Dr Charles Stanley - Godly Meditation on Courage

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
The most important activity in the life of a believer
is your personal private meditation between you and God. We
usually think in terms of what prayer is all about,
but meditation goes a little deeper than that. And so
I hope you will turn with me to Joshua chapter one,

(00:26):
and I want us to think in terms of meditation
of a single verse. Remember last time we talked about
meditation a different perspective, But today on a single verse.
What does God expect of us? What is He willing
to do for us? We meditate on a single verse.

(00:47):
So when we think about meditation, we are thinking about carefully,
deeply and very seriously considering what God wants to say
to us in a particular verse. Turned to Joshua chapter one,
and you recall that the nation of Israel, forty years

(01:09):
they spend in the wilderness because they got to this
very same spot, disobeyed God. And after forty years of
all the adults dying off, now Joshua, Caleb and the
rest of them were set ready to go into the
promised land. And so God said to him in Joshua
chapter one, Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore arise

(01:33):
crossed this Jordan river, you and all this people to
the land which I am giving to them, to the
sons of Israel. God, speaking every place in which the
soul of your feet tread, I have given it to you,
just as I spoke to Moses. From the wilderness, and
this Lebanon, even as far as the great River, the

(01:55):
River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as
far as the great Sea towards the setting of the sun,
will be your territory. Then, he says, no man will
be able to stand before you all the days of
your life. Just as I have been with Moses. I
will be with you. I will not fail you or

(02:19):
forsake you. Be strong and courageous. And he tells him
that three times, 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. Listen to me, when God tells you something

(02:39):
two or three times in a row, you better listen.
And the reason he said to him, be strong and
very courageous, because forty years before they got to that point,
and they all chickened out and said, take us back
to the willness back to Egypt, which was a foolish statement.
Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people
possession of the land which I sought. The follows to

(03:00):
them 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 to
the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.
This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth,
but you shall meditate on it day and night, so

(03:24):
that you may be careful to do according to all
those written in it. For then you will make your
way prosperous. Then you'll have success. Have I not commanded
you be strong and very courageous. Do not tremble or
be dismayed. For the Lord, your God, is with you
wherever you go. You've heard me say several times. That's

(03:48):
the last verse is in one verse my mom gave
me for I preach my first sermon, Be strong and
very courageous. Don't fear anything. Trust the Lord, watch him work.
So we're talking about meditation, and so let's think about
what that is. And you can define it in several ways,

(04:08):
but it's thinking carefully and deeply and personally, something that
God is saying to you. And when I think about
how to define it and how it takes place in
their life by reading, and you may want to jump
these words down. Reading the scriptures, believing what you read.

(04:32):
I'll come back to them, Absorbing what you read, applying
it to your heart, obeying God. So there are five words.
Meditation is reading, it's believing what you read, absorbing it,
taking it into your heart and life, applying it in
your daily life, and obeying God. So this is one

(04:58):
of the most important lessons any of us ever learns
in the Christian life, and that is learning to meditate.
That is learning to relate to the Lord personally and
your walk with him, listening to him, applying what he says,
making it a part of your behavior, your lifestyle, and
your work. So three times he says to him, be

(05:23):
strong and courageous. So let me define meditation one more time.
It is focusing our heart on God and shutting everything
else out. When you're meditating upon God, you can be
thinking about something else. It's focusing on Him and shutting
everything else out. It's more listening than talking. And when

(05:45):
I think about people who go to church week after
week after week. Never carry a bible, no notebook, no paper,
no pencil, no pen and sit and listen to somebody
talk for thirty minutes and never write anything down. That's
some thing wrong with that operation. Because we're talking about
relating to God. And if I should ask you, how

(06:08):
much of a sermon do you remember? You may remember
a little something here and there, but if you don't
write it down, you don't remember it. And so it's
very important. So it's more important than just listening and talking.
It's important enough to write it down so you see
it and apply it to your heart. So think about this.

(06:28):
I think about how many people go to church week
after we watched this. Their goal is to go to church,
listen to the music, listen to a sermon, and then
go to lunch. That's why they think. So they don't
think about I want to listen. I want to apply
it to my heart. I want God to say something.

