Dr Charles Stanley - Guidance Through Godly Meditation

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Meditation is a vital part of a Christian life. And
what I mean by meditation, I mean that period of
time you set aside to read the Word of God,
talk with him, listen to him, seek his guidance and
direction for your life. It's a vital part of our
life for all of us, no matter who we are.

(00:27):
It's a sacred time, a holy time that you have
to guard. You not only set aside that time, but
you have to guard that time. Satan will do anything
and everything in his power to get you busy, to
distract you, to get you doing good things, not bad things,
good things, Anything to keep you off your knees, keep

(00:48):
you out of the Word of God, keep you from
meditating upon scripture, keep you from absorbing the word of God,
keeping you from feeding on the word of God, because
he knows how important it is. So when we say, well,
what is meditation is focusing your heart, your life, your soul,

(01:09):
your spirit on God, listening to him, responding him, and
growing in the result of that activity. That's what it's
all about. It's a simple thing on the one hand,
but you have to guard it because the devil knows
how powerful it is in your life and sometimes it's

(01:32):
easier to focus on a single versus scripture. Let's just say,
let's just take trust in the Lord with all your heart,
lean not to your on understanding, and all your ways
acknowledge him, and he should direct your path, a familiar
passion scripture that most of us know by heart, and
so forth. But what about a whole chapter? Somebody says,

(01:54):
we can you meditate on the whole chapter? Yes, you can,
And that's what I want to do in this message,
And that is, how do we meditate on a whole passage?
How would God say something to us, especially in a
chapter like this, which is about a shipwreck? Now, how
many of you have been on some kind of a
sailing vessel of some sort. Most of you have, Well,

(02:18):
you know, the last thing you want is a wreck
at sea. And so when I read this twenty seventh
chapter of Acts, I think it's a perfect example of
those who listen to God and those who do not.
And it's easy to focus on a verse two. But

(02:40):
the question goes, what about what about focusing on the
whole chapter. If I'm having my devotions and meditating on
a passage, I can I meditate upon a whole chapter?
Yes you can. So I really want to do simply this.
I want to show you how, in one chapter God
can speak to you heart in a very specific way,

(03:03):
teach us what he wants to teach us, help us
to learn what we need to learn, help us to
get a sense of direction. So beginning in this twenty
seventh chapter of Acts, we'll take the whole chapter here,
but I'm not going to read it. In fact, it's
an awesome chapter. It's a very it's full of action,

(03:25):
and so we'll read just a portion of it. When
it was decided that we would sail for Italy, they
proceeded to deliver Paul and some other prisoners to a
centurion of the Augustine Cohort named Julius. Now there were
two hundred and seventy six of those people on board
and who were on their way to Rome, Paul of

(03:47):
which was one of them. And it was said by
other Romans in the previous chapter that he might have
been freed if he had not desired to face Caesar,
who finally had him executed. So here he is on
this boat, on the ship, and they're having the sail

(04:08):
to rom a pretty good trip size trip, and so
when they started, the winds were a little contrary, and
the scripture says, if you'll follow me through this chapter.
From there, we put out to sea and sailed under
the shelter of Cyprus, that is close to it, because
the winds were contrarian. And when we had sailed through

(04:30):
the sea along the coast of Cilicia and Panphulia, we
landed Mara and Lycian so forth. And so then the
centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing fatally, and he put
us aboard it, so they've had a change of ships.
He said, what's that got to do with with with
my meditation? Just follow me, you'll find out. When he

(04:53):
had sailed slowly for good that few days, the difficulty
had arrived Alsindus. Since the wind did not permitted to
go further, we sailed under the shelter of crete off Salam,
and with difficulty sailing past it, we came to a
place called fair Haven's near which was the city of Lesia,

(05:17):
very detailed in this chapter. You think, what's that got
to do with my my meditation? Just stay with me.
When considerable time had passed and voyage was now dangerous,
since even the fast was all over, and Paul began
to admonish them and said to them, men I perceive

(05:41):
that the voyage will certainly be with damage and great loss,
and not only of the cargo and the ship, but
also of our lives. And so this is where they are.
They're in one storm after the other, and most of
these men on board of pre business. But there were
enough Romans on there because watch this. This was the law.

