The Power of Solitude - Part 1

Welcome to the intent time can tell Stanley for Monday, October 25 and try to avoid being alone and purposeless information can bring believers in Jesus into clarity and focus here is a lesson on the power of solitude, tension and stress is something we always have the deal with in life know about who we are and where we because that's just the way life is.

And about time you think you have it all under control.

Something else comes along. So to get your attention.

So how do you deal with stress in your life. People deal with it in different ways. Now this message is not about stress but it certainly has a great deal to do with how to deal with it. And so when you think about what stresses you the most. What would you say so well as a personal living well towards my kids towards my parents about this mother the words he will have all kind of stressful, reasons, and whatever the reason is the issue is how you deal with God did not intend for us to live such stressful lives. He intended for us to have a sense of peace. No matter what the circumstances are a sense of confidence and assurance and security no matter what the circumstances are. And yet that's not the way most people living and so many times that talk about the job and I stress that they are well at some point there has to be some way to relieve that and the mistake people make is this.

They figure out what you know what I can't change the circumstances and I can't change a job and I can't change this and I don't know how to do that so that that doesn't work to get on alcohol. Whatever it might be of some kind of an affair. Anything to get their mind of what's happening and so what people realizes this when you take something to cover it up and you don't realize what's going on. You have cut it off as far as the feeling but it's still going on inside you just subdued. And the worst kind of tension and stress that you could possibly have is the guy you don't know about and all of a sudden it shows itself in a heart attack, a high blood pressure. Whatever it might be what is God's way of dealing with this and I want to talk about the power of solitude the power of solitude and I want you turn to just a couple verses in the fifth Psalm of the many verses we can turn to. But the in the fifth Psalm and David certainly was one who was familiar with solitude and here's what the verse says verse one give ear to my words, the Lord, and consider my groaning heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God for to you I pray and then listen to this next verse in the morning. Oh Lord, you will hear my voice in the morning I will order my prayer to you and eagerly watch in the morning I'm going to start out talking to you and then I'm gonna watch what you do all day long. Well, let's think about it for a moment and often times people confuse they confuse being lonely with solitude. Now loneliness is certainly not from God.

For example, loneliness speaks of being isolated or detached in some fashion from someone you love a people you like being with his soul like being out there on island. It's an attitude that's not it's a spirit it's a feeling that's not comfortable. No one likes the feeling of being lonely. No one wants to feel loneliness yet.

Probably all of us have in some fashion. Other for some reason of the other in the Bible says is not good for man to be alone. That's a man or woman.

And so if it's not if loneliness is not good and there has to be a divine answer to it and so the question is, would you consider yourself a lonely person or would you consider yourself one who is very content of your friends you got lots of relationships and so forth and friends audio for lonely seat you can live in a crowd feel very lonely, you can live in a big family. Be very lonely because you see it's not so much what's around you is what's on the inside of you and God never intended for you to live a lonely life.

You may have to live alone, but there's a difference in living alone and being lonely, and many people somehow don't seem to be able to handle that loneliness and that's what gets him in trouble.

Okay so if that's what loneliness is what is solitude because it sounds like the same thing.

Here's the difference is real simple loneliness.

We want to avoid detached separated solitude is aloneness. We choose our choose solitude, a quiet place and when you read the Scripture. For example, and you look at the lives of of God's servants. For example, you see them practicing solitude and if you remember that for example Moses publicist for 40 years is on the backside of the desert is shepherding sheep. Then one day he was walking along along and all of a sudden he saw something he couldn't explain. And God said to take his shoes off, this is holy ground.

God spoke to how many times and how many years that he spent in solitude, waiting, listening, not knowing really what was going on in his life. But God did. I think about second Samuel in the seventh chapter. If you want to turn there for a moment and the here's David matter at a time in his life and the prophet Nathan had been listening to God talking to him about David and then if you'll notice verse 18 of second Samuel, look at this chapter 7 then David, the king went in and sat before the Lord, and he said, who am I the Lord your God. What is my house that you brought me this far and yet this was insignificant. Your eyes, oh Lord God, for you have spoken. Also the house of your servant concerning the distant future, and this is the custom of man, oh Lord God again. What more can David say to you, for you know your serving the Lord God for the sake of your word and according to your own greatness. You've done all this greatness to let your servant know. For this reason you are greater. Lord God, but there is none like you and there's no God beside you, according to all that we've heard from you is what is he doing he sitting in silence alone and he's beginning to express what he's feeling. He's just talking to the father and so when you think of in terms of solitude.

Remember it is a choice you make to be alone.

It's a choice you make to be by yourself it's a choice you make, shut everything out for season of time that look at the life of Jesus.

I will give you a number verses here because this was the habit. This is the way Jesus live I will read your few verses to show you what kind of atmosphere.

He had to live.

And once he began his ministry for 30 years he lived in a very quiet life. Being a carpenter.

I'm sure he had times many times of solitude listening to the father speak to him but look, if you will. In this first chapter and look in verse 33 Scripture says in the whole city had gathered at the door and he healed many who were ill with various diseases and cast out many demons and he was not permitting the demons to speak because they knew who he was. Watch this in the early morning following all that while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house went away to a secluded place and was praying there time of solitude.

Think about this because Jesus healed the sick, because he fed them because he had these doctors these ideas. It was strange to many of them.

They were survey surrounded him, asking him questions, wanting to be. He'll catch this demon afterwards when you look at the kind of life he lived. It was a very very strenuous life and we think about activity day. Think about the activity that he lived in, day after day after day because everywhere he went. People want to follow him.

Oftentimes because they wanted to be fed.

