Joel Osteen Podcast - Expecting The Best | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: March 4, 2021

If you want to experience victory, you have to keep your thoughts going in the right direction. Raise your level of expectancy, and get ready to see God's power activated 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 visit JoelOsteen.com/GiveHope 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.

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to come into your homes and we come with good news. We know God is on your side and if God be for you, who dare even be against you? If you believe all things are possible. So thanks for tuning in today. If you're ever in our area, I hope you'll come out and be a part of one of our services. These are the finest people in all of Houston right here. They'll make you feel right at home, and you'll like our new facility as well. So come see you sometime. I like to start with something funny. I heard about this man and his wife.

They argued for several months about who was to make the coffee in the morning. The man thought it was definitely the wife's job, but she just didn't agree. And they had several heated debates on this. And finally one day the wife came up and said, honey, I found in the Bible where it clearly says the man is to make the coffee. He said what are you talking about? The Bible doesn't say anything about that.

She said, sure, it doesn't. She called him over, and she opened it up and pointed to the book of Hebrews. Hold up your Bible, 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. I am about to receive the incorruptible, indestructible, ever-living seed of the Word of God. I'll never be the same, never, never, never, never, I'll never be the same in Jesus' name. God bless you. We've been talking about the power of our thoughts and how important it is that we keep them going in a positive direction. If we give in to fear and worry and we go around in a negative frame of mind,

then our life is going to go in a negative direction. Fear activates the enemy's power, but faith activates God's power. And when we get up in the morning, we should expect good things. We should expect this to be a productive day. We should expect to be at the right place, at the right time. We should expect our families to prosper and succeed. But some of you are not expecting enough. You just expect to barely get by.

You expect to get the short end of the stick. You're not expecting to excel in your family, in your careers. You're going to have to raise your level of expectancy. If you're in sales and you go to a big presentation this week, don't go in there afraid. Don't go in there with no confidence, not expecting to get it. No, get out of fear and get over into faith. Expect to have God's favor.

Expect those people to like you. Expect to get that new contract. See, we can choose to live each day in faith, expecting good things, or we can choose to live in fear and just go around expecting the worst. And unfortunately, that's what a lot of people do today. They go to a job interview, not really expecting to get it. They drop their child off at school, expecting him to get in trouble. Well, Joel, he just can't sit still. I'm sure I'll get a call in a couple of hours.

No, you've already lost the battle. Quit expecting the worst and start expecting the best. you're going to get exactly what you're expecting. That's what Jesus said here in Matthew 929, according to your faith, be it done unto you. One translation says, have what your faith expects. We have to understand God meets us

at the level of our expectations. I don't think we realize how often we fall into that old rut of just expecting the worst. I remember when our son Jonathan was just a baby, maybe a year old. We were in a restaurant eating one night, and I was holding him on my shoulder.

And this couple came up. We didn't know, and they started to talk, and actually they were complimenting us on how good he was being, how quiet he was. But just before the man left, he said, you just wait until he gets to be about two. He'll turn into another person.

He's good now, but it's not going to last long. Those terrible twos are coming. And man, that just didn't hit me right. And when they left, I told Victoria, I do not receive what he said. I am not expecting Jonathan to go through the terrible twos. I'm not going to give that junk any place in my mind. And we just sort of turned it around. We said for us, we're going to believe it's not going to be the terrible twos,

but it's going to be the terrific twos. And do you know, Jonathan, he was two years old. Didn't give us any problem. Three, four, five. He's ten years old, and we're not expecting him to give us problems. We're expecting him to excel. We're expecting him to make good choices. We're expecting him to do great things in life.

Your children as well are going to rise to the level of your own expectations. If you expect them to get in trouble and you expect them to give you a hard time, you're going to get exactly what you're expecting. You're sowing a seed for it by that wrong, negative thinking. Now, you need to expect your children to be the head and not the tail. You need to expect them to be leaders wherever they go. You need to expect them to choose good friends. according to your faith is going to be done unto you.

I don't know about you, but I'm putting my faith out there for my children. I'm already believing they're going to marry the exact right person, the one God ordained before the foundation of the world. I'm believing my children are going to work with us in the ministry and help us to carry out what my parents started. I'm believing each of my children are going to live long, healthy lives, prosperous lives. Let's expect good things.

