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Joel Osteen (0:30)

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Joel Osteen (1:32)

Hi, this is Joel in Victoria. Thanks so much for listening to the podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. We believe you're going to have an awesome 2024 healthy, productive and favor filled. God bless you today and enjoy the message. Well, God bless you. It's a joy to come into your homes. We love you. We know God has great things in store for each one of you. He rewards the people that seek after Him. I know that's you. You wouldn't be watching today or you wouldn't have taken time to come out. But thank you so much. And we're just believing 2007 is going to be a great year in your life. Amen. I like to start with something funny each week. And I heard about this college professor. He was going to prove to his class that God wasn't real. And so he said, God, if you're real, knock me off of this platform and I'll give you 15 minutes to do it. With every minute that went by, he kind of laughed and said, God, I'm still waiting. Here I am. The Last minute, a 300 pound football player walking down the hall heard what he was saying. He came charging into the room, lowered his shoulder with full force, he hit the professor and he went flying off the platform. The professor got up kind of dazed and confused, said, what in the world did you do that for? The football player replied, God said he was busy, so he sent me. All right, hold up your Bible. Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess. My mind is alert, my heart is receptive. I will never be the same. 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 same. In Jesus name, God bless you. I want to talk to you today about how to deal with your weaknesses. Every one of us has areas that we struggle in. There may be a lot right with us, but we all have things that are trying to hold us back. Things in our character, things in our behavior that just won't go away. It's a weakness. You could even call it a persistent temptation. It's something that just keeps coming back. And it's different with every person. It may be something seemingly small, being impatient, being jealous, having to control everything, a lack of focus. Or maybe it's a weakness with your temper, a weakness with alcohol, a weakness with the opposite sex, a weakness with what you watch. We all have things that just won't go away. You can't defeat a weakness one time and then you're done. It keeps coming back again and again. And this is where so many people just give in and say, well, I've tried, I've failed so many times. This is just who I am. No, we just have to learn to deal with our weaknesses in the correct way. And I don't know so much that we even overcome a weakness as much as we learn to control them. I know one of my weaknesses is being impatient. I've dealt with this practically my whole lifetime and I'm pretty good at controlling it now. But I still have the temptation. I still have a tendency to want to be impatient. In fact, last week, two lanes of the Freeway were closed. And what normally would take me five minutes took me 30 minutes. I must have had a thousand negative thoughts come to my mind telling me, get upset, this isn't right. You're going to be late. This is ruining your day. See, the temptation to be impatient still comes. And I've learned that that's an area where I have to stay on guard, with prayer, with discipline. With the right attitude, I know I can control it and not let it control me. But what I want you to see is it's not realistic to think I'm going to get rid of this once and for all and never have to deal with it again. No, most of the time, a weakness doesn't totally go away. You may still have the desire, the temptation may come your whole lifetime, but our attitude should be, I know I can control this weakness and not let it control me. Now, I would encourage you to know what your weaknesses are. You cannot conquer something that you don't confront. You need to examine your life. Know the areas that you struggle in. What are the things that are consistently trying to hold you back? Do you have persistent temptation in a particular area? Could be with your temper. You're constantly tempted to lose your cool. Could be in your morals. You're consistently tempted to be unfaithful, to compromise, or maybe even in your self image. You have to consistently deal with thoughts of low self esteem and inferiority. Well, get to know yourself. Be familiar with your weaknesses. Not in a condemning way, but so you can be aware of what you need to work on. I mean, too many people today live in denial. One of the main reasons why a person with a drug or alcohol addiction never gets any help is because they don't think they really have a problem. We tend to overlook the obvious and to downplay things. But if you really want to be your best, you need to know the areas that you struggle in. Take an honest look at your life and just call it like it is. For instance, if every time I see someone that's more successful than me, instead of being