A Strong Life ft. Andy Stanley – Dr. Charles Stanley

when life throws you a challenge where does your strength come from today I want to share with you how to have a strong life that perspective and power that carries you through the storms and a foundation of wisdom that will give you a life direction fruitfulness and peace then after the message join me for a conversation my son Andy as we tackle some very practical questions about prayer and talk about how to have a daily enriching conversation with God next on InTouch a strong life you can have a strong body and have a weak life you can have a strong life have a weak body well you can have a strong life and a strong body all of us know what constitutes a strong body but what constitutes a strong life and that's what I want to talk about in this message as we said we've had three in this series of church and and family and now the whole idea of a strong life what is a strong life so I want you to turn to a very familiar passage that just perfectly describes we'll be talking about and that's the seventh chapter Matthew and the Sermon on the Mount and in the beginning in the 24th verse and how many times have you read this and so I want us to look at this in light of a strong life and so Jesus said in verse 24 therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and slammed against the house and yet it did not fall for it hadn't been built and founded on the rock everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand the rains fell and the floods came and the winds blew and slammed against that house and it fell and great was its fall when Jesus had finished these words the crowds were amazed that his teachings while he was teaching them as one having Authority and not as the scribes when I look in the scriptures and I think about all the verses in the Bible that talk about life and so forth here's a perfect picture of a weak life and a strong life and remember this every one of us is still building our life whether you're 16 or 76 you're still building your life and what we are on the inside makes all the difference in the world and I think many people at first may fool you about the lifestyle they look like but then when the storms hit them when reality breaks in when there's difficulty hardship pain suffering death loss all kinds of hardship that's comes their way the people who have built their life on the foundation have a strong life if they built it on the right foundation people who looked like they could do the same thing but when those storms come they don't have the same results so you can't look and see and tell how strong a person is or how weak they may be what happens to them when the storms light of life come and they're coming to all of us all kinds of difficulty hardship and pain and loss and bereavement it comes to all of us and the issue is how do we respond in Palestine for example that they would have those torrential storms and as a result those gullies if we would call it gully would fill up with water and before long it was a torrential flood and anything that was weak would fall the same thing is true in our life when difficulty hardship and pain and stuff in this apartment coming our way if our life is strong we can stand it if it's not we want and this is what drives some people for example to alcohol or drugs or immorality or whatever it might be they look strong until the storms of life come then they got to find something that would they think satisfy them or strengthen them or help them our encouragement there's only one thing that does that and what this whole message is about and what what this passage of Scripture is about when Jesus speaks here he's speaking of two lives a week life and the strong life if someone had to look at your life and try to figure out which is true of you do you have a strong life or a weak life what would they consider if they look at you they may say well he's gotta be he's got to have a strong life she must have a strong life but what would they say when these difficulties and hardships and trials and tribulations come how you respond in those days that's how we judge whether our life is strong or that's weak so what I want to do this message is simply this describe a strong life we know what a weak life is what's a strong life about and how does our life become strong there's not a question of whether you'll face trials and storms or not they are coming and they will reveal who we are and what we are like and what our foundation is built on and you as a parent need to think about this you're building into your children either a firm foundation that will make it possible then to face in in all the situations in life that are coming or you may neglect that part of your discipline in life for them and they come along and they get blown off the foundation whatever foundation they had to begin with and oftentimes parents say well I can't figure I can't I just can't believe you're acting like this it just may be that you never built the foundation and them that would show them how to face when torrent of temptation comes their way when the storm of trial comes away in disappointment in heartache when there's loss in their life how do you respond if you don't have a strong life you don't respond correctly and oftentimes when that storm comes instead of standing strong and building you stronger what happens simply this you cave in and oftentimes a person will run and wreck their life so I want us to think about these characteristics and if you're wise you'll shut these down they'll all be on the screen and I want to encourage you to do this not only to jot them down but listen be strong enough courageous enough if that's what it takes you to write them down and take them home and put them on the table beside your bed and tonight before you go to bed just read over them and ask yourself the question or Lord number one in this area is this in my life am i strong here am i strong here oops oh I don't have to ask you about that one Lord what about this and what about that in other words take a little survey some other says well I don't need to do that no you don't need to but you'll be wise if you do because watch this you only know how strong you are when you find out what your weaknesses are if you don't know what your weaknesses are the devil will trip you up for sure somebody says well I could never be tempted by that that wouldn't ever come my way you've set yourself up for an attack because Satan would not he's not going to ignore that boast so once you listen carefully and I want you to think if when I mention each one of these why does it fit in my life so let's begin the first one is simply this and that is a strong life has placed their trust in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior that is a strong life begins with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of their life that's first that's foremost you can't put that any other place except on the bottom that's the foundation did you've trusted Jesus and that that is you can look back in your life and know at a particular time you may not be able to name that day of the week or even the month but you know or maybe even the year but you know at a certain time you remember that you gave your life to Christ and that you know that you're saved that's foundation evidence that you have a strong life secondly and that's this that you are guided by the Holy Spirit a person has a strong life is guided by the Holy Spirit when Jesus saved you he sent the Holy Spirit into your life to indwell you why did he send him he sent him for the simple reason that you and I he knew could not live adequately apart from him this is why he said to his disciples before you launch you out on fulfilling the Great Commission you're not ready yet you're not ready until the Holy Spirit builds you and enabled you and empowers you to do what I called you to do the truth is every strong life is a life that has the indwelling Holy Spirit and has him there for God's purpose that is to guide us and to lead us we can't look around and read the paper listen to what I watch the television and find out how to make decisions we found out how to make decisions by coming to God asking him and the Holy Spirit who lives within every single believer will guide you he will enable you he will show you the paths you should take in decisions you have to make in life he'll show you which ones are the wisest decisions a wise person will listen the promptings of the Holy Spirit in your life and that's why when the Spirit of God speaks you can't say oh I was just my feeling oh you know what I'm not going God speaks clearly not audibly but he speaks very clearly and often times stronger than audibly because he will impress your heart your life your mind your attention to one particular area of life that you're dealing with he's trying to say something to you o strong life listens to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit thirdly a strong life has this priority in their life and that is spending time alone with prayer in prayer with God spending time alone with God in prayer is they listen this is the connecting point you have with God you look all around you you can read this that never and so forth but your connection point with him is the time you spend with him in prayer and people say well you know what I just found myself too busy to pray no it's just a Miss listen it's a misalignment of what's important in your life the most important thing in your life is your relationship to him your connection to Almighty God he's the one you talk to he's the one you you you bring your needs to a strong person has a strong prayer life I've never I've never met a strong person really they did not have a strong prayer life you can get by with some little praying here and there but you know what that doesn't make you strong a strong life has a communication with God you know how to talk to him you know how to