Charles Stanley

Disappointment is inevitable. But to become discouraged, there's a choice I make. God would never discourage me. He would always point me to himself to trust him. Therefore, my discouragement is from Satan. As you go through the emotions that we have, hostility is not from God, bitterness, unforgiveness, all of these are attacks from Satan.

Basically, there are two paths you can walk: faith or fear. It's impossible to simultaneously trust God and not trust God.

When we learn from experience, the scars of sin can lead us to restoration and a renewed intimacy with God.

On Sunday morning Im not nervous... I cant wait to tell what God wants me to say.

When we take our eyes off the whirl of day-to-day activity and concentrate on honoring Him and following in His way, we find a consistent peace that carries us through both plenty and poverty.

We are either in the process of resisting God's truth or in the process of being shaped and molded by his truth.

Every test, every trial, every heartache that's been significant, I can turn it over and see how God has turned it into good no matter what.

His voice leads us not into timid discipleship but into bold witness.

A Christian has no right being in a fight unless it's a spiritual fight.

I'm convinced that the man who has learned to meditate upon the Lord will be able to run on his feet and walk in his spirit. Although he may be hurried by his vocation, that's not the issue. The issue is how fast his spirit is going. To slow it down takes a period of time.

You can't tell a woman who is called by God to teach that she cannot teach the Word of God... So I think the distinction is that there's a difference between the authority of a pastor and a Bible teacher.

The Bible tells us that God will meet all our needs. He feeds the birds of the air and clothes the grass with the splendor of lilies. How much more, then, will He care for us, who are made in His image? Our only concern is to obey the heavenly Father and leave the consequences to Him.

The amount of time we spend with Jesus - meditating on His Word and His majesty, seeking His face - establishes our fruitfulness in the kingdom.

The moment someone chooses to trust in Jesus Christ, his sins are wiped away, and he is adopted into God's family. That individual is set apart as a child of God, with a sacred purpose.

If you tell God no because He won't explain the reason He wants you to do something, you are actually hindering His blessing. But when you say yes to Him, all of heaven opens to pour out His goodness and reward your obedience. What matters more than material blessings are the things He is teaching us in our spirit.

We can be tired weary and emotionally distraught but after spending time alone with God we find that He injects into our bodies energy power and strength.

We can be tired, weary and emotionally distraught, but after spending time alone with God, we find that He injects into our bodies energy, power and strength.

When trouble comes, focus on God's ability to care for you.

A man can preach no better than he prays.

Believing you can achieve a goal is vital to reaching a goal.

God's voice is still and quiet and easily buried under an avalanche of clamour.

Earthly wisdom is doing what comes naturally. Godly wisdom is doing what the Holy Spirit compels us to do.

Discouragement Can be temporary or it can destroy our life. The choice is ours. If we refuse to deal with discouragement head on we are opening the door for it to completely dominate our life.

Since God knows our future, our personalities, and our capacity to listen, He isn't ever going to say more to us than we can deal with at the moment.

If we have built on the fragile cornerstones of human wisdom, pride, and conditional love, things may look good for a while, but a weak foundation causes collapse when storms hit.

God will never reject you. Whether you accept Him is your decision.

Brokenness is Gods requirement for maximum usefulness.

In giving us children, God places us in a position of both leadership and service. He calls us to give up our lives for someone else's sake - to abandon our own desires and put our child's interests first. Yet, according to His perfect design, it is through this selflessness that we can become truly fulfilled.

Your potential is the sum of all the possibilities God has for your life.

Hope founded upon a human being, a man-made philosophy or any institution is always misplaced... because these things are unreliable and fleeting.

We can be tired, weary, and emotionally distraught, but after spending time alone with God, we find that He injects into our bodies energy, power and strength.

On Sunday morning, I'm not nervous... I can't wait to tell what God wants me to say.

Motherhood is a great honor and privilege, yet it is also synonymous with servanthood. Every day women are called upon to selflessly meet the needs of their families. Whether they are awake at night nursing a baby, spending their time and money on less-than-grateful teenagers, or preparing meals, moms continuously put others before themselves.

An unschooled man who knows how to meditate upon the Lord has learned far more than the man with the highest education who does not know how to meditate.

