Dr Charles Stanley - When It Is Wise to Wait - Part 1A

0:00I may be tempted to warm out. It doesn't make any difference how hot the fire had deep the water, how black the clouds and how thick the fog. If you know what God said back there, you can keep on going and you will be absolutely fearless no matter what you face and what happens. God is willing to give us direction for our light and it is wise for us to wait until we have clear guidance in making decisions. Otherwise you are going to have to make them on your own. Are you facing a crucial decision? How will you decide what to do? When even seemingly unimportant choices can have far reaching effects, we need to move with both caution and courage. Today on InTouch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, we will see why it is so important for those who are believers to pause and get God's direction. Here's part one of When It Is Wise to Wait.

1:01Right timing is very critical. It is critical in warfare. It is oftentimes critical in science. It is critical in every area of sports on the football field, the baseball field, the tennis court, the golf course. Right timing is extremely important in negotiating in business deals, in the stock market, in expressing love or anger. In every single area of life, timing does make a difference and in some areas extremely critical. But for most people they probably never think about. The idea that timing is extremely crucial in the believers walk. That is an relationship to Christ and an relationship to others. Is timing really important? Yes it is. And that's what I want to talk about in this message when it is wise to wait. That's the title, when it is wise to wait. And I want you to turn if you will to Psalm 27. And the 14th verse is a wonderful admonition for us.

2:05David said in verse 14, wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes wait for the Lord. Now to some people that may be a strange idea. What do you mean wait for the Lord? Why should you have to wait on God? Is God ever late? Indeed he's not. Then what in the world do you mean by waiting upon the Lord? Well what we mean is simply this. To wait means to pause and wait for further instructions. When a person is waiting upon the Lord, what they're doing is remaining in their present circumstance, remaining in their present position and waiting for further instruction from God. What do I do next? What is the next move? This does not mean that you do nothing. It is a stillness. It is an active stillness that goes on in the heart of the person who is waiting. What we mean by waiting upon the Lord is simply this.

3:05It is a directed waiting. It is purposeful. It is expected. It is directed. That is it is directed toward God. You're not just sitting around waiting for something to happen. A waiting from some circumstance to change. A waiting till you get some fuzzy feeling about something and then you're going to make a move. But waiting upon the Lord is directing our attention to Him expectantly awaiting His intervention in our circumstance in order to give us a word of instruction about what we do next. It may be a decision in the process of making. It may be some request that we have asked for and so we are waiting to hear from Him. Shall we move? Shall we take a step before we hear from Him or shall we wait upon Him? So waiting upon the Lord is not passive but active. It is active stillness. It's not waiting for just anything to happen but it is waiting for a clear sense of direction or intervention of God.

4:07Now what I would like to spend some time on here is to ask the question, why is it wise to wait upon the Lord? Why is it wise to wait? That is, for example, let's say that you've been praying and the Lord has told you, here's what I'm going to do, then why don't we just get on with it? Or you believe that God in answer to your request, the answer has been yes. But remember this now that when God answers our request sometimes He says yes, sometimes He says no and sometimes He says wait. Now we love the yeses. Amen? We love the yeses. We don't like the noes and we have a difficult time with the weights. Well the weights what I want to talk about because God never tells us to wait unless He has something specific in mind and if you'll notice what He said through David here and I think the reason He said it twice is because He knows it's real difficult for us to wait when we want to do something and we want to see something going on.

5:09We want to make something happen. He says wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage, yes wait for the Lord. Now why? Why would the Lord tell us to wait and why is it wise for us to wait? Well it's wise to wait first of all because oftentimes God only gives us very clear direction when we wait to get it. You see you and I are not to operate the way the world operates and one of the worst things that happens in a church or among believers in their business and their social life, their relationships is they look around and see what their friends are doing and they decide they're going to do the same thing. Remember first of all you don't even live on the same plane, you're not in the same family, the Bible says you're not living in the same kingdom, you're not walking in darkness but light, you have a whole different master, you walk into a different drum beat, to a different cadence and you're walking in step with God. Do not expect to live like the world or should you ever think in terms of getting your

6:15cue from what the world says. Now God is willing to give us direction, very specific, clear direction for any decision we're trying to make. Sometimes he doesn't give it quickly and there's some reasons and we're going to talk about that but one of the reasons we are to wait upon the Lord is because we want to be sure we have clear direction from him. Well if I'm going to get God's direction I'm going to have to wait until he's ready to give it and he's not always ready to give it exactly when I want it and he has a reason oftentimes for causing us to wait. Now I want you to go to Psalm 119 which is the longest of all the Psalms, Psalm 119 and I want you to look at several verses beginning in verse 74 all three of these verses say the same thing. Verse 74 says, May those who fear thee see me and be glad because I wait for thy word.

