Joel Osteen Podcast - Count It All Joy | Victoria Osteen

Episode Date: December 20, 2025

The joy of the Lord is our strength! He can bring good into your life out of every situation.Plan for your faith to succeed! Our 2026 Faith for Today Planner will fill you with hope and keep you grounded in God’s promises. Request our December offer and start each day of the upcoming year with Scripture and encouragement!https://bit.ly/4reqMWn 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 for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. If you enjoy today's message, why don't you be a blessing and share it with a friend. We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in your life. Amen and amen. You may be seated. God wants us to go from strength to strength. He wants us to go from glory to glory. We sang about it a few minutes ago, how he wants to take us from glory to glory.

He wants us to go higher and higher. But sometimes when we're trying to get higher, we're trying to go to more strength, we're trying to get through. We find that we're going from struggle to struggle. See, God doesn't want us to go from struggle to struggle. His intention is for us to go from strength to strength. And can I tell you today, we all face this challenge. One day we're doing good, the next day we're struggling.

We're trying to get out of a situation. We're trying to get to another situation. Maybe if you're struggling today, you need to hear this one word, rest. Just rest. See, the truth is, we're going to get to where God wants us to be if we're honoring him. If we put him first place. If we take time to get his plans and his words in our heart and in our life. We're not going to get to where we need to be any quicker if we worry, if we struggle, or if we're frustrated.

So today, I just want to say, if you find yourself struggling, rest. Rest in God's peace. Abide in his joy. That's where you're going to find your strength. That is where you are going to endure and find great persistence. God is always trying to get us higher. So we're always going to be facing something in our life. Listen to what it says in James 1.4.

It says, consider it all joy when you go through trials of many kinds. Many kinds, a variety of trials, coming from different places. We're to count it all joy when we face trials. See, trials is what causes us to struggle. But God is saying, count it all joy. In this version that I'm reading, it says, consider it all joy. See, our trials were never meant to decrease us. They were meant to increase us.

They were not meant to tear our faith down. They were meant to build our faith up. Trials were meant to produce perseverance in us. See, that scripture goes on to say that we won't be lacking anything, that there may be a trial of our faith, but it's going to lead us to good. It's not going to tear us down. The key to counting it all joy is joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength.

We don't find the joy in the trial. We don't find the joy in the pain. We are supposed to find the joy in the God who is the source of all strength. The God who is in control of it all, when we are walking through a difficulty, we are supposed to look for God, not look at the difficulty. We're to count it all joy. Happiness comes and goes. Excitement is here, vacations come, they go.

But joy is supposed to abide in us. Joy lives in us. Joy is a gift from Almighty God. You know, sometimes when we're going through a God, trial or a test, we think this isn't joyful. I can tell you, joy is not the word that comes to me when I'm facing a difficulty. I just have to admit it right now. I think the scripture should say when you get through the difficulty, that's when you can throw your hands up in the air. And you can say, finally, I can have some joy. I can have some relief. But see, the scripture

doesn't say that. It says we are to consider it all joy. That tells me right now that when I'm facing a difficulty, I have a choice. I can consider it joy or I can consider it hardship. And if I consider it hardship and difficulty and misery and start walking down that road, I'm going to begin to complain and I'm going to lose any joy I ever had. But when I consider the God, the God who has all power, the God who has allowed me to face a trial to bring something good out of me. See, if we're going to count it all joy, the only way to do that is to count it all God.

And if we're going to count it all God, we've got to know there is good in this trial. The decision is to find the good, not the bad. The decision is to begin to look for the good. And you know what I've discovered? I've discovered that most of the time, God wants me to find the good in myself. He wants me to mind the gold within me. You see, he is refining us into pure gold.

It says that he wants us to lack no good thing, to be ready and able to persevere in this life. You see, if we're going to go higher and higher, we're always going to be facing something because the only way to go higher is to step up. See, what are you stepping over or stepping up to today? Are you taking those difficulties to God? Are you saying, God, help me find your strength, be my source? Or are you trying to do it on your own?

See, when we do it on our own, that's when we struggle. But when we realize, when we tap into this, joy, we tap into God. That's when we find our source of strength. See, there is something called willpower, and we all like to think we have it, and we all want to use it. But let me tell you, when you're facing a difficulty and God's got you on an upward plane, it's going to take more than your willpower. It's going to take God's power. It's going to take God's power to bring you to the places that he wants to take you. Don't struggle on your own.

Realize the joy of the Lord is his calm delight. It's the rest in him. It's the peace in him. Do you know, it's very interesting. What we believe about our circumstance will ultimately cause us to either come out, tattered and torn, beaten and bruised, are built up. Because see, we just want to get through those difficulties.

