Joel Osteen - Refusing Negative Seeds
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I want to talk to you today about Refusing Negative Seeds. We all have voices that are trying to keep us from our destiny. Sometimes it's people telling us what we can't become, and how we're not going to accomplish the dream. It may be experts, they have all the training, all the skill, and they're telling us the facts. Medical sciences, "You're not going to get well". "You don't have the qualification for this position". You watch the news, and you hear all all about the economy, inflation, viruses, division. This can bring fear and worry, "What's going to happen"? Words are like seeds. If you dwell on them long enough, they'll take root and become a reality. The good news is: you get to choose what gets planted in your soil.
The scripture says to guard your mind. That's saying: don't let just any seed get in there, be selective. If that seed is negative, discouraging, bringing fear, pushing you down, don't give it the time of day. You need to say, "No, thanks. I refuse that seed. I'm not letting that defeat take root in my soil". Sometimes people don't even realize that they're doing it. "I'm sorry about that diagnosis, my grandmother died of the same thing. I wouldn't take that new position if I were you, that's way over your head. Are you still single? I don't know if you'll ever meet anyone". Do yourself a favor: let that go in one ear and out the other. If you start dwelling on it, "What if I don't get well? Well, maybe this is over at my head. I'm worried that I'm not going to meet someone", you're giving that seed permission to become a reality. Don't let the doubt from other people keep you from your destiny. You have to tune out all the negative, can't-do-it, not-able, never-going-to-happen limiting words. They may speak that, but you don't have to receive it. If you don't dwell on it, those words will die stillborn, they will have no effect on you.
Victoria and I we're at a restaurant one time, and our son Jonathan was six months old, and he was laying in the little Carrier in the seat next to me. About 30 minutes this older couple got up to leave, and they came over to our table. The lady said: we were just admiring your little baby, and how good he is, and how he just lies there so peaceful and quiet. We thank them then. The husband said, "But you just wait 'till he gets to be 2 years old. He'll turn into a tyrant. You better enjoy it now, because he's going to be trouble, those terrible twos are coming". We just waved and said, "Goodbye", and I thought, "Don't let the door hit you as you leave". But something up in me. I told Victoria, "I don't receive that. He doesn't determine our future. His opinion is not our reality. It's not going to be the terrible twos, it's going to be the terrific twos, the awesome threes, the fabulous four".
Don't get in agreement with negative things people speak over you. What they're saying maybe true for a lot of people, but you're the exception. You're the one to have awesome children. You're the one to get well, when the medical report says you won't. You're the one to break the addiction, to take your family to a new level, to see favor that people could never imagine. That this is going to happen, you have to be selective what gets planted in your soil. When these negative seeds come, it's really easy, refuse it, don't dwell on it, don't go around talking about it, don't start expecting it to happen. Keep your mind filled with positive, hopeful, faith-filled thoughts.
David was 17 years old when he heard Goliath taunting the Israelites. This giants stood over nine feet tall, and he was the champion of the Philistine army. None of the Israelites dared to face him. When he came out shouting his threats, they all ran and hid. David was half his size, he had no training, no armor, but he went to king Saul and told him that he wanted to face Goliath. Saul said in 1 Samuel 17:33, "David, don't be ridiculous. You're just a boy. He's been a warrior since he was a youth". He was saying, "David, what are you thinking? You don't have a chance. You're too small. You're not qualified. This is way over your head". Whenever you're on the verge of a new level, negative seeds will come trying to talk you out of it.
David had a choice: to let those words take root, "I'm just a boy, I'm not up to par, I can't do this" or was he going to guard his mind, and not let the doubt, the inferiority, the opinion of Saul talk him out of his destiny. This was a defining moment. David could've walked away, went back home. He could have missed who God created him to be had he not learned this principle. We see David defeating Goliath as the great victory, that's when God took him to a new level, but the real victory took place when he didn't let Saul's demeaning words keep him from stepping up. Had he not refused the negative seeds, he would have never made it to Goliath.
Before you conquer you're giant, before you reach a new level, there will be a Saul trying to discourage you, a Saul telling you, "You can't get well, you can't start your business, you'll never break that addiction, you'll never meet the right person". Your real victory is when you refuse the doubt, refuse what the naysayers are telling you. You have to win the battle in your mind before you'll defeat your giant. Too many people get talked out of ever seeing their Goliath because they listen to Saul. You would think that Saul would be excited that someone finally stepped up to face Goliath. He'd been taunting the Israelites for 40 days, now this young man, David, had the courage to take him on. Surely Saul would say, "David, that's awesome. You can do this. We're all behind you".
But when God puts big things in your heart don't expect everyone to cheer you on. Don't expect all your family and friends to encourage you and tell you how great you are. That's when the Sauls will show up, people that cast negative seeds, try to get you to doubt, second guess yourself, discredit you, make you feel small like you don't measure up. Don't let those seeds take root. People don't determine your destiny, God does. When he called you, he didn't check with people. He didn't consult with your friends, your neighbors, your boss, your family or your enemies to decide if they think you can do it, "Are you big enough? Smart enough? Talented enough?"
He put things in you that other people can't see. Don't get upset with them, if they think you can't do it, "You're just a boy. You don't come from the right family". They're looking at the outside. They're judging from a human point of view, but God has put things in you that will defy the odds. His favor on your life will cause you to go places you could never go on your own. They may think, "Man, all you have is a slingshot. You don't have a chance". What they can't is that slingshot with the blessing of God will bring down giants. "Well, you're just a boy". Yes, but a boy with the favor of God can become the king of Israel.
God wouldn't have allowed the giant if you weren't well able to defeat him. The giant is a sign that a new level is coming. But here's the key: before that happens, king Saul will show up. The real test is not Goliath, the real test is Saul, the negative words, the doubt, the fear, the insecurity, trying to get you to question yourself, question whether you really heard God, question if you really have what it takes. Dismiss the doubt. Refuse those negative seeds. You're at a defining moment. You're on the verge of stepping up to a new level, the verge of seeing God do something you've never seen. Are you going to shrink back and let people's opinion talk you out of it, let the doubt, the fear take root? Or you're going to do like David: dismiss it and move forward in faith into the awesome future God has in store.
When my father passed in 1999, I'd only ministered one time. And I'd work behind the scenes for 17 years, and I never wanted to be up in front of people. I like being behind the scenes, but I knew I was supposed to step up and pastor the church. It didn't make sense to my mind: I didn't have the training, I wasn't necessarily qualified, I didn't have a big personality like my father, but I took that step of faith and I started I speaking on the weekends. And I was so nervous, and so unsure of myself. I would finish one message and walk off the platform so relieved, the next thought would come, "What are you going to speak on next week? What if you have nothing to say? What if no one comes? What if people don't like you? What if the church goes down"?
If you notice how the enemy loves to bring the what-ifs, and it's always a worst-case scenarios. What if that pain in your little toe is cancer? What if the accompany lays you off and you can't pay your mortgage? What if your child doesn't pass that class? These negative seeds can cause worry and anxiety where you can't enjoy your life. Instead of letting them take root, why don't you turn the what-ifs around and dwell on the best-case scenarios? Dwell on something hopeful, something that builds your faith. "What if no one comes"? What if the church explodes? "What if you never well"? What if you recover and feel better than ever? "What if your child doesn't pass"? What if he makes the honor roll? "What if you never meet anyone"? What if they show up this week? "What if you get laid off"? What if you get a promotion? What if you start your own business? What if you step into abundance and overflow that you've never seen? Quit letting the negative play in your mind. You choose which seeds get planted in your soil. You have to take control of your thought life.
A few weeks after I started ministering, I was in the front lobby after the service. And I just come off the platform, and I was walking behind these two ladies. And they didn't know I was there. Now, I overheard them talking. One said, "He's not as good as his father". The other answered back, "Yeah, I don't think the church is going to make it". I was already insecure, worried about what people thought, wondering was I good enough. That was like the worst thing that could've happen.
When I heard that, I felt fear shoot through my body, almost like panic, "Oh no, it's not going to work out. I don't have what it takes". As I was processing it all, something rose up in me like waking up a sleeping lion. I felt a boldness, a confidence, a power that I'd never felt before. I thought to myself, "You ladies don't know who I am. You don't know what God put in me. You weren't there when he formed me in my mother's womb. You weren't there when he called me, equipped me and anointed me. You weren't there when he crowned me with his favor. You may not think I can do it, but I don't need your approval. You don't think I have what it takes, that I'm just a boy, but there's a slingshot you can't see. There's a giant that's about to come down".
I was at a destiny moment. If I would have let their seeds take root I would have taught myself out of it. If I had kept dwelling on that, "You're not like your father. You're not good enough. It's not going to last", I wouldn't be up here today. I was on the verge of a new level of my destiny. Getting the Compaq Center wasn't the real battle, the real battle was not letting those two ladies convince me that I didn't have what it takes. Now, I look back now and I think, "How did I not let them discourage me"? You know, I was so unsure of myself, but in those destiny moments the grace of God will always be there to empower you. The scripture says, "When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of God will raise up a barrier".
