Wisdom For Life's Trials: Dr. Charles Stanley On What It Means To Count It All Joy

In this 30 minute message, Dr. Charles Stanley helps us to understand what God means when he tells us to count it all joy when we struggle and suffer in difficult times.

It really blessed me, especially when he said that God knows that we don't like him at all at certain times. When he said that we may as well tell God exactly how we feel because he knows anyway, that is a practice that I've developed.

When I pray and throughout the day as I talk to Our Heavenly Father, I share with him exactly how I feel about everything. It takes such a burden off of me. I'm still working on doing better.

We, in this world, have been so used to shouldering feelings and attitudes that it's automatic. Just like when we attempt to solve our issues ourselves, we just don't think about telling God. When we have bad feelings, we don't think about telling him.

I don't lift up any preacher, teacher, pastor, minister or anyone with a Christian title as being a model of perfection. I don't promote anyone who shares Christian knowledge as someone whom everyone should listen to and follow. I do enjoy sharing messages, and occasionally music, when I am blessed.  

Dr. Stanley has always had such a calm and comforting voice. He is a teacher who will help you ascend to the next level of your walk with Christ. I like to learn from his son also, Andy Stanley. This is an interesting story that defined his impression of his father.

His dad was the Associate Pastor of First Baptist in Atlanta when the senior pastor was asked to resign. Charles Stanley was asked to preach on Sundays until a suitable replacement could be found. As he preached, the pews began to fill, young couples started to return, the youth ministry started to grow and volunteerism grew to an all-time high. There was a new excitement in the church.

Yet some of the longtime members of the church resented Charles Stanley's growing influence and popularity. It didn't help that there was a grass roots movement started to elect him as pastor. The old guard thought he was too young, too evangelistic and too spiritual, emphasizing a personal relationship with Jesus.

The powerbrokers started to politic to have Charles Stanley removed. People started to take sides. Two weeks before the vote to hire or fire Charles Stanley, Deacon Myers walked up to the pulpit as the Wednesday night service began. He started to talk about the growing controversy and as he did, horror upon horror, he used the word damn.

Charles Stanley calmly walked to the pulpit and said, Now you need to watch your language. With clinched fists the man responded, You need to watch yourself or you might get punched. Charles Stanley didn't back down or step away and then all of sudden Deacon Myers reared back and punched his dad.

His dad didn't retaliate. It was his dad's response to all this that marked Andy for life. He stepped right back up and stood by Deacon Myers. Andy Stanley said, In that moment I wanted to be that kind of man. From that moment on, it didn't matter what anybody said. Because actions speak louder than words.

That event revealed his dad's character. When we open the pages of scripture, we discover that character is defined by the very nature of Jesus Christ- a stumbling block for some but a rock solid foundation for others. Character is the will to do what is right, as defined by God, regardless of personal cost. Andy Stanley SermonCentral 

Evaluating Our Relationships

It is critical to our growth in the Lord that we associate ourselves with people who uplift us. At the end of a conversation with someone, if we exit feeling down, disturbed and not quite right, we should be wary and watch closely. If this happens consistently, something is wrong.

It doesn't matter if we are praying for that person, always lifting them up and trying to be a Godly example and inspiration to him or her. If we don't feel elevated and at peace at the end of any encounter with them, our growth in God will be hindered. We hear the following statement often and we should take it more to heart. Some people we will need to love and pray for from afar.

How often do we ignore this truth in the name of being good Christians? We are good Christians when we attend to our own advancement in the Lord first, at all costs. We are good Christians when we guard our hearts with all diligence. Our Father does want us to come to him with broken spirits and broken and contrite hearts but not through being ignorant about our detrimental relationships with others.

There is no doubt about it; we need to discuss with God if we should be closely associated with these types of persons. The ones whom we need to love and pray for from afar are the very persons who drain our spirits, depress us and prey upon us, whether purposely or unintentionally. It is difficult to deny these people access to our lives when they continually burden us with the same conversations, the same complaints and the same attitudes.

