John Hagee - Activate Your Power
- Watch
- Donate
The question is: what is the power of your potential? Power is exciting. The ministry of Jesus Christ was power on parade. When Jesus Christ came to earth, the masses followed Him to see the demonstration of the supernatural power the world had never seen before. Jesus stopped a funeral procession and raised the widow’s son back to life. That’s power. He raised Lazarus from the dead after he’d been dead for three days with three words: «Lazarus, come forth!» Why did he call the name Lazarus? Because had he not addressed Lazarus specifically, every dead person on earth would have come out of their grave, for He is the resurrection and the life. Paul writes, «Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might.»
What is your potential? There’s enough atomic energy in a glass of water to drive a battleship around the earth four times. The question is: how do you release that potential? According to UCLA’s Brain Institute, the human brain has the potential to create, to store, and to learn virtually without limit. Their research concludes that, quote, «we could without any difficulty whatsoever learn 40 languages and memorize a set of encyclopedias from A to Z.» That’s your mental potential. And I think Adam had that kind of potential when God made him the general manager of the universe. I think when the curse came, it reduced his intellect to what we recognize as intellect so that it would not happen again.
Listen to this: the English language has over 450,000 words. Linguistic experts predict that our daily conversations are made up of less than 400 words, and most of those words are «me,» «my,» «mine,» and «I.» And why? Why was the national anthem of Matthew Hegy when he was a child, «Matthew, come in and let’s wash your hands „? Why? „Turn off the television; we’re going to bed.“ Why? Why? Everything you asked him was „why.“ Why? „Because I said so. Do it.“ Paul said, „Study to show yourself approved, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth,“ 2 Timothy chapter 2. David said, „Thy word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against God.“
The word of God is memorized. When you are in a spiritual crisis and need an answer right now, you don’t have time to say, „Well, let me go home and get my series on faith, and I’ll be ready for this.“ No, you need the word of God right then, and that word on the field of battle will bring you the victory. „Thy word have I hidden in my heart; I’ve memorized it.“ Knowledge is power. The first principle in releasing your potential is to gain knowledge. I hold in my hand the source of knowledge and the very fountain of wisdom. The author of this powerful text is God, the Holy Spirit. When you read these pages, sir; when you read these pages, lady, your life will explode with power, passion, prosperity, and divine purpose.
This is a two-edged sword on the field of spiritual combat. This is the bread of life that satisfies the hungry. This is living water to those who thirst. This is greater than the Jack Daniels you have on your dinner table. This message will heal your sick marriage. It says, „Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church.“ That means, husband, you’re willing to die for your wife. It also says, „Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands.“ Stop getting advice for your marriage from those godly secular humanists who worship only the God of self. You can do better than that. „Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my pathway.“ It shows me the next step I need to take and gives me a long-range view for what can happen. When the word of truth is spoken, I can feel and sense the very presence of God. Can I hear an amen?
This book has the answer to every crisis you’re facing or ever will face. I’d rather have one page out of this book than to have every book in the Harvard Library. This book will bring America back from the moral and spiritual crisis in which we find ourselves right now. That’s right. Our nation is stumbling in darkness, and this is the light of the world. It is impossible for America to function with boys becoming girls and girls becoming boys. This is witchcraft, and it needs to stop — now. Thirteen -year-old girls are having babies; fifteen -year-old boys are killing each other and shooting policemen in the streets of America, and then they’re released from jail in less than a day.
Seventeen-year-olds are dying by the thousands from fentanyl drugs-drugs from China that are sent to Mexico and then come into America over our southern border on the Texas coast. What is the answer? Close the border and shut it off. Eighteen-year- olds are getting high school diplomas who cannot read at the third-grade level. Our public schools are the laughingstock of the world. The answer is to give parents the right of school choice, where their children and their tax dollars follow the child so that we can have a school district that teaches what we believe, not what Washington wants us to believe. The Bible says, „Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.“ When the righteous are in authority, the Bible says the people rejoice, and when the wicked rule, they mourn.
Right now, America is in a state of mourning. Are you tormented by your past? Out of these pages pours the fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins. And sinners plunge beneath that flood lose all their guilt and stain. You can be whiter than snow. Your past can be buried in the deepest sea, never to be remembered against you anymore. If God has forgotten it, you forget it. Don’t let other people remind you of it. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Experience joy that’s unspeakable and full of glory. God is your Father. Heaven is your home. You’re a child of the King, and nothing shall be impossible to you.
