Rick Warren - Letting God Meet My Needs—Part Three

Hello, everybody.

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren. I'm

really glad you're here today. We're continuing our series from

Psalm twenty three called living in the Goodness of God.

It's all about how God's goodness meets you right where

you are and brings hope even in difficult seasons. Let's

jump right in and take a look at part three

of a message called letting God Meet My Needs.

You remember when you were a little kid, your parents

would go on an outing. You go on a picnic

or a hike, or you know, you go hunting or fishing,

or you go to Disneyland, and at the end of

the day, your little legs are so tired. Mom or

Dad has to carry you out to the car because

you're just pooped out. Your legs give out as a

little kid, and that's what happens during the week sometimes,

and you say, God, I am just pooped out, I

am worn out. I don't think I can put one

foot in front of the use. I need you to

carry me right now, carry me the car, take me home,

get me home. And he says, I'm your shepherd, I'll

care for you, I'll bless you. I'll protect you, I'll

save you, I'll guide you, I'll direct you, I'll discipline

you when you need it, I'll defend you. I will

do all of these things. And when you're worn out

and you're tired, and you can't put one foot in

front of the others, I'll carry you. Just hop on

and I'll take you. I'll take you to the car.

I'll take you home. That's what you do every day.

Ask him to be on my shepherd. Number two. Second

is very important. I give him Jesus first place in

every area of my life. This is extremely important that

I give Jesus first place in every area of my life. Now,

if you're a believer, you've given him first place in

your life. Said, I want you to be number one.

But there's different parts of your life that are not

under his control. And when you say Jesus, come into

my house, you need to say have the whole house.

You got access to the bedroom, you got access to

the bathroom, you got to ask access to the kitchen.

In my life, you got access to that closet over

there where I've got all kinds of stuff hidden. You

got access to the garage, to the living room, to

the dining room. It's all yours, Jesus, take over the

whole house. Have you ever said that? Not? Yeah, God,

I want you to just get me to heaven. I

want you to be number one every area of my life.

The Bible says this, Matthew six, verse thirty one thirty three.

Your heavenly Father already knows perfectly well what you need.

Let me stop right there. Your heavenly Father perfectly knows

already what you need. So any need you mentioned to God,

he already knows. Someday, I'm going to do a message

called phrases. You'll never hear God say like oops. You

know you never want to hear a surgeon say that

when you're laying on a table. Oops. God never says oops.

God never says well, I didn't know that. Well, slap me.

You know, I didn't see that one coming. I didn't

see that one coming. God will never say that. God

knows your needs better than you do. You got needs.

You don't even know you've got needs. God says, man,

that's a big need. That's a big need in their lives.

They don't even see it. They're blind to it. They

got a blind spot. They have no idea, how many

needs they've got. God knows your needs better than you do.

So anytime you come to God with the deeds, he's

not gonna go whoah. I never saw that one coming.

He knew it before he made you. God, listen, allows

needs in your life so you'll come to him so

he can answer that need, so you'll trust him. We

looked at that circle last week. You get a need

and then you ask God to meet that need. You

cry out, God meets that need, and then you trust

God more and you do that circle thousands of times.

That's how you learn to trust God. If you didn't

have needs, you'd never trust God. So God allows needs

in your life so you can learn to trust him.

But he says, I already know what you need before

you even ask. And he says, and he will not

might he will give you what you need if here's

the condition. If you give him first place in your

life and you live as he wants you to. So

you give God first place in every area of your life. Now,

let me just tell you something. Anytime you worry, that

is a warning light that that particular area of your

life you have not given him first place. Every time

you worry. You go, Oh, that's an area where God's

not number one. Any area of your life where God

is not number one, you're going to worry about it.

Any area of your life where God's not number one,

that's going to be a source of insecurity in your life,

your job, or anything else. Any area in your life

that is not under the lordship of Christ is not

given first place to God, that's going to be a

constant source of worry and insecurity your entire life. So

if nothing first God is first place in no where

of your life, you got everything to be worried about.

You might hold on to a couple of airs. God,

you can have the whole house, but don't have the bedroom,

Then you're gonna worry about that area. God, you can

have every air of the house except the kitchen, then

you're gonna worry about that area. It's the sign that

he's not number one. It's an indication that you've got

mixed up values. When you make Jesus Christ number one

in every single area of your life, it really simplifies

your priorities and it also gives you a whole lot

less to worry about. See, when it's given to God,

then you don't have to worry about it. Too often

we worry about things. We worry about physical possessions, and

it's just like that. If you have fewer possessions, you

have lest you know, I never, never, never, never, never

worry about getting barnacles on my yacht because I don't

have a yacht, So I've never never worried about how

am I going to get those barnacles off that yacht.

