Joel Osteen Podcast - Don't Have A Critical Spirit | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: January 18, 2024

In life, no matter how much good there is, you can always find something to criticize. You have to make the decision not to give in to a critical spirit. When you choose to magnify the good rather than the bad, God will overflow your life with His peace. 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 visit JoelOsteen.com/GiveHope.Daily inspiration. Scriptural promises. Get ready for a new year of faith with the Hopes & Dreams 2024 Planner. Our special December offer will let you journal your thoughts, record your prayers, and hold on to the dream God has placed in your heart. Request your copy today! https://bit.ly/3T8xgqS  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. We have a new resource. It's a 2024 daily devotional. We'd love to send it to you. It'll help you start the day off right. You will love this devotional. And know this.

We are praying for you and we are believing for God's very best for you in 2024. Well, God bless you. It's always a joy to come into your homes. We love you. And we know God has great things in store. He rewards the people that seek after him. If you're ever in our area, I hope you'll stop by and be a part of one of our services. Give you a personal invitation.

I promise you we'll make you feel right at home. But thank you so much for tuning in. Again, thanks for coming out today. I like to start with something funny. I heard about this minister that was out bear hunting. He searched and searched all through the woods without any sign of a bear. After several hours, he finally threw his gun down in frustration and went to the stream to cool off. About that time, he sees a huge grisly.

bear running toward him a couple hundred yards away. He falls down on his knees and says, God, I need your protection. God, I'm asking you to convert this bear into a Christian. Miraculously, the bear froze in his tracks, put up both paws toward the heavens and said, thank you, Lord, for this food I'm about to eat. 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 God. I boldly confess my mind is alert, my heart is receptive, I will never be the same. In Jesus name. Amen. God bless you. I want to talk to you today about not having a critical spirit. Too many people go through life focused on what's wrong

rather than what's right. They've developed a habit of seeing the negative. They can walk into a grand new house that's beautifully decorated. You couldn't ask for a nicer place. But instead of seeing a thousand things that are right, they'll point out the one small scratch on the floor. They're drawn to the negative. They don't see the beautiful rose. They see the thorn. And in life, no matter how much good there is, you can always find something bad if you look for it. Some fault, some weakness, something that we don't understand. And we can either an eye for the good, or we can develop a critical eye. This is especially important in relationships. You can train yourself to see people's strengths, or you can train yourself to see their weaknesses.

You can focus on what you like about your spouse and magnify their good qualities, or you can focus on what you don't like and magnify the things that annoy you. And this is why some relationships are in such trouble. people have developed this habit of being negative. Now they can't see anything good. It's like this man I heard about. His wife was making breakfast, and he asked for two eggs, one scrambled and one fried. She made them and put them on a plate.

When he saw them, he shook his head. She said, what did I do wrong now? That's exactly what you asked for. He said, I should have known it. You fried the wrong egg. Some people have become so critically minded that no matter what you do, It's not going to be right.

They never see the good their spouse does. They've forgotten the reasons they fell in love and got married. It's because they're magnifying the wrong things. If you struggle in this area, I would encourage you to make a list of the qualities that you like about your spouse. Write down the things that they do right. He may not be a good communicator, but he's a hard worker. Put that on your list.

She may have some weaknesses. but she's a great mother, she's smart, she's intelligent, write that down, and every day go over it. Start focusing on their good qualities. If you're negative toward your spouse and you operate out of this critical spirit, it's going to poison your whole outlook. You won't communicate properly,

you won't want to do things together. It will affect you in every area. You have to make a switch. Start appreciating that person's strengths, and learn to downplay their weaknesses. We all have faults and things that can get on people's nerves. The key is, what are we magnifying? When we let this critical spirit rise up,

we start magnifying the wrong things. That's when we start complaining that the wrong egg got fried. When we're critical, we begin to nag and we exaggerate and make big deals out of things that are not big deals. Will you never take out the trash? Will you never spend any time with me? you're always late. I've discovered people respond to praise

more than they respond to criticism. The next time you want your husband to mow the lawn, instead of nagging, saying, you lazy thing, when are you ever going to mow our lawn? It looks so bad. No, just say, did I ever tell you, when you're out there mowing the lawn, you look really good?

