Dr. Charles Stanley: Well,
the title of this message is "The Seven Habits
of a Godly Life." You should get every one
of them down. Now, ask yourself the question,
Are you a godly person? So, first of all, I want to
define a couple of things; and, first of all, I want to define
what a habit is. And a habit is a recurring,
often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired
through frequent repetition. That's what a habit is,
something we do over and over and over again. The second definition
is simply this. What is a godly life? So, what's godly? It's a life no longer seeking
satisfaction through a sinful lifestyle, but is now
surrendered to God and His will for your life. What is a godly life? A life no longer seeking
satisfaction through a sinful lifestyle, but is now
surrendered to God and His will for your life. In other words, we would call
that a sanctified life, not perfect; doesn't mean you never
sin, but it means that your life is fully surrendered to Him. So, I want to give you seven
habits that every single believer ought to make as a part
of their life and the first one is this. The habit, first habit,
is a life of prayer. And you'll recall one of my
favorite passages, very simple, in Mark, that first chapter when
the disciples, they never quite got a hold of this. But the Scripture says in
chapter one of Mark verse 35, "In the early morning, while it
was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to
a secluded place, and was praying there." Simon and his companions
searched for Him; "They found Him, and said to Him, 'Everybody
is looking for You.'" And so, that's sort of typical
about the way people operate sometimes. Jesus is doing the most
important thing in life and they don't quite get that. And then again, for example, in
the fourth chapter of Luke, and the forty-second verse, "When
day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds
were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him
from going away from them. And He said to them,
'I must preach the-- Gospel'" and so forth. Now, when we talk about a life
of prayer, we're not talking about once in a while. We're talking about that every
day you sense the need, the desire, and the joy, and the
awesome power that comes through praying, talking to the Father. That is, it ought to be a habit,
something that is recurring in your life. Not just when you get in
trouble, when you get in need, but because you love God;
because you're grateful for who He is and what He's doing
in your life. And, for example, in the
eleventh chapter of Luke, the disciples came to Jesus and
said, "Now, would You teach us to pray like John the Baptist
teaches his disciples to pray?" And so, they saw something
absolutely different about Jesus praying. It wasn't some ritual that
people usually would go through in those days, but they could
sense that He was talking personally to the
Heavenly Father. So, when I look at these verses,
and think about it, the truth is you can't live a godly life
unless you have a prayer life. You're not, you can't. You live in a world, we all live
in a world of temptation and trials and heartaches and
burdens and sin. And everywhere you turn
there it is. You cannot live a godly life, I
didn't say a life without any sin, but a godly life, and we
defined what that meant. You can't live a godly life
unless you have a good prayer life; because the prayer life
keeps you connected to Almighty God, sensitive to His will and
His purpose and His plan for your life. You don't pray, you won't live
a godly life. If you'll think about it, it's
the most important activity of your life. I’ve been a Christian
seventy-three years. And I got started off praying
because my mother taught me to pray and taught me how
important it was and would remind me since my father died
at, when I was nine months of age, which
I’ve told you. It was she and myself, and uh,
we didn’t have much else but the two of us. She taught me to pray--
to trust God, not to worry and fret, but just trust
Him and watch Him work in our life. So that’s what I’ve been
doing all these years. And the second thing
about her praying was that she wouldn’t let me lie
in the bed and pray. She had me to get out,
on my knees, beside her and pray--the greatest lesson
my mother probably ever taught me. And so when I think about
how powerful that is in every single area of life; and I
remember later on, I was already finished college and I was in
seminary the second year. And I remember my place to pray
was over in the corner of the living room because we only
had--I was married then--only had a living room and a kitchen
and a bedroom. And so had to find me
a place to pray. Well, my mother had made me
an afghan; so that’s where I stretched out
over in a corner. And I’ll never forget,
one evening, I don’t have any idea exactly when--I
was praying and it’s like God said to me, "Whatever you
accomplish in life, you’ll have to accomplish on your knees." You can’t trust your education. You can’t trust your,
your abilities and talents and skills. Whatever you accomplish,
you’ll have to accomplish on your knees. That was a great message
to me as a young guy; because what He was
