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Joel Osteen (0:43)

Hi, this is Joel in Victoria.

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Very best in your life. God bless you. It's always a joy to come into your homes and if you're ever in our area, come out and see us. I promise you these are the finest people in all of Houston, Texas right here at Lakewood. Glad to have you today. I like to start with something funny. I heard about this man. He was walking along the beach and God said, son, you've been so faithful. I'm going to grant you one special wish. The man said, God, I've always wanted to go to Hawaii but I'm afraid to fly. Would you build me a bridge across the ocean? God said, son, that's totally impossible. Think of the logistics of that. Now take some time and wish again. He said, okay God, I've been divorced four times and all my ex wives say that I'm so insensitive. My wish is that I would be able to understand a woman. I want to know why they think like they think and why they feel like they feel. I want to know how to truly make them happy. There was a long pause and God said, do you want two lanes or four lanes on that bridge? All right, hold up your voice. 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 making plans to succeed. One thing I've learned is success is not accidental. You're not going to accidentally accomplish your dreams. You don't accidentally have good relationships. You won't accidentally lose £20. You have to have a plan. If you're going to get to the right destination. You've got to know where you're going and how you're going to get there. If you've ever been at the beach, just floating in the water, relaxing, you'll notice after a while the current has taken you far away. That's the way it is in life. If we don't have clear cut goals, with a plan in place to accomplish those goals, we're not going to end up at the right place. Without goals, we can't really measure our success. When we don't have goals, we're easily distracted. It's easy to lose focus. In business. There's something called a mission statement for that company. Talks about what the purpose of the company is and what it's there to accomplish in life. You need to have your own mission statement. Put it on paper. What's your purpose? What are you dreaming about? What are your goals? For everything you have responsibility over. From a business to a ball team to your family, you need to know what that mission statement is. Whether it's a business with hundreds of employees or just you and your child, you need to have a clear cut plan. This is what we're all about. These are our goals and here's how we plan to accomplish them. Don't go through life vague. Don't go through life with no focus, not knowing your purpose, just kind of hoping that you'll end up at the right place. No, you'll miss your destiny. You'll miss what you were created for. And it's important to know the difference between a God given dream and just a wish. Sometimes as children, we dream of being a ball player, dream of being an actress, dream of being a fireman. But most of the time that's just wishful thinking. We grow out of it. I remember when I was a little boy, I dreamed I was going to play basketball for the Houston Rockets. That was definitely a fantasy. But there are dreams put in us by the creator of the universe. The Latin word for desire means from the Father. There are desires that God puts in our heart. The way you can tell if a dream is really from God is if that desire won't go away. You'll know it's a real dream if you let go of it. But it won't let go of you. You push it down, you ignore it. You try to get rid of it. It keeps coming back again and again. That's a God given dream. I've heard people say, joel, I really want to start my own business. I just can't get this off my mind, or I really want to get out of debt, or I know I need to break this addiction. The dream is in them. They can feel the desire God's put on the inside. It's not going away. But there's something else we have to do. You have to follow up that desire with a plan. A dream without a plan ends up just being a wish. The scripture says this faith without corresponding actions is dead. I read where 95% of people don't have a goals program. They don't have a plan in place to achieve what God's put in their heart. In 1953, they interviewed the graduating class from Yale just as they were about to leave and go out on their own. And they asked how many of them Specific set of goals with a written plan of how they were going to accomplish those goals. Less than 3% had a written set of goals. Twenty years later, they interviewed the same class and they found the people that had written goals were not only happier and more fulfilled, but their income was more than the other 97% combined. Why was that? They were focused. They went out each day with purpose, knowing what they were going to accomplish. They not only kept their vision in front of them, but they developed a plan. They had goals that they were working toward. The scripture says in Habakkuk, write the vision and make it clear. I would encourage you to write down your goals, write down what you want to accomplish. It's not enough to just have it in your head, oh, Joel, I know what I want to do. No, something happens when you get serious enough to put those goals paper and then keep those goals in front of you. Put them on your mirror at home, put them on your desk at the office. I know at the first of every year I write down four or five of the main things I'd like to see happen. All through the week, I can see those goals. If you'll keep that vision in front of you, it'll help you to stay focused. There are two types of goals you need to have long range goals. Where do you want to be 10 years from now? Where do you see yourself in your career, in your finances, in your relationships? You need to look way down the road and set the mark, set the direction, make a decision. This is where I'm headed 10 years from now, I'm not going to be at this same position in my office. I'm going to be in management. Ten years from now, I'm not going to be renting this apartment, I'm going to own my own home. Or 10 years from now, I'm not going to be single anymore. I'm going to be married. He's going to be rich and good looking, might as well shoot high. Ten years from now I'm going to have my college degree. 