(06:05):
If you were a Roman in charge of ten prisoners
and they escaped, you got the penalty they would have gotten.
So this is why they were so harsh and so
brutal that if they failed, they paid the penalty. And
so they had a discussion of what they were going
to do. Were they going to sail into a port,

(06:26):
let the storm get by, may have to be there
for a few months. They had this decision to make.
So in listening to the discussion, the scripture says in
verse eleven, but the centurion was more persuaded by the
pilot and the captain of the ship than by what
Paul had said to him. Because Paul was warning them,

(06:50):
he admonished them, men I perceived this voyage would certainly
be with damage and great loss, not only of the
cargo and of the ship, but also their lives. So
there was one against the rest. So they took a vote,
and the vote said that the pilot and the captain

(07:10):
said one thing, and as a result, the centurion was persuaded,
and they decided to sail, knowing there was a storm brewing.
So the scripture says, because the harbor was not suitable
for wintering. The majority reached the decision. Notice it said

(07:31):
a majority, And I watched this when you're listening to God.
Watched that majority business. Because the majority doesn't know the
will of the Father when you and God are talking
to each other. A majority reached the decision to put
out to sea. From there, if somehow they could reach Phoenix,

(07:51):
if somehow they could a harbor of crete facing southwest northwest,
and spend the winner there. But when a moderate south
wind came up, supposing that they had attained their purpose,
they weighed ink and begin sailing along crete close to
the shore. He said, what they got to do with

(08:11):
my meditation, It has a lot to do with it.
Watch this carefully. You can't get in a hurry. You
can't be rushed and meditating upon God. This is another
long chapter. But there are lessons here that God would
have us to understand and learn, because this is the

(08:32):
way most people live, or how do things seem to be?
If there is and if that, and the wind here
and that fort there, And so the scripture says, before
very long there was a violent wind called youroquilla, which
means a northeastern Northeastern for us would be a beds snowstorm,

(08:57):
drifts in their way, or whatever it might be, but
it meant a very very strong storm. And so there
they were in the middle of it. And the rest
of this chapter is all about this storm and what happens.
And so somebody says, well, now, what's that got to
do with me? Well, all of us face storms in
our life, different kind of storms, different times in our life.

(09:20):
And so reading this chapter, if you said, well, I
think i'll read this, it's my devotion, he said, well,
read a whole chapter as your devotion. Yes, well, what
can I learn from a shipwreck? Just wait and listen,
because God has a lot to teach us throughout the
Word of God. And what I want you to see

(09:41):
is that wherever you're reading in the Word of God,
he has something to say to us. About the way
we live in this twenty first century, and so to
illustrate it, we come to what's going on here, and
the situation is that they left their poets. The winds
were contrary, Paul warned them, and they continued violent storms,

(10:06):
and the scripture says when these things began to happen
to them, naturally they thought about what the apostle Paul
had said, and he was then encouraging them to listen
and take food, and everybody's going to be all Everything's
going to be okay. But the centurion and the rest

(10:26):
of them were very concerning because this was shipwrecked, whether
they were in but he said, here's what God said
to me, and so he assured them that everything was
going to be all right. And then when you read
into this twenty seventh chapter, and you read on over

(10:47):
towards let's say, the fourteenth verse, but before very long
there was rush down from the land, a violent wind
called iroquila. And then the next thing you see in
verse eighteen. Next day, as we were being violently storm tossed,
they began to throw things overboard, and the tackle of

(11:08):
aboard couldn't see the sun, no the stars for days
and they were, they decided to abandon the ship, and
the apostle Paul told them, if you stay on board,
you'll be safe. If you don't, you're going to lose
your life. So this is all about an experience they
had on the sea. He said, what's that you got

(11:29):
to do with me and my life? Well, let me
ask you this. You ever been in a storm, a
physical storm? What about a spiritual storm? Come on, let's
be honest. Spiritual storm. Yes, we've all had spiritual storms
in our life. Times when we didn't know what to do.

(11:50):
Are times when we wanted to do the thing we
shouldn't do, Times when we were convinced and persuaded, or
they tried to convince and persuade us that it was
the wrong thing to do. And so remember how they
got in this position, That is that they went by
majority booth. Listen carefully, when you're dealing with God, you

(12:12):
don't go by a majority. You go by the voice
of one. That's what meditation's all about. Listening to God,
paying attention to what he says. And he won't give
you the full story oftentimes at one time, but step
by step. And so as a result, if you read
this passage. There was a terrible shipwreck and they lost everything.

(12:39):
And the soldiers who were trying to escape, they let
down the lifeboats and the pretense of laying anchors when
they really were trying to escape. But the soldiers threatened
them and they knew that they would lose their lives.
And so to bring all that to a halt, let's
think about how it applies to your life of mine.

(13:00):
So we want to read the World of God, and
we come to this particular chapter, and so it's all
about activity and shipwreck and put Paul said and what
they said. The question is what does God say? Because
this is one of those chapters we'd think, well, God,
don't send them to me about that. Yes, he would,

(13:23):
because there's a truth here that all of us need
to be aware of. That is, whatever situation we may
be in, it's always wise to meditate upon the Lord God.
What would you have me to do? How would you
have me to respond? What would you have me to say?

