Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 490 | Most Misused: Philippians 4:13

Episode Date: September 16, 2021

Today we're adding to our "most misused" series with a discussion on Philippians 4:13. Many people use this verse almost like a good-luck charm when they are facing a challenge or test in life. But the true meaning of this verse is so much better than the self-affirming totem it often gets reduced to. By understanding the history and biblical context, we can find out what this greater meaning is. Then, to close out the week, we go through some listener voicemails about the recurring dreams of our audience. --- Today's Sponsors: Good Ranchers' product is 100% American. When you buy your steak & chicken from Good Ranchers, you're supporting American farms & getting ethically raised, sustainably sourced meat. Go to GoodRanchers.com/ALLIE & use code 'ALLIE' at checkout to get $20 off & free express shipping, or subscribe & save 20% on each box! Dwell is a Bible app, inspired by the psalmist's command that we must hide the Word of God in our hearts! They've hand-picked voices that will engage and inspire you with over a dozen new recordings of the Bible. Go to DwellApp.io/RELATABLE to get 10% off a yearly subscription or 33% off Dwell for life! Bambee can change HR from your biggest liability to your biggest strength. Your dedicated HR manager is available by phone, email, or real-time chat. Go to Bambee.com/ALLIE right now to schedule your free HR audit! --- Previous Episode Mentioned: Ep 402: Is KJV the Only Way? https://apple.co/3zg7XG6 --- Show Link: Founders Ministries Church Search: https://bit.ly/2YXR9XH --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.

We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Thursday. As promised, today we're doing a most misused. Our versus Philippians 413, I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Now, there is a lot going on in the news that I wanted to talk about. And quite honestly, I'm super overwhelmed with everything that I want to talk about when it comes to the corruption that we are seeing in many of our institutions when it comes to the so-called public health response to this virus. New things seem to be unfolding every day, new developments that are extremely disturbing. I think that I'm going to cover all of that on Monday. The reason I'm not talking about it today is because I promised to you guys a Theology Thursday. And honestly, I think that this is what we need. I think that this is a lot of what you guys need, what you said, that you would like to hear. So we're going to take a step back.

We're going to remember what's most important. And even though I think it's important to care about everything that's going on, we have to keep our perspective and we have to stay rooted in what is true. the realest reality, the biggest narrative, the truest narrative that is unfolding. Always without a hitch is God's eternal plan of redemption. And we get to read a lot about that and gain a lot of hope in that from reading and most importantly understanding his word. At the end of this episode, we're also going to play a few voicemails that I got from you guys about your dreams.

and maybe we'll also play an interpretation of the dreams that I said that I had been having on Monday. And I'm super excited about that. So this is the episode, even though we're not talking about anything that's going on. I really think this is the episode that we need right now. Like we need some biblical, eternal, unchanging truth. We also need some levity. And I listened to a little bit of one of the voicemails that you guys sent me and it was so good. I was cracking up and I know that you guys are going to love it. So all right, we've done several of these most misused. episodes in the past, we've done Jeremiah 29-11, for I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. We've done Micah 6-8, seek justice, love mercy.

Psalm 374, delight yourself in the Lord. He will give you the desires of your heart. Matthew 7-1, judge not, lest you be judged. If you search relatable, most misused, wherever you listen to your podcast, all of them should come up. So you can go listen to those previous episodes if you're curious. This is basically where I take a popular verse, a verse that's very often taken out of context and then misapplied and dig into the actual context of history and of scripture to see what the verse really means.

And every time what we find in doing this is that the true meaning of the verse is always so much better than the popular misapplication and misinterpretation of the verse. I actually can't believe that we haven't done Philippians 413 yet because it's one. one of the most commonly misused verses ever, especially within Christianity. So verses like Matthew 7-1, judge not lest you be judged, are not only misused by, you know, professing Christians, but it's also used and abused by non-Christians, especially typically while they're like judging the views of someone else on Twitter. But Philippians 413, I can do all things through him, Christ, who strengthens me, is one that you have probably

seen thrown around a lot in Christian schools at church camps and youth groups, especially when it comes to some kind of athletic competition. It usually is used to mean, I have this really difficult game in front of me or this big obstacle in front of me or a big goal that I want to reach, and Jesus is going to come help me win or overcome or accomplish that goal. And it's not necessarily that this verse can't ever be applied to those kinds of scenarios where you need immediate divine power to overcome what's in front of you, it's that using this verse as some sort of talisman or a good luck charm or a guarantee of success is wrong. It misses the point of the verse, which is far deeper and so much better than any sort of promise to reach your goals or win your

