Navigating Life’s Challenges with Divine Power

SPEAKER 02 : 0:00

Welcome to the InTouch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, August 12th. God gives you the Holy Spirit to empower your new life in Christ. But how does that power work in everyday life? In today’s episode, let’s discover practical steps you can take to walk in the strength of God’s power within us.

SPEAKER 01 : 0:21

All of us can look back in our lives and see where there are times and places where we failed and wish we could have done better. And then we have to decide how we’re going to respond to those times when we realize that there have been failures. And sometimes we respond by being anxious and very regretful about things that have happened. Sometimes we just feel real guilty. We look back and see maybe we could have corrected this or that. Sometimes people just want to blame someone else. They look around to find someone else to put the blame on. And then there are those people who just like to have a pity party and talk about how terrible they’ve been. And then, of course, there are those folks who stop and say, well, what caused this? What happened in my life? Why did I fail in this particular area? And then there are those people who don’t stop there. And so they ask the question, what can I do to keep this failure from happening again? Or how can I correct this? And those of us who are believers have a great advantage in life because we have someone to help us. This does not mean that the believer is going to always be successful in every single thing we do, but it does mean that our opportunities for success and whatever God calls us to do, certainly we have an advantage. And when we talk about succeeding, we’re not talking about the world’s idea of success, which is more prosperity, more prominence, more position, more power, what else? But what is success in the eyes of God? In the eyes of God, here’s what success is. It is discovering and pursuing the will of God for your life in the power of the Holy Spirit. There are two primary reasons God sent the Holy Spirit to live within you and me and to release His power within us. Number one, to enable us to become the persons God wants us to be. Secondly, to enable us to do the work God has called us to do. Now, I’m not talking about missionaries and preaching necessarily, though that may be included. I’m talking about being a godly mother and raising godly children. You can’t do it in the way it ought to be done apart from the Holy Spirit. Listen, whether you’re a mother raising children or the president of this nation, both and everything in between and above and beyond that need the power of the Holy Spirit. And so the reason he sent the Spirit of God into our life is because he wanted to enable us to become the persons he wants us to be and enable us to do the work that God has called us to do. You say, well, I’m not a preacher. I don’t sing in a choir. I’m not a missionary on any of those things. What’s the Holy Spirit got to do with my vocation? Here’s exactly what he has to do. God loves you. He has led you. You believe, at least I certainly hope you believe, that what you’re doing as a vocation is what God has led you to do. He led you to take this job. He led you to choose this vocation. He led you to go to school. He led you to major in this. And so you believe that you’re doing what God has called you to do. So if you’re doing what God has called you to do, God has called you to do that. And now He gave you the Holy Spirit to enable you to do as well as to be what you and I need to do and what we need to be. And we can’t otherwise. We fall on our face. Now, there are lots of people who try to do the Lord’s work and try to do their own work, whatever it may be, in their own strength. And how fruitless and how much time we waste and how oftentimes we fail. We fail in doing the Lord’s work. We fail in the vocations we’re in and fail in our relationship to other people. Why? So often it’s because we choose to do it our way in our own strength. Now, what you have to remember is this. The reason God sent the Holy Spirit is because all of us still have within us, who believe us, a lot of naturalness. Now, what I mean by that is this. Before you were saved, it was your nature to be disobedient to God. Because you see, here’s what happened. In the garden when Adam and Eve sinned against God, what happened? Before, they were absolutely perfectly united with the Father. What happened when he sinned? When he sinned, there was a disconnection between man and God. When that disconnection happened… What happened? The power line was severed. Sin severed the power line so that now Adam and all who’ve been born after him live. Listen, we are born in what we call the flesh, which is our naturalness, our five senses. We do what we want to do, what we feel like doing, what gratifies what we call the flesh, what gratifies and satisfies the natural part of man, which is man without God. And so we look around us and see people living in all kinds of sin. What are they doing? If there are people who are unsaved, they’re just doing what comes naturally. In the fallen nature, disconnected from God, power lines severed, what does man have? The only thing he has is his five senses. The only thing he has is he wants to gratify himself and satisfy himself and protect himself and meet his needs. And this is why pride and arrogance and greed and covetousness and selfishness and these things dominate our society. Man’s just doing. what comes natural. Now, once you become a child of God, that naturalness is set aside. At any moment you and I choose, we can begin to act like we used to act. Why? You say, well, didn’t you get a brand new nature when you were saved? Yes. Does that mean that everything else got eradicated? I wish it had. I wish you and I could live absolutely and never sin, don’t you? But listen, there’s enough something left over and as you can call it anything you want to, but it is the naturalness that of our pre-saved life before salvation that is still here. And we have the capacity to act just like the world acts. Be just as ugly and just as unkind and just as lustful and just as disobedient and just as dishonest as the world is. Why? Because that naturalness is still there. But now we have the power of the Holy Spirit. And the reason He sent Him is because God knew that you and I, living in this sinful world, with naturalness still there, is what