This is the Truth Network. Welcome to If Not Forgot. Stories of hopelessness that turn to hope. Here is your host, Mike Zwick. Hey, this is If Not For God with Mike Zwick.
I hope you guys are doing well. I want to be the first to wish you a very, very happy Thanksgiving. And the name of this show is going to be Grateful, Thankful, and Blessed.
So, you know, I heard a story about two different guys who woke up in the morning. And the first guy who woke up, when he woke up, he said, oh, God, it's another day. And the second guy, when he woke up, he said, thank God for another day. What are you going to do? Each and every single day, we all have choices.
We all have a choice about how we're going to respond. to the day that we have before us. We wake up in the morning in my house. And we say this: this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.
And I want to tell you something: it's good that we have a thankful attitude on Thanksgiving. But see, Thanksgiving is going to come and go. It's only once a year. It's one day out of 365. Or maybe people think about being thankful like this for maybe a week.
Or if they're lucky, maybe two weeks or even a month. But the truth is, every single day that we wake up, we need to thank God for His goodness in our life. We need to thank God for what He's done for us. And I thank God for what He's going to do for me in my life. How about you?
Yes, we've been praying for revival a lot, but I'm thanking God for the revival that has been taking place all over this country. You see, I wake up in the morning and I say, This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice. And be glad in it. Are you seeing the good things in your life?
Or are you seeing everything that is wrong in your life right now? It's a simple question, but we all have to answer that question. And one of the things that I think about when it comes to this is: yes, Lord. I thank you, Lord. But I also think that I don't want to complain about all of the bad things that are going on in the world.
There's a lot of garbage, there's a lot of junk in this world. But I'm going to spend my time focusing on Jesus. I'm going to spend my time being grateful, thankful. and blessed. And one of the things that I have to think about is when I'm being grateful, thankful, and blessed.
Is I have to have a positive attitude. You know, they've actually done studies between people who did not have a positive attitude and people who had a positive attitude. and the people who were more negative. did not accomplish nearly as much. As the people who are positive.
The people who are positive are more grateful. You know, the Bible says that a righteous man falls down seven times, but seven times he rises again. You know, I heard somebody tell me one time, they said that the average millionaire. Has gone broke or gone bankrupt at least three to five times. And what it tells me is that when they're out, they're trying to make a buck.
They're saying, I'm not going to quit. I'm not going to quit until it's over. You know, I heard a story from Les Brown one time, and he said that he would play his son in chess or checkers. And they he beat his son about twelve, thirteen times in a row. And he was about to give up for the night, and his son said, It's not over until I win.
And I want to ask you the same thing wherever you are today. I don't care what's happened to you this year. I don't care how bad things are. I don't care what's going on in your life. Yes, I understand it can be tough.
But today is a new day. You know, when Joshua in the Old Testament. He comes along and They said that Moses, your servant, is dead. In other words, that time of Moses being around might have been a great time. It might have been a time.
Where a lot of things are going on, but that's done. And you have to think about this in both ways. We all know that if we're dealing with depression, we have to avoid that depression like the plague. I don't want to sit around and be depressed. I want to spend time being grateful, thankful, and blessed.
You know, I had a a an older woman tell me years ago She said, Mike, she said, Let me tell you something. She said, when praises go up, She said that blessings come down. And I'm here to tell you today: if you're always whining, complaining, and moaning about everything that's going on in your life. You're going to see a lot of bad things in your life because that's what you're focused on. You get What you focus on.
You get which you surrender your life to. If I spend my time talking about how bad everything is. And I'm watching the news six hours a day, I can't help but be depressed. But you know what I do when I wake up in the morning? I wake up in the morning and I give God a shout of praise because God, He deserves your praise.
He deserves our praise. And when we praise the Lord. It changes the atmosphere. Yeah, there's a lot of conspiracy theories out there. There's a lot of bad stuff that's going on, but I'm here to tell you today, what are you going to focus on?
Are you going to focus on all that junk? And I'm not telling you to put your head in the sand. I'm saying, are you going to focus on all that junk? Are you going to focus? on the goodness of God.
You know, the Bible says, and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and for them who are called according to his purpose.
Now, we either believe that thing or we don't. We either believe the word of God or we don't. You know, I'm going to wake up in the morning and I'm going to say, this is the day. that the Lord has made, I'm going to rejoice and be glad in it. But don't take my word for it.
Let's look at the words of Jesus. Jesus put it this way. In Matthew chapter 6, verse 24, he says that no man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. He says, You cannot serve. Both God and money.
