Joel Osteen - Keep Your Joy (07/13/2018)
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Joel Osteen teaches that no one can take your joy—you control it and must choose not to give it away; using personal stories, biblical examples like Nehemiah, Elisha, and Habakkuk, and the «garbage truck» analogy, he urges believers to stay calm amid frustrations, ignore distractions and critics, keep perspective on small annoyances, and rejoice daily to protect joy and fulfill destiny.
Keeping Your Joy: You Control It
I want to talk to you today about «keeping your joy.» We all have opportunities to get upset and go around frustrated. Somebody was rude to us. Traffic was backed up. We cannot find our car keys. Life is full of inconveniences, delays, and people that do not do right.
We are never going to stop these things from happening. The key is how we handle them. The Scripture says, «No man can take your joy.» That means you control your joy. Nothing can take it from you—you have to give it away.
Next time someone cuts you off in traffic, ask yourself, «Is this worth giving them my joy?» That person that is rude to you on the phone that you have never met—are you going to give them your joy?
That delay, that plan that did not work out, that negative comment—are you going to let that sour your day? The reason some people are not happy is they are constantly giving away their joy.
I was in a crowded parking lot one time, waiting for a parking spot. The man was putting his groceries in his car, and it took him a couple of minutes. I had my blinker on, patiently waiting.
But when he finally backed out, a car came from the wrong direction and pulled in right in front of me. They could clearly see that I was waiting. My first response was to honk my horn and tell them what I thought. Then I noticed he was bigger than me.
I thought to myself, «I will give you my parking spot, but I am not going to give you my joy.» I did not like it—it was not fair—but I have learned to not let things I cannot control sour my day.
I have made up my mind: «I am going to be happy today. I am going to enjoy my life.»
You cannot control what people do. You cannot control what they say, but you can control how you respond. My message is very simple: quit giving away your joy.
Quit letting the same people upset you. Quit letting the traffic, the delays, the things that do not work out frustrate you.
You cannot pray these things away. That person at the office that gets on your nerves—I do not mean to be negative—but they may not change. They may be that way for the next twenty years.
My challenge is—do not go twenty years giving them your joy. They may not change, but you can change.
Life is too short to live frustrated, upset over things we have no control.
Don’t Engage in Distracting Battles
People have a right to have their opinion—you have the right to ignore it. People have a right to be rude—you have the right to stay happy.
Quit letting their negative comments upset you. They would not be talking about you if you were not making a difference. Nobody talks about people that are not doing anything.
They are talking about you because you are going places. They can see there is something special about you. You have the favor of God. You are blessed, you are talented, you are anointed.
Sometimes small-minded people will try to push you down and discredit you. Do not pay any attention to it. That does not carry any weight.
What they say cannot keep you from your destiny. That is simply a distraction.
Here is the key: do not get involved in battles that are not between you and your destiny. Most of the conflict we engage in is a distraction.
The enemy would love to get you off-course—offended, trying to straighten people out, trying to convince them that you are okay.
Your job is not to change people’s mind about you. Your job is not to try to make people like you. Your job is to run your race—to be who God called you to be—and not worry about the critics and the naysayers.
God will cause the right people to like you. But one of the best things I have learned is everybody is not supposed to like you. Everybody is not supposed to approve you.
Some people are ordained by God—not by the enemy, but by God—to not be for you. You have to accept that everyone is not going to accept you.
We see it in the Scripture. Joseph’s brothers were not supposed to be for Joseph. They were ordained to betray him. Without their betrayal, Joseph would have never made it to the palace to help the Israelites during the famine.
Quit being sour because somebody betrayed you. How do you know that is not leading you to your palace? How do you know that disappointment is not a part of God’s plan to take you to the next level of your destiny?
King Saul was ordained to not like David. If he would have celebrated David, been happy for his success, David would have never taken the throne.
Are you upset because someone is not for you, when the truth is God has ordained them to not be for you?
When Nehemiah was rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, there were two men—Sanballat and Tobias—that did not like what he was doing. They stood at the bottom of the mountain and constantly shouted insults at Nehemiah.
They were trying to bait him into conflict, get him upset, frustrated. Nehemiah understood this principle. He said, «No, thanks—I am not giving you my joy. You may not like me, but you not liking me has nothing to do with me fulfilling my destiny.»
I am going to stay focused on what God has called me to do.
