Joel Osteen Podcast - Making Good Decisions | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: November 22, 2024

Making good choices is the key to living a successful life. God wants to give you the guidance you need for every area of 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 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. Well, God bless you. It's a joy to come into your homes. We're praying for very good things in your life. If you're ever in our area, I hope you'll stop by and see us.

We give you a personal invitation. I promise you, we'll make you feel right at home. but thanks so much for tuning in today. I like to get started each week with something kind of funny. And I heard about one day Adam was feeling very lonely. And God said, Adam, I'm going to make you a companion. It's going to be called a woman. This person will cook for you.

She'll wash your clothes. She'll bear your children and not ask you to get up in the middle of the night. She'll never nag you. And even if you do have a disagreement, she'll be the first to admit that she was wrong. Adam said, wow, God, what will a woman like this cost? And God said, an arm and a leg. And Adam said, what can I get for a rib? And the rest is history.

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 making good decisions and how to stay on God's best plan for your life. If there's one thing we all need, it's direction. People say to me all the time, Joel, I don't know what I should do. Should I take this new job?

Should I go further in this relationship? Should I confront this person at work? How should I deal with this problem? We all need wisdom to make good choices. I heard somebody say, we make our decisions, and then our decisions make us. And if we can learn to make good choices, we're going to have a successful life. And the good news is, God wants to give us wisdom. It says in Proverbs that he will help us find the right course of action every time.

Now some of the time, all of the time. But here's the key. if God's going to lead us, if he's going to give us this direction, then we have to listen to what he's saying. God speaks to every one of us. Too often we don't realize it. You can be reading the scripture and a verse jumps out at you. That's God talking to you. You can be talking to a friend and they say one thing that gives you insight. They may not have even realized they said it, but God used them to give you direction. A common way God speaks to you, us is by peace. You're about to make a decision and all of a sudden you feel an unrest and uneasiness

down in here. That's God telling you to hold off. It's either not the right time or it's something that you shouldn't do altogether. But if we can be sensitive and learn to really be aware of what God is saying to us, then we'll make good choices in life. And the scripture says here in Psalm 32 verse 8, God will guide us along the best pathway for our lives. That means there's an okay pathway where we're getting along, we're doing all right, but then there's a best pathway. That's when we're prospering. That's when we're happy.

That's when we're really fulfilling our destiny. But if God is going to lead us, again, we have to do our part and be listening. Too often our lives are so noisy. We're so busy. Things are so hectic that we can't really hear the still small voice. We need to learn to get quiet. Every day, we need some downtime, not only physically, but mentally. We're not going to make good decisions if we're out of balance. I see too many people making emotional decisions. They let people and circumstances pressure them into making poor choices. or sometimes we just want something so badly, even though we know down in here it's not God's best,

we override that and do it anyway. Then we wonder why we have issues to deal with. Well, it's because we didn't take time to get quiet. We didn't listen to what God was trying to say to us. And one thing that I've learned that's really helped me in my life is I will never move forward unless I have peace. If there's an unrest down in here, no matter how great the opportunity looks, I'm going to pass. Well, Joel, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance they're offering me.

They've got to know by tomorrow morning. No, those are pressure tactics. Most likely, those lead to poor decisions. We don't make good choices when our emotions are real high or real low. We've got to get back in balance. You see it all the time on television. When they're selling something, they try to stir our emotions. emotions up. If you'll call in the next two minutes, you'll get a free abbuster with that super duper

bun burner. Our emotions get wrought up. I've got to have one. No, anytime we feel pressure, best thing we can do is just step away. Get alone. Get quiet for a few minutes. Search your heart. See what you're feeling down in here. If you don't have peace, don't move forward. Know this. There will always be another opportunity. I know over the last three years, I have a lot of I had really been praying about having a leadership conference. My father used to have those. And I knew at one point we should be doing it, but I just didn't really have peace about it. I knew it wasn't the right time. But then finally it all came together and we announced that we were going to have one and a lot of people signed up. And maybe eight or nine months before the

