Joel Osteen Podcast - Living Under Divine Protection | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: November 15, 2024

It’s easy to worry and live in fear, but you have to remember, you are never alone. As you keep God first place, He will keep you under HIs supernatural protection. 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.God wants to refresh how you experience time in His Word! In this brand-new book, you’ll find 12 powerful lenses that will transform the way you read your Bible. Let our November offer show you How to Read Your Bible & Enjoy It https://bit.ly/4f5GjAY.  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. God bless you. It is always a joy to come into your homes. We come with good news. We know God loves you. He's on your side. If you're ever in our area, I hope you'll stop by and see us. We'd love to have you be a part of one of our services. So, and thanks for tuning in today, but stop by whenever you can. I like to start with something funny each week. I heard about this groom during the wedding rehearsal.

He said to the pastor, I'll make a deal with you. If you'll change my wedding vows and leave out all the love, honor, and obey stuff, I'll give you $100. He pressed the $100 into the minister's hands, and he walked away with a smile. The next day during the ceremony, the minister said, do you promise to bow down before your wife, to take her breakfast in bed every day, to fulfill her every wish? He gulped in astonishment. Finally in a weak voice, he said, I do. Then he leaned forward

and said, hey, I thought we had a deal. The minister handed him his money back and said, your wife made me a much better offer. 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. 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 divine protection and not living in fear. We hear so much about the terror threats and violence in our schools and how our cities are becoming less safe. If you watch the news very long, you'll see all kinds of troubling things. Shootings, accidents, kidnappings. And it's so easy to go around in fear rather than

faith. Worried about our children, worried about driving on the freeways, worried about our protection. And one reason we worry, one reason we give in to fear is we have forgotten that we are not alone. The moment you were born, God assigned an angel to watch over you. He assigned one of his powerful warriors to guard you. to protect you, to defend you. You have a secret agent with you wherever you go. That's what it says in Psalm 91. If we dwell in the secret place of the most high, then we can rest under the shadow of the almighty. That means if we keep God first place, if we do our best to please him, then we will always have his supernatural protection. Verse 11 goes on to say, he will command his angels to watch over us. One translation says to accompany, to preserve, and to defend in all of our ways.

We are not alone. We have angels around us everywhere we go. Well, what do angels do? They are called messengers of God. All through the Bible, we see how an angel appeared and gave a person wisdom, gave them instruction, told them what to do. We see how they delivered people from danger, closed the mouths of lines, opened up prison doors. Angels are the ones that carry out God's commands. In the book of Daniel, it says when he prayed, God immediately dispatched the angel with the answer to his prayer. And if we could see into the unseen realm,

we'd see all these powerful, warring angels at work on our behalf. I'm convinced if we really understood what was going on around us, we'd have a lot more peace. We wouldn't worry so much. A lot of times in pictures, we see angels as these little chubby, dainty creatures floating through the air, little wings, playing the heart. But really, that's not what the angels look like. If you study the scriptures, it describes them as incredibly strong, powerful warriors. In fact, almost every time they appeared to someone in the Bible, first thing they said was, hey, don't be afraid. They had to calm the person down. It's because they are an intimidating sight. They are majestic looking,

clothed in armor. They got their sword drawn. They got their shield. They are constantly on guard, carrying out God's commands. You think about a president, a world leader. They have the secret service. They're like hawks. They watch him everywhere he goes, everything he does. They're constantly making sure that he's okay. He's got the secret service protecting. He's got the secret service protecting him, but you and I have secret agents assigned by Almighty God. These angels, not only do they protect and defend, but they are here to assist us as well. Sometimes angels can appear and we don't realize it. They can show up in the form of a person. I heard one man say, I'm married to an angel. She's always up in the air about something.

The scripture tells us, we can entertain. angels without even realizing it. In other words, they can look just like another person. Now, I'm convinced we've gotten breaks before. People have gone out of their way to help us. Things have changed in our favor. We didn't even realize it was the angel of the Lord. I heard a fascinating story about a well-respected neurologist. This was years ago. And one night after a long day at the office, he had gone to bed. A few minutes, there was a knock on his door. He opened it, and there was a small girl. She was upset and crying. And she told how her mother was very ill and desperately needed his help. And although it was a cold, snowy night, he was very tired. He couldn't turn her down. He followed the young lady home.