saying is this: "Whatever I do in your life
is going to be a result of what you are willing to do in
the area of submission to My will, giving Me time, and
listening to Me." How grateful I am for that
simple lesson and if you’re going to live a godly life,
you've got to have a life of prayer. Secondly, the second habit is
trust or faith, whichever word suits you best. And I love that hundred and
third Psalm and the nineteenth verse. And the Bible says, "The Lord
has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty
rules over all." So, if you'll think about what
that verse says; if God Almighty has established His throne in
the heavens, and watch this, His sovereignty, that is His
all-knowing supernatural, divine power rules over everything,
then what does that do? That gives me an awesome
foundation to believe Him. Knowing that He's in charge, it
doesn't make any difference what happens, how it happens, through
whom it happens, for whatever reason, I know that God is in
control and I can trust Him for whatever He allows in life. And I think that's why that
verse is so important, is because if you don't trust Him,
if you don't trust Him, you're not going to pray. And you have to ask yourself the
question, "Well, where is trust in your own spiritual life?" "Trust in the Lord with all your
heart; lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him
and He will direct your path." And I quote that verse to you
very often because it is a basic verse. Now somebody says, "Well, what
happens when we don't do that?" Well, I'll tell you exactly what
happens, and if you'll turn to the thirty-seventh Psalm,
because people who do not pray and trust the Lord as they
should, here's what they do. In this passage of Scripture
warns us about it in that thirty-seventh Psalm
in verse one. Three times in these first nine
verses, he says what? "Do not fret because
of evildoers." And he says, "Do not fret
because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who
carries out wicked schemes." And he says, "Do not fret, it
only leads to evildoing." So I have a choice. I can either trust Him or I can
fret about things. Now let's be honest. How many of you fret
about things? Why sure you do. We all have fretted
about things. So remember this. A godly life has stepped beyond
fretting to trusting. In other words, you have
a choice. When you start fretting about
something, if you stop and think, wait a minute now,
who's in charge? The Bible says God's--His
sovereignty rules over all. Therefore, if He rules over all,
why am I fretting? I'm fretting because for the
moment I'm not believing, I'm not trusting, I'm not
believing that He can handle this situation. So three times in that Psalm,
he says, "Fret not, fret not, fret not." And, when you and I are trusting
Him, what happens? It builds intimacy with Him. And intimacy means that I have
a relationship with Him. I don't have to introduce
myself to Him. And intimate relationship with a
person means that you are close, not only to their heart
but their thinking. The way they think, the way they
feel, an intimate relationship is what every husband and wife
ought to have all the days of their life. Intimate relationship with God
is you and He talk together. He listens to you,
you listen to Him. You obey Him, He guides you. There's an awesome sense of
intimacy in a life that trusts God. And if you want to know whether
you're a trusting person or not, ask yourself this question:
What am I worried about? If you can look around and say,
I'm not worried about anything, because you're trusting Him. Whatever you're worried about is
God's long, awesome finger saying,"You're not trusting Me
at this area of your life." A godly life is a life of trust. Third, third habit in this
awesome life is the habit of meditation in
the Word of God. Now, I don't know how you
describe how important this is, but the Scriptures are there and
I want us to look at it for just a moment. And the Psalmist said in this
sixty-third chapter in the sixth verse, listen, "When I remember
You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches, For You
have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I sing
for joy. My soul clings to You; Your
right hand upholds me." Now, what does it mean
to meditate? It means that I read it. It means that I think about it. I search my heart in the light
of what God is saying. I ask Him whatever questions
I have on my mind. I surrender whatever He brings
to my mind. And meditating upon Him, here's
what meditation does. Meditation is like looking into
a mirror, but it is also looking beyond the mirror. That is, I see what God sees and
then I see beyond that and I see Him. Your focus is on Him. And when you begin to focus on
God, here's what happens. Worries drift away, concerns
drift away, your mind is no longer contaminated with all
kind of things that do not do you any good at all. And for example, that
hundred and nineteenth Psalm, and the hundred and thirty-third
verse, listen to what he says: "Establish my footsteps in Your
word do not let any iniquity have dominion over me. Meditation keeps us fresh and
alert and sensitive to whatever God wants to do in our life. So ask yourself the
