Are Nightmares Spiritual Attacks?
Sep 07, 2026Summary
Have you ever wondered, are nightmares spiritual attacks? When you or your children wake up in the middle of the night with a racing heart, paralyzed by irrational fear, or feeling completely trapped, it is a terrifying and exhausting experience. You desperately want to know how to protect your sleep, stop the midnight torment, and reclaim the peace of your home.
You are in the exact right place! In this deeply comforting episode of the Arise Women of God podcast, host Tamara K. Anderson is joined by counseling student and author Tiffany Fletcher to tackle the reality of nocturnal warfare. Discover why the adversary loves to target our sleep to instill fear, and learn exactly what to do the second you wake up from a bad dream. We dive into 2 Timothy 1:7 to remind you that God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind!
Tiffany also shares her brilliant "gratitude reset" technique to physically change the neural pathways in your brain and stop a midnight spiral of anger or resentment. Plus, we answer the ultimate question: how do you know if it was an actual spiritual attack or just the spicy pizza you ate before bed? Tune in to learn how to use the mighty name of Jesus Christ to cast out darkness and invite ministering angels to shield your bedroom today!
Episode Takeaways
- The Midnight Vulnerability: The adversary loves to target our sleep because it is a time when our guard is down and we feel like we cannot fight back. Anything that steals your peace and leaves you feeling trapped or hopeless is not from God.
- Cast Out & Call for Angels: The moment you wake up from a terrifying dream, do not lay there entertaining the dread! Immediately pray, cast Satan's influence out by name, and ask Heavenly Father to dispatch angels to surround your bed.
- The Gratitude Reset: If the enemy uses a dream to make you wake up angry or jealous toward your spouse, do not take the bait. Put your head back on the pillow and start counting your blessings! Gratitude physically changes the neural pathways in your brain, shifting you out of fight-or-flight mode.
- The Pizza vs. Adversary Rule: How do you know if a nightmare was a spiritual attack or just the spicy pizza you ate before bed? It doesn't matter! Whether it was physical stress or spiritual warfare, the remedy is exactly the same: cast the adversary out and pray for peace. It never hurts to cast him out!
Free Resource: A Woman's Guide to Spiritual Warfare
Get our free A Mother's Spiritual Defense Guide: 6 Empowering Steps to Fortify Home & Family downloadable pdf here: https://www.womenwarriorsoflight.com/A-Mothers-Spiritual-Defense-Guide
Reflection Questions
- When you or your children wake up from a nightmare, do you brush it off, or do you actively use the name of Jesus Christ to cast out the spirit of fear?
- How can you implement the "Gratitude Reset" the next time you wake up feeling irritable or anxious in the middle of the night?
- Read Proverbs 3:24 and Psalm 4:8. How can speaking these verses aloud before bed change the spiritual atmosphere of your bedroom?
Host & Guest
Tamara K. Anderson @tamarakanderson
Tiffany Fletcher @tiffnyfletcher
Transcript
Tamara K Anderson
00:00:01.040 - 00:02:24.090
Hey, my friend, have you ever wondered, are nightmares actually spiritual attacks? Because you or your children wake up in the middle of the night with a racing heart or perhaps paralyzed by irrational fear.
This can be a terrifying and exhausting situation. And maybe you want to know how to protect your sleep and stop the torment.
Well, take heart because by the end of today's episode, you will know how to discern when a dream is an adversarial attack attack. How to use a gratitude reset to calm your brain, and how our Savior Jesus Christ can shield your bedroom so that your sleep is sweet. Stay tuned.
Ordinary women extraordinary faith. When God calls, we say yes. Hello, and welcome back to the Arise Women of God podcast. I'm your host, Tamara K. Anderson.
And joining me today is the wonderful Tiffany Fletcher. Tiffany is a counseling student getting her master's, an author, wife, and mother who helps women replace fear with Christ's light.