happy for them, I start to find fault and to be critical, then I need to be honest enough to say, you know what? I'm just jealous. That's a weakness. I need to work on it. If I'm always giving in to peer pressure and just doing what my friends want me to do, I need to be honest enough to say I'm a people pleaser. I've got to work on that. I know people that have a weakness when it comes to sweets. If they eat one Chocolate. They got to eat the whole box. A lady told me, joel, I'm so undisciplined in my spending, if I go to the mall and see something on sale, I can't help it. I just buy it. We have to recognize those are all weaknesses. That's an area you have to stay on guard and really fight the good fight of faith. And understand you are not a bad person just because you struggle with something. We all have things to deal with. Don't sit there feeling condemned, thinking, man, if they only knew what I struggled with. No, I don't know of too many perfect people. Just myself and Joni. And lately I've been having my doubts about him. But when I say, know what your weaknesses are, it's not so you'll feel bad about yourself. But rather, this is an area I know I need to work on. This is an area where I have to stay on guard. One of the main keys to controlling a weakness, a key to overcoming temptation, is you have to learn to pray ahead of time to not give in to that temptation. That's what the scripture says. Here, Matthew 26:41. The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Pray that you don't come into the temptation. Notice the spirit is willing. That means we all have good intentions. I have no doubt, if you could, you'd give up that addiction. You'd give up a bad attitude. You'd give up being impatient. We all want to do what's right down in here. But it's not enough to just have the desire. It's saying you have to pray so that your spirit man will become strong in that area. You have to get your inner man stronger than your outer man. And the only way that's going to happen is through prayer, through asking God to help you. This means if you have a weakness with your temper, then you need to pray every morning before you leave the house. God, I'm asking you to help me not get upset. Help me to not give in to the temptation to lose my cool. See, don't wait until you're already in the situation. Your emotions are running high. Everything's out of control. The key is to pray for time. You got to get your inner man built up. Maybe you struggle with depression, discouragement. Well, you can't wait till you've been depressed three days before you decide to ask God to help you. No, stay on the offensive. On your good days, when you're happy, when you're encouraged, you need to be praying, God, help me to control my thought life. Help Me to resist the temptation to dwell on negative, discouraging thoughts. When you do that, you're building your inner man up. For instance, if you know every Monday tends to be a more difficult day for you at the office, you've got more to do and traffic is worse, and normally you come home more stressed out, you tend to be short with your family, then you need to pray ahead of time. On Thursday, on Friday, on Saturday. God, I know Monday's about to roll around and that same temptation to be stressed and uptight is going to come. So I'm asking you right now in advance to give me the grace to resist it. Give me the strength to stay in peace. What's happening? You're strengthening your spirit, man. Remember, the spirit is willing. The flesh is weak. If you can get your spirit, man, built up to where it's stronger than that temptation, then you will be much more likely to overcome. Now, I'm not saying the temptation won't come, but because you took time to pray, because you acknowledge God, he will give you the strength to not give in to it. This is just what Jesus did when he was about to be crucified. He knew what was up ahead. He knew there were difficult days, how he was going to be mocked and ridiculed. So what did he do? He took time to pray. He said, father, if you will take this cup away from me, but not my will, your will be done. Strength. Notice he was asking his Father for his help. Here he was the Son of God, yet he was saying, God, I can't do this on my own. I'm tempted to give in. I'm tempted to not go through with it. God, I need your strength. The scripture says after he prayed, an angel came and strengthened him. In other words, God heard his prayer and gave him the strength and power he needed to not give in to that temptation. God will do the same thing for each one of us. If you'll pray ahead of time, God will give you supernatural strength to overcome. But too often we try to do things in our own ability. I've had people tell me, joel, I'm trying to break this bad habit. I'm determined, I'm persistent. But I just keep giving in. No, willpower and determination alone are not enough. If desire was all we needed, we would all be free. You got to start asking God for his help every day. Pray about the areas you struggle in. Pray about that temper. Pray about a negative attitude. Pray about a critical