Victoria Osteen - Creating a Winning Atmosphere for Your Family
Yes, thank you, Lord. We do believe, father, showing up has made a difference. As we sing that song, I just want to remind us about something. See, God has given us his grace. He's covered us, all of our failures and all of our mistakes, he's never going to fail us. He's always going to love us. What a beautiful position to be in, such secure position to be in. In fact, when you think about that, it makes you want to do better. It makes you want to rise higher. In fact, the scripture says it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. You could say it like this: it's the goodness of God that works in us and makes us better, makes us into the people he's called us to be.
See, the same goodness, the same love, the same unfailing love, it not only is for us, but it's for those around us. It's for our family. It's for our spouses, our children, our relatives, our neighbor. You see, God blesses us and gives us this not to hold onto it for ourselves, not to say, "Oh, this is so great, God". No, he blesses us so that we can spread the blessing, so that we can give the favor, so that we can be that conduit on this earth. It's called the hands and feet of Jesus, and I want us to believe with all of our heart that we are so covered and so loved that we are able to do the same for other people.
I want to talk today about our families, making sure we are covering our families, making sure we are loving them, considering them, not just putting them on our to-do list, but putting them on our to-love list. Every day, are you loving the gifts that God is giving you? You see, children, the Bible says, they're our heritage. They're a gift from God. See, we're not just supposed to work for them. We're supposed to enjoy them. We're supposed to celebrate with them. Our spouses, they are a gift from God. They are someone to help us grow and learn and live life together. Are we putting them on our love list every single day? I've been married to Joel for 30 years, and I've got to tell you this: I still have to remind myself. Is he on my love list?
Because, you know, it's fine at first. You can get all excited. You have a little goose bumps. Everything is so wonderful, but as years go by, you have to continue to stir up the love and the excitement. I have to remind myself. I cannot quit being Joel's biggest cheerleader. I can't quit telling him how proud I am of him, how excited I am that I'm his wife. I can't quit being my very best so that I'll reflect the very best on him. You see, one of the greatest ways to love each other is to live at our very best, to set the tone for the life we want to live. You see, you set the tone and the atmosphere for your life. You're not a thermometer. A thermometer measures the temperature, but a thermostat sets the temperature. It sets the tone, and God has empowered every one of us through his love, his grace, his mercy, to set the tone and the temperature for our life and for the lives of others.
It says in Hebrews 10:24, "Let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds". You see, if you can spur someone on in God's love, listen, those good deeds will follow. If you can strengthen them in God's love, then their life will become better. You see, it was the love that raised Jesus from the dead. Love is powerful. Love covers all. Love is the end-all, be-all. When you don't know what to do, God is saying, "Love them anyway". Just love them anyway because it's a powerful force. He first loved us so we can love others. So I think about that scripture, and I think to myself, "How can I spur my family on"?
I have to consider it. That means I have to meditate on it. I have to think about it. I can't do it the same way all the time. I don't put it on autopilot. I consider. I meditate. I dwell. What works best in this situation? You know, when I think about how to spur or cheer someone on, I think about the attitude of a cheerleader. Okay, I was never a cheerleader in high school although I wish I would've. I guess I missed my calling, but I can be a cheerleader right here to my family. I can cheer them on, and it's not so much about rah-rah-rah. It's about an attitude. You think about being at the high school game, and there's the cheerleader on the sidelines.
What's the attitude of those cheerleaders? The attitude is a winning attitude. You see, when the scoreboard is in their favor, pom poms are up, and they are cheering their team on. When the scoreboard is down and their team is fumbling the ball and they don't seem to be able to get it together, their tone never changes. They have a winning tone, just a different chant. That's when you'll hear, "Defense, defense", but their tone is still pointing the team towards winning. It's saying, "Hey, we can score. Let's keep our spirits high". I have never, ever seen the scoreboard down on the team that the cheerleaders were rooting for: man, the guys are fumbling the ball. It doesn't look.
The cheerleader puts her pom-poms down, shakes her head, says, "I'm out of here". I've never seen it. That's not the attitude of a cheerleader. A cheerleader knows how to keep the spirits up, but may chant a little different when need be, but always points their team to the winning goal, and that's what I want us to think about. What is your attitude towards those difficult situations when maybe your husband, your wife, your children, they don't seem to be able to get it together. Man, they keep fumbling the ball. What's going on? What do you do? What do you do when they do score? Do you take time to celebrate, to shout, to tell them how proud you are of them?
You see, you got to keep this attitude in the good times and in the bad times. It's called "Consistency", and if we're going to set the tone for our family and we're going to create the life that we want to live with our family, we're going to have to be consistent. We're going to have to keep the tone of a winner. Listen, the last thing I want to hear when I'm fumbling the ball is "What'd you do that for"? "Loser". I know that I'm fumbling the ball. I know that I haven't done well. I'm trying. I need someone to support me, to prop me up, to direct me towards the goal. I need to know that I can score. I don't need to be told that I'm fumbling the ball. I need someone there for me. It's interesting because the Bible says, "Give to other people what you want".