Our children need to know that we believe in them. they've already got enough negative things trying to pull them down. Let's do our part and encourage them. Let's build them up. Let's speak words of faith and victory over their lives. And I know as we do that, we will see them rise to those new levels. Some of you today, you've gotten so focused on the negative and all your child's doing wrong, you've just about convinced yourself that they're not going to mount so much.

They're just going to flounder through life. You know, you've got to change your attitude. God is going to hold you responsible. They may not be perfect, but you need to start sowing some new seeds of hope and encouragement into their lives. Your children need to know that you think they're the greatest, that you think there's nothing they can't do.

And it may not look like it today, but you've got to do it by faith. You've got to call the things that are not as if they already were. What are you expecting out of your children? Let me challenge you, set the bar high. They'll do great things if you'll just believe in them

and really get behind them. I know sometimes when you have small children like we do, people say, well, just wait until they get to be teenagers. Just wait until they're able to drive. And if you're not careful, you'll almost start expecting them to get off course. Start expecting them to kind of be rebellious. Had a lady asked me just last week, she said, Joy, you've got to pray for my teenager.

I'm so worried about him. I'm so afraid he's going to get off into trouble and start running with the wrong crowd. I said, well, I'll certainly pray, but is he giving you problems now? I mean, it's like something was terribly wrong. She said, oh, no, he's a great kid. I'm just afraid something bad is going to happen. I told her what I'm telling you, quit giving into that fear, quit expecting the worst. That opens the door to trouble.

Fear works just like faith. When you go around in faith, expecting good things, you're going to see God's blessings in favor. But if you get over into fear and go around expecting the worst, you're going to see negative things begin to happen. I remember when I was in college one night, I was studying for a test with a friend of mine and we were going over this one particular

area. I'll never forget what he said. He said, Joel, I know if they asked me this on the test, I'm not going to get it right. I've never been able to get this down and I know I'll just not remember how to do it. See, he was already planning to miss it. He was already expecting to fail, expecting the worst. Really, the right attitude

should have been. If they ask me this, I know them will get it right. I've studied, I've prepared, and I believe God will bring it back to my memory. You've got to learn to just turn it around. Train yourself to expect good things. Learn to stay in faith, not in fear. The scripture tells us in 2 Timothy 1.7 that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. The amplified version tells us what a sound mind is. it says it's a well-balanced and disciplined mind. In other words, we're not going to have any power if we don't first know how to discipline our mind.

We're not going to live in victory if we don't know how to control our thought life. And every day, we're going to have all kinds of negative, discouraging thoughts bombarding our minds. And we cannot stop those thoughts from coming, but we can choose whether or not we're going to dwell on them. I heard somebody say, you can't keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.

And in the same way, just because that old thought comes at, hey, you're going to get cancer just like your mother. Or that company's going to lay you off. You know it's coming. Or you're married. That's never going to work. No, you don't have to dwell on that junk. Get it out of your mind. Stay in faith.

Stay hopeful. Expect good things. See, the only doorway the enemy has. has into your life is through your thinking. The battle is taking place right here. If you can just stand guard over that doorway and learn to think good thoughts and expect good things, then you can live a victorious life. I know we have a lot of families here and families at watch that have other family members in the military. There are all these soldiers overseas and, you know, many of them are in very dangerous places and we pray every day for their safe return. We pray for the families back

at home as well. But if that's you, you need to especially be on guard. So easy to go around in fear, man, I'm afraid something's going to happen to my son, my daughter. I'm afraid they're not going to come home. I'm afraid they're going to be injured. No, don't fall into that trap. Get out of fear and get over into faith. When you're tempted to worry and you're tempted to get all negative, no, learn to just switch it around. Say, Father, thank you that your angels have charge over my son, my daughter. I know you've got him in the palm of your hand. So I refuse to worry. I refuse

to give him to fear. I know you're in control. See, don't fear the worst. Believe the best. Expect to see him. Expect the angels to protect him. Expect him to come home healthy and hold. That's what activates God's power. You've got to stand guard over the doorway of your mind. And nobody can do

this for you. You've got to learn how to cast down those negative discouraging thoughts. Says, in 2 Corinthians 10 verse 4, that we need to get rid of every evil imagination. And do you know if you dwell on a negative thought long enough, you'll start seeing all kinds of negative scenarios in your mind. Just like a movie screen, your mind will play out every worst possible situation. You'll see that family member not coming home.