spirit. Ask God to help you not give in to that temptation. Last week, I was Talking to a high school student, she told how she does very well in school all through the year. Very smart, she makes good grades. But she said, joel, every time finals come around, it seems like I just panic. I get all uptight and I can't remember the things I've studied. It's just pulling my grades down. I told her what I'm telling you today. You need to start praying right now, a couple of months in advance. God, I'm asking you to help me resist that temptation to panic, to get up tight. God, I'm asking you to bring back to my memory everything that I've studied. Give me clarity of thought. See, you got to learn to pray ahead of time, get your inner man built up. I know an area that I struggle in is it's easy for me to get uptight and to feel pressured. This is a persistent temptation, especially toward the end of the week when I'm going to be preparing my sermon. Of course I want it to be good. I want it to be helpful. And so every week when Thursday or Friday rolls around, I can feel this same temptation to be pressured, stressed, to not have the joy and peace that I should have. And I didn't really realize it was happening just the way it was. One day, Victoria said something out of the blue. She said, boy, Joel, toward the end of the week, you sure do bring a lot of pressure into the house. And that day, it was like a light turned on. I thought, she is exactly right. I'm allowing myself to get uptight and stressed, and I'm not going to live this way. And so I started praying ahead of time, early in the week. God, help me resist that temptation. Help me to not get stressed and uptight. I started making plans on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday, to enjoy the rest of the week, to be calm, to be relaxed every morning. Father, thank you that your yoke is easy and your burden is light. Thank you that I have a calm and relaxed, easygoing attitude. Do you know, today I hardly ever get stressed. I don't even worry about it. And sure, the temptation still comes. This is something I've got to do on a regular basis. I found some weaknesses will not go away. I believe God even leaves us with certain things, so we'll always have to depend on him. So I can't just say, well, I beat it one time. That's it. No, I know still every day in the morning, God help me to resist that temptation to be stressed. Something we have to do on a regular basis needs to be an ongoing process. We've all heard the saying, we're only as strong as our weakest link. Normally that's talking about a team, but it's also true, even individually. You can be a kind, loving person. You can control your temper, be disciplined, be focused. And yet you struggle with being jealous or you struggle with. That's a weak link. And I found most of the times it's not the big things that keep people back in life. It's just the small things. I would encourage you to find your weakest links and start really praying and asking God to help you come up higher in those areas. Many times, if you'll make a small adjustment, correct or wrong attitude, not hang out with a bad influence, develop better eating or spending habits. Very often, if you'll make a minor adjustment and correct your weak link, you'll see a major improvement. Your whole life will come up higher. And some of you are so close to going to a new level. If you'll really get serious and start being diligent to control these weaknesses and to overcome that temptation, you'll begin to see great things in your life and understand. We're always tempted in the area of our greatest weakness. I'm not tempted to be lazy. I'm not tempted with drugs and alcohol. That's not a weakness for me. But I am tempted to be impatient. I am tempted to live stressed out. It's because that weakness is an open door to the enemy. It's what the scripture calls a foothold. It indicates it may not be something big, but just something small that we haven't been diligent to deal with and get under control. You need to be aware of your weak links. Any area where you're having persistent temptation, that's a weakness, that's a possible foothold. And again, I would encourage you to really concentrate on those areas because that's what's going to hold you back. I know people, they're very faithful in their marriage, they're excellent in their career, patient. They're giving. They've got all these great qualities, yet they can't control their mouth. They go around saying negative, critical, hurtful things. That's the weakness. They really need to focus on all these great qualities, yet we're only as strong as our weakest link. The mistake we make many times is we just keep strengthening our strengths and we ignore our weaknesses. We overlook the problem areas, but where in fact, those are the things that are going to try to take us back. I know in my life I don't have any problem being focused, being disciplined, that's easy. If I'm not careful, I'll pour all my energy into improving in those areas, which is fine. But the problem is, if I have this weak link that I'm not dealing