It’s hard to find moments of quiet in a world that is so loud. But when we tune out the blaring televisions and beeping phones and every other diverting noise, we find a refuge in God. He is always there, waiting for us with the comfort of a listening ear, the wisest of words, and the most loving of hearts. For more messages from Charles Stanley, including this week’s broadcast, go to www.intouch.org/watch
Dr. Charles Stanley: When you
think about what is most
important in your life,
I’d ask you this:
Can you spend it?
Do you have to save it?
Can you wear it?
Can you drive it?
Can you go there?
What’s the most important
thing in your life?
Well, I want to answer
that question.
The most important aspect of
your life is your personal
relationship to Jesus Christ.
That’s most important of all.
Nothing as important as that.
Because your relationship to Him
will determine everything else
in your life.
And when we talk about that, the
whole issue is how much time do
we spend with Him and we call
that meditating upon the
Lord–meditating upon the Word
of God–which means shutting
everything else out, thinking
about what He’s saying to us,
listening carefully and then
deciding whether to be obedient
to Him or not.
And meditation is what
that’s all about.
And, in this particular
passage, I’m just going to read
a couple of verses because we
have talked about it before.
In Second Samuel, the seventh
chapter, eighteenth verse,
the Scripture says, “Then
David,” having listened to
Nathan, the prophet,
“Then David the king went in and
sat down before the Lord, and he
said, ‘Who am I, O Lord God, and
what is my house, that You
have brought thus far?’
And yet this was insignificant
in Your eyes, O Lord God,
for You have spoken
also of the house of
Your servant concerning
the distant future.
And this is the custom
of man, O Lord God!'”
Here is David sitting
before the Lord and listening,
thinking about what
God is saying to him.
And the prophet has spoken
to him and now he has
to sort of digest all
that he’s heard.
So, what I want to talk about is
the time you spend with
Almighty God.
We call it meditation.
And if you’ll think about it,
spending time with the Lord is
the most important time you
spend any given day.
Watch this.
You are talking to God who
created everything that is,
who has all power.
He’s to be found everywhere.
He loves you unconditionally,
whether you love Him or not.
He’s this awesome,
indescribable, all-sufficient,
eternal Heavenly Father.
And His desire is that you and
I fellowship with Him–that we
spend time with Him.
And when we think about the idea
of meditation, we think in terms
of shutting everything else out
and thinking only of Him and
allowing Him to work
in our life.
It’s the most important activity
in any person’s daily life.
Because the person to whom you
are spending time with and
giving attention to has absolute
control of your life.
He’s the source of everything
you have, everything you will
have, and He’s the source
of your eternity.
There’s nothing you and I do in
a given day equal to or more
important than the time we spend
with the Lord, and we call that
meditation, spending time
alone with God.
And in this day and time,
that’s not easy, because
the television blares.
Radio blares, music,
you name it.
It’s hard to be quiet in
a world that is so loud.
But God says we’re to
spend time with Him.
And the Scripture says in this
particular passage that David,
the King went in and
sat before the Lord.
And then he asked the question
and he and God began to speak.
Meditation is that time when you
and I get alone with Him, asking
Him whatever we need to ask,
telling Him whatever we need to
tell Him, searching our hearts,
seeking His will and His purpose
and plan for our life.
He’s committed, God, Holy God,
is committed to answering all
those questions if we’re willing
to position ourselves
to listen to Him.
Which means if I come to Him,
I need to ask my sins be
forgiven through the blood of
Jesus, and yield myself to Him,
and come with a receptive mind.
Not with a heart or mind that
decides whether I will receive
this or not, but whatever God
says I am positioned to do,
to listen to and to obey
whatever that is.
Most important activity in my
life, your life as our time of
fellowship with Him, listening
to Him, and deciding in our
hearts will we obey
Him or not?
And somebody says, “Well,
when do we do all that?”
That’s the priority that is
demanded of us if we’re going
to be real true
followers of Jesus.
Private, personal meditation.
So, when I think about that and
I think about oftentimes
we think in terms of meditation
of people sitting in some place
with their arms a certain way
or whatever it might be–no.
We’re talking about you and God
in the privacy of your home
or wherever it may be where you
and He talk and you talk
and you be quiet.
And you listen carefully, and
God is willing to speak to you.
You say, “Well, I’ve never
heard God speak.”
Probably because you’ve
never listened.
Or, you say, “I’ve listened
and I didn’t hear anything.”