conference, some of our staff said, Joel, we need to get together to come up with a plan, come up with the program so we can print some material and let people know what we're going to be doing. But it seemed like every time I went to meet on that conference, I didn't have clear direction. I knew we were supposed to do the conference. I felt good about that, but I didn't know exactly what we were supposed to do during it. And I was just real honest. I said, you know what, guys, I don't have good direction. We're just going to have to wait. And really, I didn't worry about it. I didn't lose any sleep. I thought, God, you're in control, and I know you'll give me wisdom at the right time. Do you know eight days before the conference,

We still did not have an official plan. But I woke up that morning and it was just as clear as day. I knew exactly what we were supposed to do. The point I'm making is you don't have to be pressured into making a decision. If you'll just stay in peace, God is faithful. He'll never let you down. He will lead you. He will guide you.

He will show you exactly what you need to do. One of the mistakes I see people making, they feel like they have to come up with an answer. And it's this pressure that gets us into trouble. I remember my father when he had a problem or a situation that he didn't really have an answer to. He would say, I'm going to put this up on the shelf and just pray about it. He didn't let it bother him. He didn't lose his peace. And it's amazing how many times those problems had a way of working themselves out.

They just needed a little time. And some of you today, rather than trying to figure something out and making a a hasty, emotional decision, you need to just put that up on the shelf. Pray over it a little while. Ask for God's guidance. Let him go to work on it. Over time, he will give you a clear direction. But don't be in a hurry. It's much better to wait than it is to make a bad decision. Now, I've found sometimes the best decision we could make is that we are going to decide not to decide. In other words, I'm not going to let this pressure me into making a decision. A lot of times I'll just set another date in my mind, okay, I need to make this decision, but one week from now,

I'll come back and look at it. That takes all the pressure off of me. Now I can relax. I don't have to think about it every minute. I don't have to make a decision that I'm not comfortable with. When that week rolls around, I'll pray about it again. I'll get advice from wise people. I'll search my heart one more time. And if I still don't have peace, then I'll put it off even longer. And I realize if I missed the opportunity, then it wasn't meant to be. God has something better in store, but I'm not going to move forward without clear direction. And it's interesting, if you'll wait, if you'll really be patient, let God do it in his timing, many times the answers will become clear. In other words, a door will close or something better

will come along. But be patient. Don't move forward unless you have peace. And we need to learn to not make decisions when we're tired. When you've had a long day at the office, fault the traffic, dealt with the children, that's not the time to make important decisions. Just put it on hold. Go to bed, get a good night's rest, get up in the morning fresh, and then pray about it. Go out and exercise. Make sure that your mind is clear. We don't make good decisions when our mind is cluttered when we're stressed when we're overly tired. Another important principle is you should not let your dreams and desires become so strong that you cannot be happy without them. I've seen people that have such a strong desire to get

married, a strong desire to have a baby, strong desire to get a promotion. It just consumes them. rather than in joy in their life, trusting God to bring it to pass, it totally frustrates them. But that's out of balance. It says in the book of Psalms that if we will delight ourselves in the Lord, he will give us the desires of our heart. You don't have to make that happen. Don't seek your desires, just delight yourself in the Lord. That means keep God first place. Keep a good attitude. Keep being a blessing to other people. When you, you do that at the right time, God's promised, he will bring those desires to pass. But sometimes we can almost let a dream become an idol where we're pursuing our dreams

more than we're pursuing our relationship with God. I talked to a lady the other day, and she was so consumed with having a baby. She and her husband had been trying for a couple of years, and that's great. I prayed with her. I encouraged her. But she was so upset and so frustrated. Finally, I said, ma'am, you need to just relax and let God give you the desires of your heart. In other words, you don't have to make it happen. You need to take time to smell the roses right now. Enjoy your husband today. If you're single, don't get so consumed with getting married that you can't be happy right where you are. Enjoy being single. But when we let our desires get out of balance, even if they're good things, even if God put them there, many things, many

