In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: One of the reasons that people cannot find the Lord's will and they do not get anything from God's word and they go in to pray and nothing happens, is because their heart is impure. Purity of heart is an overflow, an outcome, a reward and a result of sitting before the Lord if we really mean business before God.

Guest (Male): Could you use a word of encouragement from God? Maybe some clarity or divine guidance? The promise of scripture is that He is willing to instruct us if we position ourselves to receive from Him. Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, we continue the journey through Second Samuel to discover the importance of sitting before the Lord. Let us join Dr. Stanley for his message.

Dr. Charles Stanley: If you will turn to Second Samuel, chapter 7. If you will recall where we were last time. And we have gone through this passage as we looked at these first 10 chapters of Second Samuel to see the character qualities that are found in David, which is so beautiful. But there is one phrase in this seventh chapter, verse 18, which I think is probably, to me personally, such a beautiful thought.

Dr. Charles Stanley: It says in verse 18, "Then when King David came in and sat before the Lord." Now, that phrase is also found in First Chronicles, which also relates this same event here in his life. But let me tell you what is happening here, what is motivating David now to leave his house and go into the tabernacle and just sit before the Lord. Two things.

Dr. Charles Stanley: First of all, the prophet Nathan has said to him, "God has given me a message for you and this is it." And the second thing that motivated him was that David wanted to know what was meant by all that God had said to him through the prophet Nathan. Now, let me just say this to you. I made it a policy a long time ago and it works. When somebody comes to me and says, "Here is what I believe God has told me to tell you." I am here to tell you, brother, I am all ears. I always listen because I have been surprised in the past that what very clear, definite direction God gave me through somebody that I would not have expected it would have come that way.

Dr. Charles Stanley: So, when somebody says, "I believe God is telling me to tell you this," you must be very careful. But do not just toss that out and say, "Well, you know, says who, you are not as spiritual as I am or, you know, how do I know that God is telling you?" You do not know that. That is why you and I need to be very sensitive.

Dr. Charles Stanley: And the second thing here that I think is so important, all of us need a friend through whom God can deliver us a message when we need to hear from God. And if you do not have one of those, you ought to get one tonight. Now, it is not all that simple because you have to develop that kind of a relationship with somebody. But everybody needs that kind of a friend. And Nathan was David's very, very special friend. He was a prophet but he was his friend.

Dr. Charles Stanley: On this particular occasion he comes to him and gives him a word of direction from God. When you and I move over to chapter 10, chapter 11, 13, when David goes through one of those dark valleys in his life, it is the same prophet that said to him, "David, just do whatever God tells you, He is going to bless you." It is the same prophet and friend that said to David, "David, thou art the man." Which was a word of condemnation, a word of chastisement and a word that brought David to his face before God.

Dr. Charles Stanley: So, the thing that has motivated him now to leave his house and to go out into the tabernacle to wait upon the Lord is the message that he got from Nathan, which he needed to understand from God's viewpoint. Now, when you and I practice what he says right here, the Bible says that he sat before the Lord.

Dr. Charles Stanley: You and I ought to be able and willing and ready at times to do just that and that is to sit before the Lord. And what ought to motivate us ought to be the same thing that motivated him. That is, that he had gotten a message that he needed a very, very clear interpretation of. Or if you and I are in the process of making a decision in our life and we really do not know what to do next. Or if we are in a circumstance in our life and we do not really know what God is trying to say to us, we and we need to listen to him.

Dr. Charles Stanley: When he says that he sat before the Lord, it is the only time in the Bible that any saint of God is ever represented as sitting before God in prayer. Usually they are standing or they are kneeling or they are lying prostrate before the Lord. And the real truth of it is here, that it is not the posture here that is important in the first place.

Dr. Charles Stanley: When he says that he went in and sat before the Lord, the important thing is not that he sat. The important thing was that he took time to be with the Lord. And I can tell you this, that what God does in your life and my life in those times will be far more important than what He will do at other times. And what you and I will learn in those times will be unequaled. There is no comparison to what God will do in your life when you and I are sitting before the Lord.

Dr. Charles Stanley: But let us just look for just a moment to see what happened in David's life. "Then went King David in and he sat before the Lord and he said, 'Who am I, oh Lord God? What is my house that You have brought me hither to?' And this was yet a small thing in Thy side, oh Lord God, but You have spoken also by Your servant's house for a great while to come." He says, "Now You have been talking about what is going to come in the future. And is this the manner of man, oh Lord God? And what can David say more unto Thee for Thou, Lord God, knowest Thy servant? For Thy word's sake and according to Thine own heart, has Thou done all these things to make Thy servant know them."

