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In this episode of In Touch Podcast, we continue our journey through the transformative power of faith by examining the compelling narrative of Joseph. Despite facing rejection, false accusations, and imprisonment, Joseph's commitment to his faith served as an unshakable foundation. We analyze the pivotal moments of his life, drawing parallels to our experiences and discovering the profound impact faith can have when we focus on divine promises. This episode is an in-depth look at the strength derived from aligning our faith with steadfast beliefs.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, January 10th. Today's podcast continues encouraging us to move forward by faith with a look at the life of Joseph. His example teaches us to follow the Lord even when things are going disastrously wrong.
SPEAKER 02 :
If you really want God's best in your life, then you will learn to live by faith. I mean living not by your feelings, not by sight, not by the opinion of others, but learning to live by trusting in God moment by moment, day by day. Now, all of us trust him to some degree, but I think most of us would probably have to admit that there are times when we find ourselves wavering in our faith. James warns us about that in James, the first chapter, if you'll turn there for a moment. And you'll recall he uses our desire for wisdom as an example, and he says in verse 5, "'But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.'" But let him ask in faith without any doubting. For the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord. Being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. That is when you and I... are seeking the Lord, are asking for his direction, and we're believing him. If we say, well, yes, that is what God's saying. Well, no, I'm not sure. Well, I think that's what he said. Well, when I was praying, that's what I felt. Well, yesterday I believed that, but today, no, I don't believe that. In fact, the truth is I'm not sure what I believe. Well, he says that kind of a person can expect to get nothing from God because God doesn't respond to that kind of faith. So the very purpose of this series, entitled Forward by Faith, is this. That you and I will learn the principles by which God operates in our life. Remember what he said concerning Moses. That Moses learned the ways of God. We want to know how does God operate in our life. And so the title of this message is Faith's Fixed Focus. You say, well, now what do you mean by that? Simply this. When we talk about faith's fixed focus, a fixed focus is the directing of our attention and our faith toward a specific object and holding it there. And for the believer, our fixed focus is God, none other than God. Now, I mentioned to you before that the five men in the Old Testament that most influenced my life were Abraham and then Joseph and Moses and David and Daniel. Well, we've talked about Abraham, the call of faith. And today, Joseph, faith's fixed focus. Now, my friend, listen carefully. If you will listen to the principles in this passage of Scripture and apply them to your heart, you cannot be the same. And I want to say to you parents how very important it is that you instruct your children in these simple principles. And I want to say to all of you who are teenagers, If you will take these simple principles and let God just rivet them into your spirit, God will protect you. He will guide you. He will bless you in ways that you're not going to be blessed if you ignore and neglect these simple principles. So what I would like to do is to take the life of Joseph and interpret his life in the light of this truth, that Joseph was a young man beginning as a teenager, who fixed his faith on God. So let's look at the life of Joseph in the light of this. And the first thing I want us to notice here, and what we're going to do, if you will turn to the 37th chapter of Genesis, we're really going 37 through 50, but I just want to hit a few verses here and there. And let me just give you a little background here. You'll recall that there was Abraham, Isaac, and And so Joseph is one of those sons of Jacob. And this chapter, beginning in 37 through the rest of the book of Genesis, 37 through 50, really is about the life of Joseph. And there's some of the richest truths in the Old Testament found in this man's life. And you will recall, let's begin in verse 31. Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had sojourned, in the land of Canaan. These are the records of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when 17 years of age, was pastoring the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report about them to their father. Now Israel, that is Jacob, God changed his name, loved Joseph more than all his sons because he was the son of his old age and he made him a very colored tunic. And you and I know that as the coat of many colors. And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers. And so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms. And then to make it worse, then Joseph had a dream. And when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. So I want to begin this whole idea of faith's fixed focus as lived out by Joseph to talk about the foundation of that faith. And it begins like this. It begins with the instruction of his father. Remember now that Jacob certainly heard his father Isaac talk about all the things that his grandfather, that is Abraham had told him, had God had said to him and revealed himself to him and said, I'm going to bless you. And I'm going to bless all the nations of the earth through you. I'm going to give you a land. Wasn't conditional. I'm going to give you this land. And he says, your seed shall inherit it forever. So as Abraham passed on to Isaac and Isaac passed on to Jacob, these rich truths, these things that God had shared with him, certainly Jacob told and shared and instructed Joseph in these things. Not only that, but there came a time in his own life when he was around a teenager that on one occasion he had two dreams. Now usually the Bible teaches us that when God tells us two things about the same thing, to undergird the same thing, it's his way of assuring us this is going to happen. And so the Bible says that on one occasion that Joseph was speaking with his family and he said, I want to tell you about these two dreams I had. And one of these dreams, you'll recall in this 37th chapter, he says he was out in the field with them. They were binding sheaths and his sheath stood straight up and all the other sheaths bowed down. Well, you can imagine what his brothers thought. Yeah, you're talking about pride. And so then to make it even worse, he said, well, let me tell you this other dream I had. The other dream I had, he said, was that the sun and the moon and the 11 stars, he says, all of these bowed down to me. Well, when his father heard that, he really rebuked him because he says, you mean to tell me that even your parents are going to bow down to you? And so you can imagine what kind of tension and hostility and resentment and anger was built up in this family. And here's Joseph just doing what he believes the Lord would have him to do. And he's followed the instruction of his father. He's learned to be disciplined. He has a relationship with God. It's probably a very childlike relationship at that time. But Joseph knows... that he has heard two dreams and both of these dreams said the same thing. And in essence, that one day he would be in a position of authority over his family. Well, with that in mind, you can see how God began to work in his life as a teenager. And I want to say to all of you young people who are here today, don't underestimate God's desire for nor his efforts at speaking to you very, very early in life, one way or the other. Now, Joseph, as a young man, set his focus upon God. He learned it at the knee of his father, and he learned it as a revelation from God that one day, somehow, in some fashion, for some reason, he would be in a place of authority. Now, what I want us to see here, I want us to see how... This fixed focus on God took him through tribulations and trials and difficulties. That is the power of our faith when it is fixed upon God. So here's what happens. The Bible says one day his father sent him out to find his brothers. And when they saw him coming, they decided this is our opportunity to get our revenge. And so we're going to kill him. So they plotted to kill him. They threw him in a pit and finally made a decision to sell him as a slave to some Midianites and Ishmaelites that were coming that way to a caravan on their way to Egypt. And so they brought him out of the pit and they decided to sell him for 20 pieces of silver, which was not a very good price. But after all, he was a teenager, somewhere around the age of 17, 18, somewhere thereabouts. So I want to say, first of all, when you and I learn to fix our faith and to focus our faith on God and realize that we're not to trust in ourselves, we're not to trust in other people, we're not to trust in things, we're not to trust in money, materials, we're not to trust in experience and friends, we're to put our trust in God and God alone, fixing our faith, focusing on Him and steadying our faith upon Him. That will sustain us through all kinds of rejection and division and hostility and anger and resentment. And oftentimes our response is, God, if you were God, you wouldn't be letting me go through this. I don't deserve this, Lord. I've trusted you these years of my life. If you were God, you wouldn't be letting me do this. That is not a faith that is fixed upon God. That is a faith that, listen, has moved its focus from the Father down to the circumstances. Joseph teaches us that when our faith is fixed upon God, it will sustain us through all kinds of hardship because he fixed his faith upon God. God sustained him through that. There's no evidence that he was revengeful toward his brothers, that he hated them, that he was resentful. He didn't even try to escape. He was their victim. He was absolutely helpless and hopeless. And they sold him like a slave. The second thing I want you to notice about his life is this, that his faith in God, his fixed focus upon the Father, sustained him in a time of slavery. Now, remember this, because I'm coming back to it. What we find is this teenage boy bound in chains, iron chains, on his way to Egypt as a slave. Now, look at this. His family rejects him, and now he's put up on the slave block and sold for 20 pieces of silver. When he gets to Egypt, the Bible says that the captain of Pharaoh's guard, that is Potiphar, purchases this Hebrew teenager off the slave block and puts him in his home. As I go through here, I'm going to bring you back to a few verses. Don't miss any of it. The principles... true of Joseph are the same principles God is working in the lives of people today if they will let him do it. He's not going to force you. So here's what happens. Next thing we see, we see Joseph as a slave. He's a teenage slave boy in Potiphar's household. You know what Joseph decided when he got to Potiphar's household? I'm going to be the best slave in Egypt. How did I know that? Here's how I know it. Look, if you will, and turn over to the 39th chapter of Genesis. The Bible says in verse 1, Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. And the Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. Now his