Welcome to the InTouch podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, March 20th. Does your faith resemble a swinging pendulum? Today, discover four simple steps to maintain consistent trust in the Lord. Here's part three of When Our Faith Wavers. 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 been scattered and they're suffering persecution, difficult, and 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.
To face it. 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, But the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven by the winds and tossed.
Though 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.
Now James is writing to people who are undergoing difficulty, and he wanted to encourage them. And so he said, in the midst of all this, he said, you can rejoice.
Well, how is that true? only if they understood. only if they understood their relationship to him. and the fact that when they come to him in faith, that God is always there, ready to respond to our faith. And so he talks about this whole issue of wisdom.
And that is, this is the way we come to know that kind of faith. But notice what he says in verse 3: Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, steadfastness. You can hold up under it no matter what. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. That is, whatever God is requiring of us, whatever God says we're to do, He fits us for the task, and we're best fitted for the task by going through these difficulties and hardships in life and trusting Him through them all.
And he says, we need wisdom to know how, to trust him. And so, with that in mind, he says, but if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all people liberally, and he doesn't abrade them, that he doesn't come back and say, well, why didn't you do thus and so? But he says They will be given to him generously. 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 toss. He says, Don't expect to receive anything from God if you're coming to Him continuously.
doubting him, waving back and forth.
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, You are 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 clarify something. There are some circumstances in our life where On the one hand, you may be more prone to waver in one circumstance than another. That is, in one request or another, for example. When you're praying for God to save one of your loved ones, somebody who's lost living in sin, You may find yourself wavering a little bit when somebody says, Well, do you believe that God's going to save them?
Well, I certainly hope so.
Well, I'm really praying He will. Yes, I think He will.
Well, I'm not sure.
And so for you, it may be praying for someone else's salvation, may be one of those areas in which you find yourself wavering. For someone else, it will be healing. You see someone who's sick, someone you love, and you're praying for God to heal them.
Well, are you confident He's going to?
Well, I'm not sure.
Well, I'm praying that he will. I certainly hope he will. But I'm not certain he will. And so we find ourselves wavering sometimes. God will show you His will.
And it's so crystal clear. And instead of accepting it and moving in that direction, you waver. You say, well, now, Lord, how can I be really sure it seems to be certain and everything looks like it, but now, why would you make it so clear to me? And so we wave her back and forth.
Now There's some things we need not waver about. There's some things that are just absolutely dead certain. And what I want to talk about in this message is this whole issue of when you kneel to pray, or wherever you pray. And you come to your heavenly Father who loves you unconditionally and who's made this awesome promise. Listen to this.
In Mark 11, listen to what he says. Whatsoever things you desire when you pray, watch this now. is what he says. Believe that you have already received them. Pass tents.
And it will be granted to you. You say, well, now what a minute, that must be a mistake. No, it's not a mistake. Listen. Whatsoever things you desire when you pray.
He says, when you pray, Believe that you have received them already. That's the tense of the verse. You have already received them, and what you believe is already yours will be granted to you. That is perfect faith. The Bible talks about little faith.
Great faith, Jesus said, you of little faith. And he talks about great faith. And in James, he talks about the perfection of our faith. The perfection of our faith is that I can walk away believing that's as good as done because God said it and I believe it, and I have no real basic reason for doubting that He's going to do what He says.
Now, how many times is that true in your life? And I'm not saying that you and I should come to every single situation. First time we pray, just say, Yes, God, thank you very much. Perfect faith. I'm moving on.
Sometimes that's not the way it's going to happen. Because depending upon what you're asking God for, depending upon the direction you're asking for your life, depending upon what God has challenged you to do, which may be something that seems to be the most difficult thing God has asked you to do, you may find yourself wavering. If you can't come to Him with confidence, you cannot live. in peace in the Christian life. He's the source of our peace.
And if my relationship with him is not right, it's not going to be there.
Now, somebody says, all right, what I'm listening for. Is I want to know how to correct this. You don't want to miss these.
