Transcript
Speaker: We were designed to hunger for the deep things of God, to thrive on faith and wonder, to seek out divine wisdom that defies human logic.
Speaker: We were designed to unlock the mysteries of God.
Speaker: This is Breathing Underwater.
Speaker: There was four people and like when one touches water, it turns into 89 people.
Speaker: And when two touch dirt, like when people throw dirt on them, they turn into elephants.
Speaker: Hello, everybody.
Speaker: That sweet voice was James.
Speaker: He is the son of a friend of mine, and he was just sharing the beginning of a very cool dream that he had.
Speaker: Don't worry.
Speaker: I'm going to let you hear the rest of the dream and even a little interpretation, but not now.
Speaker: I'm going to make you wait for that.
Speaker: But I thought how beautiful to have James intro episode 62 because we're starting a little series today, a three-part series all about kids and their dreams.
Speaker: I have so many parents coming to me.
Speaker: How do I talk to my kids about their dreams?
Speaker: What should I teach them?
Speaker: What do I do if they're having nightmares?
Speaker: And these are the very things that I want to address in these next three episodes.
Speaker: And today in this first show, I want to talk about creating a culture of dreaming at your house.
Speaker: Why would we want to create a culture of dreaming?
Speaker: What does that look like and how do I actually do it?
Speaker: Listen, I don't have to convince you that your kids are dreaming, right?
Speaker: They are dreaming.
Speaker: Whether you want them to dream or not, they are dreaming.
Speaker: And it's wisdom as parents that we are helping narrate what's going on around their dream life.
Speaker: Now, I would say this is one of the most important reasons why I think creating a culture is important.
Speaker: But before I jump into that, let me tell you what it means to create a culture of dreaming at your house.
Speaker: Essentially, this just means that this is a value that you have in your family.
Speaker: Now, if this isn't something that you value already and this is new to you, that's okay.
Speaker: You can start anywhere.
Speaker: But I would say you have a value for this, at least to some level, or you wouldn't be listening to this podcast.
Speaker: So really creating the culture is just making space to value.
Speaker: dreams and God speaking through dreams and what they say about our own soul and making room for conversation around that in your home.
Speaker: So yes, parents, it's going to take a little bit of work.
Speaker: It's going to take some intentionality, but that's what being a parent is, right?
Speaker: You are used to having to be intentional and to give language and to set boundaries and to teach your children.
Speaker: And the area of dreaming is no different.
Speaker: It is no different.
Speaker: If you are new to the podcast, you might not know this.
Speaker: So I'm going to tell you real briefly, dreaming is something that we have the highest value for on this podcast.
Speaker: We believe that God speaks through our dreams, that we can find his message and his voice in every dream.
Speaker: Yes, every dream.
Speaker: When we start to know how to look for his message to us and to know his character.
Speaker: And this is an ancient way that God has been speaking to his people since the beginning.
Speaker: There are so many examples in scripture, especially in the Old Testament, of God speaking to his people through dreams, giving messages, giving correction, talking about destiny.
Speaker: So this is a main mode of communication for God.
Speaker: And we're kind of just...
Speaker: becoming aware of that again, essentially.
Speaker: So we already value that so much on this podcast, and it's no different for children.
Speaker: One of my favorite things that a pastor at my church says, is he says, there's no junior Holy Spirit, meaning we all receive the same Holy Spirit.
Speaker: There isn't like a little bit of Holy Spirit that kids get or a different Holy Spirit that children get.
Speaker: The Holy Spirit walks with all of us, adults and children alike.
Speaker: And the Holy Spirit speaks through dreams, adults and children alike.
Speaker: And sometimes dreams can be the best possible bridge to even start connecting your children to the voice of God.
Speaker: Yay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So talking about a culture of dreaming, why would we want to create a culture for dreams in our house?
Speaker: And first is kind of what I already mentioned.
Speaker: Your kids are dreaming.
Speaker: Whether you want to admit it or whether you want them to or not, they are dreaming, right?
Speaker: And many of them, it's pretty normal for children, are having nightmares or having dreams that aren't good.
Speaker: And I think it's easy for us as parents to get really worried or not really know what to say or don't want to talk about it.
