Joel Osteen Podcast - The Power Of Diligence | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: August 11, 2023

If you want to see God's promises fulfilled in your life, you have to be determined to press through the disappointments. God will always reward your diligence.    Your best days are still ahead, and together we can make a difference in this world with the message of God's hope and love. To give visit JoelOsteen.com/GiveHope Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of the Joel Osteen Podcast ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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See terms and conditions at UNES. See you. Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. If you enjoyed today's message, why don't you be a blessing and share it with a friend? We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in your life.

Well, God bless you. It's always a joy to come into your home. We've got good news. God is on your side. He rewards people that seek after him. So thanks for tuning in today. And if you're ever in our area, I hope you'll stop by and be a part of one of our services.

We give you a personal invitation. I promise you we'll make you feel right at home. But thanks again for tuning in today. I got a little funny email today. It's kind of short, so see what you think. A police recruit was asked during his final exam, what would you do if you had to arrest your own mother-in-law? He thought about it a moment and then said, call for backup.

All right, hold up your Bibles and say it like you mean it. Ready? This is my mom. 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'll be taught the Word of God. I boldly confess, my mind is alert, my heart is receptive, I will never be the same. I am about to receive the incorruptible, indestructible, ever-living seed of the Word of God. I'll never be the same, never, never, never, I'll never be the saying in Jesus' name. God bless you. You sound great as usual. I want to talk to you today about being a

person of diligence and not having a lazy, passive attitude. It's so easy to get complacent in life to where we sort of wish we had something, but we're really not doing anything about it. We're not actively taking steps toward it. Well, I wish I had his physique. I wish I had muscles like that man, But the problem is, while we're at home at night, watching TV, eating a little popcorn, he's at the gym working out. He's diligent in that area, and we're passive. When you're diligent, you do what you know is right and not just what you feel like doing. When you're diligent, you are determined to just keep on, keeping on no matter what comes against you. You don't have that weak, not able to attitude.

You don't give up and get discouraged because something is hard. or because it's not happening as quickly as you would like. No, a diligent person just digs its heels in and keeps on pressing forward. But too many people today want everything easy, and so they end up falling into that trap of having a lazy, complacent attitude. They're wishing for a whole lot, but they're not doing anything about it. Well, Joel, I wish I knew more scriptures. I wish my house was clean, or I wish my hair looked like her hair.

No, quit wishing and start doing something about it. Especially nowadays, if your hair is dark, you can make it light. If it's straight, you can make it curly. If you don't have any, you can go buy some. Quit looking at your neighbor. My father, at the age of 75, he still had real pretty light brown hair. One day somebody asked him how he did it and why it wasn't gray. He said, listen, brother, faith without works is dead.

you've got to put some actions behind your faith. What I'm saying today is quit being passive and start doing something about it. You can live a healthier life. You can be more successful. You can have a better attitude. You can have a deeper relationship with God. But let me tell you, it's going to take some hard work. It's going to take some time, some effort, some energy.

You may have to get up early and stay up late. You're going to have to pour your blood, sweat, and tears into it. But friends, the fact of you, is you cannot get something for nothing in life. You cannot expect to live in victory without being willing to put something into it. It's going to take being extremely diligent. And I realize most of you here today are hard workers. Most of you would not say that you have a problem with being lazy. But I've found that we can be diligent in certain areas and at the same time be passive and complacent in other areas. You may be very diligent about getting to

work on time and providing a great living for your family, but you're lazy when it comes to guarding your mind and thinking the right thoughts. Or maybe you would never have a house that's not neat and clean. You're diligent in that area, but you tend to be lazy when it comes to taking care of your finances or lazy when it comes to taking care of yourself spiritually. We all have areas that we can improve in. And like I said, it's so easy to get complacent. Well, Joel, this is just my lot in life. It's not even worth trying to change. No, you've got to shake yourself out of that passive mentality. Anything in life that is worthwhile, number one, it's going to take some work.

And number two, it's not going to happen overnight. You've got to be in this for the long haul. Anybody can be excited at the beginning. That's easy, but it takes a diligent person to finish. You've got to be determined and learn to press through the disappointments in life. you've got to press through those dry seasons when you don't see anything happening. You've got to press through the difficult times when you don't feel like having a good attitude and you don't feel like having a smile on your face.