with, all these good qualities are trying to take me higher. But this weak link could be jealousy, could be impatience. How I treat people compromise a negative attitude. That weak link is always going to hold us back. So important that we deal with our weaknesses. This is what David did twice in the book of Psalms. He prayed that God would help him control his mouth. I don't know. He must have had a problem with saying the wrong things. And here, David was a great leader. He was disciplined, focused, wise. Yet he knew this simple secret, that we're only as strong as our weakest link. So he prayed in Psalm 141. God set a guard over my mouth. Notice he was doing just what we're talking about, praying ahead of time. He was basically saying, God, I'm not going to allow this weakness to keep me from your best. I'm asking you to help me control my tongue. Help me to speak words that are loving and kind, words that build up, words that tear down. See, don't ignore your weaknesses. Stay on the offensive, and every day ask God to help you not give in in those areas. Remember, we're only as strong as our weakest link. Maybe you have a problem with your weight and you have a weakness when it comes to overeating. You want to stop. You know you should. But normally you just give in. Then you feel guilty, go around condemned for three days thinking, well, I've already blown it. Might as well eat everything in sight. No, start asking God to help you. You got to get your inner man built up. If you know, Friday afternoon, they're having a big party at the office with cake and ice cream, all kinds of desserts. You cannot wait until you're standing in front of that feast with your mouth watering to pray. God, help me. That's too late. You better start Monday morning. God, you know what's coming Friday afternoon. I'm asking you to help me stand strong. I'm asking you to help me resist that temptation. When you pray, what happens? Here comes the angel with the strength that you need. Sometimes when the food really looks good, you better pray. God, send me a big angel. This is going to be serious. This may take Gabriel. The way you keep your inner man strong after you pray is all. Through the day, meditate on God's word. Don't go around thinking, I can't do it thoughts, learn to think power thoughts. In other words, God, I pray. God, I ask you for your help. Now I just want to declare I can do all things through Christ. I am more than a conqueror, I am a victor. Nothing's too hard for me when you do that. Your inner man is getting stronger. You're preparing for victory. I found a lot of times we'll take a minute to pray, to overcome, but then we'll spend the next three days negative. Well, I can't do this. I know I'll give in on Friday. Just can't control my appetite. No, that's just draining all your strength. That's weakening your inner man. Stay in an atmosphere of faith and victory. Keep that inside man strong. I think about Peter. He had weaknesses. He was kind of hot headed and from time to time he would say things that he shouldn't. And one day Jesus was talking to his disciples about what was going to happen in the days ahead and how he was going to be crucified. And he said, you're going to be tempted to deny me and tempted to go the wrong way. So here's what you need to do. Pray that you don't give in to this temptation. And you would think Peter, since he had some weaknesses, would be the first one to say, you're right, Jesus, I'm going to take a few extra minutes to pray. But no, Peter was proud. He thought he could overcome in his own strength. And he said in effect, Jesus, what are you talking about? I don't need to pray. I'm not going to deny you. I know better than that. Jesus looked at him and said, peter, before the rooster crows, you'll deny me three times. You know the story he did just that. He not only denied Christ, but he started cursing, having a fit, had to leave there all guilty and condemned. And I don't know, maybe this could have been avoided if Peter would have just had a more humble attitude and said, you know what, Jesus, you're right, this is going to be difficult. I can't do this in my own strength. I'm going to take your advice and ask God to help me. I'm going to spend an extra few minutes in prayer. Think about it. If Jesus prayed for what he was facing, if he encouraged us to pray that we don't give into temptation, that lets me know this should be a part of everyday life, especially in the areas that we struggle in. If you struggle with a negative attitude every morning before you leave the house, God help me to not dwell on these negative thoughts today. Maybe somebody at work's not treating you right. You're getting all upset and offended. Well, before you leave the house each morning, God help me resist the temptation to be offended. God, help me to keep my cool. Today when you pray, just imagine, here comes the angel with the strength you need. Some of you today are not seeing the victory that you should simply because, like Peter, you're not taking time to ask God for his help. I know in my life when I consistently give in to things