Joel Osteen Podcast - Letting The Past Be The Past | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: January 12, 2024

If we want to experience the new things God has prepared for us, we have to learn to let go of the past. When you move on from the mistakes and disappointments, you're making room for God to release new blessings into 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.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. 2024 is going to be an amazing year for you and your family. Know that we're praying for you. So get ready. Keep your expectations up. It's going to be a great year. Hope you enjoy today's message. Well, God bless you again. It's always a joy to come into your homes each week. We come with good news. We know God is on your side. He's got good things in store for each one of you. If you're ever in our area, I hope you'll

stop by and see us. We give you a personal invitation. I say it often, but these are the finest people in all of Houston, Texas, right here at Lakewood. So come out and we'll make you feel right at home. But thanks for tuning in today. I like to get started each week with something kind of funny. And I heard about these two famous baseball pitchers. They were discussing whether or not there would be any baseball up in heaven. And they agreed that whoever died first would come back and tell the other one if indeed there was any baseball in heaven. And sure enough, a few months later, one of the men died. Just like he promised, he came back. He said to his friend, I've got good news and I've got bad news. The good news is there is baseball up in heaven. The bad news is you're scheduled to

pitch next Thursday. Hold your Bibles up and say it like you mean it. You 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 mind is alert. My heart is receptive. I will never be the same. In Jesus' name. God bless you. We've been talking about how important it is that we let go of the past.

Whether something happened 20 years ago or 20 minutes ago, we've got to learn to just let it go and move on. As long as we're dragging the pains of yesterday over into this day, we're never going to experience God's best. And what's done is done. You cannot undo what happened yesterday. if you've made some mistakes, let it go and do better today. If somebody hurt you, forgive them and move on.

If you went through a disappointment, some kind of setback, don't stay focused on it. Know that God is still in control of your life. And if you'll let go to the old and quit thinking about it and quit talking about it, God has promised he will bring you a new beginning. And I know some of you have been through a lot of unfair things in life. Maybe somebody walked out of a relationship. that's painful, that's difficult. But if you want God to open up a new door,

you've got to forgive them and move forward. Or maybe somebody cheated you in a business deal. Well, let it go. God will make it up to you. Maybe you weren't treated right growing up. People that raised you weren't very fair. Well, there's nothing you can do about that now. And if we make the mistake of holding on to our hurts and pains,

we're going to end up going around with a victim mentality, and that's going to stop God from doing anything new. And the scripture says here in Isaiah 61, verse 3, that God wants to give us beauty for our ashes, joy for our morning, rejoicing for our heaviness. But here's the key. You've got to let go of the ashes before you will ever receive the beauty. The ashes represent what's left over after something's been burned up. In other words, they represent our broken dreams, our disappointments, our hurts, our failures. And we all have our share of ashes.

But in order for God to give us beauty for those ashes, an exchange has to take place. You've got to let go of those shattered dreams. You've got to quit focusing on your disappointments. You've got to forgive the people that have hurt you. Release all that bitterness. Then God will give you the beauty. Hey, you say, Joel, man, I just can't forgive them. They hurt me too badly.

Friends, that's a heavy, heavy price to pay. If you don't let go of the old, God can't bring the new. Well, Joel, I prayed and prayed, but my place. still didn't work out. I prayed and prayed and my loved one still didn't get healed. I just don't understand why. No, you may not ever understand why. Just turn loose of the ashes. Learn to trust God. He wants to restore back to you. He wants to give you a new beginning. But you cannot make the mistake of being trapped in the past going around with that victim mentality. I know this man, he lost his wife over 10 years ago. It was very tragic. She was killed in an automobile accident. And of

course, it's normal to go through a period of grieving. That's the way God made us. And if you've lost something, a job, a marriage, a loved one, I'm not saying that you should never feel any kind of sorrow or never feel any kind of discouragement. No, that's normal. In fact, grieving is a part of the healing process. If you just try to bury that on the inside and ignore it, and you never properly grieve over it, then it's going to be very difficult to overcome. It's okay to grieve. I know when my father went to be with the Lord. The first several months, there were many mornings I got up and just wept. And I could feel that weeping, healing me.

I could feel that pain getting less and less. And see, proper grieving has a way of cleansing us from our hurts. It has a way of healing us. But the problem with this gentleman was that he was still grieving some 10 years later. He had allowed a season of mourning to turn into a lifetime of mourning. And he ended up a very angry, bitter man. When I saw him, I'd do my best to encourage him and let him know there are going to be good days up ahead. But he would never receive that.

