Welcome to the InTouch podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, June 23rd. It's easy to stay positive when life is running smoothly. But when things go wrong, do you feel lost? Abandoned? or even a little scared.
Today's podcast reminds believers that we don't need to let emotions overwhelm us because Jesus offers encouragement for the troubled heart. It's interesting that the Apostle Paul had many descriptions of God. One of those, which is one of the most encouraging ones, is found in 2 Corinthians chapter 1. And I want us to look at this passage because He describes God. In this beginning passage, in a way that I think all of us need to personally and intimately view God.
Beginning in verse 3 and reading through verse 11 of 2 Corinthians chapter 1, he says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies. and the God of all comfort. Listen, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies. and God of all comfort.
Now that word comfort is the same word for encourager. Comforter, helper. Al Pericletas. who comforts us in all our affliction.
So that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, It is for your comfort and salvation. Or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. And our hope for you is firmly grounded knowing that as you are sharers of our suffering, so also you are sharers of our comfort.
Then he relates something to them. He says, For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia. That we were burdened excessively beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. who delivered us from so great a peril of death and will deliver us.
He on whom we have set our hope. and he will yet deliver us. You also joining in helping us through your prayers, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed upon us through the prayers of many. In this passage, Paul sets the tone of this whole book, and that is strength through weakness. And what he's simply saying here in this third verse is he ascribes to God the Father.
the ascription or the attribute Of The God of all comfort. But there's a second thing I want you to notice in this passage, and this is where I want us to... deal primarily in that fourth verse because there's so much wrapped up in that fourth verse about the way in which God encourages His children. And so not only is he by nature an encourager, But he likewise tells us here how he does it. First of all, he says he does it personally.
Notice. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us. That is, God assumes the responsibility of doing it.
Now we've just said he sent the Holy Spirit, so we're indwelt by a person of the Trinity.
Well, there are two primary ways that I believe all of us God intends to encourage us if we would just take advantage of it.
Now let me ask you a question. When your pain is the most intense and the days are the darkest, If you could have anything in the world you want. To encourage your heart, what would you want? Let me tell you something. Should encourage you a little bit.
The very thing you need the most, you have, but some of you don't know it. You know how I would answer that question? And my most Intense moments of overwhelming suffering and pain. You know what I want above everything else in the world? I want to be able to talk.
To my Heavenly Father, and know that He's really listening to me and feeling what I feel, and I want to hear from Him. My friend, there isn't anything in the world like that. There isn't anything in the world to match that. No drink will match it, no pill will match it. No counseling will match it.
Think about this. If you, in the most difficult circumstances of your life, if you could have anything in the world you want, would you not want to be able to sit down just personally between you and God and just know that He's hearing exactly what you're saying, He's feeling exactly what you're feeling? And he's going to talk to you about it. Because you see, he's the only one who's omnipotent, who can change the whole mess. He's the only one who's omniscient, who knows it, backwards, forwards, inside, outside.
He's the only one who's going to accept you just the way you are, no matter what kind of mess you've gotten yourself into. You can't find a better solution to encouragement than that. To sit down just between you and God the Father and know that He's hearing and feeling exactly what you're feeling. He's not going to blast you away. He's going to listen, Kev, and he's going to talk to you about it.
Every single one of us has that privilege. Listen. Your Bible Ought to be A dated biographical Sketch of your spiritual walk with God. That is, when you get into times of trouble and What do you do? You go to the Word of God and...
You don't know what to do next, and then he brings you to a passage. You say, It says, dear Charles. And it looks like God has shut up the rest of the Bible, and here it says. You're my servant. I've chosen you, not rejected you.
Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be anxious to look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
And listen. When you and I are facing difficult times, the first step is to open what you already own. God has revealed himself in this book, the Holy Bible. God gave us this book in order to speak to us personally. Written hundreds and hundreds of years ago.
Written to multitudes of people, to some specifically, but for all of us. And so here it is. He's God. He's our encourager. And what is he saying in this passage of Scripture?
He says he's a personal encouragement. In the 119th Psalm, which primarily deals with the Word of God itself. Listen to this verse. Hundred and nineteenth Psalm. Verse fifty.
