F (2:15)
Well, God bless you. It is always a joy to come into your homes. We love you and we're praying that you're going to have a blessed, prosperous year. If you're ever in the Houston area, I hope you'll stop by, be a part of one of our services. I promise you we'll make you feel right at home but thanks for tuning in today. I like to get started with something funny each week. And I heard about this man that was very stingy with his money. Just before his death, he made his wife promise that she would have him buried with the $50,000 he had saved. The wife reluctantly agreed. At the funeral, just before they closed the casket, the wife put in a small wooden box. Her friend said, surely you didn't just put the money in there, did you? The wife said, of course I did. I'm a Christian. I promised him I would do it. I can't lie. So I did it. She said, you mean you just buried $50,000? The wife said, I sure did. I wrote a check. 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. In Jesus name. God bless you. I want to talk to you today about breaking free from wrong mindsets. Many times we don't realize it's our own thinking that's keeping us from being our best. God is constantly trying to plant new seeds in our heart, telling us that we can accomplish our dreams. We can break an addiction. We can overcome the past. But too often, because of the wrong software, those seeds cannot take root. Instead of agreeing with God and thinking can do thoughts, possibility thoughts, well, able thoughts, we do just the opposite. We think, I can't do that. Talented. I'm too old. I've been through too much. Our software is contaminated. You have to examine your thought life. What are you thinking about? Have you allowed Strongholds to convince you this is as good as it gets and you're never going to go any further? Well, Joel, I'll never get well. I've had this sickness for years. Or I'll never get out of these problems. I'm just learning to live with it. Now, recognize those are wrong mindsets that are keeping you from rising higher. Just like a virus can contaminate a computer, a stronghold can contaminate our thinking. One of the best things we can learn to do is hit the delete button. We need to clear out all the can't do it, not able to, not good enough thoughts. And let's reprogram our thinking with what God says about us. God says we are well able. God says we can do all things through Christ. God says we are strong, talented, creative, Redeemed, forgiven. You have the seed of almighty God on the inside. You've got to make up your mind. You're going to break free from every wrong mindset. And you're going to step into a new season. You're going to step into more favor. You're going to step into better health, going to step into divine connections. You're going to step into supernatural opportunities. It may have been one way a long time, even for years. But the good news is this is a new day and God's ready to do a new thing. You've got to make room for it in your thinking. Some of you have gotten stagnant. You've given up on your dreams. You don't think you'll ever get that house, you really want it, or that you'll ever be well, ever get out of debt. And now that lie is playing over and over, telling you it's all downhill from here. You tried and failed. Too bad you're never going to get married. You're too old. This is the way it's always going to be. No, you need to keep your hand on the delete button. You have got to guard your mind and make sure you don't allow those thoughts to take root. They will set the limits for your life. I've had people tell me, joel, God can't bless me. I've made too many mistakes. No, find the delete button. Get rid of that thinking and replace it with, I am forgiven, I am redeemed. God's mercy's new and fresh every single morning. Well, I can't accomplish my dreams. I don't have the connections. I don't have the resources. I don't have the education. No, hit the delete button. You and God are a majority. God has already lined up the right people, the right breaks, the right opportunities. He has favor in your future. Well, I don't have a good personality. I'm not very outgoing. I'm not very attractive. No, you need to start deleting that junk and start reminding yourself I am one of a kind. I am the apple of God's eye. There is not another person in this world like me. That's what it says in Romans 12, verse 2. To renew your mind with God's word. That means to reprogram your software with what God says about you. When any kind of thought comes telling you that you can't rise any higher or trying to make you feel less than or like it's never going to get any better, just be quick to say, no, thanks. That's not for me. That may be the way it's been, but that's not the way it's going to stay. I know who I am. I a child of the most high God. And I've already made up my mind. I'm going to become everything God's created me to be. And I'm going to have everything God's intended for me to have. You got to have that attitude of victory. You got to know deep down