Joel Osteen — Peaceful On Purpose
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I want to talk to you today about "Peaceful on purpose". If you're going to live in peace, it's not going to happen by accident. Every day, we have opportunities to get upset, to be offended, life happens: people get on your nerves, unexpected Bills, a family member is in the hospital. If you wait for all your circumstances to calm down, then you're going to have peace, then you're going to stop worrying... you'll be waiting your whole life. God never promised that he would keep us from difficulties. He never said that we wouldn't have storms, but he did say he would give us peace in the midst of the storms. He calls it "A peace that passes understanding".
That means, despite what's going on around you, "The medical report wasn't good, but I'm not worried. I know God has me in the palm of his hand". "I didn't get the promotion that I worked for, but I'm not upset. I know God has something better coming my way". "My co-worker was rude to me, but I'm not offended. God is my vindicator". You have to protect your peace. You weren't created to live worried, uptight, on edge.
This is the reason many people have health issues: they can't sleep at night, their food won't digest, they have ulcers. It's because their mind is never at rest. They're constantly trying to figure everything out, worried about their health, upset about their job, stressed-out over the traffic. It wasn't meant to go all the time, and the scripture says, "Cast your cares on the Lord". You have to learn to turn it over to God. You weren't designed to carry that heavy load.
Here's the key: when you rest, God goes to work, but when you work, God rests. If you try to be God, God will step back and say, "Okay, you figure it out. You handle it all, and I'll take a break," but when you come back to a place of peace and say, "God, I trust you," "My life is in your hands," "I'm not going to worry," "I'm not going to live stressed," "You have this all figured out, so I'm going to be still and know that you are God", that's when God goes to work.
In the scripture, David faced all kinds of opposition: people came against him, enemies were trying to take his life. He could've lived worried, stressed-out, but he understood this principle. He said, "The Lord is my shepherd. He leads me by the still waters". One version says, he was saying, "The way I keep my sanity, the way I protect my peace is, on a regular basis, I go down to the still waters, and I empty out all my worry, all the fear, all the anxiety". He let his mind rest.
I'm not talking about a physical place. I'm talking about in your spirit. It can be chaotic all around you, traffic, people, problems, drama, but on the inside, there's a rest. You're at peace. Friends, worry is a thief. It will rob of you of your sleep at night. It will rob you of your joy, rob you of your creativity. You don't make good decisions when you're worried. If you allow it, worry can keep you from your destiny, and the scripture says we can't add one inch to our life by worrying. If we could, some of us would be 23 feet tall.
What are you worried about? What's keeping you awake at night? What's stealing your joy? It's time to come back to the still waters. When you get quiet, when you're in peace, it will help you to have the right perspective, but when we worry, we're making our problem our God. What you see as the biggest thing in your life, in one sense, that's your God. If you worry about your health, night and day, you can't sleep, that's all you talk about, all you think about, you're making that sickness your God. Do yourself a favor. Take the worry off the throne. Take the sickness off the throne. Take the financial difficulty off the throne and put God back up on the throne. Use that same energy to thank God that he's still in control, and every time you're tempted to worry, turn it around and thank him that he's taking care of that situation. Let the worry be a reminder to switch over into praise, switch over into things that are of a good report. You have to guard your mind.
This is where the main battle is taking place, because good thoughts, they don't automatically come into our mind. Most of the time, especially in difficult situations, the first thoughts are negative, things like, "Oh, man, that pain in your side, that's dangerous. Same thing your grandmother died from". "You'll never get married. You've been single so long". "You'll never get past this bad break. All the odds are against you".
The easy thing to do is to believe those lies, start dwelling on it: "What if I don't get well? What if the report isn't good? What if I can't make those payments"? Don't fall into that trap. Your life is going to follow your thoughts. If you live worried, anxious, uptight, you're inviting discouragement, bad breaks, negativity. You have to turn your worry into worship. Thank God that he's fighting your battles. Thank him that no weapon formed against you will prosper.
When I look back over my life, most of the things I worried about never came to pass. I wasted a lot of time and energy being uptight. It's easy to wake up in the middle of the night and find something to worry about. A lot of people these days are professional worriers. They can multi-task: worry, taking a shower, worry, brushing their teeth, worried driving to work.
