Growing in Our Adversity

SPEAKER 02 : 0:00

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, November 25th. Instead of just looking for ways to flee your times of trial, let’s learn how to respond in a better way. Here’s part two of When Adversity Strikes.

SPEAKER 01 : 0:15

When a child is born, we naturally expect that child to grow. And so we look forward to when the child is walking, when he’s two or five, maybe thirteen, and then nineteen and twenty-one and twenty-five and on we go. Because that’s the natural, normal thing to happen. And when a child does not grow, we know we have a major problem. Well, the same thing is true in the Christian life. When you trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, the Bible says you’re born again. So, speaking of new birth, that is then we are to grow in our relationship to Christ. We’re to grow in our knowledge and understanding of who He is and how He works in our life. And we are to grow in understanding of the difficult times we have and how we are to respond. So when you look in the Scripture, for example, the Apostle Paul reminds us in this fourth chapter of Ephesians, in the fifteenth verse, he says, but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up. in all aspects unto Him who is the head, even Christ.” And then, of course, Peter says a similar thing in Second Peter and the last verse of this epistle. He says, “‘But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.'” So, you could go all through the Scriptures and there are many verses in the Bible about growing. That is, we’re not to be saved and just stay there. If you think about how little you knew about God the day you were saved, and how little you knew about God a month after you were saved or a year after you were saved. But when you begin to read the Word of God, you begin to pray, and you observe how God works in your life, how God is working in other people’s lives, you are growing in your Christian life. And the more you and I grow in Christ’s likeness, the more we are walking in the will of God and becoming the persons He wants us to be. so i’ll give you this simple definition of adversity it is a condition of suffering and hardship involving anguish pressure trials heartaches disappointments that is difficult times in our life it can be a long stretch of time or it can be a short stretch of time depending upon the will and purpose of god it depends upon the nature of it So, what’s the proper response? I have to see it from God. In other words, anything that comes my way. Watch this now. You’ve trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior. The Holy Spirit’s come into your life to live, to rule and to reign. Therefore, He gives you guidance. He says, I’ll guide you with my eye upon you. I’ll teach you in the way we should go. So, He’s doing that. So, therefore, when I come to the Word and I’m thinking about what’s happening, He says, I’ll guide you with my eye upon you. So, how do I view this from God? Because God has something in mind that I know is best. And so, we will quote our favorite verse, one of our favorite verses. God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, to those who call according to His purpose. You’ve surrendered your life to Him in Christ. He says He’ll cause something good to happen. And if you’re in the Word of God, and this is why I say you should read some portion of the Word of God every day. Because sometimes it’s just exactly, it’s just tailor-made for you because He knows what’s going to happen that day. And so, our response ought to be something like this. God, what’s Your goal for this in my life? I know you don’t just let these things happen. What’s your goal? And I learned a long time ago, if I’m going to hurt and if I’m going to have pain, I’m going to suffer about something, glean the most I can out of it. Squeeze every bit of truth I can. In other words, let me learn something that’s worth the pain I’m suffering. Now, don’t forget that. Lord, let me learn something that is worth the pain that I’m going through at this particular time. And then you surrender your will to Him. That’s always the right response. Okay, God, I don’t understand maybe fully, but I yield myself to You. Whatever You have in mind, God, I know has to be good for me because I’m one of Your children. So, I’m trusting You. I’m going to lay it down before You. I’m going to believe that You know what’s best for my life and that You have the best plan for me whether I understand it or not. So, I’m going to surrender myself to Him. And then, rest by faith in His faithfulness. Lord, I don’t understand it all. I wish I did, but I don’t. But I’m going to rest in Your faithfulness. And His faithfulness means that He is trustworthy in every single situation. He will do exactly what He promised to do. For example, you’re saying, I don’t know what to do, where to go in this area. And He says, I will guide you with My eye upon you. I will teach you in the way which you should go. Do you believe He’ll do that? Do you believe that God is faithful? Then going through adversity, I can rest in His faithfulness, that He’s going to do what He promised to do. that in this given situation, this circumstance, though I don’t like