Saints,

Can nightmares be a result of spiritual warfare taking place in the life of the believer? The reason why I ask is because I've had nightmare experiences where I'm being "attacked" by a demon or demons. It usually involves them choking me or trying to suffocate me. When I'm close to "death" in the dream I scream and wake up. Then I pray for the Lord's protection.

Your thoughts?

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John
Member
Christ Presbyterian Church (OPC)
Salt Lake City, Utah
www.christpres.net

I think the vast majority of the time, stressful dreams are our own personal stress working itself out in our sleep. Whatever is troubling us gets spillover into our subconscious, so that our mind can start to deal with our anxieties. I would advise chamomile tea and joyful reading for one hour before sleep.

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Rev. Toby L. Brown, pastor
Jefferson Center Presbyterian Church--in, but not of, the PC(USA)
Saxonburg, PA
A Classical Presbyterian
Proud member of The Westminster Fellowship

"The happiness of the creature consists in rejoicing in God, by which God is also highly exalted." --Jonathan Edwards

They can be used as any other means by God. So it would be good to pray for guidance.

And you are free to ask God to stop these dreams and expose any possible reasons for them to your mind. too much spicy food at dinner, or what you are reading or meditating on, guilt you have not dealt with.

Let Him search your soul.

And trust in Him regardless of the dreams. Ignore them as valid.

If the devil is seeking to stop you, God is greater

1 John 4:4

4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
NKJV

1 John 5:18

18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.
KJV

1 John 2:14
14 I have written to you, fathers,
Because you have known Him who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men,
Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you,
And you have overcome the wicked one.
NKJV

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DonP

I agree! God frequently uses stress and anxiety in the soul of the believer to communicate something precious. I just want to avoid the idea that demonic forces can somehow inhabit the dreams of Christians.

Probably too much sugar at night!

Chamomile tea and a good book will knock me out cold every time. I also try to avoid eating late and eating heavy foods at that. If I eat late there is also the possibility of major Heartburn while I am trying to sleep .

Switching gears...

I used to have nightmares of people trying to kill me or chase me too. After waking up, I couldnt sleep because of fear. What helped me is to force myself out of bed (despite being afraid) and praying that the Lord would give me peace in my sleep. After that I would get up and walk around my apartment until the fear subsides.

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Josiah Lovett
Member of
Trinity OPC
Bothell WA
Orthodox Presbyterian Church
Westminster Standards

John,

Without attempting to specify the "how" of it all, I would have no problem in affirming that spiritual warfare can indeed affect our dreams. Sometimes nightmares can be the result of stress, but to lay the cause of all of them at the feet of a naturalistic counterbalance is to fall prey to the worldview of Freud and others, who have unfortunately so influenced modern thought on the matter.

I have a couple of clear cut examples on this, but would prefer to PM you if you are interested in continuing discussion.

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Adam J. Myer
Slated for the Jan. 10th Chaplains Basic Officer Leadership Course
Estacada Christian Church
Sandy, Oregon

Soli Deo Gloria

I too have had these kind of experiences. I had them continuosly for about two years, then they suddenly stopped.

My experience was similar to the one Josiah describes above.

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Christoffer S.
Layman
Finnish Evangelical-Lutheran church
Vaasa, Finland

I think the answers above are solid, and so I would only ask: what kind of movies do you watch, do you have a lot of sugar and/or caffeine shortly before bed, do you watch TV before you go to bed, and if so, what type of programming? I can only speak for myself, but when I was younger I would have troubling dreams because of what I filled my mind with before I went to sleep. Now that I don't fill my mind with that stuff at all, I don't have any sort of troubling dream. However, I get funky dreams when I have, say, swiss miss hot chocolate with a little cayenne pepper. And I'm talking super-weird dreams. So, what you take into your body before bed, whether material or not, may be a cause. Just something to consider.

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Andrew Thornquist My Photo Album
Calvinistic Baptist
Ukiah, California
To follow Christ was the best decision God made for me!

Before I became reformed, dreams about demons attacking me happened almost every night. I thought that I was in the midst of spiritual warfare as well. The people I told about my dreams thought that I had eaten, or drunken, or watched something before bed that caused them to happen. I wasn't convinced that what they said was true. Since I became reformed, those kinds of dreams have been rare for me. For me, I think that looking for a demon under every rock as I used to is what caused those nightmares and maybe what I ate and drank. However, some nights in my dreams I am feeling guilty for the sins that I am still struggling with. That could show up in nightmares. I do think that nightmares can be a result of spiritual warfare, but I think there are other causes as well.