It wasn't a coincidence that out of the thousands of people at church that morning I just so happened to walk behind those two ladies. I could've walked behind somebody and said, "Man, that was great today, I really enjoyed it". That was a test. Before you accomplish the dream, the enemy will make sure there will be negative seeds. Before your health turns around, before your child gets back on course, before you break that addiction these seeds of doubt, discouragement, can't-do-it, not good enough, never going to happen. Don't believe those lies. Turn it around and declare what God says about you. When thoughts tell you you've seen your best days, nothing good is in your future, "Father, you said my latter days will be better than my former days. You said, the path of the righteous gets brighter and brighter". Well, your children will never get back on course, just accept it. "No, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Father, thank you that my children are mighty in the land". Oh, you never going to have that baby, you've tried for so many years. "No, father, you've said in Psalms you would make me the happy mother of children. Lord, I thank you that my baby is on the way".
Mark chapter 5:23, Jesus was walking by the shore, and a man named Jairus came and fell at his feet. He said, "My little girl is very sick. She's about to die. Please come to my house and pray for her". Jesus agreed to do it, but along the way he kept getting delayed. That's when the woman came up and touched the edge of his robe, and he stopped, and she was healed, he stopped and talked with her a little while. And all this time Jairus was thinking, "Please, hurry up. We don't have long". About that time these messengers came to Jairus saying, "We're so sorry, but your little daughter has died. There's no use bothering Jesus anymore". The scripture (Mark 5:23) says, "Jesus overheard what the messenger said, but he ignored their comments".
Notice the principle: you may overhear some negative words, overhear negative reports, but you have to learn to ignore them, don't give them the time of day, don't dwell on it. You're not denying the problem, you're not acting like it doesn't exist, but you're not letting it take root. You can't have faith if there's doubt, fear, worried about this medical report, "Joel, the expert said it's not going to work out". Sometimes, take this in the right sense: you have to turn your mind off. "Lean not to your own understanding". Yes, use common sense, but there are things we face where there is no solution in the natural. If you try to figure it out, you're going to get confused, discouraged and talk to yourself out of it. You can't stop that you heard it, but you can't take the next step and ignore it.
Jesus went in, and prayed for the little girl, and she came back to life. A great miracle. There may be things in your life that look dead. Every circumstance says, "It's too late, never going to get well, never accomplish your dream, never see your family restored", but God has the final say. When you believe, all things are possible. Don't give those negative seeds any room in your soil. When you're in a battle, when you're up against giants, you need your heart filled with hope, filled with faith, knowing that God is bigger, that he's fighting your battles, that he's making ways where you don't see a way.
The messenger said, "It was too late", but they were wrong, the little girl was healed. Saul said, "David, you're just a boy, you can't defeat Goliath", but Saul was wrong, David won those. Two ladies said that I couldn't minister, but they were wrong, here I am. The experts told my mother she had terminal cancer, a few weeks to live, but they were wrong. 42 years later she's still alive. People told us we would never get the Compaq Center, that the city would never let our church have it, but they were wrong. Here's my point: in each of these situations, if the people would have let the negative seeds take root, then what the other saying would have been right. David wouldn't have defeated Goliath. Jairus' daughter would have died. My mother wouldn't have been healed. I wouldn't have become a minister. The determining factor wasn't what other people said, it's whether we let it take root. We control what we allow in our soil. I'm asking you to refuse the negative seeds, refuse the doubt, refuse the fear, refuse the limitations that people put on you.
My grandmother on my father's side of the family was a very feisty woman. He only stood 4 feet 11 inches tall, but she would fight a tiger. She lived out in the country her whole life. Do you ever seen the Beverly Hillbillies? She was Granny. Her name was Ellie Mae, she chewed tobacco, she dips snuff. I come from a very sophisticated family, and I'm so glad my sister Lisa finally quit, but when my grandmother was up there in years, she went to the doctor for a checkup. He said, "Miss Osteen, I'm sorry to tell you this, but you have the beginning stages of Parkinson's disease". Well, my grandmother didn't know what Parkinson's was, but she knew she didn't want to have anything to do with it. She got up off the table, bristle back, and said, "Listen here, sir, I do not have Parkinson's disease. I refuse to have it, and besides I'm too old to have it".