soccer game or pass to your test. Again, praying for those things and, you know, praying for the strength of Christ in those situations is not necessarily bad, but Philippians 413, it's not a good luck charm. So first things first, let's look at the context. When it comes to reading the Bible, context is king. We need to know a few things when we are looking at a verse. What does the rest of the chapter say? What does the rest of the book of this Bible say? To whom was this book of the Bible written and why? Is there any historical context that helps me understand what this verse is saying and then how do I read this in light of all of scripture? We also ask, what does this teach me about the character of God? What does this tell me about the

gospel? And how do those things apply to my life? Is there a sin that I need to repent of? Is there something I can take comfort in here? Is there a promise that I can cling to? Is there an action that I need to take that I read here? Is there a lie that I've realized that I now need to reject and replace with truth. And just a quick aside, before we get into this verse, I just want to say, like, we do not have to have seminary degrees to answer all of these questions and to understand God's word. You don't have to know everything about the Bible to do that. If you are new to reading scripture and maybe you're intimidated by it and you feel like maybe you just shouldn't read it because you don't even know where to start or maybe you feel dumb for not understanding

it, no, that is Satan lying to you. God has given you the capability. God has given you the capability, to understand his word through the power of His Holy Spirit. And this takes time. It takes diligence. It takes careful study. It takes prayer. It takes faithful teaching by people who love Jesus and his word. It takes reading the same verse and in the same chapter and book over and over and over again for decades and every time learning something new about the God who made us and who saved us. It is a process. God is faithful to begin that good work in you. He has, faithful to complete it as Philippians once it says. So you have got this with the power of the Holy Spirit. You've got this. My advice is to get an ESV study Bible. That's an English standard

version study Bible. I've talked about. I think I've done an episode on. I'll link it if I can find it the previous episode where I talked about why I like the English standard version. It is an amazing investment. It's a little bit of money to get that ESV Bible, but it's a great investment. And if you can also swing systematic theology by Wayne Grudom, that's a great supplement to your Bible reading. And then you take that ESV study Bible, you start in the book of John. Or if you just have a Bible lying around that maybe you haven't opened in a while, that'll work too. You don't have to get the ESV study Bible. Open to the book of John, read forward from there, then go back and start at the beginning. Read a chapter a day or even a verse a day. Really dig in. Ask God in other strong,

solid Christians around you for help join a Bible teaching church in your area. I will link a tool from founders ministries.org where you can find a local church. I will link that in the description of this episode. All right. I want to actually look now at this verse, Philippians 413, that I think is so rarely understood. And I am not pretending to be the arbiter of understanding and interpretation. but I do have the tools at my disposal, just as you do, to look at the context of what is happening here. Again, who's writing this? Why is he writing this? Who is he talking to here? What is the purpose? We can even look at some of the original Greek and really understand what this is saying. Hey, this is Steve Deast. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues

facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular.

This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this Steve Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. So first, I look at the commentary in my Bible when I want to understand a book of the Bible and a

particular verse. The ESV study Bible, like I said, was the one that I, is the one that I love. And the one that I used for about 10 years, that's my first study Bible. A friend in college gave it to me. I think when I was a sophomore in college and it was literally just torn apart. And so I wanted to change things up when I got a new Bible last year and I got the John McArthur, ESV study Bible. And I love it. I really do. I love his wisdom. I appreciate his wisdom. Got a little bit of eschatology than him. And so sometimes that colors the commentary, as is usual commentary we know, is not an errant like the word of God is, but it is still super helpful. And I just appreciate his wisdom so much. Honestly, though, I do sometimes miss my ESV study Bible just because that's what I'm

used to. And that's, it helped me so much grow in the faith when I was really starting to, when I was really starting to take Bible reading and studying seriously. But for this episode, I did use my commentary from the good old Johnny Mack. And so when we look at what his commentary and his analysis has to tell us about the book of Philippians and what it's all about, what we find is that Philippians is a letter written by the Apostle Paul to the church at Philippi, which was a Greek city. The Philippian church was actually the first church Paul established in Macedonia. Philippians is known as a prison epistle because it was a letter that Paul is believed to have written during his first imprisonment in Rome from about 60 to 62 AD, probably toward the end of that stint in prison, probably 61 AD. So Philippi was named after Philip II.

