Encourage Yourself | Victoria Osteen

0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:03.880 You're ready for a comeback, and with Purdue Global, you 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:07.080 can do more than take classes. You can take charge 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:11.440 of your story, of your career, of your life, Earn 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:13.480 a degree you can be proud of, and get an 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:18.439 education employer's respect. It's time, your time, not just to 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:20.880 go back to school, but to come back and move 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:25.760 forward with Purdue Global, Purdue's online university for working adults. 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:29.840 Start your comeback at Purdueglobal dot edu. 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:32.159 He'll forget about the video game you gave him on 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:32.720 his birthday. 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:34.959 Wow, Thanks Grandpa, but. 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:37.159 He'll never forget how you invest it in his future 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:41.760 with the units stap. Wow, thanks Grandpa. The unit stap 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.280 makes it easy for grandparents and family friends to give 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:47.040 funds to a child's investment account for a limited time. 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:49.279 Download the uns stap and use the code I heeart 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:51.640 fifty at sign up to receive a fifty dollars bonus 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:54.200 when you fund your account. That's code iHeart fifty when 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:57.200 you sign up at unest dot co for a fifty 0:00:57.240 --> 0:00:59.960 dollars bonus. See terms and conditions at uns dots. 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:03.600 No one likes to talk about money. Am I saving enough? 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:05.760 Can I buy a house? Am I paying too much? 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:08.480 In taxes, Will I be able to retire? What if 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:11.080 you could unlock insights about your finances in less than 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:13.600 five minutes, with a clear picture of where you stand 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:16.399 today and where your money can work harder. Now you 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:19.480 can visit facet dot com to take the free quiz 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:24.120 and get your financial wellness score today. That's Facet dot Com. 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:26.080 This add a sponsored by Facet. Facet Wealth in Corporated 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:28.000 is an SEC registered investment advisor. This is not an 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:30.080 offer to buy yourself security snor is it investment, legal 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:30.800 or tax advice. 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:34.160 Hi, this is Victoria. Thank you so much for downloading 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:37.840 this podcast. I believe God has amazing things in your future. 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:48.880 I hope you enjoy this message. I was talking to 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:51.120 a girl the other day who had had a breakup 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:55.520 in her relationship, and she was so disheartened. She said 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:58.040 that she thought this relationship was on the right track. 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:01.680 She thought that it could even be headed towards marriage. 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:04.720 And then one day he came to her and he said, 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:07.760 I'm taking a job in another state. Well, she was 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:11.880 so discouraged. She thought, what's happening. When she began to 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:15.120 think about how he could leave so quickly, it began 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:18.360 to demoralize her. She thought, Wow, I'm not as special 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:21.000 as I thought I was. I guess he didn't love 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:22.480 me like I thought he loved me. 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:23.280 She said. 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:25.520 I began to dwell on these thoughts, and I became 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.200 more discouraged. She said, you know, I was just really 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:30.240 just trying to make sense of it all, trying to 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:34.119 figure it all out. What happened? What did I do? 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:36.440 She said, I got to the place where I didn't 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:38.800 even want to go hardly go to work. I certainly 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:41.440 didn't want to go out with any friends. I found 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:44.080 myself just staying at home a lot. And she said, 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:47.200 one evening, I turned on the television and I saw 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:50.880 your ministry. She says. As I began to listen and 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:55.280 listen to the messages, I began to regain a sense 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:58.480 of who I was. She said, I began to become 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:03.000 encouraged again. She said, this that I thought was so good. 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:07.000 She said, I realized what I had been doing was 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:11.240 I had been so focused and so attentive to what 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:17.240 had happened to me that I wasn't understanding what was 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:22.160 happening in me. She said, I had been so hurt, 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:26.079 I had been so discredited. I felt so all alone, 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:30.480 and what was happening to me was causing what was 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:35.520 happening in me to totally destroy my life. She said. 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:38.680 I didn't want to do anything, she said, and as 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:44.600 I became encouraged, she said, that discouragement left in home rose. 