Wavering Faith – Dr. Charles Stanley

Whatever we become and achieve in life is determined by our ability to trust God. However, it is only when we believe in Jesus Christ and are confident that God will do as He promised that our lives can be transformed. Dr. Stanley teaches us the factors that can make our faith weak and how to overcome wavering faith.

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In Touch, the teaching ministry of doctor Charles Stanley.
Next on In Touch, wavering faith.
Faith is not only the key to answered prayer.
Faith is the key to everything in your life. Every aspect of your life is affected by it.
What you accomplish and what you become in life is affected by your faith.
Whatever you achieve in life, wherever you head out, whatever direction of life you’re going in, your faith is the key.
Now, all of us have a degree of faith, whether you’re a Christian or not.
And many people have faith in things that really don’t turn out right and they end up being disappointed.
But when you place your faith in God through His Son Jesus Christ, life is going to become exciting.
You’re going to have a sense of accomplishment and achievement.
You’re going through difficulty and hardship and trials in your life, but the difference is this.
You’re walking with Him. You have His presence, His power, His assistance in your life to see you through it no matter what.
And when I think about how people look upon God and how they look at their life and oftentimes leave Him out totally, and wonder why things are as they are.
Well, what is faith in the first place?
Faith is simply the confident conviction that you and I have that God is who He says He is and He’ll do what He promised to do.
That’s what, that’s what our faith as a Christian’s all about.
We had this basic conviction that He is who He says He is, and He will keep His every single promise.
And as a believer, it won’t take you long to figure that out.
Likewise, we don’t have to worry and fret about things.
The scriptures, in fact, Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount said, don’t be anxious about all these things.
But He brought us to trust.
And Paul says also in Philippians that that peace of God garrisons us about, protects us when we walk and live by faith and trust Him.
You’re either going to walk with anxiety and frustration and worry, or you’re going to walk in faith.
You can’t have them both. Oil and water don’t mix. Faith and unbelief do not mix.
So, how is it that you and I develop faith? And how does that faith grow?
Well, I want to talk about this whole issue of wavering faith.
That is, I mean by that, yes, He will, no, He won’t. I think so, I’m not sure.
And so there are lots of people who just waver in their faith all throughout their Christian life and wonder why God doesn’t do more in their life.
You may be one of those persons.
Well, the in this particular message, I want to show you how to deal with that so that you can grow in your faith.
It cannot just simply be little faith that waivers, great faith of assurance, perfect faith.
God does something awesome and great in your life. It’s yours for the hearing and the applying in your life.
And I trust that you’ll listen very carefully.
So I want you to turn to the book of James, and we’ll read these first eight verses together.
And he is writing to those who are undergoing difficulty and hardship.
And, uh, this is the way he addresses them.
He says in 1st chapter, verse 1, James a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes who were dispersed abroad, greetings.
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 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, that is, that you’re growing and maturing in your Christian life.
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.
And what he’s simply saying is, if you’re going through difficulty at this point, ask God to give you the wisdom to know how to face it and to walk through it.
And then he says, but he must ask in faith, without any doubting, any wavering.
For one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
For that man or woman ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double minded man or person, unstable in all their ways.
Now that’s a pretty strong statement.
He says if you’re unstable, that is, if you’re just weaving back and forth about whether God will or whether He won’t or keep His Word maybe, maybe He won’t, then you’re unstable.
If you’re unstable in your faith, which is the foundation of how you live, you’re going to be unstable in other things.
And one of the primary reasons that many Christians do not live a godly life, do not live a life that is rewarding and a life that is, has, uh, is permeated by peace and joy and happiness and contentment, even in difficulty and trial, is because their faith is not steady.
It’s not strong. It’s not firm. It’s not mature.
They’re still in the baby stage of wavering faith, thinking, well, maybe He will, maybe He won’t.
So I want us to address this whole issue, because it is a major issue in everybody’s life.