(06:49):
I want God to speak to my heart this morning.
He is going to speak to your heart because you
came prepared to listen. You got your bible open, your notebook,
and your hand and your pencil. You can prepared to
take something away. Meditation involved. For we said reading, believing, absorbing, applying,

(07:10):
and obeying. If you don't write it down, you won't
remember those things. And the truth is that's true of
every message. If you come to church week after week
after week and you listen to God, you're going to
hear something you need to take away with you and
apply it to your heart. So meditation is focusing on
something you hear and applying it to your life. So

(07:35):
in this particular passage, we're just gonna deal with one verse.
Be strong and a good courage Do not tremble or
be dismayed. For the Lord, your God is with you
wherever you go. So define courageous the quality of mind
and spirit enabling one to meet danger, opposition, or the

(07:59):
check challenges of life with fearlessness, calmness, and firmness. You
should write that down. What is courageous the quality of
mind of spirit enabling one to meet danger, opposition, or
the challenges of life fearlessly, courageously, with calmness and firmness.

(08:23):
Be strong and courageous. You said, I don't feel very
strong and courageous. Well, that's why we're talking about it,
and that is set your mind, your heart your spirit
to be strong and courageous, because all of us, at
different times in our life, we face it, We face
challenges of all kinds. So to be strong and courageous, fearless,

(08:47):
because you're obeying God, you're trusting him. He's willing to
do it if you're willing to listen to him carefully.
So with that in mind, I want us to look
at this whole idea of courage the command. He first,
he gives us a command be strong and very courageous
because watch this. Forty years before all their parents said no,

(09:11):
we can't do this, and so they died in the wilderness.
And so Joshua is reminding them for you, you don't
want to happen what happened to your parents, So be
strong and courageous. The repetition of this command three times
in those few verses. What does the repetition or command imply.

(09:32):
It implies the nature of the task. You're going to face,
something that's going to challenge you. And so he's saying that, Joshua,
get ready, that is, make a decision now that you're
going to put your faith in God. All of us
face situations and circumstances, oftentimes in our life that if
we are not granded in the word, our first response

(09:54):
is to fear, Oh God, what am I going to do?
What caused this to happen? We begin to ask questions
strong and very courageous. So when he says very courageous,
think about these two qualities. Courage is where listen, courage
is where there's the absence of fear. Be strong and courageous.

(10:18):
Determination that is resolution, energy, firmness, endurance that is, be strong.
And so people say, well, you know what, I just
don't know what I won't be able to face so
and so on. Not yes, you can. What he said
to Joshua, he said to that whole nation, be strong
and very courageous. Do not be afraid. Set your mind

(10:42):
and heart on who God is and what God is
willing to do in your life. So I think many
times people face situations and circumstances in life that if
they just had that one verse, be strong and courageous,
don't fear anything, set your mind upon God. But oftentimes

(11:03):
situations arise and our first response is fear. Our first
response is'll be okay, God, be strong and courageous, which
simply means I'm setting my mind upon God to face
this with me. Be strong and courageous. Fear not neither
be thou dismayed. For the Lord, your God is with

(11:23):
you wherever you go. And if you started every day
of your life with that verse, things that change your attitude,
would change, your disposition, would change, your actions would change.
Watch this, you have a promise from God, because he
promises to be with us whatever the situation is. So

(11:44):
here's the command to be courageous. So we say, okay,
what's what about this courageous business. Well, it's found in
this chapter five times. Really, if you put it all together,
and the children of Israel, they'd been delivered from this

(12:04):
bondage all those years watching their parents die off because
of their fear, because watch this, they got to the
prom they could see the promised land. They could see
everything that Moses had told them about when they got there. Because,
as Joshua explained to them, there's going to be a battle.

(12:25):
We're going to have to fire their way into this.
But remember we came out of Egyptian bondage, and God
led us out of Egyptian bondage. And the reason some
of you were born in the middle of a wilderness
is because your parents disobeyed God. Be strong and very courageous.
That one verse is enough to take you through anything
in life you face. Think about this, Be strong and courageous.

(12:49):
Fear not neither be that this made a discourage for
the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
You can take that verse all the way to the
because it is a promise that only God can keep.
Somebody else can say we'll do this that, But this
is Almighty God, the sovereign God of the universe. He's

(13:11):
the one who's making a promise. And you and I
know that God doesn't make promises, he doesn't keep. And
so the basis of our courage is not how strong
I am. The basis of our courage is God, who said,
be strong and very courageous. Fear not, for the Lord

(13:33):
your God is with you. That should eliminate the fear.
And people every day face all kinds of situations and
circumstances that would cause them the fear. You go to
the doctrine. He tells you you have this or you
have that, and we can't promise you anything. Well, if
you listen to their calculation about how long you have

(13:54):
to live or what's going to happen to you. What
about God? God is the ultimate one who determined into
that life and how we face the circumstances of life.
It's our responsibility to be rooted in the truth. So
every believer has the privilege of quoting that verse for themselves.
And so his task for them was to conquer, and

