Joel Osteen Podcast - Living at Rest

Episode Date: April 8, 2020

Life is full of peace stealers. Every day there are people and circumstances that can pull you out of rest. Hebrews 4:11 tells us to make every effort to enter into the rest of God. Joel will show you in this message how to put up boundaries and not allow everything in.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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Well, God bless you. It's a joy to be with you today. And if you're ever in our area, please stop by and be a part of one of our services. I promise you, we'll make you feel right at home. I like to start with something funny, and I heard about this church service. One Sunday morning, everything was going great until a bolt of lightning hit the sanctuary. When the smoke cleared, Satan himself was standing at the podium. People panicked and took off running as fast as they could. Everyone, that is, except one lady. She sat in the front row just as calm as can be. Satan was appalled.

He said, lady, do you know who I am? she said, I sure do. He said, aren't you afraid of me? She said, not in the least bit. He said, why not? She said, why should I be? I've been married to your brother for 30 years. 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 living at rest. Rest doesn't mean that you're on vacation and you never do anything. We all have to work and deal with challenges and interact with different

people, but we're supposed to do it from a place of peace, not stressed out, worried and fighting everything that we don't like. Hebrews 4 tells us to enter into the rest of God. That's a place where we know God's in control. We know he's fighting our battles. But here's the key. Once you enter this rest, you're not going to automatically stay there. Life is full of peace stealers. There will always be people and circumstances trying to pull you out. If you're going to live in peace, you have to put up some boundaries and not allow everything in. You can't watch the news 24 hours a day and expect to stay at rest. your mind wasn't meant to take in all the tragedies, accidents, killings over and over.

That's going to pull you out of rest. Do yourself a favor, turn it off. Be careful what you feed your inner person. If you watch all the news about the price of oil going down and theyoffs and bankruptcies, it's going to cause you to live stressed out, worried, on edge. You can't feed on negativity and discouragement and expect to stay positive. positive and faith-filled. I like to watch the news, of course, to know what's going on in the world. But after about 15 minutes, I've learned everything I need to know. I don't keep taking

it in again and again. The 24-hour news, most of that repeats every 30 minutes. It was designed for people flipping on and off not to watch over and over. Put on some good news. Feed your inner person encouraging things that build you up and cause you to say positive, hopeful, and inspired. One Friday night, Victoria and I went to watch this movie about a war. It was very violent.

Heads were being blown off and people being tortured and families ripped apart and I went in there in peace, simply wanting to be entertained. But when I left, I was on edge. I felt like I'd been run over by a truck. That whole night, I dreamed

I was in the middle of that war. Victoria kept waking me up. Joy, you're having a night. nightmare, wake up. What we take in through our eyes and ears eventually gets into our subconscious mind. If you're taking in all the negative, violence, discouragement, that's going to depress your spirit. The next day I had to get up and finish preparing my message for Saturday night, and I learned my lesson. I can't take that in the night before and be my best the next day. You need to be aware of what's pulling you out of that rest. Sometimes it's our only. It's our only choices. If you get on social media and you're constantly comparing your life to everyone else's,

that's going to discourage you. You'll never feel good about who you are as long as you're competing with others because there'll always be somebody more beautiful, more talented, more successful. That's a peace dealer. Put up a boundary and say, I am not going to live in somebody else's world, obsessed with what they're doing, where they're doing, where they're going, what they're eating, what they're driving. I'm going to run my own race. Listen, you can miss your destiny caught up in somebody else's life. Successful people are too focused on their own race to look around to see what everybody else is doing. Quit comparing. It'll pull you out of your rest. I say disrespectfully, but some people are

peace dealers. They're high maintenance. They're always having a problem. Every time they call, they're having a major crisis. They expect you to come running, to bail them out, to encourage them to keep them fixed. They're good people. You love them, but you shouldn't allow them to continually dump their problems on you. If you don't put up a boundary, they won't be the only one unhappy. You'll end up unhappy. And I'm all for helping people, loving them, taking time to care.

But some people won't deal with their own issues as long as they're. is they can dump it on you. That's the easy way out. As long as you'll bail them out, you feel sorry for them, you let them unload their burdens, they'll do it again and again. What they're doing is they dump it all on you

and then they go home and go to bed. While you stay up and worry about, what are we going to do about this? Here's what I'm saying. It's easy to take on a false sense of responsibility where you jump every time they call, try to keep them fixed. but you are not responsible for other people's happiness.

