Joel Osteen Podcast - Developing A Habit of Happiness | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: August 9, 2024

You weren't created to live stressed out and burdened by life's circumstances. Learn to cultivate a habit of happiness in your life. 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.Dispel worry and gain newfound hope! This August, we are offeringPower Up: A 21-Day Action Plan to Transformative Thinking.Receive the truth about what God says about you and transform your thoughts from Day 1. Take a step up toward powerful living today, https://bit.ly/46jp0ZX! 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.

Always a joy to have you with us. We're praying for you guys. Check out my new book. It's called Power Up, a 21-day action plan to transformative thinking. I think it'll help you think great thoughts and just live a victorious life. But you can check it out on the web. It's so great having you with us. Enjoy the podcast.

Well, God bless you. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We love you, and we know God has great things in store for you. God rewards the people that seek after him. That's you or you wouldn't be tuned in today. Thanks for tuning in. If you're ever in our area, come out and see us. I promise you, we'll make you feel right at home. But I like to get started each week with something kind of funny. And of course, you know these are just jokes. They're not doctrinally correct, so don't write me a letter. Just laugh. But I heard about this lady,

she had a heart attack. And on the operating table, she said, God, is this it? And God said, no, you've got 40 more years. So after recovery, she decided to stay in the hospital and have a major facelift, liposuction, tummy tucking more, an extreme makeover. Two months later, when she checked out, she was walking down the street and got hit by a car and killed. She got to heaven and said, God, I thought I had 40 more years. God shook his head and said, I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you. Hold up your Bible. Say it like you mean it. 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 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 developing a habit of happiness. Many people don't realize how we approach life, our attitude, our demeanor, our joy, our peace. Much of this is learned behavior. These are habits that we have formed throughout the years. And our mind is just like a computer. How we program it is how it's going to function. And if we've spent years worrying or getting upset when things don't go our way,

focusing on what's wrong rather than what's right, then these negative patterns are going to keep us from really enjoying our lives. And many of the habits that we have today, we learn from our parents or from the people that were around us growing up. The studies all tell us that negative parents are going to raise negative children. And if your parents focused on what's wrong, maybe they live stressed out, uptight, discouraged, there's a chance you may have developed some of these same negative mindsets. And I hear too many people say, well, Joel, this is just who I am, I'm just a worrier,

I'm just uptight, I'm just not that friendly. No, please understand those are habits that you have developed, and the good news is they can be changed. You can reprogram your computer. You can get rid of a negative mentality. and you can develop a habit of happiness. And the scripture says here in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 16, rejoice in the Lord always. One translation simply says,

be happy all the time. Think about it. That means no matter what comes our way, we should have a smile on our face. We should get up each morning excited about that day. And even in our negative circumstances, we need to learn to keep a positive outlook. I know too many people today, they're waiting for all their circumstances to get worked out

before they decide to be happy. Joel, as soon as I get a better job, as soon as my child straightens up, as soon as my health improves. Now, bottom line is if you're going to be happy, you need to make a decision to be happy right now. Happiness does not depend on our circumstances. It depends on our will. It's a choice that we make. And a person that's developed this habit of happiness, no matter what comes against them, they rise above it.

They don't let it steal their joy. I've seen people go through some of the most negative, unfortunate situations, and yet at the time, you would never even know they were having a problem. They had a smile on their face. They've got a good report. They're positive. They're energetic. Yet other people, in similar circumstances, they're down, depressed, discouraged, worried.

What's the difference? it's all in how they've trained their mind. One person has developed this habit of happiness. They're hopeful. They're trusting. They're believing for the best. The other person has trained their mind to see the negative. They're worried.

They're frustrated. It all starts right here. And if we're going to develop this habit of happiness, we've got to learn to just go with the flow instead of getting frustrated. We've got to believe that God's in control of our lives instead of living stressed out and worried. And we've got to be grateful for what we have.

have rather than complaining about what we don't have. Really, it boils down to you have to stay on the positive side of life. And understand, God did not create a single negative person. He didn't make any of us to live depressed, stressed out, worried, frustrated. We were created to be happy. We were created to be at peace, to be content, to enjoy our lives. And we're supposed to be an example of what it means to live a life of faith. When people see you, yes, they should see so much joy, so much peace, so much happiness, that they would want what we have. And I want to ask you today to examine your own life. Are you as happy as you know you should be down in here? Do you get up each day excited about your future? Are you enjoying

your family, enjoying your friends? If not, find out what's stealing your joy. What's causing you to get upset? Why are you worrying? Identify what it is. Take inventory and then take it one step further and start retraining your mind in those particular areas. Don't go the next 10 years getting upset over the exact same things. For instance, maybe your husband or your wife does something that irritates you, kind of gets on your nerves, and normally it just ruins the rest of your day. Well, the fact is, you cannot control that person. They may not ever change.