the Bible calls the flesh, still there, that we could never live the Christian life, we could never become what God wants us to be, nor could we ever achieve and accomplish what God wants us to achieve and accomplish. Here’s what I want you to see. Friend, you absolutely do not have within you the power to do the right thing on a continuing basis. It isn’t there. And there are some people who are not saved, who are not Christians, who are very ethical about many things and who do many good things. But they are still natural. what governs them, and they can do good things because it makes them feel good. They can treat other people very kindly because it makes them acceptable in their eyes. The ultimate motivation is not right. And so the natural person is going to act natural and that part of me that is natural is hostile to that part of me that is of the Spirit of God. And so you and I cannot walk in obedience in our own strength. Because, think about it, how many times have you tried to do the right thing even after you were saved? If you didn’t understand that it must be dependence upon the Holy Spirit to enable you to do that, you walked in disobedience to God and all of us do it at times. We can’t. It’s not a matter of whether I will or I won’t. You cannot apart from the power of the Holy Spirit. Prayer life won’t be right. Walking in obedience, it’s not going to be there. And this is what I think Paul is saying here in this particular passage in Romans, that it’s just not going to happen. For example, let’s take just pure temptation. Here’s what Paul says. He says, There has no temptation taken you, but such is his common demand. But God is faithful, who will not allow you… to be tempted with more than you can bear, but that God will always make a way of escape that you and I can endure it. Now, what that says is this, that in the life of every single believer, there’s a limitation. There’s a divine limitation to how much temptation Satan can put before you. Now, all of us excuse ourselves for sinning against God and say, oh, Lord, I couldn’t help myself or whatever we want to say. Here’s what that verse says. No temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. God is faithful who will not divinely allow a temptation to be more than you and I can bear. That is when we are trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit to defend us and to enable us to walk away or to endure it. And so God knows that you and I can’t live the Christian life apart from the Holy Spirit. That’s why he sent him, to enable us to become the persons God wants us to be and to do the work God wants us to do. Can’t do it. We want to have peace in the midst of difficulty and hardship and trial. Kindness and goodness and gentleness, we want that in our life. But how many times do we act unkind? We’re not very gentle. And sometimes we get covetous. And sometimes we don’t have any peace. We don’t have any joy. And sometimes instead of loving somebody, we just resort to our naturalness. It is there. The capacity to act like the world and to act like the unbeliever is there. So how does the believer walk in patience when you can’t control something, you can’t change it, you can’t do anything about it, and God has you there? Then what happens? It’s got to be patience. Whose patience? Certainly not mine. The power of the Holy Spirit. Listen, he says in Galatians chapter 5, 22, the fruit, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience. Not what I do. Now, if you want to know what you really like, go back to Galatians chapter 5 for a moment. Now, this will sort of upset you a little bit. This is what we really like. He says, now, he calls this the deeds of the flesh, verse 19. He says, now, the deeds of the flesh, this is what the old natural man, this is how we operate out of the spirit, are evident, which are immorality, impurity, and sensuality. Doesn’t that describe our society? He says, immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry. We worship all kinds of things, sports, God, sex, money. And God gets in there once in a while. Sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outburst of anger, disputes, dissension, factions. And does that describe the world? Invenient, drunkenness, carousing, all these things. He said, now, that’s what naturalness is all about. Now, you want to know what the Spirit of God works in our life? Look at this. He says, now, when the Spirit of God’s in control, verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Now, doesn’t that look simple? That’s so simple. The only problem with it is… You and I are not equipped within our natural person. That is, we’re not equipped within this part of us that we call natural. We’re not equipped to be that. And so, why did he send the Holy Spirit into your life and mine? To enable us to become the persons we ought to be, want to be, can’t, and do the things that God would have us to do that we’re not able to do. And? When you and I understand and come to the realization that we are absolutely and totally inadequate to do it, something begins to happen in our life. Now, here’s the key point and here’s the most important thing at all. Now, you’ve understood everything up to this point, I’m sure, because it’s rather simple and plain. Now, here’s the big question. How do I get this Holy Spirit power released within me In those circumstances about which you’ve talked, when we’re tempted, making decisions, difficulty, hardships, trial, emotional struggles in our life, death comes into our life, and separations of all kinds, how do we manage during these times? That is, how does the Spirit of God release this power? Is it something I turn on? No. Is it just something flowing in me and I can just tap it any time? No. As we said, He enlightens the mind, directs it when I need to think about and understand. Amen. quickens the emotion when I desire, when I need to feel something, energizes us physically when that is required. And so in every aspect, He’s at work within our life. How do we get it to flow? Well, there are three words I want you to jot them down. Now listen carefully. The first word is acceptance. Acceptance. Now listen carefully. Acceptance of the truth that we are absolutely powerless within ourselves to live the will of God or to do the will of God. Acceptance of the truth that we are powerless. It means I will give up all attempts to become and to do in my own strength. I am accepting the truth that