Joel Osteen Podcast - Time To Stop Running | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: September 30, 2024

God will give you the grace to confront the difficult things in your life. On the other side of that giant is a new level of your destiny. 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 still works miraclestoday just as He did in Scripture! InMiracles Happen, you’ll find stories of 30 miracles from the Bible plus 5 modern-day miracles. Let our September offer stir your faith and increase your expectation—your miracle is on the way!Request your copy today,https://bit.ly/3SVZvsb. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of the Joel Osteen Podcast ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks so much for listening to the podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. We believe you're going to have an awesome 2024, healthy, productive, and favor-filled. God bless you today and enjoy the message. God bless you. It's great to be with you today and I hope you'll stay connected with us during the week through our daily podcast, our YouTube channel, social media. We'll keep you encouraged and inspired. I'd like to start with something funny and I heard about this pastor, he was walking down the street when he came upon this group of young boys that were surrounding a small dog. He asked what they were doing. They explained that they were having a contest. Whoever could tell the biggest lie would get to keep the dog. The pastor launched into a 10

minute sermon, starting with, don't you know, lying is a sin and ending with, when I was your age, I never told a lie. There was complete silence. And just when he thought he'd gotten through to them, the youngest boy spoke up and said, all right, give him the dog. 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 time to stop running. It's easy to avoid things in life that we should be dealing with. We've been through hurts.

People did us wrong. Instead of forgiving and moving on, we push it down. Or maybe we need to apologize. We need to make things right. But that's uncomfortable, so we keep putting it off. Sometimes we run from our fears. A new door opens. We know it's a God-given opportunity, but we're afraid.

We feel unqualified. instead of confronting our fears, we shrink back. Some people spend their whole life running, running from dealing with their temper, running from getting back in shape, running from the call of God on their life. As long as you're running, you're going to miss the greatness that God put in you. You can't conquer what you don't confront. Too often, we're comforting what we should be confronting. We're making excuses, but you can't run from a lot.

everything that's uncomfortable. He can't ignore issues, sweep them under the rug, thinking they'll go away. When you get honest with yourself, when you confront what you know you need to deal with, yes, it may be uncomfortable, but God gives you the grace, the strength, the power to do what you couldn't do on your own. When David saw Goliath, everything in his mind said, he's too big. You better run the other way like everyone else in the army. But the scripture says, David ran quickly toward Goliath. He knew if he didn't confront this giant, if he didn't face his fears, he would miss his destiny. He was uncomfortable. His emotions weren't supporting him, but as he ran to the giant, he began to feel strength that he never felt.

Confidence, boldness, skill, expertise. He slung that rock and defeated Goliath. When you run to your giants, God will make things happen that you couldn't make happen. You won't reach your destiny running from things that are hard, running because it's uncomfortable. You don't feel like forgiving. You don't feel like dealing with a bad attitude. But when you're running from your giants, you're running from your destiny. When you're running to your giants to what you know you need to confront, what you need to deal with, you're running to your purpose. Don't take the easy way out, and spend your life running, running from your past, running from your mistakes, running from people that did you wrong, running from fears, insecurity, pride.

God is saying it's time to stop running. Face those giants. Confront what you've been ignoring. On the other side of that giant is a new level of your destiny. Like with David, when God sees you make a move to start running toward what's hindering you, to deal with what you've been ignoring, God will breathe on your life, and it won't be as difficult as you think.

He'll go before you and make your crooked places straight. Are you running in some area today, running from making things right in a relationship, running from getting your finances in order, running from starting that business, writing that book, going back to school, thinking you don't have what it takes? That's what Gideon was doing.

He was hiding in a wine press when an angel came and told him he was to lead the Israelites in battle, that he was a mighty man of fearless courage. Down deep, Gideon knew this was true. He knew the call of God was on his life. He could sense greatness was in him, but he was at a decision point. Was he going to keep running, letting fear, insecurity, I'm not qualified, keep him from his destiny? or was he going to face his fears? Was he going to confront or just stay comfortable?

You can't become all you were created to be, stay uncomfortable. Don't run from things that are hard. Don't shrink back because you don't want to put forth the effort. It's uncomfortable to get honest and deal with your temper. It's uncomfortable to forgive someone that hurt you. It's uncomfortable to say, I need help with this addiction. I'm going to deal with this bad habit. Gideon stopped running.