He discovered that her mother had a serious case of pneumonia. He made arrangements to get her to the hospital and have her treated. As the mother was leaving, he complimented her on her daughter's intelligence, her daughter's determination. The lady looked at him very strangely and said, what are you talking about? My daughter passed away over a month ago. The doctor was totally confused. The lady added, you can check the closet. Her shoes, her coat, it's still in there. The doctor opened the closet up, and he found the exact pair of shoes, the exact coat the little girl had been wearing.

Not only that, it was perfectly dry, didn't have any snow, any rain. Well, what was that? I believe that could have been the angel of the Lord dressed as her daughter. That was God dispatching an angel to take care of one of his children. God is watching over you. He has commanded his angels to take care of you, to guard you, to assist you. How many times have things gone our way? We didn't even realize it was the hand of God. It was the angel of God. It was the angel of the Lord. In the early 1990s, Victoria and I were building a home. We were contracting it ourselves. We didn't have a builder, so we were totally responsible. We'd go by and check on it real often. One Sunday afternoon, around five, we decided to run by. And driving down the street, we could see

smoke coming from the house. Man, we were alarmed, and we pulled in there quickly. And we saw our neighbor inside putting out a fire. Evidently, an extension cord had shorted out and caught fire. And the house was in the framing stage, all that lumber. You can imagine how quickly it would have burned up. We didn't know our neighbor very well, but we asked him what happened. He said he was at home and a man knocked on the door and said there's a fire next door. He ran over to put it out. But he said, when I went back to talk to him, I went back to thank him just a minute or two later, he was nowhere to be found. He said it was the strangest thing. He was here one moment and gone the next. and I know that could have been just somebody driving down the road, that God calls to be at the right place at the right time,

but it also could have been the angel of the Lord keeping us from a whole lot of heartache and pain. My point is today is that God is watching over you. Don't live in fear. Don't go around worried about your children, worried about your safety. Be wise, use common sense, and then just believe. When you drive, to work. Father, thank you that your angels are going before me, making the crooked places straight. Father, thank you that your angels are protected my children at school today. Learn to stay in faith, not in fear. When we get afraid and we start worrying and start complaining, all this does is limit God from really working. And this is why many people are not seeing God's blessings in favor and even God's protection like they should. The scripture says,

the angels hearken unto the voice of the Lord. That means they respond to God's word. When you go around saying, Father, thank you that your angels are protecting me. You just gave those angels permission to defend you. And I know growing up, we never left the house without my mother praying Psalm 91 over us. Father, thank you that your angels are watching over my children. Every morning before we went to school, my mother even said, Father, thank you that my children will never break a bone. And do you know, she raised five children. We were all very active.

We all played sports. And only my brother Paul. Just kidding. Not one of us. Even to this day, have we ever broken a bone in our body? And I believe it was in part because my mother got her words lined up with God's word. That's when God dispatches the angels to bring it to pass. No telling how many times I was playing football or playing baseball

and my angel moved somebody out of the way. Thank God, especially if they were bigger than me. My angel softened a hard fall kept me from getting hurt. That's what happens when we believe. Remember one time when I was nine or ten years old, I fell down real hard playing football and I bent my little finger over. Right here at the knuckle, it was going just like that. And I got up and looked at it and thought, man, that's weird.

I took this hand and I popped it right back into place. I never missed a beat, went right back on playing. Never broken a bone, but my finger is a little crooked. The scripture says the angel of the Lord camps round about those that fear him. We need to get in a habit of thanking God every day for his protection. When you send your children to school tomorrow, in your imagination, just picture these huge, powerful warrior standing right beside them. going with them everywhere they go. When you go to bed at night,

Father, thank you that your angels are watching over us while we sleep. That'll help you to rest in peace, even driving on the freeway. Just like the president has those F-16 fighter jets wherever he goes. Just picture a couple of huge angels going before you, guarding you,

slowing down another car, moving your little here, moving you there, keeping you safe and sound. Some of you, by the way you drive, your angels having to work overtime. It's like that minister I told you about. He was driving down the road and he looked down and he veered off, went through a ditch and crashed into a telephone pole. The man behind him pulled over and ran up to him and said, sir, are you okay?