Some of you today, you're just about to give up on the dreams that God has put in your heart. It's been so long and you haven't seen any results and now you're starting to get passive. Maybe you've struggled with an illness for a long time. And once you really believed you were going to get well, Now, once you were very aggressive about it, but now you've gotten complacent and you're just learning to live with it. Or maybe at one time you were determined to get out of debt. You were so determined to get ahead financially, but now you just don't think it's ever going to happen. You've had so much come against you.

But no, don't get passive. Don't be complacent. You've got to stay diligent. You've got to keep doing the right thing even though you may not be seeing the right results. You've got to keep coming to church even when you feel like, staying home in bed. You've got to keep praying and believe and keep that smile on your face, even though you feel like just giving up. See, you've got to learn to press past the things that are trying to pressure you into quitting. A diligent person just keeps on, keeping on. And let me tell you,

any time you try to go forward in life, you're going to have opposition. Anytime you try to make progress, the enemy is going to come against you. He's not going to roll out the red carpet and just let you fulfill your destiny. You're going to have to be determined. You've got to be persistent. We need to have that bulldog mentality. Our attitude should be, this may be tough, and I may not like it. Nothing may be going to go in, but you know what? I am not going to give up. I'm going to dig my heels in and keep fighting the good fight of faith. Some of you today, you have just about given up on one of your loved ones. You used to really pray and believe for that person. You would go out of your way to sow those seeds of hope and encouragement in his heart. But it's been so long and you haven't seen any results and

now you're kind of getting tired. That's that old lazy, passive spirit trying to come on you. Well, you say, Joel, I just don't think he's really ever going to change. No, I want to light a new fire on the inside of you today. You got to get your zeal back. Get your enthusiasm back. Anything worthwhile is going to be some hard work. You've got to make up your mind and say, you know what, I'm going to stick with this thing until I see it come to pass. I don't care how I feel. I don't care what everybody else is saying. I'm going to just keep on, keeping on.

I'm going to keep believing for God's very best. And understand, before something gets better, many times it's going to first get worse. You may be praying and praying for your marriage to get better, but don't be surprised if you don't have more adversity than ever. That's the way the enemy works. He wants you to just give up and settle for mediocrity. or maybe you're praying for a child to change and you're getting up early, you're doing everything you can, but it seems like the more you do, the worse he acts, the worse grades he gets and the

worse he treats you. Listen, that is a test of your faith. Are you going to give up? Are you going to get complacent and say, well, at least I tried? Or are you going to be diligent to just keep on, keeping on. The scripture says in Ephesians, when you've done everything you know how to do, just keep standing strong. There are going to be plenty of things in life that we don't understand. There are going to

be plenty of things that don't make any sense. But our attitude should be, God, even though I don't know why this is happening to me, I do know that you're still in control, and so I'm not going to get discouraged. I'm going to keep a smile on my face. I'm going to keep my head held high, and I'm just going to keep standing

firm. And remember this. The enemy always fights you the hardest when he knows God has something great in store for you. So you need to make up your mind today. You're going to keep on believing no matter what comes against you. You're going to keep praying. You're going to keep coming to church. You're going to keep doing the right thing even though you may not be seeing the right result. Friends, don't ever lose the fire that's on the inside of you.

Don't ever lose your zeal. It says in Romans, never be lazy, but serve the Lord with enthusiasm. But the truth is, it takes a lot of hard work to live a life of victory. You've got to be disciplined in your thoughts, disciplined in your actions, disciplined in the words you speak. I mean, it's a full-time job. And that's why so many people just take the easy way out. Their attitude is, I don't want to have to stand strong. I don't want to have to get up early and read my Bible and pray.

Or I don't want to have to treat that person right that's being rude to me, man. No, you've got to shake off that old. complacent mentality and start having some backbone. Dig your heels in and if you have to start talking to yourself. The Bible says that David encouraged himself in the Lord His God. When you feel that old passive attitude trying to come on, trying to make you lazy and get all discouraged and down, no, you need to just say, I'm not going to let this thing defeat me. It may be tough, but I know this too shall pass. I know I can withstand this. I can overcome in any situation. So you've got to talk to yourself and just keep fighting the good fight of

faith. And one of the keys to living in victory is consistency. You've got to be diligent day in and day out. You should not be up one day and down a couple of days. Have some stability in your life. Be consistent and don't ever tell yourself that you can't do it. When those all negative, depressing thoughts come to your mind and they will telling you that you're not going to make it. You're not going to ever get any good breaks. Your dreams are not going to come to pass. No, you need to write then. Not a minute later. You need to immediately get that junk out of your mind. Quit dwelling on those thoughts and start dwelling on thoughts of faith and victory. Just start saying in your mind, Father, I thank you. I can do all things through Christ.

