Joel Osteen - Run Your Race
- Watch
- Donate
- Contact Us
Joel Osteen encourages us to «run your race"—stay true to God’s unique purpose for our lives, resist pressure to conform to others' expectations or molds, seek God’s approval over people’s, ignore unwarranted criticism and opinions, and boldly be the original God created us to be, trusting His timing and anointing.
Running Your Race
I want to talk to you today about «Running your race». In life, there will always be people that try to squeeze you into their mold, people that try to pressure you into being who they want you to be. And they may be good people, they may mean well, but the problem is they did not breathe life into you. They did not equip you, empower you, anoint you. Almighty God did.
And if you are going to become who God created you to be, you have to have a boldness. You cannot be insecure and worry about what everybody thinks. If you change with every criticism, you play up to people to try to win their favor, then you will go through life being manipulated, letting people squeeze you into their box.
You have to realize you cannot keep every person happy. You cannot make everyone like you. You will never win over all of your critics. Even if you changed and did exactly what they ask, they would still find fault. And you are not really free until you are free from trying to please everybody.
You are kind, you are respectful, but you are not living to please people, you are living to please God. And when you get up in the morning, if you are doing to the best of your ability what you know God wants you to do, then you do not have to look to the left nor to the right, just stay focused on your goals.
If people do not understand you, that is okay. Because you would not let them control you, they were not true friends anyway. You are better off without them. If people start talking critical, jealous, trying to make you look bad, do not let that change you. You do not need their approval, you have almighty God’s approval.
And some of you would go to a new level if you would get free from what everybody thinks and start being true to who God made you to be. We spend too much time trying to impress people, trying to gain their approval, wondering what they are going to think. «If I take this job, if I wear my hair this way, if I move into this neighborhood,» we make decisions based on these superficial things.
Regrets of the Dying
I heard somebody say, «At 20 years old we wonder what everybody thinks about us. At 40 years old, we do not care what anybody thinks about us, and at 60 years old, we realize nobody was thinking about us».
I read a report from a nurse that takes care of people that are close to death. She asked hundreds of patients in the last 12 weeks of their life what their biggest regret was. The number one regret was, «I wish I had been true to who I was and not just lived to meet the expectations of others».
How many people today are not being true to who they are because they are afraid they are going to disappoint somebody? They are afraid they may fall out of their good grace, they may not be accepted in a certain group. I say this respectfully, but you cannot live trying to be who your parents want you to be, or your boss wants you to be, or your friends want you to be. You have got to stay true to who God has called you to be.
Joel’s Calling vs. His Father’s
When my father went to be with the Lord, I had to accept the fact that God’s purpose for my life was not the same purpose as my father’s. His calling was to help bring down the denominational walls and let people know about the fullness of the Spirit. And when I took over, I felt pressured to be like my father, to fit into that mold. I thought I had to minister like him, and run the church like him, and go down that same path.
But when I searched my heart, I knew my calling was to plant a seed of hope to encourage people, to let them know about the goodness of God. And at first, it was difficult because some people had been in the church for 40 years. I thought, «I cannot be anything different, what would they think? They may not like me. They may not accept me».
One day, I read a scripture «David fulfilled his purpose for his generation». I heard God say, your father fulfilled his purpose, now quit trying to be like him and go out and fulfill your purpose. When I heard that, it was like a light turned on. I realized I do not have to try to be like my father. I do not have to fit into a certain mold. It is okay to run my race. I am free to be me.
After all, God does not want us to be an imitation. Be the original God created you to be. Friends, there is an anointing on your life not to be someone else. You are anointed to be you. But if you let people squeeze you into their mold, and you bow down to that pressure, and you change with every criticism, that is not only going to take away your uniqueness, but it is going to lessen God’s favor, it is going to reduce his anointing on your life.
Tuning Out Critics
And as the church started to grow and more people were watching on television, the critics came out of the woodwork. People saying, «He is not like his father. He is too young. He does not have the experience». Even now, «Joel is too much of this and not enough of that». If you change with every criticism, you will not have a chance.
I believe one reason that God has promoted me is I have tuned out the negative voices and I have done my best to stay true to who God has called me to be. I do not try to compete with somebody else. I do not let people control me and feel guilty if I do not fit into their box. I do not get upset because somebody said something negative. I look straight ahead.