master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. So you know what he did? The Bible says it wasn't very long in a short period of time that Potiphar said, I'll tell you what. Joseph, I'm going to turn over the management of all of my household and all of my circumstances to you. And the Bible says that the only thing, look at this, in verse 6, so he left everything he owned in Joseph's charge and with him, there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate. Which means that the only thing that... Potiphar was concerned about is when he went in and sat down at the table, he wanted a good meal. That was his only concern. He had such confidence in this slave, this Hebrew slave boy, that his finances, the management of his home, his estate, everything he had was under the control of Joseph. Why do you think it was? I'll tell you why. Because Joseph fixed his faith upon Almighty God. He recalled what his father had taught him. He remembered what God had said to him in the dreams. And so no matter what was going on, here he was a slave. He decided to be the best slave he could possibly be. And before long, Potiphar turned everything in his household over to him. Now, I want to say this to you who may be parents and you who are young people. Listen to me carefully. If you're wise, you will teach your children. Don't look at your circumstances. Wherever you are, give it your best. You say, I'm waiting for a break. Joseph didn't wait for a break. The truth is, he never got a break until he got the break. And so it was in those times as a slave when he decided, I'm going to be the best slave in Egypt. What was it that sustained him as a slave boy brought to Egypt in irons, bought by Potiphar himself, put into his house as a slave boy? Now, let me tell you something, friend. He didn't start out being the manager. As a Hebrew slave, he probably had one of the lowest forms of manual labor possible. You know what got Potiphar's attention? His attitude. There was something about Joseph that attracted him to Joseph. There was something about Joseph's calmness and assurance and confidence as a slave. He had many slaves, but none like Joseph. And the reason is, the Bible says, the Lord was with Joseph. Let me ask you a question. Do you want the Lord to be with you in whatever you're doing? Do you want to be able to say, and the Lord was with me? Then you must be submissive to God wherever he's put you, not complaining, not moaning, not groaning, and just thank God that at this moment, wherever I am, I'm going to be the best that I can be in whatever God has called me to be. It may not be as good as someone else. That's not the issue. The issue is, am I doing the best at what God has called me to do? Well, in Potiphar's household, he had become the manager of everything. The Bible says that Potiphar had a wife and that Joseph was a very handsome man, handsome in form and appearance. And we certainly know that he was beautiful in his spirit. And so the Bible says that she began to watch Joseph and look at him. And if you'll notice how it's described in verse 7, it came about that after these events... After he'd been there long enough to have gotten Potiphar's attention and Potiphar put everything in his hands. Now look at this. And he has put all that he owns in my charge. There is no greater, no one greater in this house than I. And he has withheld nothing from me except you because you're his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God? Not I will not, I cannot. You know why he could not? Because he fixed his faith in God, and he knew that any such violation of the principles of Scripture would do what? Would drive him to some sideline area in his life, and eventually he would miss God's what? God's promise that one day he would stand in authority. So he says, I cannot do it. The next verse says, and it came about as she spoke to Joseph day after day that he did not listen to her to lie beside her to be with her. Now, you know the story. The Bible says that on one occasion she decided she wouldn't lie with him and he said no. She got his cloak and she began to scream and holler and accused him of trying, as the Bible says, to make sport with her or to lie with her. It's interesting the Bible says that Potiphar, in verse 20, so Joseph's master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in the jail. I cannot help but believe that Potiphar had a very difficult time doing that. No trial, no questions, threw him in prison. Remember, he wasn't put in prison for two years, no good probation, no. in a dungeon in Egypt, no air condition, I guarantee you, in a dungeon in Egypt, and what happens? Here's a man whose faith was so fixed upon the heavenly father that it sustained him through a family that hated him, sustained him through a period of slavery, sustained him through a period of intense temptation, and sustained him through an unjust and accusation that resulted in throwing him in prison. He didn't deserve it, but he had no recourse, no trial, no lawyer, none of that, into a dungeon in prison. Joseph would have had lots of human reasons for saying, well, this is where being moral and trusting God has gotten me. Rejection from my family, sold the slave block for 20 pieces of silver, falsely accused by Potiphar's wife. And now I'm in a dungeon in prison, probably for the rest of my life, which probably would not have been long, living in a dungeon. And that's what his faith and his obedience got him. Oh, that's not what he said. Because you see, Joseph fixed his faith on Jehovah God.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to Faith's Fixed Focus. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
Discover the transformative principle of learning to be content in all situations as discussed in today's podcast. Charles Stanley delves into the profound implications of Philippians chapter 4, explaining Paul's wisdom on finding true contentment and inner peace amidst life's chaos. This episode is an invitation to understand and apply the biblical approach to bringing God's unlimited power into personal struggles, enabling listeners to emerge stronger, more resilient, and deeply fulfilled.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, January 31st. Does your life resemble a roller coaster? Well, the good news is we don't have to be at the mercy of circumstances. Today, you'll hear a simple principle from the Bible that can help you overcome the ups and downs of life.
SPEAKER 02 :
I'm afraid that for most of us and most Christians, the idea of living a roller coaster up and down life, off and on, hot and cold, in and out, has been accepted as the normal Christian life. This is just the normal Christian life. But I don't believe that's what Jesus taught. It's certainly not what the Apostle Paul taught. It is not the teaching of the Word of God. Does this mean that somehow we'll be able to stretch it all out and balance it all out? No. Does it mean that things will ultimately get better? No. Could get worse. But you see, here's the difference between the believer and the unbeliever, that you and I have tapped into the inexhaustible resource of a supernatural somebody who is God in the person of Jesus Christ to make it possible for us to live in the midst of these ever-changing circumstances without that. So Paul says, here's the secret. So I want to say, first of all, that overcoming these ups and downs of life is a learning process. Paul said it was true for him. It's true for us. Secondly, it is a learning process that will ultimately lead us to peace and contentment in our life when we learn to respond in the right fashion. And the apostle Paul is saying, I've learned the secret. He says the secret is very simple. In fact, it's so simple, most folks are going to just trip right over it. So I want to give you that as a little warning right now that when I show you and when I share with you what Paul is saying, don't say, oh, It can't be that simple. Let me ask you a question. Why would God want to make it hard? Why would God want to make it difficult? It's amazing to me how many principles people think they've tried because they've heard. Listen, because you've heard something doesn't mean you've applied it. And because you've applied it once doesn't mean it works or it doesn't work. Listen, there are many spiritual lessons that we go through over and over and over again before we really grasp the truth. Because we listen to them against the grid of our own thinking. Well, you know, I know some folks who've tried that. That's mind over matter. That's just confession. And, you know, life just isn't that simple. You don't know my circumstances. You don't know where I'm coming from. And if you lived in what I lived in, if you'd been where I'd been, and you'd faced what I faced, then you wouldn't say it's so simple. Well, you don't know what I faced. You don't know where I've been. And you don't know what God's had to work in my own life. But I can tell you this, that Philippians chapter 4, Verses 10 through 13. And what I want to share with you today, I'm here to tell you it works. The reason I know it works is that God has thrown me in the fire enough in my life that I know it works. And he had to bring me to the place where I had to say, God, it looks like my circumstance is not going to change. No matter what I do and how hard I try, they're not going to change. And so I had to come to the conclusion of God, all right, if you never change anything, if nothing ever changes and the circumstances remain the same, it's okay. It's all right. And that's what Paul is talking about. Writing out of a prison, he says, I want to tell you, it works. Now, what is it? Well, look, if you will, to what he says again. I want to keep reading these verses because I want you to get familiar with the idea. Listen. Verse 11. Not that I speak from want, for I've learned to be content in whatever circumstance I am. I know how to get along with humble means. I also know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance, I've learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. Now, how many of you can say this? I'm content with being weak. I'm content when I'm insulted. I'm content when I am rejected. I'm content when I'm falsely accused. I'm content when I'm persecuted. I'm content when I'm misunderstood. I'm content when I don't have all my desires fulfilled. I'm content when I don't have all my needs met. Can you say that? Listen to what Paul says now. Verse 13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Look at that. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Now, I want you to see what he does not say. He does not say I can do all things. Paul would never boast of that. This sounds like a very arrogant statement, especially when in his own epistle in Romans chapter 12, you remember what Paul said in the 12th chapter? He said, for through the grace given to me, I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That sounds rather prideful and arrogant to me. Then you recall what Jesus said. He said, apart from me, you can do nothing. Paul says, I can, he says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Now, is Paul just boasting or is he giving us a secret? Here's the secret. The secret to facing all of those up and down ever-changing circumstances of life is this. I want to just state it and then I want to explain it. Here's the secret. Learning to bring God's power into my weakness. That's the whole key. Learning to bring God's power into my weakness enables me to be content and With weaknesses, persecutions, insults, trials, difficulties, hardships, rejection, bringing God's power into my weakness. Now, I want you to learn a simple little phrase that's right here in the scripture. You can't miss it. Here is probably one of the simplest and most profound secrets, principles to be learned in the whole Christian life. It's four words. I can through Christ. Now, that's very simple. Here's what Paul says. We can bring the power of God into our ever-changing circumstances that seem to absolute overwhelm us and defeat us. He says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And to narrow it down, the whole key here is I can through Christ. Now, what is he saying? Here's what he's saying. Remember, before Jesus left, he said to his apostles, it is expedient for you that I go away. But if I go, I'll send the Holy Spirit. He'll be in you, with you, and upon you. So the Holy Spirit is living within us. And Jesus Christ is residing within you and me through the Holy Spirit. He says, I'm abiding in you and you're in me. So we have the life of Christ within us. Absolutely essential for everything that God wants for our lives. And here's the key. Bringing God's power into my weakness enables me to function out of the power of God, not out of my weakness. And what Paul is saying in this passage here, that his presence in us enables equals His power through us. His presence in us equals His power through us. His presence in us equals His power for us. His presence within our personality means His power for our problems. Paul said, I have learned this simple principle. I can through Christ. That is based on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, whereby we receive him as our personal savior and whereby he begins to live his life in us. We begin to respond to life circumstances on the base of truth, not on the basis of my feelings. Listen, we learn to respond to life circumstances based on the truth. What is the truth? The truth is that Christ is living within us. The truth is that God intervenes, that God releases His power in you and me to face every single circumstance of life, no exception. The promise is that God will enable you and me in our deepest, most trying times, when we feel the very weakest in our life. When we think that God we cannot handle anymore, he says that we have the privilege of bringing God's supernatural power into our weakness. And the moment we bring his power into our weakness, God enables us to face, to stand, to be quiet, to be true, to be strong, to be established. to be patient, to be confident, to be bold, to be conquering, to be victorious over any and every single circumstance of life, no exception. Listen, if there were a single one that could defeat us, If there were a single circumstance for which God is not sufficient and will not provide adequate power for us to overcome, then God is not omnipotent. God cannot be trusted. He is not faithful. He is not reliable. And therefore, our faith is in vain. There is not a single one. Now, this is why Paul says, look. Verse 11, not that I speak from one, for I have learned to be content. The next phrase is very important. I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I am. You say, but wait a minute, Paul never went through what I went through. Then my friend, all you need to do is to read the 11th chapter of 2 Corinthians. When this man says, I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I'm in, here's the man who's speaking from experience. He knows it works. Paul says, I've learned the secret of bringing his power into my ever-changing circumstance. And therefore, no matter what's going on, he says, I have learned to be content. Now, how do we do that? That is, how is it that you and I, in these circumstances that we can't control and can't change, how is it that you and I can be quiet and How can we be quiet and strong and stable and immovable and at peace and confident when everything around you is blowing sky high? And you are being attacked verbally from every direction imaginable. Paul says, I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I'm in. You see, here's the problem. We don't understand the biblical basis. Here's the biblical basis. Here's the foundation truth. When you receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, He came to live in your life. The Son of God is living within you in the person of the Holy Spirit. So you have the power of God in you. So it's not a matter of having to get something you don't have. It's a matter of learning to to use what you have. It's a matter of learning to respond to life on the basis of your position in Him. Now, think about this. Paul says, I've learned the secret, but how is it that I get the power of God in a matter of changing circumstances? Two very simple words sum it all up. Number one, first requirement is I must submit my will to His will. And friend, what that means is, listen, not that you give up to your circumstances, but that you give in to Christ. You don't give up on your circumstances, you give in to Him. You say, well, why submission, the first step? For this reason, now listen carefully. If it is, and it is the plan and purpose of God to conform us to the likeness of His Son, Then some of my ever-changing circumstances may be sent to me straight from God. Some of them will come from the devil. Some from others. But you see, when I submit to him and say, Lord, I yield my life to you. Whatever you choose to send is all right. Now listen, you say, but let me tell you something. You don't know what I've been through. Hasn't got anything to do with it. Has nothing to do with it. If you want contentment, the first step is surrender. You say, you mean to surrender to my circumstances? I didn't say a thing in the world about surrendering to your circumstances. I said, surrender your life to him. Lord, I yield to you. Whatever you choose to allow is all right. Now, what's your alternative? Your alternative is to fight your circumstances. Your alternative is to resist and to be anxious and upset and worried and fretful and hostile and angry and bitter and resentful and manipulative and maneuvering and weaseling your way around, none of which is going to work. So, you see, God sometimes gives us what is difficult, but when you compare it with the other, it's the easiest. Just go ahead and surrender to him, Lord. I yield to you. Whatever you choose to send is all right. The second step is just as simple. And now, Lord, I'm going to trust you. I'm going to trust you to control all these circumstances in my life for your purpose. Now, think about it. You know what's happened? You've stopped fighting. You've stopped resisting. You've stopped running. You've stopped manipulating. You've stopped maneuvering. You've stopped weaseling around. You have laid down the old attitude of bitterness and resentment and hostility and anger and defending yourself. And you know what you've done? You've said, Lord, I just turn it all over to you. And now I'm going to rest in you. Now, let me ask you a question. Last night when you went to bed, how many of you kept one leg off the bed and your foot on the floor? Well, if you had, I don't think you would have rested. You may have slept a little bit, but you probably wouldn't have rested very well. How many of you loaded a gun and laid it by your bedside and all night long you heard something in the hallway and downstairs and upstairs that you didn't rest very well? But last night if you went to bed and you lay down and stretched out and covered up and just relaxed, what did you do? You just rested. You trusted the bed to hold you up. You trusted God to take care of you through the night, and you slept good all night long. Am I saying to you that life is like a good night's rest? No. But I am saying this, that our heavenly Father, who's living on the inside of us, has enabled every single one of us by His indwelling, available power to face every single circumstance, not in our weakness, but in his power. When we learn to get God's power into our circumstances, then what happens? We were able to rest in him. And we do that by trusting him. Lord, listen, I get on my face before God and remind him of how weak I know I am, how incapable and inadequate I know that I am. How insufficient to do what He's called me to do and to remind Him that it is only by His power and His strength, by His wisdom and by His will, I yield to Him. Lord, if making a mistake is part of building me up, then I'm willing to make one. Lord, whatever You choose to do, I choose Your will and Your way. I can walk out here, not only in the presence of God, but in a relationship with Him whereby the power of the Spirit of God is within me to enable me to do what I know I could never do. Now listen, that isn't limited to a pulpit. It isn't limited, thank God, to anything. Paul says, I've learned the secret. What's the secret? I've learned to get his power in on my weakness. And where does that begin? It begins with submitting my will to him that no matter what, it's all right. And then trusting him to supply the power, the energy, whatever's necessary to face that circumstance without wringing my hands and fretting and fuming and blaming and becoming hostile and angry and bitter and resentful and all the rest. Paul says, here's the secret. He says, I learned it. He didn't say I've always known it. He said, I learned. You know how he learned it? By being defeated. You know how he learned it? By coming to his wits end. You know how he learned it? He learned it the same way many of us learn spiritual principles. When we fail and fail and fail and fail and fail and we don't know the answer. And finally, God shows us. Here's the answer. Now, listen, one of the purposes of a pastor is to teach the word of God. And my goal for you is that God would teach me the truth in order to share it with you. Now, my sharing it with you doesn't make it work in your life. My sharing it with you makes it possible for you to pick up on it maybe earlier in life. And then you have to decide whether it's going to work or not. It's not going to work unless you apply it. I wish somebody had told me that a long time ago, that I don't have to fret and theme and live on a roller coaster and live like a sailboat in a storm. that God will enable me to walk moment by moment, day by day, in the inner quietness and peace and stability of His presence in such a fashion by faith that I can get His power in on whatever is going on in my life, every moment, every day, no matter what, if I'm willing to submit and willing to trust Him.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to part two of Overcoming the Ups and Downs of Life. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
In this insightful episode, we discuss the rollercoaster that is life, with its many cycles of highs and lows. Drawing from Biblical wisdom, our conversation offers practical advice on maintaining a serene and consistent faith, regardless of the changes and challenges that life brings. Tune in to explore how spiritual responses can override emotional reactions, leading to a fulfilling and content life.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to the InTouch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, January 30th. Are you facing some turmoil that just doesn't seem to go away? Today, you'll be urged to look to Jesus Christ for all the strength you need for overcoming the ups and downs of life.
