Joel Osteen Podcast - Have A Good Opinion Of Yourself | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: May 9, 2024

The way you see yourself can determine how far you're going to go in life. Learn to see yourself as a victor and not a victim! 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.Three minutes. Every day. Before your feet hit the floor, set your mind on things above with Joel’s new devotional, 3-Minute Mornings. Our May offer contains 365 days of favor and freedom. Put God first place, and you’ll see breakthroughs you couldn’t make happen. Request your copy today, https://bit.ly/4di5pMO.  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, and thanks for supporting the ministry. We believe you're going to have an awesome 2024, healthy, productive, and favor-filled. God bless you today and enjoy the message. Well, God bless you. It is always our joy to come into your homes. We love you. We know God has great things in store.

If you're ever in the Houston area, I hope you'll stop by and be a part of one of our services. I promise you, we'll make you feel right at home. These are the best people in all of Houston, Texas, right here at Lakewood. So come by and see you sometime. Thanks again for coming out. Thanks for tuning in. I like to start with something funny. And I heard about these three men that were out walking through the wilderness.

And they came upon this very violent, raging river. They needed to get to the other side. The first man prayed, God, please give me the strength to make it across. And poof, God gave him big arms and strong legs. And he was able to swim across in two hours. The next man, seeing this, prayed God, please give me the strength and the tools to make it across. And poof, God gave him a boat. He was able to row across in 30 minutes. The next man prayed God, please give me the strength, the tools, and the intelligence to make it of course.

And poof, God turned him into a woman. She looked at the map, hiked five minutes upstream, and walked across the bridge. And yes, that was sent to me by a woman. 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. God bless you. I want to talk to you today about having a good opinion of yourself. Too many people go around. feeling wrong on the inside. They don't really like who they are. They think that they're not talented and they don't have a good personality. Their nose is too big. They've made too many mistakes. In their mind, a recording is constantly playing. I'm unattractive. I'm slow. I'm clumsy. I'm overweight. They never see anything they're doing right. They can compliment others, but they never

compliment themselves. This is the root call. of many relationship problems. If you don't love yourself in a healthy way, you will never be able to love others in the way that you should. We all have faults and weaknesses. We all have things that we wish were different. But God never created us to go through life being against ourselves. The opinion you have of yourself is the most important opinion that you have. If you see yourself as less than, inferior, not talented, not valuable, you will become exactly that. You are constantly conveying what's on the inside. Even subconsciously, you're always sending out certain messages. If you feel unattractive inside, you can be the most beautiful person around, but you will convey those feelings of unattractiveness.

It'll push people away and you'll miss out on great relationships. The problem is on the inside. You carry yourself the way you feel about yourself. Now, I've seen just the opposite take place. I met a young lady recently, and I say this very respectfully, but on the surface, she wasn't very attractive. She didn't have a lot of natural beauty, but can I tell you, on the inside, she had it going on?

She was not arrogant, but she was confident. She knew she was made in the image of Almighty God. She knew she was crowned with honor and favor. She may have looked ordinary, but she thought extraordinary. She carried herself like a queen. She walked like she was royalty. She smiled like she was Miss America. She dressed like she was headed for the runway.

She may have bought it at the discount store, but she wore it like it came from Saks Fifth. All I could say was, you go girl. What was the difference on the end? inside, she sees herself as beautiful, attractive, smart, creative, a child of the most high. And what's on the inside eventually will show up on the outside. Because she had the right opinion of herself, she exudes strength, confidence, ability, beauty. Here's the key. People see you the way you see yourself. If you see yourself as talented, creative with it, that's the way people will see you. That's what you're sending out. But if you see yourself as less than,

inferior, not talented, that's the way other people will see you. And some of you, if you would just change the opinion of yourself, if you would quit beating yourself up over past failures, if you would quit dwelling on every physical trait you wish was different, if you'd quit comparing yourself to somebody else and start really loving yourself and value in who you are and seeing yourself as the masterpiece God created you to be, then as you send out these different messages, you're going to see new doors open, new opportunities, new friendships, new levels of God's favor. This is exactly what happened to the Israelites. When the spies came back from the promised land, they said to Moses, they're in Numbers 13, verse 33. We were in

our own sites as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sites. Notice, they didn't say Moses, those people insulted us. They called us grasshoppers. No, they went in with a grasshopper mentality. They said we were in our own sites as grasshoppers. Notice what happened. Notice what they conveyed. Here's the principle at work. And so we were in their sites. In other words, they saw us the same way we saw ourselves. This story would have turned out differently if they would have had a right opinion of who they are. If they would have seen themselves strong, confident, more than conquers, then they would have come back like Joshua and Caleb and said, Moses, we are well able. Let us go up at once and take the land. Again, the problem was on the inside.