you are well able to do what God has called you to do. I think about how little children start off so excited about life. They've got big dreams. They're going to be an astronaut, a scientist, a teacher, a singer, a ball player. They believe they can do anything. They're not intimidated, they're not insecure, they're bold. They're confident. They've got that spring in their steps. You know why? They just came from their creator. Their thinking has not been contaminated. They can feel those seeds of greatness. But too often over time, as they get older, they start to get reprogrammed. Somebody tells them what they can't do, what they're not going to become. The environment starts to push them down. A coach says they're not good enough to play on the ball team and their self esteem goes down. They see somebody more attractive and they start feeling inferior. Little by little, all these things begin to distort who they really are. Before long, instead of thinking those same possibility thoughts, they think, I'll never do anything great. I'm just average. I'm just ordinary like everybody else. That's what's happened to many people today. Very subtly, very slowly, they've been programmed for mediocrity. The dreams they once had have now been pushed down. They used to believe they were going to leave their mark on our generation. They could feel their sense of destiny. But now the enthusiasm, the zeal for life is gone. When we find ourselves stuck in these ruts, not believing that we're going to rise any higher, we have to ask ourselves, why do I think this way? Who programmed me to feel inferior? Who programmed me to give up on my dreams? Who programmed me to think that I could never lose this weight? Who programmed me to think that I'm only average? Where did those thoughts come from? Could it be that you've accepted wrong mindsets because of the environment you were raised in? Or the people that you grew up around? Understand, just because something seems normal to you doesn't necessarily mean that it's normal. In other words, just because all the People you grew up around were negative doesn't mean that you're supposed to be negative. That's not normal. Just because some of your friends didn't have dreams and goals and they didn't make much out of their lives, that doesn't mean it's okay for you to do that. That's not normal. Or how about this? Just because other family members had addictions, bad habits, or because they went around with low self esteem feeling inferior, don't make the mistake of thinking that that's normal, that is not the way you were created to be. And too often we just accept it. It's been this way so long, we don't even realize that it's not God's best. And if you've been in an environment, or maybe you're even now in an environment with people that are negative, low self esteem, inferior, little dreams, little goals, a defeated mindset, you cannot afford to let that become normal to you. You have to ask, have I allowed myself to be programmed for mediocrity? Am I only accepting average in my career, in my marriage, in my self esteem, in my attitude? The good news is it's not too late to change. If you will get rid of those strongholds and come back to who you really are. A child of the most high God, full of possibility, full of potential, Strong, secure, confident. If you'll get an agreement with God, believing you can rise higher, then you can still accomplish everything that God's put in your heart. You're not too old. Moses was 80 years old when God called him. You haven't made too many mistakes. Jacob was known as a deceiver, yet God used him to do great things. You haven't been through too many unfair situations. Joseph spent 13 years in prison for something that he didn't do. And yet God brought him out better off than he was before. What am I saying? There's still time for you to fulfill your destiny and leave your mark. Quit listening to those lies that are telling you. You've reached your limits and you've gone as far as you can go. No, let me tell you. You wouldn't be here today if God didn't have something else for you to accomplish. God wouldn't have. He wouldn't have given you the breath to breathe this morning if he didn't have another victory in front of you. You have an assignment, somebody to impact, a new mountain to climb. You are a person of destiny, not just here to take up space. You were created to make a difference, to live an abundant, a rewarding a fulfilled life. But it all starts right here. If you don't think you're talented, you'll never have the confidence to step into your God given destiny. If you don't think you're attractive and you don't have a good personality, you'll never meet the people God intended for you to meet. If you don't think you can break that addiction, you never will. If you think you've reached your limits, then you already have. Recognize those are wrong mindsets that are trying to keep you from your destiny. It's not that you cannot go any further, it's you just convince yourself that you cannot. Until