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SYLVIA - Does satan have power over our dreams?
JOEL - Satan's power is limited. He can do only what he has specific permission from God to do (D&C 121:4; Luke 8:30-33) and he only has as much power over us as we give him when we succumb to his temptations while we are awake or asleep.
Joseph Smith "observed that Satan was generally blamed for the evils which we did, but if he was the cause of all our wickedness, men could not be condemned. The devil could not compel mankind to do evil; all was voluntary. Those who resisted the Spirit of God, would be liable to be led into temptation, and then the association of heaven would be withdrawn from those who refused to be made partakers of such great glory. (See Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 187).
The prophet Joel said:
"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions"(Joel 2:28).
If we strive to live a righteous life, dreams are one way that God can use to communicate His will and doctrine to us as in the example of the dream Lehi had (1 Nep 8) or when Joseph was warned in a dream to flee with Mary and Jesus into Egypt.(Matt 2: 12-14)
I haven't heard much from church leaders about Satan's influence on our dreams. I guess the question is can we really give Satan power over us during our dreams? I think this is mostly something that is predetermined by ourselves during our waking hours. If during our waking hours we allow Satan to control our thoughts or succumb to his temptations, he can possibly have some influence over us while we sleep. But even for a righteous person I believe Satan can invade our dreams at times to further tempt and depress us as we sleep. However as Joseph Smith said to Levi Hancock who had had a terrible dream, "I have had dreams as bad as you ever had. You do as I now tell you to and you will come out all right...the Comforter would comfort the mind of man when asleep." (Journal of Levi Ward Hancock, p. 75; Andrus, They Knew, p. 19.)
If we have the Holy Ghost with us we will always recognize that such dreams are Satan's attempts to weaken us and with help from the Comforter we will pay no attention to them, perhaps even while we are still in the dream and we will say "Get thee behind me Satan" (Luke 4:8)
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