Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Follow Your Dreams | Chelsea Haynes | Joshua 1:8-9

Episode Date: January 28, 2022

Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Can following your dreams be part of obedience to God? Maybe so. Are you on the right track to following your dreams? In today's episode, Chelsea Haynes, TV Host at FOX 2 in St. Louis, uses Joshua 1:8-9 to share a 3-part formula to following your dreams according to God's word. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Passages: Joshua 1:8-9 Related episode: Why You Should Go After What You Want Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. And I'm Patrick Miller. Today, you get to hear from a friend of mine named Chelsea Haynes. Chelsea hosts a lifestyle television show on Fox 2 in St. Louis. She's fun. She's smart.

Here's Chelsea. So I'm inviting you all to come on a journey with me today. And if it's safe to do so, I'm going to ask you to use your hands. raise your right hand if you consider yourself strong whatever that means to you strength whether mental strength physical strength emotional strength go ahead raise your right hand if you think you're strong now go ahead and raise your hand or your other hand if you think you're courageous and i really hope that we all think we're strong and courageous and if we're not strong and courageous it's okay hopefully by the end of this podcast, you'll think you have both strength and courage.

And while sometimes we may think we're strong or courageous, we really must look to our creator to see if we actually fit into his idea of strength and courage. Today I'll be sharing another one of my favorite verses and how it ties into me following my dreams. Not only did I follow my dreams, but I followed my dreams according to what God's word said. I didn't follow them according to what Chelsea wanted to do, but I was able to utilize God's will and God's plan and his blueprint for my life. And I saw it manifest in the flesh. I'm here today on this podcast because I was able to follow my dreams. Growing up, I knew that God wanted me to use my voice to encourage and to empower people. And I'm able to say that,

I'm done that. I'm doing that. And I do it every day as a TV talk show host in a top 25 TV market at a number one station in St. Louis, Missouri, a gift that God so pleasantly wrapped up for me and gave to me at the age of 24. And I say that humbly, because the position that I'm in is nothing but God. and all of my praise goes to him. And there really is a blueprint when it comes to following your dreams because he did it for me and whatever your heart desires, he can do it for you as well, as long as it lines up with his plan for you. And it all goes back to one particular story in the Bible where God has planted a seed of a dream in a people, an entire body, an entire population, and only two got to see the promise.

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all of the laws my servant Moses gave to you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this book of the law always on your lips. Meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous. and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. That's Joshua chapter 1,

verse 7 through 9. Moments ago, I asked you if you thought you were strong or if you thought you were courageous. And the difference between Joshua and Caleb, the two people who saw the promised land, the land that was promised to Abraham and his descendants was their strength and obedience and their courage in God's word. And perhaps you haven't seen your dreams fulfilled because of your misalignment of your strength or the misalignment of your courage. Where does your strength come from? Where does your courage lie? Following God's word in spite of what natural circumstances say is part one of a three-part formula that I want to share with you today. Part one is following with strength and obedience and courage in God's word. I just wrapped up studying in the book of

Joshua. The Lord kept pressing on my heart to read it, read it, read it, not just the first chapter where that famous verse lies about strength and courage. And I noticed that God kept telling Joshua, be strong, be courageous, have no fear, walk into the promised land. But all of this strength was rooted and obeying God's word. Joshua of chapter 1, verse 8 says, keep this book of the law on your lips and meditate on it day and night so that you might be careful

to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. God is literally giving his people the cheat code right there. Meditate on his word day and night and follow it because when you do, you will be successful. Real strength is in following God's word,

even when the world says it's not cool. Strength is standing. on his word, even when you're on an island by yourself. It's humbling yourself and acknowledging that I know I can't do this on my own. And God, I need your help. It's putting your pride aside and being obedient to what he's telling you to do. And trust me, I am preaching to myself when I am sharing my heart on this. The promised land or the dream is something that God has already promised to you so long ago. He promised it to you. He promised it to me. He promised it to me. He promised it to Abraham. And then that promise was carried down to Moses, who never saw the promise because

he was disobedient. And that disobedience that I'm referring to is when the Israelites were in the wilderness, didn't have water. God told Moses to speak to the rock and it will pour out water. But Moses didn't speak to the rock. Moses struck the rock. He didn't follow what God told him to do because he didn't have the confidence or the courage in God's word. And most importantly, he was not obedient. The reason that previous generation never saw the promised land of God's dream and will for them was because they decided to do things their way. And I keep talking about the promise land. What is the promised land? Where was the promise land? Who did it belong to? Well, the promised land is God's dream for all of his people. And God wants his dreams for you to become

dreams for yourself, signs sealed and delivered from heaven. And as I continue to study this and spend time with it, I was reminded of God's word to the prophet Jeremiah. A couple of verses you may know. For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plants to give you a hope and a future. Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5 says, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. These verses continue to affirm that God already knows his dreams for you. He knows the dreams he has set for you, but have you actually checked in with God to see if your dreams for your life align with dreams that he has for you? Because that's part two of the equation. Making sure that when you

approach your dreams with strength and courage, the strength and courage God wanted Joshua to have is that they are the right dreams, the dreams that God has spoken over your life, making sure that those dreams are a priority. Because when you spend time with God, he can show you your skills and your talents, your strengths and your weaknesses, your spiritual gifts. He highlights them. He hones them. He crafts them and cultivates them so that you can walk in alignment with what he has already planned and map out for you. And then you will continue to grow and bloom and blossom in your relationship with him. And your dreams begin to morph into the plans that he has for your life because all you'll want to do is make God proud. So part two of the formula, the blue,

blueprint for walking and strength and courage like God commanded us is to be able to discern where your dreams are actually coming from. And that, quite frankly, comes from spending a lot of quiet time and prayer and devotion and opening up your spiritual ears to see what God has to say to you. And that takes discipline and it's hard, but you have to do it. Because the more time you spend with God, the more you'll be able to put confidence in His Word. And the the more you'll be able to find your strength and obedience to what he's telling you. And last but certainly not least, part three of the equation is allowing God's will to be done. You have to allow God's will to be done.

Regardless of what you want to happen, God's will will always be done. He knows the outcome of your life, the choices you make, the decisions you choose. There's a quote that I like and it says, God has already factored in our students. stupidity when it comes to his plans for our life. And he has. So will you be like the generation who never saw the promised land, a generation who didn't find their strength and their courage in God's word by being obedient? Or will you be like the two who see the dream come to fruition? The Joshua's and Caleb's of this next generation who understand just how important following the right dreams are, the God-given dreams. God tells Joshua, or he acts him really, in Joshua

chapter 1, verse 9, have I not commanded you be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged, for I will be with you wherever you go. And God tells Joshua this because he knows that the road won't be easy, even when you arrive to the dream. He says in the first chapter to Joshua, or when they arrive to the promised land, he then experiences a series of wars and battles just to make sure the promised land is even safe for them to enjoy. Because even when you get to the promise, it won't be a piece of cake or a walk in a park. But if you can trust God before the blessing, before the promise, it'll be even easier to trust him when the blessing is already yours.

Because God is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. So if you can trust him before the dream comes to pass, you can be sure to trust him once the dream is in your fingertips. That's the blueprint. Finding your strength in obedience and courage in God's word. Be strong, be courageous, because that's God's command for our life. That's one of my favorite Bible verses. So I challenge you all today. Be strong and courageous. Don't be terrified. Don't be discouraged because the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating.

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