John Hagee - Freedom from Worry (09/21/2023)
The preacher urges believers not to worry about anything, drawing from Philippians 4:6 where Paul commands us to be anxious for nothing but to bring every request to God with prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving. He emphasizes that worry is sin, useless, and harmful, while trusting in an all-powerful God who never fails brings peace, victory, and joy.
What Is Worry and Why It’s Dangerous
Why worry? Webster defines worry as to afflict with mental distress. A teenage son, who was away at college, sent his dad a telegram. The telegram said, "Dear Dad, I've been in a serious car crash. I've broken both legs and both arms, and I'm in a hospital in a full body cast. Four people in the other car are seriously injured. Their attorney will be contacting you soon with a major lawsuit since I was in your car."
And then he paused and said, "Actually, Dad, I've only failed out of college and I'll be home tomorrow. Love, your son." That's called mental anguish. I assure you, if that was my son, his mental anguish when he got home would be multiplied.
Worry cannot change the past. Worry cannot change the past. But it can ruin the present. Worry will get you only one place ahead of schedule, and that one place is the cemetery. To worry about what we can't help is useless. To worry about what we can help is foolish. Take action and solve the problem and quit worrying about it.
Worry means there's something over which you cannot have your own way, and in reality, it is personal irritation with God. If God controls everything and you are God's child, this problem may be a seminar on how to trust in the Lord.
The Biblical Command Against Anxiety
Saint Paul made the most profound statement about worry the world has ever heard. Let's read it together in Philippians 4:6: "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."
Father, in the authority of Jesus' name, let the spirit of joy, the spirit of peace, the spirit of confidence fill this congregation and those who are watching across America. These are troublesome times in our nation, but the God of heaven is in charge of everything. Therefore, let us rejoice and be glad. And all of God's children said, praise the Lord.
Listen to Paul's declaration: "In nothing be anxious." This is one of my favorite verses. It has been to me as comforting as the pillow upon which I rest my head after a weary day's work. I have found it a strong staff upon which to lean when my feet were in a slippery place. I have found it to be a fortress in the day of battle.
"In nothing be anxious." How reassuring, how full of comfort. It's as tender as your mother's embrace. It's stronger than the raging storm that you are now in. "In nothing be anxious."
Don't worry. Our God is on His throne. Don't worry. He's greater than the giants that you are facing. Don't worry. He's greater than the sickness and the disease that's attacking you or a member of your family.
God Is Greater Than All Our Problems
He's greater than the problems that you are personally facing or that your corporation is facing. He's greater than the divisions that are separating your family. He's greater than the financial stress you're presently going through.
Our God is a provider. Our God is the Waymaker. Our God is greater than demonic powers. Our God is the healer of broken hearts. Our God is the shepherd who knows the way. Our God is greater than the greatest. He's stronger than the strongest. He's higher than the highest. He's wiser than the wisest. He is the God of heaven. Give Him praise and glory in this place today!
Too many Christians are on their pity pot over things that have happened to them in the past. Don't worry about your past failures. God's grace is greater than your worst sin. God's grace is greater than your worst sin. God doesn't consult your past to determine your future.
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 be saved. If you're living outside the Word of God, a thousand counselors, sex, and money will not save it.
People who carry a Bible that's falling apart have a life that's not. People who have a Bible that's falling apart have a life that's not. How much do you read that sacred book?
Casting Cares and Choosing Joy
Here's the Bible's penicillin shot for worry: "Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you." "Cast your burdens upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee."
Saint Paul said, "Rejoice in the Lord... And again I say, Rejoice." Rejoice by choice. "Be anxious for nothing." King David said, "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."
"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" "Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident..."
"That in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me." And the victory shall be mine, in Jesus' name! Give the Lord praise in this house!
Why worry? You serve a God that cannot fail. Why worry? When you walk through the fire like the three Hebrew children, the fire will not burn you. When you walk through the water, the water won't drown you.
Why Worry When God Is Your Father
Why worry? God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, is your Father. He is all-powerful. He is all-knowing. He is all-sufficient. He has given you His card saying, "Call upon Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not."