SPEAKER 02 :
Life holds for all of us those seasons of ups and downs. That is, by ups, I mean those times when you and I are encouraged and things are going our way and we're happy and contented with our circumstances. And then those times when we are down, that is, we feel discouraged. disillusioned, disheartened, depressed, disenchanted with our circumstances. Things are going against us rather than for us. The question is, how do you and I respond with the ups and downs in life? We'll never be able to come to the place in life where we can just smooth it all out. Everything is going our way. In fact, when it is, isn't it strange how you and I respond? When we've been through difficulty and hardship and heartache and changing circumstances, and then for a season of time, everything sort of levels out for a little while and things start going our way, we think, uh-oh, something's going to happen because things are too good. And what we do is we begin to suspect the goodness of God. And God gives us those seasons when things are sort of light and things are a little easy. And then there are those seasons of ups and downs. How do you respond to the ups and downs of life? Well, that's what our text tells us about. And the title of this message is Overcoming the Ups and Downs of Life. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Philippians chapter 4. And in this fourth chapter, Paul gives us what he calls a secret to learning how to overcome the ups and downs of life. And beginning in verse 10, you'll recall he says, But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I am. I know how to get along with humble means and I also know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Now, Paul is writing to the Philippians with whom he had a wonderful relationship. And all through this passage, all through this book, there is the word rejoice and joy over and over and over again because he had a wonderful relationship with them. And every time he thought about them, his heart, indeed was rejoicing. And what he's referring to in this passage is that beforehand, there were times when they would oftentimes send him gifts that helped him. Remember now that he's writing from prison. And then there came a season when they did not send him anything, not because they didn't care, didn't love him, or were not thinking about him, but for some reason they were not able to get it there. And so in response to that, he says to them, I want you to know in the process, I'm rejoicing in the Lord. He says, not that I speak from want, because he had not received the gifts. He said, I have learned the secret of being able to face the up and down circumstances of life without wringing my hands, without feeling discontent, without worrying and frustration and anxiety and fear. He says, I've learned a great secret in life. Now the question is, have you and I learned it? And you know, isn't it interesting that all through Paul's epistles, he deals with where you and I have to live. And we all have to live those changing circumstances of life. They're going to be there. And they're always going to be there because that's just the way life is. Now, I want you to see several things in this passage. And the first one is this. And Paul says it a couple of times. And that is... The whole idea of overcoming the ups and downs in life, number one, is a learning process. That's what Paul says, that overcoming the ups and downs of life is a learning process. And notice how he says this. He says, verse 11, I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I am. He says, I also know how to live in prosperity. He says, I've learned the secret of being filled. I know how to get along with humble means. Paul says, I've learned some things. That is, Paul wasn't saved on the Damascus Road and then automatically know how to deal with all the changing circumstances of life. And so he says, I have learned it. It isn't easy to learn. It isn't easy to learn for the simple reason that First of all, you and I cannot foresee all the changing circumstances we're going to have to face in life. Secondly, not only can we not foresee them, most of them are out of our control. We can't control the ever-changing circumstance in our life. Sometimes it is naturally, purely spiritual warfare, something that Satan is doing in our life, and therefore we can't always control that. Sometimes it's difficult because we are so spiritually inadequate. Think about the people who are saved and who have the idea, well, as soon as I give my life to Christ and as soon as I surrender my life to Him and start trusting Him, God is going to level out all these ups and downs and everything is going to smooth out and I'm just going to pray and God's going to answer my prayer. Things are just going to get better and better all the time. Things are going to get sweet. One of these days I'm going to heaven. But how many people have said, You know, I thought when I got saved that things are going to get better. Things have gotten worse since I've been saved. Now think about this. No, they haven't been worse. Listen, if you're on your way to hell and you get saved by the grace of God and you're on your way to heaven, things can't ever be as bad as they were because you've changed your whole eternal destiny. But what happens is once a person is saved, God begins to do what? He begins to complete his goal for their life, which he says is to conform us in the likeness of his son, Jesus Christ. So what does he do? He gets that little sandpaper and he begins to work on us here and work on us there and discipline us here and discipline us there and cut this out of our life and add this in our life. We go through a stage and stage after stage of changes that go on that God is behind because he's in the process of conforming us to the likeness of his son and does not want us to reach some plateau where you and I get satisfied. And so you and I face a life that is constantly changing. For example, you light a fire. Every flame that rises is different. Every single time you look up in the clouds, every one of them is different. You've looked at them for hundreds and thousands of days in your life. You've never seen two skies the same. You've never seen two sunrises or two sunsets the same. Everything is changing. The economy changes. Our feelings change. Relationships change. Everything changes. Therefore, all of us are facing change. ever-changing circumstances in life. A man goes to his business this morning, things are super. Next week, they're not so good. All of life in your spiritual walk, everything is just going great. You're reading your Bible and praying and God's answering prayer and everything is just going fine. All of a sudden, you hit one of those dry spells and you think, God, what happened? What happened? Last week, it was so good. This week, you're not in a thousand miles. When I pray, my prayers just sort of hit the ceiling, ricochet off the floor, off both walls, and all that happens is I seem to be hearing my own self doing the talking. So life is up and down. Now, does that mean that when life is up and down, a person is backslidden? Not necessarily, because life is by its very nature ever-changing, and everything around us is changing, and the only thing that's not changing is Christ. He's the only one. Our physical bodies are ever-changing. Our attitudes are changing. Feelings are changing. And so here we are. Now, for the Apostle Paul, if you'll notice, he says in this passage, he says, I have learned. He says, I know. He says, I have learned. I know. He says, I have learned the secret. Now, think about this. The Apostle Paul also had to learn some very valuable lessons in life. And so, therefore, we can expect to learn something. If you'll think about it for just a moment, what happened in Paul's life? On one occasion, he says, after he was saved, that God led him out into the desert, and there for a season of time, God gave him these tremendous, awesome, extraordinary revelations about himself. And so... Paul had to let all that digest in his life. He says, in fact, it was like being caught up in the third heaven. He said, in fact, some things God said to me, I'm not even sure that I can say. And here he turns right around and talks about the downtime. That is the time when God allowed him to be buffeted by Satan, a thorn in the flesh, that no matter how much he prayed and how much he pleaded with God, God would not remove it. And Paul is simply saying here, he says, I have learned the secret not to allow the ever constantly changing circumstances in my life to cheat me out of what God has provided. So what I want us to discuss in this message is how, how do you and I face those ever changing circumstances in life? How do we face them victoriously? How do we face them without being blown like the ship in a storm this way now and that way here? How do we live the kind of life by which our life is not like a roller coaster? Up today, down tomorrow. Up today, down tomorrow. And so many people's spiritual walk is probably best described by a roller coaster. We're up and then we're down. We're off and then we're on. We're in then we're out. We're hot, then we're cold. And so the Christian life is just like that, which says that our testimony could not be very strong because what we imply by the way we're living is that God is good sometimes, sometimes He's not. The Christian life works sometimes, sometimes it's not. That is, you can trust God sometimes, but sometimes you cannot. That is not the life that God intended for us to live. And so Paul deals here in this passage of Scripture, one that all of us know by heart, at least one of those verses, with a very