Don't know what to pray? Jump start your prayer
life today with our free morning
and evening prayer bookmarks. Dr. Charles Stanley: Well,
one of the greatest assets you have in your life is your faith. It affects everything you do. You're planning to get up
tomorrow morning, right? You may have some plans about
going to work. We live by our faith. We make plans. Some people's faith, strong,
some people's faith, not so strong. But many people have faith that
wavers. They don't have a settled,
strong, foundational faith. But I want to talk about this
whole issue of why we waiver in our faith. If you'll recall where we've
been in the past few months, we've been in the book of
Exodus, and we have watched God free the Israelites from
Egyptian bondage. And they left bondage and went
toward the Red Sea. And God opened up the Red Sea
for them. They marched right through dry
land. Then they went right on up to
the Promised Land, right to the edge of it. And having watched God do all of
these miraculous things, they come to the Promised Land where
they've been dreaming of since they were in Egypt and hearing
about it for years and years and years. And now there they were, and so
Moses just said, "I'm going to send twelve spies up into the
Promised Land, to Canaan," been dreaming about it for years,
"and let's see what it's like before we take it. We will take it, because God's
given it to us." So, they send twelve spies up,
they come back. And so, the first ten give their
report and they said, "That's right, it's a land flowing with
milk and honey. And it's just everything God
promised." And they go on and on talking
about it. And then they add this word:
nevertheless. Watch that word. Nevertheless. "All this is true and all that
God's promised us, nevertheless, there are giants in the land." Then they unfold all the things
that they saw that was building up lack of faith and beginning
to cause them to doubt. And so, after they got through
that long rigmarole of doubt, then Joshua and Caleb said, "Now
we want to speak now." They said, "We can take it, we
can do it!" And you'll remember that they
cried all night and said, "We can't, and take us back to
Egypt." Can you imagine that? Four hundred years in Egyptian
bondage. God miraculously brought them
out, gave them what the Egyptians owned, brought them
through the desert, brought them down to the Red Sea, opened up
the sea, the waters on both sides up, they walked through,
not a person got a drop of water on them. All the way through, and then
through the desert, up to the very--crossover the boundary and
the Promised Land, they said, "Mmmmm. We better go back to Egypt." Can you imagine that? "Take us back to Egypt,"
slavery, little, disease, all the things that they had to deal
with. Right on the brink of the
Promised Land, they, "Mmm-mm-mm, we can't do it." That's our background, that's
what we are going to be talking about. But I want you to turn to James,
chapter one. In the sixth verse, says, "But
we must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts
is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind." Watch this, "For that man," or a
woman, "ought not to expect that he will receive anything from
the Lord." You see, that's a powerful
statement, look at that. "For that man," or a woman,
"ought not to expect that he shall receive anything from the
Lord." So, what I want to talk about in
this message is wavering faith. Wavering faith is like this:
back and forth, back and forth. All of us have experienced
wavering faith in some fashion or the other. And so, it's devastating to real
accomplishment and achievement in life. God wants us to have strong
faith. Now, watch this. Faith that is built under a
relationship, a personal relationship with Almighty God. Not faith built on feelings, not
faith built on opinion, not faith built on somebody else,
what somebody else thinks you ought to do, but faith built on
Almighty God. God is willing to do so much
more than we expect or anticipate, but we have wavering
faith. And what happens to us, we do
the same thing those Israelites did. God opened miraculous ways for
them to get out of Egyptian bondage, all the way through the
sea, up to the very brink, right on the boundary line of the
Promised Land that they'd been dreaming of for years, and they
said, "No, send us back to Egypt." Now, that sounds rather
ridiculous to us, but that's the thing--same thing happens to
people today. Your faith is one of the most
awesome gifts you have! Now, whether you live by it,
whether you exercise it or whether you cultivate it,
whether you enjoy it or whether you fret over it, where is
faith? Where's your faith in Almighty
God in your life? What God's going to do in your
life relates to your faith. Not spending our time thinking
about what I can't do, what I can't have, but spending our
time thinking about what God has provided for us, what He's
promised and what He will allow to happen. So, let's think about some of
the causes of wavering faith. When trusting God is in conflict
with human reason, what happens? If we go by human reason instead
of trusting God, we won't get much out of life. When you trusted Christ as your
Savior, here's what you did. You said, "I'm going to believe
that, now having trusted Jesus as my Savior, that when I die,
