Joel Osteen Podcast - Controlling Your Moods | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: September 6, 2024

If you want to reach your highest potential, you have to learn to manage your emotions. Your purpose is too great to let a temporary feeling keep you from your destiny. Your best days are still ahead, and together we can make a difference in this world with the message of God's hope and love. To give visitJoelOsteen.com/GiveHope.God still works miraclestoday just as He did in Scripture! InMiracles Happen, you’ll find stories of 30 miracles from the Bible plus 5 modern-day miracles. Let our September offer stir your faith and increase your expectation—your miracle is on the way!Request your copy today,https://bit.ly/3SVZvsb. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of the Joel Osteen Podcast ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks so much for listening to the podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. We believe you're going to have an awesome 2024, healthy, productive, and favor-filled. God bless you today and enjoy the message. Well, God bless you. It is always our joy to come into your homes. We love you. We know God has good things in store for you. When you obey God's word, the Bible says His blessings will chase you down and overtake you. That's what we're believing for in. of your lives. But thanks for tuning in. If you're ever in our area, come out and see us. We'd love to have you be a part of one of our services. I'd like to get started with something kind of funny, and I heard about this mother. She had two young boys that were known for their bad behavior.

Anytime trouble happened, they were sure to be a part of it. So she decided to send them one at a time to see their pastor. The pastor said to the first young boy, where is God? He just sat there silently. He asked again, where is God? no reply. The third time he asked, the young boy bolted out the door, ran and found his brother, and said, God is missing, and they think we did it. All right, hold up your Bibles. Say it like you mean it. Ready? This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess, my mind is alert, my heart is receptive, I will never be the same. In Jesus name, God bless you. I want to talk to you

today about controlling your moods and how important it is that we not just live by our feelings. If there's one thing that we should all strive for, it's stability, its consistency, being the same day in and day out. And the fact is, we all have emotions, we all have feelings, that we The good news is we don't have to get on board with those feelings. We need to learn to manage our emotions and not let them control us. Because too many people today, they just live by whatever they feel. If they wake up in the morning and they don't feel excited, they feel down and discouraged, they just give in and go through the day with the blaws in a sour mood.

They live life on that roller coaster, up when their circumstances are up and down when they're down. And I can't think of anything much worse than living with a moody person. You never know what they're going to be like. They may be happy on Sunday and depressed on Monday. They're fun to be around on Tuesday, but on Wednesday, you better watch out. You barely look at them wrong. They'll jump down your throat. There's no stability. What's the problem? They're being ruled by their emotions. That's a very immature way to live. I call that surface living. we just give in to whatever we feel. But if we're going to experience God's best,

we've got to learn to go deeper than that. And one of our main goals should be stability. That means we're the same day in and day out. We have a good attitude when we get our way and when we don't get our way. We have a smile on our face when it's sunny and when it's raining. We're stable.

We're consistent. And if you're a moody person, if I can be very honest with you, that's a very selfish way to live. Being moody is not fair to the people you're in relationship with. It's not fair to your spouse. Yeah, I got an amen over here. It's not fair to your children, to your employees.

Understand, it's very difficult to live with a moody person. And if you're all over the board, up one day and down the next, and people have to guess what you're going to be like and live on pins and needles around you, I say this respectfully, but you have got to come up higher. If you don't make these changes and become more stable, over time it will cost you in your relationships, and it will cost you in opportunities that come across your path. I remember one time years ago, I invited a very good friend of mine to come to town

and meet with this man that I've known for probably more than 20 years. It's a very nice man, extremely talented, kind, and generous. But the problem is he's moody. He grew up in a home where the parents were up and down, depressed one week, find the next week, no stability. And you never really knew what this man was going to be like. And so my friend flew in and were going to meet about this business venture. It would have been a perfect fit for both of them. But a couple of days after the meeting, my friend called.

And he said, Joel, I don't know what you told that man about me, but he didn't like me. seemed like he was mad at the world. He was unfriendly, unkind. So I just packed up and politely left and came back home. And of course, I apologized. I said, I'm sorry. He's just a very moody person. And that's what happens when we live according to our feelings.