listen to him you know how to bring your needs and hurts and joys and peace and and everything else to him and that is an absolute primary of your life in fact if you think about teaching your children in life if you don't teach them early in life by example first and by your praying with your children you listen watch this you have cheated them you have denied them listen you have you have hurt them in more ways than you will ever know they're gonna grow up thinking they got to figure it all out they got to depend on you for everything no they should you're believing in their heart that Almighty God is their God they know what prayer is they know who God is and teaching them to spend time in prayer with God every day there's not a single one of us who is too busy to pray now if you tell God you're too busy to pray here's what do you may do he may just lay you out with something that puts you in the hospital of about two weeks flat on your back and then all you've got to do is pray and for some time we bring things on ourselves well Lord I would just would if I if I had time he will give you time the truth is you have time and the time you have is the time he's given to you it's a matter of your choosing how you spend your time listen you can't in it's not spending you can't invest your time in any way that stronger makes you stronger than praying and talking to him as a day listen it's not just the hab it is a habit it's a daily discipline in your life he is first above everything else very important for strong life then of course a strong life is built upon the teachings of the word of God and listen and the application of them it's one thing to hear it but applying it is something else so when you come on Sunday morning you take notes for example what do you do with them it's application and I think about how many people go to church week after week and month after years and years and years they never carry a Bible they never take a note they can tell you anything the pastor said and and they in years and years and years later they can't tell you anything why because they heard it but they didn't apply it we have to apply think of all the sounds that you get in any given day whether it's television radio traffic and people talking whatever it might be the sound of the the sound of the word of God and the sound of the voice of God is the most important sound and you and I cannot do anything any more important than feeding upon the Word of God that's for example you show me a strong life and I'll tell you somebody if you keep talking to them a little while they'll bring up some scripture that God's laid on their heart and all of us who have been through difficult and trial we've got scriptures scriptures that God placed upon our heart that take us through difficult times if you don't read the Bible you don't have one you'll say well there's some verse in the Bible somewhere it goes something like this you know what that won't work and somebody will say once and well why do you keep why do you keep holding that Bible up because that's what this is all about this isn't about my opinion this is about what holy God who created us and has a will and purpose and plan for our life who will be there when we die who will call us the judgment this is all about him and all about his relationship to us in our place in life that's why we hold the Bible up and that's why we hold it up because we'd like to see everybody carrying the Bible to church you go to church to be instructed in the Word of God not just to go to church to sell your conscience and but that's exactly what some people do consistently listen a person who has a strong life consistently obeys God as a habit and attempts and tries to leave all the consequences to him sometime we don't that's why I said try if you have the habit of your life obeying God for example think about this as a follower of Jesus Christ to disobey God should be and they should be an exception in your life to obey Him should be the norm for your life why because that's who we are and the strong life is a life that is built on obeying the truth of the word of God then of course one of the one of the areas of a strong life is that we see the Lord Jesus Christ as the strength of our life now think about this for a moment Paul said I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me he's in jail beaten chained locked up you name it and you know what his foundation was so solid that no matter what they did they never discouraged him they never made him quit they tried their best to stop him from attempted assassinations to everything else they did why because he was strong he was strong in the Word of God he was strong in his relationship to God he was strong in his obedience to God and he knew in his heart that the strength of his life was not in his body but was in his relationship to Jesus Christ that's where our strength lies in relationship and all these other things are part of that relationship so ask yourself the question how strong is your life how much have you life for example do you get up in the morning and say well I'm gonna do this happen the other how often do you get up to say father I want to thank you that you're my strength today and if you have a job that's very difficult do you ever say to him lord I need I need your strength to there to get this done I don't even know how I'm how I'm gonna be able to do what I'm supposed to do you're my strength then what you've done is you you have invited the Lord God into your life so to speak through His Holy Spirit to enable you and strengthen you and encourage you and don't it does not let you quit because with you can accomplish anything God has set before you to accomplish then of course you've got to live a disciplined life a disciplined life is a part of a strong life because if a person's disciplined they're not disciplined in just one area if you live a disciplined life you careful about what you eat you careful about exercise you're careful about how you spend your time you're careful about how you spend your money and and we talk we're talking about that in a second in other words you if you live a disciplined life you in control of your life I don't mean in control in a bad way I mean for example you have goals and you have direction for your life if you live a disciplined life there's some things you don't do and if you decide to live a godly life you've made that a decision in your life and you stood here week after week after week and you've said you've sung this song I surrender role if you've done that and Jesus Christ is a Lord master of life you're building strength and I believe if you come to church week after week you take notes you apply them to your heart you're building strength God is building strength into your life building truth into your life and building a sense of discipline listen a disciplined life doesn't say oh I just don't think I'm not going to work today our disciplined life equal doesn't say I'm gonna read the Bible and pray today I'm just gonna take I'm just gonna do what I want to do today a disciplined life isn't something that happens once in a while it is a daily constraint in our life that is a constraint that God gives us for our own good and that's what we try to teach our children we teach them to live a disciplined life so you don't have to discipline you want them to do certain things you get up a certain time put on that clothes look their best and so forth so ask yourself the question is would you consider your life a disciplined life you're in control or do you just sort of come you just sort of go with the wind just whatever comes your way a disciplined life is a strong life and it's necessary then of course I think about the direction for Allah what's the direction where you headed what are you trying to accomplish in life I think about how many people get up and say well I've got to go to work this morning work 8 hours and thank God I'll be off at 4 or 5 o'clock or how many people say and I've had them to say to me maybe purchasing something and somebody else say I'll say how you doing always cute little conversation you well I'm doing fine thank God it's Friday thank God it's Friday let me ask you a question are you living to work 8 hours a day to get paid so at the end of the week you can get paid Oh next week you get paid are you living your life in order to live till you get 62 or 65 so you can finally retire and as you said do what I want to do I do nothing you tell you about a I'm gonna do nothing your body responds because God never built a single one of us to ever reach any age where we don't do anything he intends for us to be usefulness the Bible says is fruitful in all age every day of our life every day of your life is a gift from God it's not to be wasted and to say well I'm not gonna do anything today you can speak you can walk you can handle things you can help many things you know I can do until the last day of our life you and I should be serving him in some fashion even if it's just talking to someone else and some of us as well but suppose among them in the hospital in the bed and I don't have it five days to live you can talk to a lot of nurses in five days you can talk to a lot of other people the hospital do dying and sick and you name it but you're not in the hospital you well at what point in your life do you have the right to tell god this is it no more work you're gonna enjoy life if you have a strong life guess what you're gonna find the more time you have listen the more you want to serve God and the stronger you're going to get very important we see a life from God's viewpoint from his beef on not our own then what about these storms of life because of a strong person listen a strong person can withstand the storms and learn from them now most people when a big storm comes in their life difficulty hardship pain whatever it might be they want to ask why have you allowed this why the God if you