You can't do both of them. You're either going to serve God, you're going to worship God, or you're going to be constantly thinking about money and all the things that you don't have and how to obtain more of it. We all need to make money. We all have to make a living. I understand it.
But we don't have to be obsessed with it. Verse 25, he says, Therefore I say unto you. Do not worry about your life. What you shall eat or what you shall drink. nor yet for your body what you shall put on.
Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much better than they? Which of you, by by worrying, can add one cubit unto his stature. And why do you worry for raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I tell you. That even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven. Shall he not much more clothe you? O you of O ye of little faith Therefore take no thought, saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed For after all these things do the Gentiles seek.
For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow. For the morrow shall take thought.
for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day. is the evil thereof. And I'm going to spend my time focused on the goodness of God. I'm going to spend my time being positive and not negative.
I heard a story about these two boys. They were doing a study on how being positive or being negative can impact your life in a big way. And they were both about five or six years old. And the first boy was really negative. And they said, We're going to take you into this room, buddy.
He says, In this room, we're going to give you all the candy that you need. We're going to give you all the toys that you want. Here you go And they put him in the room. The second boy. He was in the second room.
And when the second boy went into that room, they put him in a room full of manure. And you know, it was funny when they put him in that room full of manure. They left him alone as well.
So they gave the kids about ten, fifteen minutes. And they said, We're going to let you sit here. We're going to let you think, talk, do whatever you need to do. You're by yourself, and you can do whatever you want. They checked on the first young boy.
He was the negative boy. They went in there with all the toys and all the candy, everything that a kid could have wanted or imagined. And they went in there and the boy was just sitting there. And they looked at him and they said, Young man, what's wrong? They said there's all this candy.
Why didn't you eat the candy? He said, I don't want to eat it. He said I might get sick. It's bad for my teeth. They said, okay, well, what about all the toys in here?
There's a lot of toys you can have fun. He said, if I played with the toys, I might fall down and hurt myself. I could get hurt with these toys. They said, well, there's a bike you could have rode the bike around. He said I could fall off the bike and I might get hurt.
And they said, well, we've had enough of this first boy. They said we're going to go into the second room with the positive young man. And this this young man was in a room full of manure. And they went in there and he was just flinging the manure everywhere. He was throwing the crap everywhere.
And they said, What are you doing? There's a bunch of manure in here. And the young boy said, He said, with all of this manure in this room, he said, There's got to be a pony in here somewhere. And I'm telling you what, it's the same with you every single day. You have a choice.
You have a choice about how you're going to react. to this world. You see, this world is not going to change. This world is still, there's going to be bad things that happen in this world. There's going to be politicians who cheat people.
There's going to be people who don't treat their kids right. There's going to be kids who don't treat their parents right. There's going to be criminals. There's going to be people who are put in jail. But I'm telling you what.
If you focus on all of that stuff. then you're not going to be in a good place. Emotionally, Financially or even with your family. But you see, if you focus on the goodness of God, And you focus on all of the good things that God has done for you. You're going to be a happier person.
You know, there's a guy, um I know he used to come on the Truth Network, but a guy named Chuck Swindahl. And he wrote this. He wrote this. He says, The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts.
It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say, or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is that we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.
We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing that we have to do is to play on the one string that we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% What happens to me? and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you.
We are in charge of our attitudes. You know, in this country... Everywhere I go, I see people complaining. And I also see people making a lot of excuses for why they can't do something. Making excuses for why they can't work out.
Make excuses for why they can't eat healthy. Make excuses for why they can't share the good news of Jesus Christ with others. Let me hear that. Let me let me tell you right now. That there is no excuse For you not doing God's will.
There is no excuse. For you not. living out the word of God. It's not just in our words, but it's in our deeds as well. We have to live out.
The Word of God. You know, I remember when my uh I remember when my middle son Christian was born, Okay. And um the one the thing that I I posted on Facebook was this. Sure. It says in Romans chapter 1, verse 18, it says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth.
In unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them. For God has shown it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power. in Godhead. And this is what it says right here.
for so that they are without excuse. Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God. Neither were they thankful. They weren't thankful. We think belly aching and griping and complaining is a small thing with God, but it's not.
In the Old Testament, in the book of Numbers, the people mumbled and complained against God. They complained about the food, the manna that they were getting. And God was about to bring judgment on the people. And then the people started, God sent snakes. into this into this area and they started to bite the people.
And they died. But see, what happened with God is God is a merciful God, He's a God of compassion. And they cried out to the Lord, and they cried out to Moses, saying, Save us. And so Moses was told by God. to g to grab a bronze snake.