They want to see a miracle they want to hear about them and think about is what created a lot of tension was that he was always seemingly surrounded by people who didn't like him who hated him who despised him who want the persecuted who wanted to kill and it was very short time in his ministry, and they want to stone him up or push them off the cliff and so I always had the antagonists there and that's always a drain. Remember while he's God he still human and so he's feeling these things. So how does he begin his day early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and left the house went away to a secluded place and was praying there where the disciples couldn't find them so they finally found Simon and his companions search for and they found them and said to him, everyone's looking for you can imagine Peter say we doing here by itself was everybody's are you looking for you and so he put that as a priority in his life if you will look at the look in Luke the fifth chapter from moment notice what's happening here again, and the in the 15th verse, but the news about him was spreading even further and large crowds were gathering the hearing and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus himself will often slip away to the wilderness and pray out there far enough away that nobody could find them. At least he hoped they could then if you will look in the six chapter and look what he's facing in the leaven the verse of the six chapter but they themselves were filled with rage and discuss together what they might do the Jesus verse 12. It was at this time that he went off to the mountain to pray and he spent the whole night in prayer to God being alone listening to his heavenly father. Speaking to his heavenly Father if Jesus Christ, the son of God who is God in human flesh dealt with things that we feel somehow he felt an absolute essential need in his life to spend time in solitude, alone listening, speaking, hearing from the father and the things that happened to him physically are the same things that happened was the things that happened him spiritually the same things that happened to us if we allow it to happen. And so what I want you to see here is simply this, that if you look at the life of Jesus. He felt the need to be alone, and the fellowship with his heavenly father. For example, if you look in the first chapter of the of Galatians and the is what you found the possible given the brief background on his own life and he talks about what happened after you got saved.

And remember now who he is and what's going on. He's a Pharisee of this affairs age. I mean he's an absolute awesome leader and you remember what his goal is to eradicate Christianity to eliminate this whole idea of the followers of Jesus and that's what he's been doing. He said told him of the reason he aggressively persecuted the church, he decided he was giving his all to get rid of these folks so he's running along one day on his way to Damascus to persecute the people in Sunday walls to the earth, blinded, can't see anything but he hears this voice and answers. Lord, what would you have me to do and for a few days. He's blinded and then his what he says. Look, if you will. In this first chapter and beginning in verse 11. For I would have you to know brother that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ and then you move on down. He talks about is Judaism Willis read what he says you've heard of my former manner of life in Judea somehow use the persecuted church of God beyond the measure and try to destroy and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions but when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately go to consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away to Arabia and return once more to Damascus, then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas at Peter and stayed with him 15 days and so forth. What did he do the apostle Paul Saul of Tarsus at that time was wise enough to realize he had been taught. He had been baptized, so to speak in Judaism in everything they believed and now he was looked to as a great leader. All of a sudden this Jesus whom he persecuted was the most important person in his life. He couldn't quite he had to be a little confused.

It had to be frustrated over this. First of all that water they got a thing. Who's going to believe me, who's going to believe what happened to me. What am I going to do now all this that I've been taught and had tried to teach others. All of a sudden I'm walking a different way. This is totally opposite. What's happening. He was wise enough to go ways is to Arabia to do what to get himself in solitude to begin to understand what happened to him. How would he explain it that he's been trying to kill them off. Now he's become one of what is he going to do now.

He needed some very definite clear answers this God Jehovah whom he believed in this Jesus whom he wanted the persecute. Now he's beginning to understand this, Jesus is the son of this Jehovah God that he had been trying to persecute this Jesus get rid of them in some fashion that he's got to deal with this lots of questions, lots of anxieties, all these things had to hit him quickly when he was saved on the Damascus Road say when away to listen and to allow God to straighten out his theology. He spent time meditating, listening, and when he saw got it all clear in his mind and he and God straighten it all out.

He went up to talk to the apostles, but before then here's the reason he did. He had to hear it from God. He had to hear it from the one as he said, who chose him from his mother's womb, and so he spent time listening and no doubt crying out at the asking him to give them understanding and all the rest. We said solitude is time that you not choose to be alone now. What's the purpose of that. Why can't you just get it all doing what you normally do in a given day, which most people think they can.

What is the watch this carefully what is the basic purpose of solitude is not to study the Bible, it is not to have a big prayer meeting is not to get such prayer list go through that is not the read the Bible through any given year is the purpose of solitude. The purpose of solitude is to spend time take time alone.

Listen to fellowship with God and let God fellowship with you. When is the last time you got alone just you and God. And you told him I just want to listen to you. I want you to speak to my heart clear up this confusion. I have open my eyes and give me understanding Salama go talk.

I just want to listen to you when is the last time you ever truly, genuinely God away by yourself because you just want to listen to God and think about this when God created this world. He did a fantastic job. We all agree a man, he did a fantastic job creating this planet, hang it out here in space stars and sun moon beautiful sandy beaches and palm trees, snowcapped mountains, flowers in the sixth, the way I mean everything. Think of all the things God's created but God didn't create anything that he personally could fellowship with until he created man. He created you and me in order to reveal to was that he's God and that he loves you and he loves me. And all this awesome creation which we agreed we miss a lot of it up but he created all this awesome creation.

Why because he loved us, and then when he got it all done. He placed mankind right in the midst of it and said help yourself, be my guest.

I just love you is one trio that don't mess with Alan avoided at all cost like what you have who you are, created by me and everything you'll ever want, because there'll be no needs. They're all here. Do you think that you and would've acted like Adam and Eve while you and I disobey him when we know it's not the right thing when we know we gonna pay the consequences that we probably done the same thing. But here's the wonderful thing about God. God created you for the purpose of fellow shipping with you, loving you and being loved by God allowed you to be born because God shows the fellowship and to express his love to and to demonstrate to you how much he loves you. Thank you for listening to the power of solitude to know more about Charles Stanley enhance ministry intent started wagging and casted the presentation and intense ministries Atlanta, Georgia