love me why do you love this to happen why have you take my love one was my child sick or have I lost my job why don't I lost my money to God oh you know what why have you done all this to me well you remember what we said about those two houses both of them look alike you can't tell which is the strong one without the storm the storms in our life God allows them they may come through your animating coming through somebody else no matter what they come in order to do what in order to build godly strength within us he allows them to build strength why was Paul such an awesome servant of God why didn't God say what Paul you're so faithful and loyal and devoted to me right now these epistles you shouldn't be in jail you shouldn't be tried you shouldn't all these things that happen to and persecuted almost assassinated why did why did why didn't God allow that in his life I'll tell you why there would be no there would be no Romans and no Corinthians and no Ephesians in Galatians and Colossians and all these books he wrote in prison it was difficulty hardship and pain that he learned the awesome lessons why does God send these into our life or allow them to happen he never he never said it would be an easy life some people's life seems to be easier than others at my age I can tell you this I wouldn't change a pain a heartache a trial a tribulation a hurt disappointment tears I wouldn't change any of that but what God has taught me under any condition and God's God allows these things in their life we may see them as enemies and it may be our enemy or maybe somebody that breaks our heart whatever it might be but what's God up to he's allowing them why to build inner strength into your life storms are coming and the question is can you handle them are you ready for them if you haven't got the right foundation if you don't have a strong life you you don't respond to that right away and you find yourself giving up and quitting or being tempted to go to some other alternative whether it's some drug or some form of immorality or something to drink or whatever it might be of johning something and to get the pain out listen God's purpose is not to get the paint out but to get the strength on the inside of you to build you to be a godly person so that you can accomplish his purpose for your life you so I don't know what his purpose is he's more than willing to show you he's more than willing heavy somebody says well I'm 60 years old what purpose has got it got in my life well let me say two things you're asking a little late but he still has a purpose for your life and he'll take you wherever at least some of this he'll take you wherever you are willing to give yourself to him and from that point on he'll use you and work in your life to accomplish his purpose for your life and accomplish his will a strong life is what God wants and so without the storms they're not going to be in this strong life and you can look back over the years that people who've been great saints of God and much written about him they went through turmoil hardly he was brokenness you name it they went a good example as hospital chambers for example he only lived to be 40 about 22 years of age many of you don't know who he is he little a devotional book called how many of you know what it is my most for his highest now that Thailand itself says a lot he died in an early age but look what that little book has meant I've read it for years and years and I written in college and it's not how long you live it's what you do with your life so what his wife do she took all of that and sort of arranged it and put it she's one to put the book together and those two people that most people ever know had used that God has used that book to transform some of the people's lives and mr. God God has a purpose for your life you need to find out what it is and give him your life and ask him to build strength into your life so that whatever years you have left you don't want to waste them God means listen God makes you to be fruitful all your life strong and you can be and the strong faith of course is one of the characteristics of a strong life and what builds faith tough times difficult times and so a strong life's been tested and tried and you come somebody said they've been born as we say with a silver spoon in their mouth they've always had everything they wanted and everything went their way you know what I want swap trials and tribulations and heartaches for that kind of life for anything in the world because you know what they've missed it they've missed it so the next time you get to complaining about something and remember this is a lesson God has he's got a lesson in every single trial heartache burden loss so we have he has a lesson wise men and women seek to know what their lesson is people who not worrying about their foundation and don't care about it they just go on and complain and moan and groan get on some drugs and so forth they have them get through it and miss wonderful opportunities in life then of course a present a strong life has has courage they got courage you have to have courage to go through some difficult that's not Egyptian remember what God said to Joshua he said be strong and of a good courage fear not neither be dad was made for the Lord your God is with you because I'm putting you in charge of 2 million of these Hebrews and you you remember that they rebelled against you and the rebelled against him we're gonna stone you to death and they've been a problem to Moses all of his life you're gonna be in charge what kind of a test was that but you know you read the book of Joshua God's blessing him all the way through the book all the way through the book is blessing him he made one arrow closed a eye after he did after he defeated the folks in Jericho and that he listened to somebody else instead of God and they got wiped out but from then on he listened to God and you can see how he God worked in his life he was a man of courage listen Courage's and something somebody can give you courage is something that you grow and your life but trusting God and watching him work and answer your petition then I think a person with a star has a strong life is optimistic I mean you're looking for the best why not when I say to people look your best do your best be your best that's an optimistic a viewpoint but it's also a godly viewpoint if you represent Jesus you're looking best you you represent him you ought to do your best you represent him you ought to be your best why not listen we represent him he's the Living God we're his messengers every one of us is a Messenger of God on this earth and a person with a strong life is gonna be optimistic and not down in the dumps you show me somebody who's always complaining about something and here's what's gonna happen things are getting tough Oh God I don't know what to do I'm afraid of what's gonna happen to government's done this and you government's gonna do that just look to God and forget the government I mean God is the one who manages their life and no one else and so you gotta be optimistic and then here's something else that builds a strong life develop friendships listen develop friendships with people who will enrich your life there's something awesome about good friends good friends of character who themselves have a strong life some people in your life that that you enjoy being with that listen just being with you and just being with them enriches you you say well how do you mean interview mean money no but you laugh you love each other you kid eat other and you help each other words that each other business is awesome then of course expressing love and care for other people if you can't express love and care for other people you're not strong if you can't love you're not strong love is one of the basic listen what listen when when Paul describes the fruit of the Holy Spirit where does he start love joy peace love loving somebody else you you're giving yourself away to someone else you may give them things you may you may give them yourself in other words but most of all loving someone is making yourself available to them tearing them up encouraging them a person who really loves is an encourage a person who really loves is a person who makes a difference in the people around them so ask yourself this question the people who know you do they think of you as a person who loves or person who complains all the time how many of you love being around a complainer none of us people who are just complaining about everything doesn't mean that's what happens they find something complain about godly people strong people find something good something good not something to complain about all the time loving is very important then of course a person who has a strong life they love listen they love they live and they serve God out of their spiritual gifts now a spiritual gift is a gift of service or a gift of giving gift of exhortation they're all that seven major gifts in the book of Romans so in the first service I said I asked how many of you know what your spiritual gift is and some of them did some didn't it will just give you joy to learn what your gift is because once you begin to operate up your gift a lot of things that are paying to you net won't be paying the more like you just say oh is that the way that is and so once a person learns their spiritual gift then they become strong you you work out of a whole different resource a spiritual gift is a gift from God that enables you in a particular area of your life to do exceptionally well and so when you're trying to do something you don't have a gift for it it's difficult but I'm simply saying when you have that gift there's a sense of inner strength we all have one or more that inner strength does something to you for the inside and you'll be able to do better whatever you do then of course quick to forgive a strong person that's quick to forgive you want to you want to hinder yourself you hold