Unveiling The Hidden – Radio Classic – Dr. Charles Stanley – How To Talk To God Vol 1 Pt 1

Have you ever found yourself in a dark place in desperate need of answers?

The prophet Jeremiah would understand. It was when he was in prison, while his city was under siege, that God said to him: “Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3).

In this uplifting message, Dr. Stanley assures us that God is just as poised to answer our prayers as He was Jeremiah’s. In hard times, call on God. He’s ready to answer.

With a message from God’s word, here’s Charles Stanley.
The time of a message today unveiling the hidden.
And this is the first in a series of sermons on prayer, how to talk with god And if you’ll notice, I didn’t say how to talk to him, but how to talk with god.
In the scripture, Jeremiah chapter 33, versus 1 through 3. And if you’ll turn there, let’s read together.
Jeremiah chapter 33, the first three verses, Moreover, the word of the lord came under Jeremiah the second time while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison say.
Thus sayeth the lord, the make of thereof, the lord that formed it to establish it, the lord is his name.
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show the great and mighty things which thou knowest not.
Everybody ought to learn how to talk with god.
And if you’ll notice, I didn’t say talk to him, I said to learn to talk with god.
Communications is one of the biggest problems we face today.
And in industry, in the home and social relationships, we have a problem communicating with each other and expressing what we really feel, what we want to say.
And so oftentimes, we say what we don’t mean. We fail to say what we feel.
We leave people with misunderstanding. And broken relationships and lack of harmony because we’re unable to say what we really want to communicate to someone else.
And so whether it’s in the family or in business, there are all kinds of seminars and all kind of books on how to communicate with each other and people are spending their time, learning how to talk, on a whole entirely different basis.
Now it’s one thing to be able to communicate with each other, but more important than learning how to talk with each other is learning how to talk with god.
Now nobody simply likes to be talked to.
So what I wanna ask you is this, do you really know how to talk with god?
When you talk with him, are you comfortable with what you’re saying and what you believe he’s hearing?
Do you really feel that god has heard what you said?
Do you really feel comfortable in the fact that when you walk away from a time of talking with him, that you believe he heard you and that you’re going to receive what you ask him.
Or is it that you’re confused and frustrated about your relationship with him or you’re talking with him?
And so you’re not ever quite sure exactly what’s going on.
Well, for the next few weeks, what I’d like to do is to deal with a series of messages on how to talk with god.
And I wanna tell you, first of all, I’m not gonna give you all the answers this morning.
I’m not gonna give you his how to talk with god, abcde, but the simple reason, that’s not the way to learn to do it.
But what I wanna do is to begin sharing with you some principles some basic principles that will affect your attitude about god, your attitude about prayer, your attitude about yourself so that the end result will be you will begin to learn how to talk with him.
Now let me just brief you on, uh, the background of the scripture for just a moment.
Jeremiah, the prophet is in prison. The Babylonians are coming from the east. They’ve already defeated the Assyrians.
The Egyptians are in the south.
And so Jeremiah is in prison because he refused to agree with the leaders of Jerusalem that they ought to lie themselves or the Egyptians in the south.
And he says to the leaders and to the king, god says, you’re going into captivity.
What you really ought to do is just go out there and submit to the Babylonians.
They said we are not gonna submit to the Babylonians.
And so they didn’t wanna hear god’s prophecy, so they threw Jeremiah in prison.
And he’s in prison simply because the king and the leaders of Jerusalem, some of whom are already in prison, already in Babylon in captivity, uh, one of whom may be by this time, Daniel.
And if not by this time, very soon thereafter because he was one of those who was taken into captivity.
When you read the 9th chapter of Daniel and Daniel is fasting and praying and trying to find out the message of god, what he is seeking is understanding of this very prophecy that Jeremiah is giving us.
And Jeremiah said that god showed him that Judah would go into Babylonian captivity. They’d stay for 70 years.
And at the end of 70 years, they would be released and be able to come back to rebuild the walls of the city and rebuild the city of Jerusalem.
So Jeremiah is saying to the people of his day, it’s too late.
It’s all over in the process of being thrown in prison in persecuted by, uh, his captas.
He gives us a verse here that has a tremendous message for us in understanding how to talk with god.
There are three things in this one verse I want you to get, so I hope you’ll get a pencil and paper out and listen to what he says.
Verse 3, call unto me, and I will answer thee and show the great and mighty things, which they’ll know as not.
So the first thing he does here is he enjoins us to prayer by saying, call unto me.
Now Jeremiah is in prison. I don’t know of a better place for Vello Ketchup on his prayer life than being in prison.