question--let's put it this way. Do you have a time in your life
when just you and the Lord are together by yourself? And you have opened His Word,
and you are reading the Word, and you're asking God to speak
to your heart. And let me ask you this
question. What do you think most people do
last before they go to bed? What do they do? Now we're not talking about
how you dress. What do most people do
right before they go to bed? They turn--
No-mm-mm. Most people turn off the
television. Right before they go to bed. Amen? It's the truth. They turn off the television. So what do they do? The carry to bed with them all
the bad news, all the bad movies, or all the things
that are going, instead of with God, they fill their minds with
what the world has to say. Listen, if you meditate upon
God's Word, you are not going to fret and worry, wake up in the
middle of the night and churning over this and that and the
other, for the simple reason your mind's full of the
world's stuff. Meditation is an absolutely
essential part of living a godly life. And where there's no meditation,
you're not going to live a godly life. You can't. You think about when you get up
in the morning how much of the world crowds itself into
your thinking. You have to get dressed, of
course, eat breakfast, and you've got to get in your car
and drive down the expressway or somewhere and finally get to
work and as soon as you do, it's chatter, chatter, chatter,
chatter, chatter all the day. Oh, the keyboard's flying all
the day and your mind is full. Then you've got to get back in
your car; get back on the highway and dodge the traffic
again all the way home. And when you get there you
undress and sort of relax and then there's dinner. I can fill up your day
and not even know you. Because that's what we do. And so, where is God? Where is God's private time
with you? What leads to a godly life is a
time of being alone with Him, longing for Him, meditating upon
Him, thinking about Him. And as I say again, the last
thing you should do before you go to bed is not
watch television. Listen to this. It's, listen, you can listen to
what the--you can listen to what these commentators say about the
world--they don't agree. You can listen to the voice of
God and you've got it right. That's the choice you have. You do not have to carry the
world with you to sleep every night. You carry God Almighty with you. And then, there's a fourth
habit, very important one, and the one you hear me say all
the time, obey God. And I want to go back to
Deuteronomy twenty-seven, all the way back in the
Old Testament, because he makes it so crystal clear in this
twenty-seventh chapter and the tenth verse. God speaking through Moses to
His people, here's what He said. He said, "You shall therefore
obey the Lord your God, and do His commandments and His
statutes which I command you today." And then down to chapter
twenty-eight verse one, "Now, it shall be," listen to this, "if
you diligently," you know what that means? Consistently, "diligently obey
the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which
I command you today, the Lord your God will set you," listen,
"set you high above all the nations of the earth." He was talking about Israel. But put yourself in
that position. When you and I obey God, we,
listen, we're--think about this, we're walking on a higher level. Think about how the world lives. They live with all kinds of evil
thoughts; and busy, busy, busy, no time for God. You have chosen to follow Jesus. And to follow Him means you live
on a higher level. It doesn't mean that you're
looking down on other people. It just means that you have
chosen to live by a standard that's higher than the
world's standard. It doesn't mean that we're
better than somebody else; but it means our lifestyle is better
than the lifestyle of the world. So, ask yourself the question,
"Now, do I have a habit of really praying and trusting and
meditating upon the Word of God? And would I be considered
an obedient child of God?" So I'd ask you this question:
What in your life is the greatest threat to your
obedience to God? Now stop right there. What's the greatest threat
in your life to your obedience to God? What is that temptation, that
trial, or whatever's going on that just threatens your desire,
or your willingness, or you think your capacity to obey God? And how many times have you
said it and you can say it as well as I can. The wise way to live is to
obey God, then leave all the consequences and circumstances
to God. That I will do that only if
I'm have a life of prayer. Only if I'm trusting; only if
I'm meditating upon Him, that's the only way I've got to do it. So, these are simple habits that
make your life what God wants it to be. And listen, think about this. There's nothing that can keep
you from obeying and walking in these seven habits, nothing,
except a choice you make. You see, you have to choose
some things. You have to choose to go with
them or with God; have this or have God; walk this way
or have God's way. And so, I, the reason I said
seven habits, because remember we said a habit is a recurring,
often unconscious pattern of behavior that's acquired through