Don't let their unhappiness keep you from being happy. I don't know about you, but I have enough drama in my own life. I don't need somebody else's drama. If they won't make good decisions, if they want to live upset, bitter, offended in a crisis mode, that's their choice. You can't stop that, but you shouldn't let them control you

and make you feel guilty if you don't help. Let them call you all hours of the day. You are not a garbage can. You have to protect your peace. Like a business, you need to have hours of operation. Times when you're open, times when you're closed. I'm open for them from two to four in the afternoon. When they call you at 8 o'clock at night, when you're in peace, spending time with your family,

enjoying your children, that phone rings normally you'd rush over and answer it, get all uptight. No, next time, sorry, not open for business right now. You mean Joel don't answer the phone? Yes, that's why God created voicemail. Don't let their crisis steal your peace. Have you noticed some people are alarmist? Everything is a major problem, a major crisis. They need you right now. Tomorrow will be too late. They have a spirit of alarm. If you don't put up a boundary, you'll get pulled in. They'll get you all stirred up, stressed out. Don't fall into that trap.

If you don't make them respect you, you'll be dealing with this same issue 20 years from now. Your destiny is too important to let people who are not dealing with their own issues hold you back. Recognize that's a peace dealer. You need to make some changes. Well, Joel, what if I hurt their feelings?

What if you miss your destiny? God didn't call you to keep everyone happy. And sure, do your part. Be a giver. Go the extra mile, but don't become a garbage dump where you allow someone to always dump their burdens on you. That's out of balance. You have to protect your emotional energy. You have a limited supply each day.

If you're taking in all this extra drama involved in things you should never be involved in, you're not going to have the emotional energy for what you need, for your dreams, for your children, for your assignment. I'm not saying to be selfish. I'm saying be wise. You can't fix everyone. You can't make people do what's right. You're not called to straighten everyone out. You're not the savior. We already have a savior. I've learned some people don't really want to change. They like the attention it brings to have you at their beck and call. And a lot of times, instead of helping them, we're really enabling their dysfunction. We're doing them a disservice.

If you don't bail them out, maybe they'll start taking responsibility. If they can't reach you every three minutes, maybe they'll learn to encourage themselves. Life is too short to go through it being controlled. You shouldn't spend all your time trying to straighten everybody. out. Some of your relatives that are upset with each other, they're going to be upset 30 years from now. Don't waste your valuable time being upset with them. They don't want to be happy. That's fine. But don't let them keep you from being happy. Turn it over to God and enjoy your life. Years ago, I had a friend that I grew up with. And over time, our paths went in different directions.

I joined the basketball team and he got involved in other things. And he really really, presented the fact that I wasn't around as much. And several times he tried to straighten me out, told me how I wasn't giving him as much time as I should. And why wasn't I there for him on and on? And I went overboard to try to be good to him. But nothing I did was good enough. I could have moved in and been his roommate.

And he'd still found something wrong. And one day I realized he's counting on me to try to keep him happy. and I already have a full-time job trying to keep myself happy. And every time he'd call, I'd get up tight on edge. What have I done wrong now? What does he need? You know, of course, as a friend, you want to help people. I wanted to be responsible.

But after about five years of doing this, I learned what I'm telling you. I can't reach my destiny spending all my time trying to keep him happy. I don't have the emotional energy for all of his drama. And I say this very respectfully because he's a good man, but I realized he's a peace dealer. I made up my mind. I wasn't going to go the next 20 years like that. I put up some boundaries. I quit running every time he called. I quit feeling guilty when I couldn't meet his demands. Eventually he got upset and started talking about me and went his own way. But here's the point. Sometimes you have to make hard decisions to reach your destiny.

my personality type is I want everybody to like me I'll never tell you no I want to please you but I've learned you can't fulfill your assignment trying to please everyone if you're trying to keep everybody around you happy the one person who will not be happy is you well Joel what if they get upset and start talking about me they won't be the first and they're not going to be the last

I would rather have people upset with me than to not become who I was created to be. If you'll put these boundaries up, you'll live more peacefully, you'll be more effective, and you'll move quicker into your destiny. But when you tell someone, I love you, but you can't call me every three minutes, I can't keep you cheered up. I love you, but I can't keep bailing you out again and again. If they get upset, they really weren't your friend. They were controllers. They're a manipulator. They like you for what you can do for them, not for who you are. You don't need friends like that. Make a change and God will give you true friends. Here's the key. If you're doing all the giving and never receiving, that's out of balance. I heard somebody say, if you surround yourself with people that need you more than they feed you, then that's a red flag.

the longer I live, the more I realize the importance of having the right people in our lives. You won't reach the fullness of your destiny with people that are constantly dragging you down. You're having to always spend your time and energy keeping them fixed, keeping them encouraged. You need people who feed you, people that inspire and challenge you. People who are happy where you laugh and have fun. people who are consistent, not live in a crisis mode, moody, up and down, but people that are stable. I read a study that said, for every happy friends you have, you are 20% more likely to be happy. If I understand this right, if you can just find five happy friends, there's a good chance you're going to be happy.