When I see your muscles bulging out of your shirt, that sweat dripping down in your face, You look so handsome, so attractive. You praise him like that, and he'll mow the lawn every day. People respond to praise more than criticism. When we're constantly critical, we have to realize the problem is not with our spouse. It's not with our boss, not even with our circumstances. The problem is with us.

I heard about this couple that moved into a new neighborhood. One morning early while they were eating, the lady looked out the window, and saw the neighbor hanging her wash out on the line to dry. And she noticed that the wash was so dirty and so dingy. She said to her husband, that neighbor doesn't know how to wash. Her clothes aren't clean. I wonder if she even uses detergent. Day after day, she made these same comments.

Can't believe she lets her family wear those dirty, dingy clothes. Several weeks later, she looked out that window, and the clothes were just as bright and clean, and beautiful as could be. She was so surprised. She called her husband. Said, honey, look, the lady finally learned how to wash. I wonder what happened. The husband

spied and said, honey, I got up early this morning and cleaned our window. The problem was not that the neighbor had dirty laundry. The problem was the window she was looking through was not clean. She was seeing everything through a

tainted filter. It's the same way in life. How dirty our neighbors laundry is, depends greatly on how clean our own window is. Here's how the scripture puts it to the pure, all things are pure. If you can't ever see anything right, you drive down the freeway and only see the traffic

and construction and potholes, never the beauty. You only see the scratch in the floor, never the amazing house. You never see what people do right, only what they do wrong. My encouragement is clean your window. The problem is not with somebody else, it's an internal issue. It's like this man that had an accident driving to work. He got out of the

car and yelled at the other driver. He said, lady, you need to learn how to drive. You're the fourth person that's hit me today. No, at some point, we need to look inside and say, maybe I'm the one that needs to change. If I'm critical all the time, maybe I've developed the habit of seeing the bad rather than the good. If I'm constantly skeptical, maybe I've trained. I've trained. myself to be cynical and sarcastic rather than believe the best. If I'm constantly finding fault, perhaps my own filter is dirty. Maybe I've become judgmental and condemning rather than giving people the benefit of the doubt. One thing I've learned is a critical spirit will follow you everywhere you go. You can't get away from it. You can leave one job angry, upset, bitter. They didn't treat me right.

but if you don't deal with the root issue, you'll have the same problem at the next job. You'll think everybody's against you. Nobody can do anything right. My boss doesn't know what he's doing. It's because that window is tainted. I knew a young lady growing up. For as long as I've known her, she has always been critical. Even as a teenager, at high school, she would complain about things at school that I didn't even think about.

I never knew I had it so bad until she told me. I got word just the other day. This would be some 30 years later that she just left another job, upset, angry, thinking people didn't treat her right. The sad thing is, she'll go her whole life like that

unless she learns to clean her window. She's looking out of a window that's been tainted through a filter that's gone through years of judgment, years of criticism. And parents, it's so important that we deal with these issues and we learn to break a critical fault-finding spirit so we don't pass it down to our children. That's what happened to this young lady. I remember growing up, being at her home, her parents were the exact same way.

They were critical about everything, critical toward their neighbors, critical toward the city. The man was always complaining about how bad his employer was. a critical spirit will taint everything. What's the solution? Number one, recognize your window is dirty. Number two, just as you've developed a habit of seeing the worst, train yourself to see the good. Don't go to work every day, focused on what you don't like about your employer. Focus on something that's right. Be grateful that you have a job. Be grateful that you're not unemployed. Don't drive up and down the freeway and just see you. the traffic and the potholes

and the construction. No, look out at the beauty of God's creation. Look out at the trees. Look up at the sky. Breathe in the goodness of God. When that critical spirit comes, you have to deal with it one thought at a time. If you see

someone or something that you don't understand, you don't agree with, don't be quick to judge. Don't let that critical spirit rise up. Just say, you know what? I may not understand this. I may not agree, but I'm not going to be a fault finder. I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt. A few months ago, I met a young man and his girlfriend after the service.