And when you think about it, what He says in this passage, He says, if a person’s faith is continually wavering, now watch this, that doesn’t mean that it never wavered.
All of us have come to circumstances and situations in our life where maybe we’ve never been confronted with that particular issue before.
Or it may be that we’re facing something we don’t know exactly how to deal with it, and so we waver in our faith for different reasons.
And what I want to do is I want to talk about what some of those reasons are.
We, listen, we waver when trusting God is in conflict with human reasoning. And you say, well, like what?
If somebody said to you, uh, I want to give you $10,000 but, uh, I’m going to take a 1,000 of it.
That belongs to God. But you’re going to have more with 9,000.
Human reason says, $9,000 will never buy as much as $10,000 That’s what human reason says.
It’s not reasonable. It’s not reasonable that 9,000 will buy more than 10,000. Yes, it will.
For what He protects, He gives you a better deal.
In other words, I can go through and I’ve lived long enough to tell you, you cannot fail or lose tithing of your income.
Reasoning doesn’t work oftentimes with God because He He is above and beyond reasoning. That’s what faith’s all about.
Faith says, if I give Him, if I give Him 10%, my 9’s going to buy more than that.
That’s what faith says. Lack of faith says, man, I got to have all 10 of it.
There’s no way in the world that you can do that. If you count from man’s viewpoint right.
But look what you look what you’re doing.
We’re talking about an omnipotent God who owns everything, who can send things into your life you never thought about, you never dreamed of.
That’s who He is and that’s the kind of God He is.
Read the 3rd chapter of Malachi and see what He promises.
He says, He says it’ll be overflowing because God, watch this, God always rewards faith, period.
A second reason that we waver in our faith is we allow our feelings to overcome our faith.
We say, well, I know that’s what God said, but I’m, you know what, I feel so unworthy.
Your unworthiness has nothing to do with the blessings of God. You feel unworthy. You say, I feel so inadequate.
Uh, what are, or I feel of fear. What are people going to say?
I’m in fear of criticism and failure and loss and all the rest. You’re looking at the wrong thing.
In other words, if God says, Here’s what I want to do in your life, trust Him.
What He’s requiring of you may be difficult. Where He’s requiring you to go may be difficult.
And I can think of sometimes when people have said to me, God told me to quit my job.
And they argued with God and argued with God and argued with God about it.
And finally, they finally did it. And what happened?
God gave them another job, made far more money, all the different kind of blessings that came their way.
Human reason says you don’t quit your job without another one. Now in this day and time, that’s real reasonable.
We agree. But let me, if God tells you to quit it, you better quit it.
If He tells you I got something better for you, you better trust Him.
God’s not going to tell you to do something, listen, that He doesn’t know what’s going to happen on the other side of that.
Think about this. If you disobey Him, you don’t have any idea what could have been yours if you’d have trust Him.
God’s not up to tricks. He’s not a mystery God. He’s a God who loves us.
If He tells you not to do something, He knows what’s on the other side of what you’re about to get if you do it.
You say, well, this is my only chance. This is my last chance. Know what it?
If God is in control, and He is, He knows exactly how to organize and arrange our life and when we should do things.
Of course, we fail to see God at work in our circumstances. Then we waver.
And one of the reasons we waver sometimes is because He tells us to do something or we ask Him about something and it doesn’t happen immediately.
And so we resort by saying, well, I must have been wrong in asking for that. No.
Well, I must have asked for the wrong thing. Not necessarily.
Well, I must, uh, well, I must this and I must have. So we waver.
And oftentimes God is ready to answer your petition, but watch this, in His time, in His way.
For example, you ask Him about something and you feel like, well, that’s what God wants me to do, and it doesn’t happen.
What you don’t know and what you don’t realize is the way God operates.
He’s over here working to do what?
Getting the situation right so you can have what you ask because it’s His will, But the time has to be right.
There may be other people involved.
God knows, for example, if you’re trying to buy a house and you want to you got to have it right now, He may know that if you just wait 60 days, you can save $10,000 but you gotta have it now.