When we realize, however, that they never take our Godly advice and that they never do what we suggest to resolve their own issues, it becomes clear that our relationships with God are being eroded through our relationships with them. They are toxic relationships, a form of being unequally yoked. If we persist in the belief that we are slowly influencing them and that we are long-suffering for good, then we need to think long and hard and often about the wisdom of that train of thought. 

Do not be deceived: "Evil company corrupts good habits. (I Corinthians 15:33)

Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm. (Proverbs 13:20)

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? (I Corinthians 5:6)

We have to also be sure that WE are uplifting to others. If we are critical of them, unfairly judgemental, always oppressive, non-receptive to learning from them, bearers of bad reports, complainers, holier-than-thou, etc., then maybe we should be removed from their lives through their own recognition of the truth. It works both ways. 

If we ask, God will give us seeing eyes and hearing ears to honestly evaluate our relationships so that we can walk in the light. The purity of our close associations is paramount to maintaining and strengthening our connection to God. Healthy relationships inspire and motivate us to higher heights in Christ Jesus.

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5:15-17)

Is It All REALLY Working Together For My Good?

Sometimes, the trials that God turns into good for us we may never discern.

Often, this converting of these tribulations on our behalf moves into the realm of the unseen.

They can be the good that God does for us of which we are unaware.

We have faith that he does these things because the Word tells us so.

We may not always see the outcome of God working all things together for our good but we have testimonies of the times when we experienced proof that he did.

We also know that we live among bountiful blessings from our Heavenly Father every day.

 Any one of those unrecognizable daily blessings could be a conversion of bad to good, just for us.

Romans 8:28

 

Walking With Christ: Esther From Germany Shares A Few Thoughts

We draw closer to God through the reading of his word for ourselves and in having faith in him alone.

Growing spiritually requires dying to our flesh daily. It isn't easy but our willingness to please God gives room for the Grace of God to help us grow spiritually and to overcome our weaknesses.

Regarding age difference and marriage, the Lord knows our needs. His will concerning this area in our lives, regarding a Christian partner, will be done.

 

As Christians, we are supposed to be dating with a purpose. Sadly in today's society, not a lot of Christians see it that way. They have fully embraced the way of the world when it comes to dating.

There are many new, born again Christians out there but unfortunately many are being continuously fed milk instead of hard meat. They totally depend on the pastor, not reading the Bible for themselves.

 

Many of these new Believers still believe that fornication is okay in the eyes of God. 

One of the problems with new generation Christianity is that they are not rooted in God's Word. They are sensitive and easily offended at the same time. They think it's okay to keep having a little bit of the world and a little bit of Jesus.

 

They think the Grace of God is there to continue to endure willful sin. When someone tries to show them light in those areas, they scream don't judge me.

 

See Esther's mini-bio below.

 

 

 

Esther is 43, single/never married and she has no children. She lives in Fürth, Bayern (Bavaria) Germany and is a Christian who fervently loves the Lord. She works with elderly nursing home residents who are living in their final stages of earthly life and are in need of full support and assistance, including palliative care, on a daily basis. Esther shares about her personal life and relationship with God:

 

My last romantic relationship was 7 years ago and I was unequally-yoked. I remember while taking a shower that I told God I was going to totally commit my life to Him. I vowed that the next relationship I became involved in was going to be courting to get married. I promised my Heavenly Father that I was going to honor His word and not defile myself again with sexual sin, which the Bible calls fornication. By God's grace, I will not have an intimate relationship again until after I am married. 

 

I came to a point in my life where I decided that if I am going to fully dedicate my life to Christ, I would have to let go of one very obvious sin. I was a slave to the sin of fornication. That turning point was 7 years ago and I have never looked back. My relationship with Jesus has grown ever since, through His grace.

 

My relationship with Christ is my top priority and means everything to me. The more I see how the devil has perverted marriage in our world today, the more I am becoming focused on living for Christ. The shocking part is that I have actually met single men who professed to be Christians but confessed that they can't wait for marriage in order to have sex. They have accused me of being too "religious and extreme" because I have quoted scriptures which clearly state that fornication is a sin. Because of this, they deserted me.

 

I am very active in my local Church but since I started working full-time and studying, I have become less active. That has not, however, negatively impacted my relationship with Jesus.