And some of you have never been behind bars But god’s put you in circumstances and situations where I believe that god wanted to teach you something or say something specifically to you or maybe teach you how to talk to him.
And the only prayer you knew how to pray is while you were rattling the bars, you were saying, god, get me out of here.
When that may not be the prayer, god wanted you to pray after all.
You see, we are so prone to want everything to go our way not to have any suffering, not to have any difficulty in your heartache.
When we come along and stump our big toe or fall into some difficulty, The first prayer is god, where are you?
Get me out of here so I can love you more and serve you more and pray better.
Nothing could be further from the truth than that. He said to Jeremiah in prison.
Listen, he didn’t say Jeremiah. I’m gonna get you out of there. He doesn’t even mention that.
And nor does Jeremiah even mention god getting him out? He comes to Jeremiah says Jeremiah?
Call unto me. I will answer thee and show the great and mighty things, which they’ll know it’s not.
I wonder how many of us are more intent on getting out of our circumstances than we are on finding out what god, what great things god wants to show us.
And you see, sometimes when he puts us in circumstances that we cannot understand and we have difficulties and heartaches, what is he doing?
He’s teaching us some things. Now you remember this.
The next time the bottom drops out and you’re confronted with a problem or a decision and you don’t have a solution, you remember this one thing.
The shortest distance between the problem you’re facing, whatever it may be, and the solution of that problem is what The shortest distance between the problem and the solution is the distance between your knees and the floor.
Prayer is always the shortest distance between the problem and the solution. The difficulty and the answer.
It’s always that way. Now what we usually do after we’ve read some books, And after we’ve talked to some friends and after we’ve exhausted all possible resources, then we come to god and we say, lord, now that I can’t do it myself, can you help me?
He wants us to come to him on a basis of father and son, a daughter relationship not after we’ve exhausted our resources, but he wants us to come to him first.
And here’s what you’ll recall, if you’ll think about it for a moment, He has never given you a busy signal when you began to pray.
When you think of 3 or 4,000,000,000 of people, that might be legitimate, but you have the right to talk to him anytime, anywhere, under any circumstance, and here’s what he says.
Call unto me, and I will answer thee and show the great mighty things, which they’ll know it’s not.
He enjoins us to pray because god knows that you and I are oftentimes in prisons made by our own.
Not prisons of bars, but intellectual prisons, emotional prisons, relational prisons, all kinds of difficulties, heartaches, troubles and trials, And he knows that the quickest solution is on our knees before him.
God always, without question, has an answer.
The second thing I want you to notice he says here, call unto me, and I will answer the.
He not only joins us to prayer, but he encourages us in our prayer. He says, I will answer the.
Now let’s think about that for a moment. I will answer the.
Many times you and I will say to someone else, I will be there. I will do this.
And so, you can count on me. We may want to do it. We may mean to do it.
We may attempt to do it. We may try to do it, but we can.
Well, let me tell you something. When god omnipotent, god almighty says, I will.
You can bet your life on this.
The god who says I will is the god who can follow that by saying I always can.
And you see, sometime we’d like to encank. Sometime we desire to, but we just can’t do it.
God says I will hear and answer your prayer. Does god always hear and answer our prayer?
And the answer is, how does god answer prayer?
When god answers their prayer, he either says yes, no or what. Wait.
One of those 3 they’re all three answers.
And you know why we don’t say god answers that prayer in three ways?
In fact, if god answers your prayer, you walk around and say, Praise the lord.
Let me tell you what I asked god.
I asked god about so and so what do you think he did?
He did exactly what I asked him to do.
So you asked the lord to do something and he doesn’t do it. You don’t say.
Let me tell you what happened. Praise god. I answered my print. He said, no.
You know why you don’t say no?
Because you’re gonna think your friends are gonna say, man, you got sin in your life.
God didn’t answer your prayer. Because if you’d have been living right, god would have said yes.
There’s anything in this Bible that says, He’s gonna say, yes, because you’re living right. Listen.
Some of his answers are no, no, no, never. That’s it. Never. What do we do?
We just sort of curl up and we say, oh, god. What’s the matter?
And we look around, we think we’ve got to have sinned We we can’t be walking in the spirit.
We blame all of these things. We’re listening. Doesn’t god have the legitimate right to say no?
We won’t even give him the privilege of saying no. What do we do?
We say, lord, If the answer is not yes, then there’s something wrong.
God’s answer can be no and be absolutely and totally from god.
If he says wait, he’s saying wait for a de very definite reason.
Why do you suppose that god says no in wait? God always has our best interest at heart.
When he says no, he says no in order to protect us.
When he says wait, he’s waiting to protect us.
There’s some things god wants us to have that we ask him for, but the timing’s not right.
