Joel Osteen Podcast - Program Your Mind For Victory | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: March 7, 2024

If you want to draw in the good things of God, you have to program your mind for victory. Choose to dwell on the promise instead of the doubt. You have everything you need to fulfill your purpose.Believe big! Believe for more! Our March offer,This Time Next Year: Believe Big Journal, combines faith-building stories from Scripture with space to record your own reflections of the amazing things God is doing in your life. Be reminded each day that the God who breathed life into you is a more-than-enough God! Request your copy now,https://bit.ly/3IebX0B. 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.

It's so great to have you with us today. We love you guys. We're praying you're going to have a beautiful month of March and just speaking blessings in favor of each one of you. This time of year is just new beginnings, new spring seasons. And so we are believing that this will be a newness of joy in your heart. So know today we are praying for you and we love you. God bless you. It's always a joy to come into your homes. We love you. We know God rewards the people that see you. after him and I believe that's you or you wouldn't be tuned in or you wouldn't be here today. But thanks so much for coming out. And if you're ever in the Houston area, come by and see us. I promise you, we'll make you feel right at home. But thanks again for tuning in. I like to start each week with something kind of funny. And I heard about this country couple. They were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. They'd never had an argument before.

Somebody asked them the secret of their success. The husband explained, as they were leaving the church going on their honeymoon, the wife's horse refused to go. She got off, looked the horse in the eyes, and said, that's one. He went a little bit further, stopped again. She got off, looked at the horse in the eyes, and said, that's two. He went a little bit more, but once again, he stopped. This time, she got off, pulled out her revolver, and shot the horse dead. The husband said, what in the world are you doing? You can't just shoot an animal. She looked at him and said, honey, that's one. All right.

Hold it up. 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 programming your mind for victory. Our mind is like a computer. What we put in, we're going to get out. If you go around thinking, I'll never get out of debt, I'll never lose this weight, the economy is going to probably sink my business, I don't think my marriage is going to last. Your own thoughts will set the limits for your life. You need to reprogram your thinking. All through the

day, we should be dwelling on. This is going to be a great day. God's favor is on my life. Blessings are chasing me down. No obstacle is too big for me. I know I'm more than a conquer. When you do that, you're programming your mind for victory. Jesus put it this way, you will become what you believe. That means if you believe you'll always be heavy, then you'll always be heavy. If you believe you'll never break that addiction, then you'll never break it. If you believe that you're not attractive, you're not that talented, you don't have much to offer, then you will go through life with low self-esteem and miss out on the fullness of God's blessing. You've got to turn it around and start programming your mind for victory.

We should be dwelling on thoughts like, I'm blessed, I'm talented, I'm strong, I'm creative, I am more than a conquer. When you do that, you're going to draw in the good things of God. Now, I read about a study that was done with people that needed orthroscopic knee surgery, their knees were worn down and they needed to be cleaned out. These doctors, with permission from the family, took a certain group of patients, and instead of performing the actual surgery where they cleaned the knee out, they simply made three small incisions around the knee as if they had done something. When the patient woke up after the operation, of course,

they thought they'd had the regular surgery. What's interesting is two years later, The patients that had the fake surgery reported just as much relief from the pain as the patients that had the actual surgery. And it wasn't just in their mind. When the doctors examined them over time, they could see how their knees were much improved. Their conclusion was, since the mind expected the knee to get better, it got better. It actually helped it to heal. And I thought about how many people have spent years.

year after year programming their mind to expect defeat, expect failure, expect mediocrity. They've said a thousand times, I'll never get well. The mind goes to work doing just that. Make sure he never gets well. Make sure we bring more discomfort, more swelling, more pain. How many people go around feeling insecure, intimidated, unqualified? The mind goes to work, saying, I've got my instructions. I know what to perform. I've got to make sure he's slow, he's clumsy, he never has good ideas, he makes mistakes. What's the problem? We've programmed ourselves for defeat. Our mind is working perfectly fine. It's helping us become what we believe. But the good news is, if this will work in the wrong

direction, then it will work in the right direction. When we go around thinking, I'm well able, I'm anointed, I'm equipped, I'm empowered. Your mind, goes to work saying, let me make sure they're at the top of their game. I've got to make sure they're smart, they're intelligent, they're creative, they're strong, they're confident. You may be facing a sickness, but instead of saying, I'll never get well, you're saying, I'm getting better and better, health and healing is flowing through me. God is renewing my youth like the eagles. When you do that, your mind says to your system, do you hear what she's saying? She says she's whole. She says she's whole, She's healthy, she's strong.