you get rid of that thinking, until you start hitting the delete button and clearing all that junk out, it'll keep you right where you are. I have a friend that was cleaning out his ear one day and he accidentally pushed too hard and he burst his eardrum. It was extremely painful and he fell to the floor in a few minutes. When the pain subsided, he tried to stand up, but he couldn't. Every time he got up, he was dizzy, he would go right back down. It's because the eardrum, as small as it is, if you puncture it, you'll lose your equilibrium and you won't be able to stand up. Just this one little thing in our ear affects our whole sense of balance. You can be strong, you can have energy, you can be coordinated. Everything else is fine, except this one little thing is off. The same way with our thought life, Our thinking is equivalent to our equilibrium. God has given every one of us gifts, talents, potential. You are full of can do power. You have the seeds of greatness on the inside of you. But if something as small as our thinking is off, it can keep us from becoming what we were created to be. Not because we're not talented, not because we don't have what it takes. Simply because we've allowed the wrong software to contaminate our files. Just one thought telling you that you're inferior. You don't have what it takes. If you allow that thought to take root, it can keep you off balance your whole lifetime. Just one thought saying you've made too many mistakes. Nothing good's ever going to happen to you. If you believe that lie, it can keep you from your God given destiny. One thought saying, you, problems are too big. You'll never get out of this mess. That's the way it's always going to be. That thought, if you let it, it can keep you from pressing forward and experiencing the great things God has in store. That's why it's so important to take inventory of your thought life. Identify any wrong mindsets that are holding you back. When those thoughts of defeat insecurity come, be quick to hit the delete button. Just say, no thanks. That's not for me. Those thoughts telling you you're never going to accomplish your dreams, man. No thanks. I can do all things through Christ. I am well able. Those thoughts saying, you know what? You're not good enough. You're a little bit inferior. No thanks. I know I'm accepted. I know I've been approved by Almighty God. Well, you're never going to get out of debt. You're never going to get ahead financially. No thanks. I know everything I touch prospers and succeeds. I know God's making a way even when it looks like there is no way. Or how about this one, man? God's not pleased at you. You're never going to be blessed. No thanks. I know God's not mad at me. God's madly in love with me. I know my past is forgiven. My future is bright. So I'm stepping into a new season. I like what Carl Lewis did. He won several Olympic gold medals in the long jump. And for years while he was training, all the experts said that a person would never be able to jump over 30ft. The scientists had studied it and ran their calculations. According to the research, no one would ever be able to jump that far. One day a reporter asked Carl Lewis what he thought about it. He said, yes, I know all the experts say that it's impossible, but I don't listen to that kind of talk. I know thoughts like that have a way of slipping down to my feet. He was saying, if I dwell on that long enough, I know it's going to convince me that I can't do it. And if I don't think I can do it, I know I'll never be able to do it. He was exactly right. If you don't have the victory on the inside, you'll never have it on the outside. Later that year he went on to jump over 30ft and break the world record. Let me ask you today, are you allowing thoughts to sink down to your feet, to your emotions, to your ability to stifle your potential? No. Learn to do like he did and start hitting the delete button. All the experts may have told you how impossible it is and how it's never going to get any better. But know this, God always has the final say. And God would not have put that dream in your Heart. If he didn't already have a way to bring it to pass. He wouldn't have given you that promise if he wasn't already planning on fulfilling it. This is one thing that I loved about my father. My dad grew up in extreme poverty. They had no money. He had no education, no future to speak of. He could have just settled right there. He had been programmed for defeat, programmed for mediocrity, programmed for poverty. He didn't know any better. That's all he had ever seen. The people that raised him, his parents and family, they were good people. They were loving and kind. But none of them ever made much out of their lives. My father could have just stayed in that same trap and thought, this is just who we are. Poor, defeated people. This is our lot in life. But thank God, at the age of 17, when Daddy gave his life to the Lord, he began to reprogram his thinking. Deep down in here, something said to him, you were made for more