Charles F. Stanley - Courageous Faith: My Story From a Life of Obedience

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Howard Books

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Copyright 2016 by Charles Stanley

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Howard Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Howard Books hardcover edition September 2016

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Jacket design by Debi Wijanto

Front jacket photograph by Tim Olive

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Stanley, Charles F., author

Title: Courageous faith : my story from a life of obedience / Charles F. Stanley.

Description: Nashville, TN : Howard Books, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016023411 | ISBN 9781501132698 (hardcover : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Stanley, Charles F. |

BaptistsClergyGeorgiaAtlantaBiography.

Classification: LCC BX6495.S753 A3 2016 | DDC 286/.1092

[B]dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016023411

ISBN 978-1-5011-3269-8

ISBN 978-1-5011-3270-4 (ebook)

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, taken from the New American Standard Bible. Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California. All rights reserved, www.lockman.org.

Scripture quotations marked (TLB) or The Living Bible are taken from The Living Bible (Kenneth N. Taylor; Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1997, 1971 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.)

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

T O MY TWO DEVOTED STAFFS AT F IRST B APTIST C HURCH OF A TLANTA AND I N T OUCH M INISTRIES, WITH MY GRATEFULNESS FOR YOUR FAITHFUL SERVICE. I T IS A PLEASURE AND PRIVILEGE TO SERVE G OD WITH YOU.

The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.

2 C HRONICLES 16:9

If my sister and I heard it once, we heard it a thousand times, Andy, Becky, God has a plan for your life and you dont want to miss it. As children, we believed him. Growing up, we watched him. As adults, we are so grateful for him. Specifically, were grateful he connected the days of our lives with the purposes of God for our lives.

Through the years, weve had a ringside seat for all Gods done in and through our dad. He took a poor, skinny kid from Dry Fork, Virginia, and used him to broadcast the gospel all over the world. Long before there was an Internet, my dads messages were broadcast to every country in the world every day of the week!

While Dad has produced lots of books, this one is special. Though not an official biography, this book chronicles my dads biggest life lessons within the context of the story of his life. And what a story it is. Its all here. Triumph, tragedy, love, marriage, divorce, poverty, prosperity, opportunityall lived out under the canopy of Gods promises and faithfulness.

Dad never ran from trouble or the trials of life, and that made an incredible impact on my sister and me. In my personal life and ministry, my takeaway from having Dr. Charles Stanley as my father was that everyone can trust God with every outcome. We dont have to manipulate situations. We dont have to be defiant or try and figure out how to always win. Our responsibility is to trust God and leave all the consequences to Him. When we reach a fork in the road or a defining moment of life, we dont need to choose the easiest or most profitable way forward.

My guess is Dads preaching has already impacted you. Our prayer is that his story of Gods faithfulness will impact you as well, that youll have the courage to face whatever is going on in your life, and that youll trust God to help you navigate it. After all, as Dad says, God has a plan for your life, and you dont want to miss it!

Andy Stanley

August 2016

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found;

Was blind, but now I see.

J OHN N EWTON, 1779

All Gods giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on God being with them.

J AMES H UDSON T AYLOR

Do you believe that God is really good? That is, do you truly have confidence that the Lord has your best interests at heart? That He has a purpose for your life and truly cares about you?

We all struggle with these questions at one point or another throughout our lifetimes because they strike at the heart of what it means to be alive and enjoy a worthwhile existence full of significance, contentment, and meaning.

Through the years, Ive found a great deal of comfort and assurance from the stories of men of faith such as Charles Spurgeon, D. L. Moody, Oswald Chambers, Hudson Taylor, and Leonard Ravenhill. Time and again, the Father showed each of these men that He is indeed good, that He has a plan for each of us, and that He cares deeply for every one of us as His children. Our lives definitely have a discoverable purpose and can make a difference in the world.

I believe God has shown me these truths as well, and that is why I am following in their footsteps and sharing my story with you. Because the Father has shown Himself to be so loving, so strong, so faithful, and so wise, I cannot be quiet about itjust like the disciples said in Acts 4:20, We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard. And my prayer is that the following pages will encourage younot because of who I am, but because of who Jesus is and what He can do in and through your life.

PURPOSED FROM THE START

Of course, you may be thinking, You dont know where Ive come from. Im not sure God could do anything through someone who came from such a rough start as I did.

Oh yes, He can. In fact, He even chose the place of your birth for a purpose. Acts 17:2627 says, He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation that they would seek God.

In other words, the Father chose when, where, and to whom you and I would be born for His eternal reasons. The location and circumstances in which we began our lives are part of His special plan for usnot to limit where we would end up but as the unique backdrop for the awesome things He can do through a life devoted to Him.