I hope they do, but don't you go the rest of your life allowing that to steal your joy? Change your approach. retrain your mind. The next time that happens, instead of falling into that trap, getting all upset, just say, no, I'm not going to go there. That's not worth getting frustrated over. I'm going to keep my peace. I'm going to stay happy anyway.

What I'm saying today is we do not have to allow our circumstances to steal our joy. And really, life is way too short to go around day after day, negative, discouraged, depressed. No, you need to reprogram your computer. You need to get rid of these wrong. mindsets. And do you know many times you can make a small change and it'll make a huge difference in your life? Some of you, all you need to do is make a minor adjustment in your attitude, or a minor adjustment in how you treat people, a minor adjustment in how you respond to problems.

If you'd make this small change and develop these new mindsets, you'd see your joy, your happiness go to a whole new level. Years ago, the Russian scientist named Pavlov did the name, experiment with his dogs. He was studying their habits and how they responded to certain situations, trying to learn more about human nature. And every time he went to feed them, he would ring a bell. And when the dogs saw the food, they'd get very excited and start salivating. They couldn't wait to eat. And over the next couple of weeks, every time he fed them, he made sure he first rang that bell. And over time, the dogs associated the ringing of the bell with the presence of food. Well, a couple of weeks later, he decided to try something different.

He started ringing the bell at odd times when he wasn't feeding them. Wanted to see what they would do. And every time he rang the bell, even though there was no food, dogs couldn't smell anything, couldn't see anything, didn't matter. The dogs still started salivating. In their minds, they were about to eat. It happened time and time again. It became known as a conditioned response.

And I believe many times that's just what happens to us. We've allowed ourselves to have all these negative conditioned responses. For instance, we get stuck in traffic, and without missing a beat, our blood pressure shoots sky high. We get all upset. Or we get up in the morning. We don't feel excited, so without thinking twice, we just drag through the day in a sour mood. Or maybe at the office, somebody doesn't speak to us. Somebody kind of ignores us.

Instead of letting it go, giving them the benefit of the doubt, we get offended, go around in self-pity. It's just like clockwork, we're conditioned to respond in a certain way. The only reason it happens is because we've been doing it year after year after year. We've developed these negative mindsets. And many times I've seen that's what's stealing our joy. I'm asking us today to take inventory and let's retrain these negative responses. You get up in the morning, you may not feel very excited. You may feel depressed.

You may not feel like going to work. But instead of doing what you normally do, you know, may do and drag through the day, thinking nothing good ever happens to me, this is going to be a lousy day. No, break out of that rut. That's a conditioned response. That's exactly what the enemy wants you to keep doing, and you need to throw him a curve. Next time you get out of bed and you don't feel too hot, no matter what those circumstances look like, you need to say with David, this is the day the Lord has made. I'm going to enjoy it. I'm going to be happy today. You need to just speak that out by faith. Every time you do that, you are

are retraining your mind. You are forming a new habit, and it'll get easier and easier. And just as we can form all these negative habits, defeat, discouragement, getting upset, self-pity, we can form a habit of happiness. We can develop a habit of even in joy in every single day.

And I believe that every one of us can come up higher in this area. You may be happy, but you know what? You can even be happier. Raise the bar. Train your mind to see the good. Be grateful for what you have. and get rid of any negative conditioned response. Friends, there's too much sadness in our world today. Many people are even sick physically because they are living so stressed out, uptight, and worried. And I know sometimes depression is caused by a chemical imbalance, but I see too many people

dragging around, defeated, depressed, all because they've developed the wrong habit of focusing on the negative. They focus on their problems. They focus on what's wrong. They focus on what's wrong. they focused on what they don't have. Listen, you've got to learn to change your focus. You can have the smallest problem, but if you stay focused on it, it'll get bigger and bigger and bigger. It'll steal your joy,

steal your peace, it'll steal your happiness. Look away from that. Don't magnify your problem, magnify your God. You've got to get out of doubt and come over into faith. Get out of that discouragement. Come over into joy.

Make a decision with me today that you're going to live your life happy. And when I say happy, I don't mean that we're laughing all the time. That's not really realistic. I'm talking about we're content. In fact, one definition of joy is calm, delight. That means we're at peace. We've got a smile on our face.