7:15And then verse 81 says, My soul languishes for thy salvation I wait for thy word. And verse 114 says, thou art my hiding place, my shield, you my protector, I wait for thy word. God is willing to give us direction for our life and it is wise for us to wait until we have clear guidance and making decisions. Otherwise you're going to have to make them on your own. Now when we walk full of the Holy Spirit it is easier for us to know what to do next. It is far more natural for us to walk as we walk in the Spirit to know what to do next but sometimes even then God says, Wait. And it's interesting how many times in the Psalms that David refers to this very idea of waiting upon the Lord. Now some people have the idea and the world would certainly have this idea what are you waiting for. It looks like to me you're wasting time just sitting around waiting on God. What kind of a God do you have anyway?

8:15Well I'll tell you what kind I have. He's on mission. He knows everything. He's all wise so I listen. If I'm waiting on him I'm waiting to hear the best and to hear from the best. He's all powerful. He can make anything that he wants me to wait for come to pass. And by the time I get through telling him who I'm waiting for they may have a change of mind. We're not just waiting for anything to happen. We're waiting upon God to intervene in our circumstance. A long time ago the Lord showed me this in a very difficult situation that I was in and really struggling to know the Lord's will and took me a long time to struggle through finding the Lord's will about something. What I learned a principle and the principle is this. That oftentimes the more difficult the decision is back here and the longer you and God wrestle with that and the longer he takes you through all that he takes you through to come to the right conclusion I'm going to give you a couple of reasons why I'm on moment too. Usually what I've found because the reason this takes so long back here is because he knows

9:17when I get out there in the midst of the thick of the battle I may be tempted to run. I may be tempted to warn out. I may be tempted to warn and escape. And so if he takes long enough and his method is such that I just will never forget the process of discovering his will and making sure that I know exactly what God is saying. Listen. You're making a difference how hot the fire had deep the water, how black the clouds and how thick the fog. If you know what God said back there you can keep on going and you will be absolutely fearless no matter what you face and what happens. But if you decide to make a decision you just get to hop in through and you're going to do your own thing and your own time and you get out there and the bottom drops out and the fire gets intensified and the fog moves in and the waters begin to swell and you begin to wonder if I wonder if I made the right decision. Now my and the right place is this the right thing to do? I wonder what I should do next and you've had it.

10:18And what happens is you put yourself in a very vulnerable position with a devil to attack you and totally confuse you and more than likely when the heat gets on you're going to want to run. But as you waited for God to give you very clear instruction you wouldn't run because you can say Lord it's getting off the hot. It's getting awfully dark and it's getting awfully unclear but I know this is what you told me to do and that makes all the difference in the world and I believe as well. The second thing I want you to notice here is this. A second reason it is wise for us to wait is that God uses waiting time to get us in step with His timing. Now most of us understand we live in a now generation so this generation wants it now and wants lots of it right? We want it now and we want lots of it. We have to get in step with God's timing and if I'm in step with God's timing here's what I'm going to have. I'm going to have an inner stillness in peace within my heart and sometimes when we know

11:25that a thing is right we want to just let's move on but keeping in step with God's timing is very, very important because if we don't we get ahead. And we get ahead, here's what happens. We get out here on our own. When I'm out here on my own all I can expect is what I can produce. If I'm walking in sequence and in concert with God's will and God's way and God's timing as slow as the world or my friends or my family may think I'm moving it is still the right time. What is delayed timing from our interpretation is perfect timing from God's viewpoint. Usually and most of the time our decisions will affect other people. So in the process of God working in your life and getting you in step with his timing the reason he wants you in step with his timing because what you're going to do is going to affect someone else's life. So God has to get things lined up so that all the cogs fit perfectly time. When you and I are walking in the will of God according to his timing it doesn't make