Let's get busy. Release the healing. Create new selves. Unleased strength, vitality, energy. Maybe you struggle with an addiction. But don't ever say, I'll never overcome this. I'm just hooked. No, if you believe you're an addict, you will always be an addict.

When we go around dwelling on these negative, defeated thoughts, we are sending poison down through our system. We are telling our command center. the mind, this incredible tool God's given us to release defeat, failure, mediocrity. That's why the scripture says we have to guard our minds.

If you're trying to lose weight, don't ever say, I'll never lose this weight. I'm just too undisciplined. My metabolism is so messed up. If I worked out 24 hours a day, I probably wouldn't lose a pound. When you say that, your mind says to your system, make sure they don't lose a pound.

make sure they keep every calorie, make sure they see and smell food anywhere they go, deplete all their energy, no, when you get up in the morning, no matter how you feel, you need to say, I'm getting thinner, this weight is coming off of me, I am strong, healthy, energetic, I have discipline and self-control.

I look good, I feel good, I think good, I smell good. some of you, if you would do that, your mind would go tilt, tilt, tilt, tilt. It would think, what in the world are they saying? We haven't heard that in 27 years. It would send an alert all through your system saying, hang on guys, we're changing directions. Don't send out any more defeat, no more sickness, no more crazy hormones. This is a new day.

Send out health, send out healing, send out strength, vitality. Victory. You've got to get your command center sending out the right instructions. I don't know about you, but I am not sending defeat through my system. I'm not going to go around thinking how I've reached my limits and my obstacles are too big and I'll probably never get out of debt. No, I realize I'm going to become what I believe. So I'm going to believe not just what I feel. I'm not going to believe what other people say about me. I'm not going to believe what my circumstances are telling me. I'm going to believe what God says about me. And God says I'm blessed. I'm strong. I'm healthy. I am well able. I'm going to program that into my computer. I'm going to think thoughts of victory.

Well, you say, Joel, it doesn't look like I'm blessed. Doesn't look like I'm healthy. Here's a key. You've got to believe it before you'll ever see it. This is what faith is all about. Once you can see it, you don't really need faith. It's when you can't see it. And the medical report doesn't look good. And the obstacle looks like you'll never accomplish your dreams. And the bank account says that you'll never get out of debt. That's when you have to dig your hills in and say, I may not be able to see it, but I walk by faith and not by sight. And if God said it, that's good enough for me. This is what Abraham had to do. 20 years before he ever had a child, God said in Romans 417, Abraham, I have made you a father of many nations.

Notice, God said it in the past tense. I have made you like it had already happened. Abraham could have said, God, what are you talking about? I'm not a father. I don't have a single child. He could have easily talked himself out of it. But instead, he chose to believe what God said about him. Even though it looked impossible, his attitude was, God, if you say I'm a father, I'm not going to question it. I'm not going to worry about it. I'm not going to try to figure it out. I'm just going to come into agreement with you. 20 years later, at the age of 100, he had that child. Here's what I want you to see. Just because God said it didn't mean it was going to automatically come to pass. Abraham had to do his part and get in agreement with God.

All through the scripture, God has said so many great things about us, many of them in the past tense. In Ephesians, God says, I have blessed you with every spiritual blessing. Colossians, I have made you worthy. Psalms, I have surrounded you with favor as a shield. All past tense, like it's already happened. Now, we've got to do our part like Abraham and come into agreement with God. It's got to get deep down on the inside. In other words, you may not feel blessed today.

A lot of things are coming against you with your family, with your finances, with your health. Your mind could easily talk you out of it. Say, oh, this isn't for me. No way I'm blessed. Now, you've got to be bold like Abraham and say, God, if you say I'm blessed, then I believe I'm blessed. book may not say I'm blessed. The economy doesn't say I'm blessed. The medical report doesn't say I'm blessed. But God, I know you have the ultimate say. And so since you say I'm blessed, my report is, I am blessed. When you get an agreement with God like that, it allows him to release the promises

that already have your name on it. You can pull it out of the unseen spiritual realm over into the physical scene realm. That's what it says. God speaks of non-existent things as if they already existed. But too many people go around thinking, well, I wish I was blessed. I wish I had favor. No, you've got to reprogram your thinking. It says in Psalms that God has already crowned you with favor. You may not realize it, but there is a crown on your head right now. And it is not a crown of defeat. of lack, of mediocrity, it is a crown of God's favor. And if you are going to activate that favor, you've got to get in agreement with God and start declaring, I do have favor.

