Count It All Joy | Victoria Osteen

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Joel Osteen Podcast

Episode: Count It All Joy | Victoria Osteen

Date: December 20, 2025
Host: Victoria Osteen (with mentions of Joel Osteen)
Length of meaningful content: 01:44 – 12:15

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Overview

In this uplifting episode, Victoria Osteen delivers a message centered on finding joy amidst trials and trusting God's plan through challenges. Drawing from James 1:4 and Romans 15:13, Victoria encourages listeners to stop focusing on struggles and instead, “count it all joy,” recognizing that difficulties are meant to build strength, perseverance, and deeper faith. The episode explores how mindset and belief shape outcomes during difficult times, offering actionable spiritual wisdom to help listeners transition from survival mode to a posture of faith-fueled growth.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Going from "Struggle to Struggle" versus "Strength to Strength"

• Victoria opens with the reminder that God desires us to ascend “from strength to strength, from glory to glory” and not simply hop from one struggle to another. (01:44)
• Emphasizes that struggle is common: “One day we’re doing good, the next day we’re struggling,” but God’s intention is always for our growth, not just endurance.

The Power of Rest Amidst Trials

• “If you’re struggling today, you need to hear this one word: rest. Just rest. …We're not going to get to where we need to be any quicker if we worry, if we struggle, or if we’re frustrated.” — Victoria Osteen (02:17)
• Resting in God’s peace becomes vital to endure and build persistence.

Scriptural Foundation: James 1:4 — Count It All Joy

• Victoria reads and expounds on James 1:4, encouraging listeners to “consider it all joy when you go through trials of many kinds.” (03:12)
• Trials and Challenges
  • They’re not meant to “decrease us,” but “increase us.”
  • Trials are to build faith and produce perseverance, making us better equipped and “not lacking anything.”
  • “The key to counting it all joy is joy.” (04:12)

Where (and how) to Find Joy

• “We don’t find the joy in the trial… we are supposed to find the joy in the God who is the source of all strength.” — Victoria Osteen (04:28)
• Joy isn’t circumstantial: Unlike happiness (which ebbs and flows), joy is described as “abiding in us,” a gift from God.
• Choice in Perspective:
  • “When I’m facing a difficulty, I have a choice. I can consider it joy or I can consider it hardship.” (05:02)
  • If we focus on hardship, “I’m going to begin to complain and lose any joy I ever had.”
  • If we focus on God’s ability to bring “something good out of me,” we will find strength and transformation.

Mining the Gold Within

• “God wants me to find the good in myself. He wants me to mine the gold within me. …He is refining us into pure gold.” — Victoria Osteen (06:02)
• Every difficulty is a step “up”: “Because the only way to go higher is to step up.”
  • Are you “stepping over or stepping up”? (06:24)

Willpower vs. God’s Power

• “When facing difficulty…it’s going to take more than your willpower. It’s going to take God’s power.” (07:00)
• Joy is “God’s calm delight, the rest in Him, the peace in Him.” (07:22)
• What we believe about circumstances determines whether we emerge “tattered and torn” or “built up.”

Passing the Test

• “God wants you to pass the test. Any good teacher wants you to pass the test…to see what you’ve learned.” (08:00)
• Purpose of Trials:
  • Perseverance, wisdom, character-building.
• Don’t Chase the Problem, Chase the Promise:
  • “We’re chasing the problem instead of chasing the promise. The promise is in us. God has put everything we need to accomplish on the inside of us. We just got to dig it out.” (09:00)

The Role of Belief

• Refers to Romans 15:13: “The God of all hope will fill you with joy and peace in believing.”
• What do you believe about your trial?
  • “If you are for me, who dare be against me. …I have all power to overcome, being built up because of Jesus Christ.” (10:15)
• Joy is not mere happiness:
  • “The true test of our faith…the test that’s going to build our character and perseverance is found in the trials of life.” (10:56)