a grudge you be unforgiving and you say well what's that got to do with a strong life I'll tell you what happens to a person who has an unforgiving spirit it will affect you ultimately it will affect your very physical body if you have an unforgiving spirit you hold grudges you have a sense of hate those attitudes attitudes that affect the person because you see whatever affects your emotions that affects your body because you can't separate spirit emotions and physical but it all goes together and it isn't just the spiritual thing it's a spiritual thing to act that way but it becomes a physical thing what you think and how you feel makes all the difference in the world and a strong person is careful about how they relate to people and so you would be quick to forgive let me ask you a question what profit is there what profit is there in a person's life when they hold a grudge they're not forgiving they build hatred in their life and I'm Austin they just hold it there what advantage to you is that not one what disadvantage is there to you many messes up your relationship to God you say you mean to tell me if my relationship somebody else is not right my relationship to gods not rights exactly right and yes what happens when you hold those attitudes in you and that only hinders your relationship to the Lord it hinders every aspect of your walk with him and it it's going to affect your body people who have that attitude after a while you know who had shows first right here you started watching them it shows there it's already been working on the inside but that's where it shows first God intends for us to be godly and to walk before him in a holy fashion he created us that way and you know what it doesn't make any difference if a million people tell you it's not right just let them say it the truth is that's what the Word of God teaches if you're thinking about our God who is holy and loving and forgiving and you say well sometime I have that problem I can remember the time when in my life I dealt with that once and for all and knew how to deal with it something had happened to me that hurt me and so I was just sort of saying well Lord that you know you know that stuff you tell him he doesn't listen to and so it's like the Lord said to me remember the cross I thought yes how many times have i forgiven you yes have I held anything against you no do you what right do you have to hold anything against anyone when I have forgiven you of everything you have ever done and I have it even beforehand forgiven you of all you'll ever do that cured me it should cure everybody if you if you have those kind of feelings toward somebody else just look at the cross his outstretched arms and his shed blood took care of all of our sin all of our mistakes all of our heartaches and all of our burdens strong life is very very forgiving quick to forgive and then of course there's inner peace person else is throwing that's gonna have been a piece why your relationship with God is right relationship with others is right difficulties hardship pain comes to there into your life what happens in spite of all that there's a peace and I can remember this you know some things you can remember you'll never forget I can remember when I heard the worst news I could ever hear as a pastor worst and I got the phone call and when I finished I put the phone down I had this overwhelming sense of awesome peace and I remember saying God you've cared me through all these other storms you'll take me through this one because because God is faithful he will keep his word no matter what we do and it's all of these things that build strength into our life that so when the torrential storms come we don't waver we don't give up we don't quit and then of course the wise use of money and that is if you have a if you if you have a strong life and if if you'll think about it for a moment money drives most people and look at what in other words what happens in America it's it's what's happening on the stock market what's happening here what's happening to this corporation that one what's happening to money how much money do people have well it's a real simple way and that is we save some we give some we spend some and in the giving we tithe their income and trust God to do exactly what he says and I can tell you I've been a Christian for 68 years I have more than tithe all sixty-eight years I've been blessed over and over and over and over and over again and he couldn't even tell you why but I can tell you this here's what happens when you obey God you can't even tell why he blesses you you can't predict what God's come though you distrust him and see what happens in a strong life isn't word about money if somebody says but I just I just have enough to make ends meet well I've been there too and you know what my ends got met why because God's not gonna come up short he's gonna do exactly what he says given that she'll be given to you how good measure pressed down shaken together and running over the top that's what he says now what we deserve but what he decides to give us a strong life knows how to handle money and a weak life oftentimes does not a person can know how to handle money and still have a weak life but if a person has a if a person is a strong life they can know how to handle their money and then of course listen to this belonging to belonging to a Bible teaching Church now I wouldn't tell anybody else where to go to church but I can say this if you're gonna live a Christian life you need to know what a Christian life is all about if you gonna live a godly life and follow the Lord Jesus Christ you need to be taught we listen God's continually teaching me I study all week long I'm not looking for sermons I'm looking and asking God to speak to my heart teach me something new work in my life if you go to a church and sit there twenty or thirty minutes or an hour and nobody opens the Bible you in the wrong church you may not like that but let me ask you a question why to go spend an hour in some in a church and the Word of God is ignored that's what church is all about church is about worshipping Him had them under who I'm worshipping with from the Word of God very important that you belong to a church where they teach the Word of God so that you can grow in your life and you can be strong and you can be you can be fruitful for the kingdom of God I will not tell you what to do about your church I'm just asking you why would you spend an hour in the church where the gospel is not preached and the very qualities and characteristics of Almighty God and never talked about Jesus's tell they ignored what's that all about I wouldn't go to a church like that I wouldn't go to church they didn't teach the Word of God because this is what this is a time to worship Him and what what helps me worship Him is knowing the truth about him where do I learn that I learned from reading myself and I also learned from those who've gone before me who also teach me the truths that they've learned very important view gonna be a strong person that you have a source from which you strengthened continuously then of course a strong person works to build a strong family if you have a strong life you want your children to be strong you want them to know early in life what the Christian life is all about and you want them you want to live the kind of life before them they don't have to ask what's a Christian life like they and say my daddy of my mother is a wonderful Christian building is strong then we had a whole sermon on this I won't repeat that and then a servant spirit a person has a strength within you that's from God that makes you want to serve others you want to help others you want to do something for somebody else if it's all coming your way it's not very fruitful it's when you're not able to give ourselves away to other people so a strong life it's a giving life not just money a strong life is giving of ourselves there's somebody else let me ask you this how many of us have been helped in our life by other people every single one of us we've all been helped by somebody else and God intends for us to do the same for other people then of course to be goal-oriented that is you have goals in life somebody said to me one time how can you how can you be trust God and still have goals well Jesus had goals he says I must needs go through Samaria and he knew that his ultimate goal was the cross and so God has goals for all of us you know it's if you if there's a purpose for you living their goals and that purpose things that he wants you to accomplish and oftentimes a person won't they won't set a goal in their life because they think oh that's too high God would never do that to me so they get down here no listen is God weak no God's great he's powerful he's on mission we should set godly goals godly guilds for our life that look look like it's something we can't do but God will help you reach it if you're willing to walk the pathway of obedience and faith and an optimistic spirit trusting him and everything you do then of course to be confident to be confident and these doesn't mean to be cocky doesn't mean to be proud in egotistical it means listen that you have a self assurance that is based on your relationship to God that whatever he called you to do you can do it wherever he called you to go you can go well I think about how many missionaries have gone to many many in the world laid down their lives preaching and teaching the gospel confident that God had sent them and therefore they could weather the storms whatever it might be every single one of us has a degree of confidence because when you walk at the money but the key in your card to turn it on you're confident that it's gonna turn on your engines gonna turn on you're gonna get to work you drive an expressway most people around you doing at least 80 or 85 you have a sense of confidence I'm not sure what it's built on confidence that you're gonna get to work we have confidence