They had more tattoos and more piercings than anybody I'd ever seen. The man had tattoos up his arm to his neck, even on his face. The young lady must have had a hundred different piercings. They definitely were unusual looking. At first, that critical spirit tries to rise up. Why do they look like that? Boy, they must have a lot of problems, a lot of issues. But instead of staying there, I took out my critical eyes and I put in God's eyes. When I did, I had a different perspective. I was glad that they felt comfortable coming to church. I was glad that they took time to honor God. They were not anything like I expected. They were some of the kindest, most genuine people you could ever meet. On the outside,

side, there was a thousand reasons to be judgmental, to be critical. That religious spirit tries to rise up. Why do they dress like that? What's their problem? But no, really, what better place for them to be at church? Come to find out, he was the leader

of a very successful heavy metal band. They just had a big concert in the arena the night before. He looked to be about 30 years old. He said, Joel, I have never been in church one day in my life before. This is the first time I've ever set foot in a house of worship.

He gave me one of their CDs and said, listen to track number seven. That's a song I wrote after listening to you. Don't judge people by the outside. When you're tempted to be critical and fine fault, remember the enemy is called the accuser of the brethren. Recognize where the source is coming from. He's the one that's wanting you to be critical. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to go over to that side.

I'm going to stay on God's side. I'm going to believe the best. There may be a thousand things that I can see this wrong with them, but I'm going to look and look and look until I find at least one thing that is right. I've been forgiven much, so I'm going to love much. And if I err, I'm not going to err on the side of judgment. I'm going to err on the side of mercy.

After all, where would we be without the mercy of God? If I hadn't had good parents and been raised in a good church, who knows where I would be today. I'm not going to be condemning. I'm not going to be a fault finder. I'm going to keep my wind decks handy. I'm going to keep my windows clean. But people today, they're so quick to judge

and quick to find fault and quick to be critical. If somebody's not just like them, they're a little bit different. Instead of giving them the benefit of the doubt, they look them up and down and start to pick them apart. Well, I would never dress like that. I would never drive that car. Well, if I were them, I wouldn't have taken a vacation in this economy. If I were them, I wouldn't send my kids to that school.

If I were them, I wouldn't wear that much jewelry. No, here's the key. You're not them. You don't really know what you would do because you haven't walked in their shoes. I had a man tell me after last week's service, a visitor, how his pastor just took six weeks off to going around the world cruise. And this man just couldn't understand it. He went on and on complaining to me and telling me how wrong that was.

The whole time I'm thinking to myself, the reason your pastor left was to get away from people like you. How somebody spends their money and where they go on vacation, how they raise their children, what kind of car they drive. I've learned that is none of my business. I don't know about you, but I have a hard enough time trying to run my own life without trying to run somebody else's life. One of the best ways that we can keep our window clean is to learn to mind our own business. If somebody takes four vacations a year, that's none of my business. If they drive around town in a limousine or come to church in a boat, that's none of my business. If they wear rings on every finger and rings on every toe, that's none of my business.

Don't be nosy. Nosey people are critical people. They want to know all the details. and all the latest scoop. Not so they can pray for the person. Not because they're genuinely interested, but because they know they'll hear something juicy that'll feed their flesh, and they can run tell their friends,

did you hear what I heard? Did you know what they did? Did you hear the latest? No, your attitude should be, I didn't hear, and I don't want to hear. I don't want to be poisoned. My ears are not garbage cans to fill with a bunch of trash. And if somebody is trying to tell you something bad about somebody else,

don't sit there and be passive. Hey, you said, Joel, I couldn't help it. They wanted to tell me, sure you can. Just say, you know what? I just remembered I've got an important appointment I've got to go to. I'm going to have to excuse myself. If you can't leave, well, you know, instead of talking about this person, why don't we pray for them?

Stay on the offensive. Don't let people poison you. If your friends are critical, fault finders, gossips, backbiders, you need to find some new friends. Those spirits can rub off on you. You shouldn't go to lunch every day at work with people that sit around and badmouth the company and criticize the boss and gossip and complain. When you say, Joel, if I don't go to lunch with them, I may be lonely. Yes, but I'd rather be lonely than poisoned. I would rather be lonely than allow people that are not going anywhere in life to keep me from my God-given destiny.