Probably because you were in
such a relationship with Him,
the first thing He’s going
to say is let’s deal
with your sin first.
So, when we think about
meditation, it begins with
a clean heart–of confession of
sin and being sure that our
heart is right and that we’re,
we’re willing to hear what
He has to say.
If I begin unwilling to hear
Him, He’s not going to say
anything and He knows whether
we’re willing or not.
So, as you think about in your
own mind and heart, “Have I ever
had time just meditating
upon the Lord?
Yes, you have but I don’t know
how you spent the time.
First of all, it demands time
a specific period of time.
Not how particularly long it is,
but some segment of time when
you and God are alone.
You say, “But I’m married.”
Mn-mn-mn–no.
All of us need private time
with the Lord.
And so, when is the last time
you set aside ten minutes,
fifteen minutes, thirty minutes
or whatever it might be and all
you wanted to do was
hear from God.
You wanted to hear
what He has to say.
He says, “Ask and it shall be
given you, seek and you shall
find,” which is part
of a verse.
And in essence it means that
He’s will to listen to whatever
you have to say, whatever
you have to ask for.
When is the last time you gave
Him time to hear you, or the
last time you came to Him
for something specifically?
When is the last time you came
to Him when you weren’t asking
for anything?
You just wanted to be
in His presence.
You wanted to sense His
presence, be aware as much
as with a husband and a wife,
being aware of one another.
That’s what this is all about.
And when the Bible speaks of it,
oftentimes we think in terms of
Old Testament characters all the
way back from Adam to Abraham to
Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses,
to Joshua and David and Daniel
and so forth–some of them
imprisoned because of their
relationship to the Father.
Today, you and I have the
privilege of fellowshipping
with God whenever we choose;
it’s the most important activity
in your life any time of any day
anywhere, no matter what–
the most important.
How do I know that?
First of all, Jesus got up early
in the mornings and hid Himself
from His disciples so that he
could spend time talking to His
Heavenly Father.
Why did God the Son get up
early to talk to the Father?
Because He understood fully what
meditation was all about–
listening carefully.
His ears opened to hear all that
the Father would say to Him.
And that kind of meditation is
the same kind of meditation He
wants for all of us–all of us
who are His children.
And that’s what He
desires for us.
A relationship, a fellowship in
which we shut out everything
else and spend time with Him.
You can’t have meditation with
the Lord with the TV blasting or
the radio, or in the
middle of something else.
You can’t do that and something.
You can do that or something.
And so, ask yourself
the question,
and let’s just be honest.
Just think not of a sermon,
but of a relationship now.
When is the last time you set
aside time and just said,
“Lord, I just want to
spend time with You.
I don’t particularly have
anything I want to say to You.
Or, Lord, I had a lot of things
I want to say, but I just want
to be You and me.
And I know You’ll listen and
Lord, I’m listening because
You said if I ask it
will be given to me.
And I’m asking for some answers.
I need some situations
in my life corrected.
Lord, so I just want to
think and let You speak
to my heart quietly.”
When is the last time you gave
Him time just to do that?
Probably because, not that you
were too busy, probably because
either you didn’t expect Him to
show up and listen, or probably
because you didn’t expect Him
to show up and say anything
in return; therefore, you
would have wasted your time.
But meditation is a precious
God-given opportunity to talk
and listen to your Heavenly
Father who is the sovereign God
of this universe.
Who is willing to listen to you
and to speak to you and to
answer your prayers, and to give
you guidance and direction,
and to take away your fears, and
supply every one of your needs.
That’s who He is.
And so, it requires time–
a segment of time that you
set aside.
If you–listen–if you don’t set
it aside, if you don’t choose
it, if you don’t put it on the
calendar or how you keep your
schedule, if you don’t, let me
tell you who will.
The devil will fill your time so
that there’s no time for God.
He may fill it with somebody.
He may fill it with television,
radio or whatever it might be.
You say, “Well, I have
to go to work.”
We’re not talking about working
days–that’s only eight hours
a day.
There are sixteen more.
So, there is no excuse for time.
We have time to
fellowship with Him.
We have time to love Him
and express our love and
devotion to Him.
We have time to listen carefully
and we have time to search the
Word, read the Word, and be
sure we’re hearing Him.
Somebody says, “Well, how do
I know I’m hearing from God?”
Here’s the way you’ll know.
Whatever you hear from Him will
be no contradiction to the
Word of God–no contradiction.