frequent repetition. Something that you and I do
continuously. Now, each thing I've mentioned
so far you can do. The reason you do not do it is
because you don't think it's important. Now, watch that. The reason we don't do things
that are absolutely sacred, godly, awesome, life-changing,
lifting habits is because we've decided to choose the
world's way. And no matter who you are, how
gifted you are, how much money you have or how wise you think
you are, how much education you have, you cannot live a godly
life, the best life, without practicing these seven habits. Now, what is the fifth one? The fifth habit is dependence
upon the Holy Spirit. And somebody says, "Well,
what does that mean?" It means that I surrender my
life, listen, to the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. And remember what Jesus said
to His disciples? He said, "Sit down, wait in
Jerusalem until you be endued, that is until the Holy Spirit
comes into your life. And when He does, then you'll be
ready to do what I have called you to do." So, I've given you some
Scriptures here. Some of them are familiar to
you; maybe some of them are not. But in Ephesians chapter five,
you remember what the Scripture says in this particular passage. And let's look at
verse eighteen. The Scripture says, "Do not get
drunk with wine, for that is dissipation," or waste, "but be
filled with the Spirit." Now, if I took a quart-size jar
and set it up here, and I had it half full of water, you would
say, "Well, it's only half full." It would only be full when it's
up to the top brimming, complete. When he says, be, that Greek
verb says, "be ye being filled," which means it's
a continuous thing. In the morning when you get up
amidst your prayer or before you, when you're meditating
before you even get out of the bed, you should say, "Lord,
I just want You to fill me with Your Spirit today." Now, here's what that means. Jesus said to His disciples in
Luke before you do what I call you to do, wait in the city of
Jerusalem until you be endued, until the Holy Spirit is come
upon you to indwell you for the simple reason you are not
equipped to do what I've called you to do apart from the
indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit who
will empower you. He will empower you, teach you
how; give you guidance and direction to do what I've called
you to do. Now, most people don't have any
idea who the Holy Spirit is. You are as a follower of Jesus,
as a believer of Christ, you trusted Him for your salvation. You are now already indwelt by
the Third Person of the Trinity, who is the Holy Spirit. He's dwelling within you. Well why is He there? Listen to what Jesus said
to His disciples. He said, "Sit down in Jerusalem
until you're ready. You're not ready. You're not ready till the
Holy Spirit comes upon you." The truth is, you and I are not
ready each day of our life to live out our life apart from the
indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. That is the Third Person of the
Trinity, who, listen, who indwells each one of us. And if you'll look at
these verses Ephesians--look at Ephesians chapter one: "In Him,
you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of
your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed
in Christ, in Him with the Holy Spirit
of promise." That is, one of His works, one
of the works of the Holy Spirit is to seal--that is, when you
got saved, you were sealed. The Holy Spirit seals you
as a child of God. And the Scripture also says that
you have, that you are sealed--the fourth chapter and
the thirtieth verse. You are sealed unto the
day of redemption. That is, you are sealed till the
day God calls you home forever. So that when you and I choose
to disobey God, we choose to sin against the
Holy Spirit who is within us, and whom God sent into our
life to enable us to become to be, to do, to accomplish
whatever He has in life. So, you're never alone. You're indwelt by God the
Holy Spirit, who is there to enable you, help you, encourage
you, strengthen you, heal you, you name it. He's there because we need God
in our life, and He knew we would. And so, what you have
to ask is this: Are you depending upon the
Holy Spirit to help you do what God wants you to do? Are you, for example, do you
sense that you're sort of living your life and it's the world
against you or you again--and many people feel that way. They feel like that "well, I'm
a Christian but--"and they name all these things that are
tough in life. You have God living within you
ready to release in and through you that which you need at the
moment to become, to have whatever God has in mind. And listen, otherwise how can
you live with any peace? Peace isn't something
we conjure up. Peace is the awesome
gift of God. So, when you and I waken in the
mornings, our first thoughts ought to be about Him. And this is why I said
habits--something that happens continually. And amidst what we're thinking
early in the morning, we thank God we have the Holy Spirit to
guide us and lead us and point us in the right direction. And, put it this way. You're in the midst of doing
whatever you're doing, you get a phone call or some
interruption and something and you think, you have