Speaker: And I think that that's doing a great disservice to the spiritual development of our children.
Speaker: So first and foremost, they're having dreams.
Speaker: They're having them.
Speaker: We're either going to talk about them or we're not going to talk about them.
Speaker: So that's the first reason.
Speaker: Secondly, I would say, especially younger kids, their spiritual senses are starting to be awakened at this time.
Speaker: And that's a part of why dreams are becoming clearer or maybe more vivid or even more negative.
Speaker: This is an indicator that their spiritual senses are waking up and they're starting to see in the spirit.
Speaker: They're starting to connect together.
Speaker: with the spirit realm.
Speaker: And so this is the perfect opportunity for us to come in and teach about it before it gets weird and big and scary and they feel powerless.
Speaker: This is our moment, if we're creating the culture, to open the dialogue.
Speaker: You know, when we're not talking about something and pretending like it's not there, that's not...
Speaker: That's not helping anyone, regardless of what it is.
Speaker: When we bring something into the light and we bring truth into it and we bring empowerment around it, it's a completely different ballgame.
Speaker: And children have the same authority in Christ that we have as adults.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: I'm going to say that again.
Speaker: Kids have the same authority in Christ that we have as adults.
Speaker: Now, I realize that as we go through life, we gain authority in different areas of our lives because of the things we've overcome and how God has trained us.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: So our authority grows.
Speaker: But the authority that we were given in Jesus is
Speaker: to command a demon to leave or to say, you can't be in my house or to have boundaries over their own bodies and their own spirits and their own hearts.
Speaker: That same authority was given to all of us.
Speaker: And this is a great way to open that conversation for your kids.
Speaker: I also love that this begins the foundation of leading your children to Jesus, leading them to His voice, especially if they're sharing a dream and you have no idea what to say, don't worry about it.
Speaker: You get to ask them, hey, well, what is Jesus saying about that?
Speaker: What do you think Jesus would say?
Speaker: Let's ask him right now.
Speaker: Let's pray about it.
Speaker: Again, this might be very new for you, but this is one of the benefits of creating this culture is that it's opening up that conversation and it's making space for it.
Speaker: And you can start this conversation at any time.
Speaker: You haven't missed it.
Speaker: I would also say some of the feedback I get a lot from friends and something that I have personally noticed is that when we talk about dreams, when we ask our kids about dreams or we share our dreams with them, it is opening connection, right?
Speaker: It's opening a conversation.
Speaker: which is essentially what dreams are anyway from God, is they're just a conversation starter because God is a pursuer of us and he wants to draw us into more relationship because he loves relationship.
Speaker: And it's the same when we're pursuing our children.
Speaker: What did you dream about last night?
Speaker: Tell me about it.
Speaker: Even if it's super weird, even if you never get any meaning out of it, you just got to connect with your child and you actually had a way to open the conversation.
Speaker: Especially if your children are older or maybe they're more introverted, this could be a key to getting into what's happening in their heart or what's happening in their dream life or their subconscious at least, right?
Speaker: I have a good friend who's actually said that to me, that she has a very introverted child who doesn't talk a lot.
Speaker: You don't know what's happening in there.
Speaker: He doesn't process very often.
Speaker: But when she started to ask him about dreams and he started to share dreams, she and her husband started to get a snapshot into what was happening in his heart.
Speaker: And it even gave him some wording and language to start to process.
Speaker: And it was a bridge between them, a connector between them.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So how do I create a dream culture in my home?
Speaker: It's actually quite simple.
Speaker: And I think that you're halfway there because you're even listening to this episode.
Speaker: And I would say first and foremost, what you do is you just talk about dreams.
Speaker: Don't pretend they don't happen.
Speaker: Talk about them.
Speaker: Start asking your children, did you dream last night when you see them in the morning when they first wake up?
Speaker: Hey, morning, love.
Speaker: Did you have any dreams last night?
Speaker: Or maybe when they wake up from a nap, I do this with my niece and nephew a lot.
Speaker: They wake up and they're all sleepy and I'm like, God,
Speaker: Did you have any dreams in your nap?