Somebody asked me, if I could do anything over again, what would I do differently? I told them, "I would trust God more. I wouldn't lose sleep, worried about the budgets, worried if I was able to minister, worried if people were going to like me". None of that worrying helped me to move 1 inch forward. I wonder how many things you're worried about that are never going to come to pass?
Years ago, Victoria and I received a notice that the city was going to put in speed humps on the street where we lived. These are those humps in the street that slow cars down. We had two small children, and sometimes people would drive through the neighborhood really fast, so we were all for it. We signed a petition to help make it happen. A couple other streets in the subdivision already had speed humps, and I noticed that the city put up a sign to notify drivers. It was a big, yellow, permanent sign, like a stop sign, that said, "Speed humps up ahead".
One day while I was out running, it dawned on me, they always put the sign in front of the second house in from the corner. Well, it just so happened, we lived in the second house from the corner on our street. Now I was no longer I did not want that big, ugly sign in front of our house. I went to these other houses, and I measured the distance from the corner, got the exact length. Sure enough, that sign was going to be right by our driveway in the front of our house.
For months, I worried about that sign, thought about how bad it was going to be: "I can't believe this is happening". Then I had an idea. I thought, "I'm going to get a big bush and plant it a few feet from where that sign is supposed to go, so at least it will block it from our point of view". I got a big 6-, 7-foot tree, and I planted it out there, way by the driveway. It looked like a random bush in the middle of nowhere. I know our neighbors thought, "Boy, but I knew it's going to help take care of this problem".
Month after month went by. My bush grew bigger and bigger. About 2 years later, the city finally came and put the speed humps on the street, but instead of installing the sign in front of my house like the others, they put it four houses down on the other side of the street. Trying to fix a problem that never happened. Every time I drove up to my house, I thought, "There's my worry tree".
Are you trying to solve a problem that hasn't happened? "Well, Joel, what if I get laid off next year"? What if you don't, but you spend a whole year worrying about it? "What if I never get married"? What if you do? How much time are you wasting, worrying? "What if this pain in my side is something serious"? Go to the doctor and get checked out, but don't spend 3 years worried. Jesus put it this way: "Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have enough worries of its own".
God has given you grace for today, you don't have grace for tomorrow. Don't try to figure out the next 5 years, play out all the what-ifs. The what-ifs will depress you. The tRuth is, if a what-if does come to pass, God will give you the grace to handle it. "What if the report's not good"? "What if my loved one doesn't make it"? "What if I do get laid off, Joel"? Then the peace that passes understanding will be right there, waiting for you. God promises he will arm you with strength for every battle.
We may not know what the future holds, but we do know who holds the future. Now, don't miss today, worried about tomorrow. Today is a gift. We can never get this day back. I believe, like with me, many of the things you're worried about are not going to happen. If they do, it's not going to be as difficult as you think. You don't have the grace for it today.
Sure, we should plan. We should use common sense, but at some point, you have to turn it over to go to God, and say, "God, you know what's best for me. You said you'd give me grace for every season, and just like you clothe the lily of the fields, of the air, I know you will take care of me". It's very freeing when you learn to turn things over to God.
You're not supposed to go through life, weighted down by worry, stress, anxiety. Start lightening your load. Go back to the still waters, empty all that out. Really, it's important, every morning, you should start the day off in peace, not stressed, hurried, rushing around. Look at the sunrise. Listen to the birds singing. Breathe in God's goodness. Thank him for his blessings in your life. Hebrews talks about entering into the rest of God. That means you have a problem, but you're not losing sleep over it. You know God is still in control. This is one of the main ways we show God we're trusting him, by staying in peace, not up when your circumstances are up, down when they're down. You're stable. You're consistent. You're in the rest of God.
2002, the Houston city council members voted for us to have this facility. It was a 2-year battle. We'd worked hard and convinced different council members, and God caused everything to fall into place. The vote was on a Wednesday morning. That evening, we had a great celebration at the church. The next morning, Victoria and I and our two small children went out of town to take a few days off. We were on cloud nine. We couldn't believe that it happened.
Got to the hotel and started unpacking our bags, and my brother-in-law, Kevin, called. He's our administrator. He said, "Joel, a large company just filed a federal lawsuit to try to keep us from moving into the Compaq Center. They said we violate the deed restrictions". I asked him what that meant, and he said, "It means that we can't move into the property because it's tied up in the legal system, and the attorneys say it can take up to 10 years to resolve, and there's no guarantee that we could win".