a decision to make. First thing you should
think is "God, guide me. Show me what to do. Help me to know Your will
in this situation." You have the answerer, the
Holy Spirit, living within you to give you clear direction in
your life at any moment you need clear direction, and also to
empower you or to give you the courage and the faith to do
what you need to do. God doesn't leave us alone
to live it out. He gives us whatever we need to
do whatever He's called us to do at any point in our life at any
time--if we trust Him. You see, this is why I'm
saying these are seven habits. This becomes so much a part of
your life, you don't even have to think about it anymore. It's just the way you live,
it's who you are. These are the habits
of your life. They are life-changing habits. They are godly habits that
enable you to live the kind of life that you really and truly
want to live. And then of course, there is the
sixth one, and that's giving to God and to others. And in the sixth chapter of
Luke, which is a very, very familiar chapter, you remember
what he says, "Give and it shall be given to you. Good measure," He says, listen,
"They will pour into your lap a good measure, pressed down,
shaken together, running over. For by your standard of measure
it will be measured to you in return." When I think about giving to
God, my favorite example of that is--I was thinking about this
last night. My first Sunday School teacher
was this, naturally, I was probably three or four years
old, somewhere there-a-bouts. They, cause I started school at
five, which was too early. Never have caught up. And then, but I went to Sunday
School every Sunday and I remember all the chairs were
different colors: green, red, yellow, blue and so forth. And then the Sunday School
teacher was this, I don't know how tall she was but she looks
like she's about ten feet tall to me, I was sitting down. She had black hair, sweet,
wonderful lady. And they came round to take
the offering. And I remember my mother would
always give me a few pennies to drop in. I would, she would never let me
go without having something to give. So, before I could count, my
mother taught me to give to God. So, when I got my first job,
which was a paper route, I made four dollars a week. Well, I was grateful to God and
I thought, I can't give God change, I gave Him a dollar,
which was twenty-five percent. I never thought about that, I
just thought what did God get? Then after that, I had a paper
route and I made sixteen dollars a week; and so, I gave God
more than a tithe on that. And then, all of my life,
I've never just tithed, never. For the simple reason I
learned very early in life, you cannot out-give God. And watch this, secondly, you
can't even predict what you're going to need. And if you can't predict what
you're going to need, how are you going to manage all of that? So, we give to God and trust
Him to do exactly what He promised to do. And so, I gave you this simple
example that many of you've heard before because it's one
that so impressed my life. I knew the Lord had called me
to preach--was finishing high school--I want to go to college. No money. I had seventy-five dollars to my
name and I told my friend one night, standing on a street
corner, that I felt like God was calling me to preach and
I needed to go to school, but I didn't have any money. And so, we were standing there
talking, and by the sovereign power of Almighty God,
the pastor of the church came walking by. This was the evening, we were
standing on a street corner. Now in those days we didn't have
TV so you sort of met on a street corner and talked. And so, he said to Mr. Hammock,
"Mr. Hammock, come over here a moment." And he said, "Charles is--he
believes God's called him to preach and wants to go to
school, but he doesn't, he doesn't have any money. You think you can help him?" So he said to me, he said,
"Well, come by and see me and let's just talk." Went by to see him in a couple
of weeks, sat down, told him my heart about what God was doing. And in a few short weeks, I had
a letter giving me a four-year scholarship with all my expenses
paid to go to college. Now, that began-- [congregation applauding] that didn't begin with
my four dollars in a paper route. That began with when my mother
taught me to give to God. So I never questioned the matter
of giving to God. When you obey God, that becomes
a habit of your life, you will never be in need any further
than God is using that need to do something in your life. So, you have to ask yourself the
question: Is that going to be one of the habits in your life? And the Bible says that God
loves a cheerful giver. So, if He loves a cheerful
giver, what about those who are stingy? Who don't give God. I'll tell you. I'll tell you why God's not
pleased; because here's what it says. I can do without Him. I'll handle it. I can manage. I don't need God
to manage my money. Think about how
foolish that is. Your money could burn up
overnight. The situation could be that
you'd lose it all overnight, you'd have nothing. But, listen to this carefully. You will never be in the
situation where you don't have anything, because you have God
living within you; and everything you need, God has
