I want to talk to you for the next few moments about the subject of how to go from doubt to destiny. Before you sit down, how many of you will admit that this year you had some doubt? Raise your hand if you’re sure. Before you sit down, you’re sitting as a person who believes that destiny has power over doubt. Listen to me, and I’m going to challenge you: if you can’t sit down and believe in your destiny, you’ve got to stand for the rest of the sermon. If you can’t sit down in hope and faith, then you must stand until you feel something because I believe that once you start believing in God, all things are possible to those who believe. So before you sit down, make up your mind whether you will believe or doubt, and before you sit, I want you to shout, «I’m going from doubt to destiny!» You may be seated in the presence of the Lord.
Let me look at you. All right, don’t sit there. Bless us, Jesus. You know every challenge, Tyrone, in your life that God is going to answer or put His grace upon. You’re going to have a moment of doubt before you get to destiny. It’s always going to seem like it’s not going to happen, but it is in the moments when it seems like it’s not going to happen that God is actually doing His best work. See, God isn’t always in the prognosis; He’s also in the process. You can walk around, and you can find ten things to complain about right now. One of the best answers I like when I hear people say, «How are you doing?» is, «I could complain, but it won’t do any good.» How many of you are at that stage in your life? I could find ten things to complain about, but it isn’t going to do any good because I’m going to walk by faith. I’m not going to walk by sight. You will always be discouraged when you walk by sight because you will never like what you see. There’s an old song that says, «Time is filled with swift transitions; things on earth are of least value. Build your hope on things eternal.»
You’ve got to hold on to God’s unchanging hand. Why do I hold on to His hand? Because He walks with me, He leads me. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He leads me beside the still waters. That means that there are some waters that are not still. He leads me by green pastures. That means there are some pastures that are not green, which means if I don’t follow Him, I’ll find the rough waters and the brown pastures. Anytime you look up and don’t see still waters and green pastures, it’s because you were not following Him. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. Yay, though I walk through the valley, watch this — the shadow of death — look at how things happen when you stay close to Him. When you walk by Him, the waters are cool, the grass is green, and death is a shadow. When you walk away from Him, the waters are rough, the ground is brown, and death is real. So anytime I look around in my life and see things upside down, it means that I’ve possibly moved away from Him. And by the way, if you and God aren’t close right now, He didn’t move. No, the Bible says He changeth not. He’s a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. So if you look up and find that you and God are distant, it is because you moved; it is not because of Him. God is so big that if He moved, He’d still be in the same place because He’s everywhere at the same time. Does this make sense so far?
So I want you to know, and I want you to say this to yourself: «I’m worthy of my destiny.» You didn’t say that like you meant it. You sound so ashy and dry! I want you to say it to yourself. Can you talk positively to yourself today? All day, all day tomorrow, you can cuss yourself out, but today say, «I am worthy of my destiny. I am worthy of my destiny.» How does that make you feel when you say that? How does it make you feel knowing that God didn’t make a mistake when He poured a lot into you? To whom much is given, much is required. The reason you have a lot going on is that you’re the only one who can handle all that you’ve got on your plate. If God gave it to someone else, it would have crushed them, but because you’re strong enough to handle it, He gave it to you. Listen to your language. You say things like, «Oh, I’m going to be the first person in my family to be a millionaire.» Look at how audacious you are! Look at how you talk to yourself! «I’m going to have a house.» See how you talk to yourself? All of that comes from the substratum of the interactions you’ve had in your life. God let you see good because He was going to give you good. He showed you good before it was all good so that you could praise Him good, even when it was bad, trusting that all things will work together for your good.