You'll see your marriage falling apart. You'll see your financial situation going downhill. No, don't dwell on that junk. And especially don't go around talking about it. We give life to what we believe by what we say. If you go around saying, I am strong in the Lord, and I know God has protected my children, and my marriage is getting better and better,

when you do that, you're giving life to your faith. But if you go around saying, man, I'm so worried about my child, and I saw in the news last week, all these people getting hurt, and I just don't know, no, don't give life to your fears by speaking it out. something happens when we verbalize a thought it takes on a new meaning and those roots go down deeper and deeper and if you keep talking about it and keep thinking about it you're going to give that more and more life that's why it's so important that you guard your mind and take control of your thought life for instance you can be going through the day all happy and fine and all of a sudden you've got a pain in your side it's no big deal you just had too much for lunch but the first thought that comes to your mind the enemy will tell you hey that's cancer. Your mom had it. Your grandmother had it. Now it's your turn. And if you dwell on that long enough, you know this is true, you'll begin to see yourself in the hospital. You'll see yourself not raising your children. In your mind, you can see yourself at the funeral. No, don't even let your

mind go there. The Bible tells us to meditate on God's Word. It says to think on things that are hopeful, things that are of a good report, things that are going to build you up and not tear you down. If you feel that pain. I'm not saying to deny it, but you need to dwell on the fact that no weapon formed against me is going to prosper. With long life, I know God's going to satisfy me. Or maybe you're here today and you've gone through a lot of disappointments and you're just about convinced that nothing good is ever going to happen to you. No, don't dwell on that. You need to say, Father, you said if I would obey you, your blessings would chase me down and overtake me. So I thank you that you do have good things in store. I'm going to say with the psalmist David that

goodness and mercy are going to follow me all the days of my life. See, learn to just turn it around. Stay in faith, not in fear. And some of you, this is the whole thing that's keeping you down. You're always expecting the worst, expecting failure, expecting defeat, expecting your children to get off course. The problem is when you do that, you've got the wrong things chasing you down. If you'll start expecting God's blessings in favor, expecting your children to excel, expecting to live a long, healthy life. When you do that, you can't outrun the good things of God. His blessings should be chasing us, not all this other junk.

And this is just what happened to Job. You remember all the trouble he went through? Well, Job said, the thing I greatly feared came upon me. Same principle I'm talking about. When we live in fear, when we go around all negative and discouraged, that allows that to come to pass. And really, we're using our faith. We're just using it in reverse.

How many people have told me, Joel, I'm afraid my business is going to dry up. I'm afraid I'll never get married. I'm afraid I'm going to get that same sickness my mom had. After all, it's been in our family line for three generations. You need to recognize what you're doing. You're opening up the door to trouble. You're activating the wrong power. And it doesn't really matter how long that sickness has been in your family line.

You need to put your foot down and say, this is a new day. You know, we may have suffered from this in the past, but that curse has been broken. Sometimes you've got to have that attitude. You know, grandmother may have died from cancer and great-grandmother may have had it. Mother may have suffered with it. But as for me and my house,

we're going to live healthy lives. I'm drawing that line in the sand. I'm believing the tide of the battle is turning. You've got to put your foot down. I know in my family, on my father's side, we come from a long line of heart disease. My grandfather died early from heart disease, and many of daddy's brothers

and other relatives died early. deaths as well. I could easily go around thinking, well, you know, everybody in my family has heart disease. Everybody has high blood pressure. I guess it's just a matter of time until I get it. But no, I've made up my mind, I'm going to live a healthy life. I've made up my mind. I'm going to pass down good things. I'm going to pass down victory. I'm going to pass down long life. I'm believing the heart disease is going to stop with my generation. A lot of times, you know, you hear people say, well, I'm afraid to get old. I'm afraid. I'm going to lose my vision, just like my father did. I'm afraid. I'm going to get all been over like my mother was.