about many things listen oftentimes we have less confidence in holy God than we have in things that we can't do anything about why wouldn't you be a confident person why wouldn't you be assured God is your heavenly Father Jesus as your Savior the Holy Spirit is your motivator and he's your energizer and there was why shouldn't we be confident a strong person is and then I would mention two last things first of all one of them is to be fruitful if you're a strong person you're gonna be fruitful your life's gonna be fruitful somebody's gonna see you and think you know what that's kind of person I want to be that's what I want in my life and all of us have met people like that and I can remember the two pastors the first one I ever met that I'd never heard in the preaching like he preached and I was in in Texas when I heard him and I remember sitting there thinking god I knew somebody could preach like that in the night I'm hearing him it absolutely transformed me gave me gave me all sorts of confidence and assurance and and I wanting to be fruitful in my life the other man this first time I ever heard him I thought here's the second man he's really stirred me I've watched the Spirit of God of working him I thought Lord thank you thank you thank you I've heard the second man that motivated me to want to give my best no matter what stead of the Word of God be true to the Word of God so if you think about it you're either gonna bear good fruit a bad fruit and you know what if somebody says well who determines that nobody but us we're the ones who determine that and so a strong life is fruit-bearing in listening character conduct and conversation they got to be strong the last thing I would say is simply this and that is this kind of life we're talking about will impact the lives of others you're gonna have an influence on other people a strong life always impacts other people so I would encourage you to whether you listened or whether you were sitting here to take this list and you'll say well there's all this apply to me well I feed it it certainly item over everyone I'm applied to me I want I want every single one of those things in my life when I for example one remember something oh when I want to when I want to go when I went to accomplish certain things I write them down I put them beside my bed I put them on my study now as I go over them and over me over them because I don't want to lose them if you just put this you put this in your bow so I'm gonna keep this really close in my Bible no no no not that I just get it off the paper and yet in your heart in your life if you mean business if you keep it somewhere close that you can keep reading them and really mean you thank God what's missing in my life and Lord Shoji well first of all you're not being obedient to me first of all you're not spending time in prayer words if you want to if you want a strong life and if I should ask you how many of you want a weak life nobody is gonna want a weak life and I'll just share with you the things that make for a strong life and I pray God will entrench them into your heart and into your daily activities of your life amen father we thank you this morning that you're so good to us so gracious and kind and even in our best efforts father we falter you always then pick us up keep us moving and the girl is like yourself you said you predestined us to be conformed to your image I pray that you'll sink these truths into every life and that each person will be wise enough to look at themselves in the light of what is a strong life and make a decision to give you their best in Jesus name Amen Jesus Christ is the foundation of a strong life live for God and you'll find peace and blessing visit intouch.org e to discover the strength god provides and even the most trying times there you can find today's message a strong life along with a library of free and inspiring messages from dr. Stanley sermon notes and other resources to make your life strong download the intouch app to take the teaching of dr. Stanley on-the-go or follow us on YouTube Facebook and Twitter [Music] [Music] go to the park they all go to the park yeah [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the spirit feel life is a life lived through us by the Holy Spirit and the goal is to demonstrate and to express the character of Jesus Christ an intimate look into the Ministry of dr. Stanley the spirit filled life a new edition of one of his classic books this biblical perspective on the work of the Holy Spirit can deepen your intimacy with God light principles to live by dr. Charles Stanley 'z exploration of the thirty foundational truths that continue to guide his light and ministry order a box set on CD or DVD at InTouch Arg [Music] [Music] well dad you just finished up this fantastic three-part series called strong and you talked about I'm strong churches strong families and then just becoming strong personally so what I want us to do I thought would be fun is to take the subject matter from that great series and ask the question how does personal prayer interact or our interface with those three topics and before we jump into the specifics though I thought we should just talk about prayer in general now as a pastor and I don't know if you hear this I bet you do that the thing I hear most from people about prayer is Andy I just don't think prayer works it just doesn't work and then people tell a story about something they prayed for and it didn't work so Before we jump into the specifics why do you think people think prayer doesn't work and what do you think I guess in general is the even the purpose of prayer to begin with well the purpose of prayer most people don't even think about and that is the purpose of prayer is God wants us to develop an intimate personal relationship with him he said he predestined us to be conformed to the likeness of his son and his son and he had this awesome relationship and so that's what the artist looking for and the reason it doesn't work number one a lot of those people who's saying they're praying are not even saved secondly people who are saved have sin in their life and thirdly many people are just praying for selfish things they're not praying for all the people they're not asking for the will of God to be done it's all about me myself and I and God is not interested in that yeah I think that's true in fact when I listen to people for even Christians if I'm in a small group and we have prayer requests you know the prayer requests are usually pretty self-centered or if they're not self-centered they're somehow related to being self-centered because it's pray for my son or my daughter or my aunt somehow it gets back to me and then God doesn't do exactly what we want God to do and we think something's wrong with God they sort of make out an errand boy or Santa Claus yeah and so when I get in trouble lord here's where I am I need some help I need this I mean that that's not even what prayer is all about so if you had to summarize it you have you know if somebody would say so tell me why should I pray just give me one good reason to pray if I don't see the results I'm getting why should I continue to pray the because it's the will of God that you pray and Paul put it this way he said pray without ceasing it's that development of a relationship and so if a person never prays you have no relationship to God and if you're praying with only selfish motives that's no relationship he wants intimacy with us and I think until a person realizes that their prayer life is just gonna be empty now when you say prayer life I'm thinking for many listeners and viewers prayer life they've never heard they know what prayer is into what life is they've never heard prayer life and growing up one of my earliest memories we've talked about this one of my earliest memories was when we lived in Miami and you built a cinderblock shed in our backyard for tools and a lawnmower but then you took part of that you put a dividing wall and you had your study out there and mom would send me out there to get you for dinner when dinner was ready and I'd run out there burst into the door and you would be stretched out on your face praying and I couldn't hear what you were saying but I could hear that you were saying something in my whole life I remember wherever we lived you always had a place to pray and I think that's associated with your prayer life so talk about why you had a place and then answer this question do you think everybody should have a place or was that something that's just kind of something you did because of your personality well you know I grew up with my mom teaching me to pray to pray not necessarily and then when I got my first paper route I prayed all the way around the paper out every morning out loud or just yeah I allow it because nobody on the streets the five o'clock one at 5:30 in the morning so I didn't care what they heard me or not and so I did it because I felt the need and I grew up in a situation which you're aware of that I needed God I didn't do very well in school to begin with and so I grew up with a sense of need of him and the wonderful thing about it is it taught me to begin my days every day talking to him and I still do and so when I look back over those times and then I think about time since then in every study I've ever had I've always had a place to pray a prayer room and it is it just became a way of life for me that you begin the day with the Lord and and when I didn't for example at home a place in my study I had a place to pray and one of the reasons I think you need a place is I discovered this sort of as a result of doing it and that is when I would get to the place I was going to pray it's like I didn't have to get ready Wow the words I'd been there so often for the very same thing of talking to the Lord when I got there I didn't have to say well you forget this and that the other it's like I was ready and the second thing and people will think