Hearing God's Voice in DreamsA–Z symbolsWater in dreams
29 symbols · biblical meanings from Hearing God's Voice in Dreams by Apostle Nicholas V. Mbanjwa
Baptismal Water
A need to die to the old self.
✦ Positive: Death of the old self and life out of death; Public identification with Christ; A clean beginning
⚠ Warning: Refusing the water; Baptism sought as ritual without the death it signifies
Bathing in a River
Sanctification; God's spiritual cleansing and consecration.
✦ Positive: Being consecrated; Sanctification; Cleansing before service
⚠ Warning: A dark dream, mixed emotions, or dirty water, representing the entertaining of what will leave the dreamer vulnerable to spiritual attack
Boiling Water
Trouble, commotion — if boiling in your home it means trouble ahead for the family; if boiling in your house it means trouble coming against your life.
⚠ Warning: Trouble; Commotion; Family trouble (boiling in home); Personal trouble (boiling in house)
Crossing Water
A transition requiring courage and faith — a passage that demands a new mode of progression before the other side can be reached.
✦ Positive: A required transition; Leaving behind the old nature; A way made where there was none
⚠ Warning: Crossing raging water, representing trouble, testing and trial; Turning back at the water's edge
Dam
A retained old anointing or revelation that has been halted, immobile, or deadlocked; the need for a fresh anointing or revelation.
⚠ Warning: A stale, old anointing; Spiritual deadlock; Need for fresh revelation
Dark Water
A demonic trap or activity; familiar spirits — demons masquerading as dead relatives; or being followed by such spirits.
⚠ Warning: A demonic trap; Familiar spirits; Being followed by demonic spirits masquerading as dead relatives
The author cross-references chapter 11 of his book 'The Prophecy' for more detail.
Deep Waters
Words from the heart; words of wisdom.
✦ Positive: Deep, wise words from the heart
'The words of a person's mouth are like deep waters.' (Proverbs 18:4a)
Scripture: Proverbs 18:4
Dirty Water
God exposing a demonic attack planned against you; heresy or apostasy — false teaching or doctrine.
⚠ Warning: A demonic attack being exposed; False teaching or doctrine (heresy/apostasy)
Drowning
Being overwhelmed and swallowed by life's situations and troubles.
✦ Positive: Being lifted out of the water by another, representing deliverance the dreamer could not achieve alone
⚠ Warning: Being overpowered; Lacking control; Being in need of saving; Waters come in unto the soul
Ice
Coldness, hardness and indifference.
✦ Positive: Ice in water during heat, representing refreshing; The formation of ice as a display of God's power over creation
⚠ Warning: Coldness of heart and indifference; Ice melting under heat, representing weakness under pressure; A frozen environment, representing conditions hostile to life
Mud
The flesh; human struggle; living in sin.
✦ Positive: Jesus using mud to heal a blind man, representing God bringing healing out of what is unclean, and God's creative power; Being lifted out of the mire and set upon a rock
⚠ Warning: Human struggle and resistance; Demonic resistance; A sinful manner of life; The washed sow returning to her wallowing in the mire
Overflowing Stream
A source of wisdom.
✦ Positive: Wisdom flowing abundantly
'The fountain of wisdom is an overflowing stream.' (Proverbs 18:4b)
Scripture: Proverbs 18:4
Pool
A learning institution; an environment that allows growth and the gaining of experience.
✦ Positive: A clean pool, representing a good environment for learning, adapting and surviving; A pool troubled and then bringing healing, as at Bethesda
⚠ Warning: A dirty pool, representing an environment not conducive to learning or growth; Lying beside a pool for years without entering it
Rainwater
God's blessing; the outpouring of the Spirit; a refreshing, a new thing and growth.
✦ Positive: Blessing and outpouring; Refreshing after drought; Doctrine that drops as the rain
⚠ Warning: Destroying rain that brings chaos, representing demonic destruction; Rain withheld, representing a closed heaven
River
Being a source of refreshment for others — a teaching ministry; spiritual satisfaction; the gift of the Holy Spirit to a believer; any of the gifts of the Holy Spirit upon a believer.
