Our Anchor In Times of Storm – Dr. Charles Stanley

the more you focus on your difficulty

your hardship or even your pain when

you’re suffering the more you focus on

is what happens the bigger it gets

well I mean I’ve been going through this

and I’ve been going through that and if

your friends listen to you and say oh

I’m sorry I feel so sorry for you the

more pity they give you the bigger it

gets and the bigger it gets the more you

doubt God and so the issue is focused

and I think when I think of focus I

think of many instances in the Bible but

one of the primary ones is Daniel and

the Lions Den and so the Bible says he

slept with the Lions all night if he’d

have been focused on Lions he would have

been sleeping

he’d have been over the corner someone

for all crouching down hoping that they

wouldn’t see him or something and it

brings me back to my most favorite

illustrations when God just did

something for me in one of the most

difficult times in my life

it probably was was up to the very top

and that this lady came to see me and

she said I want you to have lunch with

me and then I want to take you up to my

apartment and show you something what

she was about seven to something and I

was thirty something I felt pretty safe

and so so we ate lunch and I went to see

her and I was going through a very

difficult time at church they were doing

that best try to get rid of me and so

she we walked in she said I don’t sit

down I want to show you something walked

over and showed me this picture of

Daniel in the lion’s den and she’s

sitting that son I want you to tell me

what you see so I said well and I can

still remember looking that picture I

see this line over here looking up and

this woman looking down and see the

bones and so I thought they were

everything this little lady get positive

thought about and I said she said oh do

you see anything else

I said no she said if you’ll notice and

then the picture had all these lines and

Daniel had his hands behind and he’s

looking at this ray of light she said

what I want you to see is Daniel doesn’t

have

on the liens but on god it was like god

hug me that day because from that moment

on all of my fears disappear all of my

uncertainties and a lot of other things

probably disappeared because she got my

focus right when you focus on the

trouble in the heartache and the burden

of the pain it gets bigger and we feel

less confident less significant and

overwhelmed because remember this daniel

was looking at omnipotence who created

alliance he could shut the lion’s mouth

he got to kill everyone I’m in a second

he just let him hang around while Daniel

went to sleep that night and before he

probably went to sleep and when he woke

up he went up and looked up and disor

minding of God that he was where he was

because he had obeyed God and yard

delivered him God always operates on the

basis of principles not on the basis of

feelings and how we feel so on

principles for example the simplest one

is we reap what we sow more than we sow

later than me so God always operates he

does never change that and so for

example one of those principles is obey

God leave all the consequences now that

means I’m gonna do what he says I will

let him take care of the consequences

God always acts for example he says one

of those principles is that God acts in

behalf of those who wait for him and so

if I’m going to act on the basis of

principle then I know I’m gonna be

heading in the right direction doing the

right thing because God operates on

principles and that’s the reason you and

I can learn how to relate to him because

if I don’t understand his ways then I’m

gonna say God what are you up to

well he’s just up to doing and being who

he says he is and so you could come up

with most any problem and I believe give

me a little time and I could come up

with a principle to say if you’ll obey

this principle watch what happens

because God wants us to obey Him and

listen leave the consequences to him let

me ask you a question is there any

consequence of your obedience God can’t

handle right none he handle every one of

them well if I obey Him and leave the

consequences to him here’s what happens

I’m gonna be able to have peace and a

sense of joy and confidence and

assurance it doesn’t make any difference

what’s going on because he’s in control

and if I’m obeying him he started taking

care of it because listen the only thing

that can happen in your life it’s what

God allows if you’re a child of God what

he allows he allows for reason I may not

like it and they’ve been lots of times

I’ve told him I didn’t like it and you

know what he said

nothing nothing he just let me hammer

away with it and deal with it until I

finally said yeah you’re right I don’t

like this I know you’re right that’s

what your word says and even though I

don’t like it I want you to have your

way no matter what when you’re living

with guilt in your life are you living

with sin in your life you’re gonna have

a very difficult time trusting God

because sin short-circuits the power of

God in the person’s life