Welcome to the In Touch podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, March 18th. God always keeps his promises. even when the answers look nothing like we imagine. Stay with us for a lesson in what to do when our faith wavers. If we believe that God is who He says He is, And that He will do the things that He promises to do.
Why is it that when you and I come to prayer? We ask and then we doubt. We wave her back and forth. Yes, he will. Maybe he will.
I'm not sure. I hope so. And oftentimes that is more characteristic of the way we relate to Him than we realize.
Well The title of this message is When Our Faith Wavers. And I want you to turn, if you will, to James chapter 1. Because in this passage he deals with this very idea. And brings us to the realization of how very important it is that our faith. Be solid, steadfast, strong, and certain.
And in James chapter 1, he's writing to some people who have Have been scattered, and they are suffering persecution difficult in hardship and hard times, and so he begins by saying. James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad, greetings. Consider it all joy. My brethren, when you encounter various trials, that doesn't even make sense, that when you're in difficulty, hardship, and trial, you're supposed to be joyous about it. Only if you understand the truth.
Only if you have faith. Defacing. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith.
Without any doubting, For the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven by the winds and tossed. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord. being a double-minded man, and unstable in all his ways.
So With that in mind, let's ask the question: what does he mean when he talks about this idea of back and forth? That is, what do we mean by wavering faith? Simply what he says. Faith that says, I know he can. I think he will.
Maybe he will. Yes, I believe he will.
Well, I'm not sure.
Well, I certainly hope so.
Well, I think so.
Well, I know he's done in the past, but I'm not sure. And so, how many times have you prayed and asked God for something? Absolutely sure what you were asking for was the will of God. And you said, yes, Father, I just want to thank you for that. I want to thank you for the assurance that I'm going to receive that.
And then an hour later, He was thinking Well, I certainly hope God answers my prayer. You know, I've prayed and I'm reading the word, I certainly hope He does. We do not realize how often we waver in our relationship to God. We waver in our prayers. We waver in our faith.
One moment we are saying, Yes, I believe he will. The next moment, We're not quite so sure. Why is it back and forth and back and forth and back and forth?
So now watch carefully. I want to talk about the causes. What causes us to waver in our faith?
Now, I want to encourage you to write it down. If you don't write it down, you're going to be sorry, because I guarantee you, between now and next Sunday, You're going to find yourself asking God about something and thinking, well, I hope so.
Well, maybe so.
Well, I think so.
He has it to do that for others. God doesn't want us coming to him like that. And so, one of the primary reasons that we waver in our faith is when trusting God is in conflict with human reason. There'll be times when God will require of you something that just doesn't connect with human reasoning. For example, The whole idea of tithing.
It doesn't make sense to the unbelieving world. You mean to tell me that I'm to give God 10% of everything I make? Yes.
Well, now that doesn't leave me but 90%. That's 90% plus God. And 90% plus gut is a whole lot better than 100%. For the simple reason, whenever you obey God, what does he do? He multiplies the blessing.
I've never met a single person who said, I tithe my income, and it's got worse and worse and worse. Everything, it was just terrible. It was just bad, no? Because you see, human reason says You need 100%, and 90% will never do what 100% will do. But faith says, watch God plus my 90%.
So, what I want you to see is this: one of the reasons we waver in that faith is because we look at human reason and say, well, human reason says this is not going to work. A second reason we waver is this: that is, when we allow our feelings to overcome our faith. That is, feelings, for example, of unworthiness.
Well, why would God do that for me? I mean, I'm not worthy of that. And so We feel unworthy and therefore we respond in that fashion.
Sometimes it's because we feel. Not only unworthy, but we feel inadequate.
Well, now, God, I know that you're asking me to do this, or to teach this class, or to take this job. Or to head out in this direction, or go in this ministry, or whatever it might be. And Lord, I feel so inadequate. We allow our feelings of inadequacy. To overcome our faith instead of saying, God, what would you have me to do?
I'm going to trust you for that.
So what we do, we allow our feelings to overcome our faith and as a result, listen to this carefully. We miss blessings. And think about going through life missing God's divine blessing stored up just for you, your name on it. He equipped you, gave you your personality, your spiritual gifts in order to bless you, in order to work through you to glorify himself. And because you backed off, because you were fearful of somebody's criticism, fearful of failure, feeling unworthy and uncertain and lack of confidence and abilities, you refused to be obedient to God.
A third reason that our faith wavers is this. And that is, when we fail to see God at work in our circumstances. When we pray and ask Him to do something for us, usually when do we want to see some action? Immediately. Let's do it now.
God doesn't work that way. In fact, I don't know of many things that you and I ask God for. that he does immediately as if he were the bellhop and he's jumping to our request. That's not who God is. Remember that he's omniscient, we are not.
He already knows past, present, future. He knows when we're ready for the answer. He knows how to get the answer ready. Remember this. That oftentimes God is working in other people's lives.