He was the father of Alexander the Great who conquered the region in 4th century BC. Philip did in 42 BC. Philippi became a Roman colony, and the people who lived there received Roman citizenship, which was a really big deal that came with a lot of rights and privileges. So the people of Philippi were very proud of this. They adopted Roman customs. Latin is their official language. They changed their city government to imitate Italian cities. Philippians are said to have really adopted this identity in a very proud way. So they put on this Roman citizenship. They put on their identity as Romans. So when Paul says in Philippians 320 that, hey, our citizenship is in heaven, he is likely speaking to that, reminding them that, you know, this is all well and good. Paul himself was a Roman citizen and exercise, some of the rights and privileges that he had with that. But he reminds them, hey, where you belong, where your identity ultimately comes from, what you place your hope in, and what you.

boast in? Is it here? It's not your citizenship on earth. It's your citizenship that's in heaven. It is the hope that you have in eternity because of Christ. There was a small Jewish population in Philippi to whom Paul shared, or with whom Paul shared the gospel. This is where Lydia, who was a very wealthy merchant converted to Christianity after hearing Paul's teaching, immediately the church suffered spiritual and political opposition, as we read in the book of Acts. They were seen as a threat in some ways to Roman power and identity because of that piece of citizenship elsewhere, citizenship in an eternal dwelling place. And yet, the Philippian Church, in the midst of that persecution, was faithful and was generous.

They supported Paul throughout his missionary journey, attending to his needs, however possible. So part of this letter to the Philippians while Paul is in jail is thanking them for their generosity. He also speaks to them about his circumstances in Rome and in prison. He urges them to remain unified in the gospel, to stay away from false teachings and teachers, and to remain steadfast and joyful and thankful in the Lord. The tone of this letter, even while he is in prison, is one of joy and one of gratitude, a very fatherly type love that we see from Paul, not just in this epistle, but also in other epistles of pride and expectation in the Philippians' faith in their

pursuit of Christ. And I mean pride, not in the negative sense, but in the positive sense, an exhorting kind of pride of thankful kind of pride that a father has in their child when they are emulating the Lord. He reminds the Philippian Church where they belong, ultimately to who they belong, why they are still there on earth, what they should be doing, what they should be looking forward to in heaven. And then after explaining all of this, we get to the last chapter of the book of Philippians, chapter four, which starts with this word therefore. Now you've probably heard if you grew up in church, when you see the word therefore, you ask, what is it therefore? And so that's what we're going to look at. Philippians 4-1 says this, quote, therefore, my brothers,

whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. So that therefore is in relation to all that he's just explained in the first three chapters about who they are and what their purpose and belonging and hope is in Christ. And now he's saying, in light of that gospel, in light of that good news, in light of who you are, remember and do these following things. So verses 2 through 3, these are obviously my words summarizing what he's saying. saying agree in the Lord with fellow believers for the sake of the gospel, even if you have disagreements.

Verses four through seven. Rejoice in the Lord always. You guys probably know these verses again. If you're familiar with the Bible and grew up in church or I've spent any amount of time in church, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. I won't sing the song that is now coming into my mind from my childhood. Just to spare you, spare you that.

Let your reasonableness be made known to everyone. And just as an aside, so many people today lack reason. We all, unfortunately, suspend our reason when we allow emotions to rule us. But surely, certainly, I should say that reasonableness is certainly not seen as a positive characteristic today or an important characteristic or Christ-like characteristic that we need to prioritize. It seems like many people, even within the church, have forgotten that that's an important characteristic. of a Christian. James 317 says the wisdom from above, so heavenly wisdom, wisdom from God is, it lists a number of qualities, but one of them is open to reason. It's open to logic to biblical truth, to factual truth, to scientific truth, to truthful persuasion. People who do not have the

wisdom from above are not open to reason. Verses six through seven of Philippians four say, don't be worried about anything. Paul says this in prison, not. knowing his imminent fate. It says, don't worry, don't be anxious about anything. And we see this repeated by Jesus over and over again in his ministry, knowing everything that was to come both soon when he was saying that and also for the millennia afterward. This verse says, don't be anxious about anything. But in everything, those are really big words. Don't be anxious about anything, anything at all, big, small, in the socio-political sphere, even in your personal life, don't be worried about anything. Yes, this covers it. Don't be worried about anything. But in everything,

everything, every single thing that you go through, every single thing that you find yourself concerned with, in everything by prayer and supplication. So making requests with thanksgiving, present your request to God and he will give you the peace that transcends your comprehension. And so even if you don't understand how things are going to work together, even if you don't understand how you're going to get through what's in front of you, God promises for Christians the peace that surpasses anything that your mental faculties can come up with to try to make sense of what's happening. Verses 8 through 9 in chapter 4, Philippians say to dwell on only that which is true and honorable and just and pure and lovely and commendable and excellent and praiseworthy.