(14:19):
they knew they were going in the battle. And then
Joshua and Caleb had to say to them, but listen,
God will take us through this. He will give us victory.
So think about this. Oftentimes, the difference between your success
in anything and your victory in or over it is
how you believe about what you believe about God. Be

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strong and very courageous, fear not neither be that is
made on what's the basis of that? But the Lord die,
God is with you wherever you go. This is why
it's important to understand and get a clear picture of
who God is. And I wonder how many people go
to church week after week after week. Walk away. Never

(15:03):
give God another fault. Be strong and very courageous, fear
not neither be Thou just made for the Lord your God.
Who is the Lord in your life? Who is God
in your life? Is what is God like in your life?
If you have a poor understanding of who God is,

(15:24):
you'll have a poor understanding or experience of what courage
and real trust and faith in God's all about. If
you understand who he is, He's a sovereign ruler over everything.
Be strong and courageous. Fear not need to be. Thou
just made for the Lord. Thy God is with you
wherever you go. And nothing is too great for God.

(15:47):
Is nothing you face that he can't handle. And so
this is why, listen, God understands their fears. This is
why in these short verses three times he said to
him be strong and very courageous. Why because he knew
that Joshua and Caleb and all the rest of them,
they were human. And think about this, they had the

(16:10):
history of knowing that all their parents were scared to
death turned away from God. Why the said three times
because he knew that even Joshua and Caleb would have
their fears if God didn't continually remind them. Now, God
didn't say to them what he was going to do.

(16:32):
Now here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to
have you surround the city of Jericho, and all you
have to do is you shout and blow those trumpets
and the whole thing's going to fall down. You're not
even going to have to fight. No. When they crossed
the line into the Promised Land, they were going to battle.
Now watch this carefully. They were going to battle. They

(16:54):
expected hand to hand combat. They didn't have tanks and airplanes,
hand to hand comb swords and spears, horses and chariots.
They expected to go to battle. But God honored their
faith to be willing to fight those battles by doing
what when they came to Jericho, which was a walled city,

(17:16):
very walled, very protected. And so what did God say?
Climb the walls. No, be strong and very courageous, and
watch what I do. All I want you to do
so I want you to march around that city six
times on the seventh day. You marching around and blowing trumpets.
Seventh day, just relax and watch what I do. And

(17:37):
he knocked the wall down. They went in and conquered it.
Here's the problem we have sometimes if we can't figure
out how God's going to do something, we don't believe him.
The only thing God may say to you facing a challenge,
be strong and very courageous. Put your trust in me,
rely upon me. Just see what I do, don't try

(17:59):
to figure it out. And because we can't figure out
how God is going to do things in the life
is why we disobabed. Sometimes. Well I don't. I don't.
I can't figure that out. They can figure that. And
I'm sure what all that tribe of soldiers must have
thought when Joshua said, here's what we're gonna do. Walled City,
Jericho major area, big a big barrier between them and

(18:25):
the whole promised land. He said, were just going to
march around it. We're gonna do what we just gon.
In fact, we're going to just march around it seven times,
march around the city. This is not the way we've
done battle. Be strong and very courageous, and watch what
I do when he says be strong and very courageous.
Remember this, Holy Almighty omnibing and omnition. I'm the present.

(18:50):
God knows exactly what he's going to do. And this
is what causes a lot of people to stumble. God
will tell you to do something, and you said, all
I pray, I believe this is what he said, But
I can't figure that out. Don't try to figure out
what God's going to do. If God gives you clear
direction about something, your responsibility and my responsibility, is to

(19:12):
be obedient, not necessarily understand it. And I've watched enough
things in my own life to know that's the way
He operates, and that is just do what he says.
And your first few steps may be very, very scary,
but if you obey him, be strong and very courageous.

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Do not fear nor be dismayed. Just be strong and
very courageous. Now watch this, you know what that is.
That's an attitude. You just think about your brain. You
can think. You can think positive, you can think negative,
you can think all kinds of things. Just what he said.