than this. You weren't created to barely get by. You weren't created to have to constantly struggle. He could feel the seeds of greatness stirring in his spirit. But every voice said, it's impossible. Every voice said, you'll never get out of this environment. All the odds are against you. But my father dug his heels in and he didn't allow those strongholds to take root. His attitude was, this is where I am, but this is not who I am. I may be in defeat, but I am not defeated. I am a victor and not a victim. Day after day, he kept hitting the delete button. Those thoughts telling him, you have no future. Delete. God's plans for me are for good. To give me a future and a hope. But you have no money. Delete. God is supplying all of my needs. He's making a way when it looks like there is no way. Yeah, but you don't have the education. It's impossible. You'll never get out of here. Delete. Delete. Delete. God is opening up new doors. He's bringing the right people into my path. I will fulfill my destiny. He reprogrammed his thinking with thoughts of faith, thoughts of hope, thoughts of victory. He broke out of that defeat. He broke the curse of poverty in our family. He set a new standard for us to live by. Who told you you have to stay in the projects? Who told you the way it's been is the way it's always going to be? Who told you you can't accomplish your dreams? Who told you you'll never break that addiction? Friends You've got to start hitting the delete button. You've got to start programming your mind with the favor of victory, with the blessings that rightfully belong to you. It doesn't matter what it looks like in the natural. You may have a thousand things coming against you. You may have a thousand excuses in the natural to just stay where you are. But I'm asking you to do like my father and break out of that defeated mentality and start believing that you're going to rise above every challenge. You're going to overcome every obstacle. You are not going to settle for mediocrity, but you're going to accomplish every dream, every desire God's put in your heart. Can you get a vision for all starts on the inside. It's good to ask God to show us if we have mindsets that are holding us back. A lot of times we don't even know why we think like we think. We just accept it. Again, it's because of the way we were raised or what we saw modeled growing up. But that doesn't necessarily mean that it's right. We have to be bold enough to ask, why do I think this way? Why do I think I could never be in management? Why do I think I can't write that book that God's put in me? Why do I think I'll never go to college? Why do I think I wouldn't be a good parent? Those are strongholds very often that have been passed down for generations. The problem is we just accept it. We take it as the final say. If we could just realize why we think like we think very often, that would set us free. I heard about this young couple that had recently gotten married, and the man noticed that every time his wife cooked a ham, she cut the ends off of the ham. He thought that was kind of strange and wondered why she would waste the ham like that. One day while his wife was making a ham and he got his nerve up and said, honey, why do you cut the ends off of the ham? She got kind of defensive and said, well, my mother made the best hams in the world, and she always cut the ends off the ham. He said, well, that's fine, but do you know why she did it? She said, I have no idea. He said, can we call your mother? She said, sure. So they called the mother and he explained, my wife's cutting the ends of the ham off. And she said, she does it because you always did it. Can you tell me why you cut the ends of the ham off? The mother got Kind of defensive. She said, well, my mother made the best hams in all the world, and she always cut the ends of her ham off. He said, well, that's fine, but do you know why she did it? She said, I have no idea. He said, well, can we call Grandmother? Sure. So they called the grandmother. And he explained how my wife could see in the ham off. She said, she does it because your daughter did it. And your daughter said, she does it because you do it. Grandmama, can you tell us why you cut the ends of your ham off? She said, yeah, that's easy. Because my pan is too small. Let me ask you today, are you cutting the ends off and you don't even know why? Are you just accepting things? Because that's the way it's always been. Well, I'll never be successful, Joel. Nobody in my family's ever been successful. Why not? That's a stronghold. You can get a bigger pan. Your parents, your grandparents, they paid the price so you could live better than they. Why don't you step into a new season? Why don't you enlarge your thinking? Well, I grew up in this small house. That's all we're used to. No, this is a new day. God wants you to leave your children more. Get a bigger vision. Hit delete on those limited dreams. Well, I'm negative, I'm depressed. I'm discouraged, Joel, because my mother was always this way. You've