Facing Fear With Courage - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, January second.

A new year can cause us to be anxious about what's ahead. Today's podcast helps us find relief by learning about God's Word. Here's part two of Facing Fear with Courage. In this passage of Scripture I want to read today. It is a passage of Scripture in the Old Testament. And I want to read about how God spoke to this one person and He gave us the key to overcoming fear.

He gave us the key to living a godly life, a successful life, and a prosperous life. So, I want you to turn, if you will, to Joshua, the very first chapter. And in this first chapter of Joshua, remember what's happening, that the nation of Israel, they had been to the edge of the Promised Land, which God had promised them years before, and having come through the Red Sea, Exodus out of Egypt, to Mount Sinai to receive the law of God across the wilderness, and now to the edge of the Promised Land.

And you remember what happened. And that is when Moses sent twelve spies into the Promised Land to spy it all out. They came back and ten of them said, We can't do it because of walled cities and because there are giants there. Two of them, Joshua and Caleb, said, Yes, we can. God has given us this land.

Let's go. The people listened to the ten rather than to the two. And as a result, their negative attitude caused them to make a decision not to go. And so, the fact, they were just about to stone Moses and Joshua and Caleb because they didn't want to go. They were afraid. After all that God had brought them through, crossing the Red Sea, Mount Sinai, receiving the law of God, all the things that had happened, they said, No, we're not going.

They moaned and groaned all night. God said, All right, that's it. He said, Now don't try to go because the fact that you have decided to disobey Me, refuse to trust Me, that's it. And they said, No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Well, they tried anyway and they suffered an absolute total failure, but worst of all, for the next forty years, they wandered around in the wilderness and all those over twenty-some years of age dying off.

Now they're right back at the same place and listen to what's happening. Forty years later, He says in, beginning in verse five, No man will be saved. He says, I will be with you. Verse five, I will not fail you or forsake you. Now watch this, since the moment you were saved, the day you were saved, those three promises are as much your three promises, according to Jesus, as what He said to Joshua. I will be with you. I will not fail you. I will not forsake you.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, if you've trusted Him He said, I will not leave you as awful, and so I'll come back to you in the presence of the Holy Spirit. And He says in Hebrews, He said, I will never, no, never forsake you. Every single believer has the promise He gave to Joshua to live by every single day. And He said, I will never, no, never forsake you. Every single believer has the promise He gave to Joshua to live by every single day. He said, I will never, no, never forsake you. Every single believer has the promise He gave to Joshua to live by every single day. So, let me ask you a question. What is it that you and I fear so much that we want to give up and quit, throw in the towel, or just want to sit around and weep and moan and groan, when God is with you, will not forsake you and will not fail you?

God doesn't change His mind about things. And He says, I'll be with you, I will not fail you. You can trust Me.

You can count on Me. Now, here is the key. Here is a part of this passage that most folks never think about.

They just read right over this. So, I want you to listen carefully. Let's slip down, if you will, to verse eight.

This book of the law, Deuteronomy, shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that, there's a reason, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. Then you'll make your way prosperous. Then you'll have success. So now, what's the key? Watch this. He says, you shall meditate upon it day and night. Well, what does meditation mean?

I can tell you what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean read through the Bible in one year. That's not meditation.

It doesn't even mean read it right quickly in the morning before you go to work. Meditation, let's take that verse. Meditation means I not only am going to read it, I'm going to think about it. Not only am I going to think about it, but I'm going to sort of run it around in my mind. I'm going to observe what He says.

I'm going to try to apply it to my life. I'm going to ask Him some questions. I'm going to ask Him some questions. I'm going to ask Him some questions. I'm going to ask Him some questions. I'm going to ask Him some questions. I'm going to ask Him some questions. Now, what are you saying to me, Lord?

What do you have in mind? You said, have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Well, how am I going to be strong and courageous? Do not tremble or be dismayed, but sometimes I feel I do tremble.

I am a little discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Do you really mean wherever I go, whatever I do, that you're with me? Do you really mean wherever I go? Do you really mean wherever I go? Do you really mean wherever I go? Do you really mean wherever I go? Do you really mean wherever I go?

Do you really mean wherever I go? It is reading it, believing it, absorbing it, applying it to my life, asking some questions. You see, here's what happens. When you start meditating upon a passage of Scripture, your spirit gets quiet.

Watch this. Your spirit gets quiet. And fear begins to dissolve. And you're going to have to be quiet. And you're going to have to be quiet. And you're going to have to be quiet.