Well, Joel, if I don't go with them, they may start talking about me. No, let me tell you a secret. Most likely, they're already talking about you. If they'll talk about others in front of you, then when you're not there, they'll talk about you. I have a friend. When he was a young man,

he worked for this well-known minister. One night they were in another city on the road, holding this conference, and after the service, the two main staff members for this well-known minister, they invited this young man to come to their hotel room after service and watch the ballgame and have some snacks. And so this young man went over there and they were having a good time just hanging out. But all of a sudden, these two main staff members begin to talk about their boss. They were so negative and so critical and judgmental toward him.

This young man was shocked. Here he was just new on staff and these other two men and been with this minister for over 20 years. When he heard how bad they were talking, something just stirred on the inside that said, this is not right. You need to go. You need to leave. And he very politely excused himself. He never said anything else about it.

But a couple of weeks later, that well-known minister called these two staff members in and said, I was praying this morning. And I just feel like you're no longer on board with me. so I'm going to ask you to leave. They were both dismissed. Today, this young man, he's a very well-known minister. He goes all over the world. But he said, I know if I had not left that night, if I would have allowed them to poison me and become critical and judgmental, I would not be where I am today. Those other two men were just as gifted. They had all kinds of potential, but for years and years, all they've done is floundered around.

They've never walked in the fullness of what God has in store. It's because they have this critical spirit. If people are stirring up things around you, talking about the leadership, talking about your family, talking about your friends, don't sit there and be a part of it. That can keep you from your God-given destiny. God will not promote a critical spirit,

a gossip, a fault finder, someone that's sowing discord. If you have a problem with someone, go to them face to face, not behind their back. You may not agree with everything. There may be things you don't understand, but don't be a gossip. Don't go around stirring up trouble. And if you're not behind the company that you work for, you need to go find another job. But as long as you're taking their paycheck, you should not be critical and condemning. You should support those people in that organization. I remember even years ago this man was very critical

toward my father. He stood up in the middle of a service and said John Osteen, this work is going downhill. It will not continue. You are not of God. You are in error. My father said, brother,

I appreciate you coming today, but don't let the door hit you when you leave. He said, you better listen to me. I'm a prophet of God. My father said, brother, you're not a prophet. you're just a fault finder. You're just a complainer. In fact, you're where we get the term non-profit organization. Year after year, my father just kept being his best doing what God called him to do.

A couple of years after that, that man, he was only in his 40s, he had a heart attack and suddenly died. And I'm not saying that God is going around killing people. But I am saying when we're judgmental and critical, We step out of God's protection. We step out of his blessings and favor. And we have to realize when we are critical, we're not hurting the other person. We're hurting us.

One time in the scripture, someone criticized Moses because she didn't like the wife that Moses chose to marry. His wife was another nationality. And this lady criticized and stirred up trouble and just went around gossiping about it. All the while Moses was as happy as

could be. Didn't bother him. He rose above it. But in the end, the lady that criticized, she came down with leprosy. Her skin was full of disease. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to talk about people. I may not understand them. I may not agree. I may choose not to associate with them, but I'm not going to badmouth them and try to ruin their reputation. I need God's protection. I want to stay under his covering. The scripture says here, Matthew 7 verse 1, don't pick on people. Don't jump on their failures. Don't criticize their faults.

Unless, of course, you want the same kind of treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging back to you. This is saying, when we are critical and judgmental, we are sowing seeds for people to be critical and judgmental back toward us. It's funny today, there are some people that do nothing more than criticism. of the ministries. They built an organization. They built their whole ministry on criticism, on judgment, on fault finding. They never see the good the person is doing. They never see the changed lives. They overlook all the fruit and they'll find one thing they don't agree with. One statement out of

