Dr. Charles Stanley: I want
to begin my message today
by an incident that happened
in my life many years ago.
And it turned out to be a
message that absolutely has
influenced me, impacted me,
encouraged me, helped me; and I
certainly hope this message will
do the same for you.
I was going to preach my first
sermon that evening, and my
mother knew that I was a little
uptight about it.
And so, I walked into my bedroom
and there she was with
an open Bible.
And so she and I began to talk
and she of course told me she
was going to be praying for me.
And then she said I want to give
you a verse of Scripture that
God has given me to tell you.
And so she showed me Joshua one,
nine.
And so when I read that I
thought to myself, "Well Lord,
what are You saying to me?"
"Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and of a good courage.
Fear not, neither be thou
dismayed; for the Lord thy God
is with thee whithersoever
thou goest."
So I remember tucking that in my
pocket because she had written
it on a little piece of paper,
and on my way to the church
which was about a block or so
from my house.
When I came to the corner where
the church was located, I pulled
out that little slip and read it
again.
I asked the Lord to please let
me memorize that verse.
"Have I not commanded you to be
strong and of a good courage;
fear not, neither be thou
dismayed for the Lord thy God is
with thee whithersoever you go."
And so, I look back over the
years and I can tell you this.
That verse of Scripture has been
like an anchor in my life.
Many times I have faced
many difficulties.
Sixty years in the ministry, and
yet, that verse is just as true
today as it was when she gave it
to me then.
So I ask you, do you have
an anchor verse in your life?
Is there something in your life
in the Bible that you keep going
back to when you find yourself
in difficulty and trouble?
Well, let me ask you
this as a parent.
Have you ever sat down with
your children and said to them,
I want to give you a passage
of Scripture or a verse of
Scripture that when you get in
trouble, or when you see trouble
coming, or when you're tempted,
when you're tried, when things
look tough, that you can always
go back to this particular
passage of Scripture.
I do believe that my mother set
me on the right path.
She anchored me to the truth of
the Word of God, never realizing
how many difficulties and
hardships and problems I would
face as a pastor.
But I can tell you for sixty
years, that verse of
Scripture--Joshua one, nine--has
been like an anchor to my soul.
Times when I didn't know what to
do next; times when I felt
persecution; times when I felt
so uneasy about things--Joshua
one, nine was like an anchor
to my soul.
Now I think about parents today.
Do you know what your children
are facing?
Whether they're in the first
grade or the twelfth grade or in
college; they're facing things
that you and I never faced.
Have you taken the time to sit
down with them and say, I want
to give you a passage of
Scripture.
I want to share with you
something that God has done
in my life.
I want to help you to understand
how to work through the
difficulties and hardships you
face as a teenager, as a college
student; and then into
adulthood.
Or have you been so busy as a
parent thinking, "Well, my son
or my daughter, they go
to church.
They hear the gospel.
They don't need to be preached
to by me."
I'm not talking about preaching
to them, I'm talking about being
a father or being a mother.
It doesn't make any difference
which one.
And I know in many homes, there
is no father, but you see,
my mother could have said that,
the same thing.
She could have said, "Well,
after all, I've never even
finished high school; and here
he is going to preach the gospel
and he'll be in college and
seminary."
My mother didn't think about
all of that.
She thought about one thing.
I was going to preach my first
sermon.
She knew that I was a little
frightened and she had one
goal: help me to realize that
God would be with me as
I preached that message.
When I walked away that night, I
walked away knowing in my heart
that I had done my best; that
I wasn't afraid; that God had
given me unusual courage.
And so, I think today, do you
take the time, or will you take
the time--especially in these
days when you parents have more
time with your children?
You don't have any excuse in the
world for not taking time with
your children; whether it's
giving them one verse or giving
them some experience that
you're had.
And I want to say this.
More important than the
experiences you've had is the
Word of God that has spoken
to your heart.
That's travelled with you
through difficulty, hardship,
and pain.
So, I want to emphasize that to
you because it's like an anchor
to your children.