And you're going to have to be quiet. And God's Word is bringing God's holy Word into your life, into your mind, into your thinking, your conscience, your subconscious. And while I may be reading this passage and meditating, and what's God's Word going to do?

If there's something in my life that's not right, it's going to bring it to the surface. You don't have to read the whole Bible to get under conviction. You can read the whole Bible to get under conviction. But what's God's Word going to do? He's going to give us those things that may be causing the fear. Three things that will cause fear is disobedience, unbelief, doubt. All of these things, all of these things cause us to doubt, disobey God, and we won't trust Him.

So, what happens? He quietens my spirit, purifies my heart. So, what's God's Word going to do? He's going to give us those things that may be causing the fear. And what's God's Word going to do?

He's going to give us those things that may be causing the fear. So, what's God's Word going to do for you? Your understanding of the Word of God.

It sharpens your perception. It clarifies your direction. That is, you're asking God to give you direction. What does He say? He says, trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Don't lean to your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him. He'll direct your path. He'll make your path straight. He's going to give you direction. He's going to give you direction. He's going to give you direction. In all your ways, acknowledge Him. He's going to give you direction. But He says, here's the key. The key is meditation upon the Word of God, reading it. Likewise, when you begin to meditate upon a passage, your faith's going to increase because you're going to begin to believe what He's saying.

It's going to enlarge your view of God. But you don't have to change that. You can change it. You can change it. You can change it. You can change it.

You can change it. Your faith in God increases. Your view of God increases. And, what, everything begins to change. That's why He said, meditate upon it how?

Day and night. Don't turn to the left. Don't turn to the right. Don't listen to all this.

Don't watch all that. You meditate upon the Word of God. Focus your attention upon that, and He will guide you And I'm going to say to you, it's a wonderful book that you can read in the Bible. It's a wonderful book.

And I think it's a wonderful thing. Here's what I'd say, meditate upon the Word of God day and night. Do not turn from it to the left or to the right. But let it not depart from your mouth, in your thinking, from your eyes.

In other words, this is the key. Is it any wonder that the devil does everything in his power to cause people to doubt it? And it doesn't have mistakes, it has truth. And you, no one will ever tell you that they followed the Word of God and it was a wrong thing.

If they tell you that, it's because they disobeyed something. Here's what I want you to see. Whatever you're facing in life, here is the solution. To get in God's Word and ask Him, Lord, You show me the passage I'm to read. You show me where my heart is to dwell in all of this. And He will show you. And He will show you where my heart is to dwell in all of this. And He will show you where my heart is to dwell in all of this. And He will show you where my heart is to dwell in all of this.

Meditating upon the Word of God is the key to everything. Because here's what's happening. You're getting God's viewpoint. In your mind, He's getting bigger and bigger.

He's everything He says He is. You know He's not going to leave you, not going to forsake you, not going to fail you. You can't lose. You can't lose. You can't lose. You can't lose. You can't lose. You can't lose. You can't lose. You can't lose. You can't lose.

You can't lose. And when you wake up to the Bible, that thing is so big, I don't know where to start. I'll give you an example. Start in the Psalms, or start in the Proverbs, or start in the Gospel of John. You can get into the Epistles, but if you're not too familiar, then start with the book of Proverbs, and the book of John, the book of Proverbs, the book of Proverbs. You don't have to be so familiar with the Bible. You don't have to be so familiar with the Bible. You don't have to be so familiar with the Bible. You don't have to be so familiar with the Scripture to be found in the whole Word of God.

Because what it does, it tells you how to live it out day by day. And how many verses about courage and faith and trust and obeying Him? and I'm listening, and I'm going to read God, I'm going to trust You to speak to me. Or, do you just say, Well, you know, I don't understand this, I'm going to go to church, maybe I'll hear something that'll help me.

This book is as much your God as it is my God or anybody else's. Day and night He said. Day and night. Don't stray to the left, don't stray. Don't stray to the left, don't stray to the right, don't stray to the left, don't stray to the right. Don't stray to the left, don't stray to the right.

Don't stray to the right. Whatever He says, that's what we're to do. Now, the question is, people say, Well, I can be a success without the Bible. Or even with people who are tough, they say, I can handle it.

There's some things you can't handle, friend. You need Him. He said, I'll be with you, I'll not fail you. I'll never, ever fail you. And they say, I'll never, ever fail you. But I'll never, ever, ever, ever, ever prosper you. He says, I will guide you to be successful in whatever I guide you to do, if you will meditate upon My Word and don't turn from the right or the left.