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Jennifer Flummerfelt
layman, P.C.A.
Wichita, KS

"Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."

Happily Married to KS_Presby as of September 12, 2009

That's what Scrooge thought, and look what happened to him.

Nightmares can be a sign of intense struggles; one thing I've noticed with my dreams is that the content in them tends to reflect struggles and/or victories I've had in my spiritual life.

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Jonathan
Audio Engineer
Reformed Anabaptist
Ohio

Moroni's magical glasses of proper interpretation:

or maybe a bad bit of beef?

It could be some problem in your life that is manifesting itself in your dreams. Demons might be what you're dreaming about because you are familiar with the fact that they exist. Others would dream about something else they are familiar with attacking them. I don't believe spiritual warfare are in dreams but rather in tempting us to sin.

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sarah
WI
OPC
My Pastor's Sermons: Mark Jenkins...he's awesome!!!

I am no expert in sleep disorders or demonic opressions, but I am convinced that what Pastor Tony said above is the case 98/99% of the time.

Demons do work on the "sub-consience" level however. IOW a demon is not going to visit you in the frozen food isle at Krogers, but he *may* visit you in your dreams.

Be calm before bed. Avoid the things mentioned above that may over stimulate the mind. Avoid heave meals late in the day. And pray & meditrate on the word of God before sleeping.

Many young men that I have known who struggled with lust were able to overcome it by changing their late night habbits.

Now I do not think that they were visited by `Demons of Lust`, but I do think that they were filling their minds with troubling images late in the day.

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Kevin Rogers
Sovereign Community Church, PCA
Moncton NB

Check out the side-effects of whatever medications you are taking--some of them trigger nightmares. If you consume grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice together with certain medications, it is the equivalent of taking an overdose.

Also, check if you have any artifacts in your house from possibly-pagan sources. If you do, get rid of them and that may solve your problem. By getting rid, I mean burning them or sending them to the landfill. It could increase the problem if you relegate them to the attic or basement.

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Mary Vanderkooi
Kale Heywott Church (KHC)
Soddo, Ethiopia

This used to happen to me all the time. I can't speak for you, but this article sums up the exact problem I was having, and the cure for me was to never - EVER sleep on my back. I had the dreams that demons were suffocating me, too, by the way.

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Rich Brown
Deacon/Webmaster
Aisquith PCA
Parkville, MD

I had that most of my life too, Rich. It was usually associated with bad sleeping habits like taking a nap in mid day, and naturally sleeping on my back. I almost never get that now, but when I feel it coming on, I just sleep on my side and that usually helps. Also, probably 20 years ago I decided just to let it take me where it wanted. In other words I had the attitude of just going with it, and facing down whatever was behind it, and it took the fear away.

When I was younger I often dreaded going to bed at night, but I'm convinced there wasn't anything supernatural about it.

Sure is hard to describe it to someone who hasn't experienced it, I'll say that!

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Tim Vaughan
Member, Redeemer Presbyterian, OPC,
Santa Maria
California

Amen, brother. As to letting it happen and not fearing it - that did work as far as the demonic dreams (once I became convinced it was not supernatural), but the uncomfortable feeling of paralysis and feeling like I am going to smother is too much.

With me it isn't suffocating, just the frustration of not being able to move one little bit, so I came to just let it take me. Crazy!

I generally affirm skepticism when dealing with the demonic, since we cannot see how they operate.


However, operate they do, and if the devil can afflict Paul with a physical affirmity, then the devil can afflict our dreams.


I affirm that that I think the Bible allows for this; and I also affirm that I think this has happened to missionaries and even me perhaps...having vivid and hoorifying dreams upon entering a location or engaging in a new work. Noah my son has also reported vivid dreams such as this (in each case before some major initiation of new ministry or outreach).


Of course, this is all experiential and we CANNOT diagnose that it was either cheese or beef before bed or demonic influence and cannot say YES it was; but I also do not think we can say NO it wasn't either.

NOTE: This is not a case of people's experience leading their theology, but one's expereinces may open them up to possibilities which, I believe, the Bible allows for.

Again, we cannot diagnose any of this here on earth, but I think we will be surprised in heaven about the intimate nature of this warfare in which we are fighting.


Finally, whatever the diagnosis may be, the solution is the same: prayer and leaning upon the Almighty.

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Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone