Overcome Your Guilt And Repent

 

 

At times, people are bound by guilt long after the feeling should have been resolved. Some rightly live with it because they refuse to give up the sin that brought it on. Meanwhile, others suffer the weight of false guilt because they harbor shame that doesn't belong to them. Whatever the root cause of your condemnation, the battle plan remains the same.

Victory over guilt begins with understanding that Jesus took our shame to the cross and paid our penalty. There is no way that we can pay for our own sin. But we do need to honestly identify the source of our guilt and confess before God. That means we agree with His perspective on what we've done. In other words, we admit when we're wrong. Repentance goes a step further: we turn away from the wrong and choose to do right.

Confronting guilt in this way replaces the weight of shame in our heart with peace and joy, which are far lighter and more freeing. And an amazing side effect is that we have wisdom to share. Openness about our past mistakes, resulting consequences, guilt burdens, and forgiveness can reveal the Lord to those in our sphere of influence. Through our witness, God may reach others who need their guilt chains broken.

The battle to overcome guilt is one that should not be delayed. The feeling won't just go away. Whether your condemnation is true or false, it needs to be dealt with quickly. Stop running, and face the source of your guilt. It's time to end your captivity and start walking in the joy of God's blessing.

 

~From Pastor Charles Stanley, Intouch Ministries, intouch.org 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

Five Great Blessings From Brokenness

 

 

 At least five great blessings come from our being broken.

The Blessing of Understanding God Better

As we are broken, we understand the absolutes of God — that His commandments are exact, His promises are sure, His methods and His timetable are entirely His own, and His provision is complete.

We understand the Scriptures more fully. We see patterns of how God works in human lives. We have a deeper understanding of God’s love. We know more fully what it means to be accepted by God on the basis of nothing in ourselves, but solely because He is a loving Father. We understand more fully the purpose of the Cross. We grow in understanding God’s patience and love and kindness and forbearance. We have an experiential understanding of His long-suffering. We know with a growing certainty that He is in control of our lives completely and eternally.

The breaking process always lifts almighty God, the cross, and the grace of God to a higher level in our lives than we had placed those truths before. We are given a glimpse of God’s glory and of His divine nature. We come to a new depth of understanding of all God’s many attributes.

There is no end to what we can learn about God. This blessing is therefore an infinite one.

The Blessing of Understanding Ourselves Better

As we are broken by God, we come to a much deeper understanding of ourselves. We are able to trace the avenues, thought patterns, and trends of our lives from our childhood through our growing-up years. We can gain a new understanding of certain experiences in our past and how they affected us, for better or worse. We see our emotional flaws and discover how poorly we both show love and receive love. We face our limitations and frailties, and we see how fear has stifled us.

In our brokenness we also come to know our God-given talents, gifts, and abilities. We see ways in which the Lord has strengthened us, prepared us, and fashioned us. We also see how God has dealt with us in tenderness and mercy.

One thing we always understand very clearly in times of brokenness is that we are sinners. Brokenness always involves sin — the sin of pride and the sin of rebellion, among the other sinful behaviors God desires to remove from us. The breaking process reveals to us that we are being continually refined by God. Sin is being peeled from our lives, layer by layer.

What a wonderful blessing it is to recognize that while we still have the capacity to sin, we have been freed by Christ Jesus to denounce sin, be forgiven of it, and have victory over it!

Once we truly are broken and once we have totally submitted our lives to God, a peace floods our souls that is beyond understanding and beyond explaining (Philippians 4:7).

The Blessing of Increased Compassion for Others

Along with gaining a greater understanding of the nature of God and of ourselves through brokenness, we begin to look at other people differently. We begin to see that others are no worse and no better than we are.

We all are sinners at our core. We all are in need of God’s grace and the refining power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. We all need to change, grow, and develop in certain ways. None of us is without flaws and weaknesses.

Through brokenness, we come to the place where we can say:
 

    “Father, You were patient with me. I can be patient with him.”
    “Father, You showed kindness and mercy to me. I can extend kindness and mercy to her.”
    “Father, You forgave me. I can forgive this person who hurt me.”


Brokenness makes us less critical and judgmental. It also opens us up to new ways we can share God’s love with others.

