Joel Osteen Podcast - Pit Praisers

Episode Date: January 7, 2018

Anyone can give God praise when they’re on the mountaintop, but will you praise Him in the valley? Psalm 34:1, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise will continually be in my mouth.” That means in the good times and in the tough times. In this message, learn how to develop an attitude of gratitude regardless of the circumstances. As you do, you will experience God’s presence in your life in greater ways! 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 come into your homes. 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 one day this young man was talking to God. And he said, God, what's a million years like to you? God said, a million years to me is like one second to you.

He said, well, God, what's a million dollars like to you? God said, a million dollars like to you. God said a million dollars to me is like one penny to you. He thought about it a moment. He said, God, will you give me a penny? God said, sure, just a second. 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 pit praisers. It's easy to give God praise when things are going good. That doesn't take much faith. But what about when business slows down?

Somebody does us wrong. The medical report says we're not going to get better. We all have times where we feel like we're in the pits. Life has thrown us a curve. It's easy to get discouraged and go around negative. We think when it turns around, then I'll have a good attitude. When my health improves, then I'll be grateful. When I get out of this mess, Joel, when I break this addiction, then I'll get my joy back. But that's backwards. You have to give God praise first. Praise is what causes things to turn around. Praise is what breaks bondages that are holding us back. Praise activates God's favor. Don't wait until you get out of the pit, be a pit praiser. Praise him in spite of what hasn't worked out. Praise him in spite of what you lost. Any of us can give God praise when we're on the mountaintop. The real test is will you

praise him in the valley? Will you worship him in the wilderness? Will you shout when the walls aren't falling? Will you be a pit praiser? This is what Joseph had to do. When he was a young man, God gave him a dream that one day he would rule a nation that his brothers would bow down before him. He was excited. He knew God's favorite was on his life. He should have been more discreet and kept it to himself, but he went around telling people.

His brothers didn't like the fact that they were going to bow down. They were already jealous because Joseph was the youngest son and his father's favorite child. And one day Joseph's father asked him to go check on his brother. They were in another city taking care of the sheep. When they saw Joseph coming, they thought this is our chance to get rid of Joseph. We'll tell our father that he was eaten by a wild animal. They grabbed Joseph and threw him into a pit, a deep well.

They were going to leave him there to die. But when God puts a promise in your heart, people can't stop you. Bad breaks can't stop you, betrayal, rejection. People don't have the final. will say, God does. But the dream God put in you is not going to come to pass without opposition. There will be times it's not fair. It doesn't make sense. Don't get bitter. It's all a part of God's plan. It looks like a setback. The truth is, it's a set up to move you into your destiny. The key is what you do when you're in the pit. When life has taken an unexpected turn,

A relationship didn't work out. You lost a loved one. A bad medical report. It's tempting to get sour, go around complaining, talking about how it's not going to work out. All that's going to do is keep you in the pit. Joseph's brothers were up having lunch while he was in the pit. They saw this caravan of Ishmaelites headed their way.

One of the brothers named Judah said, what does it profit us to kill Joseph? Let's sell him. let's make some money. They brought Joseph out of the pit and sold him as a slave to the Ishmaelites. What's interesting is the name

Judah, the brother that saved Joseph's life, means praise. God was showing us praise protects the dream. The other brothers were saying, let's kill him, let's leave him here to die, but praise rose up and said, no, we're going to let him live. Praise changed

the opposition's mind. Praise push back the forces of darkness. When you're in the pit, don't complain. Turn up your praise. You have to protect your dream. The way you do it is by having Judah show up. Father, thank you that you are fighting my battles. Yes, this is a big problem, but I know you're a big God.

You flung stars into space. Nothing's too difficult for you. The scripture says, the spirit of faith is in our words. what kind of words are coming out of your mouth. Are you talking about how big your problem is? Are you talking about how big your God is? Are you complaining about the pit, focused on what wasn't fair, on who did you wrong?

You have to wake up Judah. Judah is in you. You're waiting for someone else to deliver you, someone to pray for you, someone to cheer you up. You can deliver yourself. If you'll get Judah up and start thanking you. thanking God that he's turning it around. Not complaining about the medical report, but thanking him that he's restoring health back into you. Not discouraged over finances, but thanking him that you

will lend and not borrow. When God sees you praising him in the pit, praising him in the loss, praising him in the storm, that's what he calls the sacrifice of praise. He knows it's not easy. He knows it wasn't fair. He knows they did you wrong. He knows you felt like quitting. But when you praise him in the pit, that moves God in a greater way. The sacrifice of praise carries more weight. It's one thing to be grateful when things are going our way. That's important. We should do that. But when you have a song in your heart, when every circumstance says you should be discouraged, when you can say, God, I bless you in spite of what hasn't worked out, get ready for God to show out in your life.