Growing up, we had a dog named Scooter. He was a big German shepherd, very strong, very fast. In fact, Scooter was the king of the neighborhood. My father used to ride his body. He was a bicycle for exercise through the subdivision, scooter would follow along beside him. My dad told how proud he was of scooter. Scooter looked like he could fight a tiger. But one day, while they were riding, about 50 yards in front of them, this tiny little chihuahua came bursting out of one of the homes, racing towards scooter 90 miles an hour, barking to the top of his lungs. My father thought, you poor little dog, you are messing with the wrong dog.

Scooter can put one paw on you and totally finish you all. But when that little Chihuahua got about 20 yards away, all of a sudden, Scooter froze in his tracks. He hung his head like he was scared, intimidated. When that little Chihuahua got up to Scooter, still barking as loud as he could be, Scooter rolled over on his back and put all four legs up in the air. Daddy said, I wanted to kick that dog all the way home.

Scooter needed to hear this message. But that little dog, he may have been small on the outside, but somehow on the inside, he saw himself strong, confident, well able. And what was on the inside emanated to the outside. I thought if we could just have as good of opinion of ourselves as that little dog, if we could just be as bold and strong and confident on the inside. The problem today is there are too many grasshopper believers. They see themselves as weak, defeated, not able to, and the image on the inside is being conveyed to the outside. I've discovered if you send out feelings of inferiority, then people are going to treat you inferior.

If you send out weak, defeated, washed up, made too many mistakes feelings, that's exactly the way people are going to treat you. and you may feel in a sense like that little dog. In other words, you're at a disadvantage in life. You don't have the size, the talent, the looks, the education, the family name. Listen, none of that matters. All that matters is the creator of the universe breathed his life into you. He created you as a person of destiny.

You have seeds of greatness on the inside. You may have made mistakes. People may have tried to push you down. You probably have faults and weaknesses. We all do. But let me remind you, you are not a grasshopper. You are a child of the most high God. Put your shoulders back. Hold your head up high. Don't you dare go through life being against yourself. Shake off the inferiority. Shake off the self-pity. Shake off the disappointment. Shake off the failure. Have the attitude. I am who God says I am. I am equipped. I am empowered. I am strong.

I am highly favored. I am well able to fulfill my destiny. I heard a story about this man and his small son. They were out walking through the mountains and at one point the little boy slipped and he slid 20 or 30 yards down the mountainside. And he was finally able to grab onto a tree branch and hold on. He screamed out, help me. This voice boomed back, help me. He looked kind of confused. And he said, who are you? The voice boomback, who are you? The voice boomback, who are you? He got aggravated. He said, you're a fool. The voice came back. You're a fool. He said, you're a coward. The voice came back. You're a coward. About that time his father got to him. He said, Dad, who is that? His dad laughed and said, son, that's called an echo. But really, it's called life. He said, let me show you something, son. The dad hollered out. You're a winner. The voice boomed back.

You're a winner. You're talented. Came back. You're talented. He said, said, you've got what it takes. The voice rang out. You've got what it takes. He said, son, that's how life is. Whatever you send out always comes back to you. Let me ask you, what are you sending out about yourself? I'm kind of slow, Joel, I'm a failure. I've made so many mistakes. Nobody wants to be around me. No, start sending out. I'm strong. I'm talented. I'm creative. I'm healthy. I'm fun. I am victorious. What you send out, is going to come back. When you wake up in the morning, one of the best things you can do is after you thank God for his goodness, start your day off thinking about what's right with you.