He was always making excuses, blaming God, blaming other people. He'd say, Joel, you don't know what I've been through. You don't understand it. It's just so unfair, on and on. And I don't mean to sound harsh, but over a period of time, I realized he didn't really want to get well. He enjoyed walling around in that self-pity. And the sad thing is, even to this day, he is living a very negative, defeated life. What's his problem? He's holding on to the ashes.

God wants to give him the beauty. God wants to give him a new beginning. But until he lets go of the old, God can't bring the new. And when you and I are tempted to sit around feeling sorry for ourselves, thinking about how unfair our life is, we need to ask ourselves, do we really want to get well? or have we gotten kind of comfortable in that self-pity? No, don't fall into that trap. And one good thing to always remember is no matter how much you've been through,

no matter how unfair your life seems, somebody somewhere has it a whole lot worse than you do. You may have gone through a whole lot, but I guarantee you some people would love to have your life. Some people would gladly trade places with you. And why don't you quit focusing on what you've lost and start focusing on what you've got left? quit looking at everything wrong in your life

and start looking at what's right in your life. You may have lost your home in this you may have lost your home in this recent hurricane, but you can thank God that you're still alive. You may have walked out with nothing but the clothes on your back, but you can thank God at least you were able to walk out of there. And friends, I'm challenging you today to shake off that self-pity. Shake off that victim mentality.

You've got to shake off the past. If you weren't treated right growing up, up, if I can be very blunt with it, you got to get over it. Quit talking about it. Quit thinking about it. If you went through a bitter divorce, somebody walked out on you, let it go. When one door closes, God will always open up another door. But you've got to quit mourning over something you can't change. Quit being depressed over something that's over and done. Too many people are holding on to their ashes. I talked to a young lady a couple of years ago. she was so sour because her parents weren't able to send her to college.

She was hoping to get a scholarship. Unfortunately, it just all fell through at the last moment. She couldn't get the financing she wanted. Now she's working at a job she doesn't like. I mean, you could feel the poison coming out of her. She was so negative and bitter. And I told her just what I'm telling you, you've got to change your attitude,

be grateful for what you have. Then God will give you a new beginning. And see, the enemy would love for us to spend our whole lifetimes sitting in the ashes, being depressed over a job we didn't get, being bitter over a relationship that didn't work out, feeling sorry for ourselves because a loved one died. No, turn loose of the ashes. Today can be a new beginning. Our attitude should be, I refuse to live my life looking in my rear view mirror anymore. That is over and done. I'm forgetting what lies behind, and I am pressing forward to the great things God has in store. If you do that, God will give you

beauty for your ashes. God will give you joy for your morning. This is just what the prophet Samuel had to do. He had invested a lot of time and effort into his relationship with Saul. When Saul was just a young man, Samuel chose him at God's direction to be the next king of Israel.

And Samuel took Saul under his wing. And little by little, he helped train him and teach him. Samuel did his best to make Saul a success and a pleasing king under God. God. But unfortunately, Saul just wouldn't walk in obedience. You know the story. Eventually, God rejected him as being the king. And you can imagine how Samuel must have felt. Here, he's put all this time and effort and energy into Saul, treated him just like he were his own son. And now it looks like it was a great big waste of time. Maybe some of you feel that same way

today. You did your best to make that relationship work out. You put your heart and soul into it. But now it looks like you've spent years and years building something that's not going to last. And that's just how Samuel felt. He was heartbroken. But God said something very interesting to him in 1st Samuel 16, verse 1. He said, Samuel, how long are you going to mourn over Saul? And I believe God's asking us that today. How long are you going to mourn over what you've lost? How long are you going to mourn over those broken dreams? friends, there's a problem with excessive mourning. There's a problem with continually staying focused on your disappointments. It stops God from bringing the new.

God went on to say, Samuel, fill your horn with oil and be on your way. For I am sending you to the house of Jesse. I've chosen one of his sons to be the next king. Notice God said in effect, Samuel, if you'll quit mourning and instead get up and be on your way, I'll give you another king. In other words, God always has another plan. Yes, Saul was God's first choice, but just because Saul wouldn't be obedient, God didn't say sorry, Samuel, Saul blew it and that ruins everything. No, God had another plan. And if you'll quit focusing on your disappointments and quit going around feeling sorry for yourself, and instead do what the scripture says.