Don't send your children into a
storm without giving them an
anchor from the Word of the
Living God.
But I think this passage of
Scripture is so important, I
want to begin reading.
"God spoke to him and said to
Joshua, 'No man will be able
to stand before you all the
days of your life."
Can you imagine what that meant
to him?
"Just as I've been with Moses,
I will be with you.
I will not fail you nor forsake
you."
Listen, "Be strong and
courageous, for you shall give
this people possession of the
land which I swore to their
fathers to give them.
Only be strong and very
courageous."
Because He knew that
he was going to be facing
difficult times.
And you and I can say the same
thing to our children.
Be strong and very courageous.
"Only be strong and
very courageous; be careful
to do according to all the law
which Moses, My servant
commanded you; do not turn from
it to the right or to the left,
so that you may have success
wherever you go."
Now people know what success
is today.
And I'm sure that Joshua
understood what it would mean
for him.
"This book of the law shall not
depart from your mouth, but you
shall meditate on it."
Think about it, pray over it,
read it again and again
and again.
"Meditate upon it day and night,
so that you may be careful to do
according to all that is written
in it; then you'll make your way
prosperous; then you'll have
success."
Look at that promise.
When you sink the Word of God
into your heart, when it becomes
a way of living with you,
what does he say?
Make your way prosperous and
then you'll have success.
You can go to school after
school after school with degree
after degree after degree that
will not match the impact of
those words.
Then you'll make your way
prosperous; then you will have
success.
And then he comes up with this
life-changing verse: "Have I not
commanded you, be strong and
courageous; do not tremble or be
dismayed; for the Lord your God
is with you wherever you go."
That verse of Scripture has
anchored me.
It will anchor you.
It will anchor your children and
I plead with you in
Jesus's name.
Do not send your children
into this warring, wicked,
violent society without
anchoring them to a verse or a
chapter--whatever it might be,
in the Word of God.
So, I think about all of this
and then think about how God
used that verse of Scripture in
my life, with my mom in future
days.
And so, I want to title this
message "A Formula for Courage."
Now, there are all kind of
books written on courage,
I'm sure.
But this one verse of Scripture
is more powerful than all the
other things you're going
to read.
I think it's that important.
Because look, it's sort of short
so that you can memorize
it easy.
"Have I not commanded you to be
strong and of a good courage?
Fear not, neither be thou
dismayed for the Lord thy God is
with thee whithersoever
thou goest."
That's it.
That's straight from God.
So, when I look at all of these
verses and see what God did in
the lives of His people.
I come to an incident that
happened in my own life.
And you'll recall with Joshua
that soon after these things
took place, God called him to
take down the walls of Jericho.
Now remember, he had all the
heritage of Moses, but now Moses
is dead.
It's just Joshua and his tribes
and Almighty God.
And so God has told him that He
wanted to give them Jericho.
And so what did he do?
He said, Now here's the formula.
Trust Me.
You're going to march your
troops around the walls of
Jericho six times, once a day.
On the seventh day, you're going
to march around it seven times.
You're going to blow those
trumpets and then you're going
to run like mad.
Now it doesn't say that, but
what it says is, "Those walls
are coming down.
You don't have to fight
to get in.
The walls are coming down."
And so what happened?
That's exactly what happened.
God began His ministry in the
life of Joshua with an awesome
miracle.
You say, "Well now, God doesn't
operate that way today, and so,
tell me something more
realistic."
Alright, I will.
There was a time in our church
when we were downtown and we
were buying up property behind
our church.
In that one block, we owned all
the property for a couple of
blocks or so around.
And then, on this one this
man--his name's Mr. Cuba,
fine gentleman.
He wouldn't sell his property.
I went to him twice; asked him
if he would sell, and I told
him, I said, "Mr. Cuba, you're a
fine man and we, we just want to
do God's work."
No, not going to sell.
So, one day, I don't know how
long it was after that, but we
had a normal prayer meeting on
Tuesday morning.