12:28a difference. It's not difficult it may be how deep the valley or how intense the struggles and the pain and the suffering may be if I'm walking in concert with God through his spirit I am going to have an inner peace and an inner stillness in my heart. And that's the way the Lord wants us to walk. And there's some wonderful scriptures here that refer to that now. So we must keep in step with him and when we do keep in step with him we're not going to be confused and can found him. Listen to what he said. He said, now wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord. Why did he say it twice? He knew that was going to be difficult because it was difficult for him. A third reason that is wise to wait and that is that God uses the time of waiting to prepare us for the answer or the decision or what he has in store for us. Now it's very difficult sometimes when God says to you, yes it's all right to marry her. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

13:32And sometimes God will say to a man or a woman in a business situation, this is what I want you to do but I want you to wait. Why wait, just wait. Sometimes it is in the purchase of something like in a house or an automobile or something else. God says wait, we don't wait. We decide we're going to do it now and we suffer the consequences. You see, think about this. We're not talking about just waiting around. We're talking about waiting upon a Heavenly Father who loves us with all of His infinite wisdom and power and love, who always wants the best for us, who always chooses the best for us, who will always give us the best, who will always protect us for the best if we are wise enough to wait. And so what happens? He wants us to wait because oftentimes he is preparing us. Sometimes young people want to get married, they're not ready to get married. And if they ask the Lord and God says wait, it's okay. It's all right but not right now.

14:33Just give it a little time. And oftentimes people get a little anxious about making money. They want to make a whole lot of money right now. And it may be that God would prosper you at some time out there when He knows that you can handle it. Every single pastor that I know can give you the same testimony. And I'm going to give it to you because every single one I'm sitting out there listening to this message will say, Amen, Stanley, say it again. So I'm going to say it twice. Here's what I've seen happen. People come to church, join the church. They don't have too much and they begin to tie and God begin to bless them. And they give more and God begin to increase their blessings. And He begins to prosper them and they're trusting God and waiting upon God and making wise decisions and God begins to bless them and bless them. And what happens? After a while, I don't see them every Sunday morning and Sunday night. I just see them on Sunday morning. After a while, months go by or year goes by, I see them once in a while on Sunday morning and before long I can't even find them. You know why? There's been so blessed they don't need God anymore.

15:39Friend, every pastor alive can tell you and name you people in the church where He passed is where He's seen that happen. Some people can't handle it. And then what happens? They usually blow it out there somewhere and then they come back. Oh, I can't figure out what happened. I can tell you what happened. You couldn't handle the blessing. And see sometimes He has to prepare us, but what He wants to do and some of that preparation is a little tough. The fourth thing I want you to notice here is that the waiting time is God's time to strengthen our faith. You see, if God just gave me everything I asked for answered all my prayers just like that. That wouldn't do anything for my faith. That wouldn't even take any faith. But if I ask and I have assurance and God is silent and nothing happens, then I have to trust Him. Lord, here's what you said. And so you see, you and I can't always figure it out. But if I understand what God is up to and that God is in the process of strengthening our faith, you see, it's strengthening our faith that God always has an object and there are

16:43many reasons God has us to wait. That's one of them. And then I think one of the primary reasons He would have us to wait is to get our attention about our life. Now sometimes that's to sift our motives. That times when you and I make requests for God and it's right, but our motive is not right. And so what does He do? He just sort of holds it off until our motive for desiring that is right, our motive for going there, our motive for having this, our motive for doing this or getting this promotion, or whatever it might be. He has to sift our motives and all of us have to have our motives sifted continuously to keep us from getting prideful and egotistical and self-dependent. And the second reason that I think He does this sifting is to deal with sins in our life, things that creep into our lives that we're not even aware of, things that get shared back in the crevices and the corners of our life. And here is God wanting to give us His best. And remember this, that God is a holy God. Now think about this. Here is a holy Christ who desires to fellowship with me and to love me and to give me His

17:48best and to exercise His life and to release His life through me and through you. So what kind of a person is the Lord Jesus Christ going to fellowship with? One who has clean heart? Why? Because He's holy. Does that mean we're perfect? No. Sinless no. Never making mistakes. Never sin, never fail, never faulted. No. But our hearts went toward Him and we love Him. And we choose to follow Him and we walk after Him and the times we falter and we fall. We confess thank God for it and keep moving. What does He do? Sometimes He withholds the blessing because of sin, habits, activities. Now what does He do? Here's the reason. Because He knows if He answers that, if He comes on the scene and intervenes and gives me what I want and allows that sin or that wrong motive to be there, what am I going to do? I'm just going to take that into the blessing. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to mess up the blessing because the motive is wrong or there is sin there that's going to frustrate what God's up to.