Do not lay in bed thinking about all the mistakes you've made, all your faults, all your weaknesses. No, on purpose, dwell on your good qualities, dwell on your victories, dwell on what you like about yourself. Instead of thinking, oh man, just laying there, I'm so overweight. I'm so out of shape. I don't know what's wrong with me. Dwell on the fact that you've got a great personality. People love being around you. You make everyone smile. That's going to give you the confidence

and the desire to improve in those weak areas. The best gift that you can give this world is a healthy you. When you get up each day excited, confident, secure, happy, hopeful, you are giving this world the best that you can possibly give, gift of you. Now let me challenge you, don't ever say another negative thing about yourself. You may be frustrated, you may be tempted to do it, but you've got to bite your tongue. Don't let it come out of your mouth. When you talk bad about yourself, it pushes you down. It steals your confidence and it saddens your spirit. I hear people say often, I'm so clumsy.

I can't do anything right. Had a lady tell me last week, Joel, I'm just, a terrible mother. I used to play basketball with a young man and when he would miss a shot, he would call himself by name and say, Danny, you idiot, you idiot, you idiot. He'd say it like five times. I had a friend that called him Danny the idiot. Do you have to realize when you criticize yourself, you are criticizing God's very own creation. You may as well look up to the heavens and say, God, you didn't do a very good job with me. Now understand. God did not make any mistake. When he created you, he stepped back and said, I did it again. Another masterpiece. Now turn it around. Quit seeing the bad and start seeing the good. Let me ask you,

have you complimented yourself lately? I know people, they can compliment others. They see the best in somebody else, but they never see the best in themselves. But just like you would tell a friend, hey, you look great today. Or a coworker, you did excellent on that. presentation, you need to be able to say to yourself, you look good. You did great today. It's healthy to compliment yourself. There's a young lady on our staff, and she told our women's group that when she gets up in the morning, she looks at herself in the mirror and says, girl, you are looking good today. I saw her not long after that, and I asked her if she was still doing that. She said, yeah, in fact, Joel, when I got up this morning, I looked at myself in the mirror and said, girl,

some days you look good, but today you're looking really good. And I wonder how many of us would be that bold to look in the mirror and say, you look great today. Most people, when they wake up in the morning and look in the mirror, they think, oh, man, I look terrible. I'm getting so old. Look at all these wrinkles. Look how gray my hair is.

Or where did my hair go? They start their day, depressed, discouraged against themselves. But I'm going to give you a challenge. I'm going to give you an assignment for the next 30 days. When you get up in the morning, look at yourself in the mirror, smile real big and say, good morning, you good-looking thing. You'll not only feel better, but it'll probably give you a good laugh. Now, some of you like my brother Paul, you're going to be calling the things that are not as if they were.

Just do it by faith. I couldn't resist. It's interesting in the book of Jesus. Genesis, when God created the heavens and the earth, he said, let there be light, and light came, and God said, that was good. He separated the waters from the sky, and God said, that was good. He made the night and the day, and God said it again, that was good. What's my point? When God did something good, he praised himself. He looked back and said, I like that. I did good. We need to learn to do the same thing. When you accomplish something, when you give it your best, you need to look back and say,

I'm proud of myself. I did good. I know people that are never happy with themselves. They can work night and day, accomplish something great, but they always think, if I could have just done it a little bit better, if I'd have just had a little more time, no, quit being overly critical and learn to compliment yourself. Instead of dwelling on, oh, man, I was late to work one day this week and I didn't spend enough time with my children. No, turn it around. Dwell on the fact that, hey, I may have been late to work one day, but I did go to church Sunday. That was good. May not have spent enough time with my children, but I did make sure they had hot meals. That was good. May have blown my diet, but I did take the stairs instead of the elevator. That was good. Find the good.

Think about this. When God created the heavens and the earth and he first said it was good, He had not yet separated the waters from the sky. It was still chaotic, still a great mess. He had not yet made the fish and the animals. He had not created the beautiful mountains and the beautiful oceans yet. But God still stepped back. He paused for a moment and said in effect, I'm not done. It's not finished.

It's not perfect. But so far, so good. You may not be exactly where you'd like to be in life. but on a regular basis, you need to pause and say, you know what, I've done good. May not be living in my dream home just yet, but I'm not in that small apartment. I've done good. Pat yourself on the back. Maybe you haven't totally overcome that addiction, but you are better off than you were last year. You've cut back some.