For example, here comes a couple and they wanna get married and and, um, they come to me and they say, what do you think?
And I may say, well, now Let me tell you on the basis of what you’ve said to me and how you respond to each other and what I know about you, I think you are hearing this thing.
Oh, no. No. We’re not hearing this thing at all.
Now, listen, If god wants you to marry somebody, I can tell you this, if you can trust him to get you to the right person, can’t you trust him to do it at the right time.
You see, we don’t wanna wait. We don’t wanna hear any nos. I mean, don’t hear any weights.
The only thing we wanna hear is yes, yes, yes, Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. From heaven.
And we wanted to say yes. When deed done inside, we even have a sneaking suspicion. It’s not right.
And you know what people do? People say, well, I wanna stand on the word of god.
So they asked the lord about answering a print. He says, no.
They said, I’m gonna get in the word and find me an answer.
And what they’re really saying is I didn’t like god’s first answer, and I’m gonna show him why he’s got to answer my prayer.
So I’m gonna get me a scripture, and I’m just gonna stand on the word and claim the word.
Listen, when god says no, you can’t give him his word back, and misinterpret to him.
And you think you’re gonna fool god? You can’t fool god with his own word. He says no.
The answer is no. If he says, wait.
The answer is wait because god is more interested in your good fortune. He’s more interested in your future.
He’s more interested in your peace. He’s more interested in your faith. He’s more interested in growing you up.
He’s more interested in your character. He’s more interested in your obedience.
Then he is pleasing you for the moment.
You may get an instant answer, but it may not be the answer you want, but you remember this.
Whenever god says, no, he’s loving you. Whenever god says, wait, he’s loving you, it’s always the motivation of love.
So he says, call unto me, and I will answer thee and show the great and mighty things, which thou knoweth Now watch this.
However, you all we all know how we respond to yes. Oh, praise the lord. Hallelujah. Amen.
God’s answered my prayer. And we strut around like god answers everything we ask you.
And all of us know that god has never, for anybody, except Jesus Christ, ever answered every single prayer the way he prayed it.
Because he was in perfect harmony, and had perfect knowledge and wisdom before the father. But we don’t.
We don’t have perfect knowledge. We don’t have perfect wisdom.
So we may start out asking some things, but not his will, And if we’re listening, he’s gonna show us that’s not of him.
And so we accept his no one move on to sail. Alright, lord. How shall I pray about this?
Now Our response to the nose and the weights. Watch this. Our response to the nose and the weights.
The way we respond reveals one of two things.
If I can accept his no or his wait with a submissive spirit and say, alright, lord, that’s not what I plan.
That’s not what I particularly like.
But I wanna thank you that you’re wise than I am, and I wanna submit to your answer.
Then I am serving and relating to the lord out of love.
But if he gives me a no and a wait and I rebel against it, and I’m gonna make it work somehow, and I’m gonna manipulate things and somehow work it out and then say, look what god did And listen, we’re we’re past masters that, aren’t we?
We work it out in many places to look what god did. God didn’t have anything to do with it.
So if I rebel against his nose and weights, what’s really happening is that I am refusing his answers.
So what’s happening? Then my friend, that is evidence that our relationship to him, and our service to him is being fulfilled out of duty, not out of love.
If I respond submissively, it’s love. If I respond religiously, it is duty and not love.
The third thing I want you to see here, notice what he says. Call unto me.
He enjoins us to pray to him in all kinds of difficulty.
I will answer the is his encouragement to us in prayer that he’s personally interested in whatever concerns us.
Then he says, I will answer thee and show the great and mighty things, which they’ll know us not.
Now I want you to see the difference between these two words because the English translation of one of these words doesn’t really show us what he’s saying to us here.
Now, listen, he says, uh, will show the great and mighty things which they’ll know us not.
All of us have decisions to make, and we don’t have the answers.
We have decisions that involve other people.
Their home decisions, marital decisions, chill decisions about our children, decisions in business and finance and relationships with other people, All of us have decisions we’re confronted with constantly.
He says here, if you will call unto me, I will answer the and show the great and mighty things which thou knowest not.
And so many of god’s people go all the way through their life, making decisions based on, listen, their knowledge, There are mundane understanding of things and their experience when there are some decisions that must be based on wisdom and illumination from god.
And there are some things that will not come any other way.
For example, most any preacher can get up a sermon. He can get him an outline.
But, friend, you can’t get a message from god by reading books, writing, finaglin, manipulating, praying, pleading, doing anything unless god gives it, you won’t get it.
You can’t make god give you anything.
And there are many times when we make decisions that we never really know if that’s what god wanted or not.