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:47.960 She said. I literally got to the place where I 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:51.680 could look myself in the mirror and like myself again, 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:54.560 she said. Little by little, she said, I'd get up 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:56.960 in the morning and I would look in the mirror 0:03:57.160 --> 0:04:01.840 and she would say, you were beautiful, you are talented, 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:06.640 you are valuable. She said, I begin to have this 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:10.400 fun person come back into my life, the person I 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:12.920 really was. And she said, I got so excited. 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:13.320 I got it. 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:15.240 I got encouraged to get up in the morning and 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:18.479 look at myself and tell myself how well I was doing. 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:22.760 You see. I love that, she added this. And I 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:25.960 can't leave this out, she said. And I would say 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:29.480 to myself, God is going to bring the right person 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:33.360 across my path, because I'm in the palm of his hand. 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:40.000 I love the fact that she did something about her discouragement. 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:44.800 She made a choice. She took what she received on 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:48.000 the inside, the encouragement she got from the ministry and 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:53.120 she began to encourage herself. It says in Exodus six 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:56.320 that when Moses was going to leave the children of 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:59.960 Israel out of captivity, which God had promised, what happened 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:02.400 when he went to them to tell them that this 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:05.840 was their time. This was the moment that God was 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:09.400 going to cause them to leave this burden of this joke, 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:12.800 this bondage that they had been under. The scripture says this. 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:19.000 It says that they were too discouraged to believe. They 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:23.680 had been under so much discouragement that they couldn't even 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:26.960 believe that what God could do for them. You know, 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:31.600 that's a sad statement, too discouraged to believe. But I'll 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:34.000 tell you what it shows me. It shows me the 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:38.520 power of discouragement in our life. It shows me that 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:43.040 when we become discouraged, we can't even get the faith 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:46.520 to believe that God can take us to the places 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:49.760 we need to go, to take us over a challenge, 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:54.560 through an obstacle. You see, discouragement is heaped on us 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:58.159 and we can't see. You know, it's very interesting because 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:01.719 the young girl that I talked about, when she began 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:06.200 to encourage herself, when she began to take this encouragement 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:09.719 that she had on the inside and encourage herself. You know, 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:13.400 nothing had changed on the outside. That man didn't come 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:17.720 back to her life, but everything had changed on the inside. 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:22.160 And when hope rises in your heart, faith causes you 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:28.120 to act. Faith causes you to move forward. The scripture 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:31.880 tells us that David, the mighty man of God, who 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:37.960 faced challenge after challenge, learned this secret. He encouraged himself 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:42.040 in the Lord. You see, David had a warrior's mentality. 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:45.719 He took this place inside of him that he had 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:49.800 built up, this place where he had encouraged himself in 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:52.680 the things of God, and he was able to take 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:56.000 that war chest and encourage himself on the things on 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:58.640 the outside. He was able to look at the face 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:02.400 of discouragement and say, no, my God can supply all 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:05.320 of my needs. My God can get me through this. 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:10.080 You see, at one point in David's life, everybody had 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:13.880 turned against him. Even the men that were fighting battles 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:17.200 with him were so down and discouraged that they turned 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:19.040 to David and they said, we want to stone you. 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:22.800 They were looking for someone to blame for the difficulties 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:26.320 that they were facing. David had no one around him 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:30.560 that could encourage him, Yet he encouraged himself in the 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:34.040 Lord his God. You know, it's great when your family 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:36.640 is there to encourage you, when your friends are there 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:39.600 to encourage you. But what happens when no one's there 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:42.480 to encourage you? You know what I believe. I believe 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:45.560 we shouldn't depend on other people to encourage us. I 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:49.680 believe our main source of encouragement should come right from 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:53.600 the inside of us. See. I can't even imagine my 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:56.880 husband trying to encourage me every