And if I gotta have it now, I’m not going to walk by faith.
And how many instances I could give you personally and many of you could do the same thing.
And so, if I understand, if I understand how He works, then I understand that, watch this, timing is very important to God.
Then, of course, when we, uh, focus on our circumstances rather than God, we’re going to waver.
And I think oftentimes, uh, what happens?
The more you focus on your difficulty, your hardship, or even your pain when you’re suffering, The more you focus on it, what happens?
The bigger it gets. Well, I, you know, I’ve been going through this, and I’ve been going through that.
And if your friends listen to you and say, Oh, I’m so sorry. I feel so sorry for you.
The more pity they give you, the bigger it gets. And the bigger it gets, the more you doubt God.
And so the issue is focus.
And I think, when I think of focus, I think of many instances in the Bible, but one of the primary ones is Daniel in the lion’s den.
And so, uh, the Bible says he slept with the lions all night.
If he’d have been focused on lions, he wouldn’t have been sleeping.
When you focus on the trouble and the heartache and the burden and the pain, it gets bigger and we feel less confident, less significant and overwhelmed.
Because remember this, Daniel was looking at omnipotence, who created the lions.
He could shut the lion’s mouth. He could have killed every one of them in a second.
He just let them hang around while Daniel went to sleep that night.
And before he probably went to sleep and when he woke up, he went over and looked up and just reminding of God that he was where he was because he had obeyed God and God delivered him.
It’s where your focus is.
And when I think about faith, if I can think of any other word that joins me to faith, it’s focus.
As long as I’m focused on Him and what He says in His Word and being in His Word and looking at Him rather than the circumstances, this unconditional loving God.
I know that He’s going to see me through, whatever it might be, no matter what it is.
Then, of course, when we’re ignorant of God’s ways, and I have, uh, mentioned that several different times, and that is, if I don’t understand His ways, then I’ll question it.
You say, well, what’s His ways? And the best way to describe that is this. Watch this.
God always operates on the basis of principles, not on the basis of feelings and how we feel.
It’s our own principles. For example, the simplest one is, we reap what we sow more than we sow later than we sow.
God always operates. He doesn’t ever change that.
And so, uh, for example, one of those principles is obey God, leave all the consequences to Him.
That means I’m going to do what He says. I’m going to let Him take care of the consequences.
God always acts, for example, He says one of those principles is that God acts in behalf of those who wait for Him.
And so, if I’m going to act on the basis of principle, then I know I’m going to be heading in the right direction, doing the right thing because God operates on principles.
And that’s the reason you and I can learn how to relate to Him because if I don’t understand His ways, then I’m going to say, God, what are You up to?
Well, He’s just up to doing and being who He says He is.
And so, you could come up with most any problem and I believe, give me a little time, and I could come up with a principle to say, if you’ll obey this principle, watch what happens.
Because God wants us to obey Him and, listen, leave the consequences to Him. Let me ask you a question.
Is there any consequence of your obedience God can’t handle? Right? None.
He can handle every one of them.
Well, if I obey Him and leave the consequences to Him, here’s what happens.
I’m going to be able to have peace and a sense of joy and confidence and assurance.
It doesn’t make any difference what’s going on because He’s in control.
And if I’m obeying Him, He’s already taken care of it.
The only thing that can happen in your life is what God allows.
If you’re a child of God, what He allows, He allows for a reason.
And of course, one of the other reasons is simply this, guilt over your past or present sin.
Now watch this. When you’re living with guilt in your life or you’re living with sin in your life, you’re going to have a very difficult time trusting God, because sin short circuits the power of God in a person’s life.
And one of the reasons that He doesn’t answer a lot of people’s petitions, because they somehow overlook that.
They think that somehow I can sin a little bit here and sin a little bit there and sin a little bit here and sin a little bit there.
And God, He’s just going to overlook all that. He doesn’t overlook sin. You know why? Because it’s a destroyer.
Sin is a destroyer. It warps our thinking.
