Tag Archives: Charles Stanley

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Charles Stanley – Hearing When God Calls

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1 Kings 19:11-13

Do you think of the Lord as a power or a person? Witnessing His mighty power is certainly important if we are to trust God’s ability to achieve His will. But unless we have a personal connection with the heavenly Father, we could lose sight of why He concerns Himself with us at all.

In today’s passage, we find the prophet Elijah struggling with those two aspects of his relationship with the Lord. Just one chapter earlier, he had experienced the triumph of God’s awesome power in a showdown with hundreds of false prophets (18:17-40). Immediately after that, however, Elijah feared for his life and fled. The prophet intellectually knew that the Sovereign of the universe was more than capable of protecting him. But fear for his life had driven a wedge between his understanding of God’s power and his awareness of God’s personal interest and intimacy. The result was that Elijah ran away.

He came to Mount Horeb, where he waited for God to pass by. Then, three powerful forces of nature came upon that spot in quick succession. Yet the prophet knew God was not in those dramatic occurrences. After the wind, earthquake, and fire had passed, Elijah heard a faint, gentle blowing. He recognized immediately that it was God and thereby discovered his Lord in a new and intimate way, right in the midst of that light breeze.

Are you intently listening for the quiet voice of God? Or do often you find yourself distracted by the dramatic forces pulling at you and clamoring for attention? Ask your heavenly Father to subdue the noise so you can learn to detect His soft, life-changing whisper.

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Charles Stanley – When We Feel Disappointed

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Ephesians 3:17-19

Isn’t it wonderful to realize we cannot disappoint God? Since the Lord knows every decision we will make, He can never be surprised or let down by our wrong choices. He has no false expectations of what we can or cannot accomplish, and He loves us, no matter what.

When others face difficult, painful, or disappointing experiences, some Christians are quick to quote, “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28.) But do we apply that verse in the daily details and challenges of our own life? Do we have faith that God is engineering our circumstances—no matter how uncomfortable they may be—for our ultimate benefit?

We believe Jesus is the Messiah who will come again. We believe in salvation by grace alone. We believe we will spend eternity in heaven. And we heartily say “Amen!” to all that. But then some big disappointment happens in life, and we cry out, “God, where are You? Help me!”

It’s one thing to know the fundamentals intellectually, but it’s something else to live by faith. Can we apply the principles of Scripture to our daily lives so that unexpected disappointment won’t keep us from being the person God wants us to be?

Disappointments do not mean that our Father doesn’t love us. He desires that we profit from hard circumstances, and He wants what is best for us. Remember, God is more interested in our spiritual growth than in relieving our pain. His best may not always be our choice, but because it’s His nature to love us (1 John 4:8), we can rest assured even letdowns are sovereignly permitted for our good.