Focus on God, not your problems - Dr. Charles Stanley

the more you focus on your difficulty your hardship or even your pain when you're suffering the more you focus on is what happens the bigger it gets well I mean I've been going through this and I've been going through that and if your friends listen to you and say oh I'm sorry I feel so sorry for you the more pity they give you the bigger it gets and the bigger it gets the more you doubt God and so the issue is focused and I think when I think of focus I think of many instances in the Bible but one of the primary ones is Daniel and the Lions Den and so the Bible says he slept with the Lions all night if he'd have been focused on Lions he would have been sleeping he'd have been over the corner someone for all crouching down hoping that they wouldn't see him or something and it brings me back to my most favorite illustrations when God just did something for me in one of the most difficult times in my life it probably was was up to the very top and that this lady came to see me and she said I want you to have lunch with me and then I want to take you up to my apartment and show you something what she was about seven to something and I was thirty something I felt pretty safe and so so we ate lunch and I went to see her and I was going through a very difficult time at church they were doing that best try to get rid of me and so she we walked in she said I don't sit down I want to show you something walked over and showed me this picture of Daniel in the lion's den and she's sitting that son I want you to tell me what you see so I said well and I can still remember looking that picture I see this line over here looking up and this woman looking down and see the bones and so I thought they were everything this little lady get positive thought about and I said she said oh do you see anything else I said no she said if you'll notice and then the picture had all these lines and Daniel had his hands behind and he's looking at this ray of light she said what I want you to see is Daniel doesn't have on the liens but on god it was like god hug me that day because from that moment on all of my fears disappear all of my uncertainties and a lot of other things probably disappeared because she got my focus right when you focus on the trouble in the heartache and the burden of the pain it gets bigger and we feel less confident less significant and overwhelmed because remember this daniel was looking at omnipotence who created alliance he could shut the lion's mouth he got to kill everyone I'm in a second he just let him hang around while Daniel went to sleep that night and before he probably went to sleep and when he woke up he went up and looked up and disor minding of God that he was where he was because he had obeyed God and yard delivered him God always operates on the basis of principles not on the basis of feelings and how we feel so on principles for example the simplest one is we reap what we sow more than we sow later than me so God always operates he does never change that and so for example one of those principles is obey God leave all the consequences now that means I'm gonna do what he says I will let him take care of the consequences God always acts for example he says one of those principles is that God acts in behalf of those who wait for him and so if I'm going to act on the basis of principle then I know I'm gonna be heading in the right direction doing the right thing because God operates on principles and that's the reason you and I can learn how to relate to him because if I don't understand his ways then I'm gonna say God what are you up to well he's just up to doing and being who he says he is and so you could come up with most any problem and I believe give me a little time and I could come up with a principle to say if you'll obey this principle watch what happens because God wants us to obey Him and listen leave the consequences to him let me ask you a question is there any consequence of your obedience God can't handle right none he handle every one of them well if I obey Him and leave the consequences to him here's what happens I'm gonna be able to have peace and a sense of joy and confidence and assurance it doesn't make any difference what's going on because he's in control and if I'm obeying him he started taking care of it because listen the only thing that can happen in your life it's what God allows if you're a child of God what he allows he allows for reason I may not like it and they've been lots of times I've told him I didn't like it and you know what he said nothing nothing he just let me hammer away with it and deal with it until I finally said yeah you're right I don't like this I know you're right that's what your word says and even though I don't like it I want you to have your way no matter what when you're living with guilt in your life are you living with sin in your life you're gonna have a very difficult time trusting God because sin short-circuits the power of God in the person's life

Channel: In Touch Ministries

Views: 3,607,349

Keywords: Focus on God, not your problems, Charles F. Stanley, InTouch, In Touch, Ministries, God, Prayer, Sermon, Bible, Preaching, Dr Stanley, Pastor, Church, Sunday, Christian, Faith, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Charles Stanley

Id: LloFz5fl0Wg

Length: 5min 37sec (337 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 09 2011