Dr Charles Stanley - Life’s Trials Explained - Part 2

Every single time you're willing to be obedient to Him, He's going to see you through it.

Not most of the time, every single time.

And just what I've discovered, the tougher, the more difficult, the more trying, the more

painful, the more heartache, the more hurt, the more sorrow, the more tears is what happens.

When He walks you through that, you take these giant leaps forward in your relationship

to Him.

Most Christians want to be confident in their faith in God, but the process that develops

that kind of trust can be daunting.

Today on InTouch with Dr. Charles Stanley, we'll be reminded that the way our reliance on

God grows strong is often through adversity, because it's through difficulty that remodivated

to depend completely on the Lord.

Into all of our life comes seasons of difficulty, hardship, pain, suffering, trial, sorrows,

and somebody says, well, if God is this good God, you're always talking about why is that

true?

Because that's just the nature of life.

Since the very fall of man in the Garden of Eden, there's always been difficulty, hardship,

trial, suffering, pain, sorrow, and all the rest.

How long will it be until Jesus comes and takes us out of this life?

It's always going to be here.

If I understand what God is up to in my life, it's a whole lot easier.

If it's difficult to hardship, trial, and suffering, and I don't want to understand

what's going on.

Why is...

What's happening here?

It's much more difficult than oftentimes causes people to doubt.

So what I want you to see in this message, two things primarily.

What are His purposes for allowing us to go through the things that cause tears and

heartache and pain and suffering and sorrow?

And secondly, if we understand the purpose, then what's the process by which He uses these

things to bring about His ultimate purpose in our life?

So let's begin with this whole idea and think about in terms of the purpose.

This primary purpose for allowing difficulty, hardship, pain, sorrow, and all the rest.

His primary purpose is to conform you and me in our very character, in our personnel,

in our makeup, to conform us to the likeness of His Son.

Here's what He said.

He said He predestined His children to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.

Does that mean we're going to look like Him physically no?

But we have to look like Him on the inside.

That is His Spirit.

His humility, His faith, His courage, His commitment, that is God is working to conform

every single one of us in the likeness of His Son.

And when people draw a line in their Christian life and many people do, they'll tell you,

well I go to church and I give a little bit and I read the Bible and pray, but now don't

ask me to, I don't know what you mean by this commitment, this dedication of Jesus and

this being sanctified and this living a holy life and God, I just know about, I'm

happy going to church and listening to sermons and applying some truths and giving a little

of money and praying and so forth, but when He gets over here to Godliness and righteousness

and being used of God, that's not, I'm not there.

Let me tell you something.

It is a dangerous thing to draw a line to God and tell Him what you will and what you will

not do.

Listen, you and I belong to Him.

He says we have been purchased by the most powerful, awesome, valuable thing that ever

existed when it comes to purchasing anything and that is the blood of Jesus, has purchased

every single one of us who is a follow of Him.

We are His children.

When you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, nobody probably told you, but you gave

up all rights to yourself.

Now you and I belong to Him with the slaves of Jesus Christ and to be a slave of Christ,

it's to be the freest person that can possibly be.

And so what's His ultimate objective?

What's His ultimate purpose?

His ultimate purpose is what?

Not making us rich, not making us necessarily happy, not making us famous, not making us

things that oftentimes we hear about today.

His primary objective is to conform us to the likeness of His Son.

Another question is what does it take to do it?

It takes difficulty, hardship, pain, and suffering, and trial, and sorrow, and disappointments

in life.

Listen, godly men and women, a men and women who not only have suffered, do suffer, will

suffer, situation, circumstances, it may be just somebody else's rejection can have an

awesome effect in somebody's life, which brings me to the whole idea and that is we say

that God has a purpose in allowing all these things.

Well, and His ultimate purpose is to bring us into the character of Jesus Christ in a

life, which means what?

It affects our character, our conversation, our conduct, all of our activities in life.

There's no aspect of your life in mind that He's not after the shape and to mold and

to purify and to make godly, that's what He's up to.

Making godly children out of all of us because when you and I were saved, we had a lot of

rough edges.

So what's He been doing all these years?

Sanding, sifting, sometimes has to get out of chainsaw because we want to resist what

God's up to in our life.