Like the apostle Paul, I do my best to run with purpose in every step. And I learned early on, in order to please God you may have to disappoint a few people. There were several members that had been at the church for many, many years, long time friends of our family. But because I was not exactly like my father, because I would not let them squeeze me into their mold, they got upset and left the church.
And that was difficult for me because I wanted their approval. But looking back now, I realize had I let them pressure me into being who they wanted me to be, I would not be standing here today. The scripture talks about how they loved the praise of people more than they loved the praise of God.
Choosing God’s Praise
And one of the tests is someone in our life that we love, we look up to, a friend, a boss, a family member, they want us to go a certain direction, but we know in our heart God wants us to go another direction. We do not want to lose their friendship, we do not want to disappoint them. We want their approval.
But if you are going to fulfill your destiny, you have got to be strong. You have to have this attitude, «I want the praise of God more than I want the praise of people. I have an assignment, I have a purpose, I have a destiny. I am going to become who God has created me to be».
And what I found is if you will please God, if you will be true to who he has made you to be, eventually you will have the right people in your life. You may lose a few friends early on, people do not understand you, think you are making a big mistake, but later on they will see you walking in the fullness of your destiny.
And some of you would see God’s favor increase, you would see new opportunities, new relationships if you would just get free from what people think and start doing what God has put in your own heart.
Everyone Has an Opinion
I have learned everyone has an opinion. People will be quick to tell you how to run your life, what to wear, what to drive, how to comb your hair, how to raise your children, how to spend your money. If you try to please everybody, one thing I can guarantee you 100%, you will be confused, you will be frustrated, life will be miserable.
I live by this motto, «Everyone has a right to their opinion, and I have every right to not listen to it». If it does not match what God has put in your heart, let it go in one ear and out the other.
I heard about a man that fell into a pit, and different people came along with their opinions. The pharisee said, «You deserve to be in the pit». The catholic said, «You need to suffer while you are in the pit». The baptist said, «If you would get saved, you would not have fallen into the pit». The charismatic said, «Just confess, 'I am not in the pit.'»
The mathematician said, «Let me calculate how you fell into the pit». The IRS agent said, «Have you paid taxes on that pit»? The optimist said, «Things could be worse». The pessimist said, «Things will get worse».
Everyone has an opinion, and if you try to please every person, the one person that will not be happy is you. And it is funny, sometimes the people that are trying to run your life cannot even run their own life, much less yours.
And it is good to get advice, it is good to listen to opinions, but you have got to be confident enough in who God made you to be that when something does not bear witness with your spirit, you have a boldness to say, «Thanks, but no thanks. I love you, but this time it is not for me».
Resisting Pressure
I have a friend that is on staff here with us, and several years ago, this man came up to him and said, «I feel very strongly that you are supposed to go out and start your own church. You are a great minister. You are anointed. I know it would be a success». And while my friend appreciated his encouragement, that did not bear witness at all. He knows he is called to be here. This is exactly where God wants him to be.
Month after month, this man kept coming up, «When are you going to start your church? When are you going to take that step of faith»? It went from being encouraging to pressuring him, trying to squeeze him into his mold. My friend finally said to him, «Let me ask you, will you rent me an auditorium? Will you buy me a sound system? Will you pay my staff? Will you pay the utilities? Will you pay all the advertising cost»?
That man looked at him like he had lost his mind, he said, «No, I cannot do that. I cannot afford it». My friend said, «Well, if God calls me, he will take care of me. He will pay my bills, he will bring the right people, he will line up the auditorium. But if I do it because you called me, I am going to have to rely on you, and I can tell I would be very disappointed».
The reason some people are not at joy in their life is they have stepped out of their anointing. Everything is a struggle. It is because they let people talk them into something that was not their calling. No matter how good of an idea it is, no matter how exciting it sounds, if it does not bear witness to what you are feeling in your own spirit, do like my friend, be strong and run your own race.
A Good Idea vs. a God Idea
Growing up, my parents knew this couple, and they had been friends for a long, long time. And this couple really loved my parents, but they did not attend at Lakewood. They thought it was too far. They lived on the other side of town, it is about a 30-minute drive, no big deal now. But for years, they told my father, «If you ever bring Lakewood to our side of town, we will be there every time the doors open. There are so many people, thousands on this side of town that would love to attend Lakewood».