times if we're not careful, we'll try to start making them happen on our own. I've seen people marry somebody that they didn't really feel peace about just because the desire was so strong. I've had pastor friends that have a big vision, a dream to touch their city. They're gifted, they're talented, but rather than just enjoying their life knowing that God's taking them there one step at a time, it frustrates them. They get down and discouraged because it's not happening as fast as would like. Many times they end up giving up on those dreams. But understand, anytime God puts a dream or desire in our heart, he also gives us the ability to wait patiently for it. You need to get back in balance. Get your peace back at the right time. God is going to give you your desires. Really,

our attitude should be, God, I believe you put this dream in my heart. But God, I know, you know what's best for me, and even if it doesn't happen on my timetable, the way I had hoped, I'm still not going to live upset and frustrated. God, I know you're in control, and at the right time, you will give me the desires of my heart. Some of you today, you just need to turn your dreams and desires over to God. As long as you're allowing them to frustrate you, there's a good chance you're going to try to make it all happen on your own. And that always gets us out of God's best plan. I remember one time years ago, I came across what seemed to be a once in a lifetime opportunity. I was so excited about it. I didn't pray. I didn't take time to get quiet to see what

I felt down in here. I was on cloud nine, an emotional high. And I went to work trying to make it happen. I convinced other people and got it all lined up. But over the next couple of months, while we were waiting for it all to come together, twice, a person whom I really respect said to me, Joel, I just don't feel good about this. I feel like something is not right. And I did my best to convince him otherwise and let him know that it was all going to be right. But that whole time, deep down in here, if I was really honest with myself, if I got past the emotion and the excitement, I could feel some unrest, some checks. But the problem was my desire was so strong, man, I could taste this thing. We were so close to it. And so I just overrode what I was

feeling down in here. And we went ahead with that project. And what's interesting is it wasn't a failure. It wasn't a big mistake. But it never took off like it should have. Afterwards, we found some things that really hindered the progress. And it ended up being a strain. It ended up drain in our time and energy. It never really flourished. That's what happens. when we get impatient and we try to make things happen on our own, we have to settle for second death. And through that situation, I learned that no matter how great the opportunity looks to me, no matter how high my emotions go, if I have this unrest, I don't want it. It may be good, but it's not good for me. And I want to stay in God's best plan for my life. God is trying

to lead us. He wants to guide us. But my question to me, us today, are we listening? Are we paying attention to the still small voice? Or have we let our desires consume us? Now we're making emotional decisions and trying to make things happen in our own strength. We have to understand. God will give us the grace to do what he's called us to do. He will not necessarily give us the grace to do things that we start in our own strength. That's when it's a constant struggle. And if we can just learn to be disciplined to not go against what we're feeling down in here, I know God will keep us from making mistakes. Looking back now, I can see how many warnings I ignored. God tried time and time again to get my attention. He tried speaking to me

through other people. But you know what? I was too hard-headed. I was set on having it my way. That always gets us into trouble. God wants to lead us, but he's not going to drag us. He's not going to force us to do what's right. You know what I pray every day now? God, open up the right doors and close the wrong doors. I've found it's just as important to discern, is this opportunity good for me, or is this just another distraction that's going to keep me off of God's best plan? And sometimes, you know, we think we can't turn an opportunity down. Joel, she's just so beautiful. He's so handsome.

But know this. If you have an unrest, that simply means God has something better in store for you. I tried to make that other plan work out. I thought that's what I'd be doing the rest of my life. I never dreamed I would be doing this. But God can see the big picture. His dream for our life is so much bigger than our own. Learn to trust him.

Get in a habit of saying, God, do you want me to go forward? Is this something do you want? want me to do, and then pay attention to what you're feeling down in here. Many times, you'll have a green light. You'll feel peace. That means go for it and give it your all. But some of you today, you're letting your dreams and desires frustrate you. You need to just turn that over to God. Know that at the right time, he's going to give you the desires of your heart. But don't do like I did and get in a hurry and try to convince yourself and everybody else that it's right. When you know deep down in here, it's not. Don't override those warnings.