The Blessing of a Greater Zest for Life

When we come to the end of ourselves, we find that we have a greater appreciation of all God’s gifts to us. Our hearts are renewed with thanksgiving and the awareness of God’s goodness to us. Our interest in life is rekindled. The hard parts of our souls break up so that we are quicker to laugh with gusto and to cry with tenderness.

The Blessing of an Increased Awareness of God’s Presence

God is with us always, but brokenness makes us more sensitive to His presence. He comforts us and assures us that He will never leave us or forsake us.

And in our brokenness, in the intimacy of our spirits, God speaks to us of His great love for us. He tells us how much He values us and desires good for us. He assures us that He is with us and is working in us.

When we feel assured of God’s presence with us, we are secure, and there’s no greater security. God reveals Himself to us as our all-sufficiency, our total provision, our ultimate protection. That releases us from fear, pressure, and worry. It produces in us an abiding peace that cannot be described and an unspeakable joy that fills our hearts to overflowing, regardless of the circumstances.

Worth the Struggle

When we yield to God’s purposes in our lives and begin to experience the blessings that come from brokenness, we can say, “I’m thankful for this trial. Praise God it’s over, but praise God that, because He loves me, He used it to refine me. I wouldn’t trade the blessing of this experience for anything in the world!”

The Purifying Work of Pain

The hallmark of several years in my life was pain. God used it to soften me, change my thinking, and expand my compassion for others who are in pain. I wouldn’t trade those changes for anything.

Some things we may not fully understand until eternity. But the perspective that God is at work keeps me from anger, bitterness, and hostility. So I have chosen that perspective.

The Condition for Blessing

God places only one condition on the blessings that He has for us through brokenness: we must be willing to submit to Him.

If we are willing to surrender ourselves to Him, He leads us to total victory in the aftermath of brokenness. It may take months or years for that victory to be realized or recognized, but victory is assured.

But if we balk in rebellion and refuse to surrender to God, we greatly curtail God’s blessing. We place a barrier of mistrust and rebellion between ourselves and His outpouring of blessings into our lives.

God Continues to Work in Us

God will not give up on us. He will continue to work in us, bringing us from one experience of brokenness to the next and blessing us along the way.

Friend, we never outgrow our need to be broken in one way or other. And praise God for that! He loves us so much that He never gives up on us, never loses interest in us, and never rejects us. He asks only that we trust Him to be our God, so that we might be His people and bring Him glory.

 

~From Finding God’s Blessings in Brokenness by Dr. Charles Stanley

 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!
 

Jesus Bore Our Sins

 

 

The cross is so common in our culture that most people don’t think twice when they see one on a church. But unfortunately, familiarity with the symbol can actually get in the way of understanding what it truly means. So let’s stop to consider how Jesus became the bearer of sin.

We begin with Scripture written long before Jesus was born. Genesis, the first book of the Bible, explains how man chose to disobey God. Because Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, their descendants are all born under the curse of death, having inherited a sinful “flesh” nature.

In Leviticus, God’s laws for the Jewish nation included observance of Yom Kippur, the day each year when the Israelites fasted, prayed, and sacrificed an animal to atone for sin. In essence, the goat would bear the wrongs done by the people and suffer the penalty that divine justice required.

Centuries later, Isaiah prophesied that a Savior would atone for transgression once and for all (Isa. 53:5, 8; Heb. 7:27). After another 700 years, John the Baptist identified Jesus as the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). The Messiah had come, though He was totally different from what the people expected—so much so, in fact, that they rejected Him and requested His crucifixion.

In all, God gave 613 laws through Moses. But none of us can perfectly follow even the Ten Commandments. In fact, one reason He gave us these rules is to show us our need for a Savior (Ps. 19:7; Gal. 3:24). Meditate on those commands (Ex. 20:1-17), asking God to speak to your heart.

 

~From Pastor Charles Stanley, Intouch Ministries, Intouch.org 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

Plan For God's Guidance

 

In order to stay on the path God intends for our lives, we should plan times to stop, ask, and listen for guidance. The world throws confusing messages at us all day long, and we need to check our course frequently. These conversations with the Lord are vital for a thriving life of godly impact.