Now, listen carefully. This is the way you correct. wavering faith. Number one, here's what you do. You ask.
Yourself. the following questions. Number one. Where did these doubts come from? Where are these doubts coming from that I'm feeling?
Cause me on a waiver. First question. Second question? Has God ever failed me in the past? Very important question.
Has God ever failed me in the past? Third question. Has he not promised to meet all my needs? Whether it's financial or abilities and skills and talents to do this job. Fourthly.
Did he not give me the Holy Spirit? Delivered in me. to enable me. to do whatever he requires of me enlightened.
Now you can sort of shorthand that a little bit. Did he not give me the Holy Spirit to enable me? Period. You got that. Number five.
Did he not promise to be with me, listen, at all times? Number six. Is anything too hard for God? And what's the answer? Yeah.
Right. Is anything too hard for God? Now, watch this seventh one. Very, very important. If you listen, say amen.
Listen to this. Is this One of those forks in the road. And whatever I'm facing. Is this one of the forks in the road in which? My unbelief.
could cause me a lifetime of regret. Is this one of those forks in the road? in which if I respond in unbelief, Doubt. Waver. could cost me a lifetime of regret.
Now these are very sobering questions and that's why if you want to overcome those doubts, you start with asking yourself those questions. And listen, by the time you get through with those, you're going to be challenged to trust him.
Now, the second part of this correction is not only to ask yourself those questions, but secondly, And that is to meditate upon God's Word. And listen carefully. Here's what I mean by that. If you find yourself wavering, you get in the scripture and you ask God to show you a passage of scripture that will help you. A passage of scripture that relates to something you're facing at that time.
You say, well, I don't know what a turn God does. God will lead you to a passage of scripture and you'll think, my, my, my. That's exactly what I needed to read.
Well, after a while, you stop being surprised at that and just thank him for it. Meditate upon God's Word. Listen, how do you learn God's ways? Getting in the Word. Reading the word.
Seeing what it says, how did God work in his life and her life? How's it going to work in my life? What happens is, you know what? Reading the Word of God. Does what?
It instills within your mind, listen, the very thoughts of God. And when you begin to think the way God thinks, you know what? You begin to act the way God acts. And you begin, listen, and you begin to believe what God says. Meditate upon his word.
The third way to overcome this issue is this, and that is to recall his past faithfulness to you. How many of you can look back and say, Many times in my life, Or even one time, God proved to be absolutely unfaithful to me. Nobody has ever been able to say that honestly. You know why? Because it is one of his attributes that God, by his very nature, is a faithful God.
Listen, he takes delight. In answering our prayers, he says, Listen, delight yourself in me, I'll give you the desires of your heart. I'll give you the desires of your heart. I remember sitting up in the bed one morning and thinking, okay. I'm going to think this through.
And I began to sort of go back as far as I could in my life and began to think about things that I had asked God for. and important issues that would come up. and ask myself the question, has there ever been a time that God did not Give me the request of my lips. I could never say to you, That God did not answer this or that or the other. He may have said, wait, probably many times.
Or he may have said, I've got something better up here. And listen, I want what's best. Did he say no, period? There may have been some little insignificant things that I was immature in asking, but I'm talking about the issues of life. He delights in answering your prayer.
He delights in growing you up. He delights in giving you the desires of your heart. Listen, He delights. And doing what? demonstrating to you how much He loves you, how much He cares for you.
Why should we waiver? when he's so willing to do so much. And then I would say the fourth one is this.
So first of all, ask yourself the questions. Getting God's word, begin to meditate on it. Recall his faithfulness to you. And then the fourth one is this. And that is, courageously choose to trust Him.
Now, watch this. There will be times When trusting God takes courage. You don't see your way clear? You don't see that you can. You're feeling those inadequacies, but you come to the place of saying, I've got two choices.