I'm going to Heaven and nothing can keep me out." Because He promised, "Absent
from the body, present with the Lord." So, you trusted Him as your
Savior. Now, living it out is what
faith's all about. And so, your human reason and
your faith are going to be in conflict lots of times,
especially if you listen to other people. Because most other people have
an opinion about you if you just ask them. And they think you ought to do
this, you ought to have that, you ought to live over yonder,
you ought to drive this, you ought to work here, you ought to
make this much money, you ought to have these kind of friends,
everybody's got opinions. But the issue is what's the will
of God for you? What's His plan for you? Now, no two people are alike and
we think about all the billions of people in the world, and no
two of us alike, why should we listen to people tell us what to
do? How we ought to live our life,
instead of God who created you as a very unique individual. So, one of the reasons we waver
in our faith is human reason. When we allow our feelings to
overcome our faith. This is where most people live. Well, I just don't feel like it. Well, I have thought, I have
prayed about it, but then I just don't feel like that's what God
wants for me. And we let our feelings, which
like the waves of the sea, forward and backwards, and
people live that way. That's no way to live. God didn't save you to live by
your feelings. He saves you to live by a
personal, intimate relationship with Him, believing what He
promised you from the Word of God. Listen, here's our anchor. We don't have to live by our
feelings, but by the teachings of the Word of God. When you trusted Christ as your
Savior, remember this, the Holy Spirit of God entered you, your
life, in your spirit, sealed you forever as a child of God. You can't ever be lost. You say, "Suppose I sin?" That's what grace is about. Sealed you as a child of God and
is there to enable you to live and trust Him through every
circumstance of life. And so, you can't live by your
feelings. Feelings are always changing. Nowhere in the Bible is it ever
even implied that we're to live by feelings. We're going to have feelings,
but the issue is this: do we live by ever-changing feelings
that are affected by everything, or you going to live by a faith
in the Word of God which does not change? Everything else changes. The Word of God doesn't change. And so, when He says, "I will
never leave you nor forsake you," do you believe that? Well, a few of you do, not many. I will never leave you nor
forsake you. If we believe that and we have
some circumstance in life and we begin to ask God to show us
about it, well, then what happens? We drift from faith to feelings
because we've listened to others, said here's what
happened to me, and I think you ought to think about this. God doesn't work in two people's
lives the same way. You can't go by your feelings. You either go by your feelings
or your faith. Not one word in the Scripture
about going--about our feelings being right. We go by trusting God to be to
us who He promised to be. Then of course, when we fail to
see God at work in our circumstances. And I think this is what happens
to many people. Things happen that they don't
expect or they don't plan and they don't see God in them. You say, "Well, what do you mean
seeing God in them?" Most of us, watch this
carefully, see God in our circumstances when they're good. When I'm getting what I want,
going where I want to go, having what I have, drive this, wear
that, live there, that's when we see God. But suppose the bottom drops out
and you don't have all those things, where's God? Then has He disappeared? Has He changed, this God who
said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you," has He
changed? No, He has not. I may have changed. I may have disobeyed Him, but He
hasn't changed. And so, when I think about what
affects people, they don't see God in the most difficult times. I look back in my life and think
about some trying times I've had, and as I look back and I've
thought about--a lot about it, all the things that looked like
really bad circumstances, I can look back and see how God used
every single one of those things for some reason in my life. Watch this, you're looking at
things from God's viewpoint, this--you're looking through the
eyes of a God who loves you enough to have sent His only
begotten Son, Jesus, to the cross to die for your sins and
your wickedness and your ways, and all of our sins and all of
our weakness, He died for us anyway. This is who you're talking
about. So, do we trust Him or do we
not? Do you live by your
circumstances or do you live by faith? When God has told you to do
something, it may be very difficult. It may appear to be just
absolutely beyond you, can't be it. But when God tells you to do
something, remember that all the power of Omnipotent God becomes
involved in helping you do what He's called you to do. And so, we should be trusting,
believing, not always understanding. There's nothing in the Bible
that says I'm to always understand what God does. And you can look through
Scripture and find many cases of that. So, we fail to see Him at work,
and what happens? We don't receive what He wants
to give us. We miss out on blessing after
blessing after blessing. Now, watch this chain reaction. You listening?