Now, why don't you quit fearing the worst? I'm believing every day, I'm getting stronger. I believe every day my vision is getting better. Every day, my immune system is increasing. I'm believing the older I get, the better looking I'm going to get. You laugh, but you better believe it for yourself. You know, God said he would renew our youth like the eagles. We've got to get rid of these thoughts of fear. You hear people say, well, I'm afraid. I'm going to lose my biggest client. I saw him talking with my competitor, Joel. I'm afraid I'm not going to have any new friends

at this company. No, get out of the negative. You're going to get just what you're believing for. And if you'll act in faith, you can receive God's blessings. But when you act in fear, you're going to have all kinds of defeat and misery. The things we fear can come upon us. I read an amazing

story about the power of our thoughts. This man was named Nick, and he was a big, tough, strong man. And he'd worked in the railroad yards for many years. He was one of the company's best employees, always on time, very reliable, got along great with the other men. But Nick had one major problem. He was very negative. He was known around the railroad yards as the chronic pessimist, always fearing the worst, always worrying about something. Well, one day, the crews were told that they could leave an

hour early to go celebrate the birthday of one of the foremen's. And so all these other men left, but somehow Nick got accidentally locked in one of the refrigerated box cars. And it was empty and not connected to any other cars. They just brought it into the yard for repairs. And when Nick, being the chronic pessimist and always fearing the worst, when he really realized he was trapped inside there, I mean, he just totally panicked. Now, there was plenty of air there, but he beat on those doors so hard that his hands and fists were all bloodied. He screamed to the top of his lungs hour after hour,

it was just too loud. Nobody could hear him. Finally, his voice gave out. And Nick was very aware that he was in a refrigeration car. And he guessed that the temperature was well below freezing, maybe even five or ten degrees. And he began to fear the worst.

He thought, what's going to happen if nobody comes? I can't stay in here all night. I'll freeze to death. What am I going to do? The more he thought about it, the colder he got. He finally found a piece of cardboard over in the corner and shivering almost uncontrollably, he scribbled a note.

It said, so cold, body numb, if I go to sleep, these words may be my last. Sure enough, the next morning, when the cruise came in, they opened up the big steel doors, and Nick's body was curled up over in the corner. When they did the autopsy, they could find no other cause for death. They had to assume that he did freeze to death. The interesting part about this story is that the refrigeration unit, in the car Nick was in that night was not even on. The temperature where he froze to death was 61 degrees. Nick froze to death, I believe, because he was convinced in his own thinking he was

in a freezing car. He was convinced in his own thinking he didn't have a chance. He expected to freeze. He expected the worst. In other words, he lost the battle right here. The thing he feared came upon him. And it's really the same with us today. Our thoughts are so powerful. What we expect is very powerful. I know a lot of people that are just like Nick, they go around expecting the worst, expecting defeat. No, you've got to change what you're expecting. If you're in tough times today, don't expect to stay there. Expect God to bring you out. If business is slow, don't expect it to go bankrupt. Expect God to bring you new customers. You're struggling in your marriage. Don't just give up. Say, well, I knew this was going to be this way. I knew we wouldn't last.

Now, when you do that, you're doing just like Nick. Your own thoughts are going to be what's going to keep you down. You've got to quit expecting to be overcome and start expecting to be the overcoming. If you dwell on those thoughts of fear long enough, just like Nick, they're going to create a stronghold in your thinking. A while back, I ran into this young couple after the service, and they were so discouraged.

They'd been trying for a long time to have a baby, their first one. But for some reason, this young lady just could not consider. and they'd been to different doctors, and they didn't see anything wrong with her. They couldn't understand why she couldn't get pregnant. And as she was telling me this story, she seemed to get more and more frustrated. She said, Joel, you know, the funny thing is my mother had a terrible time getting pregnant. And my grandmother had a terrible time conceiving. And she said, since I was a little girl, I've always been afraid that I wasn't going to be able to have a baby.