Why worry? He will give His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. Why worry? You're covered by the all-powerful, life-changing, precious blood of Jesus Christ. Demons tremble with fear when you roll over in bed!
Why worry? You are anointed with the Holy Ghost power. You have the favor of God. You have the power of attorney to use His name. It goes like this: "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will do it." "He will do it." "Ask, and ye shall receive." Nothing is impossible to them that believe.
Our God is anxious to answer your prayer, to relieve you of your burden, to defeat your enemies, to scatter your enemies like straw. All you need to do is ask Him in the authority of Jesus' name, and it will happen! Hallelujah to the Lamb of God!
Worry Is Sin and Useless
So why do we need to be told not to worry, to be warned against worry? We need to be warned against worry because worry is fundamentally sin. Worry is faith in fear. Worry is faith in fear.
It's not necessarily a compliment to be called a person of great faith if that faith is placed in fear. We serve a God that can never fail. It doesn't take great faith to believe in something that never fails.
If you had a car that only started one time in three, you couldn't have faith that that car was going to get you home. But if it never failed, you have confidence. You serve a God that never fails you. And He has never failed.
I have stood at the edge of the cliff and looked over and said, "If You don't come through before daylight, we're done!" And He had the answer! He always had the answer!
Why do we need to be warned? Because fear is the rejection of faith. Fear is the rejection of faith. I'm not talking about concern. I'm talking about fear. The Bible says, "God hath not given us the spirit of fear." If God didn't give it to you, who gave it to you? The dark side.
Fear breeds doubt. Fear and doubt bring defeat. Worry belongs to every class of people. The rich worry. The poor worry. The intelligent worry. The ignorant worry. The young worry. The old worry.
Worry Affects Everyone
People in debt worry. A wealthy man was showing his friend through his mansion and said, "All of this magnificent furniture of mine goes back to Louis XIV." And his friend said, "That's nothing. My furniture goes back to Sears on the 15th."
We worry about things we have and things we don't have. We worry about things we have said and things we have failed to say. We worry about things we have done and things we have failed to do.
We worry about our bodies, bulges, baldness, bifocals, bunions. Some worry because they're not married. Others worry because they are married.
Ever notice how worry comes at a bad time? Worry comes at a time of crisis. Just when you need a clear mind, a creative capacity to think intelligently, worry comes like a dark cloud hiding the sun.
It's like a cancer draining you of creative ability to think. We need to be warned against worry because it's a killer. It makes cowards out of aggressive men and women.
It fills your face with wrinkles and apprehension. It paralyzes the mind so that you cannot produce a solution to the crisis you're facing. It robs the body of rest at night. It sends you to work shattered and second-rate.
The Physical and Spiritual Toll of Worry
America's finest physicians are now saying worry is the mother of cancer, the mother of heart disease and high blood pressure. It's the mother of ulcers. It's not what you're eating: it's what's eating you that's the problem.
Worry is trust in the unpleasant. It's assurance that disaster is coming. It's belief that defeat and despair are your portion in life. Worry is a polluted stream that flows through your mind, drowning optimism. It drowns faith. It drowns hope.
Worry is interest paid on trouble that you've never had and never will have. One old man said, "Most of the trouble I've had in my life never happened."
Worry has sent millions of Bible-believing Christians to the cemetery long before their time simply because they were anxious about everything—Christians who claim to follow the Prince of Peace, yet they live in emotional turmoil.
Worry has no place in the life of a believer. Stop it! We need to be warned against worry because it is so useless. Jesus said, "Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?"
Worry is useless. "Be anxious for nothing." Worry has never lifted a single burden. Worry has never solved a single problem. Worry has never dried a single tear. Worry has never provided one answer for anyone, not ever.
Living in the Present Gift of God
Don't worry about things we can change. Don't worry about the past. Don't worry about tomorrow. The past is history. The future is a mystery. There is only today. That's why it's called "the present." And it's a present from God. It's a gift from God.
Live this day to the maximum joy capacity you have, because you don't know what tomorrow may bring. Life is God's gift to you. What you do with that life is your gift to God. Make it count. Make every day count. Find a way to enjoy every day.