We're excited about our future. Yes, we have problems. Yes, we all have obstacles to overcome, but we're not worried about it. We know God's in control. We know he's got us in the palm of his hand. I love that scripture. If God be for us, who dare? even be against us. But a whole key is we must

retrain our mind away from these negative conditioned responses. I mean, I know people that practically get depressed every Monday morning. They don't like going to work. It's called the Monday morning blues. And really, when you think about it, there is nothing any different about Monday than any other day of the week. They've just developed the wrong habit of dreading that particular day. I even read where we are 70% more likely to have a heart attack

Monday morning than any other time of the week. They did all this research. All they could figure out is people are just more uptight, more stressed out on Monday than any other time. A wrong mindset we've developed. I've seen people, anytime they get stuck in traffic, it'll just ruin the rest of their day. Yet at the same time, there'll be a car next to them, and that person is singing a song of praise. Probably one of you. They've got a smile on their face.

They're enjoying that day. the only difference is in how they train their mind. One person has trained their mind to relax, to go with the flow. They know God's still in control. The other person has trained their mind to be upset, to be rigid, to fight against everything that doesn't go their way. Even leaving out of here today, you can say, man, look at all the cars, look at all the traffic, it's going to take me forever.

Or you can say, man, look at all the cars. Isn't it great how many people came out to worship God? It's all in how we choose to see it. If you complain about the traffic, the officer is going to get your name. We're going to put you up on the big screen next week. I love what the Apostle Paul said. I have learned how to be content, no matter what state I'm in. Think about it.

He said, I have learned. In other words, he was saying, this didn't happen automatically. I had to train my mind to stay at peace. I had to train my mind to look on the bright side. Had to train my mind to focus on the good. Same thing we have to do. Happiness is not going to fall on us. it's a choice we have to make.

And really being positive doesn't necessarily come naturally. We have to make that decision. And I believe it's a daily choice. Our mind left alone most of the time will drift toward the negative. I see it happen all the time. If we don't stay on the offensive, little by little, we get more and more sullen. We don't smile as much. We're not as much fun to be around.

We start to find fault. We start to get critical. No, stay aggressive. Don't allow these negative habits to form. When you get out of bed in the morning, you need to make yourself put a smile on your face. You've got to set the tone right at the very start of the day. I found out this.

If you don't set the tone, the enemy will set the tone for you. Hey, you say, Joel, if I smile, if I play like I'm in a good mood, I'm just faking it, because really I'm depressed. I got so many problems. But you've got to realize when you smile, that's an act of faith. when you smile, you're sending a message to your whole body that everything's going to be all right. If you will just dig your heels in, and no matter what your circumstances look like,

start having this positive attitude of faith, then you're sowing a seed for God to work in your life. I read about this couple. They were in college studying to get their degrees, and they lived in this apartment complex, and next door to them was this other young college couple. They became very good friends. They had a lot in common. the only difference was this second couple seemed to get all the breaks. They lived in the corner apartment.

It was much bigger and nicer than the other ones. They had their apartment furnished with brand new furniture. This other couple just had a table and a bed barely had any furniture. This one couple, they wore nice clothes, the latest fashions, while the other couple they just wore the same clothes again and again. At one point, both of the men were trying to get an assistant teaching job there at the university. but once again, the second man got it. And this first young man was just so frustrated.

Couldn't seem to get any brakes. And to top this all off, at Christmas time, this second couple, they were given a brand new fancy sports car from their parents. This first couple, they just had an old beat-up pickup truck. Didn't have any air conditioning, was hot and humid. And he told how many times they'd be driving to class in the morning, sweating, miserable, and they'd look over and see their friends

in that brand new sports car, just like pouring salt on the wounds. This went on week after week. And this young man got more and more negative, more and more depressed. He started complaining about it. Before long, he was at odds with his wife. They started arguing in fighting. They had never had problems before. But see, that's exactly what happens. Negative attitudes will spread to every area of our lives. They'll start to drag us down. One day, this young man was in his statistics class, there at the campus, and he had spent several hours entering all this data into his computer. He was

working on this very long, complicated equation. He had to get the numbers all lined up, got him in the right order, in the right column. And then he hit the computer, asking it to give him the answer. When he did, he sat back and folded his arms. He thought it would take maybe 10 or 15 minutes for the

computer to calculate all that information. But much to his surprise, when he looked up, the computer was already finished. He couldn't believe it. He thought, man, it took me hours to put this in. The computer gave him the answer in less than one-tenth of a second. And about that time, the college professor came by and noticed that he looked kind of perplexed. And he asked him what was wrong.