time I'm discouraged. You 0:07:56.920 --> 0:07:58.760 know what if I went to Joel every time that 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:01.840 I was discouraged, he'd probably locked himself in a closet 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:06.080 and not come out. You See, we've got to learn 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:10.000 to encourage ourself every day. We've got to remember what 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:12.840 God has done in our life. We have to understand 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:15.920 that we have to get in agreement with God. See, 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:19.120 you are made in the image of Almighty God. God 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:21.960 created you and he made you. And if you believe 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:26.240 that about your life, then when you criticize yourself, you 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:29.440 might as well be criticizing your creator, the one who 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:33.680 made you. You See, if you can criticize his creation, 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:38.800 then what you're doing is criticizing the Creator because he 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:42.240 made you, he formed you, he fashioned you, just the 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:46.360 way you should be. See, when you encourage yourself, what 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:48.920 you're doing is you're saying, thank you God for who 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:51.400 you made me to be. Thank you God that you've 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:54.240 made me to be more than a canker in Christ Jesus. 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:57.880 But I'm an overcomer because you've backed me up, because 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:01.600 I have your word in me. See it's so easy 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:05.160 sometimes to see the good qualities in other people yet 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:09.559 ignore the good qualities in our self. But I believe 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:12.800 that we need to see the good things in our self, 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:17.920 and we need to applaud even the smallest accomplishments. You know, 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:20.960 maybe you feel like you're a procrastinator and there's been 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:23.679 a project that you've been putting off. Well, when you 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:27.120 begin to start that project, even if you don't finish it, 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:32.319 applaud yourself. You know, what about that diet you've been 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:36.040 trying to stay on? Listen when you have a good day, 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:41.760 applaud yourself. What about the addiction that you're overcoming when 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:45.560 you see yourself trying listen, crown your own efforts with 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:51.040 the success, applaud yourself. You See, we've got to learn 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:56.120 to applaud even the smallest accomplishments in our life. When 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:59.280 we applaud ourself, you know what we're doing. We're not 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:04.120 being both. We're not being egotistical and prideful. We're building 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:08.640 confidence and faith in ourself. Too often we see what 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:11.360 we're doing wrong and not what we're doing right. We 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:14.000 see all the times we blew it. But I want 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:16.920 to tell you something. Don't go around looking at all 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:19.600 the times you blew it. Applaud yourself for all the 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:25.679 things you've done well by yourself. Some flowers. Celebrate yourself. 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:28.240 You've been made in the image of God. You've got 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:32.800 to understand when you celebrate yourself, you're celebrating God on 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:37.199 the inside of you. See, it's so important that we 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:40.080 do this. You know, life doesn't always turn out the 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:43.480 way we planned. And maybe today you can say, well, 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:46.480 not everything has gone my way. But can I encourage 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:49.959 you with this? You're still here, You're still full of purpose, 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:52.880 You're still full of value. You can still get to 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:56.719 where God wants you to be. You can't live negative 0:10:57.040 --> 0:11:00.880 and expect to have a positive life. You can't dwell 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:03.960 on everything that you can't do and expect to go 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:07.240 out with strength and courage to do it. You see, 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:11.240 we're all in the process. That is the truth. Every 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:13.960 one of us in here is in a certain area 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:17.720 of our life in process to the coming, and it's 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:22.640 up to us to stay encouraged along the way. I'll 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:24.920 never forget the time we were in another state and 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:27.600 my husband was on a book tour and we had 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:31.240 done an interview with this journalist. And I'll never forget 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:34.240 he got in the car. We all piled in the car, 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:36.600 and he sat there for a second and he said, 0:11:37.240 --> 0:11:40.120 you know what, I did a good job. He said, 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:42.280 I did everything that I knew to do. I said 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:44.520 what I knew to say, he said, And I just 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:46.960 feel good about what I did today. I did the 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:50.600 very best that I could. And we had a friend 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:55.560 with us, and a little later he said, Choel, you 0:11:55.600 --> 0:12:00.800 know when you affirmed yourself after that important interview, he said, 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:05.040 it reminded me of how negative I am towards my 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:08.439 own self. He said, I thought about what if that 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:12.120 was me that just came out of that interview. He said, 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:15.680 I would have probably had a mindful of doubt. I 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:18.000 would have probably thought I didn't say the right thing, 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:21.160 and I didn't do the right thing. But when you 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:25.160 had the boldness and the courage to affirm yourself, he said, 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:28.280 it was such a freedom for me. It made me 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:32.200 realize that I can affirm myself. Because See, the truth is, 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:34.520 we can only do the best that we can do today. 