Don't worry about things you can't change. Don't worry about the political corruption in Washington. The next time voting comes, let's do something about it. Go and vote the Bible and vote this godless corruption out of the federal government.
How do we get rid of worry? Not by getting into an ideal situation. There's no such thing as an ideal situation. There is no ideal marriage. There is no ideal family. There is no ideal church or business. Why? Because when you get there, there are people, and people are full of faults, failures, frustrations, and fear.
We are fatally flawed flesh. The Bible says, "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." There is no ideal time other than today.
Overcoming Worry Through Faith and Practice
The young say, "When I get older, it'll be ideal. I won't worry then." Wrong! By the time a man finds greener pastures, he's too old to climb the fence.
There are three ages of a man's life: youth, middle age, and "My, you're looking well." Those who are working say, "When I retire, that will be ideal." Retirement is when you sit on the porch and watch the sun set if you can stay up that long.
You get rid of worry when you realize it's the end result of practice. Nobody was ever born worried. You ever look in the face of a baby? It's one of the most relaxing things you can do. There's no fear there. There's no anxiety there. They have total faith and confidence that their mother or daddy is going to take care of them.
If you're a master musician, it's because you practice, practice, practice. If you're a worrywart, it's because you practice, practice, practice. Anything that is learned can be unlearned.
Get rid of worry by renewing your mind. Paul put it this way: "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report... think on these things."
You are what you choose to think about. You control your thoughts and you control the quality of your life. You and you alone are responsible for what you allow yourself to think about.
The Power of Prayer and Thanksgiving
You're not responsible for the birds that fly over your head, but you're responsible for the ones you allow to build a nest in your brain. The attitude that rules your life will control your destiny. Your attitude is your choice.
Two men looked out from prison bars: one saw mud, the other saw stars. Life is what you look at.
The supreme penicillin shot for worry is faith in God—faith like a child has. Paul writes, "In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."
Don't go to God and start chucking all of your problems right off. You go to the Lord and thank Him for His goodness. Thank Him for the health that you have. Thank Him for the blessings He has sent. Praise His glorious name. Exalt Him. Magnify Him. Then lay out your list.
Heaven comes down and things are straightened out supernaturally. God is an awesome God. Ask Him. He will deliver!
I read of an aviator who was making a flight around the world. After he had been gone for some two hours from his last landing field, he heard a noise in the cockpit which he recognized as the gnawing of a rat.
Rising Above Worry Like the Pilot
Not knowing which part of the plane that rat was in and those sharp teeth were cutting, he was filled with fear. It was two hours back and two hours forward. The pilot remembered that the rat is a rodent not made for the heights.
He nosed the plane upward, higher and higher. And then the gnawing stopped. When he landed, a dead rat fell out of the control panel.
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 the power of your prayer. It cannot penetrate the power of the blood of Jesus Christ.
If worry is gnawing on your mind, your marriage, your finances, your business, your children's future, your past—climb on the wings of faith into the presence of the living God. With a spirit of thanksgiving, lift your hands and give the Lord praise and glory!
Faith will explode! Your heart and mind will be ruled by the peace of the living God! "Be anxious for nothing."
Closing Prayer for Peace
Our most gracious Heavenly Father, we come into Your presence and praise You for Your excellent greatness. Thank You for saving us. Thank You for all that You have done for us. Thank You for the health that we enjoy. Thank You for the God that You have been to us throughout the generations.
Thank You for the multiple things You've helped us to accomplish. We praise You, Lord, for Your excellent greatness. We praise You for Your mercy. We praise You for Your grace.
And now, Heavenly Father, in the authority of Jesus' name, we have an audience in heaven. And I am asking You, Father, that worry will absolutely leave the mind and heart of every person in this audience who raised their hand—and every person watching by television.
Let God arise and let the peace of God flood their hearts and minds. Let them bask in the sunshine of confidence that nothing shall be impossible unto them, and they shall rise and do exploits and accomplish the impossible because God will make it possible, in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.