I don't have to worry about it because my life

is simplified and the things that are in my life,

I've given them to God. Now, as long as you

love anything else in your life more than God, that

area is going to become a source of worry to you.

Just count on it. It's going to become a source

of stress and a source of insecurity if God. If

you love it more than God, you're going to be

victimized by worry and anxiety. And eventually everybody has to decide,

you and me and everybody else what am I going

to live for? And who am I going to live for?

And whatever that answer is becomes your lord. Some of you,

your job is your lord. For some of you, your

marriage your lord. For some of you, your children, is

your Lord. Those are all good things, nothing wrong with it,

They just don't deserve God's place. And when anything takes

place God, that's called an idol. And it creates stress,

and it creates worry, and it creates insecurity. You know,

one of the things we worry about the most, of course,

is money. What I've discovered is it no matter how

much or how little you've got about it, you still

worry about it. You know, I've been in one hundred

and sixty four countries and I've seen the poorest of

the poor, of the poor of the poorest of the poor.

And on the other hand, I know a number of

billionaires and multi multi billionaires. You know, I've discovered it

both ends. They both worry about money. And if you

don't have it, you worry about getting it. If you've

got it, you're worrying about keeping it, saving it, spending it,

investing it, protecting it. And God says, I don't know

what you're worrying about. That I'll take care of all

your needs. So every day I ask Jesus to be

my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. Say it fifty

times a day, and then I give him first place

in every area of my life. Here's the third thing.

This is the third thing God wants to say to you.

And we're going to cover this more in detail. And

next week. Relax, Relax and give him my worries in prayer.

God wants you to relax. He wants you to give

him your worries in prayer. And you say, Jesus, just

take these things I'm worried about, and you just hand

them over to him. You know, last week we talked

about counting your blessings. I said, you know, look at

all the things God has done for you in your

life that are good. I said, make a list. Make

a list of all the good things God's done for you.

And when you start getting down, pull out that list

and read, Wow, God, it really has been good to me.

The freedom I have. I have a brain, I can see,

I can hear all of the many things that you

take for granted. So you make a list of blessings.

But sometimes you know what you need to do. You

need to make a list of worries. And he said,

you know, sometimes you have a sense of I just

feel anxious. I have this general anxiety. I feel a

little uptight, a little nervous, and I don't really know

what's causing it. Well, you can just say, God, I

give you my generalized worry. But it's even better to

stop and go, what is it that's really bugging me?

Am I worried that somebody's going to disapprove of me?

Then you write that down. Am I worried that I'm

going to be rejected? And you write that down. Am

I worried that I'm going to be insecure and not

have enough? You write that down. Am I worried that

I'm going to be lonely the rest of my life?

You write that down. You write them all down, and

then you give God your worries to say, here's the list, Lord,

here's some stuff that's on my mind day. I'm not

going to keep them. I'm going to give them to you.

Notice this next verse one Peter five seven. Give all

your worries and cares to God. In other words, don't

stuff them. He cares about what happens to you. Just

give them to Not You weren't made. Remember your it's

unnatural to worry, so you shouldn't swallow your worries. When

you swallow your worries, your stomach keep scores. I just said,

and so you need when you are worried, it doesn't

work to try to deny it or ignore it, like

push it down. I'm not worried. I'm not worried. I'm

not worried. I'm not worried. That doesn't work because in

your mind it's going, yeah, you're worried, Yeah, you're worried, Yeah,

you're worried. Yeah, you're worried, and you keep pushing it

out of the way, and it's like putting it under

the carpet, and then the carpet pile gets bigger and

bigger and you start stumbling over it. Now, when you

are worried, don't repress it, push it down, don't suppress it,

deny it. I'm not worried. Yeah you are. Don't repress it,

don't suppress it. Express it to God, Confess it to God,

and say God, here's my list of worries. If you

try to push down the worries in your life, you're

gonna get sick. It's like taking a can of coke,

shaking it all up real violently and then putting it

in the freezer. What's going to happen to that cann

of coke? It's gonna explode. It's gonna expand it's gonna explode,

and it's gonna come out sideways, and it'll come out

sideways in your life, in a broken relationship, an explosion

at work in all these other areas when we take

so much worry onto ourselves and eventually it comes out.

So you relax and you give him your worries and

you just say, God, hear, are the things I'm worried about? Now?

You remember earlier we read that verse where Jesus said,

you know, don't worry about anything. I'm going to meet

your needs. Well, right before that he had said this,

look up on the screen, Matthew six point thirty two.

