By Joel Osteen
A war is raging all around you, yet, amazingly, you may not even be aware of it. The battle is not for a piece of land or for natural resources such as gas, oil, gold, or water. The prize in this war is much more valuable. The battle is for your mind.
The third step you must take if you want to live at your full poten¬tial is to discover the power of your thoughts and words. Let’s think about your thoughts first of all.
Your enemy’s number one target is the arena of your thoughts. He knows if he can control and manipulate how you think, he’ll be able to control and manipulate your entire life. Indeed, thoughts determine actions, attitude, and self-image. Really, thoughts determine destiny. That’s why the Bible warns us to guard our minds. We must be extremely careful not only about what we ingest through our eyes and ears, but what we think about. If you dwell on depressing thoughts, you will live a depressing life. If you continually gravitate toward negative thoughts, you will gravitate toward negative people, activities, philosophies, and lifestyles. Your life will always follow your thoughts.
Almost like a magnet, we draw in what we constantly think about. If you’re always thinking positive, happy, joyful thoughts, you’re going to be a positive, happy, joyful person, and you will attract other happy, upbeat, positive people.
Our thoughts also affect our emotions. We will feel exactly the way we think. You will never be happy unless you first think happy thoughts. Conversely, it’s impossible to remain discouraged unless you first think discouraging thoughts. So much of success or failure in life begins in our minds and is influenced by what we allow ourselves to dwell on.
Set Your Mind on Higher Things
Many don’t realize it, but we can choose our thoughts. Nobody can make us think about something. God won’t do it, and the enemy can’t do it. You decide what you will entertain in your mind. Simply because the enemy plants a negative, discouraging thought in your brain doesn’t mean you have to “water” it, nurture it, coddle it, and help it to grow
No, you can choose to cast it down and dismiss it from your mind. Granted, your mind is similar to a giant computer in that your brain stores every thought you’ve ever had. That’s encouraging when you’re trying to find your car keys, but it’s not such good news when you con¬sider the amount of smut, foul language, ungodly concepts, and other negative input with which we are inundated every day of our lives. Nevertheless, simply because a destructive thought is stored in your mental computer does not mean you have to pull it up and run it on the main screen of your mind.
If you make that mistake and start dwelling on it, that thought will affect your emotions, your attitudes, and—if you continue to give it free rein in your mind—it will inevitably affect your actions. You will be much more prone to discouragement and depression, and if you continue pondering that negative thought, it holds the potential to sap the energy and strength right out of you. You will lose your motivation to move forward in a positive direction.
The more we dwell on the enemy’s lies, the more garbage we will¬ingly allow him to dump into our minds. It’s as though we have flung the door wide open and put up a sign that reads: “Trash goes here!”
Anyone can be temporarily discouraged and depressed. Life is tough, and it sometimes takes a toll on us. We all get knocked down occasionally. But you need not remain down. If you are depressed, you must understand, nobody is making you depressed. If you’re not happy, nobody is forcing you to be unhappy. If you’re negative and you have a bad attitude, nobody’s coercing you to be bored, uncooperative, sarcastic, or sullen. You are choosing to remain in that condition, and the first step out of that mess is to recognize that the only person who can improve the situation is you!
We must take responsibility for our own actions. As long as we keep making excuses and blaming the family tree, our environment, past relationships with other people, our circumstances, and attributing blame to God, Satan, anyone, or anything, we will never be truly free and emotionally healthy. We must realize that to a large extent, we can control our own destinies.
Some people say, “Well, my circumstances have me down. You just don’t know what I’m going through.”
Actually, your circumstances don’t have you down. Your thoughts about your circumstances have you down. On the other hand, you can be in one of the biggest battles of your life and still be filled with joy and peace and victory if you simply learn how to choose the right thoughts. It’s time to think about what you’re thinking about.
What are you allowing your mind to dwell on? Are you focused on your problems? Are you constantly dwelling on negative things? How you view life makes all the difference in the world especially for you!