I think that you have good things in store. I know this is going to be a great year. I can already see my victory is on its way. See, the first place. we lose the battle is in our own thinking. And some of you need to reprogram your mental computer today. You need to quit thinking those old negative, defeated thoughts and start thinking some can-do thoughts. It says there in Proverbs 21 verse 5 in the amplified, the thoughts of the steadily diligent are always toward plenteousness. In other words, when you're really diligent, your thoughts are only going in one direction, and that's forward. you're not lazy, you're not complacent.

When you're diligent, your thoughts should be towards success, toward crossing the finish line, toward being all that God's created you to be. As I said, some of you are just about to give up on what God's put in your heart. But my message today is you've got to get your fire back. You've got to shake off that lazy, complacent spirit, and start pressing forward,

start believing for God's very best. Well, you say, Joel, it's so hard, and I've been doing it for so long, but no, nobody said it was going to happen overnight. Nobody said it was going to be easy. And it may be difficult now, but if you will do the right thing anyway, then later on, you will reap the benefits. I was thinking about a good friend of mine. He's in the television business.

And many years ago, we were editing this project together, and we needed some real warm piano music. And he said, that's no big deal. Let me get to a piano, and I'll see what I can. come up with. I didn't even know he could play the piano. And he came right down here and got on this piano and he played like nobody I'd ever heard before. And I said, man, that was great. I wish I could do that. He said, oh, Joel, you could. It just took me about 15 years to learn. He said, while you were out goofing off when you were growing up, playing ball, having fun with your friends, I was at piano lessons

learning how to play. In other words, he was willing to pay the price. He was willing to pay the price. He was willing to do something that I wasn't willing to do. He was saying, in effect, I put some blood, sweat, and tears into this thing. This took my time, my effort, my energy. And see, your inspiration needs to always be backed up with perspiration. Really, there are two kinds of people in life. There are dreamers, and then there are doers. You may have a big dream for your life.

I hope you do. But all it is, is a dream if you're not willing to put any action behind it. And a lot of people today want a nice life, but they're not willing to do anything about it. And when you see somebody that has what you want, don't you dare get jealous? Don't you dare say, well, I don't know why they get all the good breaks. I don't know why they're so talented. Why do they get to drive that nice car? Why are they always happy?

No, you can have just what they have if you are willing to pay the price. If you are willing to make the same sacrifices. Friends, God is no respect. of persons. He gives every one of us an equal chance. And yes, I realize in one sense, some people are born with more advantage, but I know people that have come from overseas to this country without a penny to their name, yet today they're happy, they're fulfilled, they're living at the top of their field. The point is, no matter what family you come from, no matter what breaks you did or didn't get in life, don't use that as an excuse. You can live a life of victory.

You can be happy and fulfilled. You can see your dreams come to pass if you want it bad enough. But you're going to have to be disciplined when it comes to how you spend your time. You've got to be disciplined with who you hang around with. Because if you hang around with other lazy, undisciplined people, people with no goals or dreams for their life, they're going to steal the dream right out of your heart. You've got to be disciplined in what you give yourself to. Be disciplined when it comes to how you have.

handle your finances. I hear people say all the time, well, Joel, I wish I had some money in the bank. Well, it's possible, but it may be a little painful. You may have to suffer a little while and not go out to eat and not buy that new outfit and not overstretch with a car payment you can't really afford. What I'm saying, it could be a little uncomfortable. It could be painful. It's going to take discipline. But if you will make the sacrifices right now, then later on you're going to reap the reward. But I've found most of the time we're not concerned about later on so we just do what we feel like right now.

Joel, I don't feel like working hard at the office this week. Well, later on, when they go to promote somebody, they may pass you by. Well, I don't feel like taking time for my spouse. I don't feel like communicating with her. Well, later on, that may very well cause you some major problems.