practical, down-to-earth question. And that is, how do I live? not ever-changing, not thrown and tossed with every wind that blows, but how do I live with a sense of stability and strength and inner quietness and peace in the midst of those times when my circumstances are always changing, when my circumstances may become more intensely painful, and when things may not ever change around me? And some of you are living in that kind of a circumstance, in that kind of a situation. You're living day by day, facing, living, experiencing situations that at this point looks like they'll never change, that no matter what happens, God seemingly is not going to change them. And you ask yourself the question, God, how can I abide this? How can I be sustained in this? If my circumstances never change, how can I survive these circumstances? And some people would say, well, my circumstances aren't up and down. They're all down. That's where you happen to feel at this moment. But my friend, God never intended for us to live a rollercoaster experience in life. And all of us have at some time. And probably that's where most people are. And so this is what Paul is speaking of here when he says, I have learned a secret. And that secret is he learned how to respond to these ever-changing circumstances. Now, all of us face them. And as I said before, we're not going to ever reach any area or any spiritual plateau in our life where our circumstances are not changing. What we want to know is this. How do I live in those ever-changing circumstances without being tossed to and fro and becoming anxious and fretful? Overcoming these ever-changing circumstances of life is a lesson to be learned, and that's what Paul says in this passage. The second thing I want us to notice here is this. Not only is it a lesson that you ought to learn, but it is a lesson that we ought to learn which leads us to peace and contentment in life. Overcoming the ever-changing circumstances of life will lead us to a life of peace and contentment. That's what God has for His children. And so as we think about how Paul had to experience this, let's think about it for just a moment this way. He says, if you'll notice, I know how to get along with humble means. I also know how to live in prosperity in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret. And he says, if you'll notice, he says, I've learned to be content. Now think about this. Can you be content when you have needs? Can you be content when things are down? Or do you get depressed, dejected? Do you become despondent and despairing? Do you get fretful and anxious, hard to live with, hard to live around? Probably, if it is, one of the primary reasons is you're making an awesome mistake. The mistake most believers make, and that is, we choose by just normal habit to respond to life out of our feelings. We respond emotionally rather than spiritually. How do we feel? That is, when somebody says something about us that hurts us, what do we want to do? Our emotions get all entangled in that, and so we want to respond in defending ourselves or blaming someone else. You see, if you and I live on the basis of our emotions, how we feel, we will never be able to live a stable life. We'll never be able to live with an inner sense of quietness and peace and confidence and assurance when everything around us is falling apart. One of the greatest opportunities of witness we have is that when everything around us is falling apart, we don't fall apart. When everything around us is steaming and stewing, there's an innocence of quietness and peace. Some of you are living in a home relationship in which things are very, very difficult. And your natural response is to emotionally fight back or to emotionally blare back or to emotionally respond in antagonism and hostility and anger. But God says you don't have to do it. Where you work, oftentimes, there's pressure put upon you that you don't appreciate, that you think is unfair and unjust. How do you respond? It makes no difference what's going on. God says that He will enable you to respond in such a fashion that even when it is intensely painful, when it is embarrassing, things are not going your way, and everything around you seems to be down. God says... You can be content in the midst of the most difficult, trying circumstance of life. Not just some of them, but in all of them. And so what Paul is saying here, he says, look. I've been in those situations where I was in need. I've been in those circumstances where I had an abundance. And he says, I've learned a wonderful secret. And the secret is this. He says, whether I have a little bit or much, it doesn't make any difference. I've learned the wonderful secret of being content in my ever-changing circumstance. And remember now, he's not writing this from the beach, but in a prison house. And he says, I am content even here being in prison. Now, When he says, I'm content, what is he saying? He says, here's what I mean by that. I have learned to live. with my circumstances in such a fashion that I'm not wringing my hands, I'm not irritated, I'm not discontent, I'm not unhappy, I'm not frustrated because I'm not able to fulfill my desires. You see, to be able to live in a situation where your desires and your needs are not being fulfilled and being able to live in that with a sense of inner quietness and peace and confidence is genuine contentment. Being able to live in a situation where my needs are not being met, but I'm not frustrated. I'm not discontent. I'm not hostile. I'm not angry. I don't want to blame anybody. That is a good sign of contentment. And Paul is saying, I have learned the secret that makes it possible for you in the most difficult trying times to be able to experience that. Now, you know, I don't know many folks like that. I don't know many people who can face these kind of circumstances and trying times in their life without responding in the wrong fashion. So what we have to ask is this, is it really and truly possible for us to face those kind of ever-changing circumstances and at the same time have an innocence of quietness and peace, and feel the presence of God in our life, and we're not wringing our hands when everybody else around us is wringing theirs? And to be able to live in the kind of circumstance where it's very, very difficult, you feel rejected, you feel the anger of another person, you feel the hostility, and somehow it doesn't get to you? Is it possible to live in a situation where there is financial need, and you don't see any way out, and yet... You're content with what God has? Is it possible to be in a circumstance where there is a tremendous amount of abundance, where there is great prosperity and great wealth, and you're not worried about keeping it? You're not worried about losing it? You're not worried about it being mishandled, but you're contented? You see, here's the situation. It makes no difference whether you have a great deal or have little or nothing. Discontent and strife and stress and anxiety and frustration, fear. Listen, those attitudes and those experiences are applicable to every single area of life. And people always looking for the greener pastures. They're saying, well, you know, if I had enough of this, boy, I'd be happy. Listen, the folks who have enough of it oftentimes think I was better off when I didn't have what I've got. And so everybody on this side of the fence, The grass looks greener over here. The folks over here that looks greener to them looks over here and says, oh, listen, the grass is green on this side. So everybody's looking at somebody else wishing they had somebody else's circumstances. But listen, if you could feel what they feel, sense their anxiety, their fears, their frustrations, their uncertain as you think, I'm not so bad off after all. But you see, when we look with a covetous spirit and we look, listen, from a human point of view, everything always looks better on the other side. It's not always better. In fact, most of the time, it's a whole lot worse than we think it is. Now, Paul says, but I've learned the lesson makes no difference what it is. He says, I've learned the lesson of being content. Now, look at this. Let's look at this passage. He says, verse 11, not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I am. I know how to get along with humble means and also know how to live in prosperity. Makes no difference which one it is. He says, I have learned the secret. So Paul says, it isn't something that everybody knows. He says, I've learned the secret. And the secret is something that is known only by a few. I've learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. He says, I have learned this tremendous secret.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to Overcoming the Ups and Downs of Life. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
In a world where hostility towards faith seems to be ever-increasing, understanding how to navigate this harsh reality is crucial for believers. In this episode, we explore timeless biblical principles for dealing with conflict and persecution with steadfast faith. Listen in as we delve into the teachings of the Apostle Paul, and unpack crucial strategies for maintaining focus on the divine even while facing adversity. Learn to see life's challenges as opportunities for personal and spiritual growth through powerful examples from Scriptures and insights into godly strength and perseverance.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, January 29th. Hostility seems to be increasing everywhere. But what should you do when it's your faith that triggers aggression? Today, we discover what the Bible teaches about responding when we are persecuted.
