The Power of Godly Meditation – Dr. Charles Stanley
The Power of Godly Meditation
How often do we read a Bible verse and just hours, or a day later, find that we can’t recall much about it? It happens to every one of us from time to time. We read God’s Word, but we don’t always think about the next steps to living it out in our lives. For more messages from Charles Stanley, including this week’s broadcast, go to www.intouch.org/watch
Dear Lord,
Today…….I am asking all my prayer warriors to say a prayer that may help others. So many people are hurting right now. Many are struggling with finances and need jobs. Some are facing foreclosure and don’t even know how they are going to make it from week to week.. Many are lonely. . Many are heartbroken. . Many are facing sickness and health is fading. . Some are dealing with difficult family members. Many have lost HOPE.. Tonight, let us put our prayers and faith together decree and declare breakthrough over our families. Financial miracles WILL take place. Jobs WILL be found. Our Bodies WILL be made whole & sickness WILL flee. Marriages and relationships WILL be restored. Family members WILL find Jesus. Heartbreaks WILL be healed. JOY WILL be restored and HOPE WILL be found. In Jesus Name. Amen!!!!!! Keep God First…….
How often do you pick up your Bible?
You read the passage of Scripture, you lay it down and very shortly you’ve forgotten everything you read.
Amen. That isn’t that true? That’s true.
A few of you, let’s be honest right up front. That’s true, isn’t it? Yes, it is.
So you read it and you fulfill your promise to maybe pray or to read the Bible all the way through in a given year or whatever it might be whatever your goal is.
And uh so you have the assurance that God is gonna bless you because you read His word, which he will.
But what about the application of what you read when you read the Bible?
Do you apply the truth? You say, well, sometimes I don’t understand that. I understand that.
But most of the time you understand at least of something of what he said to you.
And if you ask him, Lord speak to my heart, then he’s gonna lead you to a passage that he has something to say.
Does that mean that you’ll understand everything that you read? No, probably nobody can say.
I understand every single thing I read.
And so uh the whole issue of meditation upon the word of God is far more involved than most people think most people think that meditation means I read it quietly and then I go on my way.
That’s not what meditation is. Meditation is one of the most important things that is biblical meditation.
Now, there’s a eastern meditation that believes all kind of tough stuff.
But we’re talking about meditation upon God’s word, which I explained when you read it, would you say that you meditate upon it?
That that is you think about it?
You ask questions like Lord, how am I apply this to my heart?
Lord, what are you saying to me? Lord? Is this a word of encouragement? Is this a warning?
Am I to be careful? Am I to be sensitive to somebody around me?
Am I to give something that I hadn’t thought about giving?
Uh what, what are you saying to me?
In other words, meditation isn’t just reading a passage and moving on meditation is thinking, asking, giving, praying whatever God may be saying to you.
And so it involves far more than just reading it.
It involves prayerful, listen, it involves prayerful application. Lord, what are you saying to me? Personally?
I can’t imagine anybody coming to church and hearing a whole sermon for 30 or 40 minutes and saying God didn’t say a thing to me unless you didn’t come in with an open heart.
So let’s just think right? Now, wherever you sit and whoever you are and wherever you are, why don’t we just agree right now?
We’re going to listen to God. We’re gonna believe that God’s gonna speak to us in this message.
We’re gonna listen to him and we’re gonna do our best to apply it to our heart because I’m sure God has something to say to all of us.
So the scripture says in 100 and fourth psalm, let my, let my meditation be pleasing to you.
Oh God, let my meditation be pleasing to you. So that’s what I wanna talk about.
The power of meditation in the life of the believer.
So I want you to turn to the 119th psalm.
Now I know what you’re gonna be thinking for a moment.
So I’ll, I’ll get to this in a minute.
You say, well, that was written thousands of years ago. Well, who had it written? Almighty God?
Did he not know what was going on today? Yes, he did.
So that none of us can say, well, you know, God doesn’t speak today.
He spoke a long time ago but not today. Yes, he does because he’s given us his word.
He’s preserved his word so that every generation from the time he spoke, it can hear it from someone or read it today or listen in some fashion.
So this 119th psalm listen to what David is saying, beginning in verse 97.
Oh how I love your law.
