Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, April 1. Challenges, heartache and pain teach us lessons that nothing else can. Today, we'll discover key biblical principles on how to advance through our adversity.
Here's what you'll find. You'll find that all adversity is not negative, but there's some very, very positive things about difficulty, hardship and trial in our life. Now, if anybody understood what adversity was about, the apostle Paul did. But in his experience of it, he has given us some principles and some understanding that I think we would not have otherwise.
And so I'm grateful to the apostle Paul for all the suffering, all the hardship, all the heartache, and for God leading him to write down what he was learning and how God worked in his life in those times. So the title of this message is How to Advance Through Our Adversity. That is, how not to get stopped, how not to just absolutely settle down in it, how not to just get stuck in it. So I want us to look at several aspects of adversity and listen. If you will listen very carefully, I assure you, you're going to hear something that will encourage your heart. You're going to hear something that will give you a sense of understanding of what adversity is all about, no matter what form it may take. You'll hear something that will encourage you to know how to respond and to check yourself out to see if you're responding in the wrong way. With that in mind, let's think about how can we advance through these adversities. Well, remember we said adversity is a setback or it can be a series of setbacks that you and I experience in life which have the potential of catapulting us to our greatest height spiritually and in whatever God may be calling you to do or to accomplish or to achieve in your life. That is, if we respond in the proper fashion.
Now if I'm going to respond in the proper fashion, I need to know what, how to respond. And I think there are some basic principles in the Scripture that help us when you and I come to these times. And I'm sure the apostle Paul learned these things the hard way because if I'm really going to advance in my adversity, there's some things I do need to understand.
It's not enough to understand that everybody else is hurting too and I can respond the wrong way and so forth, but there are some things I need to know. I do believe that adversity, and here's a principle, it is God's most effective tool for growing us up. It's God's most effective tool for maturing us. Now how many of you would say, well, I grew the deepest, I grew the furthest in my spiritual life when I had everything going my way, had all the money I wanted, all this, all that, all the other. That's when I was really growing in the Lord.
No, you weren't. I'll tell you what grows us up spiritually. What grows us up is what puts us down. What puts us on our knees is what grows us up. What drives us to our knees is what grows us up.
It is adversity, hardship, pain, suffering, and trial. This is what made the apostle Paul say, he said, I've learned something. He says, I've learned somehow to be content with weaknesses, with insults and distresses and persecutions and difficulties. He says, because here's what I've learned, when I am weak and I know I don't have anything left, he says, that's when the supernatural power of God seems to surge through me and I experience his presence and experience his power and experience God in a more intimate way than ever before.
When I find myself at the weakest moments of my life. Well, when I think about these principles, then I think about the fact that not everybody always necessarily advances in their adversity. Now, it's a potential to make a great advance, but we don't always do it. Why? Here's the reason. Sometimes people's responses are wrong. They get bitter. God, why did you do this to me?
God, what's going on? Or they get bitter towards someone else. Now, listen, bitterness is like drinking poison. It will destroy you one way or the other. It may start in your emotions or start in your physical health or start in your spirit. But listen, bitterness is absolute poison.
It will destroy you ultimately. And that's the way some people respond to adversity. They get bitter toward the person that they see as the cause of their adversity, whether it's their employer, husband or wife or parent or child or whatever it may be, some friend or some enemy. Very, very bitter. Sometimes they grow cold toward God, toward the work of God.
People come to church, sit and listen to sermons or maybe be involved in some calamity they think happens in their life. Well, Lord, look how I've served you all these years. Look what I've done.
Look what I've given. Lord, my kids are on the mission field of this. And Lord, look what, how could you do this, God?
How could you do this? And so they begin to clam up. They stop reading the Bibles. They stop praying. They say, what good does it do?
I've been praying all these years. Look what God did. And so they get bitter.
They get cold and indifferent toward the things of God. And listen, watch this carefully. If Satan can get you to doubt the Father in one single solitary area, you know what he's got? He doesn't have just a foothold. He's got a stronghold in your life. It's like the enemy getting a stronghold on the shore. You let them get a stronghold. They're going to invade.
They're going all the way to the capital. What Satan's after is to get us discouraged, get us to doubt. If he can get us to doubt in God in one area, he knows that if he can keep us there long enough, we'll doubt in another area. Before long, we'll find ourselves cold and indifferent to the things of God thinking, what difference does it make?
What good is it for me to pray when God is treating me this way? Sometimes, as a result of that, of course, something else happens in our life. That is, we get to doubting Him. Before long, we get depressed.
God, what's the use? We get cynical and depressed. And before long, that depression turns into something else. And that is, that depression can oftentimes lead to a person, either one or two things. They'll either become dependent on alcohol or drugs or whatever it might be, or they'll finally end up destroying themselves.
If they can't handle it, they destroy themselves. You see, please do not allow bitterness in your life, my friend, no matter what. It doesn't make a difference if you think, well, God, you did it.