Many times it's simply not the right time. I remember about five years ago, I had a strong desire to write a book. I hadn't told anybody about it. I just kept it to myself. But I knew that was a dream that God put on the inside. But it seemed like every time I tried to move forward, I didn't have peace about it. Month after month went by, even year after year. I just kept it on the inside. The desire was strong, but I'd learned by that point to wait for God's perfect timing. And over the next couple of years, several publishers came by, and in the natural, it seemed like they had real good opportunities. But again, for some reason down in here, I didn't have peace about it. And in my own reasoning, I thought, God, I've got this desire.

You're bringing good people across my path. Why do I have this unrest? Why do I feel like I can't move forward. And at times, I tried to talk myself into it. I thought, well, you know what? I'm probably just being overly cautious. I'm just kind of nervous probably because I've never done one before. But still, when I searched my heart, I knew it wasn't right. Well, one day, a couple of years later, I was in another city and I ran into an old friend of mine. He mentioned that he was going to run up to a conference the next day. And he asked me if I would ride with him. And I went with them just to visit and catch up on old times. I wasn't even planning on going in. He was just going to pick up. He's just going to pick up something. But when we got there, he said, oh yeah, Joel, come in with me. It's just going to

take me 10 or 15 minutes. And it was at that place that I met a man that was very knowledgeable in the book industry. And I really liked him. Didn't talk to him five minutes, but I had a complete peace. I knew he was the man and these were the people to go with. A few months later, I had a contract on my desk. Things started falling into place. I didn't have to make it happen. I didn't have to struggle, God gave me the desires of my heart. And I know if you'll be patient and wait for God's timing, he'll do the same thing for each one of you. You know, I never dreamed my book would sell like it did. They said if we sold 30 or 40,000 copies, we would have hit a home run. Do you know today there are over 4 million copies in print? And it continues to sell. And I don't say that bragging on me. The point I'm making

is God's dream for your life is so much bigger than your own. He wants to get you into his best path. Be patient. Ask for his guidance and then listen to what he's saying to you. Every one of you can hear from God. It's not some big super spiritual thing. Just pay attention to what you're feeling down in here. Somebody says something to you that jumps out at you,

gives your wisdom, gives you insight. Don't think, wow, isn't that funny? I was just thinking about that. No, that's God talking to you. God speaks to us through other people. How many times have people come up to me after the service and said, Joel, you must have read my mail this week. You must have been in our living room. That's exactly what we needed to hear. Well, that was God talking to you. I've had people come up and say, Joel, I really like when you said this and this. That really helped me. And I'm thinking to myself, I never even said that. But God caused them to hear that. And if you, you're not, you you'll stay open, if you'll stay open to God's wisdom, he'll make sure you hear exactly what you need

to hear. It's like this friend of mine, he was going through a very dark time in his life. He was down and discouraged. He didn't think it would ever end. And one morning early, he was praying. He just said, God, you got to speak to me. I need some encouragement. He went over and opened up his Bible and flipped to it and just pointed to a scripture. First thing he read was, and it came to pass. That just jumped out at him. It wasn't even in the right context. The scripture was about to tell a story and it came to pass. So and so happened, yet God illuminated that one little phrase. And he knew right then and there that that situation was not going to last forever. It had come to pass. And no doubt every one of us, we've probably done the same thing. We've opened it up,

put our finger there, and God's spoken a word to us. Of course, that doesn't happen every time. This one man told how he was really down and he flipped in his Bible and he pointed. And he and the first thing he read was, and Judas went out and hanged himself. He got real, real nervous, and he flipped to another passage, and he pointed, and it said, go and do thou likewise. May not always work. But the scripture says in Proverbs, if we will acknowledge God, he will guide and direct our steps. When you have a decision to make, and you take time to get quiet, you listen to the still, small voice,

You ask for God's wisdom. You know what you're doing? You're acknowledging God. When you do that, God has promised to guide you. He's promised to even keep you from making major mistakes. One time in the Old Testament, Abraham and his family were moving to another city. And Abraham's wife, Sarah, was a very beautiful woman. And Abraham thought that the people may try to kill him to have his wife.

