Joel Osteen Podcast - God Will Crown Your Efforts - Victoria Osteen

Episode Date: September 6, 2017

Have you ever felt as though you didn’t have the strength to overcome a challenge you’re facing? I want to encourage you today that God says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJV). That means that whatever you’re facing today, God has all the strength you need for it. He’s saying, “My grace is sufficient for today. Everything you need is here today.” 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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Help us continue to share the message of hope with those all over the world. Visit joelosteen.com slash give hope to get hope to get. give a gift today. Have you ever felt like you didn't have the strength to go on? Or maybe you feel like that the task at hand is just so difficult and why in the world are you doing it? You know, sometimes we don't think we can do what we're facing. We don't think we can overcome the challenge or maybe you've been asked to do something. Maybe you've been put in a job or a promotion where it looks like, wow, I don't know if I have the talent and ability to be able to handle what I need to handle. But can I tell you today that in 2 Corinthians it says that God's strength

is made perfect in your weakness? So anything that you don't have, God has the strength for. So whatever you're facing today, God has all the strength you ever need. And that's comforting to know because sometimes we want to look at the very end result and we want to see how in the world will ever get there. But God is just saying, look at today. My grace is sufficient for today. Everything you need is here today. I think the trouble we get into is we start working on tomorrow's grace today. We say, but what about tomorrow, God? When God is saying, don't worry about tomorrow, just work on today.

I got tomorrow handled. You know, and then when we start doing these kind of things, we start questioning ourselves. Then we start having these doubts and we have fears and maybe I'm not enough. Maybe I'm not adequate. Maybe I don't have what it takes. And then we start going down the wrong road. But God said, before the foundation of the world, he already knew you. And he's already equipped you to do whatever he's going to call you to do.

But you know what I've noticed about God? He puts things in us that we don't know that's in us. It's a mystery. Have you ever done something? And you thought, how did that happen? How did I think about that? That's incredible. Well, that's God.

because God is smarter than we are. But he puts things on the inside of us so that we can mine the gold out of us. And we can't be fearful of that. We can't shrink back and think we don't have the ability because the ability's in there. If you're facing something, whatever it is today, whatever it is today, even if it's a dream and you want that dream, but you're scared to attach yourself to that dream because you're thinking maybe it's just a wish and maybe it's not really what God wants.

I want to tell you something, grab hold of that thing. Grab hold of it and believe you have what it takes. Draw strength from God. All you have to do is grab hold of his strength. Because when you are weak, when you are in doubt, it's no surprise to God. Because God said, I've already made provision for your weakness. Guess what? When you're weak, you're setting me up to be strong.

If you handle it the right way, you're setting me up to let my power work through you. Don't close yourself off. But open yourself up to God. And you know what? I think about this. I think I'm up here today. And the truth of the matter is, there's probably a lot of you that could do a better job than me. So I could really stay in that seat.

And I'll tell you, sometimes I want to. But the truth is, God put me up here. So I've got to embrace the place that I'm at. I've got to just say, God, you know what? When I'm weak, you're strong. Hey, it's not what I say. It's what you do, God. It's what the people here, God.

it's what you want to get across to them. Now, I'm going to study. I'm going to show myself approved. I'm going to fight through. I'm going to be determined. I'm going to try to pick myself up every day. Because, listen, there is no temptation that is not known to all of us. There's no struggle that we don't all face.

Let me tell you something, no one's exempt. We all face the same thing. We all face the same challenges. But how do we deal with those challenges? How do we break through those barriers and those limitations? We got to grab hold of the strength of God. It's great when people encourage you. It's wonderful when people say, man, that's a good job, or they tell you about your talents,

they tell you about your gifts. But how about when you look up and there's no one there to encourage you and you're facing something? That's when you have to say, God, I can't depend on people because people can do the best they can do, but they can't do what God can do. And so there's a point that we can't depend on other people. We can't let them be our crutch. We've got to say, God, it's you and me.

It's us, God. And you know what? We're a majority. We can do this together. I think too often we just sit back and say, you know what, it's too difficult for me, so I'm not going to do it. Because that's the comfortable thing to do. And we let things pass that we shouldn't.