Dr. Charles Stanley: Now, the first thing that happened when David sat before the Lord is that he had a little review of his past. He said, "Lord, who am I that You have brought me to this place? Who am I that You have brought me to this place?" And when you and I sit before the Lord, that is one thing we ought to do. We ought to look at the past. If you just go rushing in and say, "I am going to sit before God tonight and see what He has got to say. Now, Lord, You know about tomorrow." That is not it.

Dr. Charles Stanley: One of the things I think is such a beautiful example here is that first of all, we look at the past to see where God has brought us from. When you and I think about the things that God has brought us through, the things He has delivered us from, that in itself is very important to God to keep reminding us of how gracious and good He has been to us. So, first thing he reviewed his past. And I can imagine in reviewing his past, he thought about, he could still feel the shiver up and down his spine when he heard Saul's javelin pass his ear and stick into the wall. Not one time, but several times.

Dr. Charles Stanley: I am sure that as he sat there, he thought about how many battles he had been in and God had spared his life. I am sure he thought about the day he was crowned and his coronation as king of Israel. Knowing that he had to wait so very many years for God to do that. So, he reviewed his past.

Dr. Charles Stanley: The second thing he did was that he reflected upon God. Now, this is why I keep saying to you, you need to read the Psalms. Read the Psalms, read the Psalms, read the Psalms, read the Psalms, read the Psalms. Why in the world read the Psalms? Because you probably get the clearest, simplest, quickest view of what God is like and who He is by reading the Psalms. Because the Psalms are, in essence, for the most part, David's recollection, his recall, his experience, his pinning down what God was like as he saw him in the circumstance, the situation, the problems, the heartaches of his life.

Dr. Charles Stanley: And so often, we miss the joy of time with God because we do not take time to reflect upon Him. But reflecting upon our past is not to bring about guilt, to recall old sins, but it is rather to thank God and to praise Him where we have come from and secondly, to reflect upon God. To reflect, I believe, always upon three things about God. First of all, His grace, what He has done for us that we have not deserved. Secondly, His goodness, all the good things that God is in the process of sending into our life. And thirdly, His greatness.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Now listen, I do not care how far down in the dumps you happen to be or how far out in left field you may feel that you are, and how far removed from what you ought to be. If you will reflect, if you will concentrate, if you will ponder, if you will just focus on those three things. The grace of God in your life, your health, your strength, and all the rest. The goodness of God, what has He done for you all these years of your life? And then the greatness of God, I will tell you, you cannot get up off your knees and still be in the dumps. If you will think about His grace, His goodness and His greatness in your life. And that is exactly what he is doing in these verses here.

Dr. Charles Stanley: And then he did something else. He remembered the promises of God. Look if you will in verse 25. "And now, O Lord God, the word that Thou has spoken concerning Thy servant and concerning his house, establish it forever and do as Thou hast said." So, he is remembering the promise of God here. "And let Thy name be magnified forever in what you are doing for me, saying, 'The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel, and let the house of Thy servant David be established before Thee.' For Thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, You have revealed to Thy servant, saying, 'I will build Thee an house.' Therefore, has Thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto Thee. And now, O Lord God, Thou art that God, and Thy words be true, and Thou has promised this goodness unto Thy servant."

Dr. Charles Stanley: God wants to speak to you personally. And He will make us promises, not something that we conjure up and send up to see if we get His approval and bring it back. No, to say, "God, what are You saying to me?" And often times out of the clear blue, unexpectedly, God says, "Here is what I am going to do." That promise is coming true. If it is conditional, it will depend upon what you do. If you do it, God is going to keep His promise. Now, do not forget your part and say, "Well, Lord, You made me a promise. Why do not You get with it?" And He will say to you, "I am waiting for you to do what I told you was absolutely essential before I could meet this promise."

Dr. Charles Stanley: So, he remembered the promise that God had given to him concerning his privilege as far as building that house was concerned. He was not going to build it, but he got everything together and God gave him the pattern and the blueprint for building the temple of God.

Dr. Charles Stanley: And the fourth thing, when you and I go before the Lord, is he did here, he made a request. Verse 29. "Therefore now, let it please Thee to bless the house of Thy servant, that it may continue forever before Thee. For Thou, O Lord God, has spoken it, and with Thy blessing, let the house of Thy servant be blessed forever." And he was simply saying, "Now, I know that I will not be able to build it, but would You bless the house of the Lord and bless his family, my son and his family?" And what he was really saying here in these chapters and chapters thereafter, he is really talking about his family, Solomon, and in the years to come, that his kingdom would have no end. And it does not because the Bible says that Jesus Christ was the son of whom? The son of David and He has established the kingdom and His kingdom is forever.

