Experiencing Inner Peace – Dr. Charles Stanley
[music] Dr. Charles Stanley: If
somebody ask you: what is peace? How would you define that? Well, peace is more than a word. It's more than an idea. It's more than a feeling. Peace is an awesome gift of God
that He gives to everyone who's willing to surrender their life
to Him and to walk in His ways. So, I would ask you this: do you
have peace in your heart? Can you honestly say you have
peace in your heart, or are you struggling with conflict? Conflict about what? Conflict about many things. So, I want you to listen
carefully. I'm going to give you eight
statements. You will want these statement to
be true in your life because God provides the adequacy for them
to be true. And so, I trust that you'll
write them down. Every one of them is important. If you want true, genuine peace
in your life, no matter what you're going through, write
these down. Apply them to your life. You say, "Well, what do you
mean by that?" I mean practice them. What does it say? And when we practice the truth,
we get what practice provides. And that is an awesome sense of
peace. You either have peace or you
have to deal with conflict. If you don't have peace, you
have conflict. So, it's very important you
write these down beginning with this one. Going to give you these
statements. We experience His indwelling
Presence and all-sufficient peace when we place our trust in
Him as our personal Savior. This settles once and for all
where we're going to spend eternity. That is a question everybody has
to face: where am I going to spend eternity? We're all going to die and we're
all going to face the judgment. Do you have peace in your heart
about your relationship to God? And you don't have to think
about when you die what's going to happen. Many people live years of their
life wondering, knowing that they're not right with God and
wonder what's going to happen one of these days when they die. The way to settle that is to ask
the Lord to forgive you for your sins, surrender your life to
Him, yield yourself to Him and say, "Lord, I want You to give
me a sense of purpose in my life, beginning with the
forgiveness of my sins, and surrendering my life to You as
my Savior and my Lord. I need a purpose, God. I need a divine purpose and
I need a sense of security in my life. I want to walk with You to see
where You will take me." So the first statement: when we
settle our trust in Him as our personal Savior, this settles
once and for all where we're going to spend eternity. Do you know where you'll spend
eternity if God calls you home today? The second statement is this:
when we believe He is in sovereign control of all things,
which includes us personally, when we believe that, this
removes any fear and anxiety for our personal safety. That is, when we believe the
truth, that He is in control. For the Scripture says that
He is in control of all things, Psalm 103 verse 19. "His sovereignty rules
over all." When you believe that that's
true, you can have peace. But if you don't think He's in
control, you know that no other person's in control, we're not
in control. And so, you have to answer
yourself the question: am I worried about where I'm going
to spend eternity? You can settle that. So have peace about that. Are you sure that you know who's
in control? And if you can, and you've
settled that issue, then you don't have to worry about that. You say, "Well, I can't control
what the world does." No, but are you--do you believe
that God is in control of your life? He says He's in control of
all things. Well, you say, "Well, why does
He allow certain things to happen?" I don't know why He allows
certain things to happen, but I know this: that when He says,
"His sovereignty rules over all," it rules over all. And oftentimes, things that we
question very clearly and very personally, eventually, we see
what God was up to, not all the ways, but oftentimes we do. And so, what you have to ask is
this: if He's not in control of your life, who is? Are you in control? Not really! Not in the world in which we
live. But He says His sovereignty
rules over all. Either He causes things to
happen, He allows things to happen, or He prevent things
from happening. But in your life, do you believe
that you have surrendered your life to Him, and therefore He's
in control of your life. If you believe He's in control
of your life, you have a right to be peaceful about it and have
peace that whatever He allows is for our good. He says, "All things work
together for good to those who love Him, to those who are
called according to His purpose," which means He is in
control of all things. If a person chooses to live
disobediently before God, He will allow it. Will He just sit back and
allow it? No, He'll send enough warnings,
enough heartache, enough burden, enough troubles, enough trials
to get the person's attention. If they ignore His attempts to
get their attention in order to give them peace, they suffer the
consequences. Many people are living troubled
lives, very, very unhappy, no peace, constant trouble and
trials in their life because they don't believe He's in
control, they're not in control, they're trying to be in control,
and that doesn't work. The third statement: when we are
trusting the Lord to meet all of our needs, this eliminates our
daily concerns about not having enough. Get that down. When we're trusting Him to meet
all of our needs, this eliminates our daily concerns
about not having enough. And Paul says, "My God shall
supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory
in Christ Jesus," which is a promise of God. If you read the Psalms and the
Proverbs, for example, over and over and over again, God makes
promises for His children, for those who are obedient to Him. So, if you're trusting Him with
all of these things, you have a right to believe in your heart
and have a right to feel in your heart this awesome peace that
God provides. And if you don't have it,
there's a gnawing that goes on inside, suppose this, suppose
that. Suppose this happen. What am I going to do? And people are concerned about
money, suppose that don't have enough of this,
that, and the other. Listen, when you are obedient to
Almighty God; God in all His omniscience, knowing all; all
His omnipotence, having all power; He's going to take care
of whatever our needs are if we're living obediently before
Him. You see, you can't have any real
peace if you're worried about money. You can't have any peace if
you're worried about anything. You say, "Well, everybody's
worried about something," not necessarily. Does everybody have a reason
to be worried? Not really. We can think of some things that
we don't like, but to worry about them is to take them upon
ourselves, bear the weight and the load, carry them with
ourselves and hope for the best. If you're living a life of
hoping for the best in this society, you are in trouble! Because this society does not
promise you any peace, nor does it promise to provide you
any thing, really. So, we're talking about real
peace, "Peace that passes all understanding," as the Bible
says, peace that prevails when you're going through all kinds
of difficulty, hardship, and trouble. God intends for his people to be
at peace with Him and with one another. Can He make it so? Yes, He does. Because peace is
God's gift to us. And when we think about the
Christmas season, we sing about peace. It's amazing what we sing about,
we don't believe. Or what we sing about, we don't
experience. And oftentimes, it's because
we're living in disobedience to God or we don't trust Him. If I really trust Him, and I
think about this, "My God will supply all of my needs according
to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Either it is true or untrue. Either God tells the truth or
God is a liar, one of the two. And He's a God who
promises peace. That peace is based upon our
faith and our obedience to Him. And sometimes people say,
"Well, I don't have all that in my life." Well, what kind of life
are you living? You can't live an ungodly,
disobedient life and expect the best of God's blessings to flow
your way. It doesn't happen that way. Peace is available for those of
us who are willing to believe in our heart that He'll provide all
of our needs. Then statement number four: when
we are maintaining a clear conscience, this shields and
protects our peace with ourselves. Very, very important. Paul spoke of having a good
conscience, a clear conscience. When I have a clear conscience,
it's going to protect me and protect our peace. So, ask yourself the question:
do you have a clear conscience? You see, either I do or I don't. And there is a war that rages in
people's lives when they're living disobedient to God. Why do they drink the way
they drink? And if they drink, watch this
carefully, here's the trap, if they drink a little bit and feel
better, what do you do? You drink a little more to feel
better better. And then you've drink a little
bit more and you feel better better better. And before long, you have
absolutely trapped yourself. So, ask yourself the question:
do you have a clear conscience? If you don't have a clear
conscience, you have one that's gnawing away at you. And God wants us to have peace
within our hearts. That's what He's provided, Jesus
said, "My peace I give unto you, not as the world gives, give I
unto you. Let not your heart be troubled
neither let it be afraid." So, ask yourself the question:
when you don't have peace, when you're nervous and upset about
something, when you're having a very difficult time with your
conscious, for example, and you don't know what's happening,
what do you do? Watch this: there're only two
things you do. You go either to the real thing,
Jesus. Or you go to the world's
substitute. And the world cannot substitute
the peace of Almighty God in your life. What about children growing up
the way they're growing up, and look at the children that are on
drugs, major problems with teenagers on drugs. Where do you think they got that
from? Somebody convinced them to feel
better, not if they went to the Lord, not if they trusted Jesus,
not if they read the Bible, not if they prayed, not if they went
to church, not if they listen to the gospel, but if they take a
shot of this or a drink of that. So, do you have peace? What about your conscience? Is there anything that keeps
cropping up in your life that you ought to deal with, that you
keep saying, "Well, forget it." Here's what happens. At first, you think I'm just
going to forget it. You try to forget it. Well, then you have
to party a little bit. Maybe that'll do it. And you just go from one thing
to the other, till finally you are trapped by your own actions
when you could have absolute peace in your heart if you'd
trust Him. Let's look at the next
statement. Number five: when we can accept
ourselves the way God made us, this guards us against trying to
change something over which we have no control. And you would say, "Well,