this is foolish but it doesn't make any difference what they think about it there are times when I pray I want to cover up my head and the times when I would pray I want to be in a dark room I don't want any distractions and I think there's something about having a place that you and God meet and that place is very precious and very special it's where you open your heart it's where you claim your promises it's where you deal with trials and heartaches and burdens and your life that you can't even share with anybody else it becomes like an altar Li it's like a place of a place of sacrifice you and the Father meet and you share your heart and I pray out loud most of the time and somebody says well you don't have to pray all that no I don't but I do because what I discovered I'm not distracted if I'm praying out loud if I'm just sitting you're mumbling mm-hmm then I made start thinking about something else but if I'm talking to the Lord and I'm talking out loud and unloading my heart to him and believing that he's listening to me and so often had discovered this and having that place if I'd come in in the afternoon after a pretty tough day or even if it wasn't that tough day and I'd lie down and on my face that's the way I pray and people said you don't have to kneel no you don't but to me our reverence God is a holy God and I feel like that's what I need to do personally but I'd lied and sometimes I'd go to sleep many times while you're praying yeah that's right I bet no one listening today has ever had that happen to them before so this is a I'd go to sleep and here's the interesting thing when I wake up I'd be so alert and it's like God allowed me to go to sleep to climb my spirit and to just flush out of me all the things that I've been thinking about and things I may have been concerned about so that time of quietness is a time of God just just cleaning me out and and just making it possible for me to focus on him so you've always had a place I've always had a place and so tell us about your places and the reason I ask is because when I talk this is one of the well this is one of the greatest things you taught me because I've always had a place and I've always had a place to pray because I grew up seeing that and for me and respond to this is that this sounds if this is what you're talking about when I was in college I would get went to Georgia State I would get there early and I found a hallway it was a stairwell that was an emergency stairwell if the elevators or escalators weren't working and I got there early and I sat on the same step at this on the same floor inside the same door every single morning before class at Georgia State University on the days that I had class and that was my place at school and the only thing I ever did there because it's the only time I ever went to that hallway I would sit there and to your point it's like I was immediately ready to begin my social life then at home I had a different place but I tell people all the time it doesn't have to be a prayer room it doesn't have to be a prayer closet it could be a chair and the only time you ever sit in that chair in a guest room is when you're gonna have your devotional life is that what you're talking about absolutely you know and when I was growing up also we had a very small house and and I found the place in the church which is two blocks away downstairs in the basement way back here to go through three doors to get to distil room but I in the afternoon after I delivered newspapers I would go in there and just unload my heart to the Lord and ask for direction for my life I can pray as loud as I wanted to and nobody is and I wouldn't prank anybody else but somehow when I pray out loud I'm not distracted and my mind doesn't wander but that place is very precious and I think everybody needs a place I really do and I have somebody pastor friends and when I talk about these things they'll ask me about my devotional life and they're always they always seem to be shocked that I have a place and I just assume well doesn't everybody have a place but it's because I grew up that that was just an assumption so I don't think it's a personality thing I really do think people need a place and I think we need to pray out loud not because God can't hear our prayers but you're exactly right people say well my mind wanders when I pray and I always say exactly what you what you inferred I say that's because you don't pray out loud you have thinking prayers and so all you need is a new thought to come along but if you pray out loud and there's no one around no one's going to interrupt you you know there are a lot of mental interruptions if you're praying out loud it's it's a point of focus you know the second thing about praying out loud sometimes I've been praying and I will I will be talking with a lot about but something particularly and when I hear myself say it I think oh yes Lord do you ever write things down while you're praying absolutely that's why I keep a notepad about I know we're getting off the subject a little bit but that's that I do as well and that's an interesting thing so why why would you stop praying to write something down because I don't want to forget it their words if God said it I do not want to forget it and often times and I discovered this also if I'm studying and I'm tired I get in the prayer room go fast asleep and not meaning to but I do when I wake up I'm so real I'm so refreshed it's like God's clear that everything now he can speak yeah and I discovered that first of all I thought well I'm not very spiritual I go to sleep I supposed to be praying no it's God's time of quieting our spirit so I can really hear what he has to say and I think that encourages a lot of people because I think everyone who's been a Christian for very long is frustrated by how easily they get distracted and how oftentimes they fall asleep when they're praying but you're saying that God can use that if we don't wake up and then get busy again and miss that opportunity to wake up to hear them to listen carefully and all of this assumes that you have carved out time for this and there's this isn't prayer while you're driving this isn't I have five minutes this is throughout your life and I guess the paper route helped establish that you've set aside time and for you it's normally mornings right right and you know III started in the mornings because at that point in my life I was thirteen years old and I was that than all these streets and so forth and where I live and I was afraid so I get up and before I got out of the bed I started praying and you know this is a habit I've had over these years before I get out of the bed I ask God to give me wisdom for the day and direction and make me sensitive to his presence and I want to be obedient to your Lord today whatever that might be or you get out before I get out of the bed because I love lined and the quietness and the darkness and somebody says why would you why would you cover up your head cover my head because I don't want any distractions and so if I don't see anything hear anything it's just God me and I love that and there's a lot of Old Testament imagery there there's a lot of that kind of reverence for isolation there's a lot of Jewish tradition around that very idea even things that aren't in the Old Testament where that was a part of the separation it almost represented the private Tabernacle going into the Holy of Holies this is my quiet that's my holy polish that's right okay so let's change subject a little bit the series that you did strong it's fantastic he took these three topics Church family and personal life and so let's talk a little bit about praying for the church now I would guess most Christians never pray for their church they might pray for their pastor but in terms of just praying for their local church and I think you and I would agree that if there's an institutional organization anywhere in the world that needs prayer not because things are bad but because of you know the church is really the epicenter of the activity of God on the earth you know Jesus said I'm going to build my church that's the only thing he said he was going to build and he's been building it for 2,000 years so if you if you could say to every Christian in our country I want you to pray for your local church and here's what I want you to pray what would you want them to pray as you think about strong local churches I would pray first of all that my church would have a vision for their purpose to reach people for Christ and meet their needs secondly I'd pray for unity of spirit at what we do we do it together we head in one direction in three I would pray for the spirit of obedience to permeate that church and for I would pray for an awareness of the dependence upon the holy spirit to accomplish all the work that yacht is set forth at church so in a sense anybody who listened to that message could actually take those points and you could each one of those could be what you pray for your local church even though I picked three or four I think I can't remember exactly I think it was point number nine you talked about unity and I want to read this passage from John 17 and let you comment on this because in John 17 as you know and most of your audience knows this was Jesus high priestly prayer and it's so fascinating because he prays for his disciples and then he prays for those who will believe based upon their testimony which is us so in essence he's praying for us in the future and for the future Church and I just think this is such an interesting comment Jesus is John 17:20 Jesus says my prayer is not for them alone talking about his current day disciples I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that and then in the next verse he tells us what they pray and sometimes when I preach this passage I say to people okay now we're about to find out what Jesus prayed for us what do you think it was and I let people guess what do you think