The minister said, yes, I'm fine. The angel of the Lord is with me. The man shook his head and said, you better let him ride with me. You're about to kill him. But learn to thank God for his protection. I remember my little sister, April, when she first got her driver's license, she was stopped at a stop sign, and there was a big truck next to her. They were on the feeder road. They were both going this way, and they were waiting for the cars to clear out. They had the ride away. And this truck next to her pulled forward. And when he did, April thought, well, if he's going, I can go, because he's kind of

blocking me, the problem is the truck slammed on its brakes. He didn't see a big dump truck coming. well April didn't have time to stop. She kept going and that dump truck hit her little car right behind the driver's seat and smashed it to pieces. Had she been a split second later, it would have crushed her as well. Another foot or two, and she probably wouldn't be here today.

I know that wasn't a coincidence. That was the angel of the Lord guarding her, protecting her, rescuing her. Well, you say, Joel, if that was an angel, why didn't he stop the dump truck altogether? Why didn't he keep the accident from happening at all? No, God is not going to deliver us from every adversity. I'm not saying we're going to have a trouble-free life

and never have anything to deal with, but I am saying if you will stay in faith, God will put a shield around you. He'll put a hedge of protection, and he'll make sure you don't leave this earth. He'll make sure you don't go home until it's your time to go home. And I know people that have gone to be with the Lord sooner than I would have liked. You probably know people that have been taken away in accidents,

but I still believe this. God is in complete control. And if he wants you to be here, you're going to be here. If your time is not up, all the forces of darkness cannot take you away. Stay in faith, stay in courage. Thank God every day that he has you in the palm of his hand. Thank him every day that no weapon formed against you will ever prosper. Thank him that those angels are and protecting you and your family. See, when you belong to Christ, there is a bloodline that the enemy cannot cross. In the Old Testament, they put the blood over the doorpost. The death angel had to pass on by. He had no power. But today, when you put the blood over you and your family, the forces of darkness have no power over you. Those that are for you are greater than those

that are against you. One angel in the Old Testament killed 185,000 of the enemies of God. And all over this building right now, there are thousands of these powerful angelic beings guarding, protecting, assisting you and I. Why don't you get your peace back? Why don't you quit worrying about your future and worrying about your children? God has commanded his angels to watch over you. In Hebrews 114, it says that angels, angels are ministering spirits. That simply means they're here to assist us, to help us, even in small things. I remember my grandmother told how one day she was carrying a couple bags of groceries into her house. She was older in life, not quite as strong as she used to be, and she couldn't

get the back door opened. It was a screen door with one of those automatic closures, and she was struggling and struggling, trying not to drop the groceries, and finally she got her elbow in the door and had it open maybe three or four inches. And she said all the sudden the door opened up on its own. She thought one of her neighbors had come up behind her and opened it for her. So she went to the kitchen table, quickly set the groceries down and came right back out to think that person, not 10 or 15 seconds later. She told my father, John, it was the strangest thing. I looked up and down the street. Nobody was around, but I'm telling you, that door opened up on its own. And, and it was the own. And I realize that could have been a coincidence.

It could have been something odd with the closing mechanism up top. But I'm also bold enough to believe it could have been the angel of the Lord assisting her. God is concerned about smaller things. Well, Joel, that was just a coincidence. I'm sure the wind just caught the door just right. Well, it may have been. But I like what somebody said. I never had any coincidences until I started believing.

In other words, if you'll be a believer and not a doubter, you'll have a whole lot more, quote, coincidences. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm going to believe God's watching over me. I'm going to believe God is guarding me. I'm going to believe that he's protecting me, that he's assisting me. That's what the angels have been assigned to do. And, of course, we don't pray to angels. We certainly don't worship angels. They are simply messengers to carry out God's will.

We should always give all praise and glory to God alone. But angels hearken to the voice of the Lord. That means they listen and obey what God says. When you're in a tough situation, learn to speak God's word. When you speak His word, you activate those angels. That's what they respond to. Maybe you're about to make a big presentation to some clients at the office. You need God's favor.

Well, don't go around saying, I'm so nervous. These people are probably not going to like me. I'm not a very good speaker. No, when you need God's favor, just learn to say, Father, you promised that you would surround me with favor like a shield. You said, no good thing would you withhold when I walk up rightly. You said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So I think it right now that you are opening up doors that no man can shut.

When you do that, the angels go to work. they respond to God's word. When you speak it, it's just like God speaking it. Sending your children to school. You want to activate those angels? Father, you promised. When we stayed under the shadow of the Almighty, we wouldn't even dash our foot against a stone.

