One pitfall of faith is that often, we over-spiritualise things. Dreams, for example. Dreams are a common experience. Sometimes, we sleep, but wake up in the blink of an eye. Other times, we go through entire worlds and scenarios. Just last night, I managed to gain control of a nightmare. Pursued by a semi-sentient dinosaur, I tamed the beast, turning it into a faithful mount.
But in our faith, dreams have, in the past, been a way in which God communicates with us. Thus, some Christians read too much into their dreams. Rather than chalking it up to a natural part of our sleep cycle, we assume all, or at least some dreams have meaning, and ask each other if we know what that meaning was.
I recently saw one such person appealing for help on a Christian Facebook page. The author replied, quite helpfully, saying he has no real experience reading dreams, but it probably didn't mean much. He was actually verbally attacked for this very reasonable answer. He was called inept and useless, and the person was told that God was warning him of an imminent spiritual attack.
Was He? In truth, there is a possibility that God could have been communicating with this person through a dream. But how could he know that these other people were telling the truth? He had already explained what happened in his dream, and so they were able to make up their own interpretation, with no real way of proving their interpretation.
My advice was to go back to Scripture. Specifically, Daniel 2, wherein Nebuchadnezzar told the magicians, sorcerers, and their ilk, that they would be executed if they could not tell him his dream and its interpretation. "if you do not make known the dream to me, there is only one decree for you! For you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the time has changed. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can give me its interpretation.”" - Daniel 2:9
In Scripture, magic is shown to be fraudulent, but in this case, Nebuchadnezzar knew their tricks, and how to separate the frauds from the genuine article. No one can truly read the mind, and so the only ones who were qualified to interpret the dream, he knew, would be those sent by its Author. Thus, without dismissing God's ability to communicate through dreams today, as He did in the past, let us assume He will also explain their meaning as He did in the past. Not through tricksters, who may hear the dream and interpret it in a way you could do yourself, but through genuine messengers, who will know what it means, because they know what it is.
But what if God will not provide such an interpreter? In this case, my brethren, He also did not provide the dream. You are officially free from fear, God is not trying to tell you anything. You have merely experienced a normal feature of human life, just as millions of people around the world do on an almost nightly basis. Every time they take a nap, every time they turn in for the night, there is a chance they will dream, and you will dream as they do. When you wake up, you need not fear your dream has meaning. If it does, rest assured, God will explain it to you.
Following the publication of this article, it was pointed out to me that in Genesis, when Joseph was given the power to interpret dreams, the dreams were, indeed, told to him in advance. In retrospect, I should have addressed this during the article itself, but will instead do so as an addendum.
It is true that Joseph was told the dream before he interpreted them, and of course, he was no trickster. However, consider that when Pharaoh told him his dream, Joseph had already been tested, having accurately assessed two dreams in prison. With a 100% accuracy rating, Joseph explained two dreams, proving himself.
Moreover, I think everyone can agree that it is a much more secure method to ask an interpreter to tell you your own dream than to tell them your dream yourself, and have them potentially make up an interpretation. A proven dream reader, as Joseph was, may also be reliable, however, and as the brother who pointed this out said, "It's still a matter of listening to the Holy Spirit, either way." Let us take that advice above all else.