he's going to pray him he could pray anything for us and he prayed the very thing that you just mentioned that all of them may be one father just as you and are you and me and I'm in you may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me that the reason that people will take the church seriously is the unity they see in the church and so I do think it's so important that we all of us pray for churches that there would be unity not necessarily around style or the way that we do things that but Outsiders would look at us so when you think about praying for unity in the church again give us one you know if you forget everything else I say you're going to pray for your local church well should we pray around that I would pray that the Spirit of God would speak to the hearts of the people in the church that we would have a oneness of mind in heart about who we are where we headed what we're trying to accomplish and that total dependence upon the Lord Himself and I think one of the reasons Jesus said that it's because if there's no unity than what's our message to the world yep we don't have a message if there's this unit and you think about churches that have splits and the pastor gets runned off or he leaves or whatever and there's this unity that's heartache there's disappointment there's accusations as anger all kinds of things and I mean Jesus of course foresaw all that and when he prayed that prayer he was indicating does how extremely important the spirit of unity is for the effectiveness of the of the body of Christ and isn't it interesting I mean it's 2,000 years ago there isn't even church yet and he knew the number-one thing the church would struggle with was unity I mean it's really fantastic because we know churches rarely split over theology that would sort of be a breath of fresh air right he split over the disunity among people over the some of the dumbest things we've and look at the Apostle Paul he wrote all those letters but it was conflict everywhere he went disunity is pharisees sadducees you know those who love the law and i mean it was just totally confusion in fact I think sometimes I certainly would not have wanted to be the pastor of the Corinthian church there was nothing but conflict and disorder and sin and disobedience and I think what an awesome sense of commitment Paul had because disunity was one of the biggest problems he faced you know and it's the very thing jesus prayed for right okay the second thing you talked about in the strong series was family and in the message you said this a strong family is one in which the members of the family have a love and devotion to one another a strong family is one where members that family have a strong love and devotion for one another so with that in mind how should we pray for our families and I think just the family in general how how would you how would you do that well I can tell you how I prayed for my family and you're a part of that I prayed number one that the spirit of obedience would be transferred from my life to your life into that his life and in his life I prayed that you would discover the will of God for your life I prayed that you would walk obediently before him I prayed that you would do your best or whatever God called you to do and people would ask me oftentimes well did you pray for nd to go in the ministry I said no I never suggested it I just said my desire for you is that you be obedient to God whatever that requires of you and I pray that for the family then I also think we have to pray for their protection and a sense of discernment to know what is right and what is wrong and what is good and what is best and what's the will of the Father and that their business of unity within the family that's not always the case but I think that's a vital part of what we pray for the family and to pray that we would have a testimony as a family yeah I have a testimony and I think that's very important today because look at most families today they're all broken up they have no concept whatsoever of a real sense of love and devotion to each other when we had our first child and Andrew was in a car seat I remember we were driving to Hilton Head South Carolina and I said to Sandra I said and I'm not really much of a goal setter you're an extraordinary goal setter and helped me with that but I've that's just not a strength for me but I said I feel like we need to have a family goal or two and that we would then pray toward this goal if we can kind of set what's the North Star for our family what's the the place we want to be someday and this is 20 over 20 years ago and we landed on this idea and it's it goes right to this unity idea we decided that the the finish line or the bullseye on the target for us as a family would be that when our kids are old enough not to have to be with us that they would want to be with us that when they had the choice to be wherever they wanted to be and go wherever they wanted to go that when they could there would be a desire not oh it's Christmas we have to go it's Thanksgiving we have to go but they would lean would want to be with us and setting that as a goal and praying for that and praying with them about that here we are 20 years later and recently we were all five together and we were walking around and and to finished up dinner and I just whispered to Sandra said it worked I said look our kids you know they're 21 19 and about 21 19 17 you know there are a stage where they can get in their cars go over the - off in college and they enjoy being together and I really do think it was establishing that up front but then to your point not only defining what is a strong family but praying to that end because as you know when you pray to an end it shapes your behavior and so I feel like we're at a stage where we are reaping the benefits of really prayers in that very direction well you remember growing up oftentimes when we had an issue we had a table about this size and we'd all get we had a place right we'd all get around the table and pray about whether its buying a car or house or whatever it might be about moving right and I remember I think one of the important things is to involve the children in major decisions and when I was thinking about leaving Bartow and coming the First Baptist Atlanta I decided one of the things I was concerned about is how you respond to that we lived in Bartow and you know two blocks the understand it was a big lake we could fish and do all these things and so I said that let's go for a bike ride which we did pretty often and I remember the question I asked I said Andy what would you think about if I told you I was thinking about leaving Bartow and moving to a big city Atlanta Georgia I thought never forget what you said you said I quoted accurately well whenever God has spoken before and we have obeyed him he's always blessed us why hurry it I said that that's exactly what you said and so I said thank you Jesus fifth grade yeah I said thank you Jesus that's how long you know I would say that was young you thought flesh and blood did not reveal that to you you're only in the fifth grade you know well but you grew up believing God and trusting him and believing that prayer mattered and I think back we prayed about everything and going back and kind of connecting some of these dots and you just brought this up because this is later in my notes we had a you know we talked about having a place of Prayer individually but we had a place of Prayer as a family some people call it a family altar you were great as a pastor about not over spiritualizing things and I've tried to do that with my kids because as a pastor people expect you to have a family altar I don't really even know what that is but we had a place you said let's pray and we all knew we were gonna go right over to that round coffee table and we were gonna get on our knees and pray and so as a father we've Sander and I've done the same thing ours is a little less formal we call it stare prayer and it's because we always gather on the stairs would say let's pray we go to the stairs we could kneel if when a kneel or sit and as the kids were older and you know we could all get on the stairs so it over time we called it stair prayer and we still call it that the other night Allie and Sandra and I went over we said let's pray and we all just headed to the stairs so having a place even as a family can make a significant difference well and you are evidence of the fact that it's fruitful and that it works well time will tell by this point my forget been all right let's move to the third category we talked about praying for the church and pretty first family and the third part of the series you talked about having a strong life so when you think about and you had so much helpful content but when you think about if I'm gonna pray for a strong life what's central what what do you pray for specifically what's in some ways the one thing well my personal conviction is to pray God I want to be an obedient servant so make me sensitive to what you're saying correct anything in my heart of my life that would cause me to be disobedient in any way so I think obedience is Ishi and if you'll think about it you don't hit people talk about the obedience no and so when I talk about being obedient to God I'm sure a lot of folks think what does that mean it means you do what he says to do and it means you found out in the word exactly what he says and I think you can't separate effective praying from reading the Word of God because you you can just get off in all kind of situations and circumstances it without God's Word and this is well that's why I call the Bible the guide book this guides me in every single decision of life this nothing you can come up with so you read the Word of God here's what he says and then you talk to him about it well God what did you mean by this and it's not having a Bible study it's it's looking in the guidebook to think well now how about to deal with