So I thank you for protecting my children today. That activates the angels. That's what they respond to, God's word. This is why it's so important to not go around speaking negative things over you and your family. you can cancel out what God's trying to do. Well, Joel, I never get any good breaks. And I had a friend that prayed for protection.

He got run over by a truck. Just my luck. It'll probably happen to me. No, change what you're saying, you old negative thing. Do you realize the angels are listening to you? When they hear that kind of talk, they go sit in their lazy boy.

They go take a break. The only thing they respond to is God's word. That's why all through the day, we should be saying, Father, thank you, that you are a shield under me. Thank you that you are fighting my battles for me. Thank you that I am blessed and I cannot be cursed. I'm above only. I'll never be beneath.

You talk like that and the angels perk up. It gets their attention. They say, hey, do you hear God's word? We've been commanded to protect, to assist, to rescue. Let's go to work. See, God's word coming out of our mouth releases supernatural power. Don't fall into that old trap. I'm so concerned about my children, so much going on at school. I just hope they don't fall into the

wrong crowd. Now, when you do that, you're activating the negative. The way to activate God's power is to say, God, I declare, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. You said the seed of the righteous would be mighty on the earth. So I thank you that my children are blessed. I think that they'll choose good friends and that they will fulfill their destiny. When you talk like that, the angels go to work. That activates God's power. I can imagine God saying to them, do you hear what they're saying? Make sure their child doesn't run with the wrong crowd. I've got to back up my word. So those angels go to work guarding your child. A bad influence is coming down the hallway at school. The angel says, hey, let's move him over here. Speed him up here, slow him down over there,

constantly at work, guarding, protecting, assisting. Now I believe one of the reasons we don't see more of this is we're talking the wrong way. Well, Joel, I got some loved ones over in Iraq. It's so dangerous over there. I'm just so worried. They're not going to make it back home. No, you've got to quit talking like that. Quit thinking like that. When you're tempted to worry, when you're tempted to be negative, learn to just turn it around. Father, thank you that you have my loved one in the palm of your hand. And you said no man can snatch him away. You said you would be our shield, our fortress, our tower of safety. You said the number of our days you would fulfill. So Father, my trust, my confidence, my hope, it's in you, the true and the living God. When you do that,

the angels go to work. I want you to have a greater peace today. I want you to quit worrying about everything and just learn to relax and really enjoy your life. I had a mother tell me last week, Joel, I'm almost too afraid to send my children to school. But we have to get out of that fearful mindset. God is in control. His angels are watching over your children. And it's good to use common sense. It's good to do what you can, but at some point we have to trust God to do what we can. Now, our attitude should be, God, my life is in your hands. Now, I believe because I'm under the shadow of the Almighty that you are protecting and guarding our family everywhere we go today. that's all we can do, commit our lives into God's hands, and then go out in faith, knowing that God is in control, knowing that he will do what we can't do.

I heard a story about a young lady late at night. She was leaving class and walking through the parking lot to her car. It was very dark and not many people around. And all of a sudden, these three men stepped out. They had been hiding behind some cars. They were about 40 or 50 feet away, and her heart just froze. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to turn and run, but she knew she didn't have a chance. And so she just stood there and prayed underneath her breath. The men continued coming toward her. And even though in the natural, she was afraid,

she told how deep down on the inside she had this overwhelming peace. Something kept telling her, everything is going to be okay. And when those men got just 10 or 15 feet away, suddenly they stopped. Their eyes got real big. Terror came across their face. They started backing up very slowly, very carefully. Finally, they turned around and took off running. She knew that God had supernaturally protected her,

but she didn't really know what had happened. In a few days, they caught one of those men, and he admitted that they were going to harm her. They were going to assault her. but when they got up close to her, he said, this huge warrior appeared. I'll never forget. He used the word warrior, and he went on to describe it. He said, it stood over 10 feet tall. And he talked about its physique and how its arms and legs and chest were rippling with muscles and how its face was radiating with so much light. You could hardly even look at it. He described how its sword was drawn.

looked to be over six feet in length. He had a sword here, a shield here, and he was standing right over that young lady. She only came up to his waist, but it was like the angel was saying, come on, make my day. I dare you to touch her. I dare you to lay a finger on her.