Final Encouragement

• “If you’re going to go through it, grow through it. …God doesn’t want you to get beat up in the trial. He wants you to be built up. Don’t let the enemy steal your joy. Remember, it abides on the inside of you. It’s a gift that’ll take you from strength to strength. Amen.” (11:20)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “If you're struggling today, you need to hear this one word: rest. Just rest.” — Victoria Osteen (02:17)
• “Trials were never meant to decrease us. They were meant to increase us…to build our faith up.” — Victoria Osteen (03:40)
• “We don’t find the joy in the trial… joy is a gift from Almighty God.” — Victoria Osteen (04:28)
• “When I’m facing a difficulty, I have a choice…I can consider it joy or I can consider it hardship.” — Victoria Osteen (05:02)
• “God wants us to pass the test. Any good teacher wants you to pass the test. They don’t give you a test to fail.” — Victoria Osteen (08:00)
• “Don’t chase the problem, chase the promise. The promise is in us.” — Victoria Osteen (09:00)
• “If you're going to go through it, grow through it.” — Victoria Osteen (10:56)
• “Don’t let the enemy steal your joy. Remember, it abides on the inside of you. It’s a gift that’ll take you from strength to strength.” — Victoria Osteen (11:20)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:44 — Victoria Osteen’s main message starts: God’s desire for us to go from strength to strength
• 02:17 — Emphasis on “Rest” amidst struggle
• 03:12 — Citing and unpacking James 1:4
• 04:12 – 04:28 — Distinction between joy and happiness; “Find joy in God”
• 05:02 — We choose whether to see trials as joy or hardship
• 06:02 — “Mining the gold within;” God refines us
• 07:00 — Need for God’s power, not just willpower
• 08:00 — The trial as a test to build perseverance
• 09:00 — Chasing promise, not problems
• 10:15 — The role of belief during trials
• 10:56 — “If you’re going through it, grow through it.”
• 11:20 — Final exhortation: “Don’t let the enemy steal your joy.”

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Takeaway

Victoria Osteen’s message in “Count It All Joy” encourages listeners not to wait for perfect circumstances to find joy, but rather to trust God in the midst of every trial. By shifting our focus from struggle to God’s promised growth, and by believing that everything we need is already deposited within us, we can move from strength to strength and experience enduring joy—no matter what we face.

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Transcript

[A]

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[C]

Hi, this is Joel in Victoria. Thanks for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry.

[D]

If you enjoyed today's message, why don't you be a blessing and share it with a friend?

[C]

We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in your life.

[D]