Speaker: It's one of my favorite things to do.
Speaker: Sometimes it's like, no.
Speaker: And other times, yeah.
Speaker: And they tell me all about it.
Speaker: And it's just become something that they know when they see me, oh, they can tell Auntie Gogo about their dreams because I ask.
Speaker: I've created that culture around me that I value them, that they matter, that I want to know.
Speaker: So now they're paying more attention to their dreams and even sharing their dreams with their parents.
Speaker: So just start talking about them.
Speaker: Maybe talk about your dreams in front of them, right?
Speaker: Or asking your spouse about their dreams in front of your kids.
Speaker: Just let that dialogue be open.
Speaker: Another way to create that culture is to start praying over their dreams at night.
Speaker: When you're going to bed with them, you probably already have a routine where you're blessing them or praying for them.
Speaker: Let that be a moment where you pray over their dreams and ask Jesus to protect their dreams and even pray for dreams from God.
Speaker: That can be a part of your nightly routine.
Speaker: This is a part of establishing the culture and the value for dreams.
Speaker: read scriptures to them about dreams.
Speaker: This could be any story from the Bible when a dream is involved.
Speaker: And I actually have a list of these that I will put in the show notes if you want.
Speaker: It's a free PDF download.
Speaker: If you want to know where to start, not all the stories would probably be appropriate for kids depending on what age they are, but you get to discern that and you can decide which ones you'd like to share with them.
Speaker: But even getting them accustomed to
Speaker: the stories in the Bible having to do with dreams because God was speaking through dreams from the beginning.
Speaker: That's a part of cultivating this value, but also teaching them spiritual truths about who God is and how he speaks.
Speaker: And really, I will just say, it's kind of just the conversation, just talking about them.
Speaker: But I would say, get curious.
Speaker: Just get really curious as a parent where you're asking them about their dreams.
Speaker: But when you do, just say, what do you think that means?
Speaker: Can you tell me more about that?
Speaker: Hmm.
Speaker: What do you think that could mean?
Speaker: Just show that curiosity to them and they will start to have that same curiosity.
Speaker: And it's so interesting once you even open that can of worms, how often kids will go for it and tell you the whole dream and love retelling you the dream.
Speaker: And when you ask them, they actually know what it means.
Speaker: Listen, kids are great interpreters because they're so innocent and so pure and so easily connected to the Holy Spirit.
Speaker: They don't complicate things, right?
Speaker: Even invite them into interpreting your dream for you.
Speaker: Maybe you're sharing a dream as a parent that next morning around breakfast.
Speaker: Hey, did you guys have any dreams last night?
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Oh, well, I did.
Speaker: Let me tell you about my dream and share your dream and say, what do you guys think that means?
Speaker: I have had some amazing interpretations from the kiddos in my life.
Speaker: I totally run my dreams by them when it's appropriate because I know that they have such an innocence and such an innate ability to be curious and childlike and to understand images, right?
Speaker: Like kids are very image oriented.
Speaker: So just get curious and playful with this.
Speaker: And listen, if this is new to you, don't worry if you have a lot of stuff start to come up.
Speaker: It's probably going to take a little bit of work on your end as the parent, as things surface in your own heart of what you believe about dreams, what you believe about hearing God's voice.
Speaker: Do you trust that he's actually going to respond when you send your kids to ask him what that dream means?
Speaker: There's all kinds of things that could be coming up, could be triggering for you or just revealing to you about your own belief system.
Speaker: Or maybe you are going to be battling with a spouse who doesn't actually have value for this or maybe has doubt around it or is a little more religious about things.
Speaker: And that's okay.
Speaker: I mean, this is something that you guys have to work out together and God will lead you and he will show you how to start implementing and just be patient with yourself and recognize you don't have to have the answers.
Speaker: That's the beautiful thing.
Speaker: You don't have to have the answers.
Speaker: You just get to make the space and let your kids learn and lead and let the Holy Spirit teach.
Speaker: There's going to be so much more on this in the next couple episodes, but I'm going to end it here today.
Speaker: I will see you guys next time.
Speaker: And as always, happy, happy dreaming to you and your kiddos.