God, this is your fault. God, listen, bitterness is like drinking poison. Don't get cold toward God. Don't let Satan get in there causing you to doubt and getting depressed and getting dependent on something else and finally deciding you can't make it in life and so you're just going to step out of life and you take your own life. Why do people do it? Because they lose hope.
Absolutely, they're hopeless. And you see, their hopelessness is because they do not understand God. Now, listen carefully. When you and I understand the principles of Scripture, we understand the ways of God. We understand what God says and who He is and how He operates. That gives us a foundation to deal with adversity, a foundation, listen, to also deal with pleasure, a foundation to deal with prosperity.
If you don't have the right foundation, you will fall through the floor ultimately out there somewhere. And so what is His goal? To build us up and to strengthen us. So when I look at the Apostle Paul and all the things he went through and think about, okay God, what are you up to? What is God's purpose for our adversity? Well, one thing for certain, God will use adversity to get our attention. What happens? We're moving along.
We're sort of doing our own thing. And sometimes a person does not read the Bible as they should, does not pray as they ought to, comes to church once in a while, makes it convenient, and all of a sudden adversity hits. And you know what? When adversity hits, the first thing, oh, dear God, I need You. Help me, Jesus. Help me, Lord. Well, is that the wrong?
That's the right thing to do. But what does it take to get our attention? Adversity. Very simple here what the Apostle Paul said. He said the Lord allowed this adversity in his life to keep him from being prideful. Now, he says, a messenger of Satan came to me to buffet me. Now, though it was a messenger of Satan that caused it, notice what he said. He says, the reason was to keep me from being prideful because of all these awesome revelations that God had given me. Now, I'll tell you one thing, one thing for certain, Satan can't take all the credit for that because God says to the Apostle Paul that God's purpose for allowing that was that he wouldn't get prideful, wouldn't get arrogant so God could keep on using him. Now, listen, anything that Satan knows that's going to get you humble and get you in mind and keep us usable, he's not going to have anything to do with it if he possibly can.
And oftentimes, things that come our way, when you and I respond the proper fashion, listen, what happens is Satan loses, God wins, and God gets something in our life that he's after. So one of the primary ways that people respond, we said in fact there are many ways they respond, but what's God's purpose? His purpose, number one, is to deal with our pride.
That is, what about what we think about ourselves? Do we really and truly have a humble spirit before God? Is God trying to get our attention about something? The third thing is that sometimes what, listen, God's purpose is to get us to hate sin. If there's some sin that keeps coming into our life we can't deal with, listen, he sends enough adversity that we hate the sin. And so likewise, another thing that he has in mind is this, and that is in our adversity he is continually reminding us of, listen, of our total inadequacy, our weakness, and our total dependence upon Him. Is it not true that when you and I get to the point, we cannot fix our own adversity, we can't do anything about it, and we have to absolutely rely upon Him and totally trust Him, is it not true that that's when we start growing?
When He brings us to the point and we understand, God, I can't do anything about this. I can't shorten it. I can't lengthen it.
I can't get it back. I can't do anything, God. You're going to have to do it. That's His goal. One of His purposes is to bring us to realize how weak we are, how inadequate we are, and how absolutely we are dependent upon Him. Likewise, I think one of His primary purposes is to demonstrate His faithfulness. Now listen, all of us believe that God is faithful. We sing, great is Thy faithfulness. Well, let me ask you, how do you know whether He is or not? The only way you and I know that God is absolutely faithful is for us to walk through some adversity when we don't know what to do, we can't do anything, we don't have anything going our way, and we have to trust Him, and God strengthens us and enables us to walk through it successfully, victoriously, and we come through it. Then when you say, let me tell you something, God is absolutely faithful. He is faithful.
What is He doing? He is using that adversity to teach us one of the great qualities of God, and that is that He is faithful to you and me no matter what. He says, I'll never leave you nor forsake you, and He won't.
How do I know that? How do I know that God won't leave me? How do I know that God won't forsake me when things really get tough?
I'll tell you how I know it. Because in the midst of adversity, He has not. In the midst of adversity, I know He cannot.
It is, listen, it is not His nature to walk away from His children. How do I know that for certain? How can I proclaim that?
How can I declare that? How can I shout that to the world out of experience, adversity in which God does not leave us under any condition? He is faithful through every single step, every moment, no matter what. He never ceases to be this all-providing, adequate, sufficient God who loves us every step of the way.
That's what He's after. He wants us to understand. One of His primary purposes for us allowing us to go through these things is that you and I can comfort other people. Now, you know, if you're going through some difficulty and somebody says, well, or and you try to share it with somebody, say, well, I'm just going to be praying for you. Praise the Lord.
I'm going to say, forget it. D'amonto is kind. You see, when you go through heartache and suffering and trial and difficulty and you're able to talk to somebody who says, I haven't been there, but I know what that kind of pain's like, I can feel that hurt with you. I do know what it means to have this in my life or that in my life or the other.