that I know are not God's best, that just lets me know I'm not staying prayed up. I'm not keeping my inner man strong enough. Because God has promised there's not a temptation that will come to us that we cannot overcome. I was talking to a gentleman last week. He had been addicted to cocaine for 11 years and today he has been clean for 92 days. This is as long as he's ever stopped during this 11 year period. And I was kind of curious. I asked him how he did it. He said, joel, first thing is I quit telling myself that I couldn't. And I started saying I can do all things through Christ. Second thing is, I got a group of friends to support me. They call me and encourage me. And the third thing is, every day I started praying, God, I need your help. God, I'm asking for your strength. God, give me the grace to resist this temptation. He said, I've been amazed at how I've been able to resist things that I could not resist before I started praying. What he couldn't do in his own strength for years, now, all of a sudden able to do. That's what happens when you go to God with your weaknesses. That's what happens when you take time to pray. And I'm not saying that that temptation won't come back to him. He may have to face it his whole lifetime, but I know this. If he stays prayed up, if he stays on guard, he will be able to resist it and live a life of victory. You can too. But you got to keep your inner man strong. Now I would encourage you, don't leave the house every morning without at least spending a few minutes of quiet time with God. Read the scriptures, meditate on his promises, thank him for his goodness in your life, and then ask him for the help that you need. You got to keep that inside man built up. Do you know your inner man is more important than your outer man? Sometimes we feed our outer man three hot meals a day. We only feed our inner man cold snack a week. You're not Going to defeat persistent temptation. We're not going to control our weaknesses if we're not taking steps to actively keep our inner man strong. That means driving to work. Put on a good praise cd. All through the day, keep your mind filled with thoughts of hope. Don't go around worried. Go around thinking about how God has you in the palm of his hand and how he has great things in store. When you're positive and hopeful your inner man is getting stronger, then when that temptation comes, you'll be much more likely to resist it. Why? Because you're prayed up? Because you took time to honor God. The scripture says when you acknowledge God, he will crown your efforts with success. Keeping our inner man strong should be a priority. That's the only way we will defeat persistent temptation. Another important key is don't focus on the temptation. Don't let it dominate your thoughts. What you think about, you're drawn toward. If you've ever been standing at the edge of a cliff overlooking it, it's almost like a force is wanting to pull you over. Makes me want to back up. And that's not unusual. That's a law in human psychology. It says we move toward what we focus on. The other day, I was out running. Way off in the distance. I could see a stop sign. Must have been about 500 yards away. And at this time, I wasn't even tired. I still had another mile to go. But for some reason, I started really focusing on the stop sign. And that word stop just jumped out at me in my mind like a blinking red light saying, stop, stop, stop. And it's funny, the more I focused on it, the more I began to think, I'm tired. I don't know if I can keep going. I'm winded. I need to stop. I was drawn toward what I was thinking about. Finally, I realized I have to change my focus. You cannot run forward with the word stop blinking in your mind. I heard somebody say, what gets your attention will eventually get you. That means you can't control a weakness by going around saying, I'm not going to eat these donuts. God, please help me not eat these donuts. I confess, I will not eat these donuts. If you have donuts on your mind all day long, you're probably down about a dozen of them. Change your focus. You won't control the weakness if it's dominating your thought life. Yes, pray about it. Ask God to help you. But then go out thinking positive, hopeful thoughts. Friends, you can control your weaknesses. You don't have to let them control you know the areas that you struggle in and then learn to pray ahead of time for God to help you, especially when you know something difficult is coming up. Remember, we're only as strong as our weakest link. Don't ignore your weaknesses. Be diligent to come up higher in those areas and if you'll do your part and keep your inner man strong and keep asking God for His help, then I know God will do his part. He'll not only help you resist the temptation, he'll not only send the angel with the strength you need, but God will pour out his blessings, his favor. You'll live the life of victory he has in store. Amen. Do you receive it 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 Bible based church. Keep God first place. He's going to take you places that you've never dreamed of.