If Nehemiah would have come off the mountain, got upset, went down there to straighten them out—even if he won, even if he shut them up—he would not have finished the wall when he did.
All the chatter that comes against you is a distraction. It is to get you upset so you get involved in battles that do not matter. Then you look up and you are not accomplishing what you should.
Do yourself a favor—do not pay any attention to it. Quit being upset by people who are not for you, people that make negative comments, trying to marginalize you, push you down.
What they say does not determine your destiny. They are simply a distraction. That is just noise—do not give it the time of day.
Some people—no matter what you do—they are not going to like you. Even if you changed and did everything they wanted, they would still find some reason why you do not measure up.
You have to be at peace with people not being at peace with you. You do not need their approval to fulfill your purpose. You do not have to have them be for you to become who God has created you to be.
But if you get distracted trying to win them over—spending your valuable time trying to convince them to be for you—then you will miss the fullness of your destiny.
Do not take the bait. Do not let them get you riled up.
Meekness: Strength Under Control
Jesus said, «Blessed are the meek—they will inherit the earth.» «Meek» does not mean weak. «Meekness» means strength under control.
When you ignore negative comments, you do not pay attention to the Sanballats and Tobiases of life—you are not being weak. You are being meek.
You have the power to fight. You have the strength to straighten them out, to tell them what you feel—but your strength is under control.
You are not wasting time engaged in battles that are not between you and your God-given destiny.
I have learned when you stay on the high road, God will take care of your enemies. God can defend you better than you can defend yourself.
In the Scripture, Elisha was traveling from Jericho to Bethel. Along the way, a group of young men came out and started making fun of him because he was bald.
The Scripture says they were mocking him, saying, «Go, baldie, go.» You did not know that was in the Bible, did you?
You know Elisha was annoyed. He could have gotten upset—thought, «I am going to go straighten them out. I will show you what I thought.»
Instead, he remained calm. He understood this principle—they could not take his joy. They were baiting him, trying to get him distracted. He just stayed focused and continued doing what God called him to do.
While those young men were making fun of him, two bears came out of the woods and tore them to pieces.
That tells me two things: number one—do not make fun of bald people. Number two—you do not have to straighten people out. God will be your vindicator.
God knows how to take care of the opposition. He sees what they are doing. He hears the disrespect.
If you will stay in peace, God will fight your battles—and when God does it, I can assure you it will be better than anything you could have done.
But your feelings will want to pay people back. Feelings will tell us, «Go in there—get even. Stand up for yourself.»
If you let feelings rule, you will get upset. You will end up giving away your joy. Do not get on board with your feelings.
The Psalmist said God has given us the power to remain calm in times of adversity.
It does not say God will keep us from all the adversity, from the opposition, the Sanballats, the negative chatter. It says they will come—we will have opportunities to get upset—but God has given us power to stay calm.
Now quit telling yourself, «I cannot help it. This person at the office—they just get on my nerves.» You have the power to stay calm. That does not have to keep upsetting you.
That is a learned behavior: «They say something negative—I get offended.» «Traffic is bad—I get upset.» «The clerk is rude—I cannot help it, Joel—I just go off. I just let them have it.»
The problem is you have strength, but it is not under control. You need to relearn how to respond. You need to develop some new habits.
Next time something happens that you do not like—pause for a moment and say, «Father, thank You that You have given me the power to remain calm. Thank You that I have a spirit of discipline and self-control.»
You do not have to let the same things keep upsetting you year after year. Change your approach.
The Law of the Garbage Truck
I met a gentleman in another state at a restaurant. It was very windy outside, and when he walked in the door, the person in front of him let the door slam right in his face.
This man had been hot-tempered his whole life. Normally he would have confronted them and told them what he thought.
But he had been listening to our programs, and just when he was about to lose his cool, he heard my voice saying, «Stay calm and let God fight your battles.»
He paused for a moment and decided to let it go. He walked away like nothing happened.
Like this man, you may have been trained to respond a certain way. You grew up seeing people lose their cool, get upset, offended. Why do not you try a different approach?
When you let people upset you, you are giving away your power. You are letting them control you.
If they push this button—you get offended. That button—you get upset. This other button—they bait you into conflict. Why do not you turn those buttons off?
Life is so much more freeing when you are not controlled by what people say—you are not offended when someone is upset. You are not sour because traffic was bad.
You have tapped in to the power to remain calm.