Say amen. Sometimes God says, "Here's what
I want to do in your life." And so, He starts way back here
to do what? To get you ready for way back,
way over here. And so, because over here you
may stumble or something happened and things don't go as
fast as you think, that, "Well, it looks like it's absolutely
impossible," what happens? You lose your vision for what
God promised you because things aren't working out right now
just the way you think they ought to, and you think they
have to. Is there anything God can't do? No. And so, we trust Him in times we
don't always understand what He's up to, but He's always
working in our circumstances to accomplish His will and for our
good. He always works in our behalf,
in our favor, always. Now, that may take me on a level
path one day and down in the valley the next. But He knows that what His will
is, His purpose, His plan-- listen, includes a level walk
and a walk in the valley, a stormy walk and a calm walk. God is a God of awesome love who
intends to lead us every single day, not make everything just
easy for us, but whatever He's doing, whatever he's doing in
your life, He has an ultimate purpose. You think God is always working
in your behalf? Yes, He is. It may not look like it, it may
not feel like it. We can't see any evidence of it. He's always working in our
behalf because, to get you over here, He knows that, watch this,
He knows to bless you over here, He can't take a straight line,
because it'll ruin you back here. So, what does He do? He takes us through enough pain,
enough difficulty, enough hardship, by the time we get
there, we're so grateful to God, we just love obeying Him. Love obeying Him. Then of course, we listen to
negative counsel. You have to watch who you listen
to. Somebody says, "Well, I've been
talking to my friends about what I've been praying to God about,
and none of them think I should do it." Listen, you don't listen to your
friends. You say, "Well, you're telling
me not to ever listen to my friends?" No, but I'm saying this: when it
comes to decisions that you have to make about your life, your
decisions are not your friend's decisions. Your decisions are between you
and God. It doesn't mean that you can't
ask folks to help you. But here's what I've discovered
in all these years. Usually, when you ask for
direction about faith and what God's trying to say in your
life, they will interpret what God's answer is on the basis of
what they feel in their heart they would do, when that may be
absolutely opposite from what God wants you to do. Be careful when you're asking
other people what you should do about anything. It isn't that we a shouldn't
seek godly counsel, but godly counsel ought to, listen, should
match up to God's Word and God's Spirit and God's direction for
your life. So, we're talking about the
things that cause us to waver in our faith. Another one is this. When we focus on our
circumstances rather than on God. And it is always a catch for us. Well, here's--here are my
circumstances. Not here are my circumstances in
the light of this awesome, sovereign God that I serve, who
loves me unconditionally. These are not my circumstances
alone. These are circumstances in which
God is very, very aware of. He knows exactly why I'm where I
am. He knows exactly what I should
be doing. He knows what doesn't make any
sense at all, but happens to be the will of God. These are the things that trip
us up. These are the things that we
begin to pray and ask God what to do. And then, watch this carefully. So many times, when we do that
and we're talking to our friends and looking at the
circumstances, and we conclude by our circumstances and what we
hear and what we normally feel, well, that couldn't be the will
of God, when that may be exactly what God wants you to do. Watch this, because how do we
grow in our faith? Being challenged by things that
are not normal, challenged by things that don't seem to be
reasonable, things that seem to be difficult. Why would God ask me to do this? And sometimes, what He's doing,
He's pushing us along to grow up our faith. You say, "Well, would God ever
disappoint me?" He sure would. "You mean to tell me God will
disappoint me?" Yep. Watch this, when you're asking
for something that is not of God, when you choose to walk in
a way that's not His way and His will and purpose and plan for
your life, yeah, you're going to get disappointed. But it's the disappointment of
genuine love. Remember that. All disappointment's not bad. Disappointment of genuine love
is a disappointment of protection and watch care and
love and goodness toward us. And so, He's a God who's always
looking out in our behalf. When we focus on our
circumstances rather than on God, something begins to happen
in our life. And so, when we're ignorant of
God's ways, another one, ignorant of God's ways, if I'm
ignorant of how God works, then I'm going to be disappointed. So, somebody says, "Well, how do
we learn how God works?" From the Word of God. And I think about how many
people grow up in their life and they own a Bible, but they never
read it. Or if they do, they read their
favorite passages most of the time. But God wants us to be growing. And how do we grow? We grow through our faith;
trusting Him, believing Him; that even in the most difficult,
trying, weeping times; we must believe that God's doing
something good. Watch this, because He is a good
God who loves us even in the difficult times when He has to
chastise us, He's still loving us. He knows what we need. Now, we think we know what we
need. We need to live in a big house,
drive a big car, wear expensive clothes, have all kind of
jewelry. We can name all that kind of
stuff, and you know what? God doesn't promise that. He promises something much
better: a personal, intimate relationship with Him. That is the most wonderful gift
God could give, and that's what He gives. Then I think about people who
are ignorant of God's ways, and then I think about feelings of