We're waiting for them to be over. But God is looking at what we are like when they're over. He is saying, how did they develop? How did they grow? What's their attitude? Where can I take them now? See, God wants us to pass the test. That is, any good teacher wants you to pass the test.

They don't give you a test to fail. They give you a test to see what you've learned from them. And God is saying, I want you to pass the test. I want you to wise up. I want you to have perseverance. That's what the intention of these trials are to give us perseverance, to train us, to bring out the good in us, the God in us. See, that's why the enemy works so hard to steal our joy,

because he knows if we're looking everywhere else, if we're blaming our friends, it's all about our husband, it's about the difficulty at work. When we're looking to lay blame on everyone else, we forget to look within us. We look at the problem. We're chasing the problem instead of chasing the promise. The promise is in us. God has put everything we need to accomplish on the inside of us, we just got to dig it out. We got to find it. We have got to believe that this joy is for us to give us strength. What you're believing about the difficulty you're going through right now, what you're believing about where you want to be right now is going to make all the difference in the world on how you come out of this difficulty and what you learn through

this difficulty. What you learn through any challenge. See, if you're going to go through it, grow through it. That's what God's saying. Grow through it. It says in Romans 1513, it says, The God of all hope will fill you with joy and peace in believing. What are you believing today? Are you believing you're unworthy or believing you can't make it? See, no hope and no faith and no joy will rise with those kind of thoughts. Are you believing? God, I am believing as I face this trial, I'm learning something. I'm getting something out of this, God. I'm believing, Father, that I can repent.

I can turn away. God, I am believing that you are proud of me. And if you are for me, who dare be against me? I'm believing that I have all power to overcome being built up because of Jesus Christ. See, it's what you're believing about your situation today. I don't give up your joy. Don't let it allude you. Don't think it's happiness.

Happiness is good. We all want to be happy. We all want things to be going our way. The true test of our faith, the test that's going to build us, build our character, build our perseverance, it sounds in the trials of life. God doesn't want you to get beat up in the trial.

He wants you to be built up. Don't let the enemy steal your joy. Remember, it abides on the inside of you. It's a gift that'll take you from strength to strength. Amen. What if every plan you set, every habit you formed, and every decision you made became a pathway to see God move in your life? We all have hopes and dreams, things we're believing for. When you start the year in faith, expecting God's goodness, you are setting the tone for a blessed new year. We'd love to send you our 2026 Faith for Today planner.

You can write down your dreams and goals, plus use it for your everyday activities and reminders. It's important to feed your faith on a daily basis. This planner, it's not just a calendar. It's filled with scriptures and inspiration to help you stay encouraged and keep believing for what God has put in your heart. 2026 is your year to see the goodness of God in greater ways. Let go of what didn't work out and get ready for the new things God has in store. As our way of saying thank you for your gift of any amount this month, we would like to send you a copy of the 2026 Faith for Today planner.

Each month features a fresh theme of encouragement, a guiding scripture to stand on, room to write your goals, prayers, and vision, space for faith steps, because faith isn't passive, it's active. A monthly QR code linking to a message or video to keep your spirit lifted. With the 2026 Faith for Today planner, you'll be reminded that living by faith makes room for God to do what only he can do. Break through in your business, God's healing touch, loved ones returning to faith. Request your copy of the planner and step into the new year with bold faith, fresh hope,

and daily encouragement to strengthen your spirit and face every challenge with confidence. No matter what's happening around you, faith can rise up in you. Keep believing and expecting a blessed 2026. Victoria and I pray for you and your family every day. Thank you so much for your prayer and support. Your generosity is helping people around the world. As we finish this year, I hope you'll consider making a special year-in gift to help keep the ministry strong.

We so appreciate all the Champion of Hope partners for your monthly support. We wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas. Till we see you next time. May the Lord bless you and keep you. Be sure to request your copy of the 2026 Faith for Today Planner. Visit Joelosteen.com or call 888-567 Joel. For a special year-end gift this month, we are also offering the Faith to Share bundle. Keep one, give one, give the gift of faith, focus, and fresh hope for someone special.

in your life. You can also request the God's Word Work study collection. This empowering collection includes the NIV, The Message, Parallel Bible, a beautifully crafted leather bookmark and pen, and how to read your Bible and enjoy it, along with two planners. You can request these inspiring resources by calling 888-567, Joel, or logging on to Joelosteen.com today. Call or click any time, 24 hours a day. Stay organized, encouraged, and full of faith all year long. Request these resources today.