Obviously, we can’t ignore problems and live in denial, pretending that nothing bad ever happens to us. That is unrealistic. Bad things do sometimes happen to good people, just as good things often happen to bad people. Pretense is not the answer; nor is playing semantic games to make yourself sound more spiritual. If you are sick, it’s okay to admit it; but keep your thoughts on your Healer. If your body is tired, if your spirit is weary, fine; we all understand that. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is to get some rest. But focus your thoughts on the One who has promised, “Those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength.”
Tough times come to all of us. Jesus said, “In this life you will have trouble, but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.” He wasn’t saying that troublesome times wouldn’t come; He was saying that when they do, we can choose our attitudes. We can choose to be¬lieve that He is greater than our problems; we can choose the right thoughts.
As you dwell on the promises of God’s Word, you will be filled with hope. You will develop a positive attitude of faith, and you will draw in the victory. Like metal filings being pulled across a desk by a mag¬net, you will draw in the good things of God.
A lot of people say, “Well, as soon as my situation turns around, I’ll cheer up. As soon as I get out of this mess, I’ll have a better attitude.”
Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. You have the process backward. You must cheer up first, then God will turn your situation around. As long as you harbor that poor, defeated outlook, you will continue to live a poor, defeated life.
Interestingly, the Scripture says, “Strip off the old nature and put on the new man.” It says, “Be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind, having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude.”’ You can’t sit back passively and expect this new person to suddenly appear; nor can you go through life in a negative frame of mind and expect anything to change for the better. No, you need to strip off those old negative thoughts and “put on” a fresh new attitude. In other words, you must change your thought patterns and start dwelling on the good things of God. When you lose focus and start dwelling on negative thoughts, it becomes easy to get discouraged.
The first place we must win the victory is in our own minds. If you don’t think you can be successful, then you never will be. If you don’t think your body can be healed, it never will be. If you don’t think God can turn your situation around, then He probably won’t. Remember, “As a person thinks in his heart, so he will become.” When you think thoughts of failure, you are destined to fail. When you think thoughts of mediocrity, you are destined to live an average, just-get-by life. But friend, when you align your thoughts with God’s thoughts and you start dwelling on the promises of His Word, when you constantly dwell on thoughts of His victory, favor, faith, power, and strength, nothing can hold you back. When you think positive, excellent thoughts, you will be propelled toward greatness, inevitably bound for increase, pro¬motion, and God’s supernatural blessings.
We must continually choose to keep our minds set on the higher things. The Bible says, “Set your minds on the things which are above.” Notice again there is something that we are to do—we must continually choose, day in and day out, twenty—four hours a day, to keep our minds set on the higher things. What are the things that are above, the higher things? Quite simply, they are the positive things of God. The apostle Paul provides a great list by which we can evaluate our thoughts: “whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy meditate on these things.”
People sometimes tease me, “Joel, you talk so much about being positive.” But God is positive! There is nothing negative about Him. If you are going to live God’s way and be the person He wants you to be, you must line up your vision with His and learn to live in a positive frame of mind. Learn to look for the best in every situation.
No matter what you’re going through, if you look hard enough and keep the right attitude, you can find something good about tile experience. If you get laid off at work, you can choose to be negative and bitter and blame God. Or, you can say, “God, I know You are in control of my life, and when one door closes, You always open a big¬ger and better door. So, Father, I can’t wait to see what You have in store for me.”
When you get stuck in traffic, you can choose to be mad and frus¬trated, or you can choose to say, “Father, You said that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord. So I thank You for guid¬ing me and protecting me and keeping me in Your perfect will.”
You must make a choice to keep your mind focused on the higher things. It’s not going to automatically happen. You must be deter¬mined and put forth some effort if you’re going to keep your mind set on the good things of God and experience His best.
We must be especially on guard during times of adversity, in times of personal challenge. When troubles strike, often the first thoughts that come to mind are not higher thoughts; they’re not positive thoughts. Negative thoughts bombard us from every possible angle. Right there, we must choose to trust God for good things and not allow ourselves to be down and discouraged or just give up.