 

~From Pastor Charles Stanley, Intouch Ministries, Intouch.org

 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

Who Jesus Is

 

 

The first chapter of Revelation gives a compact description of the Lord. In verses 4 to 8, John condenses the wonder of Jesus Christ to the bare but beautiful essentials of who He is:

Jesus Christ is the faithful witness. Jesus came to earth to more fully reveal the character and ways of the Father (John 14:9). The miracles He performed validated His claim to be the Son of God.

Jesus Christ is the first-born from the dead. The Savior bore our sins and died on the cross, was buried, and rose again on the third day. His resurrection proved that eternal life is possible for us, too, as Jesus taught in John 11:25: “He who believes in Me will live even if he dies.”

Jesus Christ is the ruler of the kings of the earth. It is the Lord who raises men to power, just as it is He who removes them (John 19:11; Rom. 13:1). Meanwhile, believers have access to a higher authority. In God’s throne room, we can beseech Him on behalf of our nations and lay claim to His promises.

Jesus Christ loves us and released us from our sins by His blood. Note the change of tense in John’s writing. The Lord’s love is ever-present, but He has freed believers from their past. Both the penalty and power of sin have been broken.

When people ask you about Jesus, introduce Him by guiding them through this mini-biography. In just a few sentences, John describes Christ’s character, divinity, and authority. The disciple was not timid about proclaiming the Lord. We shouldn’t be shy, either, when we serve so great a Savior.

 

~From Pastor Charles Stanley, Intouch Ministries, Intouch.org 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

The Word Of God Is Your Guidebook

 

 

Our Founding Fathers created a governing framework based upon biblical principles. Slowly, we have changed from “one nation under God” to a group of people who no longer want Him to be involved.

Tragically, we’ve become, in numerous ways, an ungodly nation: many are driven by materialism and power; immorality and rebellion are prevalent; empty philosophy and false doctrine are widely acceptable. Underlying it all is a vocal decision to take God out of the nation’s “official business.”

Yet even in an unbelieving society, people can, as individuals, follow Jesus. But the world will continually disseminate faulty teachings, so believers must be discerning. Otherwise, erroneous messages can lead Christians to compromise their convictions. Then affections and priorities may change. Don’t let the world’s clamor make the Spirit’s voice less audible. Without His guidance, our minds become vulnerable to lies.

The Word of God is a compass that keeps us headed in the right direction—even in the midst of confusing messages all around. We need to be consistently filled with truth by reading, believing, meditating upon, and applying Scripture. God also tells us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). If our minds are focused upon Him, unholy beliefs will not be able to take root.

The Word is our guidebook. We will still face difficulty as we live in this imperfect world—it is a confusing, dark place that entices us but never fulfills our true longings. Yet God’s truth will bring confidence and boldness, and His Spirit will direct and strengthen, enabling us to live victoriously. 

~From Pastor Charles Stanley, Intouch Ministries, intouch.org

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

Ask God For A Heart of Flesh

 

 

The Lord wants to give each of us a "heart of flesh" so that we will be pliable and responsive to Him. When touched by the finger of God, a tender heart yields to the pressure and assumes the form He desires, much like a lump of clay that allows the potter to determine the shape of the vessel.

To aid in this process, God has sent the Holy Spirit to indwell each believer and awaken responsiveness in him or her. By yielding to the Spirit's promptings with ready obedience, the heart becomes increasingly tender and sensitive to His leading. The Lord is able to impart greater understanding of His Word to a soft heart because it has faithfully accepted and obeyed previous teachings.

Any resistance to God will result in hardening. But those who are accustomed to intimacy with Christ—which is the result of submission to Him—will be quick to deal with sin and return to the place of obedience and blessing.

People with tender hearts stay closely connected to the body of Christ, seeking to build up and encourage others in their walk of faith. Such individuals are not only receptive to what God wants to tell them; they are also teachable, in that they are willing to listen and be corrected by others.

This week when you read your Bible and pray, let your heart be soft toward the words of God. As He pokes His finger into each hard area, listen to His instructions, and rely on the Spirit's power to help you yield and obey. Let Him shape you into a beautiful and useful vessel. 