He’s only going to say
to us what fits what
He’s already said.
And so, it takes time
to listen to Him.
Secondly, it takes–listen–not
only takes time but stillness.
You can’t do, this
and something else.
Watch this.
We’re talking about time
that you value so highly
that it has no competition
in your life.
We’re talking about Almighty God
and you together privately,
just the two of you.
You say, “Well, God
hasn’t spoken to me.”
You probably haven’t been
listening.
Meditation is hearing,
listening, on purpose with
a sense of direction in your
life that you want to know
what He says.
He says, “Be still and know
that I am God.”
“Cease striving,” He says,
so we can concentrate.
And that leads me to the third
word and that’s seclusion.
Listen, He wants us,
He wants us by Himself.
If you are married, you do not
want your wife never to be alone
with you.
Or your husband,
or your children.
And so, you set aside time to be
sure you have time with them.
And so, that’s precious time.
Time that you’ve set aside
just to do what?
To hear them out.
To receive their love and to
express your love to them and
to hear their needs–just
the two of you.
Fellowshipping with the Lord,
listening to Him is the most
precious time in our life.
It’s the time when God says His
most to us, the clearest to us,
the most powerfully to us,
if we’ll listen.
But, some people can’t be
alone very long.
And so, when you talk about
getting alone with God,
they don’t know what that means.
It means what exactly
what it says.
Jesus got up early before dawn
and went away to be alone
with the Father.
If Jesus felt the need to be
alone with His Father, do
and should we not feel the same
sense of need to be alone
with our Heavenly Father?
And think about this as a dad.
You know when your children
feel the need of you.
They hug you, they grab you
around the leg or at sixteen
they sit down and listen to you
carefully because they want your
undivided attention.
How many times has your child
said to you, “Ah, Dad,
you’re not listening.
Mom, you’re not listening.”
They can tell when
you’re listening.
God can tell when
you’re listening.
And just as a godly parent knows
how to speak to his or her
children and the children know
how to listen, and they know
whether we’ve been listening
or not, God knows whether
we’re listening or not.
You can’t meditate upon the Lord
and listen or do something
that’s–and do something else.
It’s time He wants
alone with you.
To hear–listen–why does He,
think about this.
Why does He want time
alone with you?
He wants to hear your heart.
Does He already know your heart?
Yes, He does.
He wants you to speak it,
you to say it, you to share it,
you to pour out your heart.
He wants you to feel like and
know that you’ve been listened
to, and that He’s going to do
something about it, whatever it
might be.
So, it’s more than just
listening, but listening
and receiving.
Listen.
Meditation is a priority,
it’s a powerful priority.
It’s you and God.
Everything else is set aside.
The Holy–watch this–
the Holy Spirit who is
within you will enable you to
shut your mind out to everything
else, so that you can
concentrate on Him.
And hear Him, listen to Him,
because He has something
to say to you.
That’s why we have to set aside
time where we have devoted
ourselves to hear
what God has to say.
And oftentimes, the best way to
do that is to start with reading
a passage of Scripture.
If whatever how busy you’ve
been, to get your mind in
the direction of the Lord God.
And I would say this.
It’s in those times we fight
our greatest battles.
And I can think about battles
that I’ve fought–spiritual
battles, big time battles,
battles that involved lots
and lots and lots of people.
But to be able to get
alone with God.
And at one time in my life,
I was a president
of our denomination.
And in the big battles we had,
over fifty-thousand people
there voting, the most precious
time of it all was what?
Being alone with Almighty God
and knowing in my heart,
God, there are fifty thousand of
them, but there’s me and then
there’s You and me, which makes
all the difference in the world.
Which takes away all fear,
all apprehension.
And you find yourself absolutely
capable of doing whatever needs
to be done.
When you spend time with Him,
He infuses within your being
what you need:
courage, strength, know-how,
what to do, what not to do,
what to say, what not to say,
where to go,
where not to go.
That is, meditation is
not a one-way street.
It goes two ways.
We listen to Him,
He listens to us.
We speak to Him,
He speaks to us.
We have no other relationship in
life to equal the awesome
fantastic power of
that relationship.
We call it meditation,
because that’s what it is.
And He’s willing if
we’re willing.
Then of course, there’s silence.
It takes time to be quiet.
When is the last time you
knelt before the Lord?
And said, “Lord, I just want to
be quiet and I want to hear what
You have to say.
And sometimes you
have to say that.