We will miss out on God-given opportunities. Doors will close for us that should have been opened. I know even with our employees, we only hire people that are consistent, people that have a good attitude. Because let me tell you, life is too short to have to drag somebody off the floor every other day. Life is too short to deal with sour attitudes

and somebody's unfriendly. And oh, don't mess with him today, man. He's in a bad mood. Now, that's going to keep you from being all God's created you to be. You've got to shake that junk off and make a decision to start being more stable. And don't use the excuse that you can't do it. you can do whatever you really want to do.

Your will is stronger than your emotions. You may not feel like it, but if you will rule over that negative feeling anyway, the more you do it, the easier it will become. But I see too many people today, like that man, they've developed a habit of being moody, and they've done it for so long, now they just get up in the morning and wait to see,

what do I feel like today? Wonder what this day is going to be like. Now, you've got to quit asking yourself and start telling yourself, this is going to be a good day. I'm going to enjoy this day. I'm going to be friendly. I'm going to be a blessing to somebody else. We can decide what kind of day we're going to have. And some of you know you're way too moody.

If you don't make these changes, it's not only going to hurt you in your relationships, but it's going to keep God from bringing promotion and increase into your life. And I'm asking us all to make it a goal to become even more stable. A stable person is not hard to get along with. A stable person doesn't take out his problems on somebody else. A stable person doesn't come home from work, all upset and stressed out, to where they can't relate with the family and nobody wants to be around them. No, take responsibility.

Quit allowing that sour mood to poison the rest of your family members. And even if you don't stay in a good mood and discipline these negative emotions for yourself, you should do it for your family's sake. Because whether we realize it or not, our attitudes rub off on the people around us. And I know I'm preaching to myself. There are times when I feel myself getting upset and stressed, and if I don't catch myself and say, hey, no, I don't have to live this way. I don't have to carry this burden.

I need to let it go and enjoy my life. If I don't make those adjustments, I can see it. affecting our whole household. We've been teaching this to our children. Hey, don't bring a bad attitude home from school. Leave it there. Maybe somebody did you wrong at the office. Well, check it at the door before you leave.

Husbands, wives, don't come home and take out all your aggravation on your spouse. Do your part to keep a peaceful atmosphere in your home. Really, when you get home, your family should be happy to see you. Not, oh no, dad's home. Wonder what he's going to be like. Oh, no, here comes mom. watch out. Now be stable, be consistent. And we laugh, but we've all had times where somebody walked into the room and you could feel the tension. They brought it with them. Don't live your life like that.

Be disciplined in what you think about. Don't go around dwelling on your problems and what didn't work out and who hurt you. The fact is, every one of us has problems. We all have negative things. And if we don't learn to shake it off, it's not only going to drag us down. It drags the people. It around us down. I heard about this man. He invited his friend to come over and eat dinner with he and his family after work. They were in the construction business together, and they had had a very long, tough day. Their equipment hadn't worked right. This man had pulled up too far at the job site and ran over some nails and ruined two of his tires. It was just one of those days. Nothing had gone right. And as they were driving back to his house, the man just sat there silently. His friend knew,

that he had had enough, that he was really frustrated. But when he got home, he did something rather unusual. By his back door, there was this small tree. And before he went inside, he stopped, and he rubbed both hands on those tree leaves. When he went in the door, the friend said the most amazing transformation took place. The man had a smile on his face. His little kids ran up, and he hugged them and swung them around.

Went over and he kissed his wife. and he couldn't believe the change. This friend was just amazed. A little later, he got him aside, and he said, I don't mean to be nosy, but what was it about that tree that put you in such a good mood? The man kind of laughed, and he said, oh, that's what I call my trouble tree.

I know I can't avoid having troubles and difficulties during the day, but one thing for sure, I know those troubles don't belong inside my home. And so every evening when I get home, I just symbolically hang my troubles up on that tree, and I trust God to take care of them. He said the most amazing thing always happens. The next morning when I come out, there are never as many troubles as I had the night before.

And I was thinking that, really, it would do us all good to have one of those trees. You had a tough day at the office. Somebody didn't treat you right. Got stuck in traffic. take it inside, leave it on your tree. And husbands, your wife is not your tree. Leave it outside the home.