SPEAKER 02 :
None of us really like conflict very much, or we don't like persecution for sure. But in the world in which you and I live, if you and I live a godly life, we are going to face conflict and we are going to face persecution. It may be persecution on your job, and I hear this all the time, a persecution at home, a persecution in your schooling, among your peers, but it's there. And those people who sort of go through life and never have any enemies and everybody just loves them to death and never ruffle into waters, here's what God says. And I want you to turn, if you will, to 2 Timothy chapter 3. Because 2 Timothy chapter 3 is a warning, and no one is more of authority on how to deal with persecution than the apostle Paul. So he says in this third chapter of 2 Timothy, beginning in verse 10, he Paul said to Timothy, he said, now, but you followed my teaching, my conduct, my purpose, my faith, my patience, my love, my perseverance, my persecutions and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, What persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord delivered me." He said, now, you have followed me, you have watched me. And he says, I'm sure, I hope you've learned some things. And indeed, he says, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. You say, I don't like persecution. Well, I'm sure Paul didn't either. But the truth is, if you and I live a godly life, I didn't say if you're a church member, Or if you just want to be sort of a nice kind of a Christian, whatever that is. But he says, if you live godly in Christ Jesus, you can expect conflict and persecution in your life. Because you and I are living in a world system in which there are two opposing forces, godliness and wickedness. And you and I see the results of that all around us and the evil and the crime and the violence and bloodshed that goes on. He says, if you live God in Christ Jesus, you're going to suffer persecution. So what I'd like to do is I would like to share with you about five principles that are absolutely essential if you're going to face conflict and persecution, whether it's by one person or by a whole group of people, because I know these things work. The first thing I learned when I'd get in the prayer room and I'd think, God, I felt so desperate and so all alone oftentimes. It's like the Lord said now. You view everything that happens to you as coming from me. If you will view everything as coming from me, this will protect you from being bitter, resentful, hostile, angry. It will prevent you from wanting to take revenge or be vengeful in any way. You see every single possible thing coming from me. No matter who it is, if it's people whom you have great faith in, that you've loved dearly, and they've deceived you or have turned against you, you see them as my instruments to work in your life. Because I have something bigger in mind than they think. And that they are not in control. I'm in control. God says, I'm in control. All I want you to do is to see every single thing. Everything coming from me. And everything that looks like an enemy. He says, I want you to see it as an instrument of mine. Remembering what I said. I am engineering all your circumstances for my glory and your good. Now, you're going to have to trust me. And I think this is the first time in my life that the Lord really impressed upon my heart these three words, just trust me. So the first principle I want to share with you is this, and that is view everything that comes to you as coming from God. Now, the second thing is this. And that is to keep your focus on the Lord. Now, you say, well, I've heard you say that a thousand times because it's that important. You've got to keep your focus on the Lord. Now, the reason I say that is because If you don't, you're going to react. If I keep my focus on the Lord, then I'm not looking around me and I'm not listening to all the stuff. I want you to go back to Isaiah 41. You remember what he cautions us here when we're afraid and we're being persecuted and we see ourselves outnumbered or really being harassed by people or situations. Listen, if you will, to verse 10 of Isaiah 41. Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you. That is our greatest temptation when we are persecuted or we have enemies or we have opposition, and that is to look around us. Now, what happens is this. When you look around you, Satan will blow up and exalt and amplify everything that looks like it is opposition. He wants you to think it's worse than it is. And so, God doesn't want us looking around at our opposition. He wants us to look at Him, to keep our focus on Him. He says in this passage specifically, do not anxiously look about you. Now, why did He say anxiously? Because He knows that looking about us and listening to the voices of our enemies, it's going to make us anxious. And anxiety is fear. It's very important you learn to focus your attention, rivet your mind on God, and not anxiously look about you, or you will become fearful if you begin to anxiously look about you. For example, David saw oftentimes when he was talking about his own life, he talked about the Lord being his strength, and his mind was set on God. When he went to fight Goliath, what do you think he was thinking about? He wasn't sizing up Goliath. If you look at his speech, his whole speech is about God. the God of Israel, the God of Jehovah, the God of this earth, defending the name of God. He wasn't focusing on Goliath until the moment when he ran toward him with the right stones. The third thing I would say, the third very important principle, is to rely upon the strength of God. Now listen carefully. When there is conflict, warfare, and persecution, there is a natural drain on your physical, emotional, spiritual energy. It is natural because it is something that is going on all the time. You wake up thinking about it. You go to bed thinking about it. During the day, you're thinking about it. And I remember oftentimes studying. It's like Satan would just harass me with the possibilities of what would happen in the future and all these things. But then I began to realize that's why pastors run. They run out of strength. When you go through the book of Psalms, 57 times in the book of Psalms, the word strength is used. And David, of all people, understood what it meant to rely upon the strength of Almighty God. Now, I want you to go back and let's start, if you will, in Psalm 18. I want you to turn to Psalm 18. Then I want to tell you something that I want you to ever forget. Psalm 18. Your enemies are looking for the first little sign of fear in your heart. And friend, when they see that, they will come after you like a herd of cattle on a run. All they're looking for is the first sign of fear. They know you have weaknesses because all of us do. They're looking for fear. I want you to look at these verses. Beginning, and I'm going to take you through a number of them. In the 39th verse of the 18th Psalm, David said, For thou hast girded... dressed me with strength for battle. God, you've dressed me up with strength for battle. How did he get dressed? Focusing upon God, relying upon his Father, looking to him as his strength. Turn to the 28th chapter. I'm going to take you through a number here. 28th chapter and verse 7 and 8. He says, the Lord is my strength and my shield. Listen, he's not only our strength, but he's our protector. He's the one who shields us from the volleys of the arrows of the enemy. My heart trusts in him and I'm helped. Therefore, my heart exalts. And with my song, I shall thank him. The Lord is their strength and he is a saving defense to his anointed. God is our strength and our defense. Now, I want you to turn to a verse of Scripture in Psalm 31, a very important principle here. David is talking about his physical body, but I want you to listen because I want you to notice something here. He says in verse nine, "'Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I'm in distress. My eye is wasted away from grief.'" My soul and my body also, for my life is spent with sorrow. And David certainly had a life of sorrow. And my years with sighing. And listen to this. My strength has failed because of my iniquity, and my body has wasted away. Now, what I want us to notice here, he says, my strength has failed because of my iniquity. God has promised to be your strength and my strength in any situation, in every situation. He says, a tower of strength. But here's what sin will do. Sin will cause you to doubt God's strength in your life. You may be absolutely dead right in what you're standing for. You may be absolutely perfectly correct. But the reason we have to walk obediently before God is because sin tampers with our faith. And tampering with our faith tampers with our assurance and confidence of the strength that God's going to give us. And so that's why when you and I are going through difficulty and hardship, we need to walk in obedience to Him or Satan will harass you. God's not going to do this. He's not going to strengthen you. He's not going to protect you. And what happens is if you look within and say, well, I have been disobedient to God. What happens is Satan will have a heyday in your life. Even though God... It's going to strengthen you, and God is going to see you through it. It may be that in a moment of temptation or trial, you said or did something you should not, and you failed God. That doesn't mean that he's not going to give you a victory, but here's what it means. It means that you are going to suffer the loss and the feeling of failure and the fear, and this is where the enemy will get you. If they sense fear in you, they attack. And so that's why David said, you know, the Lord is his strength. And he said in this verse, he says, my iniquity has made me weak. And whereas sin will weaken our physical bodies and weaken us emotionally, most of all, it weakens us spiritually. And you don't want to be weak when you're facing the enemy. God is our strength. And even though He is our strength, something happens in our thinking and our emotions, and we begin to feel or sense or experience fear, even though the strength of God is there, we will sense fear and Satan will take advantage of that. So, when we think about these principles and we think about the fact of relying upon Him as our strength, that is absolutely essential. Listen, because it is a natural, normal drain upon you when you're being persecuted or you're in conflict. Fourth principle. Fourth principle is this, is to realize that you're fighting a spiritual battle. Now, the question comes, how do I know if it's a spiritual battle or not? Here's how you can know. Does this battle have any effect upon the work of God? whether it's your own personal testimony or your church or whatever it may be. Does this battle, does this persecution, this strife, this conflict, does it have any relationship to the work of God? Well, when people attack their pastors and churches and so