18:50That God desires the best for us, always the best, ready and willing to give the best. But He gives it when we're ready in His timing, when we're walking in concert with Him, when He has strengthened our faith and in the process of sifting our motives and those things that light the door not to be there. It is always wise to wait for God. Thanks for joining us today for In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. God knows what's best. As we wait for Him, He prepares us, He prepares others, and He prepares the circumstances necessary to achieve His goals. But waiting can still be difficult. So tomorrow, we'll come back to this subject and hear how to actively pause for God's instructions. You can get help with developing the strength to wait on God by accessing our Bible study resources at ntouch.org.

19:50And to go back over what you just heard, click on the link to today on radio. If you'd like to order Dr. Stanley's complete two-part teaching set, when it is wise to wait, visit our online bookstore. Again, that's ntouch.org or call or text 1-800-INTouch. You can write to us at ntouch. Post office box 7900-Atlanta, Georgia 30357. The more angry enough set you feel, the more you need to be patient. Coming up, today's moment with Charles Stanley explains. Does your prayer life need a jumpstart? With the ntouch praying with purpose cards, the time you spend talking with God will take on a whole new level of energy and intimacy. Beautifully designed and easy to use or to share with a friend. There are prayers to lift up each day of the month, along with corresponding Bible verses and more. For your set of praying with purpose cards, call 1-800-INTouch or go to ntouch.org-store.

20:56Do you take sermon notes on the back of your bulletin, jot scripture references on the offering envelope, start keeping things in one place, one organized place, with the ntouch.no-takers journal. This leather soft journal contains 150 pages for taking notes and includes Dr. Stanley's 30 life principles. Find everything in one convenient place with the ntouch.no-takers journal. Call toll free 1-800-INTouch or visit ntouch.org. You're listening to ntouch. Patience is a virtue and it should be characteristic of a Christian. Here's a moment with Charles Stanley. Patience is one of those qualities all of us need in our life. And yet it's one of those qualities that oftentimes is very, very difficult for us to live out. To exercise, it's not only a quality we need, it is one of the most powerful qualities a person can have in life because it affects every single aspect of our life.

22:01Now what happens usually when you're not hit some difficult or some problem? First thing we want to say is God wise is happening to me. Why did you allow that? You see oftentimes we forget God's purpose in our life. God's purpose in our life is not ease, comfort, and pleasure. That's purpose in our life is to grow us up. To Matura's he says he predestined. He pre-planned beforehand that every saved person would do what? Would be conformed to the likeness of his son. So instead of looking at difficult, this is in hardships the way he would have us to. We first of all want to blame somebody, blame ourselves, blame God, blame it on the devil. Whatever the circumstance may be, we want to avoid these things because they interfere with our plans and our happiness, our peace, and our joy. But if you're going to develop patience what you have to recognize, you have to recognize these difficulties and conflict and persecution and tribulation, listen, recognize them as opportunities

23:02that God has provided in our life to help us to develop patience. Is that easy? No. And it's amazing how we have developed ideas about the Christian life that are totally unscriptural, that do not fit God's plan and purpose for our life and do not fit the teachings of God's Word. And when somebody says to you, listen, if you're living a God that life and you're trusting God and you're living by faith, and listen, you're not going to have all these trials and tribulations and difficulties and persecutions and life. You're not going to have all this stuff in your life. And life is going to have some ease, comfort, and pleasure. You're not going to have all this. Where is that in the Bible? It's not in there. If you're going to develop patience in your life, recognize these things as this an opportunity for God to do something awesome in your life. Find help with growing as a Christian at intouch.org. And if you have a story about what you've learned through this program, please share it with us. Tomorrow's program exposes the danger of proceeding without God's guidance.

24:07I hope you'll join us again Thursday for Intouch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of Intouch Ministries at Lanta, Georgia and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.