And so we were all praying down
on our knees and for some reason
I stood up a little bit and I
looked out the window and you
could see Mr. Cuba's property.
And I thought, Lord, we've
prayed and prayed and prayed and
nothing's happening.
And I've led these people to
pray, believe You're going to
answer our prayers, Lord,
why--what's going on?
I knelt back down and God said
to me, "What did God tell Joshua
to do?"
I thought, "Well Lord, they're
going to think I'm just out
of my mind."
He said, "No, march."
So when we got through praying
and I said to these
fellows--twelve men--I said,
"We're going to do what God told
Joshua to do.
We're going to march around
these walls, this particular
block, this particular area.
We're going to march around it
until God tells us he's going
to sell."
Well, I could see them sort of
snickering at each other.
I said, Okay, but we're going to
march whether you like it
or not.
And we're going to march and
pray and we're not going to
speak a single word.
We're going to march in silence,
all twelve of us, heat and cold,
whatever it might be, until God
tells me that's enough.
And so, we waited till the next
time we came to pray.
Instead of praying a long time,
we prayed a few minutes and then
we started marching.
We walked all around that block
and, every once in a while
somebody would say to us.
And I told them, "Don't tell
anybody what's going on."
Walk around the block and people
would say, "What are y'all
doing?"
We'd just nod.
And I remember a few times it
was very, very cold.
I'm sure they were getting a
little restless, and so I said,
"Well, Lord, we've done what You
told us to do."
I got a telephone call.
It was Mr. Cuba.
Mr. Cuba said, "Dr. Stanley, are
y'all still interested in this
piece of property?"
[laughing]
I said, "Well, maybe,
what have you got in mind?"
He gave us a price that was very
fair and I said, "Yes, we'll
take it."
I'm telling you that story to
simply say this:
He's still in the miraculous
business.
God is still working in our
behalf.
And He'll work in your behalf.
But listen carefully.
You just can't come out of
nowhere and not even reading the
Word of God very often and God
do that in your life.
You need to establish a habit
in your life.
And that habit needs to be
reading the Word of God.
That habit needs to be praying
and talking to God about your
needs or whatever the situation
is.
Whenever there's a need in your
family, what's the first
response?
Will you want to call somebody?
No.
The first response ought to be
to your family, "Let's talk to
God about this.
Let's seek His will about it.
Let's get on our knees, cut the
TV off, and let's just talk to
God about what He knows our
family needs."
You know what you'll do?
You'll establish in your
children this awesome habit of
coming to God, talking to Him,
listening to Him.
And what you're doing is you're
teaching them to trust God.
Can you tell me a finer lesson
to learn than to trust the Lord
God?
To believe He will meet all of
our needs.
And that's exactly what will
happen.
So, listen to this verse.
"Trust in the Lord with all your
heart; lean not to your own
understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge
Him; He will direct your path."
And then when He directs your
path, do exactly what He says.
You'll be amazed at what God
is doing.
So, when I think about that and
think about what's going on here
in Joshua's life.
Because you see, when you get
into the Word of God, here's
what's going to happen.
You're going to feel courageous
and bold.
You're going to feel freer about
coming to God in prayer and
asking God what you need to
ask Him.
And so, you say, "Well, why do
I hesitate?"
Well, you hesitate because you
don't have the courage.
The best way to build courage is
to read the Word of God, see
what He says, do what He says
and stand back and watch
Him work.
Because one of the enemies of
courage is criticism--fear of
what people are going to say.
They--and I'm sure some of those
men thought the same thing.
And likewise of fear of failure.
Well, suppose it doesn't work.
Well, you know what?
Everybody makes mistakes at
times, but that doesn't give you
an excuse for not trusting God
for the next thing He wants
you to do.
So when I look at this, I think
what are my enemies?
Fear of criticism, fear of
failure, fear of loss, fear of
discouragement.
But you know what?