(13:43):
You think about all the situations and circumstances you've been
in in your life where you had to defend yourself,
in a situation where you had to make a decision
that was very important maybe it was a financial decision
and merital decision or some relationship that you have. That is,
we have all kinds of decisions, and we make them

(14:04):
on some basis. When you develop the habit as a
part of your life of meditation reading a passage of scripture,
whatever portion that may be, asking God to speak to you,
asking him to give you direction, that's like having your
own private personal counselor that is not a waste of time.

(14:29):
And somebody says, well, I'm too busy to be getting
on Mondays or aligned to sleep, and I'm too busy
to be waiting for God to say something. No you
or not you may think you are, but listen. Meditation
is their safety. That meditation is their time to listen
to the right voice, to not only listen, but also

(14:54):
to make the right choices in life. And so while
was Jesus up early is a Bible that reminds us
in several places up early before day because Jesus, the
son of God, knew that he needed that time to
be alone with us, having the Father to listen to
the Father. All of us, none of us are in

(15:16):
such a situation that we are so complete within ourselves
that we don't need God's direction. How many of us
have awakened a beautiful, wonderful day, go to work, whatever
it might be, and some circumstance happened. And you think,
if I don't know this is going to happen, I
just stay at home. I wish I hadn't even awakened.

(15:38):
God wants his children developing a habit of meditation. No
matter who we are, what we are, how important we
think we are, all of us need to take time
to listen to God. And so they didn't listen because
the centurion, who had final authority, had to exercise his

(15:59):
and Daritians know we're going with the No. It's besides, Paul,
are you a sailor? No? What do you know about seamanship? Well?
Not much? Well, so what would they decided to do?
They decided to listen to ungodly counsel and made a
life determining decision that cost them everything but their life.

(16:20):
And the reason it didn't cost them their life is
because God had promised them through the apostle, Paul, here's
what you do, and no matter what happens, I'm getting
you to Rome. And so whatever may happen, I'm going
to get you there, but if they disobey me, you're
going to lose everything. And that's exactly what happened. Shipwreate

(16:41):
lost everything on board except the prisoners. All the prisoners
were safe. And you remember this that the prisoners were prisoners.
I don't know how many of them are helping to
hold that boat or whatever it might be, but they
were prisoners of Rome. But Paul heard from God that

(17:03):
everybody is going to be safe, everybody's going to make it.
And in the midst of that storm, they would never
have believed that. And even those who tried to escape
were not able to escape. God had decreed to get
the apostle Paul to Rome to see Caesar. And so
here's this storm at sea, and everything is breaking up.

(17:27):
And if you notice toward the end here that's what
happens to the ship. It all breaks up, hits a reef.
And yet in spite of that, the scripture says that
they were all safe and all rescued, and everything that
the Apostle Paul had prophesied came to pass. And so

(17:50):
I just want to draw out a few things as
an example, because I want you to be wise enough
to realize that The most important thing in your life
as a follower of Jesus is your time that you
spend alone with Him, with nobody but Him and so listen.

(18:15):
It was a prior to the life of Jesus, It
was a prior to the life of the apostle Paul,
because it's the time when you and God personally are
hearing each other. God is hearing you. You're hearing God.
You're listening to God. God is listening to you. It's
that private, intimate, personal time that you spend with Him.

(18:38):
It's when there are no interruptions in your relationship with him.
Most important part of your life, no matter what, no
matter what, the most important thing you do is your
private devotion, that time you spend reading His word, asking
God to speak to your heart, listening to He has

(19:00):
to say. And when you have a private time with
just you and God, let me tell you something that
can save your life. It can save your finances, it
can save your marriage, it can save your relationships, it
can save your children, it can save every aspect of

(19:24):
your life. Because it's that time when you and God,
that just the two of you are dealing with something
in your life that God is going to give you
the right answer. You may hear lots of things, but
if you will stay with him, he will show you
exactly what to do in any and every situation. God's

(19:44):
not going to mislead you. Watch this carefully. If he
loves you enough to give his son the down the
cross view, he's certainly not going to mislead you. In
some decision you have to make, you say, well, I'm
a nobody. No you're not. You're a somebody, somebody whom
Jesus has saved. You are somebody that God has kept

(20:04):
you to this point in your life. You're somebody that
God has a plan to your life. You're from whom
God has a future, and for whom God loves enough
to take time to listen to you, speak to you,
guide you, help you, guard you. That's who he is.