there are certainly days and hours and minutes when I am not dwelling on these things. I'm fixing my mind only on the things that are worrisome. But God through Paul says, fix your mind your thoughts on all of these good things. And not only that, but verse 9 says to practice these things. And then there again in this verse is the promise of the presence of God and his peace. That's a worthy exchange, right? Like that's a pretty good deal for us. okay we dwell on good things we cease to worry we pray to god we give him our requests we lay our concerns before him and we thank him and in exchange we get the peace of god wow that's that's a really good deal that we get so in this first chunk of chapter four of philippians he is saying therefore

in light of the gospel and the hope that we have in jesus unifying truth and in love rejoicing god dwell on that which is good and right and true and in doing these things you will have peace a peace that transcends circumstance a peace that isn't predicated on what's to come but rather is dependent on the unwavering faithfulness of god then in this second part of chapter four paul thanks the philippians for their love and care uh for their concern is he is in prison in a time of apparent need but but he He says, yes, they met his needs. He seems to be in a dire situation in prison, but he says in verses 11 through 13, and this gets to the verse that we're talking about today, quote, not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. Again, we're just seeing such encompassing language here. In any, in every circumstance, I have. learn the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things, all things

through Him Christ, who strengthens me. Let's break that down just a little bit. So Paul, being persecuted for Christ in jail, knowing he will likely die for preaching the gospel in a situation that looks pretty darn destitute, is saying, no, I'm not in need. I'm not talking about being a need. I actually don't lack anything. Again, this is my paraphrasing, even though ostensibly, he lacks most things, but he says in whatever situation, whatever situation he is to be content, whatever situation, even here when maybe it seemed like his suffering and his punishment was unjust, even when his plans didn't seem to be coming to fruition in his mission work, even when he may have been struggling alone, maybe tempted at times towards hopelessness and despair

in a dank prison cell, even then he's to be content with where he is. Paul is saying that he has no needs and that he is to be okay and rejoice and dwell on good things even there. So let's do some etymology on this word content. It has its roots in the Latin word contentist, which means to be contained or satisfied. And I really, I really like that description of the word. The word literally means to be held or contained within limits. So when you think of the feeling or the state of contentment, that means your desires are contained within the limits of your current situation. They're not reaching into what you don't have. So it's like a jar filled with filled to the brim with water. The water perfectly fills the jar without overflowing. So our happiness, our joy, our satisfaction

we're reading here is to fill the parameters of our current circumstance. Without wondering, why me? Or I'd be happier if, or if only God would, or if this person would just do this thing, or this thing would finally happen. If it did, I'd be happy. Or if I wasn't going through this trial, if I found the right person, if I got the right job, if I conceived a child finally, if I lost the weight I want to lose, if the state of America were just better, if our leaders just got it together, if all of these terrible things weren't happening, both politically and personally, if I just had the life that she had, then I would be content. That's not contentment.

That's not what we're called to. We don't see Paul saying here, if I were free, if I were not in jail, if I weren't being persecuted, if I didn't face imminent danger, if I actually knew what was going to happen to me, if I actually knew when I was going to die, we actually see in Philippians 1 that he has torn between wanting to die and be with Christ and wanting to stay on earth and fulfill his mission work and continue sharing the gospel, he doesn't say if I just knew what was going to happen, then I would finally be content, or if I got more gifts and more aid from the other churches and from the Philippian church, then I would finally be satisfied. He says, nope, I'm not even talking

about being in need, because I have learned how to be content in whatever circumstance. So the mentality of the Christian, Paul is saying, is not predicated on what does or does not happen to us at all. Not on our accomplishments. Our failures, our popularity, our mood, our hormones. How many times do we use that as an excuse to not be content in what's happening to us? The happy things that happen to us are the sad and unfair things that happen to us. It's not dependent on who's in office or the state of the country. man, I have to remind myself with that every day. It is dependent on one thing and one thing alone.