And put it on a poll. And it said that anybody who looks to the snake or anybody who looks up at the snake will live. If they've been bitten by the snake and they've got poison going through their veins, when they look to the snake, The golden s the the the bronze snake, they would live. And see, many of you are putting off your relationship with Jesus Christ. But what you don't realize is what happened in Numbers, in the book of Numbers 21, I believe, was a foreshadowing of what Jesus Christ came to do in this world.
In John chapter 3, Jesus came and he did something good as well. In John 3, 16, I'm sure you guys all know it. But it starts out right here. And it's in John 3, verse 3. He says, But Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee.
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Let me ask you a question: Are you putting off your salvation? Are you putting off The goodness of God? Are you putting off the mercy of God by putting him away and rejecting him? Why would you reject him?
You know, a lot of times I think they think that people think that it's an intellectual thing that will keep people from coming to Jesus Christ, from getting saved. But usually it's not. They say it's usually comes down to one of two things. And they say the first thing that it comes down to is this. People are happy living in their sin.
People don't want to change. You see, the Bible makes it very clear: if you're going to surrender your life to Jesus Christ, it's not just saying a prayer, although it has to start somewhere. The Bible says that he who endures till the end, the same shall be saved. And so people realize they say, I like the way I'm living. I like getting drunk.
I like fornicating. I love my homosexuality. Whatever it is. And they're saying that I want to stay in that sin. And they know that if they surrender their lives to Jesus or they get saved, and they read this book and they pray to God and they try to live their lives for him, they're going to have to give up some of that sin.
And so, what they say is, they say, I want to keep living the way I'm living. And I don't want Jesus. Or even worse, some of them say, I want a little bit of Jesus and I want a little bit of this world. But you can't do both. The Bible says in Revelation 3:15 through 16, he says, I know your works.
He said that you're neither hot nor cold. He said, I'd rather you be one or the other. He said, but because you are lukewarm, he said, I will spew you out of my mouth. What is worth going to hell over? What is worth going to hell over?
You know, Jesus put it like this: He said, if your hand, if it causes you to sin, he said, cut it off. He said, It's better for you to go through life with one of your hands than to have both of your hands and to be thrown into the fire of hell. He said, if your eye causes you to sin, Jesus said to pluck it out. He said, It's better for you to have one of your eyes than to have both of your eyes and to be thrown into the fire of hell. That's some serious stuff right there.
I knew a lady one time, and she said, Mike, she said, I told her when Jesus said that, and she said, Well, Jesus was just kidding. And I looked around for a second and I said, am I on candid camera? I said, because I don't know anybody who jokes like that. Yeah. Look at Matthew chapter 24.
He who endures till the end, the same shall be saved.
So the first reason that people don't want to get saved. People don't want to surrender their lives to Jesus is because they know they're going to have to change their lifestyle. Or some people want to do both, and you can't do that. It says, no, in the Bible, it says that nobody can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or love the one and despise the other.
But you can't love both God and sin. The second reason, Why do a lot of people do not want to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ because they may have had a bad experience? And let me tell you something. If you've had a bad experience, Welcome to the club. All of us have had a bad experience, and I'm sorry for the experience that you had.
I really am. I mean that. I've been through some tough stuff in my life. I've had plenty of chances to walk away from the Lord. But I know that I want to serve him.
I want to serve the Lord with all of my mind, all of my heart, and all of my soul. You know, the Bible says that if you are a Christian, it doesn't say you might. expect persecution. It says you will receive persecution.
So, if you go into that, Jesus put it like this: nobody builds a house. And they don't first count the cost. You've got to count the cost. You've got to realize that the more that you get on fire for the Lord, the more you do for the Lord, the more people are going to be coming against you. And let me tell you something else.
I did a Bible study years ago with a guy named Brooks from the church that we used to go to. And he said this, he said, if nobody is coming against you. He said, that's probably a bad sign.
Now, the other side is this: if everybody's coming against you, that may be something too. But see, what you got to do is this. You gotta stick with this book right here. Stick with the Word of God. Stick with the Holy Bible because this world is gonna lie to you.
This world will tell you one thing, and then six months later, they'll tell you another. You know what I'm talking about? Because what I'm saying is this: that if you look at what's going on, Look at eggs. How many times has the world told you that eggs are good? No eggs are bad.
Well, eggs are okay, but you just need to eat the egg whites. No, you need to eat the whole yolk and the whole leg as well. You know what? I get to the point. I stop listening to the world.
I hear what they say. But I focus on this book right here. And I tell you what, there's a lot of people who are reading a lot of books. There's a lot of Christian books out there, and some of them are good. I'm not saying anything against them.
