WEIRD WEDNESDAY: WHAT YOUR DREAMS ARE saying

“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.” Job 33:14-15 (further reading)

The Bat on My Porch: When Dreams Cross into Reality

There I was, looking out my entryway window. A disgusting bat was stuck firmly to the wall of my front porch. After years of living in my home, I had never encountered a bat on my property—let alone on my porch! Unless of course you count the time i had an encounter with a cluster of bats in a strangely symbolic dream years before this EVENT…LET’S EXPLORE THIS WEIRD WEDNESDAY, WHAT YOUR DREAMS ARE SAYING TO YOU!

Several years ago, I was listening to a pastor talk about strengthening our relationship with the Lord. He made the statement that if you ever want to go higher with God, you must pray that He exposes any unconfessed sin in your life. So, that’s exactly what I did. A night or two later, I had an eerie dream. I was walking into my entryway when I looked up into the window. There, hanging, was a cluster of disgusting bats, writhing against each other. They were grotesque, ugly, and their faces vile. This dream sat heavy on my spirit for a while, like it was waiting for me to figure something out.

God Speaks in Patterns

Now, I don’t really believe in coincidences, especially when dreams start playing out in real life. What are the odds that I dreamt of seeing bats on my front porch through my window, only to actually look through the window and see a bat on my porch in real life? Although many might dismiss these two incidents as mere coincidence, something about this felt different.

Let’s be honest—the Bible is full of examples where God speaks through dreams: Joseph, Daniel, even Pilate’s wife before Jesus’ crucifixion (Matthew 27:19). Dreams carry weight, and when something shifts from the spiritual to the physical, you better believe God is saying something.

So, I started digging.

WEIRD WEDNESDAY: WHAT YOUR DREAMS ARE saying

Dream interpretation is a lot like research. There are countless secular sources, and although I may reference one from time to time, most only tell half the story. Here’s the thing—if you leave God out of the equation (and the Bible clearly states that He is one of the authors of dreams), you’re missing a crucial part of the puzzle (Genesis 20:3, Numbers 12:6, Daniel 2:19, Matthew 1:20, Joel 2:28, Matthew 2:12, Acts 2:17).

With that in mind, I began by turning to Scripture to understand what bats might symbolize. Bats in the Bible are associated with hidden things, darkness, and even idolatry. Isaiah 2:20 says, “In that day people will throw away to the moles and bats their idols of silver and gold, which they made to worship.” Bats dwell in caves, places of secrecy, and here I was, standing over one that had just shown up at my door.

Could God have been revealing something hidden in my life? Something I hadn’t dealt with?

Spiritual Housecleaning

So, I prayed. In Scripture, when God gave prophets dreams, it was always to lead His people back to Him. And that’s exactly what I believed God was doing. Prayer and self-awareness are the first steps in understanding what God is trying to tell you.

I asked God to show me if there was anything in my life—attitudes, habits, fears—holding me back or creeping in unnoticed. I asked Him to clean house, to shine a light on anything that needed to go.

The Holy Spirit later revealed that I had allowed a spirit of restlessness and idolatry to creep in. Just like in Scripture, my “gods” were hidden in dark corners—things I hadn’t even noticed slipping in. But they had taken root and were wreaking havoc. My worldly cravings for success, busyness, and desires were being placed before my relationship with Him. And that’s a dangerous place to be.

From Dream to Reality

Now, about my dream manifesting into reality: In the Bible, there are several verses that suggest dreams are a glimpse into the spiritual realm. For example, in Isaiah 2:20, “In that day people will throw away to the moles and bats their idols of silver and gold, which they made to worship.” One might wonder what bats and moles have to do with gold or idols. But we can infer from Scripture that not only does this resonate with people by comparing unclean, undesirable animals to idols, but God is also speaking from a spiritual perspective. Bats and moles, in the spirit, may represent the “sin” of idolatry.

In Hebrews 11:3, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” This suggests that things happen in the spiritual before they manifest physically. In that sense, dreams could be glimpses into the spiritual realm—a warning, if you will. Coincidence? No chance.

God was warning me that I must take authority before the issue enters my home (which in Scripture “houses” are symbolic for your spiritual state, your family, etc.). For me, it manifested physically. However, the fact that each time (in the dream and in reality) the bats were on my porch, outside my home, is a sign of caution. I hadn’t fully let it into my soul, but it was still there.

For years, I’ve spent time studying and researching dreams—not just for myself, but for others as well. I believe scripture supports the idea that dreams aren’t simply what modern science labels them as, which is just REM sleep where the brain processes emotions, memories, and experiences. While I believe there’s some truth to this, it’s not the whole picture.

SPIRITUALLY SENSITIVE STATES

The Bible offers many verses that suggest we are most spiritually sensitive to hearing from God—or even the enemy—when we are in vulnerable states. In my opinion, things like sickness, tiredness, hunger, and even PMS can put us in those vulnerable spots, allowing the enemy to find a foothold in our attitudes. I’m not sure if science has made the connection between hormone imbalance and spiritual sensitivity, but that’s a whole other Weird Wednesday topic we can dive into some other time.

Let’s take fasting, for example. Scripture indicates that when your body is vulnerable and in a state of starvation, the lines of communication with God become more open. We see this in Luke 4:2-13, when Jesus was in the desert, hungry and exhausted, and Satan came to tempt Him. This shows that not only are we physically sensitive in those moments, but spiritually as well. I also believe that we are spiritually sensitive during sleep, a time when God—and sometimes the enemy—can move. That’s why I always make sure to pray before bedtime.

What’s Sitting on Your Porch?

God has a way of getting our attention. Sometimes it’s through Scripture. Sometimes it’s through people. And sometimes, He places a literal sign right in front of you—like a bat on a porch. Question is, are you spiritually sensitive enough to see it?

This is just a glimpse of what I’ve studied about dreams, and I hope you take some time to think about it. Our reality is often stranger than we’d like to admit. But, isn’t it fun and exciting to dive into the weird—especially on Weird Wednesday?

Next week, I’ll dive into another dream series where we’ll explore dreams from the enemy and how to discern the difference.

What do you think? Have you ever had strange, symbolic dreams that you feel may have meaning?