He faced his fears, confronted his insecurity. He became one of the heroes of faith. We all face these times like Gideon where we have to make that decision. Am I going to keep putting off what I know I should do? Am I not going to rock the boat deal with this bitterness? How I treat people? How I see myself? Are you going to comfort your insecurity, your temper, your hurts,

or are you going to confront it? The problem with running is it doesn't go away. Ignoring it doesn't mean it's going to disappear. Before you can move forward, you're going to have to come back and deal with it. It's much better to face the giants now. Don't go 10 years living below your potential because you didn't want to do the hard thing. You didn't want to be uncomfortable. When you take that step toward your giant, God's going to step in and help you to do it.

1993, Mary Johnson's only son was at a party one night. Things got out of control. Shots were fired. Her 21-year-old son was killed. When she heard the news, she was so devastated, she passed out. Three days later, they charged a 16-year-old boy in his killing. That day, she said, hate filled her heart. She was so angry, she couldn't sleep at night.

At the trial, she viewed her son. son's killer as an animal. She not only hated him, she hated everyone. Mary knew she needed to forgive. She knew the anger was destroying her, but she wouldn't do it. She kept putting it off year after year. He doesn't deserve it. It's not right. He hurt me too badly. As long as you're making excuses, comforting, comforting, it's going to limit your life. When you hold on to unforgiveness, it's not hurting the other person, it's hurting you. We've heard the saying, time heals all wounds. That may be true in one sense, but you can't bury hurts, guilt, insecurity, and think

they're going to just go away. Those are toxins that will contaminate your life. Mary kept running. She didn't want to deal with it. She didn't want to put herself through the pain. It was too hard to forgive. But to get free, to be whole, you have to do the whole. you have to do the hard things.

You have to be willing to be uncomfortable. What I've learned is it's not going to be as difficult as you think. When you stop running, when you deal with what you know you need to deal with, there will be a grace to do what you've never done. The reason you think it's going to be too hard, you haven't stepped into that grace yet. It will come when you make a move. One day, Mary made the decision that I'm asking us to make.

She said, in effect, I'm going to stop running. I'm not going to let this anger, this hatred, ruin the rest of my life. She called the prison and asked if she could visit the young man that took her son's life. They were surprised. Reluctantly, the young man agreed. She walked in that day, uncomfortable, not knowing what to expect. They talked for two hours. The young man told how sorry he was.

As she was leaving, he asked if he could give her a hug. As they embraced, Mary said, I felt anger and hatred rising up from the souls of my feet and leaving my body. It was like a cleansing. She felt a heavy weight lift off of her. From that day forward, she's never had any bitterness, anger, hostility. When you stop running and deal with what you know is hindering you, it's not going to be as hard as you think. God is going to give you the grace. He's going to prepare people's hearts.

he's going to help you to forgive. Don't spend your life running. What you run from, you'll always have to go back and deal with before you can move forward. When we comfort and don't confront, all we're doing is putting off where God wants to take us. We're delaying seeing new levels of our destiny. Here's a key. God will never ask you to do a hard thing and not give you the ability to do it. When he's asking you to do something, difficult. The grace is there, but you have to step into it. Your mind will say, you can't forgive. They hurt you too badly. You can't break the addiction. Just learn to live with it. You can't do something great. You're insecure. You're unqualified. Don't believe those lies. There's nothing the enemy would love any more than for you to spend your life running, running from God's call on your life, running from your fears, running from your hurts,

from your past, it's time to stop running. The only way out is through. You can't go around it. You can't ignore it and it'll go away. Time won't cause it to disappear. But if you'll confront it, you can conquer it. If you'll face your giants, God will give you strength to defeat what should defeat you. When you do what you can, God will do what you can. When you do the natural, God will do the supernatural. In your own strength, you may not be able to forgive, to break the habit, to lead the company, but you're not on your own. When you stop running, God steps in and gives you power, favor, ability that you've never had. God brought the Israelites out of slavery, parted the Red Sea, and they took them toward the promised land. They were camp next door. God had already promised