guilt over past sins haunt people. And there are a lot of people
who have been saved, know that they're saved, and yet they
never grow, and here's the reason they don't grow. They believe God saved them, but
they can't quite believe that God has forgiven them of things
in their past that maybe they're ashamed of or maybe things that
they certainly regret that ever happened to them. And somehow, they can't quite
believe that God has really and truly forgiven them. And I've met lots of people that
are like that in life. "Well, I know I'm saved, I know
I trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior, but then, here's what
happened in my life and I don't think God could possibly forgive
me of that." What is it He can't forgive you
of? That's who He is: a forgiving
God. Listen. And He doesn't--one thing He
does not do is come back and say, "Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm,
mm-hmm." No. When He forgives, in His divine
mind, He forgets. He does not hold against you
what He has forgiven you of. Now, the very circumstance that
caused you to sin has fruit. And those circumstances
sometimes are very difficult. And so, we reap what we sow,
more than we sow, later than we sow. It doesn't mean that God's
against us. But the very nature of some
things, we reap what we sow, more than we sow, later than we
sow. And it doesn't say, "But God
doesn't forgive us," no. Watch this, even when we've made
mistakes, even when we've sinned against God, He has forgiven us. Now, watch this. Even when you are suffering the
fruits of big mistakes, Holy God is with you to help you, to
enable you, and to remind you that the fruits and the
consequences of what you've done are still there and you're
feeling it, but He's forgiven you. He's forgiven you no matter
what. And this is where many
Christians, they come to a certain point in their
commitment to the Lord and then they'll say, "But, yeah, but
back yonder in my life, here's what happened and I don't know
how God could forgive you." I can tell you. I can tell you how He can
forgive you of anything. I didn't say there'd be no
consequences, but I can tell you how He'll forgive you anything. Look at the cross. When He sent Jesus to die on the
cross and shed His blood, after--that was for your sin and
my sin. How will He forgive us? Asking Him to forgive us, not on
the basis we're going to be perfect, but on the basis that
Jesus died for us. And when we surrender our life
to Him, confess our faith in Him, He forgives us of our sin. And I think of how many people
miss out on the best things in life because they can't believe
that God could somehow forgive them of this, that, and the
other. Well, guilt over past sins, and
then of course, listening to the lies of the devil. Satan is still talking. And I've met some wonderful
people who will never be happy in their life because they can't
close their ears off to the devil's accusations. Watch this, you cannot name a
single solitary sin in your life today that God won't forgive you
of. Now, if you have the idea that
I'm going to sin and have--just enjoy myself because the Bible
says, "If I confess it, He'll forgive me and cleanse me from
all unrighteousness." Mm-mm, you set yourself a trap. You're testing God. But God will forgive you for
whatever the past is because He's a God of love and goodness
and mercy, and He's paid the price for your sins. He wants you to trust Him. He wants us to trust Him. And if we trust Him, we'll grow
in our Christian life, and if we don't, we won't grow. So, think about all of us,
listening to the lies of Satan telling you that you're not
forgiven. You are forgiven. Now, how do we correct wavering
faith? And we've all been there at some
time or the other. How do we correct that in our
life? Ask yourself this question:
Where are these doubts coming from? They're coming from the devil. Satan wants you to doubt that
you're saved. He wants you to doubt that
you're forgiven. And he, on and on he goes, he is
the source of our doubts. God is an awesome God who loves
us. And when we come to doubting
Him, the best place to go is strictly to the Word of God to
say, "Lord, what do You say about this?" So, ask yourself the question:
Where are these doubts coming from? Then ask yourself this question:
Did God not promise to meet all of our needs? Yes, He has. He's promised to meet every
single need we have. What have you asked Him for that
He has not done, that fits His will and purpose and plan for
your life? He never fails us. So, let's think about this. Did He not give us the Holy
Spirit to enable us to do whatever He requires in life? Yes, He did. And so, whatever he requires of
us, when you trusted Christ as your Savior, you were indwelt by
the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is there to
enable you to accomplish anything and everything God has
required of you. So, He has not said, "This is
what I want you to do and you do it. He's always there. He's our partner in life. He's our guide to help us to do
and to achieve everything He's required of us. He's never going to misguide
you, mislead you in any way under any condition. He always has your best interest
at heart. The question is: Are you willing
to listen with an open heart? Are you willing to, listen, are
you willing to listen in the light of what you know the Word
of God says? And the Bible names a whole lot
of sins. And the Bible forbids us to
partake of many things in life. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not bear false
witness. On and on we go. And people know it, they can
quote it. But here's how they think. "I'm an exception. I'm an exception. I'm pretty good. I'm not a mean person. I've never killed anybody." I've heard everything imaginable
of why a person can sin against God and it'd be okay. It's not okay. Watch this. No matter who we are, what we
are, how long we've known the Lord, you cannot change, you