This is my comfort. In my affliction, Under my pressures, my harassment, my trouble, my sorrow, my heartache, my burden, this is my comfort in my affliction that thy word has revived me. Listen to that. Thy word has revived my drooping, dead spirit. Thy word has revived me.
That is the power of the living word of God. That is, reading the scriptures. Asking God to speak to your heart. He says, listen, the entrance of thy word giveth what? The entrance of thy word giveth what?
Give it light. When you're in darkness, What do you need most of all but light? He says, when the word of God comes into your spirit, You begin to search the Word of God, what happens? God begins to lighten the way. How many times have all of us I'd like to hope all of us.
Been burdened down with burdens, heartaches, troubles, trials beyond what we could deal with, and on our face before God, bending down before Him, opening the Word of God. And here is this passage that God singles out to your spirit. What happens? It revives your spirit. You get up, you say, Thank God for speaking to my heart.
Now the circumstances haven't changed. The intensity of the pain is still there. The burdens are still there. Nothing's changed, but what's happened? Your spirit has been revived.
The Spirit, the Holy Spirit, taking the Word of God, has done what? He has like a surgeon. He has implanted that truth in your life and the Bible says the immediate effect is your spirit is revived. Your perspective changes. Your focus moves from the persecution, the heartache, the burden, the sorrow, the trial to faith in an omnipotent, living, intimate, personal God who loves you right in the midst of your heartache and your suffering.
He says he's a God who personally encourages us. But look at that passage again because it's all right here. And it's sort of hidden, really, if you'll think about it. He says in verse 4, Who comforts us that is God personally comforting us? In all our affliction.
Now, he personally comforts us. In all our affliction.
But here's the word I want you to notice that you wouldn't see if you didn't know the verb tense here. When he says, who comforts us, comfort is a word in the present tense. It is the implication is it is continuous action that is continuously going on. God is continuously encouraging us. You see, God doesn't encourage us once in a while.
Does not the Bible say He's the same yesterday, today, and forever? What he was yesterday, he is today. What he is today, he'll be tomorrow. What he'll be tomorrow, he is already.
So we don't have to wait until God changes. God doesn't have to get any new information about any of us. He is a God who is continuously, unendingly encouraging us.
Now you say, well, if God is always encouraging us, why is it that I go through these difficult, trying times in my life when I just want to give up and quit?
Well, Because you don't run to him, but you run to either something else or someone else. But what he wants us to see is when he says, who, it is personal, is comforting, it is continuous. Unending.
So that here's what I want you to notice: any moment you're willing to turn to Him for comfort, in that moment, He is willing. To do what he promised to do through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, and that is to comfort. to encourage your heart. To remind you that he's standing right there and he's capable of seeing you through it no matter what happens. Then notice the next word.
Who comforts us in all our affliction? God is not picky. God does not say, Well, now I'm going to help you through your marriage and I'm going to help you through your job, but I'm not helping in your finances. You got yourself in that mess.
Now you handle that one. That's not the way God operates. Who encourages us in all our affliction? In all of our pressures, In all of our times when we feel broken and overwhelmed and overburdened, He's this in every one of them. You say, but where was God when?
right where he's always been. But you don't know what I was suffering. God knew all about it. He says in every affliction He's there to comfort us. And he's continuously available to do it.
He says, in every affliction, In all our afflictions, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. Two-fold purpose is this, not only to encourage us, But to build into our life the qualities that what? That make us an encouragement to someone else. Can you name one person? Just one to whom you are a great encourager.
I mean, is there someone when they get in trouble, you're the first fellow they call, first lady they call. Would you consider yourself an encourager? Oh my friend, are you so wrapped up in your own? You're somebody that says, well, I'll tell you, you just don't know my life. I've got so many troubles and so many heartaches and so many burdens, I surely don't have time for anybody else.
Well, my friend. If you want to get out of the mess you're in, If you'd just step out of your own self-pity for just a moment and offer a helping, encouraging, loving, comforting hand to someone else, you'd be absolutely surprised what happened to the pressure. It'd be like somebody stuck a pin in a balloon. Your pressure goes down. When you begin to pour your life into somebody else's life.