I hung up the phone, and Victoria overheard the conversation. She stopped unpacking, said, "Joel, what're you going to do"? I said, "I'm going to go down to the beach". She said, "What're you going to do there"? I said, "I'm gonna swim". She said, "Aren't you worried? Aren't you stressed? Aren't you upset"? I said, "No, Victoria. We've done what we can do. Now it's in God's hands". I told her, "I'm not going to worry about something that I can't change. I learned my lesson. I'm not putting up another worry tree. I'm going to stay at rest and trust God to fight my battles"!
Are you losing sleep over something you can't do anything about? As long as you're honoring God, being your best, then you can rest. You may be facing an illness. You can't make yourself get well. Of course, do what you can, use common sense, but at some point, you have to turn it over to God and say, "Lord, I trust you to bring the healing, but in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy my life". Worrying doesn't help you to heal. Living stressed, uptight, studies show that weakens the immune system. Come back to a place of peace. Or you may have people in your life that are not making good decisions. You can't make people do what's right. Don't let their poor choices sour your life. You have to protect your peace.
Don't go the next 20 years all worried about somebody else. Turn them over to God. If you'll get off the throne, so to speak, and stay at rest, then God will get on the throne, and do what you can't do. In his own way, his own timing, he'll make things happen. But really, if God is not changing them yet, what makes us think we can change them in our own strength, and sure, we should be good examples, we should pray, but what I'm saying is you shouldn't live stressed out over somebody else's poor choices.
You have a destiny to fulfill. You need your energy, your wisdom, your creativity, to become all God's created you to be. Are you trying to change things that only God can change? Your load will get a whole lot lighter and enter into his rest.
Acts chapter 12, king Herod had Peter arrested and put in prison. He didn't like the fact that Peter was a follower of Christ. Peter was in the dungeon, chained between two soldiers. The next morning, he was going to be brought to trial. Herod had already killed James. It looks like Peter would be next. You can imagine what Peter must've been thinking, but that night, an angel appeared in the prison. He went to wake Peter up, but Peter was sleeping so soundly, the scripture says, the angel had to shake Peter to awaken him.
Now, if you knew the next day your life may come to an end, you were in great danger, would you be sleeping soundly, or would you be pacing the floor, stressed out, "God, please help me, God, don't let them kill me"? It's good to pray. It's good to ask for God's help, but at some point, we all have to do like Peter, say, "God, I've honored you. I prayed. I believed. I done my best. Now, God, I'm going to rest. I'm not going to worry about the medical report. I'm not going to live stressed out over the situation at work, not going to be upset because I don't see anything happening. If Peter would've been stressed, worried, maybe the angel wouldn't have showed up. Maybe he wouldn't have been freed, God said, "All right. Let me go to work".
I wonder if you would see situations turn around if you'd simply come back to a place of peace. Worry doesn't make anything better. Being frustrated doesn't get God's attention. Begging God, reminding him what's wrong, that only makes us depressed. Take the problem off the throne and put God back up on the throne. If you're talking more about your problem than you are about God, you have the wrong thing on the throne.
I saw a saying the other day. It said, "Dear problem, my God is so much bigger than you", but even in prayer, instead of praying in faith, sometimes we complain about what we don't like: "God, these people at work, they get on my nerves. You better do something". "God, my back's been hurting for six years". "God, these prices are so high. I need your help". Instead of begging God, instead of reminding him of everything that's wrong, why don't you try a different approach? Do like Peter. Go to sleep.
Sometimes when I pray, I say, "God, you already know what I need. You already know what I want. So, Lord, I just want to tell you that I love you, I trust you, and I thank you for getting me to where I'm supposed to be," not begging God, but praying from a place of rest, talking to him from a place of peace.
Our actions speak louder than our words. When you can sleep soundly, like Peter, in a time of great need, you're showing God that you trust him. You're saying, "God, I know you're bigger than this problem. You said you would never sleep, so I'm going to go to sleep, and even though things aren't perfect in my life, I'm going to relax, knowing that you're on the throne, and you are fighting my battles". It's a very freeing way to live.