Well, you say, Joel, I've got a lot of problems. I've got a lot of difficulties. That's why I'm kind of moody. That's why I get down. No, this deeper life means that we do what's right in spite of how we feel. You may not feel like smiling, but if you want to rise above

that emotion, you've got to learn to smile by faith. You may not feel like being friendly one day. but you've got to discipline yourself and be friendly by faith, and then the feelings will begin to change. I found that God works from the inside out, but he expects us to work from the outside end. For instance, we have to put a smile on our face first,

then the joy will come. We have to be kind and good to people first, then they'll be good to us. You may be thinking, Joel, I just don't feel like being in a good mood, I've got problems, I've got difficulties, I feel like complaining. I feel like having a pity party. Let me tell you, you got to shake yourself out of that junk. It'll keep you right where you are.

Your attitude should be, I know God is bigger than anything that I'm facing. I know this problem is not permanent. Didn't come to stay. It came to pass. I'm going to enjoy my life in the meantime. I'm going to be steady, immovable, full of joy. That's the deeper life. Living by what you know, not by what you feel.

Now, love what the scripture says here in Jeremiah 17, verse 7. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his hope and confidence. One translation says, Blessed is the man who is steadfast and immovable. He will be like a tree planted by the riverbanks with its roots reaching deep down into the water. It's a tree not bothered by the heat nor worried by long months of drought. its leaves stay green, and it goes on producing luscious fruit. Notice God is saying here, if we will just be stable, if we will consistently stay in faith

and consistently have a good attitude, then even in our dark times, even in the difficult times, it's not going to affect us. Because we are steadfast and immovable, we will continue to prosper in spite of our obstacles. We will continue to see God's goodness in spite of negative circumstances. But if this is going to happen, we cannot go around complaining. Well, Joel, you don't know my business. It's so slow. These gas prices, I don't see how I can make it.

No, our God is Jehovah Jira, the Lord, our provider. And if you will stay in faith, God will cause your money to go further. He'll cause your car to get better gas mileage. He'll cause you to get promoted when other people are being laid off. It says in the dry seasons, in the difficult times, we're not going to barely get by. We're not going to have some old dried up, rotten fruit. God says, we'll continue to produce luscious fruit. See, when you're consistent, your roots go down deep.

They're not bothered by your circumstances. When you're steadfast and immovable, you will see God's blessings and favor in spite of what's going on around you. The Bible talks about how we should live from faith to faith to faith. It's talking about consistency. The problem we have many times, we go from faith to doubt to discouragement, back to faith, to worry, to being upset. And it's this roller coaster way of living that keeps too many people from their full potential. Understand, stability prepares you for promotion. I heard somebody say, your ability will only be released through your

stability. And every one of you has incredible gifts and talents. You have so much potential on the inside. But the only way it's going to be released is when God is able to trust you. It'll be released when your character is developed. For instance, God is not going to promote us if he knows we're going to lose our cool and blow up every other day, say things to hurt people, go around depressed for three months. No, that wouldn't be a good witness. We have to develop our character first. Our gifts may be able to take us someplace, but it's our character that's going to keep us there.

And God is looking for steady, consistent, immovable people, not people that are on a high for two weeks, and then they're down in the valley for three months. Now, let's learn to stay the same. Consistently happy, consistently grateful, consistently friendly, consistently in a good mood. I believe that consistency is one of the main keys. to victory, and the key to consistency, not living by what we feel, but living by what we know. I don't even think it's a good idea to let yourself get real high, real excited to where you're emotionally at your peak, because I've found the people that live way up here and try to live

on the mountaintop, they can go equally as low. Just as high as they go this way, they go the same amount low. And I'd rather live my life consistently happy. And when I'd rather live my life consistently happy, And when I say happy, I'm talking about a calm delight. I'm at peace. I'm content. I know God's in control. I would rather live my life that way than up on the mountaintop one day because I got good news, then I'm down in the valley the next because I got bad news.