(20:25):
That's what this is all about. And so when I
think about the whole idea of meditation, it's listening and
responding in the right way. Watch this carefully. Be careful
who you listen to. Many people have made desperately wrong

(20:45):
decisions in their life because of who they listen to.
When you are listening to somebody else and making a decision,
look at that life. Don't look at how much money
they have, who they are married to, where they live,
or what they drive. Listen to who they are, Listen
to what they are, watch their conduct, Listen to Almighty God.

(21:12):
And this is what Paul was saying. Having heard what
God said, We're going to lose it all and everybody
on board is going to lose their life if you
don't stay on board the ship. Now, what I want
us to see here is not what's true of seamanship,
but what's true about life every day. That's why you

(21:34):
have to have watch this. You have to have your time.
Husbands have to have their time, wives have their time,
children have their time, parents have their time. That is
time that you set alone between you and God. Now
watch this carefully. Every morning you wake up, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is your savior, is with you all
day long. How often during the day do you call

(21:57):
upon him? Do you alive upon it? Do you talk
to him? Do you confess to him? Do you seek direction?
Or you just go your way? Time with him? It
doesn't mean, It doesn't mean need you have to give
up your job to have meditation. It simply means this
that at time whatever that time is for you in
your life, you spend with him to do what, to

(22:19):
get a sense of direction, to prepare you for what.
The only God knows what any day holds for any
of us. And so we make decisions based on what's
the will of God. And God, listen, watch this carecter.
I don't even know how to say it strong enough.
We are obligated to be obedient to God. If we

(22:42):
want God's best, He offers us his best if we're
willing to be obedient to him. And all of us
make decisions every day, some of which seems to be
that they seem to be rather casual decisions. But oftentimes
those little decisions that we think a small carrier great weight.
Because God knows what's around the corner. He knows what's

(23:04):
on this side of the island and that side of
the island. He knows what's going to happen. Therefore, our
time of meditation is God's time with the caution light
to stop lighting the green light. And sometimes you pray,
you think, well, this is what ought to do, and
what's God doing. He's sending you a yellow light caution

(23:26):
be careful, or he sends the red light don't do that,
don't do it, or the green light words. God loves
us enough to make it crystal clear. And decisions we
make in life watch this rank doesn't make someone wise
if they're not Godly. And oftentimes people in high positions

(23:50):
make bad decisions. It's our relationship to God, our relationship
to the Lord, that makes us either wise or unwise.
And so when you met a hitting upon the scriptures,
remember that God has something to say to you. Does
it mean that he will speak as clearly every time? No,
it doesn't this. Sometimes I've read passes and I've said, Lord, now,

(24:12):
what are you saying to me? And it may be
that even while I'm reading and praying, I don't get
it then, but I know in my heart he wouldn't
lead me to read a passive scripture if he didn't
have something to say. And if you are fearful, then
just get in the psalms. You'll find something that will
speak to you if you'll just listen carefully. But this

(24:35):
is just an incident, and I choose it because it's
not something easy. And you wouldn't read this normally as
your devotion because you say, well, you know, I'm not
into sailing, and I've never been on a ship and
I don't intend to be. So God wouldn't lead me here,
Yes he would. He would lead you here because what

(24:55):
to warn you about? What you listen to, who you
listen to to, and what's the word of God's place
in your life? And here's what happens when you disobey God.
That was He leads all of us in every single
way emotionally, he leads us financially, what you should buy,
not to buy, who you ought to marry, all the

(25:17):
circumstances of your life. God is involved. So when I
ask you what should you pray about? What would you say?
Let me ask you this, say that give me your
answer loudly? What should you pray about? Everything is up
for prayer. Lord show me about this. Sometimes things that

(25:39):
appear to be little decisions have awesome consequences. That's why
we learn to trust him, to give him time to
meditate upon him, listening to him reading his word God.
And sometimes person says to me, but their passages of Scripture,

(26:00):
I don't understand John the crowd that there's some passages
that are hard to understand. Do you listen to the
majority you listen to God till you wait, until you
wait to the circumstances of just right, or do you
do what God said? Do? Do you remember that you
don't go by a majority, but by what God is

(26:21):
know its your life and your relationship to God is
a personal thing. You've not heard me tell you how
to have your devotions or what you should do. But
the fact that you that you develop your relationship with
Him in such a way that whatever is good for you,
whatever works for you, whatever time works for you. It

(26:43):
may be if you're a mother, your devotions not early
in the morning, that after everybody is gone, it's just
you and your household, no words. You choose the time
that you best are able to get alone with God.
Listen to him. That you what you think he's saying
to you. It's a personal, private but also a very

(27:07):
essential part of your life because that's the way God
wants us to live. How is that connected to him?
And when I think of the whole idea of meditation,
that's my connection. You're busy. Every day you're busy, youre
playing or whatever you're doing. You're busy. What's their connection?