Lord, I just want to be quiet.
A lot of things to listen to,
Lord, but I want You to
just shut it out of my mind.
Does it happen immediately?
No.
It depends upon how busy we are.
When you ask God to silence your
mind from speaking–that you
just want the two of you–
He will do an amazing thing.
You will be able to shut
everything else out.
And the reason He’s willing to
help you get rid of all of that,
because that means He’s
able to get to you all
that He has to say to you.
Silence is important.
Many people cannot be quiet.
They cannot be quiet.
That’s why when they walk in
the house they turn on the TV.
Or they turn on the radio.
Or they start talking,
whatever it might be.
Does God–I ask you
this question:
Does God ever have any time
with you where there’s
no other sound?
No talking, just you
and Almighty God.
You will be shocked at how
beautifully and clearly God is
willing to speak to you if
you’ll be quiet and just listen.
Just be quiet and listen.
Some people can’t be quiet.
There’s something going on in a
person’s life that they have to
have the radio, have to have
music, have to have people,
have to have this, have to have
talking, talking, talking,
talking, talking, when Holy God
who has all power to give you
all the peace and the joy and
the happiness that you desire
in life if you listen to Him and
you have to turn on something
to do what?
To fill it–watch this–what is
it in you that you are trying
to fill up?
Why do you have to have music
or sound or voices?
Why can’t you walk in and
sit down or lie down or whatever
and just listen to Him?
Lord, quieten my spirit.
Will He answer that prayer?
Yes, He will.
Quieten my spirit, God.
So that whatever you have
to say to me, I can hear You.
I don’t want to miss anything,
Lord, that You have to say.
Is God willing to speak to you?
Yes, He is.
You say, “But I haven’t been
a Christian very long.”
It doesn’t make any difference.
Holy God is willing to listen to
you and speak to you and answer
your prayers and meet your needs
if you are willing to give Him
the time and be quiet and
just listen to Him.
Because oftentimes people pray
and soon as they finish saying
all they want to say,
what do they do?
They get up and walk off.
I wonder how many times holy,
loving, gracious, good God has
had something good He wanted
to say to you and you
didn’t hear it.
I wonder how many times we’ve
missed God’s best in our life
because we’ve not given
Him the time to tell us
what He wanted to do.
Meditation is quietness
with a listening heart,
an obedient heart,
a receptive heart.
God, what do You want to say?
I’m listening.
And so being quiet, for example,
listen to this.
My soul–watch this–“My soul
waits in silence for God only,
from Him is my salvation.
He only is my rock and
my salvation, my stronghold.
I shall not be shaken.”
He only.
Think about being quiet.
And then, self-control.
If you’re going to meditate upon
the Lord, give Him time with
you, there must be, you must be
self-controlled because listen.
Surely if you kneel to pray,
the telephone will ring.
I guarantee you.
Or, something will happen
to get your attention.
Watch this carefully.
To meditate upon the Lord
Jesus Christ, upon Almighty God
and the Holy Spirit, you
have to take control of
your environment.
That may sound simple
but it’s not simple.
If you think about your
household, or maybe you live
alone and you don’t have
any problem with that.
Self-control.
In other words, if phone rings,
you don’t have to answer it.
If God had a particular ring
when He wanted to get your
attention, would
you answer that?
Well, three of you would.
Yes, you would.
Well, there are times when
God wants our attention.
He doesn’t want us talking
to anybody else,
listening to anybody else.
He just wants us all to Himself
and that’s something we
have to control.
We have to decide if He’s
first and foremost.
We–watch this.
We have to decide if we think,
if we think that God has
something important enough to
say, that He wants us to listen
to Him and Him only.
Imagine the blessings we’ve
missed because we didn’t take
time to listen.
Imagine that situations and
circumstances people have gotten
themselves into they didn’t
intend to because they didn’t
listen to God.
He’s more than happy, more than
willing, more than we could
possibly imagine, but He needs
time with us because He wants us
to be obedient to Him for our
good–not for His good,
for our good.
He wants a listening heart
for our good.
He wants a listening heart
because He’s planned
the best for us.
And I wonder how many times
we’ve missed the very thing
in life we’ve wanted if we
had only listened to Him.
And then, of course, there is
submission to His will.
Whatever He says, His desire
is that we commit ourselves
to do it.
Maybe it’s to clear up
some conflict you have
with somebody else.
Maybe it’s to share your
testimony with someone else.