Dr. Charles Stanley: And so, when David sat before the Lord, he did four things. First of all, he reflected upon his past life. He said, "You know Thy servant, my weaknesses, my strengths, my desires, the hungers, the thirst of my life." He reflected upon his past. Then he reflected upon God, who He was, His grace, His goodness, and His greatness. Then he remembered the promises that God had made to him. And you and I can recall the promises in the scripture and any particular one that God has labeled for our own personal life. And then to request before God, the things that we believe we have the right and the privilege to petition Him for.

Dr. Charles Stanley: And that may be a little idea of maybe four aspects of what you and I ought to do when we go before the Lord. I think all four of them are essential. Reflecting upon the past, recalling in our own hearts how great God is, His grace, His goodness, His mercy, all that He is in the process of doing for us. And then, remembering the promises He has given to us and then making that petition before Him. But we simply reviewed how David, having listened and having watched and having been very sensitive to those about him, knowing about Samuel, knowing about Saul, these years of experience. David understood the extreme value of being alone with God.

Dr. Charles Stanley: So, he learned something as he wandered through life, as he was directed through life, and sometimes as he fled for his own particular life. So, when you and I go before the Lord and are quiet before Him and listening to Him, what are the results of that? Let me give you three that I believe God always wants to be the result and the reward of our coming before Him and sitting before the Lord.

Dr. Charles Stanley: And the first one is this, He wants to give us a new perspective on things. Now, listen, you will not even see them as other Christians often times see them. You will be able, God will enlighten your mind and enlighten your heart and do something to your vision and clear your perspective on things. One always, I believe, one of the results of sitting before the Lord is getting a clear perspective on where you are, the things you are concerned about, what you are asking God about. You just get a whole different picture of things. You get a whole different picture. You just see things. It is like God opens your eyes and you are able to see what you could not see.

Dr. Charles Stanley: And the reason most people say, "Well, I read the Bible and I do not get anything." I can tell you one thing, that is the confession that you are not reading it in the right way. If you read the word of God, I can tell you how you are going to get something every single time, sooner or later it is coming. If you will get on your face before God and you will stay there, brother, these words, this black print is suddenly going to come alive in your heart. Because you see, sitting before the Lord unlocks the truth of God's word and you get a whole different perspective.

Dr. Charles Stanley: And I will tell you something else. I do not care how bad things are, you get a whole different perspective and that is what we were talking about a few moments ago about David. Reflecting upon his past, looking to God, focusing upon Him, seeing the promises of God, making His request, His viewpoint changes. And you see sometimes you will go in before the Lord and you will say, "Here, I have got to settle this thing with God." And when you come out of there, that was not even important. That is not even why you went in there. You thought you went in there for that reason, but you come in and say, "My goodness, I did not even intend to talk about this."

Dr. Charles Stanley: God opens your vision and helps you to see the real thing he was trying to say had nothing to do with what you thought was bothering you. One of the first awards is you get a whole clear perspective on things. The second thing is this, a purifying process takes place. Now, God wants our heart. Listen, not simply to be clean and good. He wants purity. He wants righteousness. He wants a cleansing process that goes to the uttermost part of our being and you and I are purified before God and that purification comes through confession and repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the application of His precious blood in our life.

Dr. Charles Stanley: He says, "Purify yourselves before God." And that does not mean that we make ourselves pure, but as I come before God seeking the purity of my heart. And you see, when I am pure in heart, I do not have to worry about anything else. I am going to see things from a whole different perspective. One of the reasons that people cannot find the Lord's will and they do not get anything from God's word and they go in to pray and nothing happens is because their heart is impure. Purity of heart is an overflow, an outcome, a reward and a result of sitting before the Lord if we really mean business before God.

Dr. Charles Stanley: And sometimes there will be a fiery process. Sometimes there will be a struggling process. Sometimes he says it will be like a hammer blow crushing our old stubborn will and breaking through the crust of our hypocrisy and getting down the inside of us and revealing to us what we had so well hidden. When we see it, we do not like it, but God wants to purify that.

Dr. Charles Stanley: And the third result of sitting before the Lord is power in your life. Power to overcome sin, power in your work with the Lord, power in your relationship to other people. Let me ask you a question. Think about this for a moment. If you will be real honest and maybe you do not know the answer, but I am going to tell you in just a moment. If you will think about it, how can we expect God to empower us? Reading the Bible? A lot of people read the Bible, but there is no power in their life.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Uh, winning people to Jesus Christ or sharing your faith? Well, most of that is the result of God's power in your life. What do we do that brings about an anointing, a power and authority in our life which God, I believe, wants in every single believer's life? You say, "Well, now, but little old me sitting back here, why does God want to give me any power?" Let me tell you something. If you are not willing to get your heart right with God and make yourself available to Him, you are right. Why should God empower you if you are not going to do anything?