Fill your horn with oil. That simply means put a smile on your face. Change your attitude. Let the past be the past. start moving forward. If you do that, God will lead you to the new beginnings he has in store. Samuel could have said, well, God,

I just can't do it. I'm too heartbroken. I've spent too much time with Saul. Lord, if he'd done that, he would have missed out on choosing King David, one of the greatest kings in the Bible. And in the same way, when we waller around in our disappointments, we're going to miss out on the new things God wants to do.

We've got to get up and get going. Be on our way. God has another plan. I love the story of Ruth in the Bible. She went through a great disappointment. One day her husband and her brother-in-law were killed in a battle. And as you can imagine, Ruth was devastated. Her whole world was turned upside down.

But it's interesting, Ruth didn't get bitter. She didn't go around blaming God. She knew God could give her a new beginning. And Ruth's mother-in-law, Naomi, was already a widow. And when this all happened, she decided to move back to her homeland. And she encouraged these two daughters-in-law, the ones that had just lost their husbands, to move back to their homeland, go their separate ways as well. And this one daughter-in-law took Naomi's advice, and she went back home.

And I don't know, but maybe she left there a little bit bitter and angry. Here her dreams have been shattered. She's just lost her husband. I can imagine she's going home very broken, defeated, bitter. But not Ruth. She had a different attitude. She said, no, Naomi, I'm not going to leave you. I'm going to go wherever you go, and I'm going to help take care of you.

Notice Ruth, in her time of need, she didn't sit around feeling sorry for herself. She didn't take the easy way out and go home, defeated, and depressed. She got her mind off of herself, and she went out and helped somebody else in need. She helped Naomi. She knew if she could let go to the old, God would bring her the new. She and Naomi moved to this other city. They didn't have any kind of provision, nothing to eat. And so Ruth would go out into the fields early in the morning and gather up the leftover grain that the reapers had missed. This is how they survived. And the man that owned those fields was named Boaz. He was one of the wealthiest and most influential men in that area. And he loved God. And he noticed Ruth out there every day working so diligently, gathering up the grain. And the more he watched her, the more he liked her. Long story short, they fell in love and eventually they got married. God gave Ruth a new beginning.

He gave Ruth beauty for her ashes. But here's what I always think about. Boaz wasn't just one of the workers, and that would have been great. He wasn't just the supervisor. He was the man that owned that whole area. God did more than Ruth could even ask her thing. He gave her joy for her mourning.

God wants to do the same for every one of you. And if you've been through some kind of loss, some kind of broken relationship, you need to know God has another Boaz out there. He still has somebody great. he wants to bring into your life. Too many people today, they're living with this victim mentality. They are so focused on what they've been through and who hurt them and how unfair it was. They don't realize, but all they're doing is dragging the pains of yesterday into the present.

Just like they get up every morning and go get this big boatload of junk and bring it into today. No, don't do that. Let the past be the past. You should not let your past poison your future. and you may have been through a lot. Maybe one of your dreams has died, but you've got to know God has another dream. He's got a bright future in store for every one of you. And of course recently, we've seen all the devastation from Hurricane Katrina.

We've seen so much of the suffering and so many of the people that are affected. I know some of you are even here. I talked to some earlier. A lot of you watch by television and how our hearts go out to you. We've been praying and raising money, doing everything we can.

But I would encourage you especially to don't fall into that trap of getting bitter and going around feeling sorry for yourself. Listen, you are not a victim. You are a victor. God says he always causes you to trial. God said he would take this negative and somehow, some way,

turn it around and use it to your advantage. And I would just challenge you, don't let this setback be a stumbling block to cause you to get bitter and weaken your faith. Let this setback be a stepping stumbling. for God to do greater things in your life. We're believing you're not only going to come out, but God's going to bring you out better off than you were before.

If you lost your home, we're believing you're not going to come out with the same house, but you're going to come out with a better house, a bigger house, a brand new house. We're believing you're not going to come out with the same level job, but you're going to come out with a better job, with better benefits, in a better environment, making more money. If you lost your car, we're believing God's going to bring you out with a better car, brand new car. Why don't you get a vision for it?

