John Hagee - Think About Good Things
Think about good things. As saint Paul boldly declares to every Christian in America, «In nothing be anxious». In nothing be anxious. Say that with me, «In nothing be anxious». This is one of my favorite verses I have found in the comforting pillow upon which to rest my head when I was weary beyond words. I have found it a strong staff upon which to lean when my feet were on slippery slopes. I have found it to be a fortress in the day of battle. In nothing be anxious. How reassuring. How full of comfort. It is as tender as the caress of your mother’s touch, and it’s stronger than the raging storm in which you find yourself. In nothing be anxious.
Think about good things. Don’t worry, our God is on his throne. He’s greater than the giants you’re facing, he’s greater than the sickness that’s attacking your body, he’s greater than the problems that you’re facing, he’s greater than the financial crises that you find yourself in. Our God is an awesome God. He is a provider. Our God is a way maker. Our God is greater than demon powers. He has the power to heal broken hearts. He is the shepherd who knows the way. He’s the greater than the greatest. He is stronger than the strongest. He is higher than the highest. He is wiser than the wisest. That’s the God we serve. Give him praise and glory in the house of God.
The Bible says, «I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor their seed begging for bread». The Bible says, «I will never leave you nor forsake you, even to the ends of the earth». Don’t worry about your feeling of insecurity. The Bible says, «Greater is he that’s within you than he that’s within the world». When you read this book, you discover that you and you and you and those watching by this telecast who have received Jesus Christ, you are royalty. The blood of heaven is flowing in your veins. God has a special agency of angels that go before you and behind you to be your protector. You have the Bible right to expect two. I suppose that some of you have already worn your angels out and we’re getting a new set. Demons tremble when you bow your knee to the Lord, Jesus Christ, and mention his name.
That’s not hyperbole, that’s in the Bible word for word. Nothing is impossible to you. You can say to this mountain, «Be cast into the sea,» and it shall be done. That’s awesome power, that’s awesome power. You are a child of the king. You are a child, you watching are a child. The royal blood is flowing in your veins. You need to talk like it, you need to think like it, you need to act like it, you need to crucify worry and live with the tone of victory on your lips. God will not fail you. Give him praise in the house of God.
Don’t worry about your past failures. Everybody in this building has failed. Some of you more miserably than others, but we’ve all failed. God’s grace is far greater than your worst sin. I wanna say that a second time and write it down and put it on your refrigerator. God’s grace is far greater than your worst sin. God doesn’t consult your past to determine your future. Don’t worry about the things of this earth. God knew they were going to happen a million years ago, and he already has the answer. Don’t worry about your marriage. If you and your partner will obey the Word of God, your marriage can go through the fires of hell and the fire will not touch you. Marriages that rebel against the Word of God for guidance cannot be kept together with sex, money, or a thousand counselors. I’ve said this often and say it again. People who carry a Bible that’s falling apart have a life that’s not.
Here’s the Bible’s penicillin shot for worry. The Bible says, «Cast your burdens upon the Lord and he will sustain you». God is our refuge, and he is our strength. A very present help in the time of trouble. Therefore, we will not fear. Be anxious for nothing. Think about good things. Jesus Christ said, «Take no thought,» that means worry. «Take no thought about tomorrow for your Heavenly Father knows what you have need of». God knew a million years ago that you were going to be here. The Bible says God knows your thoughts before you think them. God’s not trying to catch up to where you are, he knows you. Do not the sparrows know this?
Think about that. The birds know more than most people about God. The Bible says God guides the sparrow in his flight. He attends the funeral of every sparrow that falls from heaven. We sing that gospel song, «His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he’s watching me». Why worry when God is in your corner? Why worry when you can pray? Why worry when God is on his throne? Why worry? You serve a God that never fails. When you walk through the fire, the fire won’t burn you. When you walk through the water, the water won’t drown you. Moses at the Red Sea. The three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar. Why worry? God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth is your father. You have a very, very powerful father. He is all powerful, he’s all knowing, he’s all sufficient, and he’s given you this. «Call upon me. Call upon me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you know not». Give the Lord praise in the house.