Whatever God requires of you,
and most of the time I believe,
not always, in your time with
the Lord, He’s going to have
something for you to do.
It may be something for you to
do just between you and Him.
Or it may be something you
need to do between you
and somebody else.
And, one thing for certain,
if you’re meditating upon the
Word of God and your fellowship
with Him is not right because
of jealousy, envy, or strife,
He’s going to bring it up
at some point.
And so, when you say,
“Well, I don’t want to think
about that, that’s not
what I’m knelt for, Lord.”
No, God wants to clean us up so
we can hear for, from Him and
hear from Him very personally.
I’m simply saying, this
is the most important thing
in your life barring none.
Not second–first.
And–watch this, it affects
other people because whatever
God does in your life, it will
bounce off, it will reflect on
to somebody else and they may
say, “Well, you seem to have
an awesome sense of peace about
what you’re going through.”
Yes, I do, and
here’s the reason.
All of us have a silent
witness and all of us have
an audible witness.
Somebody’s listening, somebody’s
watching how we live our life.
Not purposely,
but it’s just there.
So, Jesus said it was so
important to Him in order
for Him to do what the Father
called Him to do, He had to
get up early in the morning
before the disciples could find
Him with their list of things
He ought to do.
And that’s sort of the way it
for us, is it not?
Somebody has a list for us.
God has a list and on the top of
it is time we spend alone with
Him, listening, talking,
meditating, just thinking
through all the things that
are so very necessary.
Then, sensitivity; that is,
I have to be sensitive
to what God says.
And that’s why the Holy Spirit
who lives within us will
make us sensitive.
That He’s the one who will bring
it to our mind.
He’s the one who interprets what
God is saying to us in our quiet
time, whether you spend ten
minutes or twenty minutes,
or whether you spend an hour.
It’s the same Holy Spirit who
indwells us and seals us as
a child of God who also
interprets God’s Word to us
as we’re listening.
And He doesn’t say the same
thing to everybody.
Think about how awesome God is.
Of the billions and billions of
people in the world, Holy God
can speak to every single
individual according
to that individual’s need.
Is that absolutely beyond
human comprehension?
Yes, it is.
But we’re not talking about
human, we’re talking about God.
And being so capable and
powerful to be able to know
and to be able to do what is
good in every person’s life,
think about your Heavenly Father
loves you enough that He deals
with you on a person
to person basis.
God will never say to you,
“I’m sorry I’m busy.
I’ve got so and so here.”
No, He’s a Heavenly Father who’s
listening in order to work in
your life, to meet your needs,
to give you guidance and
direction and more than that, to
conform you to His likeness.
Think about this, He
says–watch this carefully–
He predestined us.
He predetermined.
He set as His goal to conform us
to His likeness in character,
in our actions, in our
attitudes, what we do, how we
look at things, how we see
things, how we spend our time.
He’s predestined us.
And so, if He’s going to
accomplish His purpose,
He needs time in our thinking,
in our feeling.
An awesome God who loves us
enough to willingly spend time
with us in order to help us
to become the persons God
wants us to be.
So, when you think about
meditation, think about it in
this light, it’s my time to have
a conversation with God.
Think about this, think about
people who don’t believe in God,
how empty their life is.
No matter who they’re married to
and how much money they have,
where they go, and what kind of
popularity and what kind of
reputation they have,
it’s empty.
This is why they get into all
kind of trouble, all kind of
marriages, all kind of sexual
deals, drunkenness and drugs,
and all their things.
There’s only person who
can satisfy your life
and that’s Jesus.
When you’re meditating upon Him,
He keeps you on course.
There are lots of people who’d
like to draw you off course.
But remember this, your anchor
like putting your feet in a big
block of cement, your anchor is
your relationship to God to keep
you walking straight, keep you
listening to the truth, keep you
doing His will and keep you
making your life fruitful
every day of your life.
If you’ve never trusted Jesus
as your Savior, won’t work.
But you can by asking
the Lord Jesus Christ
to forgive you of your sin.
Surrendering your life to Him.
And the moment you do,
you are tuned in.
You’ll have to learn a few
things, but you’re tuned in.
He’s listening.
And your life will
change forever.
Amen?
Father, I pray that You will
lock this message into every
mind and heart that
has heard it today.
That our personal intimate
relationship with You
is the most important
thing in all of life.
Seal this message
wherever it’s heard.
Make it a life-changer, God, is
my prayer in Jesus’s name, amen.