A friend of mine named David Pollay wrote a book called «The Law of the Garbage Truck.»
He was in a taxicab in New York City headed to a meeting. A car pulled out right in front of them. The taxi driver had to slam on his brakes, swerve to the left—missing the car by inches.
The driver of the other car put his head out the window, starting screaming and yelling. He was so angry, so upset—shaking his fist. The funny thing—it was his fault.
The taxi driver just smiled, waved real big, and drove on—did not give it the time of day.
David was in the backseat, and he was so impressed. He said, «That man almost totaled your car—almost sent us both to the hospital. I cannot believe you did not yell back at him. How did you keep your cool?»
The taxi driver gave an insightful answer. He said, «I have found many people are like garbage trucks. They go around full of anger, full of frustration, full of bitterness.
As their garbage piles up, they need somewhere to dump it—and sometimes they will dump it on you. But you cannot take it personally. It has nothing to do with you.
Just smile, wish them well, and move on.»
Here is the key: successful people do not let garbage trucks overtake their day.
If someone dumps a load on you—do not get upset. If you make that mistake, you will end up carrying around their garbage, and eventually you will dump it on someone else.
You have to keep your lid on.
These days many people are dumping frustration, disrespect, criticism, bitterness. We cannot stop them from dumping it, but we can keep them from affecting us.
Years ago Victoria and I were at the airport, and we were going through the security checkpoint. We put our bags on the X-ray machine.
The security officer sent them both back and said, «You have liquids in there that you have to remove.» Victoria said, «Oh yeah—I forgot to take my water out.»
Well, I thought he was only talking to Victoria, so I just stood there and did not do anything. You would have thought I had committed a major crime.
He was totally insulted. He practically screamed, «Sir, what are you doing standing there? I told you to open the bag—and do it now.»
I thought, «Man, he has got a big garbage truck"—and he was full of frustration, full of stress, and full of a lot of other stuff. But I did not say it—you just thought it.
But I took care of it. As I passed by him, I said, «Sorry about that—I thought you were just talking to her. Have a good day.» Did not mean it—but at least I said it.
But I thought to myself, «I am keeping my lid on. I do not need his garbage. I do not need that poison.»
We have enough things of our own to deal with. You do not need somebody else’s bitterness, their sour attitude, their pressure.
Keep your lid on tight. Let those things bounce off of you.
Your destiny is too great. Your time is too important to go around weighed down with other people’s garbage.
You cannot keep it from coming, but you can keep it from getting in you.
Perspective: Life Is Short
The longer I live, the more I realize how valuable each day is. We are not always going to be here.
It is easy to live upset, offended, frustrated—but most of the things that are upsetting us, in the big picture, they do not really matter.
Traffic was backed up—took you an hour to get home. Should have taken you thirty minutes. Is that worth losing your joy over?
You are alive, you are healthy. God has given you breath to breathe. He has given you a family to love.
Somebody was rude to you. They made you look bad. They said something negative. Is that worth going around offended, discouraged?
What if we found out we only had a month to live? I wonder how many things we are allowing to upset us now—if we found out our time was limited—we would not pay attention to it.
Can I tell you—our time is limited? The Scripture says our life is like a mist. We are here for a moment, then we are gone.
That little quirk your spouse does that gets on your nerves—if we knew we were not going to be here in a month, we would not let it bother us. We would focus on all the things right, not on the few things wrong.
We would not complain about driving in traffic—we would be happy to be in the traffic. We are alive—we have got another day to enjoy life.
«Well, I have got to go to work.» Not me—I get to go to work. Some people do not have a job. Some people are in the hospital. Some people are not able to work. I am grateful to be employed.
«Well, it is Sunday—I got to go to church again.» Not me—I get to go to church. God has been good to me. I am going to go back and say thank You.
«Not only that—I get to go to Lakewood. I get to listen to that good-looking minister.»
«Well, Joel—my boss is not fair. He is hard to get along with. This is not the position that I want.»
The truth is somebody would love to have your job. Somebody would gladly trade places with you.
It may not be perfect, but keep the right perspective. God has blessed you with a job. Do not let it sour your life.
If you will pass the test of being happy where you are, then God can open some new doors.
But if you do not get happy there, you probably will not get to where you want to be.
Your boss may not be fair—I am not making excuses for him. I am asking you to quit giving him your joy.
He does not control your happiness—you control your happiness.