it, though I’m hurting, though it’s painful, though I’m misunderstood, whatever it might be, I’m going to trust you. I’m going to rest in your faithfulness that you are going to bring me through this in a way that’s pleasing and honorable to you. Then a second thing I would say is this. Some biblical truths that affirm the idea that God’s goal for adversity is our spiritual growth. So, think about that. Some biblical truths that affirm this idea that God’s purpose in our adversity is our growing. And if you’ll think about this, it is God’s most effective way for deepening our faith and commitment to Him. Because it’s when we go through trials that we are forced to, I’m going to trust Him or not trust Him. And I’m going through some trial and I trust Him and Satan may come in and say, you know, who do you think you are? God’s not going to answer that. That’s, you know what, you might as well face it. You’re finished with whatever’s going on in your life. No. God’s going to be faithful to you. And so, it’s just one of those tools that God uses to strengthen our faith and our commitment to Him. And then what happens? You go through a difficult time and God answers your prayer, sets you free, and you praise the Lord. And what happens? Watch this carefully. When He has visited you in some form of adversity and He brings you through that, that’s like He has increased the The strength of the foundation of your life in your faith in Him. Because you can look back and say, well, God, you brought me through that. Thank you, Lord. And you brought me through that, and you brought me through that, and you brought me through that. This is why you and I meet people who are very, very strong in their faith, though they’ve been through all kind of things. Why? They’ve responded in the right way and recognized that each experience they went through was like adding to the foundation of their enduring faith that will be there and last through the last days of their life. That’s who He is. So, think about this also. The area in which we’re experiencing the most adversity is the area in which God is at work bringing us to spiritual maturity. The area of our life in which we’re experiencing the most adversity. If I should say, how many of you today are going through some form of adversity? Oh, you know somebody who is. Everybody’s hand will probably go up. Well, ask yourself the question, what’s God’s goal in that? What’s His purpose in that? God is in the process not only of helping us understand, but He’s maturing us deep down inside. It isn’t something we’ve just read or heard. There’s a spiritual maturity. There’s a spiritual strengthening that goes on in our life that nobody else sees. It isn’t something you necessarily feel until. You know when you feel it? The next time you hit one of those bad times and you’re tested and you’re tried, and then you realize, well, thank you, Jesus, I don’t feel like I used to feel. Somehow I can see how You’re in this. We mature on the inside, invisibly, but not invisible to God. So, what are our responses? Our responses really reveal our view of God, that I can trust Him or not. Reveals our view of ourselves. I’m a child of God and He loves me and He’ll do whatever’s necessary to help me. The place of things in my life, if we lose something that’s very important in our life, what’s our response? If God takes something out of our life that we hold on to, that He knows that we shouldn’t be holding on to, or it may not be anything that valuable, but He takes something out of our life, does He still love us? Yes. Is He going to use that in our life? Yes, He is. Because He’s going to show us the value we place on things. And the best way to find out where I place my values is to lose something. Take it out of my life, maybe temporarily or permanently. And then, of course, we learn our weaknesses and our strengths. It’s in difficulties that we find out how strong we are or how weak we are. And we learn our capacity for endurance. That is, how long can I endure this? Some people, they stump their toe and you’d think they’ve broken their leg. And so, and other people can break their back and act like they stumped their toe because there’s a strength, a foundation built in their faith. That they know in their heart that God is still in control of their life, and whatever He’s doing, painful as it may be, they’re going to trust Him in it. So we learn our capacity for endurance. What can I handle? What can I not handle? We learn our faith in God. How much faith do I have? Do I really and truly believe Romans 8.28? The only way I’m going to find that if I believe that is for God to send some adversity into my life or to allow it, and I respond in that way, that I really and truly believe that God causes or allows all things, listen, that is for my good. He’s going to turn it for my good when I respond as a child of God in faith toward Him. So I would simply ask you this, how do you respond? The godly response is, God, I don’t know what You’re doing, but I’m going to trust You because You’re my God. And You said, I will guide You into the truth. I will teach You in the way which You should go. I will provide Your needs. All things work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose. And