Amen and amen. You may be seated. God wants us to go from strength to strength. He wants us to go from glory to glory. We sang about it a few minutes ago how he wants to take us from glory to glory. He wants us to go higher and higher. But sometimes when we're trying to get higher, we're trying to go to more strength. We're trying to get through. We find that we're going from struggle to struggle. See, God doesn't want us to go from struggle to struggle. His intention is for us to go from strength to strength. And can I tell you, today we all face this challenge. One day we're doing good, the next day we're struggling. We're trying to get out of a situation. We're Trying to get to another situation. Maybe if you're struggling today, you need to hear this one word. Rest. Just rest. See, the truth is, we're going to get to where God wants us to be. If we're honoring him, if we put him first place, if we take time to get his plans and his words in our heart and in our life, we're not going to get to where we need to be any quicker if we worry, if we struggle, or if we're frustrated. So today, I just want to say, if you find yourself struggling, rest. Rest in God's peace. Abide in his joy. That's where you're going to find your strength. That is where you are going to endure and find great persistence. God is always trying to get us higher. So we're always going to be facing something in our life. Listen to what it says in James 1:4. It says, Consider it all joy when you go through trials of many kinds. Many kinds, a variety of trials coming from different places. We're to count it all joy when we face trials. See, trials is what causes us to struggle. But God is saying, count it all joy. In this version that I'm reading, it says, consider it all joy. See, our trials were never meant to decrease us. They were meant to increase us. They were not meant to tear our faith down. They were meant to build our faith up. Trials were meant to produce perseverance in us. See, that scripture goes on to say that we won't be lacking anything, that there may be a trial of our faith, but it's going to lead us to good. It's not going to tear us down. The key to counting it all joy is joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength. We don't find the joy in the trial. We don't find the joy in the pain. We are supposed to find the joy in the God who is the source of all strength, the God who is in control of it all. When we are walking through a difficulty, we are supposed to look for God, not look at the difficulty. We're to count it all joy. Happiness comes and goes. Excitement is here. Vacations come, they go. But joy is supposed to abide in us. Joy lives in us. Joy is a gift from Almighty God. You know, sometimes when we're going through a trial or a test, we think, this isn't joyful. I can tell you, joy is not the word that comes to me when I'm facing a difficulty. I just have to admit it right now. I think the scripture should say, when you get through the difficulty, that's when you can throw your hands up in the air and you can say, finally, I can have some joy. I can have some relief. But see, the scripture doesn't say that. It says we are to consist consider it all joy. That tells me right now that when I'm facing a difficulty, I have a choice. I can consider it joy or I can consider it hardship. And if I consider it hardship and difficulty and misery and start walking down that road, I'm going to begin to complain and I'm going to lose any joy I ever had. But when I consider the God, the God who has all power, the God who has allowed me to face a trial to bring something good out of me, see, if we're going to count it all joy, the only way to do that is to count it all, God. And if we're going to count it all God, we got to know there is good in this trial. The decision to find the good, not the bad. The decision is to begin to look for the good. And you know what I've discovered? I've discovered that most of the time, God wants me to find the good in myself. He wants me to mine the gold within me. You see, he is refining us into pure gold. It says that he wants us to lack no good thing, to be ready and able to persevere in this life. You see, if we're going to go higher and higher, we're always going to be facing something. Because the only way to go higher is to step up. See, what are you stepping over or stepping up to today? Are you taking those difficulties to God? Are you saying, God, help me find your strength, be my source? Or are you trying to do it on your own? See, when we do it on our own, that's when we struggle. But when we realize, when we tap into this joy, we tap into God, that's when we find our source of strength. See, there is something called willpower. And we all like to think we have it and we all want to use it. But let me tell you, when you're facing a difficulty and God's got you on an upward plane, it's going to take more than your willpower. It's going to take God's power. It's going to take God's power to bring you to the places that he wants to take you. Don't struggle on your own. Realize the joy of the Lord is his calm delight. It's the rest in Him. It's the peace in him. Do you know, it's very interesting what we believe about our circumstance will ultimately cause us to either come out tattered and torn, beaten and bruised, or built up. You see, we just want to get through those difficulties. We're waiting for them to be over. But God is looking at what we are like when they're over. He is saying, how did they develop? How did they grow? What's their attitude? Where can I take them now? See, God wants us to pass the test. That is, any good teacher wants you to pass the test. They don't give you a test to fail. They give you a test to see what you've learned from them. And God is saying, I want you to pass the test. I want you to wise up. I want you to have perseverance. That's what the intention of these trials are. To give us perseverance, to train us to bring out the good in us, the God in us. See, that's why the enemy works so hard to steal our joy. Because he knows if we're looking everywhere else, if we're blaming our friends, if it's all about our husband, it's about the difficulty at work. When we're looking to lay blame on everyone else, we forget to look within us. We look at the problem. We're chasing the problem instead of chasing the promise. The promise is in us. God has put everything we need to accomplish on the inside of us. We just gotta dig it out. We gotta find it. We have got to believe that this joy is for us, to give us strength. What you're believing about the difficulty you're going through right now, what you're believing about, where you want to be right now is going to make all the difference in the world on how you come out of this difficulty. And what you learn through this difficulty, what you learn through any challenge. See, if you're going to go through it, grow through it. That's what God's saying, grow through. Says in Romans 15:13. It says, the God of all hope will fill you with joy and peace in believing. What are you believing today? Are you believing you're unworthy or believing you can't make it? See, no hope and no faith and no joy will rise with those kind of thoughts. Are you believing, God? I am believing. As I face this trial, I'm learning something. I'm getting something out of this God. I'm believing, Father, that I can repent. I can turn away God. I am believing that you are proud of me. And if you are for me, who dare be against me, I'm believing that I have all power to overcome being built up because of Jesus Christ. See, it's what you're believing about your situation today. Don't give up your joy. Don't let it elude you. Don't think it's happiness. Happiness is good. We all want to be happy. We all want things to be going our way. The true test of our faith. The test that's going to build us, build our character, build our perseverance. It sounds in the trials of life, God doesn't want you to get beat up in the trial. He wants you to be built up. Don't let the enemy steal your joy. Remember, it abides on the inside of you. It's a gift that'll take you from strength to strength. Amen.

[E]

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[C]

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[D]

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[C]

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[E]

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[C]

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[E]

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