If we rationalize our problems when He points them out, we will spend less and less time meditating because we won't want to face God in that area of our lives.

Yieldedness is vital in listening to what He has to say.

The best way in the world to deceive believers is to cloak a message in religious language and declare that it conveys some new insight from God.

Nobody else can make us discouraged it is a choice that we alone make when facing disappointments.

One of Satan's most deceptive and powerful ways of defeating us is to get us to believe a lie. And the biggest lie is that there are no consequences to our own doing. Satan will give you whatever you ask for if it will lead you where he ultimately wants you.

Our heavenly Father understands our disappointment, suffering, pain, fear, and doubt. He is always there to encourage our hearts and help us understand that He's sufficient for all of our needs. When I accepted this as an absolute truth in my life, I found that my worrying stopped.

I think a lot of people, even Christians, are willing to be satisfied with gaining lots and lots of biblical knowledge - and many people go to Bible studies and don't realize it isn't enough to know what's right, it's applying the information and the knowledge that you have.

The Scriptures contain many stories of people who waited years or even decades before the Lord's promises came to pass. What modern believers can learn from the patience of biblical saints like Abraham, Joseph, David, and Paul is that waiting upon the Lord has eternal rewards.

When God speaks, oftentimes His voice will call for an act of courage on our part.

In our friendships we have to be wise that we choose godly people to be our friends. Somebody might say, well does that mean that you should never have a lost person as your friend? No, I wouldn't say that. But you can't have the same intimacy with a lost person that you can with a godly person in whom the Holy Spirit is living.

The time you spend alone with God will transform your character and increase your devotion. Then your integrity and godly behavior in an unbelieving world will make others long to know the Lord.

Romantic love reaches out in little ways, showing attention and admiration. Romantic love remembers what pleases a woman, what excites her, and what surprises her. Its actions whisper: you are the most special person in my life.

Helping someone come to a saving knowledge of Christ is the greatest achievement possible.

Take steps each day to be sure your life expresses commitment to Jesus.

Think about the comfortable feeling you have as you open your front door. That's but a hint of what we'll feel some day on arriving at the place our Father has lovingly and personally prepared for us in heaven. We will finally - and permanently - be 'at home' in a way that defies description.

The difficulties we face originate from one of three sources. Some are sent to us by the Lord to test our faith, others are the result of Satan's attacks, and still others are due to our own sinful choices.

Disappointments will come and go but discouragement is a choice that you make.

There is only one secure foundation: a genuine, deep relationship with Jesus Christ, which will carry you through any and all turmoil. No matter what storms are raging all around, you'll stand firm if you stand on His love.

God's arrows of affliction are sharp and painful so He can get our attention. He won't let His beloved children get away with sin because He knows it robs us of blessings, opportunities, and even character refinement.

Trusting God means looking beyond what we can see to what God sees.

To have God speak to the heart is a majestic experience, an experience that people may miss if they monopolize the conversation and never pause to hear God's responses.

Our willingness to wait reveals the value we place on what we're waiting for

Of all the things Christ wants for us, loving Him and focusing our attention on Him are the most important.

One of the important things about temptation is, if I'm going to deal with it I'm going to have to recognize, this is an area of weakness in my life. I have been tempted here before and before and before.

The bottom line in the Christian life is obedience and most people don't even like the word.

There's no way to know how many people your life will influence. You don't know who is watching, listening, or learning from you.

He wants you all to Himself to put His loving, divine arms around you.

Thank the Lord for using each person as a tool in your life to deepen your insight into His grace and conforming you to the image of His Son.

Too many Christians have a commitment of convenience. They'll stay faithful as long as it's safe and doesn't involve risk, rejection, or criticism. Instead of standing alone in the face of challenge or temptation, they check to see which way their friends are going.

God will never direct us to be prideful, arrogant and unforgiving, immoral or slothful or full of fear. We step into these things because we are insensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit within us.

I would never discredit reading the Scriptures, but it is important to meditate on it.

God will never tell us to do something that gratifies the flesh.

God has ways of shaking the world when He is at work. He literally caused the ground to quake when Jesus died on the cross.

The Bible is clear that those who fail to heed the Lord's discipline - whether nations, cities, or individuals - suffer devastating consequences.