In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: All frustration cannot be relegated to the devil. He may be the channel through which it comes, but God allows certain frustrations in our life for our own spiritual maturity or to accomplish something that God wants to accomplish that is totally beyond our understanding, thinking, or comprehension.

Guest (Male): If we're really honest, most of our prayers are usually focused on how life could be easier. But today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, we'll see that God does substantial work in our individual lives through adversity. Be open to a shift in your perspective as you see what scripture says about learning to live with frustrations.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Would you turn to Philippians chapter 1? This morning, there are some principles here that will help all of us to deal with frustrations. He says, beginning in verse 12, "Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress or the furtherance of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear."

"Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ."

"According to my earnest expectation and hope, that I shall not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ shall even now as always be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death." So he says in this 21st verse, "For me to live is Christ to live. For me to die is for my gain." Then, if you'll notice in the second chapter and the eighth verse, which is one of the most important passages in the whole Bible on the life of Christ in this second chapter, he says—and I believe Paul would have said it this way; I believe he said—here's what I'm learning.

And that is in verse 5: "Have this mind in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." Here's what he was saying. Paul said, "I'm learning how to be a servant in whatever circumstance I find myself, even obedient in servitude, even if I know it means my death."

You see, Paul had made a commitment in his life. The commitment he made had something to do with being able to live in a small circle, totally surrounded by frustrating circumstances, but unmoved and unruffled by those circumstances because his focus was upon the positive. His focus was upon God, and his focus was not upon his circumstance. Look in chapter 4 again, if you will just for a moment. Look beginning in verse 17 here. He's speaking about giving again. He says, "Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account." He wants God to do something in their lives.

"But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied." Do you know why Paul wasn't walking around the prison and wringing his hands and worried about all the people in Corinth, the people in Philippi, the people in Berea, Thessalonica, Lystra, Iconium, and all these places? The reason he wasn't is because he had learned to keep his focus upon God and commit himself totally to God and leave all of that in the hands of God.

The second thing I want you to notice that leads into that is this: Paul had learned to dignify his frustrations. Here's what we do sometimes. When we become frustrated and cannot achieve, what do we do? We say, "I can't. What's the matter with me? What have I done? Why aren't things working out for me?" What we do without realizing it is we build a case against ourselves. But Paul didn't do that. Paul didn't say, "What have I done to merit prison? Why can't I get out of this place?"

He didn't do any of that. Paul focused upon the positive, and secondly, he learned to dignify the very thing that would have humiliated most people. The question is not, is he or is he not imprisoned? The question is, whose prisoner is he? Is he Nero's prisoner or is he the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ? He says throughout his epistles, "Paul, the bond-slave of Jesus Christ." He saw himself as a slave. So when he looked upon himself as a prisoner, he was praising and rejoicing that he was counted worthy of being a prisoner of Jesus Christ his Lord.

So you see, one of the things that made it possible for him to live with his frustration during this period is he kept his focus right. His focus on the circumstance was that he was in prison, but he had everything he needed. They had sent him a wonderful message about what was going on in Philippi. The gospel was being furthered. And here he was, imprisoned as a prisoner, a representative and ambassador of Jesus Christ.

Paul learned how to live with the circumstances. Often times when men and women learn to live with them, and God accomplishes his purpose for allowing them, God breaks open the circumstance and they become free. I wonder how many times God wants to remove the circumstance that hinders us, the things that frustrate us, but he will not remove them because we stubbornly will not learn our lesson. I can look in my own life and see the same thing. Sometimes it's taken me so long to learn some simple lessons that God was trying to teach me, so he'd just keep the pressure on, keep the frustration there, keep the circumstances small enough until finally I just had to ultimately give up out of desperation.

So what we must do is to get the proper attitude, which Paul, of course, had here. First of all, he asked himself the question, whose prisoner was he? He said, "I'm an ambassador. I'm here in the name of Jesus Christ." You say, "I don't want to be the prisoner in anybody's name." Yeah, but you see, Paul made a commitment. In essence, this is his commitment: "For me to live is Christ to live, wherever I am, whatever the circumstance, whenever, however, makes no difference. For me to live is Christ to live."

If that be true, whose responsibility was it to send him or allow him to go wherever he wanted him to go? None other than Jesus Christ, whom he represented. If you and I could see ourselves as Paul—for me to live is Christ to live because Christ is living within me. And if Christ is living within me, then for me to live is Christ to live. If Christ is living within me and my life is Christ's life, then what difference does it make where I am? That is, if I am committed to his will and not my will.

If I'm committed to getting my thing done regardless, then I have a problem. If I am committed to the will of God, period, then wherever God sees fit to send me, in whatever circumstances, then I have reason to rejoice because God, who is my Lord, is controlling my life. Look at verse 12, chapter 1. "Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel." So he could rejoice. He could rejoice because he could dignify his imprisonment.

He's there as an ambassador of Jesus Christ. Is he any less missionary, any less preacher, any less witness, any less effective in prison than he is in the streets of Lystra, Iconium, Antioch, or Jerusalem? No less effective at all. So he has no real reason to let his frustration humiliate him or in any way hinder his self-image or even hinder what he wants to accomplish. Because he says in verse 12, it's turned out for the progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well-known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard, which may have been somewhere close to 9,000 men.

He says not only that, but the whole Praetorian Guard and to everyone else. Everybody in Caesar's household knew that the man who was most effective, the man who was changing and turning his world upside down, was over there in prison. But everybody who knew about him knew they didn't have his spirit in prison. His spirit was free. And even while he was in prison, he says the gospel is being furthered. There is progress in getting the gospel out.