I don't do that." And you remember in the twelfth
chapter of First Corinthians, Paul talked about the spiritual
gifts and so forth. How different we are. And God has gifted us all
differently. And when we trust Him as our
Savior, the Holy Spirit comes into our life and enables us to
use the gifts that God has given us in a profitable way. And so, when you think about
that and you think about things that people change. For example, people are
very unhappy. Oftentimes, extremely unhappy. Because they can't accept the
way God has made them. He didn't give us all
the same gifts. There are people who are, for
example, who wouldn't like to play the piano, who wouldn't
like to paint like some people are so gifted at doing? Many people are gifted in many
ways, but the question is this: are you trying to, watch this,
are you trying to change something in your life over
which you have no control? So, what does that do? It drives people to drink. It drives people to be hard
to live with. It drives people to do things
that they shouldn't do. It drives people to have
relationships they shouldn't have because they're absolutely
unhappy with the way God has made them. And if they think, "If I'll
change this, then it'll change. If I change this about me,
somebody's gonna love me. If I change this about me, they
going to think I'm doing well." They change, change, change. There are some things God
doesn't intend to change. Now, I believe in looking your
best, do your best, be your best. We can't always do that, but
at least we ought to try. We represent Jesus, look our
best, do our best, be our best. We can't look like others, be
like others, dress like others, whatever it might be. But God intends for us to be
satisfied with Him, with what He's done in our life and what
He is doing in our life. God has made you the way you are
for the reason He's made you. And He intends for you and I to
be happy and peaceful. That doesn't mean that we're not
going to have trouble and trials and heartaches because growing
us up is a part of the process. Growing us up, teaching us
to be obedient. We all make mistakes, we've all
sinned against God. And He's patiently does what? He forgives us and points us to
the right way, but if I don't listen to the correction and I'm
going to do it my way, then I'm not going to have any peace
whatsoever. And so, He gives us different
spiritual gifts. For example, some people would
like to be a great artist, as we say, or they might like to be
great entrepreneurs and have lots of--people have all kinds
of ideas. Well, what's the question? The question is: God, what did
you intend for me? And I wonder if some people
aren't afraid to answer that question. God, what did you mean for me? What did intend to do for me? If you're going to have peace,
you and God, we and God have to agree that whatever He chooses
for us is the best idea. Now, number six: when we have a
sense of purpose in life, this protects us from the plague
of emptiness. And many people are very empty. And I like, I love what Paul
said, "We are His workmanship," that is, God created us. "We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so
that we would walk in them." That is, God is very, very
involved in your life. Listen, "We are His workmanship
created in Christ Jesus." That is, God has a purpose for
our life. And so, somebody says, "Well,
what's the purpose for my life?" God has purpose. "I don't know that." God has a purpose. I know part of that purpose is
that you'd live a godly life so God can manifest Himself in you,
show Himself in you by your conduct and your lifestyle. God intends for us to follow
Him, obey Him, walk in His ways. And He intends to bless us and
to prosper us in the way that He knows we can handle, whatever
the prosperity may be. Most people think prosperity is
just having lots and lots of money. Our security should be built
upon nothing but a personal relationship with Jesus Christ
who is our God and who has promised to meet every need,
grant us the desires of our heart when we walk in His way
and obedient to Him. Having a lot of stuff does not
bring you peace. It comes through a relationship
with Christ. He came into this world to save
us and to give us the peace the world does not understand. So, when you think about that
and think about the whole idea of being empty, there are a lot
of people who are empty. They can't tell you why, they
just know they're unhappy. They feel empty. This is why they go to the
world to try to fill up this emptiness. A drink of this, a drink of
that, here, there, she, him, whatever it might be, trying to
fill up their emptiness. Only one thing fills the heart
of anybody, and that is Jesus's presence, and the expression of
His life in us and to us and through us. That's what brings absolute
assurance in our life, and that's what brings us to a sense
of being full. The Bible talks about the
fullness of the Spirit, not the emptiness. So, would you say that you feel
empty about something? Would you feel empty about your
days, about the work that you have, about your children? Is there something missing in
your thinking? Or do you have a relationship
with Christ and you look to Him to fill your emptiness? You say, "Well, how does He fill
my emptiness?" I'll tell you how. The closer you and I get to Him
in our relationship, talking to Him, listening to Him, obeying
Him, doing what He wants us to do the way He wants us to do it,
using the talents and gifts that He's given us, the closer we