We read here. And that is Christ in his strength. As our verse of the day, Philippians 413 says, which does not waver. It doesn't change. It doesn't diminish. His strength doesn't depend on our strength. It's not circumstantial or conditional. It became yours when by grace through faith, you are made alive in Christ. Your sins were forgiven and you became a new creation and a child. of God. So right now, you have the Holy Spirit inside you. A co-equal person in the Godhead, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. 1 Corinthians 619 says, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are bought with the price. So glorify God with your body. The chapter goes on saying, Jesus says that this Holy Spirit is our helper.

John 1426. But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. So the Spirit is our helper, our teacher who helps us remember Jesus's words. And Jesus tells us that he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. And Jesus tells us, he promises us that we will have trouble, but take heart because he's overcome the world. So when we read in Philippians 413 that his strength will allow us to do anything that God wants us to do, that's what he is talking about. He is talking about the strength to be content, to be joyful, to rejoice in all kinds of terrible situations. It's not dependent on anything that's happening to us. It's not dependent on

any mood that we have or any way we wake up one more. or anything that anyone says to us. It is dependent on the unconditional, unchanging, unadminishing strength of Christ who promises us in Romans 8 that we are going to be, that we are right now more than conquerors, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, that all things work together for the good of those who love him.

That is what Philippians 413 is talking about. Philippians 413 is talking about a strength that surpasses any kind of obstacle that may be in front of us. And I'm going to talk a little bit more about it in just one second. So Jesus's strength allows us to be content in every situation. That doesn't mean that we don't care about things that are going on. That doesn't mean that we don't have a responsibility to make the plot of Earth that he has placed us on, this speck of eternity that he's placed this on better. Of course, it is our responsibility in loving God and loving our neighbor and seeking the welfare of those around us. That's something that we talked

about in the most misused Jeremiah 29-11 episode. Yes, all of those things are good stewardship. Of the time that we have, the resources that we have, it's part of caring for the least of these. That's why we talk about such what I think are very important subjects on this podcast, as we have said before politics matter because policy matters because people matter because politics affect policy and policy affects people. I think all of those things matter. So we have to balance. We have to not ignore politics because they have an effect on people whom we are called to care for in love. We has an effect on our country that we are called to seek the welfare of. But we also can't idolize politics. We also can't allow that to rob us of the contentment that is our,

in Christ. Being content and praying for the strength to be content is also making sure that we are obeying the commandment against coveting. Not being content is coveting something else that, you know, you don't have, which of course is what coveting means. So it's wanting maybe you're not satisfied with your schedule. So it's wanting more time or you're wanting more money or you're wanting another job that is coveting something that you don't have, even if you're not specifically thinking about someone else's possessions that is still coveting and God calls us against that, that robs us of our peace that he desperately wants us to have, that gives us anxiety, that gives us insecurity, it gives us this kind of self-obsession that doesn't

lend itself to a Christ-like and peaceful life. First Timothy 6-3 through 7 says this, says, if anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth. I love that play on words. Imagining that godliness This is a means of gain, but godliness with contentment is a great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world.

I probably could have just given you those last two verses, but I love that whole paragraph in 1 Timothy chapter 6. But these last two verses say again, but godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world. our life here is relatively in relative in relation to eternity it is very short we take nothing into the world when we are born we are dependent on other people for everything we will take nothing out of the world and so as Jesus says we don't store up treasures on earth we store up treasures in heaven we seek first his righteousness his kingdom knowing all of the

things that we need will be added unto us as we talked about, I think it was last week when we were talking about anxiety and how Jesus warns us against anxiety and exhorts us to trust in the Lord. He reminds us that not even a sparrow falls out of the sky apart from the will of the father and two sparrows are sold for a penny. So how much more does he care about us who are made in his image, his children, who have been bought with a price by the blood of Jesus Christ? Don't we believe that he is going to meet all of our needs in accordance to his will. That doesn't mean hard things aren't going to happen.