promised to provide. An awesome habit in our life. Then I would give you the
seventh habit, and that is very important one. And that is the habit of
forgiving other people. And the Scripture, one of the
very clear Scriptures in Ephesians chapter four. And we've all read it many times
before, but it's the truth and we read it again and
again and again. And the Scripture says, listen,
"Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on
your anger, do not give the devil an opportunity." Very, very important passage. And then he says don't--in verse
thirty: "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you
were sealed for the day of redemption." Then he says in verse
thirty-one, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor
and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, and
tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ
has also forgiven you." It's not always easy, no. It's difficult sometimes to be
forgiving to people who have done certain things to you. And I think one of the worst
situations is when you've been betrayed. When you have trusted, really
trusted somebody, done your best to help them in lots of ways,
and then they betray you. They do what would be the last
thing you'd think that they would do in your life, yet we
have to be forgiving. And think about Judas. Of all the people who ever lived
who had a great opportunity, he blew it. He was a traitor
to the Son of God. He betrayed Him. He lived as if he were
one of them. He lived as if he were a true
genuine disciple and he betrayed the Son of God. Betrayers are still out there. And yet we have to be willing to
forgive and to trust God to take care of that, no matter what
happens. So if I love the Lord, I will
forgive, no matter what. Now, here are seven habits. Listen carefully. I could have done this in a lot
of different ways, but I wanted you to see every verse and to
get all seven habits down so that every single person in here
fully understands the seven habits by which you live a godly
life, a life that will be blessed over and over and
over again in many, many different ways. But it's--if it's
a choice you make. And I would suggest that you
make a choice right now. We're going to pray in a second. And in this prayer I'm going to
pray that you'll be wise enough and say to God, Lord, I want
these seven habits in my life, and I will begin today working
them into my life. It's a working process
into your life. Will you live up to all
of them every day? No. But here's what you do. You ask God to forgive you. Show me why I tripped up on
that one, Lord. And I just reaffirm my desire
to be forgiving to others, or whatever it might be. Lord, I was too busy. This morning I got up
and ran off. Forgive me for not stopping to
meditate upon Your Word; to surrender my life to You,
yield myself to You, made a mistake, God. I don't want to do that again. You don't think God
will correct you? Yes, He will. He will correct you. He will give you enough trouble
one morning, after you get up and ignore Him that you
won't forget it. And listen.
You know what? It's because He loves us. Think about, there's a whole
Bible full of truth. But I believe those seven habits
absolutely will transform your life and lead you to be able to
accomplish in life, more than your heart could ever desire. Now, if you're here this morning
and you're not a Christian, you're not saved, you never
trusted Jesus as your Savior, I understand this is probably
beyond you, but let me say this. You'll never understand or be
able to enjoy life at its best until you surrender your
life to Christ. Because you can't ever lose
surrendering to Jesus, never. You say, "Well, what
do I have to do?" You have to ask the Lord to
forgive you of your sin, not because you deserve it, but
because Jesus went to the cross, died on the cross, shed His
blood for you, paid your sin-debt in full, the Bible
says, and therefore when you ask God to forgive you, because of
what He's done for you, He paid your debt. God forgives you and makes
you a child of God. Then, you begin the practice
of these seven habits. What an awesome life you
have before you. And I trust that you'll do it. Father, we love You and praise
You and thank You for the Word of God from Genesis one,
one to the last verse of the Revelation. And this morning we're praying
that You'll give us wisdom to recognize that with these
seven habits everything else will fall in place. That we will open a door to
the best of Your blessings. And I pray for somebody here
today who is unsaved, who've never trusted You as their
Savior, that they would be willing to ask You to forgive
them of their sins; believe that Jesus went to the cross and paid
our sin debt in full. And by trusting His death at
Calvary, the shedding of His blood, that confession
and repentance brings forth salvation. And following salvation, we
would develop these seven awesome life-transforming
habits in our life. And Lord, I pray that
for all of us today. And that somebody seated here
who is not saved would be willing to ask You to forgive
them and to cleanse their heart and surrender their life
to You right now. And we thank You for it,
in Jesus's name, amen.