David said, God lifted me out of the pit and set my feet upon a rock. You may be in the pit, but you're not going to stay there. You've heard that saying, you can't keep a good man down. Let me tell you, you can't keep a praiser down. Anyone can complain. Anyone can be discouraged. But God is looking for some pit praisers. People that will praise him no matter what happens.

praise him in the good times, praise them in the tough times. Praise them when business is up, praise them when it's down. David said, I'll bless the Lord at all times. His praise will continually be in my mouth. This is what Paul and Silas did in the scripture. They were falsely accused and put in prison for sharing good news. They could have been bitter, complain. God, why did you let this happen?

We were doing the right thing. Instead, they were pit praisers. midnight, in the dungeon, they started singing praises and thanking God. Suddenly, there was a great earthquake. The foundation of the prison was shaken. The doors flung open. They walked out as free men. When God heard the praises coming from the jail, I can imagine he turned to Gabriel and said, Gabriel, if they're going to praise me in the pit, if they're going to sing in the midnight hour, If they're going to offer up the sacrifice of praise, I can't just sit back. I'm going to go down there and do something about it.

The scripture says in Zeppaniah, the Lord your mighty warrior is with you. He will take delight in you and rejoice over you with singing. When you give God praise in the difficult times, when you sing in the midnight hour, the Lord, your mighty warrior, not a weak God, not a lacking God, not a limited God, but the all-powerful creator of the universe will not only take delight in you, but he will start singing over you. When God sings, prison doors open. Addictions are broken.

Depression can't stay. Poverty and lack have to go. God will get you to where you're supposed to be. But when we're in the pits, it's easy to have a pity party. Think why did this happen? I prayed. My loved one didn't make it. My relationship didn't work out.

My house was damaged in the storm. You're right where Joseph was. Doing the right thing and the wrong thing happened. You're right where Paul and Silas were honoring God and were thrown into a pit. You can either get negative, bitter, or you can become a pit praiser. You can thank God, not for the pit, but thank him that he's bringing you out. Don't thank him for the problem. Thank him that he's turning it around.

But we're not going to understand. everything God is doing. There are times, like with Joseph, the pit has been ordained by God. We don't like it, but the pit is on the road to our destiny. God's plan for Joseph's life was to rule Egypt, not Israel. His brothers were ordained to betray him. He was ordained to be sold as a slave, ordained to work for Potipher, a high-ranking military officer. That was all a part of the plan to get him to Egypt. And sometimes life is not going to make sense. You're doing the right thing, but it's not working out.

You have to trust that God is still in control, that he knows what he's doing, that he will not mismanage your life. God has already planned the end from the beginning, but he never promised that we would understand everything that happens along the way. In fact, he said, my ways are not your ways. He let us know right up front, it's not always going to make sense. This is what faith is all about. When God gave Joseph that dream, it showed him up and his brothers down.

But when the brothers threw him into the pit, he was down and his brothers were up. It's just the opposite. He could have thought, God, I must have heard you wrong. This is backwards. He could have complained, been bitter. Instead, his attitude was, God, I trust you. You said my steps are ordered by you, so wherever you have me, I'm going to be the best that I can be. You never read where Joseph complained, where he was bitter, where he slacked off.

I can imagine in the pit thoughts said to him, where is your God now? This dream is never going to come to pass. The pit was simply a test. God was seeing, will you trust me when you don't understand? Will you praise me in the pit when it doesn't make sense? And praise is not just words, it's our attitude. We're grateful. We have a smile. We're being good to people. We're passionate about our dreams. The scripture says our life is a praise to God. When you're a pit praiser, you can be in the pit and nobody around you, knows it. You're not sour. You don't have a chip on your shoulder. You've learned this secret to bless the Lord at all times. Joseph said in effect, this pit is not going to stop my praise. I know it's a part