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That's a walled city. They'll walled in and very protected.
But God's going to give us that. And I'm sure
they must have said, all somebody, Hi, how are we
going to do that? And this is where we get
in trouble when we ask God for something, and usually

(20:15):
our next response is for God, how you going to
do that? That's not my business. If he tells you
to do something, you obey him on the basis of
what who he is and what he said. Be strong,
and very courageous. Fear not needed. Be that it's made
for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

(20:35):
That's the important part. The Lord your God is with you.
So my responsibility is not to know all the details.
They would never have believed those wolves are going to
fall down simple marching around it because they were used
to hand the hand combat. It was all a big
bloody mess when they went to battle. Be strong and

(20:58):
very courageous. Any circumstance, any situation that you and I face,
the answer is still the same. Be strong and courageous,
fear not neither be thou discourage dismayed. The Lord your
God is with you wherever he sends you. You should

(21:19):
write that on the table of your heart. You should
think about it anytime you face any situation or circumstances.
And so when I look at these verses and see
what he told them, what he was cautioning them, don't
do this, don't try this any other way. Look what

(21:40):
happened to your parents. God set them free with all
those miracles, And what happened they got to the Promised Land,
and right across this line was the Promised Land. They said,
we can't do it. Because they were looking through the
eyes of doubt and unbelief. Whenever you look through the
eyes of doubt and belief, you're going to fail. When

(22:03):
you have the privilege of looking to the eyes of
faith and courage, be strong and of a good courage.
Don't try to figure it out. They would never They
would never have figured it out. You mean, we're just
going to stand here, or we're going to march and
we're going to shout and these walls. That just doesn't happen.
It doesn't watch this, It doesn't happen when God's not

(22:25):
in it. But when you and I are walking by faith,
we're trusting God. He may challenge you to do things
you think or how's that going to work? If God
tells you to do something and you're confident of what
he's saying, you just obeying To meditate upon the word
is to think about it, as we said a few

(22:46):
moments ago. And I think I gave you about five
words to read it, to believe it, to absorb it,
to apply it, and to obey it. Now you can say, well,
I've read it, I believe it, but I don't well,
I'm not too suon. No applying it and obeying it.

(23:08):
We're talking about living a godly life, living a successful life,
and living a joyous life, and a confident life, and
an assured life and a happy life. You can go
through all kinds of difficult their hardships and problems with
confidence and joy in your heart when you are trusting

(23:29):
God and believing that he'll do what he said. So
I think about what you're facing in your life, and
probably most people you are facing something. And so ask
himself the question, am I trusting God? Am I really
believing him? And the issue is am I willing to

(23:49):
do exactly what he says how he says to it?
And all of us have different situations and circumstances in
life that we think about, because everybody has their own life,
their own challenges, and their own situations and circumstances they face.
But think about the power of the Word of God.

(24:10):
The Word of God in these simply few verses, the
promise meets every single different need than has lived out
this morning in this group. Be strong and very courageous.
Are any exceptions to that? No, sir, no exception. Be

(24:32):
strong and courageous. Fear not, neither be their dismayed for
the Lord your God is with you. Let me ask us,
what more do you need than the promise? The Lord
your God is with you wherever you go. What more
do you need than that? And yet there are some
people who would say, yeah, but you don't know my circumstances.

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I know who does. God knows everybody's circumstances. He knows
where you came from. He knows your strength and your weaknesses.
He knows your unbeliefs, he knows your beliefs, he knows
what you struggle with. He knows everything about every one
of us, and does this work for everybody. Everybody, Be

(25:16):
strong and very courageous, fear not need to be thatest made?
And what puts us all in one part? The Lord
your God is with you. Period. Who is you? Every
single one of us? You see, It all boils down
to this. I believe him? Oh I don't. And when
God spoke to Joshua and Caleb, they never could have

(25:39):
conceived that thousands of years later we'd be saying to
each other what God said to them, Be strong and
very courageous, fear not need to be the oldest made.
It is an awesome promise given by an awesome God.
Who tells no lies, who may takes everything possible within

(26:02):
his will. Whatever you're facing, So doing exactly what he says.
And what's the issue. Meditating upon this word day and night,
whatever situation, circumstances you're facing. Here's what you do. You
come to God each day and Lord you said, here's

(26:25):
what you said. You said, be strong and very courageous
that you'd be with me in this. I'm going to
trust you. You said, how many times I have to
say that every day? And depending upon the nature of it,
several times a day or many times a day. Whatever.
One thing for certain, God will not fail you. He

(26:47):
can't because he's God. He may not have worked the
circumstances out exactly like you think he would, but he will.
And what he said to them, I mean the reason
this is in the world of God. This is how
we're to live out our lives. Meditate upon the word
of God day and night. And notice he says twice,
be careful to do it. See there's nothing missing in

(27:09):
God's word. Be careful to do it. To meditate upon
his word day and night. And so the consequences he said,
I'll make you a way successful. In other words, whenever
you and our turn to God, we have the promise
that Holy Omnibert and Omnition, I'm the present God will

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be with us no matter what. Do you believe that
some of you do. If you really believe that, say amen,
right amen, that He will be with us no matter what. Now,

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God knew that Joshua's faith would be tested, and think
about this. God didn't say to Joshua while he was
still on the boundary line into the Promised Land. He
was still in the Willderness area. He didn't say to
him that, Joshua, here's what I'm gonna do. You're going
to be in the Promised Land about two weeks. And
then here's what I'm going to got you coming to Jericho.