Either I'm going to waver and back off, And wonder what I missed in life because I didn't obey Him? Or I'm just simply going to courageously trust you and leave all the consequences to you? You're God. I'm going to believe you no matter what I feel. And you know what?
Think about this. Would God look down upon your life or look at your life and see that you are struggling over something. That you desire to do his will. that you want to be obedient to him. That you desire to bring glory and honor to his name.
And then somehow Because there's a little struggle here. And yet You courageously and boldly just say, God, I don't know what the results are going to be, but I'm going to leap and trust you. Do you think God would let you down? Absolutely not. Listen.
The bigger the task, The more courage it takes, the greater God's blessing in your life. God wants to get involved in doing what He desires to do because He has a big purpose in my life. It's a matter of choice.
Now, let me just simply say this to you. If you're not a Christian, none of that's going to work. hasn't promised to do that for those who've denied him. who are unbelievers. And you say, well, that brings up a big question.
You know, I've thought about receiving Jesus Christ as my Savior. Um I do believe there's a God. I sort of do believe in God. My grandfather believed it, my grandmother believed it, my parents believed it. Surely I must believe it.
Not necessarily. What I want you to do is get honest with yourself and listen. One of the struggles you're having Is a struggle to believe. Watch this. It's a struggle to believe that Holy God.
We look down upon your life today. Look into your heart. See your sin, your disobedience. You may be a prisoner. In prison, incarcerated because of something horrible in your life that you did.
And you say, how could God ever forgive me for what I've done. Or you may be someone who's just about wasted your life, and you say, How could God ever forgive me? Or maybe something in your life that you've done that you just don't think God could possibly forgive you for it. I want to say to you, listen. Don't listen to Satan's lies.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world. To die on the cross for sinful human beings, which includes every single one of us. Listen carefully. You cannot have committed a sin. Greater than God's redemptive plan.
You cannot commit a sin. That is so great, it was not covered by the blood of Jesus Christ at the cross. Listen, no matter what you've done, how long you did it, where you did it, to whom you did it, to yourself or whoever it might have been, you come to Him asking for forgiveness of your sins based not on your character, your attributes, or your goodness. your promises, but on the shed blood of Jesus Christ at Calvary? You believe that Jesus Christ died in your place for your sins, and you ask Him to forgive you of your sins.
He says if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and make us a brand new creature in Christ Jesus, making us a child of God, reconciled, justified, declared righteous. Listen. brought into the family of God. No matter who you have been, that's who you can become. And your big struggle right now is faith.
You come to the issue. And somehow you begin to back off because of what you've done, because of who you've been. And I want to say to you, you can't name a sin that wasn't covered in the cross. And all he wants you to do is to place your trust in him and let him transform your life and equip you to live a godly life. Or you may be a believer.
And you say, you know what? You've nailed me today. I didn't nail you, God did. This is his word. And what you're saying is this.
I feel like you've just torn me apart. I couldn't tear you apart. I wouldn't dare do that. If the word of God has Has shredded your excuses. Thank him for it.
Thank him for it because you know what? You're coming to reality. You're coming to face truth. And now you can change. You can decide I'm sick and tired.
Of being sick and tired of coming to God with this wavering faith, not knowing what's going to happen next, and wandering through life and wondering why doesn't God bless me. I'm sick and tired of that. I want things to change in my life. Today, I choose to courageously believe what God says, and from this point on, I will attempt. to come to him in prayer and believe what he says.
and refuse to accept all these excuses I've been giving. And then I'm going to stand back and watch God do his wondrous work. in my life. It's yours. For the believing, And they ask him.
And, Father, how grateful we are. that you can take just human beings like ourselves. Turn our lives into a blessing. to you and to others. And experience the awesome blessing of knowing you in a more intimate way.
and understanding who you really are. and what you really have in mind for us. I pray that you'll sink this message deep in the heart of every single person who hears it around the world. and accomplish your purpose for your glory in Jesus' name. Amen.
Thank you for listening to part three of When Our Faith Wavers. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our 24-7 online station. And if you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
