In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: You cannot have peace with God and at the same time be living in sin. You cannot. And this is why people, for example, who are believers, who are Christians, who can’t figure out what’s going on in their life and why are these things happening, they can’t figure it out. They haven’t stopped to realize, look at what you’re doing. Look at your attitude. Look at the sin in your life.

They don’t want to face that. They want to blame things on God or blame them on someone else. They don’t want to face the issue. There is sin, there is unbelief, there is doubt.

Guest (Male): What’s on your mind right now? Are you thinking about what might happen tomorrow or dwelling on something that happened yesterday? Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, we’ll see how our thoughts affect our sense of inner quietness. When we learn to think correctly, we can consistently live in lasting peace. Now let’s listen to Dr. Stanley’s message.

Dr. Charles Stanley: I want you to think about this verse if you’ll turn to John chapter 14 for a moment, because Jesus says something very significant here. 14th chapter of John, the night before He’s crucified, the disciples are all upset and they don’t know what’s going on. They’ve heard Him say a lot of things that didn’t seem to match up with Him if He’s truly God, and if He’s the Son of God and He has all power. In the process of all this, listen to what He says. In the 27th verse, He said to them, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you." He said, "I’m giving you a different kind."

So let’s think about it for just a moment. Look if you will in Second Thessalonians for a moment, in chapter three and verse 16. Listen to what Paul prayed and what he said about the Thessalonians. He says, "Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance." He didn’t say just grant you peace period, but grant you peace in every circumstance. Why? Because peace is available in every circumstance, no matter what.

Now it isn’t a matter of my opinion; it’s what God says. So I want you to turn if you will to the 57th chapter of Isaiah. We’ve seen in the New Testament, He says peace is in Him. It’s bound in a relationship with Him. And so He says in Isaiah 57, "But the wicked are like the tossing sea; it cannot be quiet, its waters toss up refuse and mud. There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."

Now all of us have been to the beach and we’ve watched these waves come rolling in, and when they crest, the sparkling beauty of the sun cresting on them is all crystal clear and pure and beautiful. And then when it hits and stirs up the beach, what happens? It goes out sort of gray-looking water. That’s what He’s saying. He says there’s no peace for the wicked. He says they’re like the waves; they cannot be quiet. Is the ocean quiet? In some parts of the country, it seemingly is never quiet. Every once in a while, I’ve seen it rather quiet, but not really quiet because you always got waves that are going to be lapping.

That’s the way I think about people who are without Christ. Some of them are in such deep trouble, it’s like mighty waves crashing and stirring it up. On the inside, there is no peace because there can’t be any when there’s no relationship with the only peace giver there is. There’s one peace giver. No things can give peace. We can have nothing in this world. And some of us can look back when the only thing we had is a bed to sleep in and a few little clothes, and that was it. Perfect peace.

Nobody told you you were in poverty. Nobody told you a whole bunch of things that made you dissatisfied with how much you had. It had nothing to do with it. You can take people who live in poverty with the most awesome sense of peace because of a relationship with God. Does that mean they should stay that way? No, I’m simply saying things and places and prestige and power and prominence, that doesn’t make a person happy. It doesn’t give them any peace.

There’s one source. Jesus said, "My peace I give unto you. Let not the world trouble you. Don’t give in to this kind of belief." Now somebody says, "I understand what you’re saying, that peace comes through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Now tell me, how can I keep it?" It’s one thing to say, "I’ve read the word of God, I’ve trusted Jesus Christ as my savior, I know I have peace with Him," but I want to wake up every morning with peace in my heart.

I’m going to give you three words. If you haven’t heard anything else so far and don’t listen to anything else, if you will take God’s word that I want to share with you, I guarantee you it doesn’t make any difference what you’re going through. Whether it's the loss of loved ones or anything else, I guarantee you this is absolutely, not just practical, it is absolutely truth that works every single time.