My message to you today is very simple: go to sleep. Enter into his rest. Quit worrying about everything. Quit trying to figure it out. Turn it over to God. I see six people already asleep... Jesus said, "I'm sending you out as sheep among wolves". Sheep are very calm, peaceful animals. They don't get upset. I've never seen a sheep having a nervous breakdown, never seen one pacing the fields, stressed out, uptight. They're always at ease.
Last summer, Victoria and I went to Colorado, and we were riding four-wheelers up in the mountains. We came around a corner. There were about 300 sheep in our path. We couldn't get by, and I thought the equipment would scare them off, but they didn't move. I put my four-wheeler in neutral, and I revved the engine real loud two or three times, and those sheep just looked at me like, "Why are you making all that racket"? No more affected them.
What's interesting is sheep are basically defenseless animals. They can't run fast. They don't have sharp teeth. They can't really kick. They rely on the shepherd to take care of them. The shepherd keeps them from danger. The shepherd protects them from wild animals. The shepherd tells them where to go. They don't worry. They know, as long as they're with the shepherd, everything will be fine.
We can take a lesson from the sheep. Stay in peace. The good shepherd is watching over you. The God who knew you before you were born, the God who breathed life into you, he's guiding you. He's protecting you, and, yes, there will be some wolves in our path, some attacks, things we don't understand. Don't fall apart. Don't start complaining. Be like a sheep. Stay in peace. You don't have to run. You don't have to get all worked up. The good shepherd will fight your battles. He will lead you into green pastures. He'll restore your soul.
You may go through some valleys and difficult seasons. You don't have to fear any evil, for the Lord your God, the good shepherd, is right there with you, but sometimes, the reason we're not seeing God work in our life is we're not acting like sheep. We're worried, living stressed-out, trying to change things that we can't change. Why don't you come back to a place of peace? Come back to the still waters. You've worried about that problem long enough. Let your mind take a break. Some people never let their mind rest. They go on vacation for their body, but their mind is still worrying. They worry on the beach, just like they worry at home. That doesn't help us to move 1 inch forward.
In the scripture, when God told Ananias to go pray for Saul, Ananias didn't want to go. Saul was having believers arrested and put in prison. He was the greatest enemy of the church. But on the road to Damascus, when that light shined down bright, he became blind. A voice boomed out and said, "Saul, why do you persecute me"? The voice said, "I am Jesus". That moment was a turning point in Saul's life. He left there, a changed man, but Ananias didn't know anything about what had happened on the road to Damascus. He still thought Saul was a huge threat. He said, "Lord, I've heard many reports about this man and all the harm that he's causing".
Ananias was worried. He came up with a lot of reasons why he shouldn't pray for Saul, and I'm sure he spent some restless nights, thinking, "I must not have heard God right. He didn't realize he was worried about something that God had already taken care of. He didn't know that Saul already had a change of heart on the road to Damascus.
When he finally went to pray for him, he found out that Saul was an ally instead of an enemy. Some of the things you're worried about, just like with Ananias, you can't see it yet, but God has already changed it. He's already spoken to the right people. He's already lined up your healing. He's already arranged that breakthrough. It's just a matter of time before you walk into it.
No use losing sleep over that child that's off course anymore. No use being frustrated over that negative medical report, over that situation at work. The threat has already been canceled. The solution is already en route. Stay in peace, and like Ananias, you'll come into what God has already done.
Friends, don't let worry rob you. If a thief came into your home every week and took your groceries, took your clothing, stole your furniture, it wouldn't take long at all before you got fed up and say, "No more. That's enough". You'd put a stop to it real quickly. That's what you have to do with worry. Don't go another 5 years, letting worry rob you of your joy, rob you of your peace. Put your foot down and say, "That's it. This is a new day. No more worrying for me. I'm going to guard my mind. I'm going to stay by the still waters. I'm going to live from a place of peace".
Remember, when you rest, God goes to work, but when you work, God rests. Whatever is bothering you, whatever you're tempted to worry about, I'm asking you to take that off the throne, and put God back up on the throne. Make him bigger. Use that same energy to thank him that he's working in your life. If you'll do this, I believe and declare you'll experience peace that passes understanding. No matter what happens on the outside, on the inside, you'll be at rest, you'll overcome obstacles, you'll accomplish your dreams and become everything God created you to be.