Dr. Charles Stanley: But let me ask you something. If you want your life to count before God, listen, His power is available to every single believer if we will pay the price. And the price in essence is sitting before God, waiting before the Lord. But how many of you have said, "Oh, if God would just do so and so in my life." Let me tell you something, you are not waiting on Him. He is waiting on you. Now, let me ask you a question.

Dr. Charles Stanley: What are you willing to give to get God's perspective? So, what are you willing to do to get that? And secondly, what are you willing to do for God to purify and to keep your heart pure before Him? And thirdly, what are you willing to do in order that God would empower you with the Spirit of God in your work, in your witness, in your walk, in your conduct, in your behavior, in your relationship to other people, in your finances, in your service before God? What are you willing to do to have God's omnipotence, God's anointing in your life? What are you willing?

Dr. Charles Stanley: Let me ask you something, are you willing to float through your Christian life and saying, "Well, as long as I get by, do not commit this sin, do not get in trouble, do not get in jail, do not run around somebody else's wife and have enough finances and go to church and serve the Lord." I am willing. I want to tell you, God wants us to be everything He planned us to be. Let me ask you a question, what are you willing to give?

Dr. Charles Stanley: For God's perspective, God's purity, and God's power in your life. What are you willing to give?

Guest (Male): God is willing to give us guidance, strength, and encouragement. But the question posed in Dr. Stanley's message is, are we willing to be still enough to receive His instruction and then obey Him in the power of the Holy Spirit? We will hear more about the discipline of sitting before the Lord next time. And you can listen again by clicking on Today on Radio at intouch.org. If you would like to order a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message today, open our online bookstore. The title is Sitting Before the Lord. It is also included in our teaching set, Pursuing God's Heart. That is all at intouch.org. To call or text us, the number is simply 1-800-IN TOUCH. You can also write to us at In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia, 30357.

Guest (Male): Has this ever happened to you? You are trying to pray, but your brain is churning with a million things shouting for your attention. Well, listen for a practical tip coming up in today's moment with Charles Stanley.

Guest (Female): Does your prayer life need a jump start? With the In Touch 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-IN TOUCH or go to intouch.org/store.

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, wonderful, incomparable relationship with a personal God.

Guest (Male): Dr. Stanley devoted his entire life to helping us get closer to Jesus, as we all want to do. You can learn how at charlesstanley.org.

Guest (Male): From the Pastor's Heart is an in-depth teaching letter inspired by the teachings of Dr. Charles Stanley. To receive In Touch's From the Pastor's Heart letter, call 1-800-IN TOUCH or visit intouch.org/pastorsheart.

Guest (Male): You are listening to In Touch. How can you keep your mind from racing when you are trying to pray? With an idea for believers to consider, here is a moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: When you and I get quiet before the Lord, we are able then to listen to what He is saying. Now listen, sometimes you can be in total physical silence, but everything in you is roaring and you can hear it. I learned something else, not by accident, I am sure, but by God's grace. I learned that the thing that best stills me and brings me to silence quickest is taking about a five-minute nap in the process of sitting before the Lord.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Sometimes it may be longer than that. It may be 30 minutes. But here is what I have noticed, you try this. If you just decide, let us say for example, one night this week or tomorrow or sometime, you say, "Now, Lord, I really do need to get my relationship with You right. I really do want power and purity and your perspective in my life." And so, tonight I am just going to do that. And so you shut everything out and you get to a room by yourself and everything is just sort of quiet. And you are just sitting there before the Lord. And maybe just, you know, it is just cranking up. You are thinking about yesterday and tomorrow and you just cannot do anything about it.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Then if you will lie down prostrate before God and tell Him that you want Him to quieten your spirit, so that you can sit silently before Him. If you will just go to sleep for a few moments, when you wake up, it is just like you just wake up and it is you and God, just the two of you. He has quieted your insides. And you see, more important than the noise on the outside is the quietness on the inside.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Now, if you can arrange both, do it. But more important than the noise on the outside is the noise on the inside. You have got to get rid of that. And you have to do, you may have to work at that. You may have to practice that. But listen, if you want to hear God speak to your heart, you have got to be quiet and do not do all the talking.

Guest (Male): Stop by intouch.org to learn more about being still and seeking God. Next week on In Touch, we will hear more about what is involved in sitting before the Lord as our series on First and Second Samuel continues on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia and remains on the station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.