25 years of ministry, they'll blow it up and try to make a big deal about it. What they don't realize is nobody is perfect. I certainly don't claim to have perfect doctrine to be right 100% of the time on every single issue, but I do know this. My heart is right. And I'm doing to the best of my ability what God wants me to do. And I love what Jesus said to people that were critical and judgmental. He said, get the telephone pole out of your eye before you try to get the

toothpick out of your brother's eye. What he was saying was, clean your window. Look inside. Deal with your own issues and spend your time trying to improve your own life and you'll have a whole lot less time being critical and judgmental. And when I come to the end of my days and stand before God and he says, Joel, what did you do with the time that I entrusted you with? How did you use the gifts that I gave you? I would hate to have to say, God, I spent my life criticizing other ministries, knocking people down. trying to make them look bad, stirring everything up. Have a hard time believing that God's going to say, well done, you good and faithful

service. You did just what I asked. You stirred it all up. Now, I imagine God's going to hand them a bottle of windex and say, do me a favor, clean your window before you come up here. If not, before long, you'll be fine and fault with me. And in life, at times, you'll have to pass the test of not being critical toward people that are critical of you.

Maybe at the office somebody is trying to make you look bad, talking behind your back, taking things out of context. It's very tempting to be critical back and think two can play at this game. They said this about me, well let me tell you what I know about them.

Don't sink down to their level. Don't let their poison cloud your window. Learn to bless your enemies. Understand the higher you go, the more haters will come out. everything may be fine with your coworkers as long as you're at the same level, but the moment you get promoted and they see you being blessed and you get married and you moved

into that new house and you've got a healthy family, don't be surprised if they start talking, spreading rumors, trying to make you look bad. Unfortunately, not all of your friends will celebrate your victories. Not all of your coworkers will be happy when you get promoted. Some, will be jealous. Some will be intimidated, thinking you succeeding is making them look bad, so they'll try to tear you down. Well, I don't know why he got promoted. He's not even that talented. Or why did he marry that girl? She's not even attractive. She doesn't even have a good personality. It'll be tempting to try to set the record straight and be critical back toward them. But don't fall into that trap. Let God fight your battles for you. If you will stay on the high road,

God will take what they mean for harm, and he will use it to your advantage. They mean it as a stumbling block to stop you, but God will use it as a stepping stone to thrust you higher. Now, every day I say, God, bless my enemies. Those people that criticize, talk about me, try to make me look bad, God give them a great day to day. When you do that, the more they talk, the higher you're going to go. Sometimes I feel like I don't even need to thank my enemies. If it had not been for them, I wouldn't be where I am today. They meant it to bring me down, but God used it to push me up higher.

Now, I'm asking you today to make a decision that you are not going to have a critical spirit. Train yourself to see the best. There's good in every situation if you'll look for it. Make a list of the qualities you like in your spouse, your children, your friends. Learn to magnify those things, the good things. I believe today that windows are getting clean. We are wiping away judgment, criticism, fault finding, maybe things that have even held us back for years,

but this is a new day. I declare it's no longer going to cloud our vision. We're going to go out of here with clean windows, believing the best, seeing the good, minding our own business. When we do that, God promises he will fight our battles for us. He will make our wrongs right. We're going to rise higher. I believe and declare every dream, every person,

promise, every desire God's put in your heart, you're going to see that come to fulfillment. Amen. Do you receive it today? 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 your places you've never dreamed of. It's January. Time to renew my faith. It's January. It's time to start a new season. It's January. There is no better time than now to set the course of our year ahead.

The beginning of the year is a great time to start a fresh and anew. To let go of negative. things of the past, and to get ready for the new things God has in store. Every January, we create a new devotional calendar that will help you throughout the year. When you start the day off in faith, grateful for what God's done, making positive declarations over your future, you're setting the tone for a blessed day and a victorious year. This devotional will help you get your mind going in the right direction, so you can go out each day in faith, knowing that God is in control that his plans for you are for good. I'd love to send you a copy. As our way of saying thank you for your gift of any amount this first month of the year,

we would like to send you a copy of our brand new 2024 365 day devotional calendar. Do you want to set a faith course for your life in 2024? Do you want to see your life take off in new directions of influence, favor, and provision in the year ahead? Using this devotional calendar is as easy as one, two, three. One, wake up with an expectancy in your heart. Two, reflect on the daily scripture verse and devotional from Joel. Three, capture God's promises to you on journaling lines for writing and reflection. Be sure to request your copy of the 2024 devotional calendar available this month by

simply visiting us at Joel Osteen.com or calling 888567 Joel.