Don't sit around in self-pity and poor old me. Life's not fair. No, life may not be fair, but God is fair. And God has you in the palm of his hand. He said a little sparrow never even falls without God noticing it. You can rest assured God sees what you've been through. He's closely watching you. And his dream is to not only bring you out, but to bring you out stronger, healthier,

happier, better off than you were before. Your attitude should be. this may be difficult. It may not be fair, but this is the hand I've been dealt, and I am not going to sit around feeling sorry for myself. I know God is in control, and in the end, he's going to use all this to my advantage. And understand this. Here's what I found. The enemy always fights you the hardest when he knows God has something great in store for you. So if you're in tough times, you're in difficult times, no doubt you're camp right next door to your promised land. Don't get bitter, don't go around all sour. You got to shake off that victim mentality and start having that warrior mentality. See, a warrior is a fighter. A warrior knows how to endure hardships. And a warrior may get knocked down, but he doesn't stay down.

He gets back up again. And I know some of you today, you're discouraged because of the negative circumstances in your life. And you're kind of waiting for God or somebody to cheer you up. But really, friends, God is waiting on you. The scripture says in Isaiah 60 verse 1 arise from the depression in which the circumstances have kept you rise to a new life.

Notice if you want a new life, if you want a new beginning, there's something you're going to have to do. You've got to rise up out of that. In other words, you've got to change your attitude. Put the smile back on your face. Quit mourning over something you can't do anything about. Quit going around focused on your disappointments

and instead dig your heels in and make the most with what you've got left. See, God told Joshua to go in and possess the promised land. That word possess implies action. If you want God to restore back to you, if you want to really live in victory, you cannot sit around thinking about how unfair your life is and how badly somebody has treated you. You've got to be aggressive.

You've got to be energetic. Be on the offensive. And really, this is one of the main things that kept the children of Israel from ever going into their promised land. they had been through all that slavery for years and years over in Egypt. God miraculously brought them out. But their whole problem was they never got rid of their slave mentality. When times got tough and things didn't go their way,

instead of standing strong and fighting the good fight of faith, they just easily gave up. They had that poor, pitiful me attitude. And here they were camped right next door to their promised land. But because they were so focused on what they had been through and so focused on their enemies, they never did make it in. Their negative mindset kept them from God's best. And I know plenty of you are here today,

and you have a thousand good reasons to live your life with a chip on your shoulder. I know like these people, you've been through a lot of unfair things, and you can give me a thousand excuses why it's okay for you to feel sorry for yourself. But friends, I'm asking you to let all that go. I'm asking you to choose to be a victor and not a victor. And I think about David. He's one of my favorite people in the Bible. He knew how to let go of the ashes.

One day, while he and his men were out protecting the borders of Israel, their hometown was attacked and destroyed. When they came back and saw all the devastation, they were heartbroken. The city was totally burned down. Their possessions were stolen. And on top of that, all of the women and children had been kidnapped. It was the darkest day of David's life. The Bible says that David wept until he could not weep anymore.

And I'm sure David was just like you and I. He was tempted to get negative and bitter. I'm sure he was tempted to say, God, I don't understand this. This doesn't seem fair. I was out doing what you asked me to do. How could you allow this to happen? But understand, just because we're in God's will,

doesn't mean we're not going to have some obstacles to overcome. Doesn't mean we're not going to have some battles to fight. And here David was not down, but the whole key is he didn't stay down. He had that warrior mentality. And as he sat there among the rules, ruins of his city, watching the smoke and ashes filled the air. David did something that none of those other 600 men would do. The scripture says that David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.

In other words, he made a decision, I'm not going to sit here in the ashes of defeat feeling sorry for myself. I am going to rise up out of this. Sure enough, he dusted himself off. He washed his face and he said, come on, men, we're going to go attack the enemy. And the Bible says they rose up. and they recovered every single thing that had been stolen. They got their wives and children back. They got their flocks and herds, all their possessions. And, you know, really, if this were the end of the story, it'd be a pretty happy ending.

But no, God always brings you out better. He never brings you out the same way. And David looked around, and he saw all the enemies flocks and herds, and all the enemies gold and silver. He told his men to gather that up as well. And then when they left out of there, they walked out with twice what they had before. And see, the very thing that comes against you to try to destroy you

could be the very thing God uses to increase you and take you to a whole new level of victory. But friends, this is not going to happen if you're sitting around in defeat, mourning over what you've lost. It's not going to happen if you're going around with a sour attitude complaining all the time. You've got to let go of the ashes if you want God to give you the beauty. If you'll quit mourning over what you've lost and instead put on that war, your mentality, God will not only bring you out, he'll bring you out better often than you were before. I like that scripture. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy is coming in the morning.