It is my meditation all the day, which is David’s way of saying.
I think about it all the day. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies.
That’s a promise His commandments make us wise than our enemies for their ever mind.
I have more insight than all my teachers because you’re listening to God for your testimonies are my meditation that is meditation.
I’m thinking about what God is saying to me. I understand more than the age.
In, in words, age has nothing to do with understanding necessarily because I have observed your precepts.
That is because I’m I’m observing and attempting to do what you asked me to do. Lord in this passage.
I, I understand what you’re saying.
I have restrained my feet from every evil way that I may keep your word.
I have not turned aside from your audiences for you yourself have taught me how sweet are your words to my taste?
Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth. From your precepts. I get understanding.
Therefore, I hate every false way and look at this 105th verse.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Let’s say that one y your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Now, if I really and truly believe that I’m gonna be in this word, I’m gonna be reading the word of God and believing in and applying it to my heart.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
So ask this question, if the word of God is not a lamp to your feet, I like your path.
What is I can tell you what is the other stuff that people read?
The other things they watch on television, the other things they hear people say, but he says your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
All of us watch this carefully.
All of us are following something in some fashion to some degree to what we see and what we hear, this is what makes our economy go, what you see and what you watch on television.
If you listen and you watch and you listen and you watch and next thing you know, you, you bought it because they have programmed your thinking into thinking you must have this product.
You’ll be more beautiful, you’ll be richer, you’ll, you’ll on and on. They go with promises and so what happens?
You go out and buy some. Isn’t that true? That’s true.
You go ahead and buy it because somebody said to you, this is what will happen to you.
You’ll be better looking, you’ll feel better. You look like a million dollars, you will prosper in your job.
You’ll get ahead of it. No, it’s on and on and on.
They go with promises from man that most of the time are not true.
Now, when you come to the word of God, which is all true, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path, the direction I’m going in is gonna be according to God’s words.
So ask yourself the question. Do I walk and do I talk?
And do I live according to the word of the living God?
Am I, am I more attuned to my advertisement and propaganda on television than I am the word of God.
They say you’ve gotta have this and you’ve got to have that. You’re more beautiful.
You’ll be a much more uh successful.
You believe that you believe the word of God, we are all believing something, right?
We’re all listening to somebody and we’re all responding to something of somebody.
And I’m simply saying to you, the word of God is the most important book in the world.
And the guidance from the word of God is the most important guidance because listen, you’ll choose wise friends, you will not get into debt and we could go of the promises that God makes and the pro and the response you experience in your life when the word of God becomes your God book.
Meditation is the process by which you and I learned to listen to God, apply these principles to our life and watch Him work.
You can’t read the word of God, apply the principles of the Word of God to your life without Him having an effect.
He said, how do you know that? I’ll tell you why.
Because the day you trusted Jesus Christ as your personal savior, the Holy Spirit came into your life to seal you as a child of God and to empower you enable you to teach you to believe the word of God and therefore direct your life.
So we have God’s divine direction to every one of us.
And somebody says, well, but that’s not everybody well, who does? He leave out?
Only people who refuse to listen to Him.
The word of God is applied to your heart and my heart by the same Holy Spirit.
But the Holy Spirit applies the word of God to your life and my life according to the need of the moment, not according to somebody else according to the need of the moment.
So the needs of the moment change all the time.
God gives direction in every circumstance of life to those who are listening and believing what he says, teach me the way.
Oh Lord, my God, that I may walk in it.
So meditation is your thinking about the word is the application of the word of God in your life to give you a direction.
And so when people say, I don’t believe the Bible, here’s what that’s like, it’s like being in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
No compass, no map, nothing in a sailboat or the, the that you had, you threw those away and you finally tossed the sail away and there you are, where would you be?
Where would you go? What direction would you have for your life? You wanna have it?
You’d float around till finally you sank or something happened to you.
Many people are living without a guide book.
Many people are living without a, without the guide and many people are living their life out according to what the world says, that’s why they miss the best part of life.
So I want you to listen carefully.
What we just read is the promise your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Now, what do we mean by meditation?
According to the word of God, it’s important enough that you write them down.
You may say, well, I’m not even a Christian write them down anyway because you may get safe by the time this message is over.
And if not at some point, you may.
