"Dream Power" -- the book by Dr. Ann Faraday is out of print now, but it was a very influencial book back in the seventies and it primary premise was that dream work would indeed have an effect on the waking personality and being.

I've had a number of Spiritual Experiences in my dreams and I would have to say that I could not imagine how their influence could slop over and influence my Waking Reality.

In cases of Euphoric Dreams, the feeling of well being follows one throughout the day.

In dreams which provide a Moral Epiphany then the benefit arises from having incorporated a new and beneficial moral insight.

And in Dreams of Spiritual Initiation, where Chakras and Power Centers are opened up, I have found that they stay open well after waking. A Dream Guru once told me that just a few seconds of Dream Meditation is worth thousands of hours of Waking Meditation, and I have found that to be true. Now, some practicianers of various forms of Mass Media Useless Meditation have written in and complained that they had tried their Form of Meditation in a Dream and got nothing. Well, duh. If one practices a form of Meditation where a thousand hours of Waking Practice will achieve nothing... But with all of the well established forms of Kundalini or Chi Meditation, a few moments of practice in a dream are amazing. Here, check out this one particular Essay from a series of Essays on Lucid Dream, this one applying specifically to Meditation: http://www.sawka.com/spiritwatch/inductio.htm

Then there are Dreams which affirm some Divine Consolation, Revelation or assurances of Divine Sponsorship. If God comes to one in a Dream, through the agency of some Magnificent Angel as usually occurs, then it is almost bound to have a lasting influence. The best instances of this are with people who have had Near Death Experiences of a Religious nature -- they become quite altared by their Experience. Having a Dream of equal caliber is rare, but not unheard of.