than the victory. All they had to do was go in and take the land. But the people living there were much bigger. He had more experience, more equipment. The Israelites were afraid and intimidated. He told Moses, we can't go in there. Instead of running to the giant, they ran from the giant. They spent 40 years in the desert running. My prayer is, God help us to not waste years of our life running from things that you've already promised we can conquer. Fetion 6 talks about putting on the armor of God, helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith,

all these awesome things to protect us. What's interesting is there's nothing for our backside. There's no armor to cover our rear. That's because God never created us to be running. He created us to confront our giants. To face our fears, to stand strong in faith. Don't be like the Israelites and spend years of your life running from things that God has already given you victory over.

All he needs is for you to stop running. Deal with it. He'll be right there to help you. Forty years later, the children of these Israelites were back at the promised land. What's significant is the giants weren't gone. God didn't clear out the path. They just walk into the land. They still had opposition.

What you don't confront, your children will have to deal with. But when you stop running, when you face your fears, defeat bad habits, forgive the wrongs, you are breaking generational curses. You are putting an end to negative cycles that keep getting passed down. I want to make it easier on my children, my grandchildren. I'm not going to run from things that are hard. not going to take the easy way out, live afraid of the giants,

intimidated by the size of the dream, letting my mistakes stop my destiny. No, let's go into our promised land. The children of these Israelites, this new generation, they had a different attitude. They saw the same giants, same intimidation, same thoughts came, saying you don't have a chance. Their response was, no thanks, we're not running.

We're not going to spend our life, wandering in the desert, we know greater is he that's in us than what's coming against us. They faced the opposition and went into the land their parents could have had 40 years earlier. Why don't you confront things that your parents and those that went before you didn't confront? Maybe they learned to live with the addiction. You can face it and conquer it. No more running, no more accepting it. don't take another lap, take a stand. You're the one to go into the promised land.

You have to be honest with yourself. It's easy to ignore things, make excuses. You may need to confront pride, confront a bad attitude, confront compromise. Maybe you need to apologize to someone. You need to make things right. The longer you put it off, the longer you're wandering. To go into the promised land, you have to be willing to deal with things that you know are limiting you. The psalmist said, God, keep me from lying to myself. That's a powerful prayer. Sometimes we don't want to pray that. We want to keep things hidden.

We don't want to deal with things that are uncomfortable, but it's much better to be open and honest. God show me areas where I need to change. Not my spouse. I have a list of 30 things they need to do. not my cousin, not my child, but where do I need to come up higher? When you live out of a place of humility, you're willing to deal with things that God brings to light, there's no limit to how high God will take you.

We all have areas we need to grow. It's tempting to make excuses. Joel, I've always been hot-tempered. I've always held grudges. I've always been critical, negative, arrogant, defensive. This is just who I am. No, you're running. you're comforting what you should be confronting.

If you'll do like Mary and face those giants, you'll step in to a new level of your destiny. This is what Jacob did. He lived compromising, cheating people. He tricked his brother out of his birthright. Esau had been out hunting all day. He came home so hungry. He was famished.

He could smell the aroma from the pot of stew that Jacob had made. He wanted some so badly. Jacob said, I'll give it to you if you'll give me your birthright. The birthright in those days were very valuable. Esau was his twin, but he was the firstborn son. They always received double the inheritance. Jacob was so manipulative that he took advantage of his brother not thinking correctly. Esau gave him his birthright for a pot of stew.

Years later, when their father, Isaac, was about to pass, He called Esau in to give him the blessing that belonged to the firstborn son. Isaac was nearly blind, couldn't see him. Jacob dressed up like Esau, put on his clothes, his shoes, his cologne, walked in and said, Dad, here I am. I'm ready for my blessing. Isaac was a little skeptical. He said, is this Jacob or is this Esau?

Jacob said, it's me, Dad, it's Esau. Isaac said, come closer. I want to feel your arms. Esau was very hairy like my brother Paul. Jacob, this way. Jacob had on a coat of animal fur. His dad felt it and said, I guess it is Esau. He gave Jacob the blessing that belonged to Esau. When Esau found out he was so angry that Jacob had to flee for his life, started running.