The reason Paul wasn't wringing his hands and walking around the jail is because he'd learned to keep his focus on things that are good. His mind was on Christ. Here he is, indwelt by Christ. He said, "I'm crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me. For me to live is Christ to live. I'm Christ's ambassador. All things are working together for good. I am imprisoned physically in Rome, but not in my spirit." For the spirit of Paul was still out there in those churches, permeating and saturating.

Men and women were sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, still motivated by the message of the Apostle Paul when he was in their town, motivated by his bravery and courage and boldness because even they were hearing that in prison, the guards are being saved. You cannot imprison the spirit of a man or woman who understands their true relationship to Jesus Christ any more than you can bury a saint when he or she dies. You can't bury a child of God. Put their body in the casket, lower them in the grave, but you never put a saint in a grave. It is absolutely divinely impossible to bury a saint. The body is committed to the earth, but to be absent from the body is present with the Lord.

So Paul dignified his position. He wasn't humiliated for being in prison; he was rejoicing in the Lord. Now I want you to see this third thing that's so very important: Paul learned to capitalize on his frustration. Now this is a real key. Did you know some of the greatest athletes, some of the greatest inventors, some of the greatest poets, musicians—some of the greats of the world—many of them have been people who've had those frustrations? Football players with one hand. Some of the greatest musicians of history couldn't hear. Some of the greatest writers couldn't see. And some people with no legs have achieved more than thousands upon thousands with every area of their body there.

Paul learned to capitalize on his frustration because he had his mind on Jesus Christ. "Let this mind be in you." Focus your mind upon these things. And he majored on having enough. The gospel was getting out. He majored in his little circle of frustration on the things that were good. And as a result of that, he, by God's divine direction, was able to capitalize on his frustration of being imprisoned.

Chapter 1, verse 20: "According to my earnest expectation and hope that I shall not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ shall even now as always be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death." Paul said, "One thing I'm going to capitalize on here is this: if they execute me, it will be to the glory of Almighty God." Because he knew that if they executed him, there'd only be one result: the flame within the church of Jesus Christ would grow brighter.

He stood by and watched Stephen stoned to death. Paul was a very wise, discerning man, and he watched the death of Stephen just blossom the church. Here he is in prison, and he's going to capitalize on being there. What is a normal frustration and a point of fear, he knows, "For me to live is Christ to live, but if I die, not only will I be the gainer, but the church is going to blossom." The blood of the martyrs seeds the church, fans the flame of the gospel of Jesus Christ so when Paul looked at himself in prison, there was no way to lose. If they killed him, he'd be with the Lord. Not only that, but the church would grow and blossom because he knew that God would raise up a thousand more Pauls. God doesn't depend on any one man for anything.

You know what the bottom line of learning to live with frustration is? The bottom line of learning to live with frustration, either for a period of time or for the rest of our life, is that we are committed to Jesus Christ, period. No strings, no reservations. God, whatever you want for my life, wherever you want it, whenever you want it, I'm committed. Whether I like it or not, I am committed to whatever you call me for. It is when we chomp against the bits and we strive to ward off the frustration and to break through it and to manhandle it, whatever it takes. It says something about our commitment to Jesus Christ.

And then just think about this last thing. What would the New Testament be without the book of Ephesians? One of the greatest books in the Bible—they're all great. What would it be like without Colossians? What would it be like without Philippians? What would the New Testament—and you see, it is in prison that Paul wrote these great epistles: Colossians unfolding Jesus, Ephesians unfolding the work of the church, Philippians our whole mindset, and that is to be in the likeness of Christ in our thinking and that is to serve other people.

You see, prison didn't frustrate Paul. He capitalized on it. As long as he was out of prison, he was going from place to place. But think about this for a moment. In prison, it was very quiet. He had nobody to disturb him. He didn't even have a schedule. He didn't have to go preach anywhere. All Paul had to do was to think and to contemplate and to pray and to share his faith, listen to God, and write these great eternal epistles. So that 2,000 years later, you and I could be saying, "Thank you, God. Thank you, thank you, thank you for our relationship in Jesus Christ," which is described probably as well in Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians better than any other books in the Bible. He capitalized on his frustration. And I want to ask you, how shall we respond to frustration? Shall we learn to rejoice in it? Shall we learn to dignify it for what it is and see from where it's coming from? And will we allow God to show us how to capitalize on it to be a blessing to someone else?

Guest (Male): God can use your frustrations and difficulties to mature you spiritually and to impact the lives of those around you. But as you heard in Dr. Stanley's message today on In Touch, it begins with the willingness to yield to God's plan and seeing your situation from his perspective. If you could use a little more help making that adjustment, stop by our website intouch.org and listen to this message again by following the link to today on radio.

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You're listening to In Touch. What if God gave you what you wanted, but it came with something you didn't expect? With insight for believers, here's a moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: If you could say to Paul, "Paul, if you had one place you'd like to share the gospel, where would it be?" he'd probably say, "In Nero's household. That's where I'd really—that's my ultimate objective." Well, what happens? They send one of the Praetorian Guards over there and they chain Paul's right arm to the guard's left arm. Now, who's the prisoner?

That guard could only stand there for a few minutes while Paul began to share the gospel with him. For six hours, they were together, and that guard was saved. Then they'd send another one, and he'd be saved. And for two years, Paul had a private audience with the whole Praetorian Guard, and they were all saved. God gave Paul exactly what he wanted. He gave him the whole household of Nero, but he gave it to him in a way Paul never would have dreamed. He was a prisoner for two years, but he got what he asked for. Be careful what you ask for. God may give it to you in a way you're not expecting.