You cannot drag through the day thinking, why do I always get the short end of the stick? Why to always get these bad breaks? Now, when those discouraging thoughts come, try to convince you that nothing good is in store, just as an act of faith, you need to reach up and adjust your crown of favor. Make sure it's straight. Somebody's asked you, what are you doing? Fixing your hair? No, I'm straightening my crown of favor. Well, you say, Joel, I've been praying and praying that God would give me favor. Listen, you don't have to pray about something that you already have. All you've got to do is start acting like it's true. The truth is, I don't always feel anointed,

but I know God has already anointed me. I know he's already equipped and empowered me. Before I come out for each service, I never pray, oh God, please give me your anointing today. God, please help me. Now I say, Father, thank you that I am anointed. Thank you that I am well able. I've learned I don't have to pray about it.

I just simply have to act as if it were already true. You may not feel blessed today, feel confident, or look healthy or look favored. But don't you dare drag through life with the poor old me mentality. Put your shoulders back. Hold your head up high. You are a child of the most high God.

God has blessed you. You are highly favored. You are strong. You are talented. You are redeemed. Not going to be. Not maybe one day in the sweet by and by. No, God has already blessed you.

He has already made you more than a conquer. He's already given you that crown of favor. Well, how do you tap in to what God has already done? Very simple. Just start acting like you're blessed. Talking like you're blessed. Walking like you're blessed. Thinking like you're blessed.

Smiling like you're blessed. Dressing like you're blessed. If you will put actions behind your faith, one day you will see that become a reality. We had a large steel frame building at our other location. It was the auditorium that held 4,000 people. When we built a new sanctuary in 1988, my father called a friend of ours named Tommy.

He does youth ministry, and he gave him that building. You could actually take all the steel beams down and move it to another location. It was extremely valuable. But Tommy didn't come pick it up for some time, and every time I saw the building, I thought to myself, there's Tommy's building. Just because he didn't take it right away,

didn't mean it wasn't his. About two years later, he came with the big crew and the cranes, and they dismantled it, and they moved the building to his location. But here's my point. The building didn't become his when he came and got it. It became his the moment my father spoke it. That building could have stayed there for 20 years. It still would have been his.

My father gave it to him. It was up to him to come and get it. In the same way, God has all. kinds of promises stored up for you. They already have your name on it. Now it's up to you to come and get it. The moment God said you were blessed, you became blessed. Now, you may not pick it up for a year or five years or a lifetime, but that does not change what God said. The blessing still belongs to you. You got to rise up and say, you know what, I'm going to go get it. I'm not going to live another day defeated, no goals, expecting the worst. I know God has a crown of favor with my name on it,

and I'm going to go pick it up today. I'm going to start acting like I'm blessed, like I'm redeemed, like I'm the head and not the tail, like I'm more than a conquer. Friends, it already has your name on it. The good news is there's no line to get it. There's no will call. There's no late charges. No shortage. It's not. It's not. limited at the first hundred, it's all yours, totally paid for. Blessings, favor, confidence, forgiveness, rise up in faith. It's your time. It's your season. Start acting on it. I found that God always puts things in our spirit before they'll come to pass in the natural. When I first heard that this building, the former compact center, was becoming available. Something leaped on the inside.

It was birthed in my spirit. I knew down in here this facility was already ours. I couldn't explain it. I didn't have any facts to back me up, but in my spirit, I had received it by faith. Four years later, we saw it come to a reality. Some of you today, your mind is trying to talk you out of what God wants to birth in your spirit.

Maybe it's a dream, a promise, a new beginning. It looks impossible. like Abraham in the natural, it looks like there's no way. But I'm asking you to get an agreement with God. Let that seed take root in your spirit. Maybe when you hear this truth that you're blessed, that you've got this crown of favor, your mind says, no way.

You don't know my circumstances, Joel. You don't know the obstacles in my path. No, don't talk yourself out of it. You may not see a way, but God has a way. And if you will conceive it on the inside, then one day you will receive it on the outside. That's what the scripture says. God wishes above all things that we prosper and be in hell. Here's the requirement, even as our soul prospers.