10 years from now I'm going to be running my own business. You need to have some big goals out in front of you. If you can accomplish all your goals in a year or two, your goals are too small. You need to set some goals that are going to take you at least 10 or 15 years to accomplish. I mean, I have some things written down on my office at home. Be too embarrassed to share them with you. You'd think I'm too far out. But you need to have some goals that are so big, you know it's going to take God to bring it to pass. You know he's going to have to give you the strength, the favor, the wisdom if you're going to see those goals fulfilled. Those are your long range goals. 10, 15, 20 years down the road. But then you also need to have some short range attainable goals. That's what you're working on right now. Things like this year, I'm going to get to work on time. I'm going to lose £20. I'm going to take a course to improve my skills. I'm going to pay down my debt X amount of dollars. The reason you need short range attainable goals is so you can celebrate your victories on your way to your long range goals. In other words, I may not have quit smoking altogether, but I did give up two cigarettes a day. I can celebrate that or you ladies, I may not be a size 8 just yet, but I did lose 5 pounds. I can celebrate that or I may not be totally out of debt, but I did pay my credit card off this month. That's pretty good. You need to have these short range attainable goals so you can celebrate. That's what helps you to stay encouraged. But here's where many people miss it. A goal alone is not enough. You have to have a plan. What steps are you taking to achieve your goals? A lot of times we say I'm praying, I'm believing, I'm staying in faith. That's important. But that's not enough. God expects us to make a plan. Proverbs 16:9 says, There in his heart, a man plans his course, but the Lord will direct his steps. That tells me, if I don't plan my course, then God can't direct my steps. Noah had a plan for the Ark. Solomon had a plan for the Temple. God had a plan for the universe. You need to put a plan with your goals. If one of your goals is to have a better relationship with your spouse, that's great. But that goal is only half complete. Without a plan, you need to follow it up with here's what I'm going to do to make my marriage better this year. I will be more respectful. I will not argue over things that don't matter. I will compliment my spouse at least once a day, even if I have to make something up. I believe this planning part is the missing link to why many people don't see their dreams come to pass. It's important to have goals. It's important to have dreams. But the plan is the practical part. God puts it back on us. Maybe you have a goal to break an addiction. That's high on your priority list. But what steps are you taking to make that happen? You need to follow that up with here's how I'm going to do it. I'm going to attend the recovery class. I'm going to change some of my friends. I'm not going to put myself in the wrong environment. I'm going to go to the support group twice a month. You've got to have a plan. Goals without plans end up being ineffective. And if you will do your part and make the plan to the best of your ability, God will anoint your plan and cause it to help bring those dreams to pass. You don't have to have it all figured out. You may not see how it can happen in the natural. That's okay. The main thing is to get off dead center and do what you can so God can start directing your steps. When you make a move, God will make a move. He'll give you more wisdom, more insight, more favor. I talked to a young man the other day. He had been addicted to cocaine for many years. He had tried and tried to stop. He had good intentions. He was praying, believing his heart was right. But every time he would fall back into that. But he told how this time he had been drug free for six months. This is the longest he's ever stayed clean. And I asked him how he did it. Without missing a beat, he told me three things. He had a plan. Number One, he changed his friends. Number two, he came to our recovery class. And number three, he had a friend that would call him every day and encourage him and help him to stay accountable. And this third thing is so important because there are some things we can't overcome on our own, some things we can't break all by ourselves. When you're making your plan, don't be too proud to ask for help. Don't be too embarrassed to call a friend and say, you know what? I'm struggling in this area. Will you stand with me? Will you help me overcome? Will you hold me accountable? We need each other. If you're struggling in an area today, know that God has somebody there for you. You may not know who they are right now, but if you'll stay open, God will direct your path. He'll bring the right people into your life. And this is one of the main things that keeps us from pressing forward and really fulfilling our dreams. We cannot fulfill everything that God's put in our heart all by ourselves. God created us to need each other. We need the wisdom or the advice from someone that's gone before us. We need a friend to encourage us when we're down. We need a brother or a sister to stand with us and challenge us to be strong when we're weak, to keep going when we feel like giving up. When you're making your plans, stay open to including others. That's what this young man did. He had failed all those other times, but when he got the right people involved and he put the right plan behind his goals, that's when he overcame. Let me ask you, do you have a plan to keep your marriage strong? Do you have a plan to improve your skills? Do you have a plan to live a healthy life? A dream is not enough. Take it a step further. Write down your goals and then follow it up with, this is what I'm going to do to bring this to pass. You may have a goal to advance in your career five