I have this friend of mine a couple of years ago, he lost his job. He worked for a good company. He'd been there for a long time. He was making good money, a very good position. And I thought for sure he would be very upset and very distraught about it. But when he came up, man, he had a smile on his face. He was as happy as can be. He said, Joy, I don't know if he you've heard, but I just lost my job, but I can't wait to see what God has in store. See, he had been knocked down, but he didn't stay down. He had that warrior mentality. His attitude was, this thing is not going to defeat me. I know I'm a victor or not a victim. I know when one door closes, God always opens up a bigger and a better door. That's the kind of people God's looking

for. People that have that never say die spirit. People that know God always causes us to triumph. And our attitude should be even if the enemy does his best His best will never be enough He may knock me down but he can't knock me out When it's all said and done The smoke settles and the dust clears I'm still going to be standing strong

Amen I heard a story about these two frogs They fell into this bowl of cream And the sides were so slick that they couldn't climb up out of it And so they had to paddle and paddle and paddle To just try to stay alive And this went on and on and on.

Finally, this one frog got so tired, he just gave up. He said to his buddy, man, it's not worth it. We're never going to get out. We're just wasting our time. I'm giving up. And sure enough, under he went, you didn't see any more of him. But this other frog was a little more determined. He had that warrior mentality, I'm talking about.

And he just kept paddling and paddling and paddling, trying his best to stay alive. Well, after about 30 minutes went by, he noticed that that cream was getting harder and harder. It was more and more difficult, but he just kept at it and kept at it. Well, another 15 or 20 minutes. Did you know he had paddled so much that that cream had turned to butter? And now he could just step on top of it and hop on out.

And sometimes that's what we've got to learn to do in life. When it looks like there's no way out, you've got to just keep on keeping on. Keep on shaking off the past. Keep on pressing forward. Keep on shaking off self-pity. You know when those whole negative thoughts come telling you it's never going to get better. Might as well give up. It's never going to change. You're never going to get out of that situation.

No, don't believe that junk. With every right decision you make, every time you shake off a disappointment, every time you press forward, every time you overlook an offense. God is watching that. You are passing the test and you're getting one step closer to seeing it all turn around.

I'm convinced these days, really, we give up too easily. I was reading about the Apostle Paul. Man, he went through so many hardships, so many unfair things. But I love what he said. Second Corinthians 4 verse 8. He said, we are troubled on every side, but we're not crushed.

We're perplexed. We don't understand why these things happen to us, but we don't give up and quit. We get knocked down, but we get back up again and keep on going. Notice Paul said, a warrior may get knocked down, but a warrior is not going to get knocked out. And some of you today, you may feel like you've been knocked down. You've been through some tough times, but I would just challenge you, don't stay down. down. Don't develop that victim mentality. Don't wall around in self-pity. Get back up. Dust yourself off and do like David, press forward to the good things God has in store. I was thinking about

Job when he went through all of that trouble and he lost his family, he lost his health, he lost his business. The scripture says that Job sat down among the ashes. And that's the mistake many of us make today. When trouble comes and life deals us a blow, instead of having that warrior spirit like David, like the Apostle Paul, we just give up and get down and discouraged. And it's interesting, Job's situation didn't change until he changed his attitude. Then God showed up and intervened and turned everything around. Let me ask you today, are you sitting in any ashes? Are you holding on to things that you know you need to turn loose up? Are you allowing your past to poison your future? No, if that's you, let me challenge you to make a decision to rise up out of that.

Today can be a new beginning. You've got to quit mourning over something that you can't change. If you're going to go forward, you've got to quit looking backwards. Friends, I believe your best days are right out of head. I know God has a great plan in store for every one of you. And no matter what you've been through, no matter how unfair it seems, if you'll do your part and shake off the self-pity, shake off the disappointments, and instead have this warrior mentality. and I can promise you God will do his part. He's promised he'll give you beauty for your ashes,

joy for your morning, rejoicing for your heaviness. You'll experience the life of victory he has in store. Amen. How many of you receive it 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. 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 you places that you've never dreamed out.

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 thing. 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 24, 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 888-567 Joel.