I've always been afraid that the same thing was going to happen to me. And I told her, I think that's your problem right there. You've got to change what you're thinking. That fear had created a stronghold in her mind. She didn't think she could get pregnant. She didn't think she could conceive. And just like Job, the thing she feared came upon her. And I told her, listen, from this day forward,

you've got to start seeing yourself carrying that child. You've got to look out through your eyes of faith and see yourself having a little healthy baby. I challenged her to begin to meditate. all day long on what God says about that. I said you dwell on the fact that God says the fruit of your womb is blessed. No good thing

will God withhold when you walk up rightly. That children are a gift and a blessing from God. I encourage you just all through the day. You play those thoughts over and over. Get your mind going in the right direction and then just start thanking God. I said you go around saying Father, thank you that I can conceive.

Thank you that the fruit of my womb is blessed. Thank you that you're bringing my dreams to pass. She began to do that day after day, week after week, and I ran into them about six months later, and she and her husband, happy as can be, she was pregnant with a little baby boy. But see, fear can create a barrier in our minds. Our thoughts can keep us from God's best. And what I'm saying today is if you're going to live a life of victory, you've got to have a disciplined mind. You cannot go around dwelling on thoughts of fear and worry. You've got to learn how to immediately cast down

those wrong imaginations. Some of you today, your business is slow, but you can already see it going under. You can already see the doors closing. Now get rid of that and see God turning it around. Or maybe, as I said, you're struggling in your marriage and you can already see yourself moving out. You can already see that divorce coming, but no, quit allowing those negative imaginations to play over and over again.

The more you see that, the more you're going to believe it, and that's what allows it to come to pass. You've got to stand guard over the doorway of your mind. Let me ask you today. What's playing on the picture screen of your mind? Do you see yourself rising higher, healthy, happy, your family succeeding? Or do you see yourself barely getting by? Always having problems, always fighting this, always having trouble with your kids.

No, keep your thoughts going in the right direction. Quit imagining the worst. Quit focusing on the negative. You've got to stay in faith, not in fear. Faith activates God. Fear activates the enemy. Several years ago, we knew this. couple and they had two or three children at the time and they were very fine people. But one day

this husband started making some rather odd comments. He said, you know, I don't know what I'd ever do if something were to happen to my wife. I just don't know how I could ever raise these children by myself. It was very strange. You could tell he was allowing his mind to go down the wrong path. And over the next several years, he would bring this up time and time again. Well, one day, a group of his friends got together, and they confronted him about it. They really got on to him. They said, listen, you've got to quit talking about your future like that. Quit expecting the worst. That's not healthy. But he was so tormented by this fear of losing his wife. And here, she was perfectly healthy. She'd never even been sick before. No reason to even allow his mind to go there.

Do you know what his problem was? He was undisciplined in his thought life. And that fear grew and grew, he kept thinking about it, and it became a stronghold. Before long, he started seeing it all take place in his imagination. Do you know one day he called and so sad, he said, you'll never believe what's just happened. My wife has been diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer. And it was not several months later until she had passed away. And I thought, what a tragedy. The thing he feared came upon him. And I don't know that I understand the theology of it all, but I do know this, when we give into fear and we imagine it in our mind and we go around talking about it all the time, we are opening up the door to the enemy. We're opening up the door to trouble. And for years, he allowed that lie to take root.

He talked about it. He thought about it. He consumed his thinking. And just as faith activates God's power, unfortunately, fear activates the enemy's power. And I'm challenging you today to have a disciplined mind. learn to cast down those negative wrong imaginations. Don't even let your mind go there. You've got to keep your mind on thoughts of hope, thoughts of faith, things that are going to build you up. After all, you're going to get just what you expect. Why don't you go out each day expecting the best?

Why don't you start expecting your family to succeed? Why don't you expect your children to excel? Or how about expecting to live a long, healthy life? It all starts right here. Some of you like that young lady that couldn't consider, you've got that barrier in your thinking. And until you rise up and do something about it, nothing's going to change.

You may be waiting on God, but God's waiting on you. You've got to quit expecting the worst. Quit focusing on the negative. Get out of fear and get over into faith. And if you will have a disciplined mind and go out each day expecting good things, then God says right here, according to your faith, it'll be done unto you. When you do that, I know this.

God will pour out his blessings in favor. He'll guide you. You'll rise, and you'll experience the victories that he has in store. Amen. How many of you receive it this morning? 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 your places that you've never dreamed out. Thank you for listening to the Joel Osteen podcast. Help us continue to share the message of hope with those all over the world. Visit joelosteen.com

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