✦ Positive: A refreshing teaching ministry; Spiritual satisfaction; The Holy Spirit's gifts flowing through you
Scripture: John 7:37-38; 1 Corinthians 12:8-10
Saltwater
About to experience an unpleasant experience or situation; bitterness.
⚠ Warning: An unpleasant situation coming; Bitterness
Sea and Ocean
The sea represents chaos, confusion and the world system; the ocean represents many peoples, tongues and nations, and expedition.
✦ Positive: God's abundant mercy, love, forgiveness and splendour, as depths that cannot be measured; A calling that reaches nations
⚠ Warning: Chaos and confusion; Fear and uncertainty; The troubling of many peoples
Shore
The boundary of divine order; standing on the shore and looking out to sea represents a vision involving nations, and transition.
✦ Positive: A place of being called into the unknown; A prophetic vision toward the nations; The place where the net is drawn in and the sorting is done
⚠ Warning: Standing on the shore unwilling to launch out; A boundary the dreamer will not cross
Springwater
Rejuvenation, revival, quickening, life-giving, refreshment, and renewal.
✦ Positive: Revival; Rejuvenation; Freshness; Renewal
The priests in Israel always used running water — it had to be fresh, never from a dam.
Stagnant Water
Spiritual emptiness, lifelessness, and human self-reliance.
✦ Positive: Stagnant water reached by the river from the sanctuary, representing what was dead being healed
⚠ Warning: Inability to respond to the Spirit's flow; Resistance to the work of grace; A supply that has stopped moving
Steam
Vanity; what soon disappears; hopelessness and distraction.
✦ Positive: God's creative power and control over the elements
⚠ Warning: Vanity and emptiness; Distraction; Smoke rising as of a great furnace, representing what is demonic
Swamp
A place where life cannot survive; desolation and ruin.
⚠ Warning: Being left to ruin; Desolation; Ground that the river did not reach
Tide
Recurring or cyclical seasons in life, indicated by how many tides the dreamer saw.
✦ Positive: A predictable cycle; A periodic change; Temporary uncertainty that will pass
⚠ Warning: Uncertainty and disturbance; A tide that comes in faster than the dreamer can move
Underwater
Being underwater at night, in a dark context, or seeing people underwater represents a warfare dream — dealing with a marine spirit or marine spirits.
✦ Positive: Being submerged and coming out on the other side, representing God making a way for the dreamer, deliverance, and being saved
⚠ Warning: Being overwhelmed and overcome; Marine spirits attempting to create a tie to the dreamer's destiny; A dark, night-time or gloomy underwater setting, representing the marine kingdom
Water
Spiritual life: the essence of the Holy Spirit, or His flow (John 7:37-39).
✦ Positive: The Holy Spirit and His flow (John 7:37-39); Cleansing and sanctification through the Word (John 17:17); Newness of life; The refreshing nourishment of God’s Word; Intimacy in marriage (Proverbs 5:15-18)
⚠ Warning: Water in a cistern: a need for a fresh spiritual experience; A dry river channel: a spiritually dried-up life; Fresh and salt water from one spring: a double tongue (James 3:11-12); Stolen water: temptation; A broken cistern: futility (Jeremiah 2:13)
Waterfall
Divine power, deep flows of the Holy Spirit, refreshing from God and spiritual renewal.
✦ Positive: Revival from above; A powerful and continuous supply; Renewal that the dreamer receives rather than produces
⚠ Warning: Deep calling unto deep at the noise of the waterspouts, where the sound of falling water pictures being overwhelmed — waves and billows going over the dreamer
Waves
Troubles, turbulence, tempest and chaos.
✦ Positive: Waves stayed or stilled, representing that God is in control and has set their bound
⚠ Warning: Chaos and trouble; Persecution; Unrest and distress; Being tossed and unable to settle
Well
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in an individual; eternal life; regeneration.
✦ Positive: The indwelling Holy Spirit; Eternal life; Regeneration
'The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.' (John 4:14)
Scripture: John 4:14
Whirlpool
Trials or overwhelming situations brought on by people, since waters represent peoples.
✦ Positive: Being drawn out of the whirlpool, representing rescue from what could not be escaped by effort
⚠ Warning: Trials and tribulations; Being swept away; Deep distress; A situation that keeps pulling the dreamer back