walk with Him, the more peace we're going to have. So, ask yourself the question:
am I a peaceful person? Do I have peace in my life? All of these things are
absolutely essential and true. Then of course, when we have a
sense of competency, that is, we feel capable and
adequate in life. This protects us from failure
due to our overwhelming sense of inadequacy. People oftentimes fail because
they feel inadequate. And to feel competent means that
you feel capable, able, qualified, fitted, ready to do
whatever you're supposed to do, whatever God's called you to do. And the feeling of inadequacy
creates doubt about ourselves. God wants us to sense His
sufficiency in our life. Watch this, He would never call
you to do something that He would not equip you to do. And in first Corinthians twelve,
Paul's all those qualities that He talks about, and the
spiritual gifts, think about this, you have a spiritual gift. When you trusted Christ as your
Savior, the, watch this, the Holy Spirit came into your life
and began that moment, that moment to begin to work in your
life utilizing that spiritual gift, whatever it might be. God desires to equip us in order
to accomplish His purpose and will for our life. God wants us to have peace. He wants us to be equipped. He wants us to be able to live a
life that what? That personifies Him, that shows
the existence of Christ in our life. That's our witness and our
testimony. When you and I are obedient to
God, walking in His will and His gifts, then we have a testimony
to others that Christ will enable us, that He will show us
what to do, that He will equip us to do it, He'll provide what
we need, and we can live in peace. But if you have a sense of
emptiness in your life, it's because somewhere along the way,
you have avoided the peace maker and the one who's the gift giver
and the one who's the prayer answerer, and the one who has
a will and purpose and plan for your life. He has the best for our life,
and the only way we're going to be happy and have peace is when
we're walking in that peace. And then of course, let's go to
the last one, number eight: when we have a sense of belonging,
this shields us from the painful feeling of rejection and
feeling unwanted. Jesus said, "Come unto Me,
all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, I'll give
you rest." And yet, many people will not
come to Him. And so, they don't have
any peace. Every one of us has felt
rejection by somebody at some time in our life. And would you not agree that
feeling rejected by somebody, especially somebody you love,
somebody you respect, somebody you honor, you feel
rejected by them. They've turned away from you. They've said things that were
words of rejection. Words of rejection are painful. Rejection is a painful attitude,
a painful feeling. Sometimes we may feel rejection
when we know we haven't been rejected. But still, if the feeling is
there, the pain is there, and we're going to respond
as a result. We'll feel hurtful, angry,
empty, you name it. But if you're going to have
peace in your heart, you have to overcome this feeling
of rejection. So, think about this: if
everybody in the world rejected you, would you be a reject? The next time you get to feeling
you're not very valuable, you don't have to look at
but one thing, what is that? The Cross. Look at the Cross. You think, how valuable are you? Valuable enough for God to nail
His Son to an old tree in order that He may give to world the
love that not we deserve, but that He'd want us to have. Any time you feel rejected,
unwanted, and unloved and uncared for, remember who
loves you. The one who loves you can
satisfy every need in your life and every desire of your heart
if you choose to walk in obedience to Him. And it begins with humbling
yourselves before the Lord and saying, "Father, I want
to confess my sins. I want to acknowledge my
disobedience, my rebellion, my unbelief, and all the rest." I'm asking you to forgive me,
not on the basis of I deserve it, but on the basis of what you
did at the cross. Ask you to forgive me, and
beginning today, I surrender my life to you and I want you
to live your life through me. I want that peace that you
talk about that passes all understanding. I want what you have to offer,
and I yield my life to you so you can fill me with your peace. You say, "Will that work
for my life?" Every life. And my prayer for you is you
don't have peace in your heart? I know you don't if you're
living in sin. What are you going to in your
life to gain peace? It's not going to work. It's just costing you money,
heartache, troubles, trials, can cost you your job, cost you
your health. If you're willing to surrender
your life to Christ and tell Him that you want the peace that He
talked about, "My peace I give unto you, not as the world
gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid." If you want that peace, it's
yours for the asking and the surrendering of your
life to Him. He's more than willing
to give it. And Father, how grateful we are
for your patience, willingness to forgive over and over again,
desiring the best for us. Providing the best for us. Giving us guidance for every
single decision we make. I pray the Holy Spirit will sink
these truths deep in our heart and help us to recognize either
these truths are true or there will be pain, disappointment,
hurt, heartache, suffering, shame, and on the story goes. We say we love you, we praise
you, we bless you today in Jesus's name, amen.