(28:16):
I'm going to level that city. He didn't tell him that.
When he drew his sword and crossed the line, the
only thing he knew is that there would be hand
to hand combat against spears, chariots, swords, knives, but death,

(28:36):
that face death. That's the only thing he knew. But
he also had this when he said, be strong and
of a good courage. Fear not need to be thou dismayed,
for I will be with you all the way, every
step of the way. He didn't tell him how, he
didn't tell him all the things he was going to face.
The only thing he had watched this carefully watch a

(29:00):
listening Samen. The only thing Joshua and Caleb had was
their faith. That's all they had, their faith. They may
have had long swords and long spears, but the truth
was all they really had to fight with is their faith.
So think about this. The same faith that God gave

(29:24):
to Joshua and Caleb is the same faith that you
and I have, Only we've got it better. We have
the Lord Jesus Christ, who walked ahead of us, who
demonstrated God's love for us in a way that Joshua
and Caleb did not know when he went to the cross,
and he sent the Holy Spirit to live within us.

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And so you and I are so blessed that we
have God living on the inside of us, and we
have the word of God, the promises of God. And
he said to him, for the Lord your God is
with you wherever you go. Think about this, You and
I have the same privilege Joshua and Caleb had when

(30:06):
he said, I'll never leave you enough forsake, I'll be
with you every step of the way. We have the
same promise. So when you think about challenges that you
face in life, the answer is the same. Be strong
and of a good courage, fear not. Neither be thou
discourage or dismay. For the Lord your God is with you,

(30:30):
not out there somewhere. And you see the problem with
the rest of those who died in the wilderness. God
was somewhere, but it wasn't with them. That was their attitude,
and they wanted to go back into the willness, back
to Egypt. Can you imagine such absence of faith after
all that God had done by all the miracles in Egypt,

(30:51):
bringing them through the Red Sea, when God stacked the
water on both sides. Know which, when you think about
all the things that God did for them, and then
they come to the promised land. We can't do that.
And they hadn't even they hadn't even heard about Jericho.
We can't fight them. Many of God's people live in

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utter defeat as they face their daily work in life
because they won't believe what God said, I will never
leave you nough forsake you. Be strong and of a
good courage, fear not, need to be that dismayed. The Lord,
your God is with you wherever you go. This book
of the Law shall not depart from your mouth. Now

(31:37):
watch that part at firse eight. This book of the
Law shall not depart from your mouth. Why would he
say that to Joshua and Caleb because he knew what
happened to their parents. They weren't listening to the lowmost,
They weren't listening to God. This book of the Law
shall not depart from your mouth. You shall meditate them

(32:00):
both day and night so bad in order that you
may be careful, not just not just give it a glance,
careful to do according to all that is written in it.
Then you'll make your way prosperous. Then you'll have success.
It isn't just breezing over it. Let's put it this way.

(32:22):
It isn't just getting up in the morning and saying
a little bit of late this wanting. But the Lord,
I'll say, I'm going to read a pre passion scripture. Oh,
the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want it
makes me a lot of it, and thank you Lord.
I am probably going to have a hard day to that.
That's all the time I have. What does that sound
like this book of the Lord shall not depart from

(32:42):
your mouth. You shall meditate on a day and night,
so that you may be careful, careful to do according
to all that is written in it. Then you make
your way prosperous. Then you'll have success. Notice what he said,
be careful, Then you'll make your way successful. Now you

(33:04):
may be sitting here and you're not a Christian. Does
that apply to you? You have no promise. You're living
your life without God. You have no promises except that
one day you'll stand before Him and give an account
for your life. No promises, he said, Well, cannot pray
only if you pray, first of all, pray of salvation.

(33:26):
So if you've never trusted Jesus Christ, as you say,
you forget all. This doesn't apply to you. You said, well,
but doesn't God hear everybody. No, if you're willing to
come to him confessing him, repenting of your sins, yes,
After that, the word of God is open to you.

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I challenge you to trust the Lord Jesus Christ that
you're shavior and start living a courageous, bold life. Then
everything not trust you'll do that follow. We love you
and praise you. Thank you for making your word so simple,
so plain, that even a child understands this. Give us wisdom,

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Lord to understand, and the courage to be obedient, and
we'll praise you forever, Lord, God and Jesus same amen.