Our mind is similar to the transmission in a car. We have a forward gear, and we have a reverse gear; we can choose which way we want to go. It doesn’t take any more effort to go forward than it does to go backward. It’s all in the decision process. Similarly, we determine, by our own choices, which way our lives are going to go. If you choose to stay focused on the positive and keep your mind set on the good things of God, all the forces of darkness are not going to be able to keep you from moving forward and fulfilling your destiny. But if you make the mistake of dwelling on the negative, focusing on your problems and your impossibilities, it’s similar to putting that car in reverse and back¬ing away from the victory God has in store for you. You must decide which way you want to go.
Focus on the Positive
I heard a story about a positive farmer and a negative farmer. When rain fell on the land, the positive farmer would say, “Thank You, Lord, for watering our crops.
The negative farmer said, “Yeah, but if this rain keeps up, it’s going to rot the roots away, and we’re never going to have a harvest.”
The sun came out and the positive farmer said, “Thank You, Lord, for the sunshine. Our crops are getting the vitamins and minerals they need. We’re going to have a great harvest this year.”
The negative farmer said, “Yeah, but if it keeps this up, it’s going to scorch those plants. We’re never going to make a living.”
One day the two farmers went goose hunting together, and the pos¬itive farmer brought along his new bird dog. He was so proud of that dog, he couldn’t wait to show him off. They went out in a small boat and waited. Before long, a big goose flew overhead. Boom! The posi¬tive farmer brought the bird down in the middle of the lake. He turned to his friend and said, “Now watch what this dog can do.” That dog lumped out of the boat and ran on top of the water, picked up the goose, ran back all the way on top of the water, and put the bird down perfectly in the boat. The positive farmer was beaming from ear to ear. He turned to his friend, and said, “What did you think of that?”
The negative farmer shook his head in disgust. “Just what I thought,” he said. “That dog can’t even swim!”
Of course, that story is just a joke, but don’t you know people like that? They are always focused on the negative. If you must be around a pessimist, be sure to guard against their negative attitudes infecting your thinking!
Stay focused on the positive things in life. Psychologists are con¬vinced that our lives move in the direction of our most dominant thoughts. If thoughts of joy, peace, victory, abundance, and blessings dominate your thoughts throughout the day, you will move toward those things, drawing them to yourself at the same time. Your life will follow your thoughts.
When your thoughts have been running in a certain pattern for a long period of time, it’s as though you have been digging a deep riverbed, and the water can flow in only one direction. Imagine a person who habitu¬ally leans toward negative thinking month after month, year after year. With every pessimistic thought, they dig that riverbed a bit deeper. The flow accelerates, growing stronger as it goes. After a period of time, the water is flowing so strongly, every thought that comes out of the river is negative; that’s the only way the water is flowing. The person has pro¬grammed his or her mind into a negative thinking pattern.
Fortunately, we can dig a new river, one going in a positive direc¬tion. The way we do so is one thought at a time. When you dwell on God’s Word and start seeing the best in situations, little by little, one thought at a time, you are redirecting the flow of that river. At first, just a little water will be redirected out of the negative stream and trickle over into that positive stream. It may not look like much at first, but as you continue to reject negative thoughts and redirect the flow, as you choose faith instead of fear, expecting good things and taking con¬trol of your thought life, then little by little that negative stream will dwindle and the positive river will flow with much greater force. If you’ll keep it up, that old negative river eventually will dry up, and you will discover a whole new river flowing with positive, faith-filled thoughts of victory.
Occasionally, you may be tempted to think discouraging thoughts, such as, “You’re never going to make it; your problems are just too big, they’re insurmountable.”
In the old days, you’d go back to the same old negative river and you’d think, Oh, my. What in the world am I going to do? God, how am I going to get out of this mess?
But not this time; you have a new river flowing. You can rise up and say, “No. greater is He that is in me than he that’s in the world. I can do all things through Christ, and I’m coming out of this.”
You can start tapping into that new river, and every time you do, you’re digging that new positive river a little deeper, and that water flows more freely.
Negative thoughts assail you: You’re never going to get out of debt. You’re never going to be successful. You’re always going to live in poverty and lack.
In the old days, you’d go back to that depressing river and say. “Well, yes, my family has always been poor. Nobody has ever amounted to anything. I guess it’s just my lot in life.”