Listen carefully to answer your petition. Give Him time to get it done. You don't want God shoving you around in order to get an answer to somebody else's prayer. Nor do We want him to do that for someone else.
So oftentimes it's because we don't see the circumstances. A fourth reason is this. When we listen to negative counsel, The cheapest thing on earth is advice. And probably one of the most Listen. useless things in life is advice.
Unless you get godly counsel.
Now, think about this. People are more than happy to tell you and more willing to say, well, listen, why do you think God's going to answer that kind of prayer for you? Don't you think you're asking too much of God? Why would you expect God to do that for you?
Well, why not? And what happens is this, watch this, even your closest, dearest friends. Who tell you that they love you and they're looking out best for you will say to you now Lord I'd hate to see you get disappointed. I'd hate to see you fail and get criticized and feel disappointed and maybe lose some of your status. Do you know how much status is worth?
Zero. Status is worth nothing. Listen, when you're dealing with God, It isn't your status, it's his power we're dealing with. And so we don't have to worry when we come to him and ask. And oftentimes, We come and people will say, well now.
I don't think you should really ask him for that. And I don't really think you should think that you can accomplish something like that or you can achieve that because why would you think so? Why not think so? We're talking about a relationship to God. who is absolutely omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.
And you know what the problem is? The problem is our friends or our enemies who want to give us advice about what we believe God is saying to us, what they're doing is projecting onto us their attitude about themselves and their relationship to God. And because they don't have much relationship to God, they don't feel confident enough to ask God that, so they say, Well, why should you? Remember this: nobody knows your life like God. He knows you perfectly, past, present, future, all your capabilities, all your abilities, and talents and skills.
He knows exactly what He created you to do and to accomplish in life. He knows where He wants you, when He wants you. And listen, remember, He knows how to get you wherever He wants you, no matter what. Therefore, be careful who you listen to, or you'll find yourself backing off from something that you were rather. rather convinced than persuaded of because your friends said, well, I just personally don't think that's a wise idea.
that sometimes parents can do that to their children. And sometimes we can do it to each other.
Well, what we ought to ask before we give advice is, God, show me, give me some indication of your will in this situation, or Lord, help me keep my mouth shut. Don't let me get between you and somebody else and foul up their life because they listened to my erroneous advice. And oftentimes, that's exactly what happens. And there are a lot of people who are very free with their advice. The best idea when you see those folks coming, close your ears and walk away.
Because they're not going to encourage you more than likely to trust the living God, walk wholly before Him and see what God will do in your life. Another issue here is we find ourselves Wavering when We focus on our circumstances, not on God.
Now, listen carefully. When God speaks to your heart about something, and you're coming to Him about maybe some big issue, some problem that you're dealing with, and you want to know exactly what to do. Remember this, when you focus on your circumstances, The circumstances become more difficult. Your faith diminishes and your fears increase. That's what happens.
Because God doesn't want us focusing on our circumstances, He wants us focused upon Him. who he is, what he does, how he operates. Listen, God will never ask you to do anything that he will not be with you in the process, nor make you capable, listen, of accomplishing and achieving it. Another reason we waiver is simply this. when we are ignorant of God's ways.
That is, we don't know how God operates. This is why the unbelieving world wonders why in the world we operate the way we operate. They don't understand how we think. and they don't understand how God operates. And so when we are ignorant of God's ways, we are going to be more prone to doubt.
and to wave from our faith.
Well, and we're going to say, I know he can. I know he has.
Okay. And we want to say, I know he will, but we say, I know he. It's possible. But somehow we just can't say, I know he will.
Now I want you to think about this for a moment. What are the ways of God? And the best way to find that out is to get in the Word of God and to see how He operated and what were His ways in the Old Testament, New Testament with those in whose lives He worked. He hasn't changed his ways. He's still operating on the same principles.
Listen, his principles were perfect in the Old Testament, perfect in the New Testament, and they're perfect today. Listen, there's not a single thing about God you not can improve on.
So if it worked then, it worked still. You say, well, but you know, things have really changed. Things have changed. Listen, things change from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Principles didn't change.
God doesn't change. Jesus said same yesterday, today, and forever. And so, therefore, am I going to trust him? Or, listen, am I going to learn the ways of God? and operate on the basis of what he says.
Or am I going to just remain ignorant? And I think about how many people, and maybe you're one of them, and I don't mean to be critical, I'm just stating the fact. How many of you go to church? You never carry a Bible. You never think about carrying a pad or pencil.
Or a pen? You never think about taking notes.
Now, I know some of you could say, well, I don't hear anything worth taking a note of. Listen carefully, and I say this as genuinely. And no pride in this. If you go to church and you don't hear anything worth writing down, taking home, change churches. Change churches.