How do we have sustained peace? When the sides cave in and the top caves in, is there still peace? Yes, there is. Contentment, quietness of spirit, because He is the peace giver. Three things. I want you to turn if you will to Isaiah 26. Listen to what He says in verse three: "The steadfast of mind, You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You." Now what does He mean by perfect peace? Does that mean it’s a peace where you’ll never feel ruffle, storms, or anything else? No.

It means a peace that is complete, that is adequate, that is sufficient. It’ll stabilize you in any given circumstance of life. Notice what he says. The first word I want you to think about is the word focus. "The steadfast of mind," the one that has set his or her focus upon the living God. When you and I have our focus upon God, everything else looks different.

Now, for example, let’s say you’ve got something that you know is coming in 30 days or 60 days, and it’s going to be a time of great difficulty and hardship and heartache for you. What happens? The more you think about it, the longer you gaze on it, the longer your focus is on it, what happens in those 60 days? It becomes larger, greater, grander, more impossible, more difficult, and more horrible to you. If you spent those 60 days focused on God, you’d be amazed what the difference is.

The difference is this. Listen to what he says. He says, "The steadfast of mind," those who’ve set their focus. He says, "You will keep." Who is it that does the keeping? It is God who does the keeping. But I have a responsibility and you have a responsibility. God will keep us in this perfect peace, but I have three responsibilities. Number one is to keep my focus upon Him. He says the steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace because the second thing we must do is to trust Him.

I set my focus upon Him and trust Him. Why am I going to trust Him? Because of who He is. I don’t have to worry about Him coming up short or coming up late. I don’t have to worry about Him running out of anything. I don’t have to worry about Him wringing His hands or forgetting me in any circumstance. I set my focus upon Him, and when my focus is set, I will trust Him. I will trust Him because of who He is, what He’s done, and what He’s said.

But there’s a third thing. And these two depend upon one other thing. I want you to turn to the 119th Psalm. This is a big psalm. Look at the 165th verse: "Those who love Your law have great peace, and nothing causes them to stumble." The implication is to stumble and really blow it, fall out, or become a victim. Those who love Thy law will have great peace. Now think about this. What is it that keeps our focus upon God, reminding us of who He is? What is it that keeps reminding us that we can trust Him?

The most precious thing you own today, no matter who you are and what you may have to your account in this life, is the word of God. It's the most valuable thing you’ll ever own. What did He say? He said those who love Your law have great peace. That's not just saying, "I read the Bible." He said you love it. If you love the word of God, you’re going to be in it. If you love the word of God, you’re going to feast from it. If you love the word of God, you’re going to apply it to your heart.

If you love the word of God, you’re going to believe what it says. If you love the word of God, it’s going to guide your life. And so what happens? As we get in the word, our focus turns to Him. We look to see what He said, we watch how He operates, and we learn to trust Him. These three simple things can make the difference between up and down, off and on, unestablished, rocky, shaky peace, and peace that has no shake.

And here’s what it is: as I get in the word and get my focus upon Him and trust Him, there isn’t anything in this life that can steal your peace. Nobody can take your peace. Nobody can steal your peace because He’s the source. And He didn’t give you your peace through them. He gave you your peace through His Son. Unshakable, unalterable, unchangeable, unmistakably from God, everlasting, eternal, adequate, and sufficient in every single circumstance of life.

When I listen to some people’s heartaches and their troubles and their trials, it’s interesting that those who understand the peace that passes all understanding will say somewhere in that conversation, "I really can’t explain it, but I have the greatest peace. Somehow I’m not worried. Somehow I’m not fretting. I don’t even understand why I have this quietness, this contentment in my heart." I’ll tell you why. Because they’ve been bound, and they’ve got their focus and their trust right.

And this is a part of their daily diet. This is why I say to you over and over again: meditate upon the word of God, feasting upon it daily. Not once in a while, not just when trouble comes, but daily we drink from it. We feast upon it. We don’t glance at it. We focus upon it. We gaze at it. We draw from it. We believe what it says and we watch how God works in our lives as a result of it.