And so, when we have, uh, for example, let’s just say that something happened back here on your life and you’ve never been able to forgive yourself for it.
Watch this. Here’s what you’re saying.
When the Bible says, If I confess my sin, repent of that sin, He’s faithful and just.
That means He always does. Just means He has the right to, He died for me, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
That’s the law of God. That’s His promise.
If I trust Him, I’m going to accept His forgiveness and move on.
But if I don’t trust His promise of forgiveness, I’ve got that weight, that load of unforgiveness, that burden on me continually.
And so what I’m saying is, God, I know that’s what You promised. Now watch this carefully.
But God, You lied. Would you call God a liar? But you do.
When you refuse to accept His forgiveness and you keep carrying guilt and sin in your life that you’ve asked Him to forgive you and to cleanse you of and you still have it, what you’ve said is, I know that’s what you said, but it’s not true.
Now, if I said that to you, you would say, are you calling me a liar?
Now, we don’t like to, listen, the very idea of calling God a liar is obnoxious to us.
It’s hard for me to say it. But what I want you to see is it’s reality.
He says, here’s what I’m going to do? You say, no, you’re not.
Then you call him a liar. You want to get in real trouble?
Just keep calling Him a liar, when you can trust Him and believe what He says.
And oftentimes we fail to do it. Oh, let me go back to a verse.
Go back to that chapter in, uh, 11 in Mark from, I want you to see something interesting here.
When He says in verse 22, have faith in God, let’s move on down to verse 24 when He says, Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted to you.
Look at the next verse, Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.
But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.
Now that doesn’t mean that if you sin that you’re no longer saved. He’s talking about daily, our daily sins.
That is, if I don’t confess and deal with it, then what?
It’s standing between God and me, and I have to deal with it.
And so it’s interesting he put that verse right after he talked about answered prayer because he knows what sin does in a person’s life.
It just cancels out what God desires to do.
So then the last thing I’d mention is when we listen to the lies of Satan, what happens?
We’re not going to trust him. Remember what He said to Eve. He said, Eve, oh, Eve, you won’t.
God didn’t mean that He didn’t mean that you’d surely die.
He just couched it in a way that she fell for it.
When you listen to the devil’s lies and Satan’s, you say, well, does Satan talk to you?
Where do you think all that stuff comes from?
Where does all lust and sin and disobedience and hatred and animosity and unforgiveness comes from?
Because Satan will tell you, look, God understands how you feel. Look what they did to you. They mistreated you.
God doesn’t expect you to forgive them. You just go your way and don’t worry about it.
That’s the devil’s lie, and he’s full of them.
And one of the reasons people don’t have what they need, the reason they don’t have any peace and joy in their life is simply because they are listening to the wrong voice and the devil will trap you with trying to deceive you into thinking that what he’s saying is true.
Now, how do we correct this? How do we correct it?
What how can we get our faith steady, focused, no matter what’s going on? Well, there are several things.
Number 1, when you, listen, when you begin to waver in your faith, stop and ask yourself these questions.
Very important questions. Just stop and ask yourself. You find yourself wavering?
You think you know what God said? You’re not sure? Now, listen to these questions.
Number 1, where do these doubts come from? One of the first questions you ought to ask.
And you see, when you ask the question, where do these doubts come from? Does this sound like God?
Is this the way God operates? Is this the way God acts?
And some oftentimes you’ll say, God would never say that. According to scripture, that’s not the way God operates.
So you ask yourself the question, where do these thoughts come from? Secondly, ask yourself this question.
Has God ever failed me in the past? And the answer is, no, He has not.
Has He ever failed me in the past? Why do I think He’s going to fail me now?
And the third question is this, Did God not promise to meet all my needs?
And you look in the scripture and you go to Philippians chapter 4, what does He say?
My God will supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
If He’s not, then there must be something going on in my life that I need to deal with.
The 4th question is this, did He not give me the Holy Spirit to enable me to achieve and to do whatever He called me to do?