~From Pastor Charles Stanley, Intouch Ministries, intouch.org

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

Jesus Christ Is Lord

 

 

In the New Testament, Lord is the most frequently used title for Jesus Christ. Although we rarely use this term in our daily lives, we are all quite familiar with another word: boss. That is basically what Lord means—one possessing authority, power, and control. The Word of God describes Jesus as the head of the church, the ruler over all creation, and the Lord of lords and King of kings (Col. 1:15-18; Rev. 3:14; 17:14).

The realm of Christ's reign covers everything that happens in heaven and on the earth. No one—not even those who deny His existence—can be free of His rule or outside His sphere of authority. Although Satan tries to convince us that liberty is found in doing what we want, true freedom is acquired only through submission to Christ's loving lordship.

Even death cannot release anyone from the authority of God's Son. He is Lord of both the living and the dead. All people must decide to either yield or rebel against Him, but they have the opportunity to make this choice only while they are still living. After death, they will acknowledge Christ's lordship through accountability to Him. If we have not bowed the knee to Jesus in life, we will be forced to bend it in the judgment.

Have you submitted to Christ's rule over your life? His authority causes anger or fear in individuals who have not yet yielded to Him, but those who have experienced His lovingkindness, trusted in His goodness, and surrendered to His authority take comfort in knowing Him as the Lord of their lives. 

~From Pastor Charles Stanley, intouch.org

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

Having Peace In The Last Days

 

Apart from Jesus, there is no peace—not within a human heart and not among human beings or nations. With Jesus, we can experience peace that surpasses our rational capacity and settles deep within (See Philippians 4:7). We are to seek and find this peace as we await the Lord’s return.

When the Lord comes, will he find you among those who love him and call him Savior and Lord?

When the Lord comes, will he find you doing what he has commanded you to do?

When the Lord comes, will he find you eager to see him?

When the Lord calls with a shout from heaven, will you instantly rise to be with him?

When the Lord appears in the clouds, will your heart rejoice with exceedingly great joy?

You have it within your grasp to positively answer these questions. How will you choose to respond to the Lord’s challenges upon your life?

The fact is, he is coming again!

 

~From "Life Principle 30," The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible, by Pastor Charles Stanley, Intouch.org

The Body Of Christ

 

 

At salvation, you become a part of the body, no matter what your local church's membership rules may be. By receiving the Savior, a person is made one with Jesus. Therefore, if you're a believer, you are a breathing and active part of Christ, who is at work on earth through His followers. The church is Jesus' feet to carry the gospel message, His arms to care for those in need of love, and His hands to uphold the weak.

Christ's physical body underwent terrible pain and persecution. His church body cannot expect a cozy, easy existence either. Being Jesus to the world means making sacrifices, accepting ridicule, and loving our enemies (Heb. 13:16, Matt. 5:44). God called us to spread the gospel, but that doesn't mean people always like what we have to say. Sin and accountability aren't popular messages. Yet being trendy and well liked is not the point. We're here to carry out the work and mission of God, even when doing so is uncomfortable.

The spiritual makeup of the church is linked to its mission. The gospel cannot be spread except through the strength and wisdom of Jesus Christ, the head. The body of believers is united with Him through the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit. He reaches the world through His church and its members. 

~From Pastor Charles Stanley, Intouch Ministries, intouch.org

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

Trust Jesus On Your Journey

 

Anyone who is honest will admit that he or she is ill-equipped to go through life alone. Our all-knowing God created us with a need for His guidance. In our own strength, knowledge, and reasoning power, we are simply not able to figure out how to make the wisest decisions. But the Lord’s assuring hand at our shoulder can lead us down right paths to good choices.

The Lord is willing and able to guide us, if we will let Him. It isn’t difficult to fall in step with Him. Acknowledge that you have wandered down paths of life that led to sin and disobedience. Choose to follow His lead instead by reading the Word of God and applying biblical principles to your life. And learn to pray through both large and small decisions as you seek the path He has set for you.

Just beyond our last heartbeat lies eternity. That’s where our Savior is pointing us. The path may not be clear to our eyes, but Jesus is leading us there with a steady and sure hand. Our part is to follow in obedience so that we may reach heaven and hear the Father say, “Well done.” 