So He gives us peace. What’s our responsibility? The focus, the trust, and feasting upon His word in order that you and I may keep our focus right. Now you say, "I know how to get peace, and I know how to sustain it. Is it possible for me to lose it?" Absolutely. How do you lose your peace? Here’s the simplest way to lose it. It’s a three-letter word: S-I-N. You cannot have peace with God and at the same time be living in sin. You cannot.

This is why people, for example, who are believers, who are Christians, who can’t figure out what’s going on in their life and why are these things happening, they haven’t stopped to realize, look at what you’re doing. Look at your attitude. Look at the sin in your life. They don’t want to face that. They want to blame things on God or blame them on someone else. They don’t want to face the issue. There is sin, there is unbelief, there is doubt. Or there’s something going on in your life that should not be. You want to lose your peace? Sin will cause you to lose it.

Then there’s a second thing that oftentimes we’re unaware of. Turn if you will to Matthew chapter six. This is one of the primary reasons that people lose their peace. Jesus said three times in this passage beginning in verse 25, and He was talking about anxiety—and anxiety and peace are not the same thing. They can’t inhabit the same heart at the same time. Verse 25, "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life." Verse 31, "Do not worry then saying 'what shall we eat, what shall we drink, or what shall we wear for clothing?'"

If He’d been writing this today, He’d have said, or what you're going to drive and where you live. He could just say a lot of things that would apply to us, same thing here. He ends up that section by saying, "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." You know why we lose our peace? We project tomorrow’s cares or what we think will be tomorrow’s difficulties on ourselves today and we think, "Oh, what am I going to do?" How many times have we all worried about things that never happened?

So how do we lose our peace? We go out yonder and project what we think are tomorrow’s cares and what may happen, what could happen, what might happen, or what we're just sure is going to happen or not going to happen. We bring them in today. And what happens? Our focus changes. There are three primary reasons. Number one, sin. If you don’t have any peace in your heart, or if it’s up and down, off and on kind of thing, ask yourself the question. Just say, "God, I want to be honest with You. Is there something in my life that I’m not dealing with? God, just show me."

You won’t have to ask Him but one good time. He’s more than willing to show you. The question is, are you willing to listen? Are you willing to acknowledge it? Maybe it’s pure pride in your life, or this is what you did, or your attitude is not right. So first, there’s sin. Secondly, projecting tomorrow’s cares into today, and the third one is I allow my focus to drift off of Him onto my circumstances. When I do, I lose my peace. We’ve all been there.

What do we do? We acknowledge what we’ve done, get it back on Him, trusting Him, feasting upon His word, and what happens? This is what makes it possible for people to go through the most trying circumstances of life and we say when we meet them, "I don’t know how in the world they went through it. I don’t know how they have survived that." The survivor can tell you. They’re not going to take credit for it. They’re going to say, "It’s Jesus living on the inside of me and expressing His peace."

He said to those disciples, "My peace I’m going to leave with you. It’s going to be sufficient and adequate no matter what." Now I don’t know what you may be facing today, I don’t know what’s been going on in your life, don’t know what you’re troubled about. But I can tell you this, the Prince of Peace who came 2,000 years ago only lived about 33 years in this life. And He didn’t live it just to live it. He lived it in order to come to the end after 33 years and lay down His life on the cross.

When He died on the cross, He paid your sin debt and mine in full. He made it possible for us to come into a relationship with the Father that would make us eternally secure. But He wasn’t satisfied with that because He said, "I am come to give my life a ransom for many that we might be saved." And then He said, "I’ve come that we might have life and have it more abundantly." What is the abundant life but a life of peace and tranquility and quietness on the inside?

Nowhere does it say anything about outside. It's inside. Because you see, it’s what you are on the inside that matters, what you think on the inside. It’s not changing circumstances and people’s opinions and attitudes. It’s your spirit, your attitude, how you think. Now you can listen to all this and say, "Well, that may be alright for some people but not for me." No, it is for every single person who is willing to place their trust in Him for the forgiveness of their sin.