And so many people are prone to flip a coin spiritually speaking and say, well, lord, here’s what I’m gonna do.
If it’s if you, I know you’re blessed. If it’s not, then so what?
And how many times have we jumped off the cliff, the wrong cliff? At the wrong time.
And said, god bless me going down into a pile.
And you see, he doesn’t he has no obligation to bless anything that’s not of him.
He’s not going to do it. Now what is he saying?
And and it’s very important you get this.
He says, I will do what I will show the great and mighty things, which they’ll know it’s not.
Now two words, first of all, the great thing. Things.
What does he mean when he says I will show the great things? I believe watch this.
I believe that every time you and I come to him in prayer, seeking to know his will or his mind a better thing, there are 2 things he always wants to show us.
And these are 2 great things.
He said, call unto me, and I will answer the and I will show the great and mighty things, which they’ll know is not.
The one thing god always wants to show me is himself.
Can you tell me anything greater than seeing and knowing god When you and I, Neil, to pray, the first thing god wants to show as always is how great he is.
Listen. The way to begin to talk with god is not saying, lord.
Let me tell you about my needs.
We ought to begin our praying by saying, lord, thank you that you’re omnipotent.
You have all power to meet all of my needs. Thank you that you’re omniscient.
That you know everything I’m gonna tell you about, even before I tell you, Thank you that you’re on the present that you’re not up yonder, but you’re in my heart.
And I’m in your presence, and I bow my heart and my body before you’re thrown.
Thank you that you’re holy. You hate sin. Thank you that you’re merciful and loving and forgiving.
Thank you, father, for being the great creator, the great sustainer, the great lover of mankind.
Father, I’m coming to you, great as thou art, recognizing thy greatness, recognizing thy holiness, Biling before you is one of your children and knowing that you’re more than sufficient to meet our needs.
You talking about, listen, friend, that’s the way to talk to god and to talk with him.
Not hop on my knees, dear lord.
You know, my knee today, and I’m on my way down the expressway, hurry up, lord. And on my way.
Now, listen, some of you are faster than that. You’re just thinking and keep going.
You never stop to recognize that god always wants to show us himself in prayer.
The second great thing he wants to show us is what he’s able and ready to do.
Call them to me, and I will answer then, show the great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
How does he show us what he’s willing to do? He shows us in his word.
He reminds us of what he’s done in the past.
He shows us in other people’s lives, in other circumstances, what holy, almighty omnipotent god is willing and ready to do.
So he says calling to me, and I will answer then show the great things that thou know it’s not.
But now here’s the key. Look at this next word.
Call unto me, and I will answer the and show the great and mighty things.
Now listen, the word mighty does not mean what it implies yet. The word might, it means the hidden things.
Listen, the things that are fits in It is the word used for 45 cities, that is cities that are garrisoned about that you can’t get in.
He’s talking about unveiling for us, those things that listen that are inaccessible to us any other way except through god in prayer.
Listen, has it ever dawned on you that god wants to show you some things that you won’t ever find talking to anybody else?
He wants the unveiled truth to you and answers to you that you’re not gonna ever find with confidence, reading somebody’s book, god is willing.
He says, call unto me, and I will answer the and show the great and hidden in accessible things that will never be known any other way.
You see, we don’t wanna take the time.
We don’t wanna take the time to wait upon god in prayer. He says I’ll show you.
And many of you are making decisions in the process of making a music.
I’ll tell you, I just don’t know what in the world to do. Listen.
If you don’t know what in the world to do, I can tell you what to do.
Stop ringing your hands and get on your knees before god.
The promise he may listen, the promise he made to Jeremiah is accessible as the promise to us.
Call unto me I will answer thee and show the great and mighty things, which they all know us not.
He says when we come to him, And we’re willing to see him as he is.
You see, listen, god isn’t gonna show us something that’s inaccessible, something that’s hidden, something we’d like to know, something we need to know.
Listen until first of all, I have settled that I know who he is.
Listen, if I wanna bypass who he is and bypass understanding what he’s able to do and just get in and get my answer and get out, forget it.
Until I recognize who he is.
And until I am all in the presence of god and standing all the omnipotence of god, how will I ever be impressed to believe that god is willing to show little old me something that I could never know any other way.
Now as a pastor, the many times when I have to go to god and ask him for things that There’s no other place for me to get them.
There’s no other way in god’s name for me to find out what I wanna know.
And sometimes you’ll show me something for today, There have been times when he showed me something that’ll happen next week, next month, or whatever it might be, but I have never been to god and met met his requirements, and talk with him about a problem that I had to face or solution that I needed that god did not give an answer.