And I'm so thankful she's here with us today to talk about are nightmares actually spiritual attacks? Because Tiffany has the spiritual gift of dreams, so it'll be great to have her perspective on this.
Here's what we're going to tackle on today's episode. First, Tiffany will talk about the midnight vulnerability and why the adversary targets our sleep and how to cast him out immediately.
Second, I will talk about inviting God in as a shield and what the scriptures teach us about nocturnal warfare and claiming sweet sleep. Third, Tiffany will share about the power and neuroscience of counting our blessings at bedtime.
And finally, Tiffany will conclude with talking about second guessing our dreams as she shares the pizza versus the adversary rule. But let's begin with Tiffany explaining why dreams are a primary target for the enemy. Our nightmares, spiritual attacks. What do you think, Tiffany?
Tiffany Fletcher
00:02:24.730 - 00:02:47.010
Absolutely.
I think that anything that pulls us from our peace and from Heavenly Father, I feel like it's probably the adversary trying to mess with us because that's just something that he does. He wants us to be miserable like he, like he is.
And if he can get us in our dreams while we're sleeping and we're feeling like we can't fight back, then of course he's going to try.
Tamara K Anderson
00:02:47.810 - 00:02:53.890
So what do you do when you wake up with a nightmare? Like, how do you handle that?
Tiffany Fletcher
00:02:54.210 - 00:03:56.970
Anytime I wake up with a nightmare, I always, always, always say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father to cast Satan out. Like by name and in the name of Jesus Christ, I, I know that it's from him and I absolutely 100% just pray to cast Satan out.
Like, for example, I, I don't know what it is about me. But Satan is really good about trying to make me feel like I'm trapped.
Like he will give me those nightmares where I feel like I'm in my marriage or trapped in school because I'm going to graduate school right now, or trapped as a mother or trapped it like just anything. Like I feel like, oh, you are trapped and you can't get out.
As soon as I feel that feeling, I know a hundred percent that it's Satan trying to get me to feel that way.
And so I immediately say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father to cast Satan's influence out in the name of Jesus Christ and to send angels to surround me and to help me and to help me feel his spirit so that I can go back to sleep. And every single time, every, every, every, every time it works, as I cast Satan out, those nightmares go away and I have peace. And it's incredible.
Tamara K Anderson
00:03:57.530 - 00:06:03.740
I love what Tiffany said. Anything that steals your peace and leaves you feeling trapped or hopeless is not from God.
In 2nd Timothy 1:7, Scripture declares, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but the spirit of power and of love and of and of a sound mind. If a nightmare leaves you paralyzed by a spirit of fear, that fear did not originate with your heavenly father.
Look at what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2:1:3. He did have a terrifying night vision that left his spirit deeply troubled and broke his sleep.
The adversary loves to bring confusion in the dark, but God holds holds the power to untangle the darkness and give understanding. And the prophet Daniel was able to help bring peace to King Nebuchadnezzar with the interpretation of that dream.
God has given us incredible scriptural promises for our sleep. But we must actively invite him in to guard us and protect us. Proverbs 3:24 says, when thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid.
Yea, thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet. Psalm 4, 8 says, I will lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou, Lord only makes me dwell in safety.
As you go to bed each night, invite the Lord to be with you and angels to protect you. You can even speak these verses aloud as you establish an invisible shield of protection over your bed. God is so good and answers those prayers.
Now what do you do when you wake up in the middle of the night feeling angry, jealous or overwhelmed by what you just dreamed? Let's listen to Tiffany share her brilliant gratitude technique.
Tiffany Fletcher
00:06:04.090 - 00:07:36.140
Like sometimes Satan, when I was first married, he would put thoughts into my mind about My husband, like, and. And it's always like, jealousy thoughts, like, right.
Like he was, like, going out with my sister or he's doing, you know, something like, you know, like, I don't know what it was that. These jealous thoughts, and. Because then it would tie to my emotions, right? And then my emotions would be, like, so angry, and I'd be like.