years from now. You want to be in management or you want to own your own business? What are you doing with that goal? Are you being mentored by someone that's smarter than you are? Are you reading books, studying materials related to that field? Could you possibly take a correspondence course or go to class a couple of nights a week? That's putting actions behind your goals. I have this friend that has a desire to own her own company right now. She's got a great job. She's content, but she knows she has more in her. That dream won't Go away. So in her free time, she's always learning. She's studying. She's already written her business plan. She knows how many customers it's going to take for her to break even. She knows how much her costs are going to run. She's already got her eye on a certain location. She's making plans. That's more than dreaming, more than setting goals. And she's in this third phase. She's strategizing. She's not sitting back waiting for God to drop a business in her lap. She knows that success is intentional. She's doing her part by getting prepared. We can't have the attitude, well, I wish I could break this addiction. Wish I could get out of debt, Joel. Or I wish I could start my own business. No, all that is is a wish without a plan. Your heart is right. You can feel the dream on the inside. But you've got to start taking steps, have the attitude. This year, I'm not just going to dream. I'm not just going to set goals. I'm going to put this third step into action, and I'm going to start making plans. I'm going to actively take steps to bring my dreams to pass. And again, you don't have to have it all figured out. If you'll just do the best that you can, little by little, God will begin to lead you. I was reading a story about this teenager that grew up in Pennsylvania on a farm. This was many years ago. Nobody in his family had ever left that small town. They just stayed there and worked on the farm. But this young man knew that he had more in him. He had a dream to go to college, but in the natural didn't look like he had much of a chance. The family was very poor. They didn't seem to have any connections. But instead of just sitting back and letting that dream turn into a wish, he went down to the local telephone company and he got the phone directory for New York City. He wanted to work there and go to school. And he searched that directory and found a certain department store that had 393 locations in and around New York City. He thought, they're so big, surely they will have a job for me. And he decided he was going to write every one of those department stores and ask them for a job. Back then, of course, they didn't have computers. He didn't even have a typewriter. He had to handwrite 393 letters. He wrote his resume and said he would do everything from sweep the floor to work in the warehouse. And his goal was to write about 15 letters a day. He did that diligently, month or so, until he had written 393 individual letters to each of those managers at those department stores. Well, month after month went by. He didn't hear anything. A few more months, still nothing. Six months later, still no word. He was so discouraged, so tempted to give up. But instead he came up with another plan. He just turned 18, and he talked to his parents into letting him catch a train to New York City so he could meet with some of those stores and hopefully get a job. They mustered up enough money. He had enough probably to stay about a week or so. And when he got to New York, he went to one of the bigger department stores there in Times Square. He found the manager and said, my name is so and so, and I was wondering if you got the letter that I wrote you about a job. The manager said, no. Even if you would have written it to this address, we wouldn't have got it. It would have gone to our main headquarters, to the personnel department. That's about four or five blocks away. So he walked over there. He went in and told the receptionist who he was and asked if he could speak to someone concerning a job. They took him into this office. It's kind of a big, fancy place. And this executive was sitting behind the desk. The young man was so nervous. He said, sir, my name is so and so, and I was wondering if you got the letter I sent you asking for a job. The executive turned from his desk and he put his hand on a big stack of papers. He said, yes, we got your letter. All 393 of them. He smiled and said, we knew you'd be coming soon. You can start this afternoon. But that young man not only went to college, but he ended up coming back to manage a whole region of that company's department stores. What's my point? He had a goal, but he put a plan with it. When you do what you can, God will direct your steps. He'll make sure you come across the right people, the right opportunities, the right breaks. But when we don't have a plan, when we're not pressing forward, doing what we can, our dream turns into a wish. Well, I hoped it would have happened. But when you know God's put something in your heart and you can feel that it's a part of your destiny, it won't go away. You let go of it. But it keeps coming back again and again, you can be assured that's a dream put in you by the Creator of the universe. And you should do everything you can to bring that dream to pass. You've got to get prepared. This may mean you need to change some friends that you're running with. Maybe they were fine for a season in your life, but you've outgrown them. This is a new season. And in order for you to go higher, you have to break away from relationships that are limiting you and develop some new friendships. People that are going to pull you up and inspire you to rise higher. I found if you're the smartest one in your group, your group is too small. Find people that are smarter than you are, People that will challenge you to stretch to the next level. Become everything God's created you to be. This may mean that you need to go to the library and research what God's put in your heart. It may mean you have to give up playing ball one night a week and take that course to learn more about what you're feeling on the inside. Keep