So what we’re, what we’re talking about here, we, we, we’re talking about what meditation is first.
It’s focusing my heart on God and shutting out everything else. That’s meditation, not reading the watch this carefully.
Now, don’t get upset and don’t get mad, don’t get angry.
It isn’t reading the Bible with the television set on unless you’re reading what I’m preaching while you’re watching.
That’s the difference. But it’s not, I’m gonna do my devotions while I’m watching my favorite program.
Now, meditation, shutting out everything else.
Think about this, you’re talking to omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent almighty God who loves you unconditionally.
Why would you want to be listening to watching anything else when you are talking to Holy Almighty God who has over who has power over all of your life.
So he’s shutting out everything else.
Secondly, it’s more listening than talking meditation is more listening than talking Lord.
What are you saying? And in any given time, you may go through a lot of emotions when you’re talking to God as He brings things to your mind.
Thirdly, it’s the most important activity in the life of a follower of Jesus that you may have been a Christian, a short period of time.
And nobody has ever said that to you.
But I want you to listen carefully meditation, reading and we’re gonna talk about what that’s involved. Reading.
The word of God meditating upon the word of God is the most important activity in your life because that’s where you get clear direction about what to do, who to talk to, who to listen to, what to buy, what not to buy meditation.
You have focused in on the one God, Jehovah God, who has the answer to every question you have.
And secondly, who is there willing to give you direction and guidance in your life if you’re willing to listen.
Now, think about that. You don’t have to make mistakes.
I’m not saying you never will.
But you, in other words, you, you certainly don’t have to make any spiritual mistakes.
And on your job, I, I is God listening to you on your location. Absolutely. He is.
When you trusted Him as your savior, he became involved in every single area of your life.
So if you want the best, then you make meditation a priority in your life, which says the most important thing I can do is listen to God, either through reading His word or if God sends somebody to me, uh who is giving me wisdom for my life.
And that can be true at times most important thing in your life.
Then I want you to uh turn to two passages of scripture.
Let’s turn first of all to Matthew 14 and I’m, I’m sure you know these by heart, but I just wanna emphasize them, Matthew 14.
And uh you recall that Jesus has just fed uh the 5000 and uh they just about worn him out, talking to him and, and imagine what he did.
So listen to this. There were about 5000 many women besides Children.
And so what happens when he finished feeding everybody immediately?
Now there’s a, there’s a reason for immediately, he was worn out physically speaking.
Immediately, he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him.
He didn’t get in there with them.
Go ahead of him to the other side while he sent the crowds away.
He’s gotta have some time by myself.
After he sent the crowds away, he went up on the mountain by himself to get away from it all to pray.
And when it was evening, he was there alone, Jesus got tired, he had to be refreshed.
Imagine if there were 5000 people as Children and so forth.
Imagine what was going on in his mind and heart. So he needed time to be refreshed.
So, do you, so do I Jesus, who is the son of God who had all power?
Had that human part of him that when he was tired and to get away and not just to get away and take a break, but to go up into the mountain and do what went up in the mountain and prayed, separated himself from them to pray.
And when it was evening, he was there alone.
If meditation was important to Jesus is very important to us, it’s where we get refreshed, it’s where we get a, a good new sense of direction.
God is always speaking to his Children, whether we’re listening or not, but he’s willing to give you direction in every area of your life.
And so, uh if you wanna turn one more passage and just so you’ll be familiar with him and mark uh 1 35 and uh listen to what he says in the early morning while it was still dark because he knew better than to wait till eight o’clock in the early morning while it was still dark.
Jesus got up, left the house, went away to a secluded place and he was praying there.
Think about this Jesus, the Son of God felt it necessary to spend time away from everybody and be alone with God.
And so the most important thing you and I can do for our life is spend time meditating you.
So how long that’s between you and God?
But giving God at least some portion of your day to be alone with Him, shut everything else out and just ask God to speak to your heart.
You say, well, I don’t know that you gotta speak to my heart. Why don’t you think so?
Maybe you have guilt in your life, sin in your life and you think, well, God wouldn’t speak to me.
You may be the one He’s really working on.
So you can’t say God won’t do this and he won’t do that.
You set aside or you say God, I just need you in my life.