He looked at her like she's a little bit crazy, and she was, but you know, my grandmother never did have Parkinson's disease. I don't know, I mean if she had it, the symptoms never showed up. But I know you can't wish things away, but something's happens when you don't let the seed take root. I'm not saying bury your head in the sand, deny reality. I'm saying: don't let it get down in your spirit, where it becomes your default setting, you're always thinking, "I have this disease, I'm limited". No, your body is a temple of the Most High God. See any sickness, any addiction, any pain as foreign. "You don't belong here, you are not welcome, I am God's property".
See, doctors tell us what medical science says. They give us diagnosis based on their skill, their training, their expertise. And they can help us get well, but at times they come to limitations. There's nothing more they can do medically speaking. While we respect the diagnosis, that's one report, but there's another report from the God who created you, from the God who made you in his own image, from the God who knew you before you were formed in your mother's womb. He's called Jehovah Rapha, the Lord your healer.
Isaiah 53:1 said, "Who will believe the report of the Lord"? In life we have different reports: here's the medical report, here's my financial report, here's what king Saul says, here's what those two jerks, I mean those two ladies said. Now, we get to choose which report we're going to believe. "He'll never be as good as his father", but there's another report, "I can do all things through Christ. I am strong in the Lord. God being for me is more than the world being against me". Why don't you choose the report of the Lord?
"You're not going to get well. Man, that sickness is permanent, learn to live with it". There's another report, "God is restoring health back into me. I will live and not die. With long life he will satisfy me". Or how about, "Man, you'll always going to struggle. You'll always have lack and not enough". How about this report, "I will lend and not borrow. My cup runs over. I live under the open windows of heaven, blessings that I cannot contain". What seeds are you letting take root? What you're dwelling on is what's going to come to pass.
I talked to a woman that was pregnant with triplets, and because of some other complications it was considered a very high-risk pregnancy. She went to a special group of doctors that specialized in this, and she was told that she would be bedridden after three months of pregnancy, and the babies would be born at least four months prematurely. They'd seen this happen again and again. She was respectful, but she didn't let the seed take root. She told her doctors that she was going to be the exception, that her babies were going to be born full term, and she was not going to be bedridden. They looked at her like, "Yeah, right".
At one point the main doctor said, "You're going to get gestational diabetes, something that occurs during pregnancy that can now lead to long-term diabetes. He said it's not if you'll get it, it's when you'll get it. You have all the signs, it's just a matter of time". She asked the doctor very politely to not pronounce things over her that have not yet happened. She said, "I'd prefer you to say: the statistics indicate you will get gestational diabetes". She didn't want that defeat being spoken over her. You can't always keep it from coming, but you don't have to let it take root. They thought she's kind of odd, little far out, but do you know? She carried those triplets the full 9 months. She was never bedridden. She drove herself to the hospital to deliver, and she never did get gestational diabetes. Now, those doctors call her The Miracle Mom. They said, "We've never seen anyone like you".
It's amazing what God would do if you don't let negative seeds take root. Whose report are you going to believe? The report of the Lord or the report of people? People are limited, God is unlimited. People are natural, God is supernatural. People look at facts, statistics, what's supposed to happen, God goes beyond normal logic. He parts Red Seas, he brings little girls back to life, he turns a shepherd boy into a king. He gave Sarah a baby at 80 years old. He took Joseph from a slave in prison to the prime minister of Egypt. Who knows where God is going to take you? You haven't seen, heard or imagined what he has in store. You may not see how it can happen, but you don't have to figure it out. All you have to do is believe, and God will cause to defy the odds.
Our negative seeds is limiting your future. Take inventory of what's growing in your soil. You may need to uproot some things. God can still do what he promised, but you have to get an agreement with him. Before you go to the next level, the enemy will send these negative seeds to try to hold you back, a seed you of doubt, a seed "You can't do it", a seed, "You won't get well", a seed, "You'll never defeat Goliath", a seed, "You can't get up in front of those people". There will be these defining moments. What you do with seed will determine whether you step into your greatness or whether you shrink back in fear.
Pass that test. Start refusing negative seeds. Don't let what people speak over you determine your future. Don't let what the expert said cause you to live in doubt. Don't let your own thoughts talk you out of what God put in your heart, believe his report. He wouldn't have put you in that situation if you weren't already equipped, empowered and anointed. You are strong, you are blessed, you are healthy, you are qualified, you are valuable, you are victorious. Now, guard your mind, and keep those negative seeds out. If you'll do this, I believe and declare: like David, you're going to defeat giants. Like Jairus, God's going to do what looks impossible. Like the miracle mom, you're going to defy the odds, and see God show out in your life. Healing, favor, breakthroughs, the fullness of your destiny, in Jesus name. And if you receive it, can you say amen? Amen! I receive it as well!