He says, one of the reasons is not only to comfort us, but that we in turn may become encouragers to other people.
Now My friend. God by His very nature is an encourager. The Holy Spirit is there to encourage us. We have folks around us. who are sensitive.
to be encourages.
So I want to ask you. Have you isolated your life? Have you separated yourself? Are you too proud to admit that you need help, that you need encouragement? That life has dealt you what you feel is an unjust blow.
Are you just about to wrap it up? Have you been contemplating ways of taking your life? Have you decided that it's best to end it all? And some of you who may be teenagers, think about this, my friend. You're 16 years of age.
17, 14, 21, and you want to end life when you may have 60 more years to live? You mean you want to end it all because you're discouraged over your pregnancy? You've had abortion and your guilt is absolutely wiping you out. You've committed sin that's absolutely overwhelmed you. You've wrecked your life and somebody else's life.
You see no reason for living at all. Your parents hate you. They've thrown you away. You've run away from home. You're stuck on drugs.
You can't get out. Your moral life has deteriorated and you think. Why go on? I want to give you one good reason for going on. And his name is Jesus.
It doesn't make any difference how far down you are stuck. He can pull you out. It doesn't make any difference how many pieces you've shattered your life into. He has the most fantastic, marvelous, mysterious, omnipotent way of putting it together in the most perfect and complete design.
Now You say, but I'm not a Christian.
Well, let's start with that. Because you see, if God's going to rescue you, you have to start with His Son, Jesus. The Bible says that His Son, Jesus Christ, went to the cross and died for your sin and mine. The moment. You willing to ask the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins.
The moment you're willing to surrender your life and your mess to Him, And the moment you're willing to receive Him, to accept Him as your Savior, In that moment, your sins are forgiven. In that moment, your mess begins to get straightened out. In that moment, you begin to experience the forgiveness of a loving Father. And in that moment, the Holy Spirit comes into your life and He begins to sift through. And He's the one who begins to put it all together again for you to make your life worth living.
Cry out to the Lord Jesus. And you may simply pray this prayer: Oh Lord Jesus. Help me. Show me the truth. Lord Jesus, forgive me of my sins.
I receive you as my Savior. I need you. You may say, well, What's God going to think of Here I am at this point in my life, the only time I've ever called on him is when I need him. You want me to tell you something? All of us have done it.
That's how we got saved. We all got saved the same way. In moments of desperation, young and old, we said, Oh, God. I need you. That's the first step.
to putting the pieces back together.
So I want to encourage you to pray that simple prayer asking the Lord Jesus to save you. And then if you are saved, And you're facing that overwhelming trouble in your heart. If you'll just remember that he's your comforter. He's your encourager. Always there, ready.
Get into His word. Cry out to Him. Allow him to speak to your heart and then believe what he says. Whatever God gives you an impression to do, do it with all of your heart. That's a step.
out of the muck and mire of a ruined life. And it's a step to a brand new beginning. I want to encourage you, my friend, because I know you're hurting. And I know some of you have already contemplated. Ending it all.
But I want to tell you. There is someone who is always willing to reach down. He's willing to take you in a loving grip. and He will pull you out of what you got yourself into. into a life that you'd never dream of until you experience it by grace.
Lord Jesus, how sweet you are. Forgiving. Loving. Kind, sensitive. Helpful, encouraging.
And I want to pray for multitudes of people who may be listening. who so desperately need to know and to be reminded. that you really do care. that you really are concerned. that you will act in their behalf.
that all you're waiting for is the request. I pray for those who need to be saved that they pray that simple prayer. Lord Jesus, forgive me of my sins. I receive you as my personal Savior and surrender my life to you today. I pray for those who are hurting by the millions, Father, that you would comfort.
That you would encourage them, that you would turn their focus to your word and to you. We love you, Father, for loving us. how often you've comforted all of us. Teaches how to be comforters, encourages to others, is my prayer today in Jesus' name. Amen.
Uh Thank you for listening to part two of Encouragement for the Troubled Heart. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by in touch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