God is there to, to give direction for your life, whether it’s for confession of sin, repentance and just simply saying, Lord, what do I do about this opportunity?
I have. He had three choices. Lord, I don’t know what, what, what am I to do?
He’s there to help you. So that’s what meditation is all about.
It’s the most important thing in your life because think about this.
Who else can direct you in such a way to live your life that you live it out the best you live it out, the fullest you live out, the happiest you live it out with the most profitable.
Who can direct you other than God, nobody knows your life like God knows it.
He knows why he created you and he is, he knows what purpose He has for you in your life.
And what the word of God said, this demonstrates in this passage, all these passages and throughout the scripture, he is willing and ready to give direction to those who are willing to listen.
And so once you trust that Christ is your savior that opens the door until you trust Christ as your savior.
You have no promise that God will speak to you except to convict you of your sins.
When you trust Him as your personal savior, God begins to speak to your heart immediately.
And so we have the privilege of meditating upon the word receiving direction and divine guidance about any question, any situation, any circumstance we face, we have the promise of His assistance, ask and it shall be given you if I need to know what to do here, he will direct me whatever it might be.
So when we learn to meditate, what will happen, it listen.
It’s a way of life that we live in a relationship to God, whereby meditation waiting upon Him is having those times in life.
We shut out everything and listen to him. So what can you expect to happen? Jot them all down?
First of all, it quiet in your spirit, you’re troubled, you come home late, the traffic was horrible.
Everybody around you is sort of, you know, saying things and doing things that you didn’t like or you didn’t feel comfortable in your job.
Quiet in your spirit. That is meditation will calm you down when you get before God and say, Lord, you know what a day I’ve had and so forth or maybe you had some bad news, whatever it might be.
God will quieten your spirit. He’s he, he’s promised that secondly, he will enlighten your mind to think the way He thinks about what concerns you.
When you begin to think the way God thinks about what concerns you.
There is an immediate sense of or degree of peace because your heavenly Father has said to you and shown you made it known to you.
I understand and I know what to do and I’ll direct you and I’ll give you guidance.
He said, don’t worry, you trust me, don’t worry. Just trust me.
The third thing that’ll happen is it’ll increase your energy.
So what’s that got to do with all everything?
And there have been many times when I look back over the years that uh I’d wake up on Sunday morning and um just get on my knees and say God, you, you’re gonna have to help me.
Lord. I don’t, I, I, I, I’m not gonna be able to preach to you.
I have to help me, but I didn’t have an associate pastor.
And so it was me or nobody and they’re expecting it.
And I, I just, I could hardly get out of the bed at some point between there at that moment and the right time, God get me up, get me dressed, get me ready, looking over the message, get me excited and preach like nothing ever happened.
I can tell you, God knows how to give us the kind of energy we need because He knows what the need is.
Now watch this. My God will meet all of your needs according to his riches and glory and certainly His timing.
What I want you to see is that God’s a personal God.
He’s not just something up in heaven.
My God is an intimate personal being who the moment you receive Christ as your savior, he enters your heart to the Holy Spirit.
He promised it. And one of the things he promises is give direction and peace and quietness and Godliness in our heart when we’re willing to listen to Him.
And so there’s gonna be an energy.
He knows when we’re worn out and he knows when we need divine energy.
And one of the wonderful things about God is think about this.
He knows what you need and He’s unlimited to give you. Exactly.
And everything you need whatever you’re going through in life. But meditation means watch this.
You and God have a relationship more intimate than a relationship between a husband and a wife.
Because with God, everything is right, you’ll always have the truth.
You always know what to do when you’re listening to him and waiting upon him and obeying him.
You always do the right thing that you have the capacity to.
Now, you can disobey him, but he will give you wisdom to know exactly what’s right.
He will increase your energy. You’ll be able to do things otherwise you couldn’t do.
I’ve preached at times when every cell of my body was crying out. No, no, no, no, no.
God knows what you need.
He knows when you need it, how much you need it, why you need it.
So that every day you should spend a little time talking to him listening to him.
Don’t do all the talking. You can’t listen to you doing all the talking.
And I’ve heard a few people pray.
Uh Now as far as I’m going to that, uh I’ve heard a few people pray.
God didn’t have a chance to say a thing because as soon as they finish praying, they’re up and gone.