forth, they think, well, we're just doing this and we're going to save our church. It is spiritual warfare. And what you have to ask is when you come to being attacked in some situation, in your job, in your schooling, or whoever your enemies may be, you have to ask yourself several questions. Number one, am I in God's place? Are you serving? Are you in your vocation? Are you where you ought to be? That's the first question. Am I in God's place? Secondly, you have to ask yourself this question. Is my stand... Scriptural, is this an opinion I have? Is this just my lifestyle? Is this just something I like? Is this a prejudice of mine? Or is this a scriptural stand I'm taking? And that is a very, very basic question. Thirdly, what is at stake if I leave or if I stay? What is at stake, if I win or if I lose? And if it's a spiritual battle, there's a great deal at stake because of your influence and your witness to other people. The fourth question is, how will other people be affected if I win or lose this battle? Or how I respond in this persecution? Because you see, sometimes winning isn't running somebody else away. Winning is being able to endure it and suffer it and keep moving without defending yourself or blasting someone else or taking out vengeance on someone else. Winning oftentimes is just standing firm silently when it's necessary and to test them on the witness of God is strengthened. And what you have to ask is this, am I going to be glorified in this or is God going to be glorified? Now, some people always give you the credit, but you and I both know whether it is God who's being glorified or it is something that we want glory for. So, recognizing that we are fighting a spiritual battle. And, of course, you know Ephesians 6. He says, be strong in the Lord. Put on the whole arm of God that you and I may be able to stand. And he didn't say launch an attack on your enemies. He said stand. God is our fighter. He is the one who does the battling. And so we have to be careful that we don't try to manipulate circumstances. Then, when I think about how that works in a person's life, I think about how we feel, and my feeling has always been, and my conviction has been, if I am in God's place, you don't give up no matter what. It doesn't make any difference how dark it looks, how absolutely futile it looks. Never, never, never give up. If you're in God's place, doing what God has called you to do, standing upon the truth, then you should never give up. Now, you know, back in the olden days before we had radar and all kinds of communications, when those sailors sailed out on those ships that today we would think would never make it anywhere... They run into all kinds of storms because they had no way of warning. Here's what they would do when it was a real bad storm. They would take rope and lash themselves to the mast of the boat. So when the storm hit and the waves hit and washed them all around them, they wouldn't be washed overboard. And so when the storms were really bad, they just lashed themselves to the mast. Well, I believe that's a perfect example of what God wants us to do when we're in the battle. And that is we are to be in such oneness with him, to lash ourselves to God himself until the storm subsides. So when you and I think about storms we go through and persecution, all the rest, it is a spiritual battle, but we never have to walk through a single one of them by ourselves. He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Last principle, expect to be victorious. Satan will harass you, tell you there's no way in the world for you to win, that you're going to crumble under this weight, that you're going to be harassed, that you're going to be ridiculed, you're going to be thrown out, you're going to be this, you're going to be that, you're going to be the other. He'll just work you over something terribly. Expect to be victorious. So, I can expect to win every battle because not of our strength, our wisdom, our knowledge, our know-how, our experience, none of that, because God is sovereign. And because He's sovereign, He has absolutely every single thing in perfect control. And whatever He allows, He is going to turn it for your good and mine. But if you believe, now think about it, if you believe that you are the victim of people and circumstances, then what you're saying is that people have more control of your life than God does. I'm here to tell you right now, I wouldn't preach five minutes if that were true, because Where does that leave God? Where does it leave the believer? If we're the victims of this and the victims of that and the victims of the other. God allows some things in life I don't understand, some things I don't like maybe, or things that I wouldn't allow if I were God. But you know what? When Paul said, we are more than conquerors, what that means is that when you and I come out of the battle, we have more than we had when we went in the battle. We have a greater view of God, greater understanding of Him, a greater understanding of His grace. We understand the omnipotence of God. We understand the ways of God. We begin to understand that He's sovereign. And no matter what anybody says, does, thinks, or how they act, no one can tamper with absoluteness in power, absoluteness in wisdom, absoluteness in knowledge and understanding. God is absolutely sovereign over every single solitary thing. Now listen, when you come to that conclusion and you really and truly believe that, you know what happens? You get absolutely free. You know why? If you believe He's sovereign, you've committed yourself to Him. What do you have to worry about? Nothing can touch you except what He allows. Your responsibility and mine is to obey God, not to manipulate the circumstances or run or hurt. That's not our responsibility. Our responsibility is to obey God and trust in this wonderful, loving, sovereign Father to take care of us. If you lay those five principles in your mind and your heart, every time you get challenged, if you abide by them, you will win every single time.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to When We Are Persecuted. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
Explore the various ways believers can respond to divine silence, from questioning God respectfully to embracing the opportunity for deeper intimacy through trust and anticipation. Stanley encourages listeners to continue unwavering in their prayers and interactions with God, emphasizing that such quiet times can lead to personal and spiritual growth. Find guidance and comfort as you learn to respect God’s timing and plans, opening the way to a more profound relationship.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to the InTouch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, January 28th. How do you feel when the Lord is quiet and seems so far away? Today's podcast reminds you that even when God is silent, He's still faithful.
SPEAKER 01 :
God is sometimes very silent, and it's difficult for us to accept it, especially when we are hurting. I think that's the most painful time if you're physically hurting and And nothing's going on. It's very, very discouraging. Well, does He have a purpose for it? Yes, He does. Is there a certain way you and I ought to respond? There is a better way. And so, how do you respond? Do you take advantage of it? Do you learn something from it? Or you just let it go by and say, well, you know, I went through one of these circumstances and God didn't answer my prayer. He just ignored me. Now, somebody says, well, you know, I want to know about God speaking to me, not being quiet to me. But there's a whole aspect of God's silence that is very, very good. And what causes us to be perturbed sometimes and impatient and wonder why and question a lot of things about God, I want you to see that His silence is very, very good. So, how do we respond when He's quiet? Now, everybody doesn't respond the same way. But so, how do you respond when you're talking to Him and God is silent, you come to Him with some request and you don't hear anything? Do you just get up if you kneel and pray? And you know, when I think about this, and that's just my own personal opinion, so I'm giving you that. A person who never kneels before God has a problem. You can't kneel before holy God. who's the creator of the universe, the sovereign of all things, you can't kneel before Him? Is that pride? I think it is. That's my personal opinion. But I think if you'll search the Scriptures, and I think if you'll think about who it is that you're before, you're before Almighty God, and you can't kneel, there's something wrong with that. So, how do we respond? Well, sometimes we are very disappointed. Well, God, I, here's the verse I, here's the verse You gave me, Lord, and here's what it says, and I'm taking it Your Word and nothing's happening. Another reaction is we get discouraged. Well, why should I pray? God isn't answering my prayer. And remember what we said, when you don't feel like He's listening, don't stop. That's the key. Don't stop praying and talking to God because you think He's silent, not listening. Remember what we said. Because He's silent doesn't mean He's not listening. And so, there's a very specific reason. So, sometimes it's discouragement. Then, of course, one of the things that happens is this, that people get confused. They say, well, now wait a minute. Here's what God says and I'm praying and He's not answering my prayer. And then sometimes a person begins to doubt. Well, I wonder, where is God? And I'll tell you what happened to me this weekend. I went to see a doctor about my foot. And so, I got to talking to him a little bit and got him into a conversation. And I said, well, tell me what's going on in your life. And he began to tell me what's happening in the past. He's down in the dumps and things weren't working. He said, I was driving along and I just said, I don't know if anybody's out there, but if you are, do something. Well, now here's a desperate cry of a man who was empty, was not a Christian, didn't know what to do, didn't know where to turn. He just cried out, if there's anybody out there, do something. Show up. The next day, something happened in his life that was just wonderful, and from that point on, Now, after we chatted and I came back the second time we got to talking, he started talking about how God was doing thus and so in his life. I can't wait to go back and see him again. Because already he was so open. But I think about a person being so totally out there, away from the things of God, and not knowing what to think or how to feel. And his prayer was, if there's anybody out there, Do you realize how blessed you are that you know Jesus Christ as your Savior? How blessed you are that you know God? And so, people respond different ways. And then, of course, a lot of people, if God's silent, they feel guilty. Now watch this. God didn't answer my prayer? Must have done something wrong. God must be