But not this time; Now, you go back to that positive river of faith. You say, “I thank You, Father, that You called me to be the head, not the tail. I’m above and not beneath. You said that I will be able to lend money and not have to borrow. You said that whatever I put my hands to do shall prosper. So Father, I thank You that I am blessed, and I can¬not be cursed.”
What are you doing? You are reprogramming your mind.
Friend, don’t be passive, sitting back and allowing negative, critical, pessimistic thoughts to influence your life. Learn to dwell on the good; reprogram your thinking. The Bible tells us that we need to be “trans¬formed by the renewing of our mind.” If you will transform your mind, God will transform your life.
Let’s be real, though. You may have dug a deep river of negativity, and it’s going to take a strong will to change. That river wasn’t formed overnight, nor will it be redirected without some conscious, strenuous effort on your part. God will help you, but you are going to have to make quality decisions every day, choosing the good, rejecting the bad. Determine to keep your mind set on the good things of God. Start ex¬pecting good things. Get tip each day knowing that God has great things in store for you. When you get out of bed, say, “Father, I’m ex¬cited about today. This is a day You have made; I’m going to rejoice and be glad in it. God, I know You reward those who seek You, so I thank You in advance for Your blessing, favor, and victory in my life today” Then go out and live with expectancy; live with faith.
Our thoughts contain tremendous power. Remember, we draw into our lives that which we constantly think about. If we’re always dwelling on the negative, we will attract negative people, experiences, and atti¬tudes. If we’re always dwelling on our fears, we will draw in more fear. You are setting the direction of your life with your thoughts.
The choice is up to you. You don’t have to dwell on every thought that comes to your mind. The first thing you need to do is ascertain where that thought is coming from. Is that thought from God, is it your own thought, or is it a destructive thought from the enemy?
How can you tell? Easy... If it’s a negative thought, it’s from the enemy... If it’s a discouraging, destructive thought; if it brings fear, worry, doubt, or unbelief; if the thought makes you feel weak, inade¬quate, or insecure, I can guarantee you that thought is not from God. You need to deal with it immediately
The Bible says, “We should cast down every wrong imagination and take into captivity every wrong thought.” That simply means: Don’t dwell on it. Get rid of it immediately Choose to think on something positive. If you make the mistake of dwelling on the enemy’s lies, you allow the negative seed to take root. And the more you think about it, the more it’s going to grow; creating an enemy stronghold in your mind from which attacks can be launched. Night and day the enemy will pummel your mind with notions such as: You’re never going to be suc¬cessful. Nobody in your family has ever amounted to much. You’re not smart enough. Your parents were poor... Your grandmother was always depressed. Your grandfather couldn’t keep a job. Even your pet dog was always sick! You were just born into the wrong family.
If you believe those kinds of lies, you will set limits in your life that will be nearly impossible to rise above. You must get in the habit of casting down the thoughts of the enemy and start believing what God says about you. God is not limited by your family tree. He is not lim¬ited by your education, your social standing, economic status, or your race. No, the only thing that limits God is your lack of faith.
There is no such thing as the wrong side of the tracks with our God. If you will put your trust in Him, God will make your life significant. God longs to make something great out of your life. He’ll take a nobody and shape that person into a somebody. But you must cooperate with God’s plan; you must start thinking of yourself as the champion God made you to be.
God Has Confidence in You
If you can catch a glimpse of how much confidence God has in you, you will never again shrink back into an inferiority complex. You will rise up with boldness. When we know that somebody we respect has confidence in us, it often inspires us to believe better of ourselves. More often than not, we’ll rise to the occasion and meet that person’s expectations.
One time I was playing basketball with a group of players that were a lot better than I am. Most of them had played in college; I had not. We were in a heated game, rough, and competitive. Toward the end of the game, the score was tied, and we called time out. As we huddled for one last play, one of my teammates whispered in my ear, “Joel, we want you to take the final shot. We’re being guarded too closely.”
Now, that was quite a vote of confidence, but to tell the truth, I hadn’t taken a shot that entire game! The guy that was guarding me was about a foot and a half taller than I am.
At first, I thought, This is not a good idea. But then, 1 got to think¬ing, If my teammates have that much confidence in me, if they believe in me enough to want me to take the most critical shot in the game, then I must be able to do it.
