TD Jakes - Trust God With Your Tomorrows
Worry nullifies prayer, so over and over Jesus says, «Do not worry.» It’s not a request; it’s a command: Do not worry. Worry nullifies prayer. You can pray very well, but if you worry better than you pray, you nullify what you prayed for. Worry nullifies prayer; it cancels out prayer. Worry is having faith in the negative. Worry is faith turned inside out. Worry is responding to the negative voice louder than you respond to the positive. Your thought life is infected by worry. You can’t make sound decisions when you’re worrying. Anxiety is literally worrying about tomorrow, worrying about something that hasn’t even happened yet. Where are we going to stay? What are we going to do? Why did that happen?
You want to know everything, you control freak. You profess to walk by faith and not by sight, and yet you want to know everything about something that hasn’t even happened yet. You’re making yourself anxious; you’re making yourself sick; you’re making yourself hard to live with because you think everybody has to report to your office. God is not going to report to your office; He’s not going to give you details. You’re just going to have to walk out there to a place I will show you, and when you get there, I’m going to reveal it to you. You have to walk by faith. God knows you don’t like it, and God knows you aren’t good at it, but you have to get good at it. Dig down into your pocketbook and get your weapons out because one of those weapons is resisting the temptation to worry about tomorrow because tomorrow belongs—say it again, say it again.
The thief is on the cross, and he’s dying. He’s nailed to the tree, and he’s getting ready to go. All he asks God to do is remember me when you get to the kingdom. Just remember me. He didn’t ask Him to save him; he just said, «Just remember me when you get to the kingdom.» Tomorrow belongs to God. I’m going to share one more quick scripture and then I’m going to move on. Take me to Jezebel; take me to Jezebel, and I’m out. Take me to 1 Kings 19:1-8. Get this in my mouth. In fact, I don’t even have to go to eight; I think I can go to three and get it now. Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah.
Jezebel sent a whirring messenger to Elijah. Jezebel sent the spirit of worry to Elijah. It would only work if she threatened him. She didn’t kill him; she just threatened him. Isn’t it funny how there will always be somebody to bring you news to worry you? Listen to what I’m saying: Jezebel didn’t kill him; she sent a messenger to threaten him. What is threatening you? I’m asking you a question: What is threatening you? Jezebel sent that message: idolatrous Jezebel, prophet-killing Jezebel, praise-killing Jezebel, faith-killing Jezebel, comfort-killing Jezebel, confidence-disrupting Jezebel will always send you a message. And this is the message: «May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like one of those other prophets I killed.»
Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. Elijah, who didn’t run from anything, ran from worry. He came to Beersheba in Judah and left his servant there because sometimes, like Jesus in Gethsemane, you can’t take anybody with you. While he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, he came to a broom bush—the King James says the juniper tree—sat down under it, and prayed that he might die.
I want to speak to every person who’s trapped and so worried that you want to die. Tomorrow belongs to God. No, no, no—get this: You’re worried to death or in pain about yesterday. Yesterday is trying to get you to kill tomorrow, and you don’t know what a day will bring. She said, «If I don’t take you out in the next 24 hours, may the gods deal with me. I’ll kill you just like I killed the others.» He started running and got up under the tree, saying, «If I’m going to die, God, I want you to take me.» He said, «I have had enough, Lord.» I want to honestly ask how many people have said to God, «I have had enough.» Elijah came to God and said, «I have had enough.»
Now, he is a day’s journey in his travels and doesn’t realize that Jezebel is a liar. For him to be alive to complain is a miracle because she said tomorrow; she said, «By this time tomorrow, I will take your life.» He ought to be shouting under the juniper tree because 24 hours later, he’s still alive. Let me tell you, some of you are worried about stuff you ought to be shouting about because if the devil had his way, he would have taken you out by now. But because tomorrow belongs to God, I want somebody living in a miracle, standing in faith, to give God some glory right now. No, no, no, I want somebody that the enemy tried to take out and who threatened you, saying, «By this time tomorrow, I’m going to destroy you,» and you are still alive to get out from under that cute stuff and praise God like you’re grateful!
Tell your neighbor—every one of them—tomorrow belongs to God. Tomorrow belongs to God! Tomorrow belongs to God! If it didn’t belong to God, I’d be dead. If it didn’t belong to God, I’d have a nervous breakdown. If it didn’t belong to God, I’d lose my mind. If it didn’t belong to God, I’d throw in the towel. If it didn’t belong to God, I’d blow my brains out, but tomorrow belongs to God! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
You’re walking in yesterday’s tomorrow. Nothing you went through took you out. If you survived yesterday, you can survive today, and if you survive today, you can make it to tomorrow. Hell is lying; Jezebel is a liar; the doctor is a liar; the disease is a liar; tomorrow belongs to God. I wish I had a praiser somewhere in this house who could praise God for tomorrow! Praise God for tomorrow! Praise God for tomorrow! I haven’t stepped into it yet, but I’m praising You by faith for tomorrow. So touch your neighbors and tell them, «I’m praising God because Jezebel was wrong! I’m praising God because Jezebel was wrong! I’m praising God because Jezebel was wrong!» And when you get to the third one, praise Him like you lost your mind!