This is what the scripture says. If you walk with wise people, you will become wise. It's true in the negative, just like the positive. Proverbs says, if you hang around to gossip, you'll become a gossip. Think of it like this. For every peace dealer you allow in your life, you are 20% more likely to live stressed, on edge, to have a crisis. I'm asking you to find happy friends. I'm not saying you have to cut people off, never speak to them again.

I am saying you should put up some boundaries. You don't have to make a big announcement. Like I did, just little by little, spend less and less time with that person. If you don't get the wrong people out of your life, you'll never meet the right ones. Especially in your inner circle, the people who are closest to you need to be stable, consistent, happy, godly, responsible people that move you toward your destiny. like iron sharpens iron, you make each other better. This is the reason many people are stuck.

Who do you have in your life? What are you giving your time and energy to? Putting out fires, trying to keep someone happy, feeling guilty because you can't meet their demands, that's going to wear you out. It's time to make a change. You can't please everyone. We see this principle with Jesus.

After a long day of teaching the people and praying for them, The scripture says he left the crowds and went away to rest. There were still many people that needed prayer, many needs that had not been met. I'm sure some of them thought, wow, we traveled all this way and he didn't even wait to pray for us. He let us down. Jesus wasn't being rude. He wasn't overlooking needs. He was taking care of himself.

He knew he needed to get away and get quiet. so he could be refreshed and restored. There will always be people that need you, somebody that needs rescuing, needs encouraging, need your help. If you try to meet all the needs, you'll end up run down, over time even burn out. Your number one priority is to keep yourself healthy. You shouldn't be pressured into doing things that you know

are going to wear you out and over time even keep you from your destiny. If Jesus was willing to walk away from needs to protect his peace, to stay at rest, then we need to be willing to walk away from things that we know are stealing our peace. In March chapter 4, the disciples were in a boat on the middle of a lake when a huge storm arose. And they were so afraid and so worried. They said, somebody, go wait Jesus up. We're going to die. Jesus, as you know, was asleep in the hall of the boat, at rest in the middle of the storm.

They came in all frantic, Jesus, Jesus, wake up, we're about to drown. He woke up, spoke to the storm, and everything calmed down. What's interesting is these disciples had seen Jesus heal a paralyzed man, cure the leper, do all kinds of miraculous signs. You would think, since they had seen the miracle, and Jesus had just told them, let's go to the other side of the lake, they would believe they would make it. But doubt crept in, fear crept in. They panicked and woke Jesus up. Like with these disciples, there will always be people that try to get us out of our rest. They may be good people. They may mean

well, but they tend to focus on the negative, blow things out of proportion, see everything as a crisis. if you allow them, they'll get you all wrought up, all stirred up. You have to put your foot down and say, no, I'm staying at rest. Don't wake me up with your worry. Don't wake me up with your fear. Don't wake me up with your doubt. I know God is still on the throne. He brought me through in the past, and he'll bring me through this next time.

Now, the situation in the natural may be a crisis. I mean, they were in a storm. Say, well, Joel, I got a bad medical report. your child is off course your business has gone down but when you know the god who controls the universe is on your boat the god who speaks to storms and they obey is right there with you then you'll have a different perspective you won't let circumstances pull you out of rest you won't let people who are panicking and stressed out cause you to panic you won't stay focused on the size of the problem you'll stay focused on the size of your god Now don't let your own negative thoughts wake you up from your rest. Don't let people wake you up with their worry, their doubt. Stay in peace and God will do what he promised. He'll get you to where you're supposed to be. But how we respond in the storms of life, in the difficult times, that influences how people respond around us. If Jesus would have woke up all panicked, oh wow, this is really bad, those disciples,

probably would have jumped overboard. Oh boy, if he's worried, we're really worried. But because he stayed at rest, not only could he bring peace, but people around him calm down. When you live at rest, your family will be more peaceful. When you don't get stressed out at the office, when everybody else does, people around you will calm down. When you're stable, consistent, in a good mood, despite what's going on around you, like Jesus, because you have peace on the inside, you'll bring peace to the outside. Now, don't let people wake you up with their negativity.

Like at a hotel, when you don't want to be bothered, you put the do not disturb sign out on the door. Why don't you put a do not disturb sign on your life? You're announcing, I'm staying at rest. Don't wake me up with your turmoil. Don't wake me up with your drama. Don't wake me up with your fear. Tell those peace dealers, look at the sign on the door. Do not disturb. I have entered into the rest of God. A couple of years after I started ministering, I was at home in my office Saturday afternoon, finishing up my message for that weekend.