displeased with me. You see, listen to this. Every time God's silent doesn't mean you've sinned. Every time He's silent doesn't mean you're guilty. Every time He's silent doesn't mean He's just shut heaven up, not going to pay any attention to you. And so, sometimes a person feels very guilty. And then, of course, there's the feeling of being angry. God, here's what's happened. I asked you to fix this and you haven't done it. And so then one of those feelings that people get sometime is being very separated from God. He's distant. That's a bad feeling. You ever felt that? God's distant. He's out yonder somewhere. You know He's there, but He's distant. You don't feel that warmth, that intimacy that you felt before. And then I think one of the reactions is this, and that's fear. Has God deserted me? Has God just left me? Have I committed, and this is what I hear, have I committed some unpardonable sin? And the answer to that is no. Why am I not getting through? And so there are all different kinds of responses that people have, but the question is this, and that is, how should you and I respond when God is silent? So let's think about some ways we should respond, and the first one is this. We should ask Him why. Somebody says, well, you should never question God. Oh, yes, you can. And let me just say this, when you question God, God does not get upset. He's not going to punish you. If you need any evidence at all, what about what Jesus said on the cross? My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me? That gives us the privilege and the pattern. You and I have the right to question God about anything. Because remember this. It doesn't bother Him. It doesn't antagonize Him. It doesn't get Him upset. And it doesn't cause Him to feel bad toward us. Remember this, He understands us perfectly. He knows what motivates us to question Him. He knows why. And so, one of the first and right responses that you and I can ask Him why and not expect any punishment. The second one is this, that as we said, His silence doesn't mean that He's inactive. In other words, if you come to Him and ask Him about something and ask Him to show you His will for your life, what usually happens at the end of that period of silence is exactly what you were concerned about is exactly what He does. But it has to be in His timing. You see, when you think about how you should respond, you should remember that His silence does not mean He's inactive and that He's doing something good in our life. A third thing is this, and that is, We should respond by trusting Him. And if you go to the forty-sixth Psalm, for example, and here's a verse that's translated a little different in different passages. But you and I probably know it best by, Be still and know that I'm God. And in the American Standard Version, that verse says, cease striving and know that I am God, which is the same thing. It's just a different way of saying it. Cease striving and know that I'm God. How am I to respond? How am I to respond? I'm to respond not with anger and doubt and fear and frustration and anxiety and all the rest, but I'm to respond by being quiet and trusting Him and knowing that in His silence He is working something good for my life. And at the proper time, the appropriate time, that whatever I'm concerned about, He is going to deal with because He promised to do it. He says He will, watch this, He will perfect what concerns us. God is personally interested in our life, and so we just have to wait and bide our time with Him. And I think about in this passage here with Lazarus and Jesus and Mary and Martha, what happened? What happened was this. And that is, Jesus had a schedule. Mary and Martha's schedule was hurry on over to Bethany because Lazarus is very sick. Jesus' schedule was a few days later. He'd been dead four days. Well, where were you? Why didn't you show up? When you come to our house, we feed you. You say you love us. We spend time together. And the most critical moment in my life, Jesus, you don't show up. And sometimes that's very, very difficult, that when He's silent, that my right response is I'm to trust Him. But that's one of the reasons He's silent to us, in order to teach us when we don't see our way clear, we don't know what's going on, and you're like you're in a capsule. And you can't correct the situation. You can't fix it yourself. And you're having to trust Him. Watch this. We don't like someone else controlling us, not even God sometimes. We don't like that. Unless God's controlling us and we're just happy as a lark doing. In other words, if everything's going our way and God's in control, praise the Lord. But when things aren't going our way and He's controlling us, we're not all that excited about it. He, watch this, and I'm saying some things over and over and over again. One of the primary reasons is His desire to build an intimate relationship with Him that is not based on what He gives us and whether He's on our schedule or not, but simply the fact of who He is loving us His way in His time. Well, so I'm to respond by trusting. And then, of course, I'm to respond by anticipating. Listen, anticipating a more intimate relationship with Him. In other words, I should expect that. I anticipate. In other words, if He's silent, God not only wants to do something good in my life, but He wants to draw me into a much more intimate relationship with Him than I've ever had. And our relationship to Jesus Christ should be and can be and will be as intimate and as satisfying as we're willing for Him to work in our life His way and His time. So, how should we respond? Anticipating that. Then of course, respect the right of God to be silent. In other words, He's not under any obligation to us at all. And so, I respect the right of God to be silent when He chooses to be silent. I don't have to know why, really. I will ask Him why. I will look at myself and see if there's something He wants to deal with. But God has the right to be silent. Well, we should respond in that fashion, recognize that. Then, of course, there are two things. One of the best ways when God is silent. It's to just get in the Word of God and start reading. Read where? It doesn't make any difference where. Wherever you choose to read. A good place to read, if you're not too familiar with some passages, is to start reading the Psalms. Start with number one, sixty-two, thirty-seven, thirty-four, thirty-five, you know, whatever it might be. Just start reading the Psalms and just say, God, I don't know what's going on, but I'm available, watch this, I'm available to listen, Lord. When you begin to read the Word of God, remember this carefully. The Holy Spirit who lives inside of you, who knows exactly what your need is, who knows exactly what's going on in your life, He is on the inside. And here's what happens. While you may not be hearing God say anything, the Holy Spirit is interpreting His Word to your heart. Now, I want to tell you just one other thing, and this is a real key. When God is silent to you, keep talking and keep praying. Keep talking and listen. Keep praying to Him. And look, keep reading His Word. Keep reading the Word, keep talking to Him, keep praying to Him, because here's what happens. Haven't you been praying and you felt like this wall was between the two of you? You know how to get the wall down? You don't get the wall down by saying, God, what's going on? You get the wall down, but you just keep talking. You just keep praying. You begin to read His Word. And what happens? You say, well, is it going to come down immediately? Not necessarily. But here's what I've learned a long time ago. You break through the silence sometimes when God has a purpose in mind. You break through by continually trusting Him in His silence, continually reading His Word, seeing what, how did God work in David's life and Moses' life and Daniel's life and Jesus' life. How did the Father work in all these lives? And I want to say one last thing. You know what He's up to? He's up to a personal healing. intimate relationship with you that'll set your Christian life on a level that's so far, far, far above what people think about as being a Christian. It isn't just going to church, reading the Bible and praying and giving money, or being kind or even witnessing to others. All those things are important. What He's after is that intimacy with you. That genuine love that comes from your life toward Him, that spirit of obedience. You see, intimacy implies what? A sense of oneness. The two of you are one. And I want to encourage you to make as your goal, set it as a priority, a fresh, new, intimate relationship with Almighty God through His Son, Jesus Christ. And that's the way it all begins. And you may say, well, I'm not a Christian. How does that work? I'll tell you how it works. Nothing works. Until you ask the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins and tell Him that you're surrendering your life to Him and you're trusting in His forgiveness based on what He did at the cross of Calvary. You may not understand it all, but you know, He died and paid your sin, debt, and fool, and you're asking to forgive Him. The moment you ask Him sincerely, He's going to forgive you and give you wisdom and direction in your life. And here's what happens. Then He begins to open your heart to understand what we are talking about. But if you are a believer, I want to challenge you to do something. I want to challenge you that before the day is over, to get by yourself. And I want to challenge you to humble yourself before Almighty God. And get on your knees and acknowledge His Lordship in your life. And tell Him that you just want to be quiet. You want to be silent. And that He can say anything He wants to. Or He doesn't have to say anything. But you want to offer yourself to Him in silence. That whatever He may choose to say, you want to hear Him carefully. If you will practice silence before Him, listen carefully. Watch this. Anxiety, fretting, fuming, worrying, and all kind of other things is going to disappear. You know why? Because He's going to place something in you you can't buy. No doctor can give it to you. Nobody else can do it for you. He's going to give you a sense of Himself. that satisfies the deepest longing of your heart. It's yours for the asking. And Father, how grateful we are for Your love for us, and that You love us enough to want a personal relationship with us which is almost beyond our comprehension, because we are so unworthy of that. And yet when You saved us, You gave us a position that we could have that kind of relationship. And that is my prayer for every person who hears this message. Place a hunger in every heart for yourself. Not for what you have to give, but for just yourself. And I know that you'll satisfy that hunger. In Jesus' name, amen.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you for listening to part two of When God is Silent. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
