one? For starters, you begin by drawing close to the Holy Spirit himself.

If a dream is the Holy Spirit showing you something, it often stays with you. It might shake you to your depth, and you will likely remember it vividly long after you wake up. These dreams usually compel you to pray in earnest and seek God for understanding. 

Some dreams may feel hopeful and joyful, while others may be overwhelming or even terrifying. Whatever emotion the dream stirs, something deep within you is propelling you toward the Father.

My personal view is that dreams are often an invitation into deeper communication with God. We can bring dream symbols, mysteries, and confusing dreams before the Father and ask Him for insight and revelation, and again, always test them against the witness of Scripture (1 John 4:1). 

The other important thing to remember is that every one of us must steward our own journey of relationship with the Lord. Yours will look different than mine. Allow me to share the following, not as a formula, but as an example of how I prayerfully approached dreams that I could not shake. 

Before entering ministry, I kept dreaming about potatoes. Sometimes they were baked potatoes. Other times, they were raw, mashed, or half-cooked in a microwave. In one dream, someone simply handed me a potato.

As strange as they may sound, these recurring dreams shook me deeply. I could not get them out of my spirit. I thought there had to be something more to them, but I had no understanding of what they meant. Genuinely seeking, I asked pastors, mentors, and biblically grounded people for their insight. While I received a few thoughtful suggestions, nothing brought clarity. Was this just bad pizza after all, and should I try to forget it?

Yet because these dreams would not leave me alone, I knew I could not ignore them. Scripture says that it’s the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of Kings to search it out (Proverbs 25:2).

So, I began praying daily: “Lord, what does this mean? What are You saying to me? I know that You are speaking, but I cannot yet perceive it. Help me understand.”

Over and over, I would pray. 

The search for meaning became a year-long conversation with God. I prayed, listened, sought Him, and grew in intimacy with the Father in ways I never had before. I already read my Bible and prayed daily, but this was different.

Then one Sunday morning, while standing at the front of the church during worship, I sensed the Holy Spirit impress upon my heart the meaning of these (admittedly odd) dreams, and in an instant, I had understanding.

Potatoes are buried underground where no one sees them. Dirt surrounds them, and they grow hidden in darkness. But when the time is right, they are pulled from the ground, washed clean, and used in countless ways: to feed the hungry, sustain nations from famine, etc.

The Holy Spirit showed me that I was the potato. Potatoes may not seem like anything special in the eyes of the world. They are hidden, buried, and being developed in secret. Yet when the time comes, God pulls them from the ground, washes them clean, and uses them in many ways to help others.

I took that to mean that God was prompting me to prepare, and soon thereafter, I went into ministry, and He began using me to minister to people in ways I never thought possible.

If you’ve had a dream that stays with you, even if it seems strange, seek Him for deeper meaning. He withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11).