got to make up your mind. You're not going to pass the same things down. Set a new standard. Ask yourself, why do I think like this? Could it be you've allowed a stronghold to form and you don't even realize that it's a stronghold? It's just the way it's always been? Things like, I'm not planning to go to college. Nobody in my family's going to college, Joel. Or I'm overweight or out of shape because everybody in my family is overweight and out of shape. I've got low self esteem. I'm insecure because that's all I've ever seen. No, don't just accept it. Reprogram your software. The way it's been is not the way it has to stay. I heard about this large dog. She was pregnant with puppies. One day, the dog was running across the street. She got hit by a car and both of her back legs were broken. The dog just dragged herself out of the street and back to the little home where she stayed. As the weeks went by, she began to slowly recover. Her back legs had finally healed up. But because they were never properly reset, she had never gone to the veterinarian. Now when she walked, she would just drag her back legs. She couldn't walk properly. The joints were messed up, the legs were all stiff. The only way she could get around is just basically to pull her back legs along behind her. Well, eventually the little puppies were born. They seemed to be healthy and whole. They were running around playing here and there. But about three weeks after their birth, they began to notice that the puppies were walking just like their mother. They were dragging their back legs. They thought possibly they had been hurt in the accident as well. They took the puppies to the veterinarian to have them checked out. The vet said there's nothing wrong with these puppies back legs. They were perfectly normal. What was the problem? Those puppies were copying their mother. They didn't know any better. In their mind, that's the way they were supposed to walk. That's all they'd ever seen modeled many times. That's just what's happened to us. We don't even realize it. But the reason we do things, our attitude, our mindsets, the way we respond, is because we're emulating what we saw growing up. The people that raised us, the people we were around. Now we're copying their same behavior. And maybe they were good people, but perhaps they had issues that they weren't dealing with. And if we're not careful, we'll take their same issues and pass them down to our children. They had addictions. Now we have addictions. They had low self esteem. Now we have low self esteem. They always drag their back legs. Now we're dragging our back legs. You may be struggling with things right now and you think, why do I think like this? Why do I have these issues? But it's very freeing to realize, just like those puppies, there's nothing wrong with your back legs. That's simply a wrong mindset that you've allowed to form. And as you get your thinking straightened out, your legs will straighten out. Understand? God didn't make you faulty. He didn't make you less than. He created you in his image. He made you as his own masterpiece. He has crowned you with honor and favor. He has equipped you with talent, creativity, potential. Don't you dare go around dragging your back legs. You're not supposed to go through life with addictions. Little dreams, low self esteem, a defeated mindset. That's not who you really are. That may be the way you've been trained to. But the good news is you can be retrained, you can renew your mind. And as you do this, you'll learn not only to walk correctly, but you'll begin to run. You'll break out of bondages and you're going to step into freedom, you'll break out of mediocrity and you're going to step into excellence. You'll break out of barely getting by and you're going to step into abundance. Why don't you make a decision with me today that you're going to step into a new season. You're stepping into promotion, you're stepping into better health, you're stepping into confidence, you're stepping into strength. You're stepping into supernatural opportunities. You've got to make room for it in your thinking. It all starts right here. And some of you, if you just get rid of one wrong mindset, one wrong thought, you'd get your equilibrium back and you'd go to a whole new level. You got to examine your thought life. Be willing to ask, why do I think like this? Why do I have these issues? And when you find those strongholds, be quick to hit the delete button. Reprogram your software. If you'll learn to get rid of these wrong mindsets and you'll start thinking can do thoughts, possibility thoughts, well able thoughts, then your life is going to follow your thoughts. That's when God's going to pour out his blessings and favor. You're going to overcome every obstacle. You're going to defeat every enemy. And I believe and declare. You're going to see every dream, every desire God's put in your heart. It will come to pass. Amen. Can you give the Lord a shout of praise 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.