And listen, he didn’t always give it just like that because sometimes he has to get us ready.
But what he’s promising here is this.
Here you are in the throes of making a decision or trying to find something in your own life, or maybe you’re in a circumstance and you just covered with circumstances.
In fact, you just don’t know what in the world you’re going to do. I’m gonna tell you something.
There is no knowledge you and I’ll ever need to know that is not easily accessible before the throne of the loving, living, holy righteous god who has said, calling to me, I will answer thee, and show thee the great, the hidden, the inaccessible, the garrisoned about things, that you’re never that you’ll never be able to understand any other way.
And you see, look, if you will, in deuteronomy chapter 29, 29, And here’s the passage that you need to underline in your Bible.
Deuteronomy 29 verse 29. Because he reminds us here some things that are kept secret only for him, and then he reminds us of what he’s willing to do.
Listen, 2929, due to Rodney, The secret things belong under the lord our god.
And it says, some things god’s not gonna ever reveal.
But those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of the law.
Now, watch this, There’s some things he go he’s going to show us in order that we may know what to do and then do it.
You know what the key is for god to showing you the things that you won’t ever find it any other way.
You say, well, I can go ask somebody else, and the Bible says, there’s wisdom and counselors, right?
But, friend, there’s some things that you’re not gonna find that.
Anyway, I don’t mean that god’s gonna add to the book of Revelation 1 more chapter and give it to you.
But I’m talking about showing you about you.
I’m talking about illuminating your mind and heart to you know that you’ve got the mind of god And if everybody in the world says, no, you’re gonna say yes because god has given to you clearly a word of wisdom and direction for your life.
But there’s one key. And the key is this.
Are you submissive to him to the point that whatever he says you’re going to do?
Now I’m not saying he’ll never tell you the truth until you’re submissive. But I’m saying this.
If you want, and we can’t hurry god, but you’ve seen, now watch this. God doesn’t change his mind.
He lays down If I follow a principle, certain things happen. If I don’t follow them, all the things happen.
God doesn’t change his mind. How can he change his mind and knows everything?
Secondly, we can’t hurry god along. Now, watch this carefully.
I can’t make god tell me something before he’s ready, but I can get myself in a position before god that will bring about god’s answer quicker, not hurrying god, not rushing him, not putting pressure on him, If I stand over here and I say, that’s where I belong.
I’m gonna get over there one of these days when I get there. I’m gonna get the answer.
So I take a little step. And I take it another step.
But if I say, I really want what god wants, and I want it now.
And god says for me to get it, that I’ll get it quicker if I am totally submissive to his way and whatever he says I wanna do.
The quicker I move from my will to his will, the quicker god’s going to show me in fool to me what I need to know.
God doesn’t answer prayer out of curiosity, my friend. You mark that down.
He’s not gonna show you anything out of curiosity.
He’s going to show you in order that you may obey him.
That’s the reason god hears and answers our prayer. He wants us to obey him.
Now let me ask you something. Are you facing a a decision in your life?
Are you in the midst of something that you feel like there’s no way for you to get out of?
Everything looks hopeless. Or maybe you’re going through some difficult in your life, and you don’t have an answer for it right now.
Let me tell you what he says.
Call them to me, and I will answer the and show the great.
I’ll show you what I’m able to do. God says.
If you will see me and see me and understand me as I am, and then I will take the lid off and let you look in and see what I want to do, what I’m willing to do, what I’m going to do in your life.
I have the solution, god says, I have the answer.
And if you’re willing to call into me, I will answer you and show you my mighty power to do it, and then I’ll show you what I want to do.
And let me ask you this, is what you need, the solution you’re seeking, worth you’re submitting yourself totally to him that whatever he requires, you’re willing to say, yes, lord, Yes, lord.
Yes, lord. Let’s pray together.
Father, we thank you for loving us enough to provide for us.
Not only physical things and material things, but to provide wisdom and knowledge.
Because you’ve said in your word, I will teach thee in the way which thou shall go, I will guide thee with my eye.
All of us need to know your will in decisions that we make.
We need to know your sense of direction, maybe some college students seeking your will about their major, or about their vocation.
Maybe someone contemplating marriage who really wants to know, lord, what would you have us to do?
Some man in business facing a real dilemma does not know what to do.
Would you grant him the courage to say, lord, my answer to whatever you say is yes.
In advance, before you give the answer, the answer is yes, lord, yes, lord, yes, lord, I will obey you.
Grant us the faith, heavenly father, to be obedient, to whatever you require of us, whatever the solution may be.
And teaches how to talk with you, looking to you, praising you, worshiping you, and following you whatever you command of us.
And this we ask in Jesus name and for his sake, Amen.