I’m saying, God loves you.
Give him time to express that love, whatever that love is needed in your life.
If you’re waiting for somebody to cheer you up, sometimes you’re not gonna find anybody.
God’s always there and listen.
He knows exactly what you need when you come to Him and say, Lord, you know that I’m needed today.
I don’t exactly know everything I need, but I’m just needed. You don’t have to define your need to God.
He knows exactly what you need. He knows exactly how to fulfill that need. He’s a wonderful God.
And then think, think about this also, uh meditation purifies your heart.
What do I mean by that?
Simply this the Holy Spirit within you will expose, expose sin in your heart. You think?
Well, God, nothing’s working, right? God knows what it’s not. And here’s what we do watch this.
We call our friends, we call our friends whom we know will agree with us.
Who will feel sorry for us. Oh my goodness. I’m so sorry. You’re not doing good.
And so we love to be pitted and we love to hear our friends tell us, well, you’re a Christian and certainly got on and on and on.
We go now, God knows how to purify our heart.
We need to come to him saying Lord, here I am.
I don’t understand why this is going on in my life. Oh Lord, I do understand and I’m needy.
I need you to help me, Lord.
And he will show you whatever there is going on in your life. That should not be.
He will always point you in the right direction and the right direction is first of all, to him to ask him, Lord, forgive me of my sin.
If that’s an issue, uh show me exactly what to do.
This is why he says, if we confess our sins, listen to these words faithful and just give us the best sins and to do what cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
That’s a promise we have. And when I think about how he purifies our heart, he promises unmistakably if we can, a confession means I agree with Him.
Lord. Uh Here’s something in my life is not right if we confess our, since He’s faithful and just that means, yes, he will every time, every time.
But you know what I’ve done, I know what I know this.
When Jesus went to the cross, watch this, that made it possible for God to say if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and so purifies our heart.
It also enlarges our view of God when you’re praying and you’re meditating upon the Lord and you’re listening to Him and you’re reading the word.
What’s that? What happens? You, you get a, you get this enlar view of who God is.
I don’t mean I’m talking about capacity of a loving God who’s able to forgive you.
And how many times have I heard people pray when we talk together? And they said, well, you know what?
I don’t even deserve forgiveness. Surely you don’t. Nobody does. It’s not a matter of deserving.
It’s a matter of God, exposing our heart and helping us to see what’s there and enlarging our view of God.
In other words, when you get down to pray and you pray and you pray and you pray and you pray and you pray and you pray and you pray and you pray and you pray and pray and nothing happens.
And don’t look around somewhere else. Look right here because there’s something going on in your heart.
That’s not right. Well, let me give you some assurance.
You know, it will take you long to find out if you ask Him, Lord, what is it in my life that’s holding me back?
What if it’s in my life that’s, that’s causing me not to have answered prayer.
Lord, why am I so miserable? Why does nothing please me? God? Why I’m in such a mess?
He’ll show you if you’re willing to listen. Because remember this, that every act of go watch this one.
Every act of God to his Children is an expression of the love of God.
Every act, even the chastisement is an act of love from God.
So what happens is when you meditate upon His word, it enlarges your view of God.
You begin to see things about God that, that, that you before you, you know words.
How, how could, how could God be interested in this.
How many times do I heard people say, well, when I’ve said to them, well, if you want direction, ask God or how God’s not interested.
Yes, he is. You’re spending money. God’s interested. You’re living in sin or sin again.
Words go right there from, listen from A to Z in the alphabet. God is interested.
So when you say, well, God can be interested in me. Yes, he is.
He created you. He created you. You have a soul.
You’re gonna spend eternity somewhere and no matter how long or how short life is.
In other words, is God interested in you personally. Yes.
He knows the day you were born and you before you were gonna be born.
He knows the day and the moment when the clock ticks your last second click, you’re gone.
Does he already know that? Yes, he does.
He’s this awesome, wonderful holy God who has our best interest at heart and the best way to live your life is to live it and make meditation, your relationship with Him a vital part of your life.
Listen, it determines everything, it determines everything.
Either I’m gonna live a life of obedience or not. I can explain it away.
Well, you know, I didn’t have this.