of the process. God wouldn't have allowed it if he didn't have a purpose. So it's not going to take my joy. I'm going to be a pit praiser. I can hear him when he was in the pit. His brother's up having lunch. Father, thank you that nothing can snatch me out of your hands. You being for me, I know, is greater than the whole world being against me. As he kept thanking God, his brother named Judah, the one that means praise, suddenly had an idea. Let's not harm Joseph. Let's sell them to these people. That wasn't his idea. God gave him that idea. When you're giving God praise, he's fighting your battles, giving people ideas, putting thoughts in their minds, causing them to want to be good to you. But what if Joseph wasn't a pit praiser? What if he'd been negative, bitter? Maybe he'd stayed in the

pit. Maybe he would have missed his destiny. When you're in the pit, it's a test. Are you going to get discouraged, bitter? Or are you going to protect your dream through praise? Are you going to wake up Judah. Because sometimes like with Joseph, what God promised us looks just the opposite. God said he's restoring health back to you, but the medical report says you're not going to get

better. God says your whole family is going to serve him. Maybe you have children that are far off course. Don't get discouraged by what's not lining up. It's not over. God is still working. Behind the scenes, things are happening

that you cannot see. Keep thanking God that is on the way. In car racing, when a car is low on fuel or they need new tires, they'll come in for a pit stop. When they pull into the pit, the team goes to work to get it refueled and prepared for the rest of the race. In the same way, the pit stops in our life are not the end. When we're in the pits, a difficult time, we had a bad break. God uses that pit stop to refuel us and get us prepared for the next season of our life. And the way to get refueled is through your praise by finding something to be grateful for,

not dwelling on what's wrong, but thanking God for what's right. Not focused on what you lost, but thanking God for what you have left. You may feel like you're in the pits. You have a good reason to be discouraged. Have a new perspective. You're in a time of refreshing, re-energizing, refueling. Without a few pit stops, we wouldn't be prepared for the rest of our journey. The problem is some people make the pit stop their home.

They lose their passion, get discouraged. Why did this happen to me? I was doing so well. It's just a pit stop. I don't know anyone that's fulfilled their destiny without a few pit stops. The heroes of faith, David, Moses, Abraham, Ruth, Esther, Sarah, they all had pit stops. My challenge is don't get stuck in the pit. It's a pit stop, not a pit end, not a pit finish, not a pit, it's over and done.

Your life is not supposed to end in defeat, in a bad break, in disappointment. God has victory in front of you. Well, Joel, I'm in a big pit. And you need to have big praise, big faith, big dreams. Don't believe that lie that where you are is permanent. God did not breathe life into you, crown you with favor, put royal blood in your veins for you to live in the pits. The pits are temporary, but you have to do your part and praise your way out of the pit.

The right attitude is, Father, thank you, that this pit is just to stop. It's not my final destination. Thank you that you're making a way where I don't see a way, that what was meant to stop me is going to promote me. If you'll stay full of praise, keep thanking God, keep encouraging yourself, you'll not only come out of the pit, you'll come out stronger into new levels, new relationships,

new opportunities. After the pit is promotion. After the pit is favor. After the pit is the palace. Joseph went on to see his dream come to pass. There were a lot of twist and turns. It was a winding road, but he kept moving forward and fulfilled his destiny. But had he not been willing to praise in the pit, he would have never made it to the palace.

Could it be that a lack of praise is keeping you out of your palace, so to speak? You're waiting for things to turn around. Then you'll have a good attitude. Then you'll be grateful. you have to give God praise in the pit. That's what allows him to take you into the palace, into a new level of your destiny. In Matthew 15, Jesus had just left Galilee

when a Canaanite woman came up to him. The Canaanites were idol worshippers. They were Gentiles. They didn't believe in Jehovah. For a lady to approach him like that in that day was unusual because the women were taught to stay in the background. This lady traveled a great distance, said to Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me, my little girl is so sick. Jesus ignored her, didn't say a word, acted like she wasn't there.

And this was unusual because Jesus was normally so compassionate. The lady kept begging and begging, please come heal my daughter, so much so that the disciples asked Jesus, can we send her away? Can we tell her to leave? she's bothering us with all of her begging. Jesus finally told her why he was ignoring her. He said, ma'am, I was sent to help the house of Israel, not the Gentiles. He was saying, I'm sorry, but you're not a part of our family. I feel badly, but I can't take what belongs to the Israelites and give it to you.