Let me give you five rules for a great life:
1. Make peace with your past so it won’t destroy your future.
2. Don’t be pushed by your problems; be led by your dreams. The only person in charge of your happiness is you. If you’re letting other people control your happiness, that’s your fault. The Bible says, „This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.“
3. What other people think of you is none of your business. That’s right! Who cares what they think? The Bible says, „Beware when all men speak well of you.“ I love that verse.
4. Don’t compare your life with others. Comparison is the thief of joy. St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10, „Those who compare themselves by themselves are not wise.“ Paul is being very diplomatic there. When you compare yourselves with other people, stop it! You were made in the image of God. God likes you just like you are, and that’s all that really matters: you and God having it all together. Amen.
5. Embrace joy.
Now, I see some of you looking at me. Let me say it this way: some of you are as bright as the noonday sun; some of you have to hear it twice before it registers. But God loves us all! Quit worrying that you’re not like somebody else. Smile! Embrace joy. You don’t own all the problems of the world. The Bible says, „Casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.“ And everything that’s bothering you right now, you need to just toss it in the lap of Jesus Christ and say, „I’m giving You this; I’m giving You this; I’m giving You that. You can carry this; You can carry that. I’m down.“ Optimism is the faith that leads to accomplishment. Believe that you can, and God will help you accomplish that.
There’s a difference between making a great living and having a great life. Some of you have a great living, but you have a pathetic life. You have no peace, no joy, no hope. You live without love; you live on an endless treadmill of suffering. When Elvis Presley was at the peak of his career, Colonel Parker arranged for me to meet and talk with him in his hotel room in this city. Elvis had everything money could possibly buy. He had luxury cars, jets, diamonds, and fame. Yet I’ve never seen a more lonely person in all my life. He was a good person. The world loved his music. He had a great living. When we finished our conversation, he took me by the hands and said, „Pastor, would you pray with me?“ He had a hurting heart and a lonely life.
What kind of life do you have? Lonely and without purpose? Angry, frustrated, chasing illusions that never materialize? Your home is in crisis, your marriage is a war zone, your business is falling apart. Depression is following you around like a black dog. You’re not living up to your potential. God has made it possible for you to have peace that surpasses understanding. You can have peace on the battlefield that is just as real as peace as you will have sitting on your back porch. Yeah, there’s joy unspeakable and full of glory. God promises you unconditional love. „For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.“ That includes you! God has made it possible for you to have financial abundance. 3 John 1:2 says, „Beloved, I wish above all things that you prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers.“ Luke 6:38 says, „Give, and it shall be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together, and running over shall God give to you.“ But you have to give before you can receive it.
Your potential is not what you have done -that’s your history. Your yesterdays are not nearly as important as today and your tomorrow. Some of you are destroying your potential by living in the glow of some shining moment that happened in the past. You hear college football players getting together 30 years after they played their last sensational game, and they sit there and tell war stories about what fabulous athletes they were back in the day. Yes! And some of them never got off the bench! But it was a shining moment in their past. Whether it’s delusion or fact, it possesses your thoughts; it possesses your speech; it paralyzes action for today.
If you’re a salesman, did you break all records last year? Forget it as soon as possible; you’ll starve to death remembering how good you used to be. Did your business have its finest year last year? Forget it! Student, did you make the honor roll last semester? Forget it! You can fail if you don’t hustle up this semester. Athlete, did you make the all-star team last year? Forget it! It’s over. Your potential is business you can do but haven’t done. Your potential is grades you can make but haven’t made. Your potential is the prosperity you dream about, but that will not happen until you go to work. You deserve nothing until you work for it.
Let me say that a little clearer: one of the great problems of this country is we have so many couch potatoes sitting on their backsides waiting for the government to send them a check. They ought to shut you off! Go to work! Mustard seed faith can move a mountain! In every seed, there’s a potential forest. In every fish, there’s a school of fish. In every bird, there’s a flock of birds. In every cow, there’s a herd. In every man, there is a nation waiting to be born. Israel started with Abraham having one son, and that son and 12 tribes became the nation of Israel. Amen! Bethlehem’s manger was not the Marriott, but what happened there shook the world. That’s right! The stone that killed Goliath was small, and it changed the destiny of the world. God said to Abraham, „I will make of you a mighty nation.“ In God’s calculation, one equals many. Little equals much. Small equals great. Less equals more. The fact that you were born is proof that God knew you had the potential to accomplish a divine assignment.
