How to Glorify God When You’re Worried

Hey there. Thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners.

I'm Greg Laurie encouraging you. If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org. The big problem, do you realize how big your God actually is? That is why in the Lord's prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, and then ultimately we get to the request, give us this day our daily bread. But effectively, Christ is saying, when you pray, just contemplate the awesomeness and the greatness of God before you start firing off your petitions. I ask God for things.

You should. It's okay to call out to the Lord for help, but remind yourself of the power, majesty, and greatness of God, and it puts your problems in perspective. Have you ever wondered why, when you leave church, a lot of times you feel better than when you came in? The reason is, is because of amazing preaching.

I don't think it's any person. I think, what is it all about? I came in, and what do I spend a good part of my time doing? Magnifying God. Magnifying God. And so as I'm thinking of God's glory and His power, and I'm sort of casting my problems aside, and I'm worshiping Him, then I hear a message, hopefully, that reminds me of God's love and His sovereignty and His power and all those things I need to be reminded of, and I leave.

I'm coming in, but all of a sudden, I don't see them in the same way. It's all about perspective, isn't it? And so, He's your King who's in control of your life. One day, Jesus said to His disciples, let's cross over to the other side. They woke Him up and said, master, don't you care that we're perishing? And He arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still. And the wind stopped, and the water was calm, and Jesus turned to them and said, why are you so afraid?

Don't you have any faith? See, what they saw was Jesus had the power to stop nature's havoc if He chose to, when He said, peace, be still. And sometimes, Jesus will come into the midst of your problem and say, stop, and it stops.

And other times, He's just with you as you face your problem, but I look at it this way, better to be in a storm with Jesus than anywhere else without Him. If Jesus is on board my boat, then I'm okay. And by the way, Jesus said, let's cross over to the other side. He didn't say, let's go out to the middle of the Sea of Galilee and I'll die.

He said, that I would not have gotten on that boat. He said, let's go to the other side. He did not promise them smooth sailing, but He did promise them a safe arrival.

And the same is true for us. He has not promised you smooth sailing in life, but He has promised you a safe arrival. You will get to the other side. The disciples were on the boat, but Jesus was not on board with them on that particular occasion. And then they turned and saw Jesus walking over the tops of those waves, and that brings us to Matthew 14, verse 27.

If you haven't turned there yet, look at that, Matthew 14. On the water, Jesus said, come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water. And when he saw, you might underline those two words, he saw the wind was boisterous, he was afraid. In beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, Lord, save me.

We'll stop there. So why did Peter sink? Because he was afraid. Fear makes us sink. We all know the feeling.

Everything's going great. We talk with anxiety and fear, and we're practically drowning in our doubts. Faith gives way to fear, trust to worry, and when faith reigns, fear has no place, but when fear reigns, faith is driven away. Why did Peter sink? Number one, because he took his eyes off of Jesus.

Verse 30, he began to sink, and he cried out. He was doing really well. I mean, let's give him some credit. He was so outspoken and said, honestly, some pretty crazy things, but there's a lot of ink given to Peter. He talked to Jesus and made many statements, far more than any of the others in the gospel. So he had a lot to say.

You always know where you stood with Peter. But hey, he's the only guy that had the courage to actually try to walk on water, and Jesus actually said, come, and he came, and of course, he began to sink. He started to sink.

Why? Well, he took his eyes off of Jesus. So when we're looking to Jesus, we can do crazy things, wonderful things, faith-filled things, seemingly impossible things, but when we take our eyes off of Jesus, and we allow our minds and hearts to be filled with doubt, fear, and anxiety, we can start to sink, just like Peter started to sink. But when that happens, here's what you need to do. Cry out to Jesus.

I think he cried out, Lord, save me. There's nothing wrong with doing that. What is it that is in us that makes us say, well, I can fix this. I can get through this. I can control this.

Actually, maybe you can't. And really what you need to do is call out to the Lord. Oh, it's a sign of weakness.

I actually think it's a sign of intelligence. God's help. I love what Jesus said, verse 31. Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him.

Peter's going down. He catches him, pulling him up, and he says, oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt? Interesting thing, these words, little faith, is one word in the Greek, and there's sort of a tenderness to it. Oh, little faith, not two words, one word. Oh, little faith, almost like a nickname. Oh, little faith.

Buddy, I know I named you Peter, and I know that means rock, and I know rocks sink. But hey, man, you were doing well. You were on a roll. Why did you doubt? Why did you take your eyes off of me?

And then he lifts them up, and they walked back to the boat. Maybe you're sinking right now. You're filled with fear and anxiety and worry, and you feel defeated.

Maybe you're in the grip of some addiction. You say, oh, I can handle it. I've handled this before, and then you've fallen. You've fallen off the wagon, and you're back in that same state again. You never thought you'd be there again, but there you are, and you're wondering, can I ever get out of this again? I feel like I'm sinking.

It's the worst it's ever been. Or maybe there's somebody that has a marriage that's unraveling. You think, I don't think there's any hope for my marriage. Or there's somebody else that's dealing with some other problem, but you need to call out to the Lord and remember that God is in control.

In control of your life. I love Romans 8.28. I already mentioned it once, but I'd like to now mention the verse that follows it.

8.29. Romans 8.28 says, for we know that all things work together for good to those that love God and are they called according to his purpose. Verse 29, for whom he foreknew, he also did predestined to be conformed into the image of his own dear son.

So here's how it works. Romans 8.28, well, all things work together for good. So no matter how bad it is, it's gonna be good. That's not what the verse says. It says all things work together for good.

It doesn't even say that God makes all things good, because some things are bad. If you lose a loved one, that's bad. That's sad.

That's hard. Well, it'll work together for good. No, God will bring good despite this tremendous loss.

There's other hardships you may be facing. Don't try to think that everything has to become good. God will bring good despite some of the bad things he allows in our life.

But here's now the big picture. One day, when I get to heaven, I may realize that those so-called bad things were maybe actually good things. I don't know that I could understand that, this side of heaven.

But on the other side, I'll say, oh, I get it. You were using that to conform me into the image of your own dear son. You were using that to prepare me for something still in my future, and actually my loved one that died. And I felt so bad about that.

They were in pure bliss and happiness. But I was suffering because I missed them. But now I see that you even had a purpose in that. There's a lot of mysteries. We're not gonna figure out this side of heaven. So we just need to trust him until that day.

But whatever you're going through can be turned around. Here's one doll in a book that he wrote about a man that was shipwrecked on an uninhabited island. He painstakingly built a little hut for protection from the elements where he could keep the few items he had salvaged from the wreck. And he came back for a while and searched for food and come back to his little hut. And one day while he was out searching for food, he came back and was horrified to find his little hut, where his few possessions were, was in flames. Now everything that he had was completely gone. He could not believe his bad fortune. And he fell asleep that night thinking how badly things had gone.

Why would this happen? And then he awoke to the sound of someone's voice, and it was the captain of a boat had just arrived. And he said, we saw your smoke signal and we came to rescue you. So sometimes what we think is the worst disaster is a smoke signal leading to our deliverance. The worst case scenario can actually be exactly what the Lord has ordered for your life. Go to harvest.org. And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on Know God.