the situation circumstance in my goal for you all was that early in life that you could never remember when we started praying together or I can remember when you aren't you didn't even have an idea hardly who I was I'd get a massage your bed at night I'd pray that the Lord would bless you and gave you guidance and God that law that you show ended very early in life your will for his life I pray that before you haven't understood what the will of God was about and I prayed it when you didn't know what it was about and I've always prayed it that that God would show you his will and that you would walk in it and I say the same thing for Becky and I think if parents will just hone in on that one thing Lord show them your will and give them the wisdom and the courage to be obedient that takes care of everything yep and again it's it becomes directional kids here their parents praying for them and there are a lot of things you pick up just listening to your parents pray for you in your message and that this was just took me by surprise and and at first I thought I don't know but then I thought no this is a big deal you talked about maintaining an optimistic outlook and I thought in terms of having a strong life that's really powerful clinically that's been proven optimist just do better in life they live longer how is there a connection between your prayer life and your optimism absolutely and here's the reason who am I talking to I'm talking to all mighty God who has all power to do all things secondly I'm talking to a God who me absolutely unconditionally I'm talking to a God who wants the best for me I'm talking to a God who has promised in his word to enable me to accomplish anything and everything he set out for me to accomplish and so I think if a person's prayer life is affected they gonna be optimistic they're gonna be excited and I wake up every morning excited I do and even when I'm facing some trial or some particular burden I can end up a thanking God you've heard me I know you're gonna work in this even as I did this morning praying to somebody very special in my life and praying that the Spirit of God would give them wisdom and direction and so you know it's it's a it's a powerful thing and I think one of the main things about prayer that the Lord taught me that in fact I was in seminary the first year second year and my place to pray was over in the corner of the living room didn't have a living room and a very small kitchen one bedroom the bath that was it as over Nocona I'll never forget this it's and I was praying about school and the future and so forth it's like the Lord said to me very clearly and I don't know what I was praying about at that particular point but it's like he said to me you must remember this it's not you it is me it's it's me in you and and secondly he said to me very clearly whatever you accomplish in life you will accomplish on your knees not by your education not by your intelligence not about your gifts by on your knees so that was God's signal to me you operate on your knees in devotion to him no matter what and when I think of all the battles I threw in these 80 years it's worked I mean I am optimistic because I've seen God bring me through so many things that other people would have said no give them quit and walk away or whatever it might be I don't know how you can pray actively if you're not praying in faith that is faith in God that he will do what he says he will be what he said he would be and he will enable you no matter what i am and i heard a clinical psychologist he wasn't doing a spiritual talk it was just a informational talk about behavior and they did broad studies about educated people and not so educated people super-bright people not so bright people who all went into a certain kind of sales and they were trying to figure out what the common denominator was or the people who did well and those who didn't and after they looked at all kinds of different categories and they determined at the end of the day it was belief that the person who believed they could did and the person that at some point along the way quit believing they could didn't and when I heard that I thought it's so amazing that it's the central to Jesus teaching especially in the book of John he comes back to over and over and over the importance of belief and not simply belief in the promises of God although that's extraordinarily important is central to us as Christians but just the human characteristic of belief and then when I saw that in your message I thought that's a big part of who you are and what you've done you have always you believed that God would do what God has promised but you've always believed anything is possible that it's just I mean you grew up telling me that you can do anything you set your mind to it's possible and you're an optimist and I guess in spite of the way you were brought up you had every reason to be a pessimist but um I just think it's powerful and I was so glad that in the message even though it seemed you know there wasn't a verse for optimism you know it's absolutely true and there's certainly a spiritual component to that well if you'll think about it look at the god you serve and if you're walking obediently before him and listening to him how can you lose yep and I remember when they were voting on me at the First Baptist Church Atlanta and that big business meeting we had is here they keep me afar me whatever and I'm sitting over in the wing in the wing and nobody knows that I'm there and in the process I had my Bible open and I was looking at this verse and he says no weapon formed against you will prosper and I'm sitting over that reading that and I'm listen to all these people just saying all the things they want to say it was all over they voted for me to be the pastor and I think there's something very important about praying with scripture because all I had that night was it was a pastor scripture no weapon formed against you will prosper and so I said then I keep reading it and I listened to all this stuff and I keep reading that and I was thinking this morning I was talking to someone who's going through a very difficult time and they gave me a passage of scripture and of confidence of what y'all was going to do then I gave them this one back because they were saying I want to be sure I say the right thing it's very important and how I'm strategic it was I gave him this verse I put my words in your mouth and they've covered you with a shadow of my hand Wow that's Isaiah what I was there 51 16 and 551c read it read it one more time okay I put my words in your mouth and have covered you with a shadow of my hand imagine that and I'll tell you what I didn't want on occasion when President Reagan was president and as a group of us were meeting with him and and naturally you gotta have your picture made and all that stuff so you know we're not allowed to give him anything but he was on his getting ready to go to Russia the next week I wrote that out a very small piece of paper and I shook his hands and I said mr. president you God told me to give you this and he took it he took it yeah and I found that later he said one of the persons who work with them that the most important thing that had happened in that meeting is a note that somebody handed him really yeah so I thought that was very interesting and I've never heard that story before yeah well I don't tell it because I don't want somebody think well do you know President Reagan well I think we should probably just give all of his credit all of his success to that day when you handed him that note that might have been the defining moment in his presidency well what happened to pull down it the Berlin Wall No well you think about walking away and he's thinking oh great you know I mean people are always trying to give the prize I mean people are always trying to give us stuff imagine the president right and he gets in a quiet corner and he's about to handed to somebody else or throw it away and he looks sticks it in his pocket and as you know presidents really don't carry anything there it's almost there too dignified like the King they to carry something is almost work so to think that he had that in his pocket and maybe the only thing he carried around for that day or the days to come that was a pretty bold move because I had put my words in your mouth and have covered you with a shadow of my hand which means he would tell him what to say and cover there Wow all right well we're wrapping up and we've talked about prayer the purpose of prayer that most people need a place and we need to pray out loud and we talked about praying to this grid to pray for your church pray for unity John 17 pray for that pray for your family and pray for yourself personally that you build on a solid foundation anything else you want to add to all of that or a different subject or in summary to your audience before we wrap up yeah I'd simply say this that your life is gonna be determined by your prayer life what you accomplished of what you failed to accomplish your prayer life based on the truth of the word of God will determine your success of your failure your relationship to Almighty God into others and whether you accomplish in life what you set out to accomplish and most of all it will determine the degree of intimacy you have with your heavenly Father very very important well that was fantastic can't think of a better way to wrap that up thanks for having this conversation I think everybody loves to appear a little bit deeper into your personal life it makes it more personal for all of us so thanks and I love doing it with you and I love you thank you

Channel: In Touch Ministries

Views: 3,571,872

Rating: 4.6862011 out of 5

Keywords: Charles F. Stanley Dr. Charles Stanley Dr. Stanley In Touch InTouch God Jesus Holy Spirit Christian, Charles Stanley

Id: SVQgEcPVIyY

Length: 86min 14sec (5174 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 24 2018