Let's learn to stay right in the middle. I know even when we opened up this new facility, the compact center, that was a dream come true, one of the highlights of my life. But Victoria will tell you, I didn't try to stay way up here. just celebrate day after day and live on that mountain top, I just stayed right in the middle. I'm as happy and content today

as the day that we opened it. I've seen people, they live for a vacation. They're happy for two weeks and depressed when they have to come back home. Or they get all excited about it, then they're disappointed because it wasn't what they thought it would be. You've probably known people. They live for the weekend.

Live for some big event. Live for a ball game. The problem with that is they're up and they're down, in a good mood a little while, and in a sour mood most of the time. But God wants us to enjoy every day of our lives. Even the seemingly mundane things. You know, you can enjoy your drive to work tomorrow. You can enjoy mowing your lawn. You can enjoy going to the grocery store. You are anointed to enjoy your everyday life. Quit dreading things. Quit getting in a sour mood because you got to clean the house tomorrow. Or it's time to mow the lawn or it's

you got stuck in traffic. Don't change your attitude and make a decision to enjoy it. And don't make that mistake of just living life for the, quote, big events. Really, today is a big event. You're alive. You're breathing.

That's a pretty big deal. Do you know, on average, 180,000 people are going to die tomorrow? And the good news is, most likely, you will not be one of them. So why don't you shake off the discouragement, make a decision to you. enjoyed this day, tomorrow, and so forth. The Bible talks about in Psalms, how God will test our

emotions. I know some of you have been praying and believing for things to change and you're not seeing anything happening. And it's easy to get discouraged. It's easy to lose our passion. But you need to remind yourself, that is a test of your faith. It's a test of your emotions. God wants to see, what are you going to do? Are you going to get negative? Discurraged? Well, I knew it wouldn't work out for me. Or are you going to do what we're talking about? And just keep standing firm. Keep staying in faith. Keep expecting things to change.

Well, Joel, I'm standing firm, but I'm really depressed. I'm really discouraged. No, to be standing firm means you have a smile on your face. When you're standing firm, no matter what comes against you, nobody can even really tell you're in the middle of a trial.

And if you're in a difficult time, you should not be dragging around with a long, sour face. Oh, Joel, it's just got me down. Now, do you know being in a sour mood because of your problems? Doesn't make it better. It makes it worse. It puts more pressure on you. It makes you more miserable.

A better approach is to say, God, I'm turning this situation over to you. I'm not going to let it steal my joy. I know you're in control. And at the right time, I believe you'll not only turn it around, but you'll bring me out better off than I was before. That's how we rule over these negative feelings. It's simply a decision that we make. Some of you today, you're up and you're down, you're hard to get along with, and you keep blaming it on your circumstances or on how somebody's treating you or on how you feel.

But I'm asking you with a smile on our face to stop making excuses and start taking responsibility. We all have times when we wake up in the morning and we feel the blas. We don't feel very excited. But that's when we have to dig our heels in and say, you know what? I'm not going to let these feelings dictate what kind of day I'm going to have. I'm going to rule over them and choose to be in a good mood in spite of how I feel. You can choose what kind of day you're going to have. We can choose how we're going to live our lives.

I know some of you, maybe in the natural, you have a good reason to be down and discouraged. But I'm asking you to not allow yourself to go there. When you are stable in spite of what's come against you, that's one of the best, ways to show God that you're trusting him. In difficult times, sometimes we think, well, I need to pray this long and quote this many scriptures. And that's all

good. But do you know when you just stand firm, when you don't get upset, when you don't lose your peace, when you have a smile on your face, when nobody even knows you're in that trial, let me tell you, that's your faith at work. You are paving the way for God to change

things in your favor. I think about David, He had to fight being moody. Here he was the king of Israel. Had all kinds of opportunity, power, position. He was wealthy, had plenty of money. Yet he still got depressed and discouraged. That tells me having to choose to stay stable.

Having to rule over these negative feelings is something every person has to deal with. Don't think if I just had more money, if I had a better job, if I had a different spouse, then I'd be in a good mood, Joel, then I wouldn't have to deal with these feelings. Now, you may think that, but every person, regardless of that,

we all have to fight this temptation to just give in and live how we feel. And I love what David did. He talked to himself. He said, why are you cast down, oh, my soul, hope in the Lord. He was saying in everyday language, David, what are you doing in a bad mood?