Set your focus, place your trust in Him, and keep that focus and trust in its proper place by feasting upon the word of God every day. That’s what peace is all about. And Jesus came as the peacemaker. He came to give us a life He knew that you and I could never have apart from Him. And if you’ve never trusted Jesus as your savior, you couldn’t find a better day to satisfy the longing of the heart of God for you.

You have a Heavenly Father who knows where you are, how you got where you are, what you’re into, what you’re up to, what you’re under, what you’re suffering. And He’s willing to say to you today, "Come on home. You’re forgiven. Trust Me and you’ll be forgiven. Taken you into the family, making you one of My children forever, and I’ll give you a peace that’ll make it possible for life to be absolutely, unbelievably satisfying and fulfilling." That’s the offer of Jesus, and that’ll be the best gift you’ll ever be able to receive.

Guest (Male): Lasting peace can be ours when we set our focus on God, trust Him with our circumstances, and surrender to Him. Dr. Stanley’s message today on In Touch encouraged you to take a moment to evaluate the center of your life. When Christ is first in your thoughts, you can experience His perfect peace. To learn more about the peace of God or find peace with God by trusting in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sin, visit our website intouch.org and follow the link to Today on Radio to go back over this message.

Connect to our online bookstore to order a copy of Dr. Stanley’s complete message, "Living in Lasting Peace." Again, log on to intouch.org or call or text us at 1-800-IN-TOUCH. To write to us, address your letter to In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357. Still to come, we’ll wrap up today’s discussion on living in lasting peace with a moment with Charles Stanley. That’s just ahead.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Let your time and your schedule and everything about you revolve around this: that you and I are to develop and continue to develop this ongoing, intimate, wonderful, exciting, satisfying, indescribable relationship with a personal God. Dr. Stanley devoted his entire life to helping us get closer to Jesus, as we all want to do. You can learn how at charlesstanleyinstitute.org.

Guest (Male): We’re not the first to seek a life of purpose. The Bible tells of many who followed a specific path step by step with courage and with surrender for a deeper purpose, a stronger passion, and a lasting peace. Introducing Your Path to Purpose, Passion, and Peace, a new 90-day devotional inspired by the timeless teaching of Dr. Charles Stanley. Available now at intouch.org/store.

You’re listening to In Touch. The Christian whose focus is right can live in the peace that surpasses all understanding. Here’s a moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: When you and I have our focus upon God, everything else looks different. So somebody says, "Well, sometimes things will hit you on the blind side suddenly without warning." Right. So what is our response to be? We may get knocked off balance for a few moments, but our first response should be once we come to grips with what’s happening, "Father, I’m looking to You. I know that You love me, that You have all power to handle my situations. You have all wisdom to know how to do it. You’ve promised to provide my every need. You’re my very life. I’m not going to worry about it."

You say, "Wait a minute, there’s no way you can do that." Well, let me ask you a question. He says the steadfast of mind He will keep in perfect peace. You see, when He says the steadfast, that means in this situation that we are facing, we set our mind and heart toward Him. God, You’re an all-wise God. You know all about my circumstances. You love me unconditionally. You’re going to work all things together for my good, that’s what You promised. You’re absolutely omniscient. You know all about it. Omnipotent, You have all things in Your hands. I’m going to trust You with it. Set our focus. And He didn’t say those who glance at Him, but those who focus on Him.

Now, for example, if you take a camera and you look through the lens and it’s not an autofocus, if it’s out of focus, everything looks sort of clouded and shaded and you think what’s this? But the more you turn the lens barrel, finally it becomes in perfect focus and everything is crystal clear. You can see the finest element in a plant or whatever it might be. It’s in perfect focus. Everything is very clear. You and I must learn to focus in on Almighty God until it’s clear—that is, set our mind upon Him.

Guest (Male): Learn more about the peace God promises His followers at intouch.org. If today’s program gave you renewed motivation to obey God, we’d love to hear from you. Tomorrow on In Touch, are you seeking the Lord? Wednesday’s program challenges us to mute the voice of the world and pursue God with all of our heart on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.