cannot change a principle of the Word of God, one of which is be
sure your sin will find you out. Secondly, we reap what we sow. What's the next one? More than we sow, later than we
sow. You can't change that. And so, what I simply want you
to do is to think about this. To live a life of faith, you've
got to know what the Word of God says. God wants the best for us. And the best for us requires
something of us. And I think about did He not
promise to be with me at all times? Yes. Anything too hard for God? No. And when you come to a decision
in life, big decisions, and watch this. You can't ask somebody else in
life if your decision-making process, if it's a big decision. Some people think big things in
God's eyes are little things to us. And some things that we think
are so big to God, they're not. What God wants is listening
hearts and obedient spirits. And you get the best that
Almighty God has to offer. Does that mean no pain? No. Does it mean you'll never be in
want? No. God knows what it takes to make
us, to create us, for us to become the persons He's made us,
He'll take you. In other words, if you've lived
half your life and say, "Well, I've just blown it." Start now. God will take you right where
you are, forgive you of your sin in spite of the past. He'll enable you to overcome it. But most people are not
listening to God. They're just doing whatever they
want to do. Is this one of those forks in
the road in which my unbelief can cause me a lifetime of
regret? That is a major question. You're confronted with some
question, ask yourself the question: Is this one of the
forks in the road in which my unbelief could cost me a
lifetime of regret? I think of some people I know
are living in a lifetime of regret because of decisions they
have made, and decisions they can't change. God wants us to follow His will
because that's the best way. He's willing to answer our
prayers. He's willing to give us
direction. He's willing to forgive us of
our sin. He's willing to help us in every
way if we're willing to listen to Him. But ask yourself the question:
On a daily basis, on a daily basis, is it your habit and
could you be described by the people who know you as a person
who seeks to obey God in their life? Live the Christian life, knows
Jesus Christ as their Savior, is that the kind of person they
are? Do they know you as that kind of
person? It's our relationship to Him,
listening to Him and obeying Him. So, when I think about that,
think about probably one of the simplest things I could say to
you, and yet it's one of the most important. So, I'll put it this way. I've lived long enough to learn
this: the most important thing in a believer's life is the time
they spend meditating upon the Word of God and talking to Him. There is no exception. That's the most important time
we spend in our life. Reading the Word, you say,
"Well, I don't understand it all." Well, there are things in the
Bible I don't fully understand. The most important thing in your
life, the most assured sense of guidance in your life, if you
will read the Word and listen to God, He will direct you right
every time. And I would simply say this. I've got some favorite passages. In fact, I want you to listen to
this and then I'll tell you where I got it. When I'm trying to make a
decision or I'm facing some situation or circumstance,
here's where I turn. "You are My servant. I have chosen you and not
rejected you. Do not fear for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you,
for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I
will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous
right hand. Behold, all those who are
angered at you will be shamed and dishonored. Those who contend with you will
be as nothing and will perish. You will seek those who quarrel
with you, but you'll not find them. Those who war with you will be
as nothing and non-existent. For I am the Lord your God who
upholds your right hand, who says to you, 'Do not fear, I
will help you.'" Isaiah forty-one, starts with
verse nine. You ought to write that down,
Isaiah, all the things He covers in this passage. There've been times when I've
faced the most difficult times in my life, things that would
normally destroy a person, that's where I lived, right
there in Isaiah forty-one. Got other passages, it's the
Word of God. It's the Word of God that keeps
us on track when everything else may be wrong going on in your
life. But there it is. I will help you, I will
strengthen you, I will uphold you, God's promise to us. So, as you think about your
faith, remember this: it's linked to the Word of God. Your faith will increase in
strength and power when you spend time in the Word of God. And you may be here today, and
not knowing Jesus as your Savior. Well, what's the next step? The first step is to ask the
Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins. Not because you're going to be
better, not because you deserve it, but because he said if we
confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us of our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That is, when Jesus went to the
cross, He died and paid sin's debt for you and me. And when we ask Him to forgive
us, He will. And then He will begin to guide
you, lead you, and help you to understand the Word of God,
change your whole life. I trust that you'll do that. Whoever you are, wherever you
are, God is willing to change your life, if you'll let Him. Amen? Father, we thank You for Your
wonderful Word. We pray the Holy Spirit will
fasten these truths in the heart of every person. And grant us all the courage we
need, Lord, to be obedient to You when things don't look very
clear. But when you say go, give us
wisdom and the courage to go, to do whatever You would have to do
in life. We love You and we praise You
and we bless You, for every blessing that comes our way. But the one above all else, Your
presence and Your power are dwelling within us in Jesus's
name, amen.