This is saying, if you will prosper in your soul on the inside, then you can prosper on the outside. In other words, you have to receive healing in your spirit before you'll ever receive. it in your physical body. You've got to be blessed in your mind, in your thoughts on the inside, before you'll be blessed on the outside. You've got to be free in your mind before you'll ever be free from that physical addiction. That's why you should never say, I'm going to be free. One day, Joel, I'm going to break this addiction. One day I'm going to stop this bad habit. No, your report should be, I am free. I am victorious. I am blessed. I am healthy. I am prosperous.

Not going to be, hope so, maybe so, one day. If everything works out, then I'll be blessed, Joel. If the economy comes back strong, if my customers return. No, you're talking about something that you already have. That would be like me saying, one day, I hope I'll have a nice suit. One day I'm sure somebody's going to bless me with a nice suit. One day I believe I'm going to be wearing a nice suit. You'd look at me and say, boy, are you crazy?

you've got on a nice suit. You're wearing one right now. It's the same principle. You shouldn't go around saying one day I'm going to be blessed. One day I know I'm going to have God's favor. No, God's looking at you saying, what are you talking about? I've already blessed you. I've already crowned you with my favor. Now you've got to rise up in faith and start walking in that blessing. God has already put something on you. And no, he didn't put condemnation. He didn't put low self-esteem. He didn't put fear and anxiety. He put a crown of favor. He put a robe of righteousness. He put the shield of faith. The scripture says, his favor lasts for a lifetime. I love that. How long are you going to have favor? As long as you have breath to breathe, that crown of favor belongs to you. You need to get up every morning. Look at yourself in the mirror and say, good morning, you bless man. Good morning, you highly favored woman. Let me straighten my crown of favor. Goodness and mercy, are you ready to follow me? Blessings, are you ready to chase me down? Let's go. Let's go out and have a great day today. When you understand what God has already done, it puts a spring in your step. You don't

drag through life, expecting to get the short end of the stick. No, you programmed your mind for victory. You're expecting to get good breaks. You're expecting God to bring your dreams to pass. You're expecting to overcome your obstacles. Why? The creator of the universe has put favor on you and you've learned to walk in it. I remember the first sanctuary that my father built was a small building that held about a thousand people. At that time, only about half that many came. And on the outside, my father had them build this beautiful sign. It was very impressive. It's way up in the air. It lit up at night. Had a big globe on the top. that spun around. And instead of just calling it Lakewood Church, my father renamed it

Lakewood International Outreach Center. The fact is, we were not an international outreach center. There were just a few hundred people there. We were barely even touching our neighborhood, but God had burst something bigger in my father's spirit, and he dared to put the vision out there. He talked like we were going to impact the whole. world. He told the people kings and presidents will visit our church. He said, one day we'll be known as a place of hope and healing to all nations. People looked at him like he had lost his mind. It seems so unlikely. Just a few hundred people on a small piece of property. How could my father have this boldness? How could he have this confidence? Here's how he allowed the seed that God birthed on the inside to take

root. And he talked about an international ministry long before he saw any signs of it. He had then put up a world map behind the podium. During the services, he would have people pray over the different nations. He looked out across the street at the empty field, 50 acres, just cows grazing. And he would say, I can see our big sanctuary out there. I can see us building our world headquarters. I can see people from every nation. And coming to our international conferences. He talked like it. He thought like it. He dreamed like it.

And one day, what was birthed in his spirit, he saw it come to a reality. We've had kings and presidents, people from every nation stopped by here. But here's my point. I know today God has put big dreams on the inside of each one of you. You know one day you're going to start a business.

You're going to be in management. You're going to write a book. you're going to come out of debt. You're going to raise successful children. But maybe right now all the odds are against you. It doesn't look like there's any reason to believe. Seems like it'd be a waste of your time. That's the way Abraham felt. The scripture says all human reason for hope being gone. What did he do? He hoped on in faith. You may not have any reason in the natural to have hope, but you've got to dig your heels in and say, I'm not moved by what I see. I'm move by what I know. And I know God has put this promise in my heart. It has my name on it. It already belongs to me. So I'm going to do my part and start talking like it's true, start acting like it's on its way, start believing that it is going to happen. The moment God spoke to my father that he was going to have an international ministry, it became his. The creator of the universe wrote his name on it. But my father could have gone a whole lifetime and never seen any of that come to pass.