And that's when we get unhappy because there's something on the inside of us that's saying there's more in store. You can do this. You can do this. It's always pushing us. It's always pushing us. Now, it's a matter of, are we going to take the step of faith and do it? I've heard Joel say this a thousand times, and you probably have too.

He stands up here and he says, I never knew this was in me. He said, I'll work behind the scenes for 17 years. I like being behind the scenes. I never knew this was in me. And he'll tell you when he got up here the first time, you talk about weak. He was weak, he was so weak. He said, I had to hold on to the podium. He said, what are you all you guys doing looking at me?

You know, I'll never forget that first sermon. I looked down at Joel, and I saw him wearing his father's shoes. Now, listen, these shoes were shoes that he and I had bought years ago in Italy for his father. We wanted to give him something really special. So we bought him a pair of alligator shoes, something he wouldn't buy for himself. We used all the money we had so we couldn't buy anything for ourselves. But we brought those shoes home, and we presented it to his father, and his father loved the shoes. They were beautiful shoes.

But when I looked up there and I saw him wearing his dad's shoes, of course, a thousand things went through my mind. I was always sitting on the edge of my seat just saying, God, give him everything I have and everything you have too. The truth of the matter is, he wasn't wearing his father's shoes to fill his father's shoes. He was wearing his father's shoes to draw strength from his father's shoes. And I just hope that you could get an image of the picture

of someone who was standing on a platform, never dreaming in their life that they were going to be in the position that they were in, but found a strength in their father's shoes, whether you're facing a difficult child, whether you're facing a promotion that you need to have at work, whatever it is, maybe it's a sickness, maybe it's an illness of financial trouble, whatever you're facing, I just want you to get the picture of Joel standing in his father's shoes, and I want you to translate that to yourself of you standing in your heavenly father's shoes, knowing that there's nothing that can defeat you, nothing you can't do, that it will happen if you'll stand, if you'll put that strength, the strength of those shoes on, your father shoes. Listen, we all need to borrow

God's shoes. We all need to walk in that place because that's where we're going to find our strength. You know, I truly believe God asked us to do things that are way over our head for the very reason that he knows it's over our head. He knows it's going to be difficult for us. And I honestly believe he does that to keep us on our knees, to keep us dependent on him. Because, see, you're never going to achieve what he's called you to do unless you're dependent on him. Because if you can do it in your own strength, I can tell you this, it's not God.

because God wants you to go beyond your ability and tap into his ability. He wants you to go beyond what you think you can do and get into what only you can do when you do it with God. Walk in your father's shoes. Whenever you feel fear and whenever you feel doubt, just slip those shoes on and say, God, I don't need to worry about tomorrow. All I need is to have enough strength for today.

And God, I know that when I am walking in your shoes and in your strength, your grace is sufficient. You'll add the people to me that I need. You'll open the right doors for me. You'll give me the ideas. But I'm going to wait upon you. The Bible talks a lot about pulling down God's strength. It says, wait upon the Lord and he'll renew your strength. That means stay in those shoes. Don't get out of those shoes. Don't give up. Don't release what you have in your hands because you're afraid. Stay in those shoes. God will bring that strength to you, but he wants to see our determination. I can tell you this. I saw my husband's determination. I saw what it took to get to where he is today. I am so glad he didn't let his weakness be an excuse because we wouldn't enjoy

the hope of the gospel that we have coming from this place today. People's lives wouldn't be changed if he would have said it's easy to stay in the background. If that's the comfortable place, in fact, he likes the background. But I can tell you, He's saying I'm determined because it's my call. And if God's call me, it's going to be bigger than me. And if it's bigger than me, the only way I can accomplish it is by the strength of Almighty God. Walk in your father's shoes. He's going to call you to great things.

Don't shrink back. Don't put limitations on yourself. You've got exactly what you need. There is gold on the inside of you. But the only way it's going to come out is if you stand strong and you find it and you make it come out because God is your confidence. and he is your God, and he's going to take you to the places you need to be. Amen. Amen. We love him so much today. He's a faithful God. Faithful God. Now available from New York Times best-selling author, Victoria Osteen, her brand-new 30-day

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