But if you let a grouchy boss, a grouchy neighbor, a bitter relative steal your joy—keep you from being happy—it is not their fault. It is your fault.
You are as happy as you want to be.
You have to put your foot down and say, «This is the day the Lord has made. I am not going to live sour, defeated, and depressed.
I am not going to let what people do or do not do, what they say or do not say, what I have or do not have keep me from being happy.
I have made up my mind—I am going to enjoy this day.»
It dishonors God to go through the day upset, frustrated, bitter. God gave you breath to be here. He could have chosen anyone, but He chose you and He chose me.
One way we honor God is by being happy—living grateful, having a good attitude, seeing the best in life.
A Personal Story of Perspective
A couple of months ago, I was driving to the office during the week to meet some people, and I was in a hurry. I had left a little bit late, but I knew I could still make it on time if I did not have any delays.
I had driven this route a thousand times. I was almost here—a few blocks away—stopped at the intersection. I was in the left-turn lane.
This light is very short—you have to stay right behind the car in front of you to trigger it to stay green.
Well, I was the third car back waiting. The problem was the car in front of me left about two car lengths between it and the first car—there was this huge gap.
The light turned green just like I thought. The first car went through—turned red before the second car could make it.
I could feel myself starting to get uptight. I heard that voice saying, «Joel—keep your calm. Keep your joy.» I thought, «I do not want to hear one of my messages right now—I am in a hurry.»
We sat there waiting for a couple of minutes—it seemed like an hour. About that time, the lady in the car in front of me got out and started walking toward the back.
I thought she was going to get something out of her trunk real quick. She came over to me. I rolled down the window, and she said, «Are you Joel?»
I wanted to say, «No—I am Fred.» I said, «Yes, I am.» Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the light go green—back to red. We missed another one.
She said, «I love you—I watch you on television. I have all your books. Would you sign one for me?» I said, «You mean—like now?» She said, «Yeah—I got it in my car. I can get it real quick.»
I said, «I would love to sign your book in the middle of an intersection.» By now people were honking—it was not just me. Everybody had lost their joy.
I signed her book—made it to the office about ten minutes late. Problem is I forgot my key fob to get in.
I knocked on the door and knocked—nobody answered. Called a staff member—it went to voice-mail. It never goes to voice-mail.
Called another one—another one. Hot outside—and ten minutes later when I finally got in, I was just dripping with sweat.
Had my meeting—all went well. Later that night I went up to the hospital to visit a friend that is fighting cancer. It is a serious situation.
We had time to pray together. On the way out I prayed with several other families where they had loved ones—it did not look good. They were very concerned.
I left there with a different perspective. I had been frustrated that day by delays, by traffic, by not having keys.
I realized those were small things. That was not worth losing my joy over.
I was not believing for a loved one to make it. In the big picture, what was frustrating me really did not matter.
I wonder if you are doing like me—letting insignificant things steal your joy: traffic, negative comments, you cannot find something.
Keep it in perspective—that is not worth losing your joy over. Do not let the small insignificant things keep you from seeing the gift of this day.
Rejoice Despite Adversity
In the Scripture, Habakkuk said it this way: «Though the fig tree does not blossom and there be no food on the vine, though my olive crops fail and my fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen, though there are no cattle in the stalls—what am I going to do? Get depressed, complain, feel sorry for myself?»
He said, «Yet will I rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation.»
He was saying, «Everything has come against me—had bad breaks. Business is down. My income is low. Surely that is a reason to be discouraged. Surely I can go around sour.»
His attitude was, «No—I am not giving away my joy. I am going to rejoice in the God of my salvation.»
«Salvation» means deliverance—and when you stay full of joy despite what comes against you, God is saying, «Salvation is coming. Turn-arounds are coming. Healing is coming. Increase is coming. Victory is coming.»
I am asking you to keep your joy. Life is going to throw us some curves. There will be disappointments, things that are not fair.
That is when you have to say like him, «Yet will I rejoice in the Lord.»
We should make this decision every morning: «I will be joyful today.» Decide ahead of time that you are going to enjoy the day.
When somebody dumps a load on you—when they are rude—keep your lid on.
You are tempted to get upset—remind yourself, «You have the power to remain calm.»
If you will do this, I believe and declare you are not only going to enjoy your life more, but you are going to be free from unnecessary frustration, bitterness, anger.
You are going to rise higher, live happier, and reach the fullness of your destiny—in Jesus' name.