He says, for the people who don't know God, the unbeliever,

the people who don't know God, they run after all

these things. He said, you know, do I look good?

Do I feel good? Do I have the goods I'm

going to live in the good life? Do I have

the clothes? Do you have the food? Do I have

the appearance? You have the car? Have the right jewelry?

Do I have accessorizing myself? And all these different things.

So the people who don't know God run after all

these things. Now, I don't have to go into this

because you know what, people are running after material goods,

keeping up with the joneses, all those They run after

all these things. You know, it's interesting. I looked up

this word run says these people who don't know God

run after these things. It actually means in Greek frantically seeking,

frantically seeking materialism, you know, passions, pleasures, possessions, the frantically seeking.

It's scurrying to get about. When I think of this

verse date run after these things, I think of shopping

crowds at the mall on Black Friday after Thanksgiving. They're

running after these things. I'm afraid I'm not gonna get

the deal, and there's a limited number of items on sale.

So I got to get there, and I got to

elbow you and push you, he says. Unbelievers, people who

don't know God, they're like this. They're frantic, get get,

get grabbing, he said, they run after all these things.

They're hurrying and scurrying all the time. I want you

to write this down. Hurry creates worry. Hurry creates worry.

And the faster you go in life, the more likely

you are to worry. You need to slow down. You

need to relax. You need to take a little bit

slower pace. Hurry creates worry. Hurrying, and if you're hurrying

and scurrying, you're going to end up worrying. Now, the

Bible says this, we looked at the first earlier, but

I'm gonna go back to on the screen Philippians four,

verses six and seven. It says this, don't worry about anything. Instead,

pray about everything. Don't panic, pray, tell God about all

your needs. That's give it to God and thank him

for all He's done for you. If you do this,

If you do this, you'll experience God's peace. God's peace,

not your own peace, God's peace, which is far more

wonderful than the human mind can understand. The Bible calls

this the peace that passes understanding. What is the peace

that passes understanding. It's when you're at peace and you

have no logical, rational reason to be at peace. I

just lost my job. Somehow I'm at peace about it.

Why the Lord is my shepherd. You just got the

dreaded word and report from the doctor it's cancer. For

some reason, I got peace about it. Why peace that

passes understanding? Because the Lord is my shepherd. I just

found out some bad news that a dear friend of

mine just died. Somehow I'm at peace about it in

my heart. Why. Because the Lord is my shepherd. He

feeds and he leads and he meets my needs. That's

the peace that understand it. And that's a witness to

the world. And people go, man, I want to be

like that guy. I'm going to be like that woman.

She's at peace in the middle of chaos. Anybody can

be at peace when you're out fishing, you know. But

if if you're at peace in the middle of chaos,

that's the peace that passes understanding. He says, don't worry

about God's peace. Will will give you what you need.

So every day I start the day, and throughout the day,

I say, the Lord is my shepherd. I ask you

to be my shepherd. Then I give him first place

in every area of my life, not just this area,

but every single compartment of my life. And then I relax.

And every time a worry comes up, I say, the

Lord's my shepherd, and I give that worry to God.

I don't hold on to it, and I don't think

I got to think about it. Later, I said, God,

take that one. I don't have time to think about

that worry. Take that worry. God, Take that worry. God,

and you just keep loading them on. He can handle it.

I don't know about you, but I am encouraged after

that message. And let's keep the encouragement going with a

letter from one of our listeners.

Here's Rick. You know I love hearing from Daily Hope

listeners like you, And here's one note that I got

from Raymond in New York, Your pastor, Rick, I'd like

you to know how much I appreciate the Daily Hope broadcast.

The nuggets that I get I share with my lunch

group at work, and my family benefits as well, because

at dinner time, my wife and my son hear the

nugget that I learned during the day and we discuss it.

It's awesome. Well, let me just say this, Raymond, thanks

for writing me, and thanks for sharing your story. You

encouraged me just now. I'm happy to hear that you're

sharing Daily Hope with your co workers and with your family.

If God has used this broadcast in your life, would

you let me know about it and tell your story.

It'll be good for you. It'll be good for me,

and it'll be good for all the others who hear it.

I love you, and I thank God for you. And

join me next time as we continue to look into

God's word for our daily hope.

Now, if you'd like to let Rick know how much

this broadcast has blessed you, please feel free to send

him an email. He loves it. Send it to Rick

at pastorrick dot com. That's Rick at pastorick dot com.

Be sure to join us next time as we look

into God's.

Word for our daily hope.

This program is sponsored by Daily Hope Ministries and your

generous financial support