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:37.200 And if we'll do the best we can do today, 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:40.560 whether it was the best or not, we'll be more 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:45.320 equipped to do better tomorrow. You See, my husband is 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:49.079 one of the greatest encouragers that I think I've ever seen. 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:57.160 He's encouraged people all over the world, and I believe 0:12:57.360 --> 0:13:00.640 one of the greatest secrets to his encouragement is the 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:04.959 fact that he knows how to encourage himself. He practices 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:09.280 finding the best in himself. See, when you're full of 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:13.080 good things, it's interesting how you see through that lens 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:15.920 of good things. Then you're able to see the best 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:19.680 in others to affirm and encourage other people. So you 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:23.040 can't give away what you don't have. If you've got 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:26.800 a full tank, then you can give encouragement and love 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:34.240 to one another. Listen, I believe I'm looking at people 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:37.680 who have decided they're gonna practice looking in the mirror 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:41.920 and deciding who they really are. I believe I'm looking 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:45.160 at people who are gonna affirm themselves. They're gonna watch 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:47.800 the negative talk and the negative thoughts that are going 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:50.200 on in their mind. And I believe that as we 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:53.319 get up every day and we say who God says 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:56.520 we are, and we reflect the image of Almighty God, 0:13:57.000 --> 0:13:59.840 that we'll be able to go out and be encouragers 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:04.200 everywhere we go. Amen. Amen, here's an awesome God. 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:09.120 Thank you for listening to the Joel Loustine podcast. Help 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:11.960 us continue to share the message of hope with those 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:15.960 all over the world. Visit joeloustin dot com slash give 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:17.720 Hope to give a gift today. 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:21.440 Thanks so much for listening to today's message. 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:24.320 I hope you'll subscribe so you can receive the latest 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:27.840 podcast to keep you inspired all through the week. We're 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:30.480 praying for you. I know God's best is still ahead. 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:31.760 We'll see you next time. 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:41.640 With millions of books on Amazon, there's a reading feeling 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:46.200 for everyone. For example, Quand's as he drifts away to 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:50.000 Nirvana after only the first chapter is different to Maya's 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:54.280 when she discovered the narrator was in fact the Evil Twin, 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:58.480 which is also different to Noah's aw anytime the cute 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:02.040 cyberpunk is mentioned, though in reality, he'd be totally out 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:06.880 of his league. From h two two aw Amazon books 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:08.600 that reading feeling awaits. 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:13.560 All inclusive vacations make life easy with endless aids, bottomless drinks, 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.080 and never ending fun, so booking at all inclusive vacation 0:15:16.160 --> 0:15:19.400 should be easy too, write. That's where Apple Vacations comes in. 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:21.800 Book your all inclusive get away with Apple Vacations and 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:24.880 receive exclusive perks as select resorts. You'll find the best 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:28.240 deals from Reu Hotels resorts in Mexico, the Caribbean, and 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:32.160 Central America, and enjoy a selection of exclusive NonStop vacation flights. 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:35.040 Turn on Easymode at Apple vacations dot com or call 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:36.920 your local travel advisor to get started. 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:44.360 Nice funs, soft, fluffy and ultralow netcarbs Discover hero Bread 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:48.280 the delicious ultralow net carbbread with incredible taste and texture. 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:50.960 Hero Bread has zero grams of sugar and is under 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:54.280 one hundred calories per serving, plus high end fiber and 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:57.320 up to ten grams of protein per serving. Available on 0:15:57.440 --> 0:15:59.760 Amazon dot com, Walmart dot com. 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:00.480 And hero dot Co. 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:04.720 That's Hero dot co order from hero dot co now 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:07.320 and get ten percent off your purchase with promo code 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:08.400 i h M ten