You've got to pay the price today to have a happy life later on. And it's not always going to be easy. you're not always going to be comfortable, but you've got to discipline yourself to do the right thing even though nobody's watching you and even though nobody is cheering

you on. For instance, when you go to the office this week, you should work hard even though the boss isn't in. And even though all your other co-workers are goofing off wasting their day. Well, you say, Joy, everybody else is doing it. Why can't I? No, you're not everybody else.

You need to sow a seed for later on. If you will do the right thing today, then later on you'll be going places while those other people are unfortunately just stuck there in mediocrity. If you'll treat people right today, even though they don't deserve it, later on you'll reap the benefits. See, God is keeping all the records. He sees everything that you do. He sees the mornings you get up early to do the right thing, even though you don't feel like it. He sees the times you bite your tongue, even though you felt like telling somebody off.

God sees that. And when you just keep sowing those seeds of a disciplined life, you keep doing the right thing day in and day out, one day you're going to see things begin to change in your favor. One day you will see your dreams begin to come to pass. Well, you say, Joel, I've been doing the right thing for so long and I'm not seeing any results. I don't think it's ever going to get any better. I just challenge you again, you've got to dig your heels in and keep on keeping on. The scripture says in Galatian 6'9, don't get tired of doing what's right. For in due season, you shall reap if you faint not. I love that. It doesn't say you might reap. It says you shall reap. That's a promise from Almighty God. I like to think of it kind of like this big boulder that you're trying to break into.

And you've got this big sledgehammer. And every time you do the right thing, you're taking another swing at that rock. Every time you discipline yourself to not buy something that you wanted. or every time you get up early to pray for that child, every time you treat somebody right, even though they didn't deserve it, every time you do it, you're taking another swing. Day after day, as you're diligent to press through the disappointments

and you just press past the fact that you don't see anything happening, every time you do it, that's another swing. And you may look at that rock and think, you know what, I'm not even getting this thing. I'm just wasting my time. It's never going to break in too. But no, one day you're going to take another swing. swing, one day you're going to do the right thing one more time, and all of a sudden that

rocks won't break right in too. But the fact is, it wasn't just that last swing that did it. It was all those other swings day after day of being diligent that caused that rock to break open. And even though you didn't see anything happening on the outside, on the inside changes were taking place, on the inside progress was being made. But really, you saw the results all at one time, but that was a culmination of all the right choices that you had been disciplined to make. And see, when you're diligent to just keep on keeping on, you just keep praying, you keep believing, you keep doing the right thing, you may not see anything happening with your natural eyes, but you can rest assured in the unseen realm, in the spiritual world, changes are taking place.

The miracle is set into motion. For with every seed you sow, God says you are going to reap a lot. harvest. And so my message today is you've got to keep on, keeping on. Don't fall into that trap of being complacent. Don't get lazy. Don't get passing. You've got to stay aggressive because anything in life worthwhile is going to take some time and effort and energy. It's going to take some blood, sweating tears. It's going to take you doing some things that you just don't really feel like doing. And always remember when you're tempted to give up and just say, you know what, it's never going to happen. I'm just wasting my time.

No, when you stand in faith one more day, that could be the day. The whole thing breaks open. It could just take one more time of doing the right thing. You don't know how close you could be to your victory. So just keep on, keeping on. Don't allow yourself to get lazy and complacent and to have that passive attitude. Really, in America, in one sense, we've gotten kind of spoiled. We live in a right now society.

We want everything immediately. We've got microwave ovens, fast food restaurants, overnight delivery. Have you noticed how everything is geared towards speed and ease? You don't even have to get up to change the channels on the TV anymore. Got that remote control. The whole household would shut down if you lose a remote. We can order our groceries now through the internet and have them delivered to our house. Don't even have to get out.