He lived in exile, worked for his uncle Laban. What's interesting is Laban was dishonest with Jacob. He promised him one daughter in marriage, but when the time came, he tricked him and gave him his other daughter. Be careful what you sow, because what you sow is going to come back to you. Twenty years later, Jacob got tired of running, decided to go back home. What's significant is the only way he could get home was to go through the city of Edom where Esau lived. What you run away from, you'll always have to go back and deal with. home for Jacob could have been different direction.

Esau could have moved to another country. But right in Jacob's path was Esau. When we ignore, push down, that doesn't mean it goes away. That's still going to be between you and your destiny. The good news is God will give you the grace to deal with it. Jacob sent word to his brother that he wanted to make things right. They'd been at odds for too long. Esau agreed to meet him.

As they were traveling down the road, Jacob saw Esau and all of his men coming toward him. Can imagine the apprehension? Jacob not knowing how his brother is going to respond. Is he going to be angry? Try to get revenge. Will this be a big fight? Esau got closer and started running toward him.

Jacob was expecting the worst. But Esau grabbed Jacob and hugged him. Wouldn't let him go. Went over to Jacob's wife. his children hug them too. After all he had done to Esau, he never dreamed one day they would be hugging affectionately. But when you stop running, when you deal with things that you push down, when you get honest with yourself and make things right, the grace of God goes before you. God will soften people's hearts. He'll make your crooked places straight. Like Jacob,

you may have made mistakes. We all have. You may have. You may need to apologize. You may need to ask for forgiveness. You may need to call that loved one you haven't spoken to and make peace. Don't wonder 20 years like he did running from your past, making excuses for your failures, thinking that's just who you are. Stop running. Ask God to help you to change. When you make a move, you'll see his hand of favor making things happen that you couldn't make happen. And that night before this big encounter, Jacob went to the brook by himself to be alone with God. He was reflecting back on his life, no doubt thinking about how he had treated Esau. Jacob didn't like who he had become.

He knew he was better than this. An angel appeared that night. He looked like a man, and the angel and Jacob started wrestling. Jacob must have known there was something significant happening because he said to the angel, I'm not leaving until you bless me. The angel asked him, what is your name? That seemed like an odd question. Why did he care what his name was?

This was the same question that Jacob's father asked him when he was there to get Esau's blessing. I could imagine a debate was going on in Jacob's mind. Thoughts telling him, just tell him that you're Esau, like you did with your father. Just keep pretending, keep being dishonest. This is just who you are. Jacob thought about it, then said, no, I'm not living like this anymore.

I'm not going to keep compromising, making decisions that I'm not proud of. He said to the angel, I am Jacob. His name means trickster, connivor. He was admitting, I don't have integrity. I deceive people. He got honest with himself. He quit running. The angel didn't say, it's about time.

you need to get right. You're never going to be blessed. When he admitted who he was, God changed his name to Israel, which means prince with God. The principle is when you get honest, you don't make excuses, that's when God changes things. You don't have to keep running from your mistakes, from your past, from what you're not proud of. When you go to God, he's not going to condemn you. he's going to help you rise out of what's holding you down and thrust you into your destiny. Jacob never dreamed he would be called a prince with God. He never dreamed he would have a good relationship with his brother.

Never dreamed he'd be able to live in his hometown without fear of all the negative things in his past. But when you quit running, when you live open and honest before God, when you deal with things he brings to light, he'll not only restore, you, but he'll make things better than you've ever imagined. Later in my father's life, I arranged for all these radio stations to carry his messages. All I needed him to do was to come down once a month, half an hour, and we'd make the openings and closings. It was very easy. I'd worked on this for six months, and everything fell into place. But when I asked my father, he said, Joel, I'm 75 years old. I'm not looking for any more work. I just want a pastor

the church and relax. I was so disappointed. I said, God, you put a big vision in my heart. I'm young. I don't want to do less. I want to do more. I thought maybe this is the time to go work somewhere else. I had an opportunity to work for one of the prominent ministries of that time. But when I got quiet, I could hear a still small voice saying, Joel, this is your father's vision. Just because he's not doing what you want, doesn't mean you should leave. Stay here, honor what he wants to do. Sometimes when we're not getting our way, we want to run. We're not getting the credit. They don't see my talent. This supervisor is not fair. I'm out of here. And yes, there are times we need to move on, but you can't run every time it's uncomfortable in your marriage,