So he told everybody that Sarah was his sister instead of his wife. When the king saw how beautiful Sarah was, he took her into his harem. One night in a dream, God said to this king, how dare you have a married woman in here? And the king said, God, what are you talking about? I would never do that. And God revealed how Sarah was really Abraham's wife. Then God said something very interesting to this king. He said, because of the integrity of your heart, I have kept you from touching her. In other words, because your heart was pure, because you were trying to please me, I have kept you from making a major mistake. That's the key. If we can keep our heart pure, if you will do your best to do what's

right, even when we make mistakes, even when we miss it, and we all do, because of the integrity of your heart, God will keep it from harming you. He'll keep it from doing lasting damage. I know that's what happened when we tried to buy that property to build a new sanctuary on. I found this big piece of land. I felt peace about it. I thought I was doing the right thing. But God knew that wasn't his best. He knew this place was coming and available. And rather than allowing the deal to go through, rather than allowing us to buy it and have our money tied up, now we've got to go try to sell it so we can get this place, I believe, because of the integrity of our heart, God closed that door. He kept that from happening. Sometimes we don't know what the best thing is. We think we're making the right decision.

We have good intentions, but God loves us too much to allow us to have our way. If we'll keep our heart pure, he'll keep us from making a mistake. Now, every time I'm about to take a step of faith, make a major decision, I'll say, God, I believe to the best of my ability, I'm doing what you want me to do. God, I believe this is your will. So I'm asking you, God, because of the integrity of my heart, keep me from making a mistake. That takes all the pressure off of me. Now I can relax. See, we're not supposed to go around worried, wondering if we made the right decision, beating ourselves up when something went wrong. No, if you had peace about it and you took a step of faith and it didn't work out, well, God knows what's best. Don't condemn yourself.

And don't go around second guessing yourself. I hear too many people saying, well, Joel, maybe I just shouldn't have taken this job. Maybe I missed it. Maybe I shouldn't have married this person. Maybe I shouldn't have gone back to school. No, once you make a decision, you need to move forward. It says in James, a double-minded person is unstable in all their ways. If you're always second-guessing yourself, beating yourself up because something didn't work out,

that's going to affect you in every area of your life. When you have a decision to make, just do your best. Search your heart. Make sure it lines up with God's word. ask for godly counsel if you need it. And then if you still feel good about it, move forward and don't ever look back. Even if it doesn't work out, don't go around

condemning yourself. God is a God of hearts. Because you did it with the right heart, even when you miss it, God is so good, he'll still turn it around and use it to your advantage. And I don't know any person that makes good decisions

100% of the time. When we make mistakes, we can learn from them. We can grow in our character, but we should not condemn ourselves. Let it go and do better next time. Friends, you can make good choices. Let God guide you throughout life. Listen to what he's saying to you. Pay attention to what you're feeling down in here. Take time every day, especially when you have to make decisions to get quiet before God. And learn not to let people pressure you. Don't make emotional decisions. And don't let your dreams consume you to where you can't be happy unless they come to pass. let God give you the desires of your heart.

I know this. If you'll acknowledge God before you make decisions, God is promised. He'll not only give you wisdom, he'll not only help you find the right choice, but he'll lead you down the best path. And I know you'll live the life of victory God has in store. Amen.

Do you receive it today? We'd 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. Well, if you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. Get in a good Bible-based church and 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 believe in what God says about you and letting that determine your self-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 and 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'll 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 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, read it. 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 jolosteen.com or call 888-567, Joel. Call or click anytime, 24 hours a day.