Why worry? He will give his angels charge over you to protect you in all of your way. Angels go before you and angels go behind you. That’s awesome power. Why worry? You’re covered by all of the powerful and precious blood of Jesus Christ. The demons of hell tremble when you roll over in the bed at night. You have that kind of power. Why worry? You are anointed with the Holy Spirit, with the Holy Spirit and fire. You have the favor of God. You have the power of attorney to use his name. «Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it». If that was the only verse in the Bible, it would make this book the most exciting book in print. If the president of the United States said that, you would do cartwheels to the car lot. God Almighty has said that, and you look at that like it’s old, stale bread. Brother, when you get in trouble, this is your fortress, this is your hope, this is your direction. Give the Lord praise.
The Bible says, «Ask and you shall receive». The Bible says, «Nothing is impossible to those that believe». Our God is an awesome God. Be anxious for nothing. Why do we need to be warned against worry? We need to be warned against worry because worry is sin. It is. Worry is faith in fear. You ever notice how worry always comes at a bad time? Worry comes at a time of crisis. Just when you need a clear mind and creativity to make a good decision, here comes worry. Like a dark cloud to hide the sun, like a cancer draining all of the creative ability that you have. We need to be warned against worry because worry is a killer that makes cowards out of aggressive men and women.
It fills your face with wrinkles and apprehension. It paralyzes your mind so that you cannot produce a good solution in the time of crisis. It robs the body of rest at night. It sends you to work shattered, shaky, second rate, on the naked edge. America’s finest physicians state worry is the mother of cancer. It’s the mother of heart disease, high blood pressure, ulcers. It’s not what you’re eating, it’s what’s eating you that’s making the difference. Worry is trust in the unpleasant. Worry is assurance that disaster is coming.
How many of you have people who are always on the naked edge of disaster? It’s always coming to them. They believe in defeat and despair. Worry is a polluted stream that surges through your mind drowning optimism, killing faith, crushing hope. Worry is interest paid on trouble before it ever happens. One old man said, «Most of the trouble I’ve had in my life never happened». How many have ever had something you’re really worried about and then it just didn’t come about? Worry has sent millions of Bible believing Christians to the cemetery long before their time.
Christians who claim to follow the Prince of Peace, yet they live in emotional turmoil. That doesn’t go together. Worry has no place in the life of a believer. Stop it. Think about good things, talk about good things. We need to be warned against worry because it’s absolutely useless. Jesus said, «Which one of you can add a cubit to your stature by worry»? Worry is useless. Be anxious about nothing. Worry has never solved a single problem. It has never lifted a single burden. It has never dried a single tear. Worry has never provided one answer for anyone, not ever.
Don’t worry. We ought never to worry about things you can change. Have you ever laid in bed on a cold winter’s night? You’re cold, and you’re shivering, and there’s a blanket about six feet away? You didn’t wanna get up and get it because you didn’t wanna move. It is easier to lay there and worry the rest of the night. There’s a solution, do something about it. Tell your wife to get up and get it. Don’t worry about the things you can change, don’t worry about the past, don’t worry about tomorrow. Listen to this, the past is history, the future is a mystery, there’s only today. That’s why it’s called the present. It’s a gift from God.
Life is God’s gift to you. What you do with your life is your gift to God. Make it count. Don’t worry about things you can’t change. Hear the prayer of saint Francis of Assisi, quote, «Lord, grant me the courage to change the things I can, the grace to bear what I can’t, and the wisdom to know the difference». That is a great prayer. Don’t worry about the collision of the planets, it’s not going to happen. Don’t worry about the world war that has just become. The Bible has told us exactly in the prophetic scripture what to look for. All of this was very clearly laid out.
Forty years ago I was saying what’s happening right now. How do we get rid of worry? You think about good things. Good things that come out of this book. There’s no such thing as getting into the ideal situation. There is no ideal situation. There is no ideal marriage. There is no ideal family. There is no ideal church or ideal business. Every business you have, you have to work to make it work. Every place you go to, will find people, and people are full of faults, they’re full of failures, they have fears, they have frustrations. We are all fatally flawed flesh, period. And just in case you’re sprouting your angel’s wings right now and saying, «I’m really better than that».
The Bible says «All of our righteousness is as filthy rags». When you really feel like you are a super saint, God says, «You, in my comparison of righteousness, are a pile of filthy rags». If I had the courage, I’d give you the Hebrew word for that, but it would make you sick for lunch, so I won’t. There is no ideal time in your life other than that. The young say, «When I get older, that will be ideal. I won’t worry then». Wrong, wrong, wrong. By the time a man finds greener pastures, he’s too old to jump the fence. The ones with white hairs, you got that. There are three ages of a man: youth, middle aged, and «My goodness, you’re looking well».