your job, your school. If I had not stayed there and honored my father, I don't believe I would be up here today. And some of the things we want to run from, it's a test. God is seeing how we'll serve when we're not being treated right. What kind of attitude will we have when it's not fair? We're uncomfortable, not getting the credit. Don't have a running mentality. Every time you don't get your way, you change jobs, change friends,

change churches, change spouses. Stop running. Grow in those times. Let your roots go down deep. Don't be moved by what's not working out. Your character is being developed. God is seeing what he can trust you with. Genesis 16, Hagar was the maid that Abraham had a baby with out of wedlock.

It was Abraham's wife, Sarah, that had the big idea. But Sarah was so upset, she started making Hagar's life miserable. Verse 6 says, Sarah treated her harshly so Hagar ran. ran away. Hagar had had enough. She thought I don't have to put up with this. I'm out of here. She left, went out in the wilderness. An angel showed up and said, Hagar, what are you doing out here? She said, I'm running away. These people aren't treating me right. The angel didn't say, oh, that makes sense. I don't blame you. He said, go back to Sarah and submit to her authority. anything you run from, you're eventually going to have to go back and deal with.

I'm not talking about staying in abuse, but I am saying you can't run every time things get hard and reach your destiny. You can't pack up because you're uncomfortable. God won't have you somewhere and not give you the grace to be there. The angel went on to say, if you'll go back and serve Sarah, God will give you more descendants than you can count. When you stop running, you do the right thing when it's hard. There is a blessing that follows. God will show out in your life, take you to levels that you've never dreamed. Are you running from something today?

Are you comforting what you should be confronting? Don't go another year out in the wilderness, putting off what you know you should do. Get honest with yourself. Deal with the issues God's bringing to light. It may be difficult, but when you take that step, the grace of God is going to make it easier than you think. If you'll stop running, I believe and declare, like the children of the Israelites, you're going to break negative cycles that have held your family down and go into your promised land.

Like Mary, you're going to have the power to deal with issues. Heavy weights are about to lift off of you. Like Jacob, you're going to rise out of mediocrity and become all you were created to be. in Jesus name. If you receive it, can you say amen? 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. We'd love to send you some free information on your walk with the Lord.

Just text the number. or go to the website. I hope you'll get into a good Bible-based church and keep God first place. Sometimes the difficulties of life can be so overwhelming. You feel like you're stumbling around in the dark. Things are so bad, you would need a miracle

to change your situation. But is a miracle even possible? We all face situations where we don't see a way out. It's easy to get discouraged and give up on what we're believing for. That's how we felt in 1980. My mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given a few weeks to live.

Nothing could be done, medically speaking, but she chose to believe that God is a miracle worker. Today, 43 years later, by the grace of God, she's still healthy and strong. I'm so grateful to be alive. I'm 90 years young. I thank God every day that he still does miracles. I'd love to send you my new book. It's called Miracles Happened. It's filled with powerful stories of miracles from the scripture and,

real life stories of people that have seen the hand of God. It'll help build your faith so you can believe what seems impossible. God did it for my mother. He'll do it for you. As our way of saying thank you for your gift of any amount to the ministry this month, Joel and Victoria would like to send you this powerful book, Miracles Happen, Your Journey to Supernatural Breakthrough. This new book details 30 different miracles from the Word of God,

and each one comes with an encouragement and application. to your own life. God has miracles stored up for you. Healing, freedom, favor, breakthroughs. Miracles still happen today, and faith is what activates God's power. When you believe, all things are possible. That's when you'll see the hand of God do supernatural things in your life. Victoria and I are standing in faith with you. We pray for you every day. We appreciate your prayer and support. Your generosity is impacting so many lives. Remember, you can be a lot of your can watch the services live online every Sunday morning, download our daily podcast, watch on YouTube, the new Joel Osteen Network, listen on Sirius XM. Until we meet again, may the Lord bless you

and keep you. Be sure to request your copy of Miracles Happen. Your journey to supernatural breakthrough today, visit joel osteen.com or call 888-567 Joel.