There doesn't mean that there won't be situations like Paul's situation where it seems like we're in desperate need when we're lacking the things that we need. However, what Philippians 413 reminds us is that what we actually need in those situations is not maybe what the world thinks that we need or what it looks like we need. We actually need Christ's strength to remain content, to remain joyful in all situations. So using Philippians 413 to say that you want God's strength to accomplish what's right in front of you is not necessarily always wrong. Again, as long as you're not using it as some kind of promise of personal success or promise of a particular outcome that you want in this athletic event or this test or this job interview, whatever it is, he is saying, look, I'm going to sustain you in any and every circumstance. And look, I'll give you peace.

dwell on the things that I'm telling you to dwell on, practice the things that I'm telling you to practice, believe in hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you will have peace, and you will have strength to sustain you. That's a much better. That's a much better realization. That's a much better truth than just saying, okay, Jesus is promising that I'm going to, you know, win my baseball game. It's much bigger than that. It's much more eternal than that. It's much more satisfying than that again, like reading scripture and understanding what is meant in all of these verses is so much more satisfying and contentment producing than simply reading the scripture to say, okay, what do I want this to mean and what does this mean to me? We don't ask, what does this mean to me?

Primarily, what we ask first is what does this mean? And then we look for proper application in light of all of scripture. There's a lot more that we could say about, this verse. I'm sure that there is a lot of awesome commentary out there, but I hope that it gives you some encouragement and maybe some clarity on this verse and on this book. All right, before we're going to play a couple. I think we have time. I'm going to play a couple voicemails from you guys, which just crack me up. All right. Now we're going to get into a couple or a few of those voicemails. The first one is telling me about a repetitive dream that this person had.

And I'm really excited from the description. I'm super excited to actually hear it. So let's go ahead and play it. Hey, Allie. Rachel here from Denver, Colorado. I never miss your podcast. And I just love it so much. Thanks for all you do.

I'm calling to tell you about a recurring dream that I had every single. year from when I was eight years old until I was 19 years old, but only on one night of the year, and that was Halloween. So every Halloween, I would go to sleep, and this is my dream. I grew up with a chihuahua named Toby. He was a very obese chihuahua. He was very cute. And so we would let him out to go to the bathroom.

And in the dream, I let him out. And then a couple minutes later, I go to let him back in. gone. And so I go outside in the yard and I call his name, Toby, Toby, you can't find them. And I'm starting to panic. I look up and the moon is full like a classic Halloween moon. And the clouds go over it really creepy. And then all of a sudden, the streets that I live on is deserted. It's on a hill. I hear a tricycle squeaking coming up the hill. And I look in the distance and there's a witch driving up with honor and tricycle and she has Toby in her arm and she says the classic I'll get you my pretty and

so I stand there panic and all the sudden I realize that my arm is weighted down and I look to my arm and I have the classic like 80s 90s Halloween bucket full of candy you know with the jackal lantern the orange bucket and it's full of candy and then she tells me that to get Toby back I need to give her a candy. Well, I say no. And then I wake up. And as an adult, this dream sounds very funny, but as a child, it was very scary. So I have this dream. Okay. Okay, there are a couple things. Well, one thing I do not believe. I do not believe that you are from Denver. I hear that Southern accent girl. That is South Carolina, Georgia, maybe some parts of Texas, maybe Alabama. out there is no way that you're originally from Denver, Colorado, girl.

But oh my gosh, your dream was adorable and very detailed. Very detailed. I think it got kind of cut off at the end there. But the fact that you kind of have this like Wizard of Oz slash, I don't know, maybe like hocus pocus type thing going on. I can't tell you exactly. what it actually means, except for maybe that you had a fear that your dog, your obese dog, Toby, would be taken from you. And maybe that was a serious concern that you had and that

there was, you know, some kind of fear of the unknown happening there. I think it probably is a little bit more obvious than any kind of profound. interpretation that I could give you if it was on Halloween every year. I guess you were thinking about witches and I don't know. Did you watch the Wizard of Odds? Because like you've got this whole like Toto thing going on. And then it's combined with trick or treating. And so I guess it's just that. I guess it's just the time of year. You probably loved your dog. Maybe the candy had to do something with the fact that your dog was obese and you knew deep down that you're a little chihuahua probably needed to be on a diet. Maybe that was part of it. I am curious to know why it kind of just

stopped. I guess when you moved out of your house or maybe when you stopped going trick-or-treating, you no longer had this nightmare. It's a nightmare. Let's not call it a dream. That's a nightmare. Rachel, thank you so much for sending us your dream. That gave me a good laugh. And I need you to tell the audience, though, if you ever call back or you message me on Instagram, where you're actually from. If you're from Denver, Colorado, and Denver, Colorado has people with a southern draw like that, then I just must not understand. I must not understand where certain states are in the union and how people are in certain areas of the country. I need to know where you're actually from.