We took the ball out, came down court, and sure enough, I worked myself into an open position, and my teammates fed me the ball. The guy guarding me towered above me, but I took a dribble and arched the ball high above his outstretched arms—I couldn’t even see the bas¬ket—and that ball went way up in the air like a rainbow, much higher than I’d normally shoot it. I watched the ball soar through the air, almost as if I were watching myself in slow motion. I think I even had time to pray, “Oh, God, please help that ball to go in!” The ball came down, swished right through the center of the hoop, and we won that game! (I knew then that God still answers prayer!)
When somebody has confidence in you and believes in you, things once thought impossible become possible. My wife, Victoria, thinks 1 can do anything. She has so much confidence in me. I wouldn’t be where I am today if she hadn’t constantly been telling me, “Joel, you can do it... You have what it takes.” Years ago, when she and I attended church services at Lakewood, Victoria used to tell me, “Joel, one day you’re going to be up there leading this church. One day that’s going to be you.
I said, “Victoria, please quit saying that. That makes me nervous just thinking about it. Besides, I don’t even know how to preach.”
“Sure you do,” she’d say with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “Just preach to the people like you preach to me!”
Year after year, Victoria encouraged me, “Joel, you’ve got so much to offer. God is going to use you. You’re going to be the pastor of Lakewood Church.” That seed was being planted inside me. And when Daddy went to be with the Lord, I believe one of the main reasons I was able to step up to the plate so quickly was the fact that Victoria believed in me, and she had helped instill that confidence in me.
Victoria’s belief in me has not only helped me to enlarge my vision, it’s helped me to understand how much confidence Almighty God has in me. Immediately after Daddy passed away, one of the first things I did was cancel our national television broadcast. We were on the Fam¬ily Channel on Sunday nights at that time. I thought, I’m not a na¬tional TV preacher. I don t even know if I can preach. Who is going to want to listen to me? I called our representative and explained to him that my dad had died, and we were going to have to let go of that tele¬vision time.
When I told Victoria what I had done, she said, “Joel, I think you should call him back and tell him we want our time back. We’re not going to go backward. We’re not going to shrink back in fear. There are people all over the world who are watching to see what’s going to happen to Lakewood, and we need that TV time.”
I knew Victoria was right. Something just clicked in my spirit. That was a Friday afternoon, so I called the man, but I couldn’t get him. I left him a message, and we also sent him some faxes and e-mails. We knew that time was of the essence if we wanted to rescue our television program. That program slot was extremely valuable; the cable network would be able to sell it easily and quickly to another pro¬grammer.
Monday was a holiday, but first thing Tuesday morning, we gut a call back from the sales representative. He said, “Joel, I had already sold your time slot last week. But when I went to sign the contract on Fridays something inside me said, Don’t do it until next week.” He con¬tinued, “When I got here this morning, I knew what that something was. God wanted you to have that time period back.” He told me he’d torn up the other contract, and then he said, “You can have your orig¬inal slot.” I believe that decision was providential. Today, we are on more than two hundred television stations in various parts of the world. God has done more than we can even ask or think.
But the point I want you to see is that a key part of that process happened when somebody instilled confidence in me. Victoria helped me to enlarge my vision, to change my thinking. She believed in me more than I believed in myself. It’s one thing for people we love and re¬spect to believe in us, but when we comprehend how much God be¬lieves in us, nothing can stop us from fulfilling our destinies.
The enemy in your mind says you don’t have what it takes; God says you do have what it takes. Whom are you going to believe? The enemy says you’re not able to succeed; God says you can do all things through Christ. The enemy says you’ll never get out of debt; God says not only are you going to get out of debt, you will lend and not borrow. The enemy says you’re never going to get well; God says He will restore your health. The enemy says you’ll never amount to anything; God says He will raise you up and make your life significant. The enemy says your problems are too big, there’s no hope; God says He will solve those problems; moreover, He will turn those problems around and use them for your good. Friend, start believing what God says about you, and start thinking God’s thoughts. God’s thoughts will fill you with faith and hope and victory; God’s thoughts will build you up and encourage you. They will give you the strength you need to keep on keeping on. God’s thoughts will give you that can-do mentality.
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