That's the devil's way of
keeping you off your knees, out
of your prayer time, out of the
Word of God, out of
fear--suppose this, suppose
that, suppose the other, but on
the other hand, suppose He does
exactly what you ask Him to do.
And here I am years later giving
testimony of what He did in that
given incident.
And I can tell you many other
instances of God answering
prayer in the most miraculous
way.
And one of those would be, and
I'll make it brief, when the
Lord said to me one night, when
I'd been praying all week long
and feeling that God was
a thousand miles away.
And it came down to the night
before Easter and it was
11 o'clock and I had no sermon.
You say, "Well, you've preached
enough sermons; you could grab
one."
Listen, when God shuts you down,
there are no sermons.
And after I'd prayed and prayed
all week long and nothing
happened--no sermon--and it's
11:30 on Saturday night
and I'm asking God, "What are
You saying to me?"
And it's like the Lord said to
me, "You must never ask for
money on television.
You must always trust Me and let
Me decide how far and wide this
ministry is going."
Well, I thought, "Okay, Lord."
And I wrestled, not long,
I'd been wrestling all week.
I said, "Okay, God.
I'm going to leave it in
Your hands.
You decide how far and wide this
ministry goes.
But I'm going to trust You and
I'm never going to ask for
anything on the air."
Well, how has God answered
that prayer?
In that simple act of obedience?
By placing this ministry all
over the world.
Nobody can take credit.
God has supplied every need.
God has supplied every sermon.
God has supplied all the
ministry and all the--I think
about all the staff members--
everything that God
has supplied.
Where would we be if I would
have said, "God, mm-mm; it can't
grow unless we ask."
Watch this.
You see, sometimes God has to
get us in a corner.
And He had me in a corner.
It was the night before Easter
Sunday and I had no sermon and
11 o'clock was coming tomorrow
morning and what was I going
to do?
Well, when I said yes, I knew
what would happen.
The next morning, I stood up to
preach and God is my witness--
I had no sermon prepared.
I'd just had to lay them
all aside.
It flowed from me like I'd been
studying all week long on that
particular passage.
Don't ever, don't ever
underestimate what God is
willing to do in your life
if you'll trust Him.
It's simply trust Him.
So, when I think about that,
I think about somebody says,
"Well, there are going to be
disappointments in your life,
so what?"
When I think about this passage,
"Trust in the Lord with all your
heart; lean not to your own
understanding; in all of your
ways acknowledge Him; He will
direct your path."
He'll show you where to go,
what to do.
And so listen to this.
Our intimacy with God determines
the impact of our life
and ministry.
Listen, listen to that.
Our intimacy with Him.
That's the time we--that's the
time we spend praying; the time
we spend reading the Word of
God; pouring out our heart;
telling Him how we're feeling;
telling Him about our hurts;
confessing our sins;
acknowledging we need Him
desperately.
And so what?
Our intimacy with Him determines
the impact of our ministry.
What's that intimacy?
Being quiet, being alone,
reading His Word, memorizing the
Scripture, sharing Him with
other people, giving testimony
of what God is doing in
your life.
And a second one of those
principles, and that's
simply this:
God acts in behalf of those who
wait for Him.
And I can give you instance
after instance of exactly how
God has answered that.
He acts in our behalf.
Think about this.
He acted in behalf of Joshua
when it came to Jericho.
And what did He do?
He leveled the walls and gave
them victory.
You may not have that kind of a
situation in your life, but one
thing you can rest assured.
God knows where you are.
He knows what you need and He's
more than willing to meet that
need if you're willing to give
Him time, let Him cleanse your
heart, give you clear direction
for your life.
And you've heard me say this
often.
One of those principles that's
so important is fight your
battles on your knees; not with
other people, whatever the
situation may be.
Fight your battles on your
knees.
That is, when something comes
up, it may be a need in
your life.
It may be a need in your
children's life or husband or
wife.
It may be some difficulty you
have financially.
Where do you go first?
Fight your battles on your
knees.
That means your primary recourse
is prayer.