My father heard that so much, he was convinced that there was this mass of people on the other side of town waiting for Lakewood. So, he rented an auditorium less than 5 minutes from their house, spent thousands of dollars on the building, the sound system, the advertising. And for one month he brought Lakewood to that side of town.
The truth is God did not call him to do it, these people called him to do it. They talked him into it. It was a good idea, but it was not a God idea. And there is a difference. There can be a lot of things that look fine on the surface, but you got to search your heart and say, «God, is this for me? Is this a part of my destiny? Is this a God idea, or is this just a distraction? Is this just people trying to squeeze me into their mold?»
My father had his big service across town, spent thousands on the advertising, and do you know practically nobody showed up, less than 200 people. The amazing thing is that couple did not attend one service. First week, they had little league. Second week, they had guests in from out of town. Third week, their goldfish was sick. Fourth week, their cat was depressed. They had the most lame excuses. My father left there kicking himself all the way back across town. He learned his lesson.
If people call you, people will have to take care of you, but when God calls you, God will take care of you. I have heard it said what God orders, he will pay for. Just because something is good, if it is not God’s plan for your life, there will not be an anointing on it.
Listen to what you are feeling down in here. Small voice. You are not anointed to be everywhere, you are anointed to be where God has called you to be. Now, do not let people talk you into leaving your sweet spot.
God Speaks Directly
I see too many people hopping from church to church, relationship to relationship, job to job, always chasing the latest fad. And I know there are times to change, but so often it is not God moving us, it is people moving us. Some people will even use the scripture, they will use spiritual language to try to convince you to do what they want you to do.
How many times have I heard, «Joel, God told me to tell you how to run the church. God told me to tell you to do less of this». Some people listening to them, you would think God speaks to them more than he spoke to Moses, David, Esther, Sarah combined.
I had a man every Sunday that gave me a word from the Lord. When I would see him in the lobby, I would do my best to hide. «God, give me a break this week, please». He would always find me. He was frustrated because I would not run the church like he wanted me to. I finally told him very nice that, «Sir, I appreciate your advice, but I am on speaking terms with God. He can talk directly to me. Matter of fact, I spoke with him this morning».
See, God will give you direction for your life more than anyone else. God is not going to tell me something about you and then not tell you. If someone speaks into your life, they should confirm what you already know.
«Well,» you say, «the prophets told people what to do». Yes, but in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit lives on the inside of each one of us.
A man came to my father and said, «Pastor Osteen, a man gave me a word from the Lord that I am supposed to go to Africa. Should I go»? And my father said, «I do not know if you should go or not, but if you do go, make sure you take him with you, so you will know when to come back home».
You do not need anybody to tell you what to do or not to do. And we have to realize when we come to the end of life, we are not going to stand before any person and give our account, we are going to stand before almighty God. And he is not going to say, «Why did not you do what they said? Why did not you fit into their mold? Why did not you take their opinion»? He is going to ask, «Did you become who I created you to be? Did you stay true to what I put in your heart»?
Saul’s Mistake
This is where Saul missed it. Saul had a big destiny, God had great things in his future, but Saul was so insecure, he let people pressure him. He was afraid he was going to disappoint somebody. He said in 1 Samuel 15:24, «I disobeyed the Lord’s instructions because I was afraid of the people, so I did what they asked». He even admitted it, «I disobeyed God’s instructions». Why? He was a people pleaser. He thought, «Somebody might get their feelings hurt. Somebody may be disappointed. Somebody may not like me». So, he forfeited his destiny in order to please people.
Do not let that be you. You have to especially be aware of high maintenance people. I believe that is who Saul was dealing with. These people are almost impossible to keep happy. You have to call them on schedule, run their errands, meet their demands, be available 24/7. If not, they get upset and they will do their best to make you feel guilty about it.
High maintenance people are almost always controllers. They are not interested in you, they are interested in what you can do for them. And if you fall into that trap it will wear you out and you will live life frustrated.
Breaking Free from High Maintenance People
I knew this couple years ago. I really liked them and I was so good to them. They moved to another city, I helped them move, I gave them money, I would call to check on them, I was always available. But the feeling I got from them is I was never doing enough. They were never satisfied, always had a complaint.