I love You and You’re allowing this to happen. God, I don’t understand it, but I’m going to trust You. Trust, trust, trust. Let me ask you a question. Has God ever proved to be untrustworthy to you? Never. You say, well, if He’s a God of love, why does He allow those things to happen? That’s what I’ve been talking about. That’s what we’ve been saying. He wants you to come to the end of yourself and recognize that you are a sinner, lost, and if you died without Christ, that you would be eternally separated from Him, and that’s not what He wants. So, He sends enough difficulty, hardship, pain, suffering, adversity, so you will turn to Him. That’s what He’s up to. So you may want to curse God because of what’s happening when if you open your eyes and realize that His real intention is so that you open your eyes to see that He wants to save you and forgive you and cleanse you and come into your life and love you eternally the rest of your life. That’s really what He’s up to. But somehow, you shut Him out. Don’t blame God for adversity that He intends in your life as an expression of awesome, eternal love. Don’t shut Him out. And yet, many people do. Always to their painful consequences, they shut Him out. And so, it’s the will of God that we continually grow in our Christian life more and more. And it’s going to be determined by two things. Two things, either that I see all this hurt and pain as an opportunity to grow in my Christian life, or I see it as an obstacle. Listen, Jesus living within you through the Holy Spirit is there to teach and give understanding and enable you, help you, strengthen you in your relationship to Him. which means that every adversity you and I face is an opportunity to grow, to become stronger, have deeper understanding. And listen, to grow in a loving relationship to Almighty God, it’s an opportunity, not an obstacle. It’s only an obstacle when I see it as an obstacle rather than opportunity. And I suffer the consequences of unbelief and have to face it. So, how do you face adversity in your life? Just think about it for a moment. Believing that God is in it and that He’s going to be with you in it, and He will walk with you through it every single day necessary till He brings you through. Now, if you’ve never trusted Jesus as your Savior, let me tell you, friend. I don’t know how you think you’re going to live in this world, in this life, without Christ and be happy and have joy and peace in your life. You’re not going to. You may be trying to cover up your adversity, and people do, with alcohol, drugs, sex, money, and on we could go. None of that can satisfy the human heart. Only a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And you can say anything you want to say about those things and how necessary they are. No, they’re not. The one thing that is absolutely necessary for life, to have peace and joy and happiness and contentment, even in difficult, trying, adversarial times, is a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, which begins The moment you’re willing to confess your sinfulness and say to Him, tell Him as best you know how that you do believe that His death on the cross and the shedding of His blood brought about your forgiveness. Now, understand, listen carefully. You may have never heard that before. God’s only begotten Son, Jesus, came into this world for the primary purpose of laying down His life in order that you and I And one of these days go to heaven. And on the cross, He bore your penalty and mine for all of our sins and the sins of the whole world. He was crucified. And the shedding of blood was the shedding of His life. That was God’s requirement that the sinless, perfect, virgin-born Son of God sent into this world for the purpose of dying for our sins, went to the cross, died on the cross and paid your sin debt in full completely. And as a result, when you accept Him as your personal Savior, your sins are atoned for for all eternity. But it’s Jesus and His death at the cross that paid your sin debt in full. And if you die without Him, it will be an eternal And I want to encourage you, whatever adversity you’re going through, to recognize that isn’t God being against you. That’s God putting pressure on you. So, you’ll turn to Him and have the gift of eternal life. And Father, how grateful we are to have you. that your gift of eternal life is large enough to include everybody in the entire world. And your love is great enough to include everybody in the whole world. And we humble ourselves before you and acknowledge it’s not because we deserve it, but because you love us that we have the gift of forgiveness and cleansing. So, I pray today for those who are going through some adversity in their life. that their first response or their response, having heard this, will be to turn to You and ask You to give them wisdom to help them understand what they’re suffering in life. Lord, this world is full, filled, running over, packed with adversity. Show those of us who are believers, followers of Yours, how to be a blessing, God, to those about us in Jesus’ name. Amen.

SPEAKER 02 : 19:38

Thank you for listening to Growing in Our Adversity. 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.