Yes, He did. Or what’s going on here in my life that I’m struggling in my faith?
Then of course, did He not promise to be with me at all times?
Here I am worried about this, thinking I’m going through this by myself.
Didn’t He promise to be with Me in every circumstance? Yes, He did.
He said, I will never fail you nor desert you nor leave you under any circumstance.
So, if that’s true, I know that whatever I’m going through, I can trust God that He’s going to go with me through it, He’s going to preserve me, He’s going to protect me, and He’s going to teach me what He wants me to learn if I’ll just listen to Him carefully.
And then the question, is anything too hard for God? What would you say to that? No.
Well, 3 people said no. What would you say to the question, Is anything too hard for God?
No. Right. Then if I’m facing a difficulty, where should my focus be?
Not on the difficulty, but upon my Father, in whom there is nothing too difficult.
And of course, is, watch this last one, is this one of those forks in the road?
Is this one of those forks in the road in which my unbelief could cost me for a whole lifetime, a lifetime of regret.
Write it down. Is this one of those situations in which the wrong decision, lack of faith, failing to trust Him could cost me in my future, all of my life, that I’d have to end up saying, if I’da, if I’da this, if I’da that, if I’da the other.
How do I correct it? I ask myself some questions. Listen, watch this carefully.
The second thing I’m going to do, I’m going to meditate upon the Word of God, watch this, daily, unhurriedly, and applying what I read.
If I want my faith to be steady, I’m going to be meditating upon the Word of God, which means I read it, I ask Him what it means to me, I want to, I want to, uh, I’m not going to get in a hurry.
I’m going to apply it to my life and ask Him to show me What are You saying to me in this passage?
Watch this. God speaks in different ways.
But one of the most accurate, primary way God speaks to us is through His Word.
And the question is, what is He saying? Somebody says, well, God’s never spoken to me.
Oh, yes, He has. Yes, He has. That’s what this book’s all about. God’s speaking to us.
And if I’m going through some situation and I want to correct my wavering faith, I’m gonna ask those questions and I’m gonna get in the Word and I’m, listen, I’m gonna meditate on it carefully.
And I think oftentimes when you do it privately, and I’m going to apply what I read.
I’m going to listen to what He’s saying.
And I’m not going to doubt Him because He knows I’m coming to the Word seeking an answer and seeking clarification.
But read it and ask and remember what we said, read it carefully, unhurriedly, and prayerfully, and you’ll read it for God to speak to you.
You’re and you’re and you’re reading it very sincerely, God, my heart’s open to what You have to say.
Then I would say courageously choose to obey Him and leave all the consequences to Him.
Because sometimes it’s going to take a lot of courage to trust Him.
I couldn’t tell you enough how awesome it is to trust God.
And to think about that you’re living your life without Him, let me tell you, it is foolish.
It is a disaster. You’re suffering for things you would normally have to suffer for.
You don’t have what God would provide for you.
He’s a great God of goodness and love and mercy and kindness and generosity to His children.
If you’ve never trusted Him as your personal Savior, nothing I’ve said’s gonna work for you.
It’s when, first of all, you come to grips with your life and recognize that Jesus Christ is the Son of God whom He sent into this world and your behalf and Mine in order to die on the cross.
And in doing so, He took all the sin of all humanity, placed upon Him, and condemned Him, listen, condemned Him with the death that those without Him would suffer one day.
But He only suffered it for that short period of time for all of us.
When you’re willing to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sin and tell Him that you’re trusting Him as your personal Savior, you’re not trusting in your goodness.
You’re trusting Him as your personal Savior.
You’re believing that His death paid your sin dead in full, asking Him to forgive you, receiving Him as your Savior, your Lord, and your Master.
The moment you do that, He’s willing to forgive you and set you on a whole new path.
And the path I’m talking about is the path I’ve just finished talking about.
It’s the walk of faith that you’ll be happy and grateful to God from the 1st day you took that step.
And that’s my prayer for you.