Listen, if somebody says, well, I just didn’t have the privileges other people had, forget it.
I didn’t have any privileges either.
My mom and I lived in one room for a while.
Before I went to college, I had no money at $75.
And I told somebody else was going to college. How much money do you have? At $75?
Well, they said you can’t go to college on $75.
What they didn’t know is a few months later, I’m standing on the street corner, a pastor that I hardly knew walks by and as a result of me meeting him, gets me a four year scholarship University of Richmond.
That’s that you don’t, don’t underestimate God. I didn’t even know this pastor.
I just started to that church a few months before. That don’t underestimate God. Don’t think about.
Well, when I, when I look back and I thank God, I had nothing to do with it.
I just told my friend what I needed and my friend had to tell the pastor, the pastor, tell somebody else and finally everything I needed.
Lord you provided. Was that an accident? No. Was it an answer to my prayer?
Yes, because I’ve been praying and praying. God. I know you’ve called me to preach.
But how, how am I going to, how am I going to school?
Here’s what I want you to see.
God is not only perfectly and eternally interested in your life and every aspect of it.
He can handle it. All He wants you to do is to be willing to spend time with Him.
Listen, how can you know what to do without God.
You may guess a few things, but you’ll make wrong decisions in your life and think about people who have made wrong decisions and um come to me crying and weeping and saying you tried to tell me but I didn’t listen.
Yeah. God tried to tell you and you didn’t listen. This is a kind of awesome guy.
No words. Here, here’s what happens.
We get a whole different perspective of God when we start meditating upon His word.
Because here’s what you discover, you can’t bring up anything. God doesn’t already know.
He knows everything, that words, whatever you bring up to Him. He doesn’t have to say.
I, I think about it. That’s not God. Yeah. Watch this.
God instantly has an answer because he had an answer before you ask him.
But he oftentimes will wait until we are wise enough to acknowledge.
We don’t have the answer and we do need him and need His direction, purifies your heart, larges your view of God and increases your love for God.
Here’s what happens when you read the word of God and you get it in your heart and you read such, I, I, I think for example, and this probably stirred up more love for God.
I, I, I believed him. But I think this verse probably stirred up more love for God for me than any other one.
When Joshua was asking for direction here, God to tell him He was to take Moses place and he had a lot of questions and here’s what he said to him.
Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous.
Do not tremble or be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you.
Wherever you go, he didn’t tell him. He didn’t say well, look, we’re gonna knock down a Jericho wall.
No, here’s what he said. Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous.
Do not tremble or be dismayed for the Lord, your God is with you wherever you go, that verse of scripture before I preached my first sermon.
And naturally, I was a little bit uptight. In fact, that’s probably very uptight.
And uh it was in my home church and that’s what nobody believes you when you’re a kid and you say God’s called you to preach it.
But I had a chance to preach.
My mother came in the bedroom and she says, I want you to read this verse, that verse of scripture gave me the courage and the realization, it didn’t make any difference how well I did.
I didn’t do or what they thought of me or not. God said, be strong and have a good courage.
He, he promised to help me through this. And I’m saying to you, here’s the key to meditation.
If you will meditate upon the word of God, there will be times that arise in your life and situations and circumstances that God will take you back to a passage that you read and you say, yes, Lord, thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Because at that moment you shut out everything else you remembered and listened and read again.
What God said to you and your faith skyrockets. Meditation is a concentration upon God.
We believe what He says. We expect him in any moment of our life, whatever we need, he’s gonna be there to give direction for our life.
You say, well, but suppose I’m living in sin. Well, here’s what happens you get in.
You say, Lord, no, I haven’t been doing what I’ll do, but I need some direction. God says, hm.
God’s not promised to answer our petitions about anything as long as I’m living in willful known disobedience to God.
You say, well, listen. He knew all about me. Yes. He does think about this.
If God let us get by with living in sin, you know what we would do?
It keeps sinning. So what does He do?
He shuts heaven down until we’re willing to submit to His will until we’re willing to listen to him and do first of all, what’s necessary be confessing of that, repenting of it and saying God, ok, I’m just laying my life before you and I’m, I’m, I’m gonna trust you.
He’s a loving God willing, willing to help us at any moment in their life.
Then of course, it will increase our sensitivity to the authority and power.