growing, keep learning. Get prepared. Success is intentional. I know people that are struggling in their finances. They're very deeply in debt. They want to get out. They're praying, they're believing, they're giving. But God is saying, do you have a plan? If you'll come up with a plan, God will direct your steps. But many times when people are in debt, they get so overwhelmed by it and so discouraged, they don't even want to face it. They can't tell you if they're $1,000 in debt or 100,000. They don't want to deal with it. They're afraid it's insurmountable. That is not true. God always has a way out. And even if you have bad credit, you can overcome bad credit. But you have to have a plan. You need to sit down with someone that can help you sit down with someone that can give you good advice. We have free financial counseling here at the ministry. We've seen people in all kinds of debt, more than you can imagine. But as a general rule, most people, if they're on the right plan, in three to five years, they can be totally debt free other than their home. You simply have to have a clear cut plan. Let me give you an example. If you have $5,000 of debt on a credit card today and all you ever pay is the minimum 2% monthly payment of $100, that will take you 86 and a half years to pay that off. And if perchance you're still alive when that happens, you will have paid $38,000 in interest. A good plan would be to pay that off as soon as possible. When God sees you putting forth that effort, that's when he'll step in and cause his blessings to overtake you. One more example. If you have $100,000 loan on your home, the interest rate is 8% and it's a 30 year loan. If you will make one extra payment a year, that will knock off approximately eight years of that loan. That's something we can do. Well, you say, Joel, I wanted to hear about how I can get blessed today. This is how you can get blessed. Set some goals and develop a plan. The goal may be to get out of debt, but follow that goal up with a plan this year. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to make emotional purchases. I'm not going to go out to eat every other night. Or maybe more extreme, I'm going to sell my fancy car and buy an ordinary car so I can take that extra money and put it toward my debt. When you take those kind of steps, God will say, they've got a plan, they're doing what they can. Now let me start directing their steps. Let me arrange a promotion here, Let me arrange favor here. Let me bring the right people across their path. That's when you'll see promotion increase God's blessings in a greater way. You do the natural and God will do the supernatural. I know this young couple that really wanted to own their own home. They were living in a small apartment just out of school and really they couldn't afford much of anything. But they came up with a plan. They decided that every paycheck they would give 10% church as their tithe. And then they would put another 10% in a fund toward a down payment to a new home. And they had this one neighborhood that they really liked. One day they went and met with the bank to find out how much the down payment would be. And they calculated it would take them about seven or eight years to come up with enough for that down payment. They were very faithful, diligent, month after month to they knew where they were going, what they wanted to accomplish and how they were going to get there. Many times on the weekends they would walk through the new homes that were being built just dreaming, just keeping that vision alive. And one day as they were walking through this one particular home, they met the builder. He was the main builder in that whole subdivision. And he asked them if they were interested in purchasing that home. And they said, well, we would love to, but we can't afford it right now. We're just saving up the money and maybe in six or seven years we'll be able to do that. He asked them how much they have saved up. It was several thousand dollars, but not nearly enough for a typical down payment. They knew no bank would give them the money. But this builder, they hadn't talked to him. Five minutes out of the blue, he said, I really want you to have this house. And, and if you'll put down what you have, I'll finance the rest of it myself. When you have a plan, God will direct your steps. He'll cause you to be at the right place at the right time. He'll give you supernatural grace. But I don't believe this would have happened if they had just vaguely been dreaming, vaguely been hoping that one day they'd get a new house. They were diligent. They didn't just dream, they didn't just have some goals. They were taking steps. They were getting prepared. They knew what the market was like. They knew how much it was going to cost. They had met with the bank, they had saved their money. They were focused, they were diligent. And they saw God do more than they could even ask or think. What are you doing to bring your dreams to pass? Are you taking steps of faith? Are you getting prepared? Do you have clear direction? Friends, success is, is intentional. We're not going to accidentally get out of debt, accidentally start a business, accidentally break an addiction. You got to have a plan. I'm asking you today to come up with a goals program. Write it down. This is where I'm going. This is what God's put in my heart. And here's how I plan to get there. In your finances, in your career, in your relationships. Don't go another week without having a plan. Write your vision and make it clear. Your long range goals. Where do you want to be in 10 years? Put it on paper. Set the direction. Your short range goals. What are you working on right now? Then strategize. Evaluate how you're spending your time, how you're spending your money. Evaluate your friendships. Is that a part of your plan? Be an on purpose person. If you'll go beyond dreaming, beyond setting goals and start making plans to succeed. God promises he's going to direct your steps. And I know he's going to lead you into favor, he'll lead you into increase, he'll lead you into promotion. And you're going to see your dreams come to pass. Amen.