I’m powerless. And I give up all my efforts to do it any longer or to be that in my own strength. And it is only when I am able to do that, that something happens. You see, what happens is this. What happens? That opens the door for the Holy Spirit to begin to move and to free, as if we free the Holy Spirit to begin to release His power within us. I’m hopelessly, helplessly God, I’m powerless God to do it. First word is acceptance. Second word, surrender. Surrender. You say, I’ve heard these words before, but listen, hearing them and applying them is something else. I want you to apply these in the light of everything you’ve heard up to this point. Listen, for the Spirit’s power to flow, acceptance of my powerlessness. Secondly, surrender. Surrender what? Surrender my entire life to the guidance of And the guarding and the governing of the Holy Spirit. To surrender my entire life. What does that mean? It means my personal walk. It means my vocation. It means finances, family. It means everything. Surrendering everything to Him. Now friend, listen to this carefully. The Spirit of God is not going to release supernatural divine power into a life that is living in rebellion toward God. Either I have to give it to Him and let the power flow or hold it to myself and shut it off. Because the sin of rebellion shuts down the flow of the power of God instantly. Because you see… Would God release supernatural power in the life of a rebel? Absolutely not. You say, well, I know some people who are not saved and they do all kinds of things, this, that, and the other. Or I know some people who preach or teach or do this, that, and the other. It doesn’t make any difference. I’m here to tell you, my friend, the flesh is very strong. And there are personalities and so forth that are very strong, can be very convincing. But the Spirit of God says, check out the spirits. an awareness of our powerlessness, that is acceptance of our powerlessness, that is the will of God. The surrender of our total being to Him is the will of God. And when we surrender everything to Him, then He takes control. He is, I want to say it again, He is not going to release His supernatural power in the life of anyone who has decided He’s going or she is going to control their life themselves. He’s not going to do it. It would be a contradiction of who he is. Why is he going to have supernatural strength for us to be disobedient to God? Now, people say, well, I know some people are disobedient. They seem to have this supernatural strength. You know where it comes from? Straight from the devil. No question about it. The devil can empower a person to do tremendous feats as an act of disobedience and rebellion toward God. That’s why you have to check out the spirit. Am I hearing something that is of the spirit of God or is this something that is of the flesh? So what’s the first word? Acceptance of what? Powerlessness. We cannot do it. What’s the second word? Surrender what? Surrender everything to Him. Life, everything about our life, surrender to Him. And wherever, listen, wherever I’m not willing to surrender, I can just chalk it off. That says I want the power of the Spirit of God in my life up to a degree, but not fully. He doesn’t release it like that. What’s the third word? Third word is faith. Faith is the switch that releases the power of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life. When you flick that switch, the power of the Spirit of God begins to flow. It is a definite act of trusting Him, of believing Him at that moment, in that situation, for that circumstance. Now watch this. Let’s say, for example, you’re facing something that’s very difficult. You don’t know what to do. Which way to turn? God, I don’t know what to do. At that moment, Father, I’m going to trust in the power of the Holy Spirit at this moment to give me direction. and guidance and guard me in this decision. At that moment, what you’ve said is I’m powerless. I’m committed to you. I want what you want. I’m going to believe that you’re going to keep your word and show me exactly what to do. And my friend, all of heaven rises up to give you exactly what you need at the moment in order to be obedient to God. What is it that flicks the switch and turns the power? It is faith. The moment I’m willing to believe that he will do exactly what he says. In a moment of temptation, And you’re pulled in two different directions. And everything in your naturalness wants to pull you one way. And the Spirit of God’s pulling you the other. At that moment, we know we are powerless. At that moment, we’ve told Him He can have everything. At that moment, it is a matter of saying, Father, I am trusting you. You know the pull and the tug of my flesh. You know what something inside of me wants to do. But Father, I’m trusting in you to enable me to make the wisest decision. The Spirit of God’s power is released in the moment you’re willing to trust Him, and He will enable you to make the wisest, the best, and the most righteous decision. You can take any facet of life, any circumstance of life, and anything that goes on in life. Those three words, acceptance of our powerlessness, the surrender of our total being to him and exercising simple childlike faith. What does he say? Asking it should be given you what? Because the power of the Holy Spirit is within you to enable you. Listen, you are already equipped. You’re already enabled. It’s a matter of flicking the switch and the power surges. It is the power of God. directed toward that decision that situation that circumstance whatever it may be and you know what sometimes we’re in situations and circumstances we’re not even aware of them you know what’s happening when we’re walking in the spirit of god the power of god is releasing listen the power of god is being released within us without our even knowing it that’s why sometimes we look back and wonder how in the world could that have happened and we realize it’s something that he did So I’m not saying that the power of the Holy Spirit is only released when you do thus and so. The power of the Holy Spirit is released in those situations and circumstances. The power of the Holy Spirit will flow continually in the life of the believer who lives in acceptance of their powerlessness, lives, listen, surrendered to Him and lives by faith.

SPEAKER 02 : 19:36

Thank you for listening to part two of The Power Within Us. If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.