Joel Osteen Podcast - Guard Your Heart - Victoria Osteen

Episode Date: February 15, 2017

Our lives follow the direction of our thoughts. Not every thought that comes to mind is positive. Some thoughts are destructive if we dwell on them long enough. We need to recognize which thoughts are dragging us down and guard our hearts against them. One way to guard our hearts is to push out thoughts of negativity, fear, and doubt. Then we can begin to dwell on good things that lift our spirits. As we take control of our thoughts and turn them in the right direction then we’ll see our lives begin to change for the better. 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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Are you ready to move your career forward? Make your comeback with Purdue Global and get college credit for your work, school, life, or military experiences. With these credits, you may have already completed up to 75% of your undergraduate degree. You've worked hard to get where you are. It's time. to get the recognition you deserve and earn a degree you'll be proud of, one that employers will trust and respect. When you take the next step in your life and career, make it count with Purdue Global. Purdue's online university for working adults. Start your comeback at Purdueglobal.edu. Scripture tells us in Proverbs that as a man thinks in his heart, so he is. As you think in your heart, so you are, the Proverbs tells us. See, that tells me that my life is going to go in the direction

of my most prominent thoughts. Those thoughts that I allow to linger in my mind and then drop down and take root in my heart. You see, if we're going to be everything that God intended us to be, we've got to take captive the things that are going on in our mind, the thoughts that are ruling our life. You see, we have to take captive of these thoughts

because we don't want these thoughts pushing us around. We want to push. our thoughts around. We want our life to go in the direction of our thoughts. So what does that mean? That means we have to be on guard about what we're thinking about. Listen, do you want your life to go in a certain direction? Start thinking that direction. Start pushing your life that way by the thoughts you're thinking. If you need victory today, you need to start thinking overcoming thoughts. If there's some areas in your life where you feel defeated, you feel down, start thinking

overcoming thoughts. Start saying, if God be for me, who dare be against me? He overcame so that I can overcome. In fact, he's called me more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus. You see, we've got to learn to recognize those thoughts that are trying to defeat us. God wants us to know that there are strategies and schemes that want to come against us so that we can't fulfill our destiny. Maybe you have low self-esteem. Somebody's a planet, a seed of thought in your life, and it's built itself up, and it's grown. You can change that. You can

change your life by changing your thoughts. But it's up to you and I. See, no one can change our thoughts for us. They can tell us all day that we can do it. They can tell us that, you know, we have the talent that God is for us, but until we take responsibility for what's going on in our thought life, we'll never get to the places that we want to be. Fear, anxiety, worry, those feelings that frustrate us and cause us to just react in the wrong way. They try to control our lives. You see, that is only because that's what we're thinking about. We can, can't have conversations with fear, anxiety. We can't talk to worry. We've got to push it out. Don't pull up a chair and have a conversation with all these thoughts that are trying to drag

you down. You have the final say. See, the thoughts that are most commonplace in our mind, you know what happens? We dwell on them. We think about them. And they sink down into our hearts. They become part of who we are. See, we can be doing something, but thinking about something else. See, sometimes our mind is just on autopilot. It just goes. It goes, it goes, it goes. And we allow all these thoughts to swirl in our head without thinking about what we're thinking about.

We have to guard our thoughts. We have to guard it so that we can protect our heart. The Bible says above all else, guard your heart, guard your heart because out of it comes the issues of life. It says it like this in one version, because everything you do flows from your heart. You see, if you allow the wrong thoughts to linger, they'll drop down to your heart and they'll create an attitude and a perspective that you don't want. It's hard enough. Life is difficult enough. There's too many things coming at us to approach it with a negative attitude,

with the wrong perspective. See, God didn't say that this life was going to be easy. He didn't say I'm going to roll out the red carpet, and you can walk on it in flowery beds of ease. He says, no, in this life, you're going to have some trouble. But be of good cheer. Be of good thought. Come the world.

You can think about that. Here is your thoughts. What makes you happy? What you're thinking about. You see, be of good cheer. Be of good thought. I've overcome the world. God is saying don't allow your thoughts to run rampant.

Think about what you're thinking about because that's the direction your life is going to take. Don't let thoughts push you around. You begin to push your thoughts around. This is an example of how we can develop attitudes. Okay. So your husband does something that you don't like. You begin to think about it.