The young man said, well, nothing's wrong. I just spent all this time putting this in the computer. And I don't really see how it could calculate it this fast. And the professor said, well, that's easy. Let me explain. And he told how the computer takes every bit of data, takes every number, and it gives it either a positive electrical impulse and then stores it away, or it gives it a negative electrical impulse and then stores it away. Then the computer simply recalls the information,

combines it in the right order, but the reason it can do it so quickly is because the information has already been categorized. Then the professor said something that really got the young men's attention. He said the computer works much like the human brain. before anything ever goes into our mental computer, before any sight, sound, taste, feel, intuition, before it gets stored up here, it's first either stamped positive or it's stamped negative. Then that sensation is permanently stored in our memory.

And that's why sometimes you can't remember a person's name, but you can remember how you felt about that person. The professor went on to say, but unlike a computer, every person develops a habit of mainly programming their mind, positive or negative. When he said that, a light turned on in that young man. He realized he was sitting around making himself miserable. Without even knowing it, he was stamping every single thing, negative. They've got a bigger apartment, negative. They've got a better car, negative. They get all the brakes, negative. he began to see the reason he wasn't enjoying his life

was because everything he was putting in was negative. And what you put in is what you're going to get out. And you may have negative circumstances. Maybe you didn't get good breaks. Maybe you didn't get the position you were longing for. But instead of just automatically stamping it negative and storing it away,

your attitude should be, I know God has something better in store for me. I know when one door closes, God's going to open up another door. When you do that, you just took that negative situation, you turned it around and stamped it positive, stored it away. Even in our most difficult times, maybe you lost a loved one. I know that can be painful, but our attitude should be. I know where they are.

They're at a better place, a place of joy, a place of peace. When we do that, we're stamping it positive. Pay more attention to what you're feeding yourself. Are you storing away more positive or more negative? some of you, if you don't make these changes, you're not going to live a happy life because you cannot keep putting everything in negative, self-pity, discouraging, poor old me, and expect to live a positive, happy life. Well, Joel, I got caught by a train last week.

I missed an important meeting. No, just turn it around. Father, I thank you that you have me at the right place at the right time. I am not going to get depressed. I believe you're directed my steps and you're going to turn it around and use it for my good. When you do that, you're stamping it positive. That's how we can develop a habit of happiness. I read where there's something in our brain

called a reticular activating system has to do with our memory, with our habits. And basically, it's a function where our mind eliminates the thoughts and the impulses that it deems unnecessary. For instance, one time my sister used to live in a townhome right beside the railroad tracks. And every night, two or three times a night,

that train would come roaring, by, blowing its horn, it literally shook that place, and every time it would wake Lisa up. But as the weeks went by, she got more and more used to that. When she'd hear the train in the middle of the night, even subconsciously, she would tell her mind, I don't need this. I don't want to wake up. This is unnecessary information. In the first couple of weeks, the mind just continued to send the message, but Lisa just

wouldn't respond to it. She just kept tuning it out. And the way this reticular activating system works is after a while the mind says, you know what? They don't need this information. They're not responding. They're not paying attention. So we're not even going to send it any longer. Several months later, Lisa was able to sleep all through the night.

I remember one time I stayed at her house. When that train came by in the middle of the night, I bet you I jumped three feet off the bed. It sounded like the world was coming to an end. And here I look over there and Lisa just sleeping like a baby. sound asleep, got drool running down the side of her face. But what's the difference between her and me? The fact is, that reticular activating system in her mind has kicked in, and it's not sending her those messages any longer.

And my point is, I believe that we can train our mind in such a positive fashion that when these negative, discouraging thoughts come, they won't affect us anymore. When that thought of fear comes, learn to tune it out like Lisa did. that depressing thought, it's going to be a lousy day, tune it out. And if you'll keep it up, before long your mind's going to say, you know what, they don't need this information. They're not paying attention. Don't even send a thought of fear.

Don't even send a thought of worry. Just like that train, I believe we can tune it out so long that our mind won't even send us any of those negative messages anymore. Really, all we should be tuned into are thoughts of joy, thoughts of peace, thoughts of faith, thoughts of hope, thoughts of victory. That's what happens when we stamp it. everything positive. But I see too many people today, their thinking is so out of balance that their mind is working totally against them. It's doing exactly opposite of what it should do.

It's tuning out everything good, and it's only tuning in the worry, the fear, the pain of the past, the negative. And it's all because that's what they're choosing to dwell on. That's what they're grasping hold up. Listen, you've got to learn to tune that junk out. You've got to retrain your mind. Well, Joel, it's my children. They're not doing good. They got off course. I'm so worried about it. No, just turn that around. Father, thank you that my children are blessed. They're making good decisions. I declare what your word says. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Got to tune that junk out. Well, Joel, it's my finances. Gas is so high. Business is slow. I don't see how I'm going to make it. No, tune that out and start tuning in. God is supplying all of my needs.

