How To Keep Track of Dreams

2 “Write down the revelation
and make it plain on tablets
so that a herald may run with it.
3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
it speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
it will certainly come and will not delay.

Habakuk 2:2-3

I quote this passage often when talking about what to do with dreams. It’s important to write your dreams down because often the meaning isn’t instantly clear. Often, the meaning takes years to understand.

I’m guilty of being a “microwave Christian.” I want to understand what God is saying right now or I want to move on. But God doesn’t operate at 1100 watts. He has no one-button popcorn setting. When He speaks, sometimes the fulfillment outlives us. That means we need to have a method to capture and recall the precious moments God reaches down from heaven to speak to us.

 

USING BLOGGER AS A PERSONAL DREAM JOURNAL

When I moved away from bound journals I went looking for something that would be secure, hard to lose and easy to search. That led me to Google’s Blogger service. Most people use it to publish their thoughts for the world to see, but it’s a great journal application too. I’ll show you here how to set it up so that you’re the only person who will ever see the content you write in it. That means you can write your dreams and visions down and search and recall them later when you feel the need to read or distribute them.

1.  LOG IN

If you don’t already have a Blogger account, go to Blogger.com and create one. If you already have a Gmail account, all you have to do is sign in with it.

2.  NEW PRIVATE BLOG

Create a new blog by clicking on the “Create New Blog” button in the main blogger page and give it a name. I prefer something with “Personal Journal” so I don’t get it confused with a public blog I may have on Blogger. Make sure to give it a unique name on blotspot.com and click “Create.”

3.  BASIC SETTINGS

Now click on the new blog’s title and you’ll end up on a screen like this. Click “Settings.” Under the “Basic” settings, find “Blog Readers.” This is where you can restrict your blog to become a private blog where only you can view it.

Choose Basic Settings

Choose “Only these readers” from the “Blog Readers” section under Basic Settings. Make sure the field says “No readers” like above.

4.  MORE SETTINGS

You should now have a private blog. There are other settings like “Posts and Comments,” “Search Preferences” and “Other” that you should visit and disable everything that could possibly distribute your personal journal across the web, but the above steps should keep anyone from seeing your personal journal.

I can’t stress this enough, though. Your dream journal should be personal. You need the freedom to write what happens to people as you see it in the dream. Trust me, I have had enough dreams about other people where I WOULD NOT want them to see what I wrote about them in my journal. I need the freedom to write it how I remember it and then later seek the Lord on how to relay the message, if at all. Many times I don’t ever relay the message, I just pray, but I certainly don’t want someone Googling their name and finding my personal dream journal entry about them. My wife is the only other soul who has access to my dream journals.

5.  ENABLING EMAIL SETTINGS

Being able to email straight to your blog is a big plus. It means you can always have easy access to posting a dream. 90% of the battle with dreams is being able to write them down immediately after you wake up from them. If you have to go log in, create a new post, etc. etc. you’ll probably lose interest. I always have a laptop or iPhone handy near my bed to immediately create an email and send it to the blog that night. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!

 

That should get you set up and ready to go with using Blogger as your journal for dreams, visions or anything else for that matter. The thing that’s great about Blogger is that you can search any time you want! You can log in and tag your articles for easy discovery later.

I use a system where I tag all my dreams with “dreams”, and all my Bible notes with the book of the Bible, like “Genesis.” It’s easy to come up with your own system that works for you.

And if you’re a little paranoid (like I am) of keeping all your precious dreams in the cloud for Google to lose, remember to copy and paste everything every so often and print it out and save some hard copies. Google may not be around forever but your dreams need to be!

Sound off in the comments if this is helpful to you or if you use another system for this.