Now, take time to compliment yourself. Celebrate what you've accomplished. Every one of you can look back in life and find something where you can say, I'm proud of myself. I did good. That's what I want you to start dwelling on. Not how far you've got to go and how many mistakes you've made and all your weaknesses.

No, if you're going to make it to your God-given destination, one way to stay encouraged is by celebrating your small victories all along the way. A few months ago, I was playing basketball with our son Jonathan. He's 14 now, and we played for years one-on-one, him versus me.

for the first time he beat me fair and square, 15 to 14. I gave him a high five and then told him he was grounded. But at one point, during the game, he'd gotten around me and went up for a shot. And I had stumbled and lost my footing, but I regained it. He didn't see me. I came from behind him, jumped as high as I could, timed it just right, and I blocked his shot. I mean, I swatted it out of the air. I felt like I was Shaquille O'Neal, like a professional.

A couple of days later, we were at the gym playing with some friends, and Jonathan said, hey, dad, tell everybody what happened the other night. My mind immediately went to the block shop. I said, oh yeah. Jonathan went up, he didn't see me. I timed I must have been this high and I went like, he said, no, dad, I meant tell him how I beat you for the first time. But it's interesting, I didn't remember my defeat. I remembered my victory. The first, thing that came to my mind was not that I lost the game, but it was the fact that I'd done something good. A lot of people, it's just the opposite. Even though they win the game, they remember all the mistakes they made. They never feel good about themselves. They're too busy pushing themselves down

because of something they didn't do right. Friends, it's all in how we've trained ourselves. I don't know about you, but I am not going to go through life being against myself. I'm not going to stay focused on my defeats, my failures, my shortcomings. I'm going to work with God to improve in those areas, but I'm going to dwell on my good qualities. I'm going to dwell on what I like about myself. I'm going to remember my victories and downplay my defeats. The scripture says this. Our faith is made effectual when we acknowledge everything good. Notice when our faith is effective, not when we acknowledge the defeats, the failures, the shortcomings, not when we go around focused on everything we don't like about ourselves.

Our faith becomes effective when we acknowledge the good. Even though you lost the game, when you acknowledge the one shot, God helped you to block, your faith becomes effective. When you get up in the morning and you have a thousand reasons in the natural to complain and be negative, but instead you shake it off and say, Father, thank you for another beautiful day that you've made. thank you that I'm alive and healthy. Thank you for my family and friends.

Thank you for the opportunity in front of me. When you do that, your faith comes alive. That's what allows God to do great things in your life. So many people go around doing just the opposite. They acknowledge everything that's wrong, and I can't believe that person hurt me five years ago, and I wish I had thick curly hair, and I don't know why my nose is so big.

They wonder why they don't see God's blessings in fear. favor is because their faith is not effective. They have such a poor opinion of themselves. And the sad thing is, I've seen how some people think that it's holy to go around being down on themselves. They think it shows humility to go around saying, I'm just a weak worm of the dust. I'm just a poor old sinner, just a failure, nothing good in me. No, you need to get rid of that attitude. There is something good in you. You have the seed of Almighty God. You may have been a poor old sinner, but when you came to Christ, he made you a new creation. You may not feel worthy, but he has made you worthy. You are no longer a sinner. You are a son, a daughter of the

most high God. It does not bring any honor to God for us to go around feeling unworthy, inferior, intimidated, insecure. No, if you want to bring a smile to God's face, if you want to see God open doors that no man can shut. If you want your faith to become effective, you have got to put your shoulders back, hold your head up high. You are not a grasshopper. You were never created to have wings, but barely be able to get off the ground. You were created a sore. God wants to take you places that you've never even dreamed of. Don't go through life being against yourself. God wants you to feel good about who you are. And so often we can see the best in others, but I'm asking, asking you today to start seeing the best in yourself.

A while back, I was in a large auditorium speaking at one of our events on the road. And right in the middle of my message, I heard this voice coming from behind me very, very loud. It was a person speaking very passionately. Sounded like it was coming out of the monitor system for the band. I thought somebody had accidentally turned on a CD. I was sure that our technicians were going to stop it as quickly as they could. and I did my best to ignore it, but finally I had to stop. It was just too distracting.