Victoria and our small son, Jonathan, at that time, had taken my car up to the car wash to have it clean. I had a white Lexus that used to be my father's. It was given to me when my dad died. And, It was a beautiful car. Even though it was six years old, it didn't have one scratch on it. Look brand new. And I went to great lengths to make sure it stayed perfect, especially since it meant a lot to me. Victoria took it to the same car wash that we always drove through.

It's one of those super soft ones where the brushes don't even touch the car. It just sprays it with water. Unfortunately, in the middle of the wash, the machine malfunctioned, this big metal arm came crashing down on the front bumper, then it drug it across the hood, over the windshield, over the roof, to the back of the car. It put a deep scratch about a foot wide the whole length of the car. When Victoria got back to the house, she wasn't going to tell me until after the Saturday night service so that I wouldn't have to think about it. She was in the garage looking at it. But our son Jonathan, he was about six years old.

He had a different plan. He got out of that car, took off running 90 miles per hour, came busting in my office, said, Daddy, Daddy, you won't believe it. Mom just totally ruined your car. I said, thank you, Jonathan, for being so diplomatic about it. But evidently, he didn't see the do not disturb sign on my door. What am I saying? Life happens.

There will be plenty of opportunities to wake up from that room. rest. Even though people and circumstances may bypass that do not disturb sign, you have the final say. You have to dig your hills in and say, no, I'm staying at rest. I know God's still on the throne. I am not going to lose my peace over something I cannot change. But how many times do we let small things pull us out of that rest? We get caught in traffic. A coworker was rude. Somebody's talking about us. Don't let that get on the inside. You'll never keep away all the peace stealers. If you're waiting for them to change and traffic to change and your boss to change, you'll live stressed, worried your whole life. They may never change. Here's the good news. You can change. You can enter into this rest. You can put that

do not disturb sign on. Despite what comes against you, make up your mind. You're going to stay in peace. one time I couldn't find the remote control for our television at home. I had looked everywhere and went in the kitchen, thought somebody had carried it in there, looked under the cushions of the couch, and finally I called Victoria, asked her if she had seen it. She said, no, the last time I saw it, it was right where it was supposed to be and kept looking and looking. About 15 minutes later, Victoria called back and said, I found the remote control.

I said, good, where is it? She said, in my purse with me here at Target. I was the one that put it there while we were moving some furniture, but I was tempted to wake up from my rest. That do not disturb sign. I've found most of the time it's not for other people. It's for you. It's to remind us to stay in peace. Are you allowing things to pull you out of rest? Anyone can be peaceful when everything's going their way. The real test comes when life happens. When the remote converse. When the remote converse. control is at Target. When the car wash puts an extra racing stripe down your car. When the disciples come rushing in, panicking, we're in a storm. This is really bad. The easy thing to do is to panic with

them, get all upset. Recognize what's happening. Those are peace dealers trying to pull you out of your rest. This is what happened with the Israelites. God had just delivered them out of slavery. They were headed toward the promised land. Life was good until the faith. Chiro changed his mind. He and his army came chasing after them. The Israelites ended up at a dead end at the Red Sea. They had nowhere to go. Looked like they'd certainly be recaptured or maybe even killed. They began to panic. They were so afraid. The scripture says they were terrified and said, Moses, why did you bring us out here in the desert to die? Moses knew if they would have stayed upset, fearful, worried that would have stopped God from working. He said to the people, don't be

afraid. The Lord will fight for you if you hold your peace and remain at rest. Notice there was a condition God will fight your battles if you'll stay at rest. If you'll quit worrying about the medical report. If you'll quit being upset over the contract you didn't get. If you'll quit being stressed by those people that talking about you, if you'll quit being stressed. If you'll quit being stressed by those people that talking about you, if you'll remain at rest, God will fight your battles. I'm asking you today to identify the peace stealers in your life. What's causing you to be stressed? Are you carrying a load that you're not supposed to carry? Allowing someone to dump their burdens on you, trying to be the Savior. Turn that over to God.

Don't let them pull you out of rest. Are you allowing traffic, people, a grouchy boss to upset you? they may not change, but you can change. Put up this do not disturb sign, not just for others, but to remind you to stay in peace. Friends, life is too short to go through it, letting peace dealers determine our destiny. If you'll make this decision with me that you're going to live at rest, you'll not only enjoy your life more,

but I believe and declare, God will do for you what he did for the Israelites. He'll part red seas, he'll restore your hell, He'll bring vindication, promotion, the fullness of your destiny. In Jesus' name, if you receive it today, can you say amen? 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 thank you for listening to the joel o's dean podcast help us continue to share the message of hope with those all over the world visit joel osteen dot com slash give hope to give a gift today thanks so much for listening to today's message i hope you'll subscribe so you can receive the latest

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