Don’t you dare go to your grave with your talents not used, your dreams not acted upon, your opportunities that have been missed. Release the power of God in your life! Reach for greatness! Dare to fly on the wings of faith when the cowards around you are scratching for bugs in the dirt. The Bible says, „They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on wings of eagles and live life without limit.“ Nothing is impossible! Nothing is impossible! Nothing is impossible! You need to write that on your refrigerator. That’s right!
Your source determines your potential. When God creates something, He finds a source and creates that something. As long as that created something stays in contact with its source, it has life and unlimited potential. When God wanted to create plants, He selected dirt as the source. As long as the plants stay in contact with the dirt, they live, they flourish, they rise to their full potential. Remove the plant from the dirt, and it will die. Fish: their source is water. Take them out of the water, and they will die. Leave them in the water, and they can multiply. Stars: inside the core of a star is nothing but a hydrogen atom smashing together, producing helium gas. So it would be accurate to say that a star is nothing but a floating ball of gas. Remember that the next time somebody calls you a star!
Let’s talk about you. When God created you, He created your body out of dirt. Then He placed His Spirit into that clay temple. You came out of God; God is your source. In Genesis, God said, „Let us make man in our image.“ As long as you stay in contact with your source, the life of God can explode through you. You will be rooted and grounded in God, and His word will give you power to lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. When someone in your family gets sick, you don’t need to go to a healing campaign to pray for healing; you pray for them. You have the power over demon spirits. You have power over the world, the flesh, and the devil. You have power over powers and principalities in the heavens. You have the power of His name. You have the power of His blood. You have the power of His gospel. You have the power of His kingdom. Say it: „For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.“ Give Him praise in the house of God!
Consider your potential in God. God has given you dominion over the earth. God has made you to be kings and priests unto God. You are heirs and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit dwells in you to show you things to come. You were created a little lower than the angels, and angels go before you. The Bible says He will give His angels charge over you to protect you in all of your ways. That means that every believer has the right to expect that God has at least two angels-it’s plural — watching over you. You feel supreme love for someone you’ve never seen; that would be Jesus Christ. You talk to God, a God you cannot touch. You empty yourself in order to become full. You decrease so that He might increase. You go down in order to get up. You’re the strongest when you are weakest. You are rich when you are, in fact, poor. You die so you can live forever. You give away so that you can keep forever.
The day will come when you get to heaven when all you will have is what you’ve sent. You see the invisible. You hear the inaudible. You know the unknowable because you are sons and daughters of God. Glory, glory, glory! Walking with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords on this earth is life’s great adventure. Enjoy the journey!
Your potential is activated by faith. Genesis 1:26 says, „God said, 'Let us make man in our likeness.'“ The Hebrew word here, „likeness,“ means to operate like, not to look like. To operate like. How does God operate? He operates by faith. If you’re not functioning like God, you’re malfunctioning. All that God is and all that God has given to man is given on the currency of faith. The Bible says, „Without faith, it is impossible to please God.“ The Bible says, „The just shall live by faith.“ The Bible says, „Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.“ Faith is not an option; it’s a requirement.
Faith is not an emotion. Hebrews 11:1 says, „Faith is substance; it’s the evidence of things not seen.“ Faith does not demand miracles; faith creates miracles. Faith starts out before you know how it’s going to turn out. Faith does not leap into the dark; faith is a walk in the light. Faith is not hoping God is real; faith is knowing God is real based on the evidence of God’s word. Whatever you ask in My name, Jesus said, „I will do it.“ Say it with me: „I will do it.“
There’s no reason you can’t succeed now. There’s no reason you can’t have peace now. There’s no reason you can’t be happy now. Fly on the wings of faith and accomplish what God created you with the potential to enjoy: life and living at its best. If it’s not, it’s your choice. It’s not God’s will. God does not enjoy looking from heaven and seeing you miserable and unhappy when He’s giving you so many ways to be totally victorious in every trial.
Think about that. Can we stand together? How many of you in this room say, „Pastor, I have a great living, but I’m not happy. I don’t have peace. My marriage is in trouble. My children or grandchildren have gone astray. I’m allowing the accomplishments of the past to destroy the potential of the present.“ Right now, as a confession of what you want the Lord to do in your life, pray this prayer with me, will you please?
„Heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in faith, I come to the holy throne of God, and I’m asking You, Father, to help me accomplish my divine potential. You have me on this earth for a reason. Show me that mission. Give me the wisdom, the grace, and the fortitude to accomplish that destiny. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen and amen.“