In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: God doesn't encourage us once in a while. Does not the Bible say He's the same yesterday, today, and forever? What He was yesterday, He is today. What He is today, He'll be tomorrow. What He'll be tomorrow, He is already. He is a God who is continuously, unendingly encouraging us. Now you say, if God is always encouraging us, why is it that I go through these difficult, trying times in my life when I just want to give up and quit? Because you don't run to Him, but you run to either something else or someone else.

Guest (Male): It's easy to keep a positive outlook when life is running smoothly. But when something goes wrong, do you feel lost, abandoned, even a little scared? Today's edition of In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, reminds believers that we don't have to let our emotions overwhelm us, because Jesus offers encouragement for the troubled heart. Let's listen in to Dr. Stanley's message.

Dr. Charles Stanley: It's interesting that the Apostle Paul had many descriptions of God. One of those, which is one of the most encouraging ones, is found in 2 Corinthians chapter 1. I want us to look at this passage because he describes God in this beginning passage in a way that I think all of us need to personally and intimately view God.

Beginning in verse 3 and reading through verse 11 of 2 Corinthians chapter 1, he says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort." Listen, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort." Now, that word comfort is the same word for encourager, comforter, helper, our paracletos.

"Who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer."

"And our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort." Then he relates something to them. He says, "For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively beyond our strength so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a peril of death and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope, and He will yet deliver us. You also joining in helping us through your prayers, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed upon us through the prayers of many."

In this passage, Paul sets the tone of this whole book, and that is strength through weakness. And what he is simply saying here in this third verse, as he ascribes to God the Father the ascription or the attribute of the God of all comfort. But there's a second thing I want you to notice in this passage, and this is where I want us to deal primarily, in that fourth verse, because there's so much wrapped up in that fourth verse about the way in which God encourages His children.

So, not only is He by nature an encourager, but He likewise tells us here how He does it. First of all, He says He does it personally. Notice, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us," that is, God assumes the responsibility of doing it. We've just said He sent the Holy Spirit, so we are indwelt by a person of the Trinity.

There are two primary ways that I believe all of us God intends to encourage us if we'd just take advantage of it. Now, let me ask you a question. When your pain is the most intense and the days are the darkest, if you could have anything in the world you want to encourage your heart, what would you want? Let me tell you something that should encourage you a little bit. The very thing you need the most, you have, but some of you don't know it.

You know how I would answer that question? In my most intense moments of overwhelming suffering and pain, you know what I want above everything else in the world? I want to be able to talk to my Heavenly Father and know that He's really listening to me and feeling what I feel, and I want to hear from Him. My friend, there isn't anything in the world like that.

There isn't anything in the world to match that. No drink will match it, no pill will match it, no counseling will match it. Think about this. If you, in the most difficult circumstances of your life, if you could have anything in the world you want, would you not want to be able to sit down just personally between you and God and just know that He's hearing exactly what you're saying, He's feeling exactly what you're feeling, and He's going to talk to you about it?

Because you see, He's the only one who is omnipotent, who can change the whole mess. He's the only one who's omniscient, who knows it backwards, forwards, inside, outside. He's the only one who's going to accept you just the way you are, no matter what kind of mess you've gotten yourself into. You can't find a better solution to encouragement than that, to sit down just between you and God the Father and know that He's hearing and feeling exactly what you're feeling. He's not going to blast you away. He's going to listen carefully and He's going to talk to you about it. Every single one of us has that privilege. Listen.

Your Bible ought to be a dated biographical sketch of your spiritual walk with God. That is, when you get into times of trouble and you don't know what to do next, and then He brings you to a passage and you say, "Dear Charles." And it looks like God has shut out the rest of the Bible and here it says, "You're My servant. I've chosen you, not rejected you. Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

Now, listen. When you and I are facing difficult times, the first step is to open what you already own. God has revealed Himself in this book, the Holy Bible. God gave us this book in order to speak to us personally. Written hundreds and hundreds of years ago, written to multitudes of people, to some specifically, but for all of us. And so here it is. He's God. He's our encourager.

And what is He saying in this passage of scripture? He says He's a personal encouragement. In the 119th Psalm, which primarily deals with the Word of God itself, listen to this verse. 119th Psalm, verse 50, "This is my comfort in my affliction, under my pressure, my harassment, my trouble, my sorrow, my heartache, my burden. This is my comfort in my affliction, that Thy Word has revived me."

Listen to that. "Thy Word has revived my drooping, dead spirit. Thy Word has revived me." That is the power of the living Word of God. That is reading the scriptures, asking God to speak to your heart. He says, listen, "The entrance of Thy Word giveth what?" The entrance of Thy Word giveth light. When you're in darkness, what do you need most of all but light?

He says when the Word of God comes into your spirit, you begin to search the Word of God. What happens? God begins to lighten the way. How many times have all of us, I'd like to hope all of us, been burdened down with burdens, heartaches, troubles, trials beyond what we could deal with, and on our face before God, bending down before Him, opening the Word of God, and here is this passage that God singles out to your spirit?