Think about all the conveniences that we have today that people, 70 or 80 years ago didn't have. I know my father growing up on the farm, they didn't have electricity. They didn't have air conditioners. They didn't have washers and dryers. There have been so many great advances made over the last few years that have made our lives so much easier and so much more comfortable. And I think it's great. I'm all for it. We're so blessed. But I do believe we have to be careful that we don't allow all these conveniences to cause us to develop a wrong way of thinking where we kind of get lazy and we expect everything to be easy

and we want everything right now. No friends, there is no substitute for good old-fashioned hard work. You've got to be willing to pay the price. Well, you say, Joel, I had to drive 30 minutes to get to church today in my air-conditioned car sitting on my nice padded leather seats

or I've got to go home today and mow my lawn on my riding lawnmower with my CD player playing music in my ear. years. Or I got a sink full of dishes. I got to take them out of the sink and put them into the dishwasher and hit the start button. And that's a lot of trouble. I'm exaggerating, but you get my point. I heard about a domestically challenged husband. He wanted to wash his new sweatshirt. So we ended into the utility room and he hollered upstairs to his wife. What setting do I use on the

washing machine? She said, it depends. What does it say on your shirt? He hollered back, Dallas Cowboys. But seriously, if we're going to be all God wants us to be, we've got to have more than good wishes. We've got to have some backbone. We've got to be diligent and be willing to work hard. Don't always look for the easy way out, be determined and learn to stick with it. It says in Ecclesiastes 5 verse 3, a dream comes to pass with much business and painful effort. I think about my parents. They spent 40 years of their life with God's help.

building this church. Other ministers used to come by. Say to my father, Pastor Osteen, tell us the secret of your success. How can we have a big church like yours? Daddy would always tell him the same thing. Spend 40 years, pouring your blood, sweating tears into it. Be a person of integrity, love people, and you'll have just what we have. But most of the time, that's not the answer they were looking for. They wanted overnight what took him 40 years to build. They wanted immediate results without having to pay the price. But see, you've got to be disciplined in making an investment in your future today. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. Daddy was committed. He didn't care how hard it was. He didn't care how much sleep he lost. He didn't count the hours. He just got the job done.

He preached whether he felt like it or not. Whether there was 80 people or 8,000 people, he gave it as all. He didn't think twice. This was his dream and he was determined to see it come to past and God rewarded his diligence. But really, I don't say this in a wrong sense, but a lot of people today have a give me something for nothing mentality. God's put the dream in their heart, but they're sitting back waiting for God to hand it to them on the silver platter. They don't want to be inconvenienced. They don't want to break a sweat. They want all the benefits without making any of the sacrifices. I like what Thomas Edison said. He said, many people miss opportunities. because those opportunities come wearing overalls and look like a lot of work.

Friends, if we're going to be all God's created us to be, we've got to be disciplined, and we've got to be willing to work hard. And I realize there's a balance in what I'm saying. We should not work all the time, but we should have a diligent attitude, and we should not back down because something's a lot of work. I was reading about a certain kind of tree, a Chinese bamboo. When you plant the seed of this tree, you have to work. water it and fertilize it every single day or it will not grow. And for the first four years,

even though you're continually feeding it and continually watering it, it barely even grows at all. But what's interesting is in the fifth year, the tree will shoot up to 90 feet tall, all in one year. The problem we have many times is we want fifth year results without doing the four years of hard work. Do you got to be willing to invest in your future today? You've got to put forth some weeks, some months, maybe even years of hard work to develop your potential and to really see those dreams come to pass. So let me just challenge you again, dig your heels in and be a person of diligence. Shake off that old lazy, passive mentality and start being a doer and not just a dreamer. Remember, your inspiration has got to be backed with your perspiration.

And I know God's speaking to some of you even now about areas where you've been lazy and passive. And it's my prayer today that a new fire is being lit on the inside and that you'll go out of here more determined than ever, that you're not going to just sit back and settle for mediocrity. You're not going to look for the easy way out, but you're going to stick with it and be all God's created you to be. And friends, if you will live a disciplined life and press past the disappointments and the things that are trying to get you down and instead just sow the seed for later on, then God will reward your diligence. He'll pour out his blessings in favor, and you'll experience the victories that he has in store. Amen. Amen. Well, God bless you today. We never like to close our broadcast without giving you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life. Would you pray with me? Just say, Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I make you, my Lord and Savior. Friends, if you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. Get in a good church. Keep God first place.

He'll take your places that you've never dreamed up. Thanks so much for listening to today's message. I hope you'll subscribe so you can receive the latest podcast to keep you encouraged and inspired all through the week. Help us to continue to share the message of hope with those all around the world. Visit Joel Osteen.com or click the link in the description to partner with us today.

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