(27:29):
We have a connection. Watch this that's not seen. We
have an invisible connection unseen, and that connection is with almighty, omnivodent, omnipresent, omniscient,
loving God. It's a connection that you do not want broken.
It's a connection that you want to be the anchor

(27:51):
in your life. Keep you listening to him, obeying him,
trusting him, doing your best to follow his guidance and
direction for your life. It's this awesome gift He's given us,
this connection with Holy God that all of us have

(28:11):
the moment we trust Jesus Christ as our savior. So
somebody says, well, now, what about this meditation business. You
can say, well, it's my connection and they'd say what, Yep,
it's my connection. They said, what do you mean by that?
You said, I'm so glad you asked me. Then you
can explain just what we are talking about. It's your

(28:32):
relationship with Jesus. Time you have alone with him, where
you listen to him and talk to him, yield to him,
surrendered to him. Times that you obey him. Times you
may commitment, a commitment about where you live, what you wear,
what you drive, how you spend, what you buy, what
you don't, how you treat others, how you respond to

(28:54):
how to treat you. It's all wrapped up in that relationship.
There's so much in this passage. And the reason I
choose that passage is because you wouldn't normally read a
whole chapter as your devotion. Say, what has that got
to do with me? Now? You know the Bible is
full of it. The Bible is loaded with truths. And

(29:18):
if you read some things, you may have to read twice.
There's some things I have to read more than once.
And I think, O, Lord, what are you saying to
me about this? He's always willing to show us the
truth if we are willing to listen. Now, think about this.
Every single day of our life, we are absolutely subject

(29:40):
to the power of God. We have the privilege of
having a relationship with him. We have the power within
us and the Holy Spirit to do the right thing
every time if we will choose to do it. He
is working in Aba continually. But that relationship must be

(30:06):
nurtured and fed. And you've simply call it what we
talked about here meditation time you spend alone with him.
So ask yourself this question when you're in the process
of making a decision, are you willing to risk a

(30:26):
shipwreck in your life. Are you willing to be obedient
to God and let him show you what he's willing
to do, what he's willing to provide. That whole chapter
is a lot here to think about and to focus
on the medicine on. And I choose a whole chapter

(30:49):
because normally we wouldn't. You might go home today and
sit down read that chapter again. Think, Okay, God, here
am I and that here's where I am, Here's what
I have, Here's what I'm not sure about? What do
you want me to do? And somebody says, do you
think God really speaks to us? Absolutely? He does. Watch

(31:14):
this carefully. Your personal, devotionally intimate time of meditation is
the most valuable protective thing you have. Somebody says I'm
too old for that, know you or not? Or somebody says, well,

(31:35):
I haven't been a Christian very long. You desperately need it.
We all need it, every single one of us, every
single day. And it matters not how many sermons I've
preached thousands, But I am just as needy before the
Lord Jesus Christ today as I was the first message

(31:59):
I've ever preached. Listen, he never fills us up that
we don't need anymore. He fills up limitless. It's always
flowing toward us if we'll take advantage of it. And
if you've never trusted Jesus as you savior, I want
you to think about this. You're floating out on one

(32:20):
piece of wood in the middle of the Mediterranean, no
hope in sight, in the middle of a storm, thundering
and lightning, big waves taking you twenty feet high and down,
up and down you go, and nothing in sight, no
help in sight. You don't have any assurance. Whereas if
you have demotions in your life, if you have time

(32:42):
for meditation, you're like a person who's anchored, so perfectly
anchored that no storm can upset you, no matter what
it begins with trusting Christ as you savior. He's your anchor,
and I trust that. If you've never done that, trust

(33:04):
the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior. Get anchored up
with him. Connected to the Lord Jesus Christ. Watch him
do the most awesome work in your life. You'll have
a testimony. You can't keep quiet when God begins to
work in your life. Father, we love in praise and
we bless your holy name. Thank you for giving us

(33:27):
this chapter. Thank you for reminding us that we are
totally dependent upon you, and reminding us that you are
always always available to hear us. We'll never have a
too busy sign. Never hear too busy boys love us
enough to always give us clear direction in our life.

(33:51):
I pray this message would sink deep into our hearts.
The heart of every person who hears it, apply it
to their heart, make the awesome difference you intend for
it to make. Thank you for loving us enough to
be personally involved, enough to personally answer appetitions, personally give

(34:13):
us guidance, personally provide for us. We thank you and
praise you for it in Jesus' name, Amen,