There are those who say, «When I retire, that will be ideal». Retirement is when you sit on the porch and watch the sunset, if you can stay up that long. One bad thing about retirement, you can never take the day off. Those who are single say, «When I get married, that will be ideal. I won’t worry then. Marriage will make me feel like a real man or a real woman». Hmm. Here are some revealing quotes from husbands who were married at least five years. Please understand, these are out of a psychological text. One husband said, «I married miss right, I just didn’t know her first name was always». Another husband said to him, «I haven’t spoken to my wife in 18 months because I didn’t want to interrupt her». You get rid of worry when you realize it’s the end result of practice. Nobody was ever born worried. Look into the face of a baby. Do you see worry there? Absolutely not. Jesus said, «Except you become like a little child, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven».
Some people I know go though the gates of heaven sucking Rolaids. If you are a master musician, it’s because you practice, practice, practice. If you’re a master golfer, it’s because you practice, practice, practice. If you are a worrywart, it’s because you… ah. Anything that is learned can be unlearned. The Bible says, «Be anxious about nothing». Say that with me, be anxious about nothing. Think about good things. The apostle Paul, «Get rid of worry by renewing your mind». Paul puts it this way, «Whatsoever things are true». Are you ever talking on the phone to someone and you just have the sneaking suspicion, «This is absolutely untrue».
Let me tell you how to end that conversation, «Is this the absolute truth»? «Well, i, um». Is it honest? Is it just? Is it pure? Is it of good report? Is it lovely? Those are the scriptural basis of a conversation. Don’t you know the phone business would go out of business if that’s all we did? You are what you choose to think about. You control your thoughts and you control your world. Control your thoughts, and you can control your world. You and you alone are responsible for what you think, for your attitude that rules your life and rules how you control to what’s happening to you. Your attitude is your choice. The poem goes like this, «Two men looked out prison bars, one saw mud, the other saw stars». In the same position, two different attitudes.
A policeman saw a man on the San Francisco bridge about to jump, and the policeman said, «Surely, your life is not so bad you want to jump». And the jumper said, «Let me tell you how my life is. My business went bankrupt, my wife ran off with my best friend, the irs has just taken my last dollar». After 30 minutes of listening to that guy, they both jumped. I say this in closing. The supreme penicillin shot for worry is faith in God and your willingness to think about good things.
Saint Paul writes, «In everything,» say that with me, «In everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God». You come into the presence of God by thanking him for the good things he’s done. And when you get into the inner court, then make your petition known. And I assure you, after 66, almost 67 years behind this sacred desk, God never fails. He never fails. The Bible says it this way, «And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ».
I read the story of an aviator who was making a flight around the world. After he had been gone for two hours from his last landing, he heard a noise in the cockpit, which he recognized to be the gnawing of a rat. Not knowing what part of the plane the sharp teeth might be cutting through, he was filled with fear. It was two hours back to where he came from, and two hours to where he was supposed to go to the next airport, beyond the point of no return. The pilot remembered that the rat is a rodent. It was not made for the heights. It was made to live in the ground in darkness. He nosed the plane higher, and higher, and the gnawing stopped.
When he landed, a dead rat fell out of the cockpit onto the floor. Worry is a rat. It cannot live in the secret place of the Most High. It cannot breathe in the atmosphere of faith. It cannot survive in the presence of prayer. It cannot penetrate the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. If worry is gnawing at your mind, in your marriage, with your finances, with your business, with your children’s future, with your past, climb on the wings of faith into the presence of the living God. With a spirit of thanksgiving, lift your hands and praise to the God of heaven. Worry will vanish, faith will explode, your heart will be ruled with the peace of the living God. Be anxious about nothing. Give the Lord praise and glory in the house.
Can you stand together? I’m gonna ask you this question. How many of you in this audience, there’s a particular matter about which you worry? Your marriage, your health, your business, your children, your finances, your personal or professional future? I want you to leave this church today with the peace of God and total confidence about the success for your future. How many of you have one of those things that worry you? Let me see your hand. At least 90% of this audience. I want you to lift your hands together and pray this prayer with me.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for your goodness. I thank you for your mercy. I thank you for Jesus Christ, who has died and become the Savior of my soul. I ask you to deliver me from the habit of worry. Let me rejoice always knowing that God is my protector, he is my provider, he is my defender, and I will trust in him. Thank you, Lord, for hope, love and joy in this coming new year. Amen.