And He's in the process of doing something awesome.

So now the question comes, well, if that be true, what's the process?

Well, the process is really very comforting because here's the first thing I would say.

If I don't understand the process and when I'm going to murmur, I'm going to get confused,

I'm going to be frustrated, I'm going to doubt God, I'm going to question Him.

But what's the process?

And when I think about how, what He says in this passage, He says, for example, the proof

of our faith, He talks about fire and all the rest.

So what's the process here?

Well, these things are very encouraging to me.

Number one, here's what you can count on.

You can count on that God will control, listen, He will control the trials, the heartaches,

the burdens, the difficult in your life.

He's going to control them.

That is, it's not going to happen to one of His children just half-hazardly.

He's in control.

Does He not say that no temptation or no trial is common demand except that is, everybody

experiences these things.

But God is able who will not allow you to be tested and tried more than you can bear.

He knows how much hurt, how much weight, how much burden, how much pain, how much lack,

He knows all about that.

And the wonderful thing about God is this.

In creating within us this Godly character, He is going to put a limitation.

He's going to limit, He's going to control absolutely and perfectly everything that

you an ideal within life.

A second thing He's going to do is this, He's going to design.

God designs, listen, the difficult in the hardship and the pain according to us personally.

Now think about this for a moment.

God is not going to place on you something that you don't particularly need.

He's not coming after some area of your life which is absolutely obedient.

So think about this.

Whenever there's an area of life in which you and I find ourselves in pain of suffering

a difficulty hardship, remember this, God is after something.

He tailor makes the difficult in the pain even though it may cover a lot of people.

For us we're to respond in a certain way.

It may be to strengthen our faith.

It may be to sift out as we said something in a life that shouldn't be there but whatever

you're going through in life at this moment.

He's controlling it.

Secondly, He has tailor made it so that it fits you and me at this moment.

Let's say that you're going through a particular situation and very painful and when you begin

to ask God to show you what He's doing in your life, you know what's going to happen.

He's going to show you.

And you're going to realize God, I see that you're using this in my life at this time.

He may not have used it before.

He may use it again.

He knows exactly what it takes to get your attention and my attention in the area in which

He is working in a life.

He's always, listen, He's always directing it towards something specific.

Does that mean that He only works in suffering and trial and hard?

No.

Sometimes it's joy, sometimes it's pleasure, sometimes it's prosperity.

God knows exactly what it takes to get our attention.

So He's got them all in control.

They're all designed and not all that.

He uses two primary things.

We could put them in this category.

Sometimes He uses discipline.

That is, He doesn't punish believers.

He disciplines the believe because punishment is the vindication of God against something

or somebody because of their sin.

Discipline means that God works in their life in such a way to do what?

To build us up, to get us back on track and to make us who He wants us to be.

So sometimes God will use discipline to bring about those issues in life.

Sometimes, listen, because of sin, then He allows things in our life have nothing to do

with sin whatsoever.

It's something that somebody else does that affects you.

Somebody in your family or somebody in your job or whatever it might have nothing to do

with sin whatsoever.

God uses, listen, He uses discipline in our life when we've sinned against Him.

He uses difficult and hardship in our life.

There's nothing to do with sin in order to do what?

In order to bring us into wonders with Him.

Sometimes to show us His will.

Sometimes to listen, to increase our faith, to increase our courage so that we will be

obedient to Him because He knows that some things He requires of us are very, very difficult.

Now remember, one of those tests in my own life and the truth, I resisted it.

Just to be honest, yes, I did.

I'd pray until God all the reasons I shouldn't do it.

I did my best to convince Him for months.

They had the wrong person.

And I named several people that I thought would be much more capable and much more gifted

and much better at the whole issue.

In other words, I could just help Him out.

All He needed if He just asked me.

But get off of my back because I know I couldn't do it.

And the truth is, I was afraid.

I had a patient God.

One morning I got up, walked to the door of the hotel, getting ready to walk out.

I can still see that door now.

It's like God said to me, don't put your handle that door now until you want to do what

I say do.

I dropped it into the bed crying, weeping.

I resisted Him out of fear, genuine, and I had lots of reasons.