Being alone with God, in the
Word of God, asking for
direction and guidance and help.
What will He do?
Exactly what He says He'll do.
So watch this.
Fight your battles on your
knees--not with the devil,
not with other people.
That is, you go to God about
every single thing you face
in life and let Him settle it.
And sometimes you're going to be
grossly mistreated.
Sometimes you will not
understand why God allows
certain things to happen,
but that's okay.
If you and I go to Him, we fight
our battles on our knees.
That is, sometimes we may hurt
and we may hurt badly.
We may be disappointed, but one
thing for certain--God will not
disappoint us.
We may be disappointed about
something, but our Heavenly
Father is always there and we're
to remember: We fight our
battles on our knees, not with
other people.
He's never come up short.
And I can think about these
many, many, many years I've been
a Christian; God has never shown
to be short.
Sometimes that battle on your
knees may take a while.
It may be that God keeps us on
our knees in order to teach us
something--in order that we
might learn how He operates.
In order that we might learn how
consistent He is, how willing He
is, and what it is that He wants
to teach us.
There have been times when I've
had to learn a few lessons,
it took me a while.
But I can tell you this--
God never comes up short.
Never.
He will be true to Himself and
true to His Word.
And I look at these passages in
Joshua and all that God did
in his life.
And one of these principles in
the Word of God that I think
everybody needs to consider
very seriously.
You reap what you sow, more than
you sow, later than you sow.
This is why--listen
carefully--when you are spending
time with your family,
your children, you are sowing
wonderful seeds.
You'll sow--listen--you'll sow
whatever, but you're going to
reap what you sow, more than you
sow, later than you sow.
Do your children have any
particular principle that they
would repeat to one of their
friends that their mother or dad
taught them?
Think about all the things
you've given your children,
all the things you've told them.
Do they have any biblical
principles by which to turn to
when they're going through a
difficult time when they're not
at home?
When they're not where they can
talk to you.
You reap what you sow, more than
you sow, later than you sow.
And that's going to be true
so often in their lives.
Do they have anything that they
can go back to and say,
"Well, my dad used to say,
my mother taught me this."
Give them an anchor.
Enrich their lives.
Anchor their feet and their
minds and their eyes on the
Word of God.
So that when they're out there
all by themselves and they face
difficulties that you and I did
not even have to face,
they'll know where to turn.
And they'll know that their life
can be enriched by what God
is saying.
And I want to remind you
of this.
Adversity is God's bridge to
a deeper relationship with Him.
So listen carefully.
You should teach your children
this principle: that going
through difficulties and
hardship and pain and all the
rest, oftentimes it's like a
bridge to a whole treasure of
God's rich truth by which your
children will survive this
society.
God is so awesome.
He's so loving and so kind.
And as you've heard me say
oftentimes, disappointments are
inevitable, but discouragement
is a choice.
Disappointments are inevitable
in this society, but
discouragement is a choice.
So how will you respond to
all of this?
Will you trust Him no matter
what?
Will you turn your attention,
your minds and hearts toward
your family and remember you are
the one who is responsible to
teach your children those verses
of Scripture that become
an anchor in their life because
they're going to face storms.
Storms you and I have never
faced before--they're going to
face them.
You can anchor them with these
awesome, unchanging, dependable
principles from the Word of the
Living God.
And I look at Joshua, what he'd
learned from all the years he
watched Moses, listened to him
and then stepped out on his own
with the same God working in
his life that worked
in Moses's life.
And your children can look back
one day and think, "God, thank
You for my dad; thank You for my
mom, who enriched me, deepened
me, solidified me, anchored me
to the truth of the Word of God
that has helped me through this
storm that I'm going through."
That's my prayer.
And Father, how grateful we are
for this one event in the life
of these servants of Yours.
We pray now that the Holy Spirit
will impress upon every dad,
every mom how very,
very important it is to enrich,
to lock in these truths
to all those parents and
all those children who will be
watching today.
And that's my earnest plea, dear
Lord, in Jesus's name, amen.