You really frustrate you. You're washing the dishes and you're thinking about it. You're folding the clothes and you're thinking about it. You're putting his socks away thinking he should be putting his own socks away. A little while later, a couple days later, he does it again. You roll your eyes. You say this is never going to change. He's always going to be like this.

He makes me crazy. then you start building this critical attitude become a crazy woman you start building this critical attitude towards him see that's an attitude it's been here so long it's sunk down in our hearts now we're formulating an attitude and we carry that attitude with us so every time they do something we measure their performance by this attitude and it permeates our entire relationship. You know, the psychologists say that we project what's on the inside of us onto others. It's called projection.

You think someone doesn't like you. You begin to project that. You begin to flow from that space and that place that you've allowed to take root in your heart. You know, some of you may have some thoughts that have haunted you all your life. maybe it wasn't your fault maybe someone planted the wrong seed in your heart can i tell you you can uproot that you can change your heart because you don't live under a curse you live under the blessing of god and change the direction of your life by changing the direction of your thoughts you see when you're thinking about how much your husband irritates you he does it again

So you have to say, okay, where's this thought coming from? How can I measure my thought? When you feel frustration, when you feel anxiety, confusion. Listen, those aren't God's thoughts. God says where there is anxiety, frustration, confusing, there is every form of evil. What that means is the enemy is coming in trying to confuse you, get you off track, take you down the wrong road. You see, it may start small, but it can end big.

And that's his plan. You think about this just a minute. Here, you've destroyed some relationships in your life, and it started with one thought. One thought created an attitude that brought confusion and evil into your life. Above all else. That sounds serious to me. That sounds like a priority. That sounds like something that we better be attentive.

to. We better watch out if we're going to live the life God created us to live. Now, how do we measure our thoughts? I mean, you know, I think all kinds of thoughts. How do I reel them in? You see, thoughts will come all day long, all kinds of thoughts. The thing is, we get to choose the thoughts we want to keep. We get to choose the thoughts we want to draw close to us, that we want to build our attitude on, to have our perspective, to see our life through, to filter. We get to choose those thoughts. But God's given us guidelines to measure those thoughts. He doesn't even, we don't even have to guess how to do it. He's already told us in Philippians 4A. He says, to think on these things, whatever is right, whatever's right in the eyes of God, pleasing to him, noble, pure, lovely,

admirable, excellent, praiseworthy. These are the things that we're supposed to think on. See, we're not going to naturally think on these things. It's like programming your computer. When you go and you put all your information in your computer, you know, then your computer is useful to you. You can pull up what you need. When you begin to put God thoughts or power thoughts in your mind, it's like you're programming your mind.

So when you need those thoughts, there's something to pull up. When you put the good in, the good will come out. That's the key. God has said, measure your thoughts. Don't put your mind on autopilot. Hey, if it's not pleasing, if it's not good, if it's not excellent, doesn't mean that the people in your life are doing all the right things, but you can change the atmosphere in your mind when you're thinking the right thoughts.

See, God has given you the power to think his thoughts and to create your life around those thoughts. You can't control anyone else, but you can surely control what you think. You can control your attitudes. You can control the filters that you use. And that's the key. If your life is not going in the direction that you want today, I encourage you, push your thoughts in the direction that you want. God says he wants to renew and transform your life.

And it can start today. The renewing and the transformation can take place as soon as you. choose the thoughts you want to think. So I encourage you today. Know that God is for you. He's given you an outline for what you need to do. Create possibilities in your mind. Don't go out with this negative filter. Don't allow in this coming year to let your thoughts push you around anymore, but you begin to push your thoughts around. Amen. Amen. As a thank you for your support of our ministry this month, Joel and Victoria would like to send you a copy of Joel's new series. Unlock Your Promise. In this new three-part

series, Joel Osteen reminds you that God's promises are yours today. God will lead you to your destiny and use all things for your good. Request your copy of Unlock Your Promise today at Joeloste.com or call 888-567 Joel. You are full of potential. There are gifts and talents in you you haven't tapped into yet. Don't let doubt and discouragements. talk you out of your dreams. It may be taking longer than you thought, but what God started, he's going to finish. It's just a matter of time

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