What happens? It revives your spirit. You get up and you say, "Thank God for speaking to my heart." Now, the circumstances haven't changed. The intensity of the pain is still there. The burdens are still there. Nothing's changed. But what's happened? Your spirit has been revived. The Spirit, the Holy Spirit, taking the Word of God, has done what?

He has, like a surgeon, implanted that truth in your life, and the Bible says the immediate effect is your spirit is revived. Your perspective changes, your focus moves from the persecution, the heartache, the burden, the sorrow, the trial to faith in an omnipotent, living, intimate, personal God who loves you right in the midst of your heartache and your suffering. He says He's a God who personally encourages us.

But look at that passage again, because it's all right here and it's sort of hidden, really, if you'll think about it. He says in verse 4, "Who comforts us," that is, God personally comforting us, "in all our affliction." Now, He personally comforts us in all our affliction. But here's a word I want you to notice that you wouldn't see if you didn't know the verb tense here.

When He says "who comforts us," comfort is a word in the present tense. It is the implication that it is continuous action that is continuously going on. God is continuously encouraging us. You see, God doesn't encourage us once in a while. Does not the Bible say He's the same yesterday, today, and forever? What He was yesterday, He is today. What He is today, He'll be tomorrow. What He'll be tomorrow, He is already.

So, we don't have to wait until God changes. God doesn't have to get any new information about any of us. He is a God who is continuously, unendingly encouraging us. Now you say, if God is always encouraging us, why is it that I go through these difficult, trying times in my life when I just want to give up and quit? Well, because you don't run to Him, but you run to either something else or someone else.

But what He wants us to see is when He says "who," it is personal. "Is comforting," it is continuous, unending. So that, here's what I want you to notice, any moment you're willing to turn to Him for comfort, in that moment He is willing to do what He promised to do through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, and that is to comfort, to encourage your heart, to remind you that He's standing right there and He's capable of seeing you through it, no matter what happens.

Then notice the next word, "who comforts us in all our affliction." God is not picky. God does not say, "Well, now I'm going to help you through your marriage and I'm going to help you through your job, but I'm not helping in your finances. You got yourself in that mess, now you handle that one." That's not the way God operates. "Who encourage us in all our affliction." In all of our pressures, in all of our times when we feel broken and overwhelmed and overburdened. He says in every one of them.

You say, "But where was God when...?" Right where He's always been. "But you don't know what I was suffering." God knew all about it. He says in every affliction, He's there to comfort us. And He's continuously available to do it. He says in every affliction, "in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."

Twofold purpose is this: not only to encourage us, but to build into our life the qualities that make us an encouragement to someone else. Can you name one person, just one, to whom you are a great encourager? I mean, is there someone, when they get in trouble, you're the first fellow they call, first lady they call? Would you consider yourself an encourager?

Or my friend, are you so wrapped up in your own...? Somebody says, "Well, I'll tell you, I've got so many troubles and so many heartaches and so many burdens, I surely don't have time for anybody else." Well, my friend, if you want to get out of the mess you're in, if you'll just step out of your own self-pity for just a moment and offer a helping, encouraging, loving, comforting hand to someone else, you'd be absolutely surprised what happened to the pressure. It'd be like somebody stuck a pin in a balloon; your pressure goes down when you begin to pour your life into somebody else's life.

He says one of the reasons is not only to comfort us, but that we in turn may become encouragers to other people. Now, my friend, God by His very nature is an encourager. The Holy Spirit is there to encourage us. We have folks around us who are sensitive to be encouragers. So, I want to ask you, have you isolated your life? Have you separated yourself? Are you too proud to admit that you need help, that you need encouragement?

That life has dealt you what you feel is an unjust blow? Are you just about to wrap it up? Have you been contemplating ways of taking your life? Have you decided that it's best to end it all? And some of you who may be teenagers, think about this, my friend. You're 16 years of age, 17, 14, 21, and you want to end life when you may have 60 more years to live. You mean you want to end it all because you're discouraged over your pregnancy?

You've had an abortion and your guilt is absolutely wiping you out? You've committed sin that's absolutely overwhelmed you? You've wrecked your life and somebody else's life? You see no reason for living at all? Your parents hate you, they've thrown you away? You've run away from home? You're stuck on drugs? You can't get out? Your moral life is deteriorated and you think, why go on? I want to give you one good reason for going on.

And His name is Jesus. It doesn't make any difference how far down you're stuck; He can pull you out. It doesn't make any difference how many pieces you've shattered your life into; He has the most fantastic, marvelous, mysterious, omnipotent way of putting it together in the most perfect and complete design. Now, you say, "But I'm not a Christian." Well, let's start with that.