I do know what it means to lose this or lose that. God does not intend for us to be independent. He doesn't intend for any of us to be sufficient within ourselves. Thank God for friends. Thank God for somebody that you can depend upon. Thank God for somebody you can trust.
Thank God for somebody that you can rely upon. Thank God for somebody that will keep your confidence, that you can say, I want you to know something today, I'm hurting. But you know what? All of us hurt in different ways.
God, listen, our pride oftentimes keeps us from saying I'm hurting. And you know what? There are people that God has fashioned around you in order to do what? To encourage you and to lift you up and to encourage you in those difficult, tough times. But if you and I are not willing to share, willing to open our heart and say I'm hurting, I'm going through some difficult time in my life, suffering a real loss, don't know how to handle this, feel very discouraged, feel like David felt when he talked about his own depressions and his discouragement, asking God where are you and why are you letting these enemies do these things to me? You know what? It is in our pain and our suffering that God molds us, fits us and fashions us. And you know what?
When He does that, He will put us in a place where you and I can help someone else. You know what? The thing that blesses me the most about all these folks who come out of prison and come to church, and we got lots of them, they have never felt any condemnation from me.
You know why? Because there's not anything in me that could ever condemn somebody else. When I think, God, you saved me, you are patient with me, you forgive me, you cleanse me, you keep me, you strengthen me, you support me, you help me, God, how in the world could I ever be condemning of anybody no matter what they've done?
Listen, the world is hopelessly, helplessly looking for people who can somehow identify with their hurts. The last thing I would say God's purpose is this. That is, I believe that every adversity is part of God's diet in preparation of your life and my life for future service. It is a part of His diet in your life and mine. It isn't something that's going to come one time, it's going to come many times.
It's part of His plan. It's part of His menu in your life and mine that you and I go through adversity because what that does, it equips us for service. You want to be used of God? Somebody says, oh, I want to be used of God. I'll tell you what you do. Then get ready for adversity because that's God's primary tool for equipping you and me to be strong, effective, fruitful servants of the living God.
Now I say all that to say answer one last question. How do I respond? How do I respond? How do I respond to adversity?
I'm going to give you four simple things. I'm here to tell you, my friend, I can tell you that it works. I don't think it'll work. I know it works. I don't hope it'll work. I'm sure it works.
I don't guess it will. I'm absolutely positive. Not because I read it in a book but because God has proven it to me in my life. First step, view everything from God no matter what. No matter what hits you full force, if you see that as coming from God, not from someone else, you will never grow bitter in your life.
You may have a moment of anger but you'll get over it. See it from God, view it from God no matter what. Second step is this, pray this simple prayer, very short, very concise, but powerful. Father, what is your goal for my life in this adversity? Father, what is your goal for my life in this adversity?
I don't understand this. What's your goal? And you know what?
I believe that so often God in His loving kindness toward us is so willing to show us what that goal is. What's the third step? Here's the third step. Now watch this carefully or you'll think, well, I've heard that before. Now listen carefully. Surrender to the unknown will of God. You see, I may not always understand what His purpose is in adversity. I may not always understand what He's up to. So therefore when I say His unknown will, I may not know exactly what He's up to. Now I know that ultimately it's conforming to His likeness.
But what does He have in mind at this point? I must be willing to surrender my life to Him no matter what. God, I don't understand it. I don't like it. I want You to change it, Father.
But I'm surrendering to You until You do. What's the last thing? Listen to this.
I could not tell you this probably years ago, but I can tell you. You can rest in His trustworthiness to see you through it. Trust Him. And how often I've gotten on my knees and said, but God, but God, when, why, what, where, but God. You know the thing that I couldn't tell anybody else how God speaks to them. Maybe it's because He has to keep saying the same thing to me over and over again.
But here's what my spirit hears whatever God is saying. Just trust me. Just trust me. Just trust me. Just trust me.
It's like God says, just hold on. Believe me. Just rest in me.
Just trust me. I'm in control. I know what's going on. I know you may think I don't.
I know exactly what's going on. I have you in my hand. I am working in your life.
I'm accomplishing my purpose. I'm molding you and making you and sanding you and sifting you and all this adversity is very important. Just trust me. And I'm going to tell you something, friend. Thank God you can't ever lose trusting Him.
Never, never, never. Amen. Father, we love you. Father, we love you and praise you and thank you that you're so patient with us and our failures. When we falter and we stumble in the midst of our walk, when adversity becomes more sometimes than we think we can handle, when we are prone to get discouraged or feel those moments of frantic hopelessness, thank you, thank you, thank you that you're still that unconditionally loving, steadfast, faithful Father who not only promises to see us through it but will move heaven and earth to make it a reality. We bless you and praise you in Jesus' name.
Amen. Thank you for listening to Part 2 of How to Advance Through Adversity. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our online 24-7 station. And 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.