He had to go get what belonged to him. Some of you today, there's a business with your name on it. God's waiting for you to come pick it up. There's healing with your name on it. There's restoration with your name on it. The moment God spoke it to you, it became yours. He wrote your name on it. Here's healing for Debbie.

Here's restoration for Daniel. here's promotion for Rosie. Here's freedom from an addiction for Samuel. Here's a great marriage for Linda. It's got your name on it. Now you've got to come get it. Understand, God always puts bigger things in our spirit than our mind can handle. Don't talk yourself out of it.

Enlarge your vision. Dare to call yourself what you know you are even before you can see it. That's what my father did. He called himself international. when he was barely even local. He wasn't even hardly touching the neighborhood, much less other nations. That didn't bother him.

He knew what was on the inside. He knew that international ministry had his name on it, so he talked like it was going to happen. What am I saying? You've got to call yourself well even when you feel sick. You've got to call yourself successful

even when business is slow. You've got to call yourself debt-free, even though the bills have piled up. you got to call yourself married, even though you hadn't had a date in five years. You got to talk about that nice house, even when you're living in a rundown apartment. You got to talk about being a blessing to the world when you can barely take care of yourself. Well, you say, Joel, that's just wishful thinking. No, you're doing like God. You're speaking of non-existent things as if they already existed.

And friends, God wants to do something big in your life. life. But it is not going to happen with narrow, limited, small mindsets. You cannot go around thinking that you've reached your limits. I'll never get well. I'll never overcome this obstacle. No, you're going to become what you believe. Get in agreement with God. He says you are well able. You are fully equipped. It may not have happened in your past, but it can happen in your future. Now, I'm asking you to go get what belongs to you. You are blessed. You are prosperous. You have a crown of favor, start acting like it, talking like it, dreaming like it. If you will program your mind for victory and believe you are who God says you are, no obstacle can hold you back.

No enemy can defeat you. No sickness can keep you down. All the forces of darkness cannot keep you from your God-given destiny. You'll be like Abraham. You'll see impossible situations turn around. You're going to rise higher and higher. Supernatural doors are going to open for you. divine connections are coming your way, unprecedented favor. Because you programmed your mind for victory, I believe and declare you're going to see every dream, every promise God's put in your heart. It will come to fulfillment. 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. you. Friends, if you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again, get in a good church, keep God first place. He'll take your places that you've never dreamed up. It starts with

just a tiny seed. From it, tender bud sprout. The miracle of new life blooms and thrives. But how do you experience the same miraculous and extraordinary growth in your own life? Sometimes our life is limited because we're believing too small. Faith is like a seed. When you believe, all things are possible. That's when you'll see new growth, opportunity, and healing. We don't have to figure out how it's going to happen.

All we have to do is belief. There may not be a way in the natural, but our God is supernatural. We'd like to send you our new, this time next year, Believe Big Journal. It'll help you to enlarge your vision and stretch your faith. Where would you like to be a year from now?

Who knows what God will do in 2024 if you'll take the limits off of him and believe for the great things he's placed in your heart. Azar thank you for your gift of any amount this month. We want to send you the this time next year Believe Big Journal, along with our new Believe Tea. As you begin to believe Big, you'll see God move in powerful ways. The impossible made possible.

Growth, provision, and new opportunities will burst forth above and beyond what you can ask or imagine. Also, for the first time ever, we want to present you with our new Believe T-shirt, created exclusively by our friends at CopperFit for the viewers and partners of Joel Osteen. We invite you to wear and declare what you are believing God for in 2024.

It's a gift from CopperFit, as they extend their support of the message of hope. Many of you have watched us a long time, but you've never been to Lakewood. We have a perfect time. We're calling it Homecoming Weekend, April 13th and 14th. We'd love to meet you. I'll introduce you to my family.

You can see the facility and enjoy a service. We'd be honored to have you. We'll make you feel right at home. Remember, you can watch the services live online every Sunday. Download our podcast. Watch on YouTube. We'll keep you inspired and encouraged. Be sure to request your copy of This Time Next Year,

Believe Big Journal and the Copper Fit Believe T-shirt, as our gift of thanks today. Visit joelosteen.com or call us toll-free.