Stop looking at your problems and start looking at your God. Sometimes the best thing we can do is talk to ourselves. When you're tempted to be in a bad mood, you need to go look in the mirror and say, listen to here, self, you need to cheer up, get your joy back, get your peace back.

We're not going to live this day to feed it. You have to stay on the offensive. Don't wait till you've been down for three days before you decide to do something about it. The moment you feel that discouragement trying to come on, you need to rise up and say, no, I'm not going to go there. You wake up in the morning and you feel the blas,

Nope, that's not for me. This is going to be a good day. It's the day the Lord has made. You find out later in the day that you have to work late, that's okay, I'm not going to get upset. I know God's still in control. You go through some kind of disappointment,

no big deal. I know God will open up another door. You find yourself in a tight spot, that's okay. God can make a way when it looks like there is no way. See, no matter what comes against you, it just bounces off. You're steadfast.

You're immovable. You've already made up your mind. you're going to enjoy this day. Another important key to not live in life, Moody, is we have to learn to be realistic and not idealistic. Idealistic means that

we think everything is going to always go our way. Every person is going to treat me right today. Every freeway is going to be traffic free. I'm going to get out of this parking lot in five minutes after the service. No, that is not realistic. Jesus said, in life,

we will have difficulties. And I know people, they are so idealistic, they set themselves up for disappointment. And I'm all for believing for good things. I'm all for expecting the best. But the reality is we live in an imperfect world with imperfect people, and there are going to be times that things don't go our way. And if we're expecting every person to be perfect and our spouse to never hurt us and our children to never do wrong, and for us to get every break in life, we're just setting ourselves up for disappointment. I believe a better way to live is to say, God, here are my plans for today.

I'm submitting them to you, believing for the best, but God, no matter what does or doesn't happen, my trust is in you. And I'm going to stay in faith knowing that you promise to work at all things for my good. When we have that kind of attitude, even if we go through a disappointment, even if our plans don't work out, we don't get frustrated. We know God has us in the palm of his hand. We know in those trying times, we're growing. We're increasing.

Our character is being developed. So we can stay consistent and just enjoy that day anyway. But don't set yourself up for disappointment by expecting everything to be perfect. I know in my own life, I've already accepted the fact that as friendly and good-looking as I am, some people are still not going to like me. Do you know, no matter how much good you do, somebody will find some reasonable. reason to criticize. No matter how friendly you are, somebody will offend you. And it's up to us to decide beforehand that no matter what doesn't work out today, no matter how somebody treats me, it's not going to change us. Her attitude should be, I'm not going to lose my joy if I get stuck

in traffic. It's not going to ruin my day if somebody criticizes. I'm not going to get stressed out if I don't get all my work done. No, I'm staying consistent. I've already made up my mind to enjoy this day. That's a stable person. And stability is a sign of maturity. A lot of times we're all been out of shape praying. God, get me out of this. God, you've got to change this. And God's over here saying, show me some consistency. Give me something to work with. See, it takes faith to smile when you feel like being depressed. It takes faith to have a good attitude when nothing's going your way. It takes faith to stay calm when you feel like chewing somebody out. I'm asking us today to not live by how we feel.

Let's go deeper than that and start living by what we know. We know God is in control. We know He's got a great plan for our lives. We know his power is greater than any other power. Now when those old negative, discouraging thoughts and feelings come, why don't you start shaking them off? Be done with that roller coaster living. Don't be a moody person.

Get up in the morning and decide that you're going to have a great day. I really believe some of you, this could save your marriage, could save a relationship, this can save your position at the office. If you'll start ruling over the emotions and make stability and consistency a goal, not living on the mountaintop and not living in the valley, but staying right in the middle, consistently happy, consistently grateful, consistently in a good mood, if you do that, God has promised he'll not only promote you, but in your dry seasons, you'll continue to produce good fruit.

you'll live the life of victory he has in store. Amen, do you receive it? We never like to close our broadcast without giving you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life. Would you pray with me? Just say, Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I make you my Lord and Savior. Friends, if you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. Get in a good Bible-based church. Keep God first place. He's going to take your places that you've never dreamed of.