My husband would wake up and be like, I didn't even do anything, and you're mad at me. I know, but in my dream, it was awful, you know, And. And so what I've learned that respect is I start seeing present gratitude.
Like, I'll put my head on the pillow, and I'll be like, heavenly Father, I'm grateful that my husband is this, like, in those trapped feelings, how many. Father, I'm grateful for a home. I'm grateful for a job. I'm grateful for kids. I'm grateful for family. I'm grateful for finances.
I'm grateful for all the things.
And when you are in that moment of gratitude, like, if you're just sending out those gratitude prayers, like just head on the pillow, just instead of counting sheep, you're counting your blessings kind of thing, like, I'm going to school now for therapy. And gratitude actually changes the neural pathways in your brain. Did you know that?
It doesn't just change your feelings, but it changes your mindset and your brain. And so it makes all the difference.
And so when you are struggling and having those nightmares, praying and casting Satan out first of all, and praying for angels to be with you and the spirit to be with you are key. But then filling yourself up with light, and that gratitude is the easiest thing that you can do with your head on the pillow.
And I promise you, it makes all the difference. Difference. I just testify that it. It works.
Tamara K Anderson
00:07:36.460 - 00:08:19.840
That tool is pure gold, my friends. The enemy loves using dreams to plant seeds of resentment, suspicion, or fear against the people we love most.
If you wake up irritable with your spouse or kids because of a dream, don't take the bait. Recognize the counterfeit and cast him out in the name of Jesus Christ and immediately speak three things you love about them.
Now, you might be asking Tamara, how do I know if a nightmare is an actual spiritual attack or if it was just this spicy pizza I ate before bed? Let's head back to Tiffany for the ultimate answer to that question.
Tiffany Fletcher
00:08:20.720 - 00:09:17.830
I think that sometimes we question, well, maybe it's just me. Maybe it's just I ate some pizza for dinner and it didn't set well with me. You know, Maybe or whatever.
But the fact is is if you're having a nightmare, it does. Like what does it hurt to cast Satan out? Whether it's you or whether it's Satan, it's making you uncomfortable.
And so praying to cast Satan out, no matter what nightmare it is, in the name of Jesus Christ and praying for those angels to be with you and to strengthen you, it's just going to strengthen you. We can't cast Satan out enough. He is like a roaring lion. So it's going to take multiple times. So if you're having nightmares, just cast him out.
Who cares if it was the pizza that you ate? Maybe Satan's using the pizza to prey on you. I don't know. But what I'm saying is that it doesn't matter if you're having a nightmare.
Cast Satan's influence out. Use gratitude to get back to sleep. It works every time.
Tamara K Anderson
00:09:18.390 - 00:11:27.860
So whether a nightmare comes from physical stress or spiritual warfare, the remedy is exactly the same.
Now for those of you who suffer from post traumatic stress stress, remember to also take the additional step of finding someone who can help you work through that so that you can heal through the power of Jesus Christ and not have those stressful recurring dreams.
It takes both the physical doing and work and the spiritual healing through Christ, but you can get there now if you want practical step by step tools to help you dedicate your home, pray over your children's bedrooms and stop spiritual attacks at night. We at Women warriors of Light made our complete digital guide available to you for free. Pretty great, huh?
Down in the show notes below, I invite you to click the link to grab your copy of a mother's spiritual defense guide 6 Empowering Steps to Fortify Home and Family.
Once you get it, turn straight to the Home Sanctuary Audit where you'll get step by step instructions so that you can notice where Satan is intruding into your home and then follow that up with the Cast out the Adversary Word for Word prayer script. Download your free copy today on our website and reclaim your peaceful sleep.
My dear sister, God designed your sleep to be sweet, restorative and safe. You do not have to dread the night hours. Cling to our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
Invite his presence into your room and rest in the assurance that he who watches over your home neither slumbers nor sleeps. Thanks for joining us today and until next time, may you arise and do it God's way. God Strong.
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