Of God meditation will increase that there.
We will become more and more aware of what of His authority and power in our life.
I wouldn’t dare walk up here on a Sunday morning and opened the word of God and proposed to preach a message unless I knew it was all of God and none of me, this is why pride is so devastating.
Pride says I can do it. Pride is devastating in any area of life. Pride is devastating.
It’s humility. It’s the awareness that we need Him. And it’s the awareness that being in need.
My God shall supply all. Not most of all your needs, according to His riches and glory means according to what he possesses, a person is foolish not to meditate upon God.
It’s the key to everything then strengthens your faith.
When you watch God answer your prayer, you watch. When everything else is looking bad, everything else is storming.
It looks no other way. And I can think of times many times in my life when I thought God only, you can handle this very critical times.
God only you can handle this. But I’m trusting you. He he listen.
He’s willing to come to your rescue in any situation. If you’re walking in His will, he’s willing to.
Why? Because it, it gives Him glory and honor. You say God only you can do this.
You, you’ve, you’ve glorified God in expecting and then anticipating and then watching God do His work in whatever situation you are faced with.
And, and one other thing here, strengthen your faith naturally and it’ll increase your awareness of the presence of God.
And nothing does that anymore than meditation.
When you set aside time to read the word of God and talk to Him, what does it do?
It increases your awareness of His presence and the possibilities.
And you look at the scripture and how did God work in David’s life?
How did he work in Joshua’s life? You go right through the word of God.
And then the last one I would say is in it infuses us with joy when you have spent time meditating upon the word or reading the word and listening to Him watching him working in your life.
What happens? There’s a joy that’s there. Why is there such a joy?
Because you have this awesome sense of awareness that whatever happens, God’s in control.
If I should ask you, do you believe God is in control of your life?
What would you say? Well, about 10 of you would.
No, I’m I’m glad you didn’t answer that because that means a lot of you are not sure.
So let me ask you this. You don’t have to say anything.
I don’t get too personal. If God’s not in control of your life, who is, who is, is your husband, is your wife or your Children?
Are your parents, are your boss or the doctor?
I was, we can go right down if God’s not in charge and who He is.
So that’s why I take the time to go through all these simple points.
Because whatever else in life you face, you will, you will face it depending upon the influence or your response to the time you gave God in meditation.
You. So I I just don’t have time for it.
Then you know what you reap the results and the result is confusion, indebtedness, lack of love sickness.
When you go right now, when you go right down the line of all the things that happen to people.
And most of the time you say, well, when, when is the last time you talk to God, I don’t talk to God.
So I wanna say this to you.
The most important event in your life in any given moment at any time since the moment you are saved is your time you spend alone with God, either reading his word or just talking to Him.
It’s very important to be reading the word of God.
In other words, nothing is so important in shutting the world out. You and God get alone.
Other words, it’s like this physically.
It’s like you getting in this closet, they’ve already put a strip on the bottom of the door.
There’s no light, you’re in pitch black darkness, absolute pitch black darkness.
When you learn to meditate upon God, it’s like being in this room with total life.
God opens the door and shows you things you won’t see any other way.
You know what the issue is?
Do I value my relationship with God enough to spend time with Him that I’m spending doing something else or listening to something else or watching something else.
God is so awesome and, and the, and the, the truth is that lots of times I feel totally inadequate to tell you how awesome God is.
I can best do that by giving you one illustration out to the other, how God works in our life.
He listen, God’s not prejudiced and He, he does not play favorites.
You say, well, pastor this that no, no, no, no, no, no.
Being a past has nothing to do with this.
What has to do with it is, it’s the truth of God’s word applicable and available to every single person.
Godly meditation is a powerful fruitful, exciting habit that we should develop because it changes everything.
Amen. Father, we love you and praise you not because of what you do just because of who you are.
And I pray that you’ll sink this message into the heart and life of every person who hears it today.
Now, tomorrow and years to come, it is the truth.
It is the most important area of our life because it determines everything else.
Make these truths crystal clear.
We love you and we praise you and I pray God make this message stick cement it, glue it passionate father and every heart who hears it in Jesus name?
Amen.
- The Privilege Corrupted – Dr. Charles StanleyTháng hai 5, 2023