When I did, I heard the voice saying, Joel's message is going around the world. They got it corrected and I finished my message and after the service, I was talking to some of the team and I said, what was that voice? Who was that speaking? They downplayed it and said, oh, Joel, somebody brought a little sound system and set it up in the lobby. They felt like they had something to say. I kind of laughed and said, well, at least they were saying something good about me. went on. Well, I found out later they weren't saying something good about me. They were telling

everything they thought was wrong with me. But what's funny is, I immediately assumed they were saying something good. I assumed the best. See, I have an interesting philosophy I live by. I think everybody loves me. I think everybody wants to be my friend. I think I have something great to offer. And I realize that's naive. But can I tell you, naive is a great way to live. You are not supposed to go around assuming the worst. You're supposed to assume the best. I know people that will walk into a room with other people they've never met, and they immediately think, well, I'm sure they don't like me. I'm sure they don't want to hear my opinion. I'm sure they're probably talking about me right now. No, you will never experience

God's best, being intimidated, insecure, assuming the worst. Retrain your mind. Let me tell you, you have something great to offer. Your personality, your gifts, your smile, your love, your encouragement, that's one of a kind. You have the fingerprints of God all over you. Be confident in who God has made you to be. If somebody wants to talk bad about you, don't worry about it. They've got the problem, not you. If they don't want to be your friend, no big deal. It's their loss, not yours. God will bring you the right friends. But I want you to start seeing yourself as the masterpiece God created you to be. David said it this way. Psalm 139. God, you made me in an amazing way. What you have done is wonderful. I wonder how many of us would be bold enough to say like David,

I'm amazing. I'm wonderful. I'm a masterpiece. Most people, their mind would never even go in that direction. They're too busy beating themselves down. And I'm not talking about being arrogant. I'm talking about a quiet confidence. We're deep down in your innermost being. You know that no matter how many mistakes you've made, no matter who's tried to push you down, no matter how inferior your own thoughts are trying to make you feel, that is not who you are. The creator of the universe says, you are amazing. You are wonderful. You are a masterpiece. Now I'm asking you today to get in agreement with God. Those negative thoughts may play the loudest. They may have been there for year after year, but this is a new day.

You can change the recording. All through the day, I want you to start saying to yourself, I'm strong, I'm healthy, I'm talented, I'm creative, I'm amazing, I'm wonderful, I'm a child of the most high God. Friends, this world needs your gift. When you are healthy and whole, not just physically, but on the inside, that's the best gift you can give this world. remember, don't ever say another negative thing about yourself. What you send out is always going to come back. Turn it around and learn to compliment yourself. Start focusing on your good qualities.

Dwell on your victories. People are going to see you the way you see yourself. If you will learn to have a good opinion of who you are and develop this habit like the scripture says of acknowledging everything good, then you're not only be happier and have better relationships, but your faith will become effective. That's when God will open doors that no man can shut. You will overcome your obstacles.

You'll accomplish your dreams. I believe and declare you will become everything God created you to be. And you will have everything God intended for you to have. Amen. Do you receive that today? 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 of three minutes can such a small amount of time make a big difference to your day to turn worry into confidence frustration to hope defeat to victory maybe you just need a boost of faith

When we put God first place and get our thinking in line with His, even a small seat of time can make a huge difference. We have a new resource called Three Minute Mornings. Start your day the blessed way. My challenge is when you wake up, before you leave the house, take three minutes to speak blessings over your life and to declare God's favor. Get your mind going in the right direction. When you do that, you're setting yourself up for a blessed victorious day. As our way of saying thank you for your gift of any size to the ministry this month, Joel and Victoria would like to send you this just-released, life-giving new daily devotional. Before your feet hit the ground or go out the door,

have your heart experience a bit of heaven. Set your mind on the things above with our new three-minute mornings devotional. With this new 365-day devotional, three-minute mornings, you'll experience God showering down his favor, like never before. You'll focus on the better that is coming and fully realize the freedom of not worrying about tomorrow. Victoria and I pray for you and your family every day. Thank you so much for your prayer and support. You're making a difference all over the world. Remember, you can watch the services online every Sunday morning, download our daily podcast, listen on Sirius XM. But until we

meet again, may the Lord bless you and keep you. Be sure to request your copy of three minute mornings today, visit jolosteen.com or call 888-567 Joel.