And people say, Well, you know, I think my life is a failure. Well, it isn't because you meditated upon God's Word. You meditated on something else. I'm going to give you a little bit of courage, a little bit of courage, a little bit of courage. You want to develop courage? Look at this.

Number one, watch this. Meditation on God's Word becomes a compass. If I am in the Word, He is going to show me how to go through some difficulty, hardship, or some sense of direction that I need. That's a first one.

It becomes a compass. I'm going to give you a little bit of courage, a little bit of courage, a little bit of courage, a little bit of courage, a little bit of courage. What about the best experiences of God's faithfulness when facing challenges? What about in the past when you faced them and you cried out to God? You got in the Word and you read a psalm or two.

And what did He do? He brought you through whatever He was bringing you through. And He said, He's going to give you a little bit of courage, a little bit of courage, a little bit of courage, a little bit of courage, a little bit of courage. And He's going to give you the courage to do what you can do for others and the outcome. And I think in my own life, I look back how people, how God has blessed other people, things they've been through, and it challenges me, encourages me.

When you see how other people are challenged and they walk through it confidently trusting God, and you see how God has blessed you, you see how He has blessed you, you see how He has blessed you, you see how He has blessed you. If I don't obey God, what's going to happen? If I do obey Him, what's going to happen? If I do obey Him, what did He say?

If I don't obey Him, what did He say? Listen, what we have is the mind of God. We begin to see things as He sees them. We begin to think the way He thinks.

That's why He said, don't let it depart from your mouth. Listen, when you go to bed at night, you should go to bed at night thinking about the things of God. And I love all these passages where He talks about meditation. Listen to this, when I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches, for you've been my help. And in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to you, your right hand upholds me.

You can go to 119th Psalm and lots of verses about meditation. And when you go to bed at night thinking about the things of God, you should go to bed at night thinking about the things of God that are going to happen. And in the shadow of your wings, you're taking time to be in the Word, absorbing the truth and asking God for God's. One last thing, listen, recall His all-important promise, I'll be with you, I'll not fail you, I'll not forsake you. That is the promise of a omnipotent God who has all power to guide you and make you successful and prosperous in your life.

And here's the key to the whole thing. If I focus on my problem, it's going to get bigger and bigger and larger and more grand. If I focus on Him, all of that begins to dwindle in the presence of a holy, omnipotent, awesome, indescribable, immeasurable God.

Every problem dwindles into nothing, because He's God. You may not be a Christian, you're thinking, well, I'm not too sure I can believe that. Well, let me ask you a question. Do you really want to believe it? Here's the promise of God. You're not a believer. You don't believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. You don't think He's the only one. Well, you can die like that. And you know what? One of these days you'll say, if I'd have, if I'd have only listened, if I'd have trusted Him.

You're going to live a miserable life out there. If you will place your trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, which means that you believe that when He went to the cross, He went to the cross as the Son of God, He died a redemptive death, not the death of a criminal. He died to pay our sin debt in full.

The moment you trust Him as your personal Savior, from that moment on, the Spirit of God comes into your life and He's the one who gives you enlightenment, instructs you, and helps you to understand His Word and how to live a godly life. But until you do that, you're on your own. Listen, your friends are not always going to be there.

Your parents are not always going to be there. Without Christ in your life, you're on your own. You're on your own. You're on your own. You're on your own. You're on your own.

You see, well, I have lots of help. How long are they going to live? What's going to happen to them?

Suppose they change their mind. You see, the truth is, you cannot live a life of peace and contentment and joy. In fact, the truth is, you can't live a successful life without God. You say, well, let me tell you where I am. My name is so-and-so, and I'm one of those billionaires. I'm one of those billionaires. I'm one of those billionaires. I'm one of those billionaires. I'm one of those billionaires.

I'm one of those billionaires. What makes you a success is living a godly life. Listen, who decides whether you're a success or not? Hollywood?

Politics? What makes you a success? The only person you and I should be concerned about how they view us, whether we're a success or not, is Almighty God. And He's a success. He's a success. He's a success. He's a success.

He's a success. And so, if you have someone that we walk in His ways, follow His will, obey Him, and fulfill His purpose for our life, that is a success. And you have someone, once you trust Christ as your Savior, living on the inside who will help you be just that. And you have someone, once you trust Him, who will help you be just that. And you have someone, once you trust Him, who will help you be just that.

And you have someone, once you trust Him, or without Him. If you're wise, you'll face it with Him. And Father, how grateful we are that You make it so simple and so plain. I pray that every listener will take to heart what they've heard and heard. Thank you for listening to Part 2 of Facing Fear with Courage. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and by Zola Levitt Ministries.