But what I'm saying is this: how about the book? How about the Word of God? How about God's Word, the Holy Bible? That's the most important book. If I don't read any other book every day, I'm going to read that book.
And then the second thing, too, part of living grateful, thankful, and blessed, are you spending time every day in praise? Are you spending time every day in praise? Praise changes the atmosphere. Have you read the book of Psalms? I mean, have you read the book of Psalms?
Praise absolutely changes the atmosphere. And I tell you what, I've been depressed. I've been down. I've had times that were tough. And people always talk about how during the holidays people have a tough time or they're anxious or they're depressed or they're down or they're this, that, the other.
Let me tell you, I've been there and I've done that.
So I know where you're coming from. But I'm going to tell you something that trumps all of that. It's the word of God. Let me give it to you right now. Psalm 150.
Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise Him in the firmament of His power. Praise Him for His mighty acts. Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
Praise Him with the sound of trumpet. Praise Him with the psaltery and harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance. Praise Him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise Him upon the loud cymbals.
Praise Him upon the high-sounding cymbals. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. And let me tell you something right now. You can't praise the Lord and be depressed.
You can't wake up and thank God and be depressed. Let me tell you something, you could do something else as well. Why don't you sit up straight? Why don't you walk a little faster? Think about this.
What do depressed people do? How do they act? If you don't want to be depressed, don't act like them. I remember when I was in psychology in high school, AP psychology, I was a senior over at R.J. Reynolds, and they told us this: they said, if you're feeling down, if you're feeling blue.
Right, they said, whistle a tune, go for a walk, go do something. The worst thing that you can do if you're dealing with depression is to sit around and mope and feel sorry for yourself. The best thing that you can do is to praise God and to thank Him for all of the mighty and the wonderful works that He's done. Amen? Amen.
Because every single day You have an opportunity. The choice is yours. The choice is yours, how you want to do it. The Bible says in Joshua 24, 15, he says, choose you this day whom you will serve. He said, but as for me and my house, We're going to serve the Lord.
I don't know what you're going to do, but you're not listening to this by accident. You're not listening to this. You didn't just click on this for no reason. God is trying to speak to you right now. Does that make sense?
Because what I'm saying is this. His word does not come back void. God's word does not come back void. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. That's the Bible right there.
That's not Michael's wick. That's the Bible. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. And I want to ask you today, because I'm going to go off here in just a few minutes, but I want to tell you before I go. How you act.
How you choose to react is your choice. Circumstances are going to come at you. Circumstances are going to be difficult. But I'm telling you right now. You could choose to be grateful, thankful, and blessed.
Because God's word teaches us to be grateful, thankful, and blessed. I just read to you Psalm 150. Here's Psalm 149. Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song in his praise in the congregation of saints.
Let Israel rejoice in him that made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their king. Let them praise his name in the dance. Let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and the harp. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people.
He will beautify the meek with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand. To execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron.
To execute upon the judgment written, this honor have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord. Amen. And one of the biggest things that we can do is to pray. Prayer changes the atmosphere.
Prayer is a way of telling God that I'm thankful. Not only do I thank God in my prayers, But I also petition him and I say, Lord, I know you have told me that I can go out and share the good news of Jesus Christ. And I know that you said that your word will not return void. Maybe I'm not seeing it right now, God, but I'm going to trust you for that and I'm going to ask you for that. Because you know what happens with the widows with the uh the persistent widow?
The persistent widow kept bugging that judge. Give me justice. Give me justice. Give me justice. And the judge, he said to himself, he says, I don't fear God.
And I don't fear man. He said, but because of this woman's constant nagging and bugging me to get what she wants. He said, I'm going to give it to her so she'll get off my back. And Jesus put it like this: How much more if you're a child of God, if you're a son or a daughter of the living God, if you're saved, How much more will God give you what you ask for according to his will?
So go out there today. Don't feel sorry for yourself. Don't allow yourself to feel down or bad or whatever. You get up, you put your head back, you put your shoulders back, and you say, God, thank you, Jesus. I am more than a conqueror, God, because of who you are.
Greater is greater is he. that is in me than he who is in the world. Jesus, I'm not going to be afraid of the enemy. I'm not going to be afraid of the devil because you told me that we have power. to trample on, step on serpents.
You'll give me the nations. You'll give me the nations, Lord. And this country will be saved. I'm going to pray for revival in my city, county, country, and the world. And God, I'm going to believe for it.
And if you got that kind of an attitude. You can't lose. God bless you, if not for God. And I also want to say this: happy Thanksgiving. All right, for my YouTube channel.
If not for God with mighty swick. Just like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell. Um So you'll be alerted when we have our next video. This is the Truth Network. Uh