That's a good way to keep it all into perspective when you're facing difficulties, when you're facing difficult situations with family members, and I know there are some family members that seem to never be able to get it right, but can I tell you, if you get it wrong, it's not going to change a thing. If you decide to tell them how bad they are, that's not going to change a thing, but if you'll get this tone, this winning tone right, you have a better chance of propping them up and helping them. You see, it's our response. Are we walking in a place of peace? Where do we get that peace? We get it from God. You know what I said before? We get everything from God. We can only live this life in victory by getting it from God. You see, he's giving it to us so that we can give it to others.
I realized, when my daughter was about 8 years old, how important my response was, that it set the tone for what would go on. Joel, I think it was his, maybe his first book or second book, and we were, as a family, traveling all over the country. The publisher had set all of these book signings up at different dates, and so they had chartered us a little plane, and we were going all over the country. Sometimes we would be in three different states in one day, and so we have always done this ministry as a family, so I had my little 8-year-old girl and my little, probably about 11-year-old son, and so we'd probably go into our second state, and it was the middle of the day, and we were going in this little plane, and my 8-year-old daughter, Alexandra, was sitting across from me, and we were just, kind of, hanging, chilling a little bit, when all of a sudden, the oxygen mask falls from the ceiling, and I just panicked: big-ole eyes, huge gasp... I was like, "We're dead", you know?
My little 8-year-old girl didn't know what was going on, but the tone-setter was panicking. The mom in the bunch was freaking out, so she immediately began to cry, just bawl all of a sudden. She saw me, and it just let go an emotion of, "This is a bad situation", and I realized, "Wow, I just set the tone for her". She was looking at me, and I set the tone for panic, for fear, for difficulty, for doubt, for unbelief. If I would've sat there and kept my cool and thought, "You know what? If I scream, it's not going to keep this plane in the air. If I freak out, it's not going to change anything". If I could've just realized that my response made all the difference in the world...
Now, needless to say, the pilot came up and said, "Sorry, a little bit of a malfunction", as he crammed the thing back up in the ceiling. Thank God in heaven, I was like, "Wooh". But it showed me my response is powerful, and I tell that little story to say your response is powerful. Whether your child is 8 years old, 18 years old, or 38 years old, your response, you set the tone. It's powerful. When I call my mom on the phone, to this day, she literally has the power to set the tone for me. Whether I like it or not, there's a powerful thing because it's called the anointing of being a parent. It's just the way God made it.
So I want to remind you today and myself, are we going to celebrate in the good times, and are we going to keep that winning spirit in the difficult times? See, it's all about our tone. It's all about the temperature. It's all about the winning spirit, and I believe, if we will do that and we get that from God, we going to set the tone and have a great life, not only for ourselves, but for our families. Listen, if you want to pray right now, put your hand up in the air because I'm going to pray for our families here at Lakewood church. I believe that we are going to have strong families, that we're going to continue to have strong families.
Father, I thank you for every hand that's raised, all those who are listening online, father, on Sirius XM, I thank you, father, you know your people, and you know their desire to have strong families, Lord. Father, I thank you that those who are struggling in our family right now, those who are fumbling the ball and are losing their way, God, that you would help them right now, in Jesus' name, that your strength would come in, father, that you'd send laborers across their path, that we could live an example as a light to them, father. Lord, I thank you, God, that you will help them, and, father, grow our families strong to love one another, to be there for one another, to stick together.
Father, I thank you will never give up on them, will never run out of love for them, God, but we will keep that winning tone and that winning atmosphere, even if the chant sounds a little different. God, I thank you will continue to point those we love towards you, towards the high road, and towards better days. Thank you, father, that you will allow us to live balanced lives, whole lives, that, father, we would be able to draw from you what we need so that we can give to those around us. Thank you, father, that you are working in the lives of the families here at Lakewood church. You are breathing in their direction, father. They are receiving it even now, father, in Jesus' name, amen and amen. Thank you, Lord.
Father, I thank you will never give up on them, will never run out of love for them, God, but we will keep that winning tone and that winning atmosphere, even if the chant sounds a little different. God, I thank you will continue to point those we love towards you, towards the high road, and towards better days. Thank you, father, that you will allow us to live balanced lives, whole lives, that, father, we would be able to draw from you what we need so that we can give to those around us. Thank you, father, that you are working in the lives of the families here at Lakewood church. You are breathing in their direction, father. They are receiving it even now, father, in Jesus' name, amen and amen. Thank you, Lord.