I could tell, look, look, go, let me give you the reasons.

These are very convincing, surely you're going to listen to this.

And He listened, but then He put me to the acid test.

Don't put your handle that door now to walk out of this room until you are willing to

do what I say and trust me.

I can look at it several times in my life when the situation has been just that crucial.

I want to tell you the best of my heart's knowledge, every single time.

You say, are you afraid?

Yes.

Here's what I'm afraid of.

I'm afraid of disobeying God when He makes it so crystal clear.

To think that I would have to, that I would disobey Him and then have to live and remember

what I did.

Yeah, I'm afraid.

I fear Him because I reverence Him.

And I know that what He wants in life is the best for every single one of us.

And if I want His best, I must be willing to be obedient when I'm afraid, when I don't

like it, when I don't want it, when it hurts too much, when it costs too much, when it'll

make me the too lonely or too this or too that or whatever, but that's not the issue,

the issue is this.

What's God's goal?

What's His purpose?

And you see, once you get back to the purpose and when I realize that His purpose is all

for my good and that whatever is going on in my life, it's going to be for my good, then

whatever the issue is, there's that step sometimes we take.

And I can tell you, sometimes it's like we just fall off the cliff.

God, I'm going to have to trust you.

I can tell you this, you know how far you fall when you fall and obedience, about a half

of a 16th of an inch.

You know why?

Because He has never let us fall and fall to when we obey Him.

He's up to something good in your life.

Don't resist the difficulty and the hardship and the pain.

Listen, and if you find yourself resisting, remember this, okay, so you're resisting,

but ultimately deep down inside.

Can you honestly say, I know that I don't like it and God and I'm resisting.

In fact, sometimes you can just sort of enjoy saying, no, no, no, no, no, because you know

deep down inside when the final test comes, you're going to say, yes, God, yes, yes, no

no matter what, I'm willing.

God's up to something good and sometimes it's painful and the issue is this and this

separates the saints from the people who claim to be saints.

And I willing to be obedient when everything looks tough, when I'm hurting, when I'm

sorrowful, when I'm alone, when there's nothing else left, and I still willing to be obedient

to this loving God that we talk about in the Word of God.

Another thing I want you to notice is this, is that his trials, listen, are progressive.

He said, what do you mean by that?

Well, I hate to tell you this, but it's the truth.

My progressive, I mean, when you and I walk through a trial here, because he wants to make

us more like his son and he wants to grow us up, you can expect a little difference in

the next trial or few trials.

And here's what God does in his trials and difficultness and hardships in life.

What he does, he increases the weight of the burden.

He increases the temperature of the heat and he increases, listen, he increases sometimes

the length of that trial, whatever it might be.

What is he doing?

Is God being unkind?

Is he being ungracious?

Is he being unloving?

Is he just being thoughtless?

No.

Here's what he's doing.

He's making us who we really truly want to be.

We just don't like the way.

We rather read it in the book or something, that's not the way it happens.

And so because God loves us so much, because, listen, he sees the potential.

You don't see what your potential is.

You don't have an idea what your potential is, but God does.

And so what does he do?

He says what was to get rid of this in your life.

And so he sends some trials, some difficulty, some hardships, some pain, some sorrow,

something that you think would absolutely break you forever.

God's not in the use.

Listen, he doesn't want to break your spirit, but only your will to be submissive to him.

And the truth is, sometimes we think, God, this is far as I can go, this is it, God,

I can't handle anyone.

You know what he does?

He just pushes us that much further.

You know why?

Here's what you find yourself doing, thanking God, he didn't listen to you.

God loves us too much to leave us where we are.

And so he's going to be progressive.

That is, there's some things, and I think about this, how loving he is.

There's some things if God tested us at the age of 18, we can handle it.

In other words, he knows exactly what you can handle at which age.

He knows exactly what you can handle, because of your temperament, your personality.

He knows exactly what your spiritual gifts are.

He knows exactly the strength and the weakness.

He knows the areas of weakness.

He knows the areas of strength.

He knows exactly how to tailor your life in mind in such a fashion that what he desires

for us, he will work out in our life, but it requires submission to his will.

And it requires the attitude that we find here in First Peter, and that is, listen,

here's what you have, here's what he's doing.

