Water in a dream

Biblical meaning from Hearing God's Voice in Dreams by Apostle Nicholas V. Mbanjwa

Also: Water in a dream, Clean water, Flowing water, Drinking water, Sweet water, Stolen water

What it means

Spiritual life: the essence of the Holy Spirit, or His flow (John 7:37-39).

Running or flowing clean water: cleansing, purification and sanctification through God’s Word (John 17:17).

Being immersed and then coming out of the water in a dream full of light: newness of life (Romans 6:4).

Drinking sweet water in a colourful dream of joy or peace: the refreshing nourishment of God’s Word.

Water held in a cistern: a need for a fresh spiritual experience.

A broken cistern: futility (Jeremiah 2:13).

A river channel with no water: a spiritually dried-up life.

Fresh and salt water from the same spring: inconsistent speech, a double tongue (James 3:11-12).

Stolen water: temptation; illicit water (Proverbs 9:17).

A cistern in a dream about marriage: intimacy (Proverbs 5:15-18).

Many waters: a lot of people, tongues and nations (Revelation 17:15).

✦ When it is 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)

⚠ When it is a 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)

How to tell the difference

Note whether the water was flowing or held still, clean or not, sweet or salty, and whether it was yours or stolen. The atmosphere matters too: drinking sweet water in a colourful dream of joy or peace is nourishment from the Word. In a dream about marriage, a cistern speaks of intimacy. For a specific body of water see River, Well, Sea and Ocean, Dirty Water or Stagnant Water.

Scripture

³⁷Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! ³⁸He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” ³⁹But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified.
John 7:37-39 (WEB)

Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.
John 17:17 (WEB)

“For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut out cisterns for themselves: broken cisterns that can’t hold water.
Jeremiah 2:13 (WEB)

¹¹Does a spring send out from the same opening fresh and bitter water? ¹²Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh water.
James 3:11-12 (WEB)

¹⁵Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well. ¹⁶Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares? ¹⁷Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you. ¹⁸Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
Proverbs 5:15-18 (WEB)

See also: Romans 6:4; Proverbs 9:17; Revelation 17:15; Revelation 22:17