This lady had everything going against her. She was a Gentile. She was an idol worshipper. was a woman. But when she said, son of David, have mercy on me, she was saying, I know you're the Messiah for the Israelites. I realize I'm outside the family. I don't have any right to this, but I'm asking you to make an exception. When Jesus told her no, that could have been the end of the story. But this lady did something interesting. Instead of continuing to beg, she felt down at his feet and started

worshiping. She started praising him, thanking him. I can imagine Jesus tried to walk away. He tried to move on, but when he heard the praise, he couldn't leave. Praise kept pulling him back. Praise kept

drawing him toward her. The scripture says, God inhabits our praises. That means praise brings God on the scene. Begging doesn't move God. complaining doesn't sway him, but praise causes the creator of the universe to show up. Jesus thought, I know she's outside the family.

I know she comes from idol worshippers. I know this goes against, quote, protocol, but I can't turn a praiser down. He said to the woman, you have great faith. You can go back home. Your daughter has been healed. A few minutes earlier, he was ignoring her. What changed when she went from begging to worshiping? That's how powerful praise is.

You may think you're kind of outside the family. You don't deserve God's goodness. You've made mistakes, brought trouble on yourself. There may be a dozen reasons why God shouldn't do it. But if you'll do like this lady and go to God, not begging him, but giving him praise, thanking him, bragging on his goodness, God will break protocols, so to speak, and do things that you don't deserve.

What begging won't do, praise will do. No more, God, I'm begging you to heal me. I'm begging you to turn my child around, switch over into praise. Father, thank you that you restore and health back to me. Thank you that as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. God won't disappoint a praiser.

Jeremiah said, when you offer up the sacrifice of praise, God will cause the captivity of the land to be reversed and the fortunes to be restored. There may be some things you need reversed and restored. You don't see how it can happen, but you go through the day saying, Father, thank you that the answer is on the way. Thank you that you're working behind the scenes. Because you're offering up that sacrifice of praise, God is. going to reverse finances that are down, reverse a negative medical report, reverse a legal situation. Not only that, he's going to restore what should have been yours. Restore years you lost because somebody did you wrong. Restore a relationship that's going down. Restore health

back to your body. It's going to happen because of your praise. In the scripture, the Israelites had traveled through the desert 40 years trying to make it to the promised land. The parents never did make it in because they complained and were negative. They eventually died. Now their children were at Jericho. This was the last city that stood between them and their promised land. You can imagine how excited they were. If they could just get through Jericho that they could see this dream come to pass. there will always be a Jericho that stands between you and your promised land. One last obstacle that looks insurmountable. You've come this far, you've done so well,

but you don't see how you could get past it. This is how the Israelites felt. They could taste the victory. After years, they were finally within reach. But Jericho had a huge wall around the city, so thick that the chariots. could ride on top of the wall. It looked impossible to penetrate.

Well, God told Joshua to have the people march around the wall six days. On the seventh day, on the seventh time around, they were to let out a great shout. I can imagine the people told Joshua, we'll shout after the wall falls. After we take the city, then we'll give God praise. There's no reason to do it before. That doesn't make sense. Joshua said, you're missing the point. The shout is what's going to cause the wall to fall. Like them, we want to shout after the victory. But God is saying, if you'll give me praise

while the wall is still standing, then you'll see things begin to change. Do you trust him enough to praise him in front of a wall that's not moving? To worship him with a bad medical report? to thank him for freedom when you still have the addiction. The Israelites stood in front of that wall and let out a great shout of praise. Didn't make sense to their mind. Everything said you're being foolish. You're on the outside. Nothing is happening.

They just kept giving God praise. Suddenly this huge wall not only came tumbling down, but researchers have found it fell in such a way that it created a perfect ramp so the Israelites could go in and take the city. When you give God praise, he doesn't just bring down walls, but he'll make a path so you can go in and take your promised land. He'll make your rough places smooth. Now, maybe you have a big obstacle in front of you.

You don't see how you could ever get past it. Don't complain. Turn up your praise. Praise is what's going to bring the wall down. perhaps you feel like you're in a pit. You've had some bad breaks. Being bitter is not going to make it better. You have to bring Judah on the scene.

Be a pit praiser. All through the day, Father, thank you that you're fighting my battles. Thank you that you hold victory in store for the upright. If you'll do this, I believe and declare. Like Joseph, you're coming out of that pit into your palace. Like Joshua, walls that are holding you back are being broken. right now. Like Jeremiah said, God's going to reverse and

restore. You're going to see healing, breakthroughs, vindication, promotion, the fullness of your destiny. In Jesus' name, if you receive it, can you say amen today? I'd like to give 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. If you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. Get in a good Bible-based church and keep God first place. Victoria and I'll be right back to speak a blessing over you. Start each day off right by having Joel lead you in declaring the truth of who you are in Christ.

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