He's Jehovah Jira, the Lord my provider. Everything I touch prospers and succeeds. I am blessed. I cannot be cursed. See, we've got to break free from these negative habits in our mind. Discouragement, self-pity, getting upset. And let's start developing this habit of happiness. I was watching the news the other day.

They were interviewing these people that had come out of the hurricane. Person after person came up and told their story. And most of them were very negative, very bitter, blaming people, blaming the government, blaming God. But about that time, this one young lady stepped up to the microphone. You could tell there was something different about her. She had a big smile on her face. It looked like she had a glow about her.

I mean, you could see the joy and the peace on her life. And the reporter asked her somewhat sarcastically, okay, tell us your story, what's wrong? She said, no, nothing's wrong. I'm not here to complain. I'm simply here to thank God that I'm still alive. I'm here to thank God that I'm still alive. I'm here to thank God that I've got my hell.

I'm here to thank God that my children are okay. And you can tell that the reporter was kind of taken back. I mean, this lady was a breath of fresh air. And everybody had been complaining about not having any power. No electricity. It was very hot, so they didn't have any air conditioning. And the reporter asked her, well, what about your power? You have any air conditioning?

The lady said, no, I not only don't have any power, I don't even have my home. It was swept away in the flood. But she said, I'll tell you what I do have. She reached down and picked up her Bible. She said, I have my hope, I have my joy, I have my peace. She said, I know God is on my side. See, that lady chose to take a negative, unfortunate situation. Somehow, some way, she turned it around and she stamped positive on it.

She refused to tune in those thoughts of self-pity. she refused to allow her negative circumstances to steal her joy. She was saying, in effect, I know God's still in control of my life. He said a little sparrow would not fall to the ground without him seeing it. So I know he's watching over me. I know he's going to take care of me and my kids. And this is my prayer that you and I would come to that same place, where we would be so peaceful, so trusting, so it rests, so positive,

that our mind wouldn't even bother sending the negative messages. our mind would think, you know what, they're not going to pay attention. It's not going to be any use. Let's just save our time and energy. Friends, let me challenge you. Train your mind to see the good. Get rid of any of these negative conditioned responses. Everybody around you may be complaining. You may have a good right to live depressed and worried and in self-pity, but I'm asking you to walk away from that and make a decision to develop a habit of happiness. Learn to go with the flow. Believe God's in control of your own. life. Find the good in every situation. If you'll do what the scripture says and simply be happy at all times, I can promise you this. You'll not only enjoy your life more, but you'll rise higher and

higher. God will pour out his blessings in favor, and you'll live that life of victory he has in store. Amen. Do you receive it today? Well, I know you do. 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 you places that you've never dreamed of. Our negative thinking can short-circuit God's power and blessing in our lives. When you say, I always seem to worry, I can't forgive what was done to me.

I pray, but it feels like God doesn't hear. I won't have enough to provide for me and my family. How do you overcome this type of negative thinking that limits you from God's best? Our thinking sets the limits for our life. Every morning you have to power up your mind, get it going in the right direction, but dwelling on what God says about you. When you think thoughts of faith, hope, and victory, you'll tap into blessing and favor that belongs to you.

I'd love to send you my newest book. It's called Power Up. I'll show you how to delete negative thoughts and focus on the promises rather than the problems. You can discover God's unprecedented power in your life. As our way of saying thank you for your gift of any amount to the ministry this month, Joel and Victoria would like to send you this life-altering resource. Power Up, a 21-day action plan to transformative thinking. God wants to power up every area of your life. Your relationships, career, finances, health, he wants to bless it all. But sometimes negative thinking can short-circuit the truth. This resource reconnects those power lines, providing the free flow of God's eternal promises. Remember, wherever you're at, whatever you're facing, you can make the choice to power up and access God's promises. When your mind is going in the right direction, your life will go in the right direction. start powering up each day and watch what God will do.

Victoria and I want you to know that we pray for you and your family. We appreciate your prayer and support. Your generosity is impacting so many lives. Remember, you can watch the services live online every Sunday morning. Download our daily podcast, watch our YouTube channel, listen on Sirius XM. But until we meet again, may the Lord bless you and keep you. Be sure to request your copy of Power Up, a 21-day action plan to transformative thinking. Today, visit Joel Osteen.com, or call us toll-free.