~From Pastor Charles Stanley, Intouch.org

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

God Is Faithful

 

 

When you doubt God’s trustworthiness, that unbelief becomes a gap in your spiritual armor, and you can be sure that’s exactly where Satan will attack you. You’ll begin to doubt even more about God’s character, such as His goodness—and that distrust will become a heavy load of baggage you’ll needlessly drag through every area of your life. You might feel that you do not have enough faith to obey, but the Lord isn’t asking you to have faith in favorable circumstances. He’s asking you to trust that He is who He says He is.

Do you believe that God is a liar? It’s really that simple: either He is truthful or He’s not. But if you believe that faithfulness is His character, then you can do anything He requires. You’ll be strengthened by your dependence on Him—whether a deluge or trials or a flood of blessing comes.

It’s actually when life gets rough and rugged that the sweetness of God’s faithfulness makes itself real in your heart. As you walk through those storms in complete reliance on His strength, your trust in His character becomes part of who you are and strengthens from within.

 

~From Pastor Charles Stanley, Intouch.org

 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

Study God's Word to Enrich Your Life

 

 

God’s Word is a deep mine of treasures waiting to be discovered by those who are willing to search and careful in their application. That takes wisdom and understanding, as well as time to listen to the Lord. Sometimes believers avoid Scripture because they don’t know what it means for them. But if you read the Bible seeking to know what God is saying and how He would have you apply it, Scripture becomes rich and meaningful—and a powerhouse for getting you through all of life’s challenging times.

 

~From Pastor Charles Stanley, Intouch.org 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

 

Walking in Obedience

 

God’s requests are often steppingstones to the most fantastic blessings and incredible experiences of our lives. Obeying God in small or seemingly irrelevant matters is an essential movement toward His greatest blessings. God’s blessings for obedience will often be unexpected, like Peter’s amazing surplus of fish—and his transformed like (Luke 5). When you obey God, He'll make you a blessing to other people. Finally, obeying God allows Him to demonstrate His power in our lives.

 

~Pastor Charles Stanley, intouch.org 

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!

 

Being A Follower of Jesus

Jesus said of those who follow Him:

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. (John 10:27-29) What a great statement of hope and comfort this is to us! We can know the voice of the Lord. As we follow His voice and do what He says, we’ll never perish, and neither will we ever be snatched out of His hand.

“But,” you may say, “how can I be sure that the voice I’m hearing is truly the voice of God?” There are five identifying hallmarks of God’s messages to us. They’re a means of determining whether the voice we’re hearing is truly the voice of God. If you have a question about whether a message is from God, line it up against these criteria:

1. The message must be consistent with the Word of God, the Bible. God will never tell us to engage in any activity that’s inconsistent with holy Scripture.

2. The message will usually be in conflict with the mainstream of conventional wisdom. We must recognize that most of the world is moving in a direction away from what God’s Word says to be true. In most cases, God’s message stands in sharp contrast to what the world around us has to say on an issue. But when God speaks to you, He calls you to His way of thinking and seeing. In the New Testament, this mindset is called the “mind of Christ.” Ask yourself, Would Jesus do this? If not, don’t do it.

3. The message will clash with fleshly gratification and basic human lusts. We must recognize immediately that any counsel is not of God if it urges us to gratify the flesh, without any thought for the consequences. God gives us messages that please the Spirit of God within us, not our lusts and sinful desires.

4. The message will challenge one’s faith to rise to a new level. A “measure of faith” has been given to every person, and our faith is to grow. We grow in faith when we hear from God, obey what He says to do, and then acknowledge God’s faithfulness to His Word in our lives.

5. The message will call for personal courage to do what God has said or to change what He has said to change. If you’re being asked to move against the tide of conventional human wisdom and act in contradiction to your fleshly nature, you’re going to feel as though you’re taking a risk in obeying God’s message to you. Any time you take a risk for God’s purposes, you’re going to need courage. And the Lord tells us that, if we’ll have courage, He’ll strengthen our hearts (Ps. 31:24). His voice leads us not into timid discipleship but into bold witness (1 Cor. 16:13-14).

Take time to make certain that you’ve truly heard from God on a matter and that you’ve heard clearly and precisely. Above all, make sure He’s finished with all He has to say to you on a point before rushing off to obey Him. Make sure you have all the directions, assurances, insights, and details He desires to give you. Then, subject the whole of God’s message to the points discussed in this lesson. 

~From Charles Stanley, intouch.org

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!