All right. Let's play the next dream. Hi, Allie. This is Katie. I'm from Southern Missouri. Love your podcast. This is my response to your dream interpretation request. So I'm going to say that your dreams of being pregnant and flying are actually connected.

So I hate to break it to you, but I think that you are actually living in an alternate reality. One day you are going to wake up from whatever trance or dream that you're in right now as a human, when you wake up, you're going to find out that you are actually a stork. Yes, a stork. and all you've been doing your whole life is delivering babies. They're basically like living in the world of Dumbo, and you don't even know it right now because you haven't woken up yet from these two dreams. So, Allie, you're a stork, you're delivering babies, and you're not actually a real person.

Oh, right. I'm opening up your line to share it, and I can't wait to hear these stories. Super fun. Have it today. Bye. You know, I think that that is exactly, I think that's exactly what it is. I think that I am actually a stork. And I am actually delivering babies.

I think that that goes together perfectly. You know, I never really thought about that. It's a little bit inception like that apparently when I'm dreaming, it's like a dream within a dream, maybe like even within another dream. And if storks have dreams and then I wake up and I remember when I was a human, what's that going to be? be like, anyway, I really appreciate that very profound and apt interpretation of my dream. I think that you're exactly correct. So if one day I stopped doing this podcast, it's because I have turned into, I reverted to my real self, a stork that's delivering babies.

All right. Do we have another dream? Well, listen to your podcast and high school. And in the dream, I can't understand why I'm back in high school. I'm always a senior in the dream. And in the dream, I'm trying to figure out why I didn't get my high school. school degree, but at the same time, the second back in high school, but in this dream, I'm fear in my dream, and I realize, oh, my goodness, there's these two or three classes.

And I'm really stressing. I'm in my 30s. It's very interesting that I have these two recurring dreams about high school. I think maybe your dream about pregnancy is kind of the same thing. Maybe it's just fear of not being in control or fear of, anyway, thank you so much for yes. Okay, so a ton of people, a ton of people have this dream. My husband used to have this dream. I was just talking to my team before this and they were saying that they've had that dream too. I have never had that dream where I'm supposed to be graduating or I'm supposed to finish school and I don't have, I didn't finish a class. Now, I actually remember literally having that fear when I was in college that maybe I didn't complete all of my credits somehow, but that didn't happen. Maybe I didn't care enough about school to care whether or not I really graduated. But I hear that a lot. And I, I wonder if you have that dream when you're stressed about something else, if you're stressed about

work or if there's some other kind of pressure on you. I wonder if it's a little bit also people have like imposter syndrome that I'm not really qualified for the thing that I'm doing. People are going to find out that I'm not really qualified for the thing that I'm doing that I don't have the proper credentials. Maybe it's something like that or you feel like there are other things in life that you don't know if they're going to come together, if you're going to be able to complete them. I absolutely think that you are correct that it is similar to my pregnancy dream that I dreamed, as I said, I think it was on Monday, that I dreamed that I am like 36 weeks pregnant or I'm in labor and I never realized that I was pregnant and I don't even have an OB and I'm like giving birth at home

where I'm like trying to text someone to ask if they'll be my doctor. I've had that recurring dream. And so I do think it's similar. It's like you get to the end of something and you are not prepared for it or you don't know what's to come. I think that's probably just like an adult fear. So I don't think it's surprising that you're still having that in your 30s. I think it's probably though maybe something else that's going on in your life that you're worried that you're not going to be able to fulfill or complete or do well or something like that. A lot of people, a lot of people have that dream.

Like I said, my husband used to have it all the time, and I guess it stopped. So hopefully it's just seasonal. Maybe you won't have that dream anymore. All right. That's all I have time for today. Thank you guys so much for sending in your voicemails. I would love. We got so many of them.

I would love to play all of them. Unfortunately, we don't have time. But if we do another dream specific segment, I will try to play some of the voicemails that you guys sent. Maybe I'll do this every week. if you guys like it, like I'll ask for a particular type of voicemail on Monday. And then on Thursday, you guys, I'll play some of them. Thank you guys so much for listening. I hope you have a great weekend. We will be back here on Monday. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Alley, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're

moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principle. faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this T-Day Show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts.

I hope you'll join us.