Here I had gone overboard to be kind and generous, but they were constantly finding fault, trying to make me feel guilty. And one day, I learned what I am sharing with you. They are just high maintenance people. I am not responsible to keep them happy. I am going to run my own race and not let them steal my joy. And that was a great day in my life.
Your time is too valuable to go around trying to figure out how to keep everybody happy. I know people that spend more time worrying about what people are going to think about them than they do pursuing their own dreams, their own goals. You got to break free from that.
If you are going to do anything great in life, if you are going to be a great business person, a great teacher, a great parent, not everybody is going to cheer you on. I would love to tell you that all your family, friends, co-workers will celebrate you, but that is not the case. Some people cannot handle your success.
If you were where you were 10 years ago, they would have no problem with you. But as you succeed, as God pours out his favor, somebody will get jealous, somebody will start finding fault. Do not be surprised if a family member, a relative tries to belittle you, discredit you. A friend you have been good to for years all of a sudden will not speak to you.
Let that bounce off of you like water off of a duck’s back. If you do not, you will start changing, being defensive, trying to prove to them that you really are okay. And what is happening is you are letting them squeeze you into their mold. But your destiny is too great to be distracted by people that are never going to like you.
Do not take it personally, it is not about you, it is about the favor God put on your life that stirs up the jealousy in them. Until they deal with it, nothing is going to change. You might as well just shake it off, be happy, and run your race. Because no matter how good you are to them, they are still going to find fault. No matter how much kindness you show, they will still find some reason to be critical.
The Donkey Story
It is like this grandfather I heard about. He and his small grandson were taking a trip into town, and he started off letting the grandson ride the donkey and he was walking alongside. Somebody came along and said, «Look at that selfish little boy making the old man walk».
The grandfather heard it, took the boy off, and he got on the donkey and rode it, and had his little grandson walking alongside. In a few minutes, somebody came along and said, «Look making the little boy walk while he rides, that is not right».
Hearing that, the grandfather picked up the boy and put him on the back of the donkey, they were both riding. A few minutes, somebody came by and said, «How cruel of the two of you to put that heavy load on that little donkey». By the time they got to town, the grandfather and grandson were carrying the donkey.
You know the point, no matter what you do, you are not going to please everyone. You might as well accept the fact that not every person is going to understand you, and that is okay. They have a right to their opinion, and you have every right to ignore it.
Keep Dreams Private
One more key. If you are going to run your race, do not share your dreams with everyone. Do not go around telling people what is in your heart and all your goals. Some things you are supposed to keep to yourself. The scripture even talks about the hidden petitions of your heart. That is supposed to be between you and God.
And what gets us off course sometimes is we share our dreams with people that cannot handle it. If Joseph would have understood this, it would have saved him a lot of heartache. As a teenager, he had the dream that his older brothers were going to bow down before him. He was going to lead a nation and have all this success.
The mistake he made is he went out and told everyone. And somehow, his older brothers did not celebrate the fact that they were going to bow down. That did not go over very big. Certain dreams you should keep to yourself. You may be excited, but other people are not going to be excited. Like Joseph’s family, they are not going to celebrate what God has put in your heart. It would be much better off to just learn to keep it to yourself.
This is what Mary did, the mother of Christ. The angel appeared unto her and told her she was going to have a baby without knowing a man. Mary did not go out and announce it to the world. She did not run, call TMZ and say, «I got some big news». The scripture says she pondered these things in her heart. She kept it between her and God. She was wise enough to know not everybody would understand it. Some people would try to talk her out of it, some people would make fun of it.
Learn to keep your dreams to yourselves. Let them take root in your own spirit. Ponder it on the inside between you and God. And when it is time to bring it to pass, God will help you to give birth to every dream he has placed in your heart.
Run Your Race
My challenge to you, run your race. Do not you dare let people squeeze you into their mold. Always be kind, but be confident enough in who God made you to be, that you do not live to please people, you live to please God.
Our attitude should be, «I am free to be me, and I am going to be the best me I can be». Remember, you do not have to try to play up to people to try to win their approval, you have almighty God’s approval. Quit worrying about what everybody thinks.
As long as you are being true to what God has put in your heart, do not look to the left nor to the right, stay focused on your goals. And if you will make this decision with me that you are going to run your race, then I believe and declare God will get you to where you are supposed to be. You will overcome every obstacle and accomplish every God-given dream in Jesus’ name.