He's testing us and trying us and growing us up.

And so the question is, how does God measure our growth?

You and I can look at our Bibles, and I always encourage people to, if God lays a scripture

in your heart, put a date down by it and a word or two that describes what he was doing.

And the truth is that our Bibles ought to be, their devotion, Bible, whatever you read,

ought to be sort of a living, written biography, in some degree of how God's worked in your life.

Because the truth is we ought to be growing.

Now listen carefully, God measures our growth by the way we respond to difficulty, hardship,

pain, suffering, loss, and sorrow, disappointments, how we handle temptation.

That's the way he measures it, why?

Because you see, what you yielded to today, or yesterday, you would not yield to tomorrow,

because of what he's done in your life.

What you thought you had to have yesterday, not even an issue today.

What you worried about yesterday doesn't even date you today, why?

It isn't because God is in a different, it's because He's growing you up.

So you have to decide, do I want to be just one of those floating Christians who goes to

church and read the Bible and pray, or do I want to be a godly man and woman?

What makes godly men and women who impact the lives of others, of those who willing to

take advantage of the heartache, pain, suffering, and trial, to earn the trust in him, to walk

in his way and to watch what he does in your life?

You're listening to InTouch with Dr. Charles Stanley.

In times of trial, those of us who are believers might feel abandoned by God, but difficulty

and hardship can actually be evidence that He is working in us to make us more like Jesus.

To get more of God's perspective about adversity, take some time to visit InTouch.org.

Download podcasts, stream archived radio and TV messages, and access a list of articles

all intended to help you know Christ and live for Him.

And log on to our online bookstore to order a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message,

Life's Trials Explained.

Again, that's InTouch.org, or call 1-800-INTouch.

If you prefer to write, our address is InTouch, post office box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357.

Have you ever prayed for God's guidance and been sure you followed Him, and then the

results didn't seem to make sense?

Here Dr. Stanley's answer to an email about that coming up in today's moment with

Charles Stanley.

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When my daughter was two months old, she was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

I would pray and ask God if He would heal her.

In the midst of suffering, how do we know what God's will is for our life?

God's will for your life doesn't after remain a mystery.

Learn how to understand and pursue God's ultimate plan for your life.

When Dr. Charles Stanley's new book, The Will of God, to order, visit intouch.org-will-of-God.

It can be difficult to handle circumstances we don't understand.

With encouragement for believers, here's a moment with Charles Stanley.

We get lots of emails from people who ask questions about situations that they're going

through.

And I want to read this one from Rebecca.

As she writes, about two and a half years ago, my husband of thirty years died suddenly.

Last year, I sensed the Lord telling me it was time for my daughter myself to move.

God opened every door in spite of times when the pain of leaving my home, family, church,

friends, and job was so overwhelming.

We moved about six months ago.

We've been attending a new church and have developed some prayer support, but no friends

to have any kind of a social life.

We are very lonely.

Did we miss the Spirit's guidance?

Not necessarily.

You see, sometimes I'll tell you why God sort of keeps us to Himself.

If He knows that you and I need to learn to depend upon Him, if He knows that you and

I need an intimate fellowship with Him, then oftentimes that's what He'll do.

He'll just carve out everything else, leave you to Himself till that is developed in your

life, and then He begins to bring these friends into your life.

To say the truth is God wants us to have friends, but above all He wants to be our best friend.

God wants to be an intimate friend to you.

And if those friends are not there for the moment, just trust God, Lord.

I know that you'll open the door at the right time.

At this point in my life, I really want to focus on my intimate relationship with you,

and then I know that as that develops, you will draw the people into my life.

And you know I need to have His friends.

God has provided us with access to His friendship, guidance, and assurance.

It starts by receiving His gift of forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ.

Learn more about salvation and living a life of faith at intouch.org.

A replay of today's message is available at our website.

You can also find other messages in our audio archives or download a podcast to take with

you.

Find all this and more at intouch.org.

Gratitude is not just a pleasing personality trait.

A thankful heart should be characteristic of every believer.

And that's our topic next weekend on Intouch with Dr. Charles Stanley.

This program is a presentation of Intouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on

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