Friends, you are not alone. You too have these powerful, warring angels surrounding you everywhere you go. And in our times of danger, when we don't know what to do, we can stay in peace knowing that we have God's supernatural protection. About a month ago, there was a story on the news about a teenage girl. She had driven her car into some high water on a flooded street. It was during one of the real bad rains in another city.

And she ended up stranded in the car. The water was rising so fast. In just a few minutes, it was at the top of her hood. Now she couldn't open the door. The pressure was too much. She had not rolled the windows down. They were electric. Now she couldn't get them down.

And on top of this, she didn't know how to swim. It was heartbreaking to watch. They were showing it on the news. And this one man swam out there, and he did his best. He tried and tried to break that window open. Struggled and struggled. But the current was just too strong. He couldn't do it.

And the car was just slowly floating down the road. And in just a few seconds, it seemed like slow motion, the front of the car tilted forward, and then the whole thing went under water. And my heart sunk. I thought, man, this young lady is not going to make it. About that time, another man jumped in the water and swam over there like he was Superman. Somehow he found the car underwater and he went to work. Ten or 15 seconds later, you could see the young girl's arm coming up out of the water.

And I thought to myself, being the great man of faith that I am, how in the world, did he get that window open? A few seconds later, he pulled her whole body out, helped her to the shore, and she was perfectly fine, walked off on her own two feet. And if that wasn't amazing enough, a few minutes later, a wrecker pulled the car out of the water, and much to their surprise,

they discovered that the window was not rolled down. None of the other windows were broken. The doors had not been open. The newscaster was sitting there dumbfounded. He said, I don't know. You figure that one out. I can tell you what it was. It was the angel of the Lord rescuing her,

guarding her, protecting her. If God wants you out, he will get you out. He doesn't have to have an open window. He can part a red sea. He can close the mouths of lines. He'll be with you in that fiery furnace. Friends, those that are for us are greater than those that are against us.

When the enemy comes in like a flood, God will raise up a barrier. Now I want your faith to be strong. you are not alone. You've got these powerful warriors all around you. Don't live in fear. Don't activate the negative by speaking negative, thinking negative. Activate those angels by speaking God's word. Thank him every day that he's got you in the palm of his hand. Thank him that he is watching over you and your children. If you do this, God promises you won't even dash your foot against the stone. Because you're under the shadow of the Almighty, you'll have his supernatural protection,

His angels will watch over you, and I know you'll live the life of victory God has in store. Amen. Do you receive it today? I know you do. 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 and your. You got born and your. You. You're going to your. You're going. You. You're going to my Lord and Savior. Friends, friends, if you pray you've got born and your. You. Friends, you're 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. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do.

This is the first Bible that my parents gave me. I was six years old. They taught me the importance of believing what God says about you and letting that determine yourself image. Now, how through the scripture you can learn to handle challenges and pursue your dreams. Some people tell me that the Bible's not practical for them, how they don't understand it. We've created a new resource called How to Read Your Bible and Enjoy it. It provides 12 distinct lenses that will help you see the Bible with fresh eyes

so you can discover the hidden treasures that increase your faith, practical truths that will help you in your everyday life. When you tap into the power of God's Word, there's no limit to where he'll take you. As our way of saying thank you for your gift of any size to the ministry this month, Joel would like to send you this inspiring new resource. Sometimes reading the Bible can feel confusing, out of touch, or even produce more fear than faith. But now, with this new resource, how to read your Bible and enjoy it,

it will make the Word of God come alive in new ways. You'll discover fresh inspiration on every page of your Bible. The 12 lenses give you the Bible, give you the Word of God, give you the power to see the scripture in a whole new light. When you experience the right way to approach God's word, it will ignite renewed passion in your life. When you get God's word down in you, it brings life and victory. This has a great Bible reading plan, plus introductions to each book. It'll help you enjoy reading the Bible. Thanks so much for being a part of the ministry. Victoria and I pray for you and your family every day, and we appreciate your prayers and

support. Remember, you can watch the services online every Sunday morning, download our daily podcast, watch on YouTube, or we have a new Joel Osteen Television Network 24 hours a day, and of course, Sirius XM as well. Until we see you next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you. Be sure to request your copy of How to Read Your Bible and enjoy it. Today, visit joelosteen.com or call 888-567 Joel. Call or click anytime. 24 hours a day.