Listen, life is too short for you to sit and listen to somebody 20 minutes or 30 minutes or whatever it might be, and you don't hear anything worth writing down. Applying to your life, taking it home and asking God, show me how to work this out in my life. Why in the world would you sit and listen anybody 20 or 30 or 45 minutes or whatever it might be and walk away and forget it till the next Sunday? You learn the ways of God by listening to scriptural truth. Applying it to your life, checking it out, seeing if it works.
And scriptural truth is going to work every time. One of the ways, one of the reasons, We find ourselves wavering is because of feelings of guilt. over past sin. Of present sin.
Now, listen carefully. Sin short circuits faith. Mark it down. You cannot live in sin. You cannot live in deliberate, willful disobedience to God and come to Him with faith.
You come to Him one of the first things that's going to happen. Is the Spirit of the Living God, if you're a believer, Spirit of the Living God is going to convict you of your sin? And if you're a non-believer, you're going to have all kinds of doubts. Because listen, if you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you don't even have access. as we believers have access to the living God.
Am I saying that God will never answer your prayer? You ask Him to forgive you of your sins, place your trust in Jesus Christ. Will He answer that prayer? Yes.
Is God good? Listen, is He good? Does He do things for people who pray for them, who are unsaved, not in answer to prayer, but because He says, Do you not know that the goodness of God is for the purpose of leading you to repentance? That God is good to some people in order to get them to thinking about Him, in order to repent of their sins, that they may be saved. And so therefore We come to him and we make a request.
Two things. Satan may say to you, You don't think God's going to answer that. And the Holy Spirit says to you, Before you make a request of holy God, Get your life cleaned up. And so oftentimes the reason Many times, an overwhelming number of times, we come to God and our faith wavers and oftentimes on the very brink of the blessing, our faith wavers and we back away. Why?
Because known willful, deliberate sin is going on in our life, and God, listen, the Spirit of God is going to convict us. And what happens is we s Then you get those feelings of unworthiness. An inadequacy. and unfit. And therefore, you walk away saying, God, you know the need, and I know what you promised in your word, but I know I'm not dead.
God, I. And what happens, you're just in a state of confusion. Let me say one other thing about that. And that is oftentimes The sin of unforgiveness on our part. is the very sin in our life.
That listen, that keeps back the blessing. Here's what people do.
So listen, I want to be obedient to God, but I want to tell you what this person did to me. Here's what this person did to me years and years and years ago. And I've not forgotten, now I've forgiven them, but I've not forgotten it. No, you haven't forgiven them either. or something that happened to you last week or yesterday.
And so you categorize that as, watch this now, they're guilty. They mistreated you. Therefore, you have a legitimate right. Uh to You know, just still point your finger, and then you come to God and ask Him to answer your prayer. You know what?
First thing he's going to do is bring that person's face up to you. And you can shut it down, shut it down, shut it down, cover it up, cover it up, until finally it doesn't come very often. But you know what? God still sees it. You don't forgive them?
Why would you expect God to answer your prayer and bless you when you won't forgive somebody who did a little something to you or a big something to you when He forgave you of your sins and my sins when we were absolutely totally unworthy? But it did it anyway.
Something else.
Sometimes we can't forgive ourselves. God forgives us, but we don't forgive ourselves. And we come to Him, here's what happens: we come to Him, we don't feel like we've been forgiven. This feeling of unworthiness just absolutely showers over us. Unworthy, unfit.
How can God do this to me? And what happens is, We waver in our faith, we miss the blessings that God has for us because of present and past sin. Then, listen to this one. When, listen. Our faith wave is when we listen.
to the lies of Satan. And that's who he is. Jesus said he's the father of all lies. Remember his objective is to destroy you. If you're not a believer, You have a target on your heart.
And Satan wants to destroy you. If you are a believer, you still have a target. The only problem is, he can't destroy you. He can cause you to lose your testimony, give you a hard time. Cause you to miss a lot of blessing, but it can't destroy you.
He whispers to us oftentimes those lies. He will tell you, well, you can't do that. You can't do that. You're going to be an embarrassment to your family. You're going to lose your job.
And he whispers those lies. Who do you think you are? You're just being prideful. Here's what he'll say: you're just being arrogant, asking God for such a big promise as that.
Well, you're just being arrogant. Why don't you back off and be yourself? You listen to his lies, you will never achieve what God wants you to achieve. Never become the person God wants you to become, and you will miss God's blessings over and over and over again.
Now let me ask you a question. Who is the most trustworthy? Almighty God. or Satan, who's the most trustworthy? You don't sound very convincing to me.
Who is the most trustworthy, Almighty God or Satan? And let's act like it. How about that? Two. You see, we think we believe him.
We say we do. But when it comes to those issues and those crises in life, we don't act like it. And we listen to the whispers of Satan. And what happens is, cheats us out of God's best. Uh Thank you for listening to When Our Faith Wavers.
If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
