12. The McCauley Dream Checklist
This is a personal checklist I created based on Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians,
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the
Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you
may know him better. I pray that the eyes of
your heart may be enlightened in order that
you may know the hope to which he has
called you, the riches of his glorious
inheritance in his holy people, and his
incomparably great power for us who
believe. [1]
For me the checklist provides a consistency and an accountability to the interpretative process. It helps me stop cutting corners.
The McCauley Dream Checklist
The Dream Setting/Backstory
The Dream Scripture
The Problem
The Dreamer’s Metron
The Message
God’s Purpose
Satan’s Purpose
Dreamer’s Eyes Enlightened
Dreamer’s Response and Application
Know God Better
The Dream Process.
The Usual Suspects
Takeaways
The Dream Setting/Backstory: Every dream typically arrives in the middle of a character’s story and usually carries the answer to a problem. The Dream Setting/Backstory provides a context for the dream and allows us to get an idea of what’s going on.
Understanding the Context of the dream helps us get a better sense of what’s occurring in the bigger picture.
Context refers to the surrounding background circumstances and the specific environment or situation the dreamer finds himself in. This enables us to grasp an overview of the situation and its meaning and how the dream fits in.
The Dream Scripture: The dream scripture is our main focus. It also usually includes a sense of context. It always contains the dream, the dreamer and their response. Sometimes the dream is immediately understood and applied. Other times it requires interpretation. Sometimes it is a simple message about a simple situation, other times it can be very complex with a whole world impact
The Problem: God’s dreams tend to answer and deal with problems that threaten to derail His greater plans and purpose. Often the dreamer knows nothing about the problem. Usually it’s a case of God taking the initiative and intervening in the dreamer’s life and circumstances in order to both care for the dreamer and to advance God’s Own Kingdom Agenda.
In all the Bible dreams God is regularly shown as The Great Trouble Shooter. Psalm 46 says,
God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth
give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the
sea.[2]
The Dreamer’s Metron: The dreamer’s metron also adds context to the dream. Metron refers to the dreamer’s level of authority and sphere of influence. God always sends His dream to a credible person who is in a position to either share the dream or implement the dream’s instruction.
For example Pharaoh’s Cupbearer was totally unable to promote Joseph to a high position in Egypt but his metron allowed him to introduce Joseph to Pharaoh who did in fact have the metron to promote Joseph to the position God had intended for him.
The Message: The dream message is whatever communication God wants to give the dreamer in order to advance God’s plans and purpose.
Many times it is clear and simple and can be taken literally. Other times it may be cryptic and symbolic and require interpretation, occasionally by an angel.
It’s also possible the dreamer will not understand the dream. Sometimes they just have to get on with their lives. After Daniel’s ‘Ram, Goat and Little Horn’ Dream the prophet said,
I, Daniel, was worn out. I lay exhausted for
several days. Then I got up and went about
the king’s business. I was appalled by the
vision; it was beyond understanding. [3]
Other times the dream message can be implemented immediately like St Joseph instantly taking Mary and Jesus to a place of safety. With other dreams it can take years like Joseph with Pharaoh and sometimes like Daniel’s dream it has to be sealed up for the distant future. [4]
God’s Purpose: God who sustains all things by his powerful word, including billions of people, billions of planets and billions of galaxies, does nothing without purpose.[5]
Paul said God’s mysterious purpose is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. [6]
He also spoke of God’s ongoing purpose which is,
Through the church, the manifold wisdom of
God should be made known to the rulers and
authorities in the heavenly realms,
according to the eternal purpose that He
accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. [7]
God’s four main purposes for Bible dreams were,
1. To demonstrate His dominion over all the powers and principalities.
2. To encourage and guide His Covenant People with specific directions for their well-being and the safety of their seed line.
3. To prevent people and kings from harming His Covenant People and their seed line and to provide for His Covenant People and their seed line.
4. To encourage and help His New Testament Covenant People carry out the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.
Satan’s Purpose: Jesus said, Satan comes only to steal and kill and destroy [8]. He also told Peter, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat [9] and Peter told us all to,
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. [10]
Satan’s main mission is to thwart God's plans and purpose for humanity’s redemption. As regards God’s dreams Satan’s primary focus was to destroy the Royal seed line of the woman so the Messiah could not come forth.
Today he still works to kill as many people as possible before they can come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and take their rightful place in God's kingdom.
The proper interpretation and application of a dream from God always harms Satan’s kingdom.
Dreamer’s Eyes Enlightened: This focuses us to examine just how much the dreamer comprehends God’s message and to what extent they understand what God required of them.
Dreamer’s Response and Application: This allows us to see the dreamer’s heart concerning their conformity to God’s will and their obedience in doing God’s will. The vast majority of dreamers are immediately obedient to God’s will. One notable exception was Solomon whose longterm disobedience was tragic for Israel.
Know God Better: This section enables us to see God in action and to understand what’s really important to Him. We also get to see His various attributes in action as He deals with His beloved Covenant people, the powers and principalities, humanity and His Only Beloved Son.
We were all born to know God. The purpose of all revelation is to know Him better. [11] Dreams are a main way God reveals His plans and purpose. Yet after a zillion years, when Satan has been defeated and the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, [12] our primary goal will still be to know Him better.
The Dream Process: In the dream process we consider the nuts and bolts of the dream in order to seek for meaning and an interpretation. We ask who, what, where and when questions like, Who is it for? What does it concern? When will it happen? What weight does it carry? Is it of individual or national importance or does it have a spiritual impact through eons of time?
Is it literal or symbolic? Does it require interpretation? Does is contain, God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, angels etc. Does it contain a warning, an encouragement, directions or rebuke?
Usually we also consider the significance of various objects within the dream. For example in Nebuchadnezzar’s Large Statue Dream we might try to figure out the importance and meaning of the head made of pure gold, the chest and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of bronze, the legs of iron and the feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.
We’d certainly want to know what the rock not cut by human hands symbolised.
The Usual Suspects: This is a category I included for my own entertainment. God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit are all over the Bible often hidden in plain sight. Many of us are like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. [13] We often can’t join the dots up.
Satan is also all over the place trying to hinder God’s plans. In this section I peek for evidence of God, Jesus, Holy Spirit and Satan in the dream.
Takeaways: Takaways are lessons, applications, key points revelations and so on that I especially feel are worth noting and remembering as regards the dream.
1 Ephesians 1:17-19
2 Psalm 46:1-2
3 Ephesians 3:6
4 Hebrews 1:3
5 Hebrews 1:3
6 Ephesians 3:6
7 Ephesians 3:10
8 John 10:10
9 Luke 22:31
10 1 Peter 5:8
11 Ephesians 1:17
12 Revelation 11:15
13 Luke 24:13-35