Because you see, if God's going to rescue you, you have to start with His Son, Jesus. The Bible says that His Son, Jesus Christ, went to the cross and died for your sin and mine. The moment you're willing to ask the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins, the moment you're willing to surrender your life and your mess to Him, and the moment you're willing to receive Him, to accept Him as your Savior, in that moment your sins are forgiven. In that moment, your mess begins to get straightened out.

In that moment you begin to experience the forgiveness of a loving Father. And in that moment the Holy Spirit comes into your life and He begins to sift through, and He's the one who begins to put it all together again for you to make your life worth living. Cry out to the Lord Jesus, and you may simply pray this prayer: "Oh, Lord Jesus, help me. Show me the truth. Lord Jesus, forgive me of my sins. I receive You as my Savior. I need You."

You may say, "Well, what's God going to think if here I am at this point in my life, the only time I've ever called on Him is when I need Him?" You want me to tell you something? All of us have done it. That's how we got saved. We all got saved the same way. In moments of desperation, young and old, we said, "Oh, God, I need You." That's the first step to putting the pieces back together.

So, I want to encourage you to pray that simple prayer asking the Lord Jesus to be your Savior. And then if you are saved and you're facing that overwhelming trouble in your heart, if you'll just remember that He's your comforter, He's your encourager, always there, ready. Get into His Word, cry out to him, allow Him to speak to your heart, and then believe what He says.

Whatever God gives you an impression to do, do it with all of your heart. That's a step out of the muck and mire of a ruined life, and it's a step to a brand-new beginning. I want to encourage you, my friend, because I know you're hurting and I know some of you have already contemplated ending it all. But I want to tell you, there is someone who is always willing to reach down. He's willing to take you in a loving grip and He will pull you out of what you got yourself into, into a life that you'd never dream of until you experience it by grace.

Lord Jesus, how sweet You are. Forgiving, loving, kind, sensitive, helpful, encouraging. And I want to pray for multitudes of people who may be listening who so desperately need to know and to be reminded that You really do care, that You really are concerned, that You will act in their behalf; that all You're waiting for is the request.

I pray for those who need to be saved, that they'd pray that simple prayer: "Lord Jesus, forgive me of my sins. I receive You as my personal Savior and surrender my life to You today." I pray for those who are hurting by the millions, Father, that You would comfort, that You would encourage them, that You would turn their focus to Your Word and to You. We love You, Father, for loving us. How often You've comforted all of us. Teach us how to be comforters, encouragers to others is my prayer today in Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Male): If what you're facing seems overwhelming, take Dr. Stanley's message to heart. Look to God for comfort and a renewed perspective. He offers encouragement to those who humbly seek Him. Find biblical guidelines that can help you pursue the Lord at our website, intouch.org, and follow the link to "Today on Radio" to hear this message again.

And connect to our online bookstore there to order a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message, "Encouragement for the Troubled Heart." Find these resources and a whole lot more at intouch.org. Or call or text us, 1-800-INTOUCH. And to write, you can address your letter to In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357. And once again our toll-free number, 1-800-INTOUCH.

Sometimes God uses other people to encourage us. Well, let's hear a story about that coming up in today's moment with Charles Stanley.

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Guest (Male): You don't need to be perfect to be a man of God. But with just a little encouragement and some time and attention, you can be a patient example, a generous leader, a joyful provider. In his book, "Man of God," Dr. Charles Stanley looks at what it takes to grow into a man after God's own heart. Order your copy at intouch.org or 1-800-INTOUCH.

Guest (Male): You're listening to In Touch. God reassures believers in many different ways. Here's a moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: I went to see a fellow this week. I didn't know he knew anything at all about me. I went into his business and we chatted a few minutes. He excused himself from two or three other customers. He said, "Would you come back here for just a moment?" Took me back into a back room. He said, "I was praying this morning, and God brought this passage of scripture to my heart." He says, "I read it in Ecclesiastes. I read it and I read it and I thought, God, what are You trying to say to me?" He said God said, "This is not for you, this is for Dr. Stanley."

Now, he didn't even know he's going to see me. He thought, "That's strange. He's going to think I'm a fool calling him up and telling him, let me tell you what God told me about you today." He said to me, "Does that say anything to you at all?" It's one of those passages, "Dear Charles." Did you know the Bible is full of "Dear You"? It's all the way through there.

Now God uses other people to encourage our heart. He says, he began to apologize. I said, "Whatever you want to tell me, don't apologize, just tell me." So he fumbled around a little bit and he said, and then he began to tell me how God had placed that passage on his heart and that God showed it, it was for me. And he said, "When you walked in I was absolutely flabbergasted." Now he should have said, "Well, thank You, Lord, I knew he's coming." That's what he should have thought.

But see we're all human. We hear God speak to us in His own way, and then we are amazed at what He does.

Guest (Male): Learn more about recognizing God as your encourager at intouch.org. Is there someone who needs the truth that you just heard today? Share it with them and then tell us what happened. When In Touch returns, one day our earthly life will be over. What happens next? Learn the basics of what it means to have eternal life when we return to 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.