Feed Your Faith | Joel Osteen

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I'd like to start with something funny and I heard about this scientist. He said to God, "We've decided we no longer need you. We can clone people, transplant hearts, and do all kinds of things once considered miraculous." God said, "Fine, but to prove you don't need me, let's have a man-making contest.

“The only requirement is you have to make man out of dirt."”

The scientist said, "Greaten, reach down to pick up a handful of dirt." God said, "Not so fast, go get your own dirt." Say, "Like you mean it, this is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today I will be talk the word of God.

I boldly confess. My mind is alert. My heart is receptive. I will never be the same.

In Jesus' name, God bless you. I want to talk to you today about feed your faith. You get to choose what grows in your life. What you're feeding is getting stronger. If you're feeding doubt, think it about what you can't do and how the obstacles are too big and how you're at a disadvantage. Because you're feeding it, that doubt is getting bigger. Just like you're giving it vitamins and nutrients, helping it to grow.

“If you're feeding fear, what if I get laid off? What if I come down with that illness?”

I'm afraid of my children. That fear is growing. You're helping it to become a reality. Sometimes we're feeding insecurity. I'm not attractive. I don't have a good personality. I'm not that talented. We wonder why we don't have much confidence and why we don't feel valuable. It's because we're feeding the wrong things. You've heard the saying you are what you eat. It's the same thing in your mind. If you feed fear, you're going to live fearful.

If you feed discouragement, nothing good is in my future. I have so many problems. You're going to live discouraged. If you feed the past, look what I've been through. They hurt me. I wasn't raised right. If you keep dwelling on what didn't work out, the mistakes you've made, even though God has beauty for the ashes. Even though there are great things in your future, because you're feeding the past, you won't see it. You live better, integrate with no passion. Pay attention to what you're feeding.

We all have doubt, fear, insecurity, guilt, but we also have faith, hope, confidence, value,

“victory. Don't feed things you don't want to grow. You have to starve your doubts and feed your”

faith. Start the discouragement and feed your hope. Start the inferiority and feed your confidence. You'll be amazed at what happens if you quit giving life to the negative and start feeding the positive. The scripture says the enemy goes around as a roaring lion. He has this loud roar, these threats, trying to intimidate, bring fear, cause us to shrink back. But if you take a lion,

a big strong, healthy animal has these incredible muscles, can run fast, chase down its prey,

jump and attack. Has this powerful roar, this growl that strikes fear? It's called the King of the Jungle. He rules whatever he goes. But if you were to quit feeding that lion, you didn't give him any food for a week. His growl is not going to be near what it was. In two weeks, he's not going to have the strength, the energy to attack like he used to. In a month, he's going to be so weak, so famous, he can't get up off the ground. We couldn't defeat a lion, one or one, when he's healthy.

It's way too big and strong and powerful. But if you quit feeding him, it's a different story. He loses all of his power. His strength, his control. In the same way, fear, worry, doubt can seem

too powerful. We can't defeat it. It's like it has the upper hand. But if you quit feeding it,

if you quit dwelling on it, quit giving it attention, quit letting it play in your mind, little by little, it'll get weaker and weaker. You'll get to the point where it can't control you. Every time doubt comes saying, nothing good is in your future. This is going to be the end.

manipulate and limit. Now, you get to make the choice. Am I going to feed this lion?

“When you dwell on it, it's like you're giving him food, making the doubt stronger, the fear,”

the discouragement, do yourself a favor, start starving those things. They lose all their power when you quit feeding them. Instead of feeding your fears, take that same energy and feed your hope, feed your faith, feed confidence, feed courage, feed value. I get up every morning and say, Father, thank you, that this is going to be a great day. Thank you that your favor surrounds me like a shield. Think of that I'm anointed, equipped and empowered that you've armed me with strength

for every battle. That's not just being positive. That's feeding my faith. That's feeding my home. What you're feeding is growing. I found that fear can't stay where faith lives. Doubt can't stay where hope lives. The feet can't stay where victory lives. You hear about all these

“different kinds of diets and no carb diet. You can't eat any carbohydrates. People that struggle with”

diabetes, no sugar diet. There's a no red meat diet, a gluten-free diet. I have a friend that eats no white flour and no dairy. We went to lunch the other day and ordered a hamburger and French fries and he ordered a piece of tree bark. He can't eat anything. I felt bad about eating my food, but he's so disciplined about it. I'm not a nutritionist, I'm not a doctor, but I'm putting you on a very strict diet. No more worry, no more doubt, no more insecurity, offense, bitterness, self-pity, shame,

regret. Your new diet is restricted to faith food. Feed your faith. Feed your home. Feed peace. Feed joy. Feed positive expectations. Feed the promises God put in your heart. Feed the dreams he's placed in your spirit. You're going to become what you're feeding. Positive, hopeful, confidence, secure, valuable or negative. Worried, doubtful, afraid, inferior. I can be around a person 20 minutes and tell what they've been feeding. By what they're saying, they're added to

how they respond to pressure, how they handle adversity. Joel, just my luck. Seems like trouble

follows me around. I always have these disappointments. They're feeding discouragement.

Another person, same circumstances. I know what was meant for harm. God's turning to my advantage. I'm going to come out better than I was before. They're feeding fame. I never get any good breaks. People that work don't appreciate me. I'm always overlooked. Another person, same situation. Something good is going to happen to me. Blessings are chasing me down. The favor of God is on my life. All always be lonely. I don't think I'll ever meet anyone and fall in love. This is just my

lot in life. They're feeding down. They are what they eat. They think single. They think lonely. They think unattractive. And they become that. Another person, same circumstance. The right person is headed my way. A divine connection. Somebody better than I've imagined. They're feeding fame. They become attractive. They become favored. They draw in the goodness of God. Or how

about this problem will never change. This sickness, this trouble at work, this way we're child.

I'm always going to have to deal with it. They're feeding the negative. They become more discouraged. Another person, this trouble didn't come to stay. It came to pass. I know it's only temporary. A breakthrough is coming. Things are about to shift in my favor. They're feeding home.

“Feeding expectancy. That's what causes God to go to work. Years ago, there was a man”

that did work at the other church, some maintenance and landscaping, some repairs. I was in the television department back then. I would see him from time to time during the week. He was very friendly, but he was so negative. Every time we would talk, he would tell me how tough life was and how he was having problems at home, a leak in the roof, child calls him trouble. He didn't know how he's going to be able to pay his bills. He would constantly use the phrase is so hard. It does

in times in a short conversation. And I'm not saying that there weren't difficulties, but he was making it so much worse feeding the wrong things. There was faith in him. There was hope. There was

victory, but it never got fan. He starved his faith and fed his fears. He starved his hope and fed his

years and then he passed, a very sad, discouraging life. I thought about how all those years he had told me how hard life was, how it was such a struggle. There was so much disappointment.

You become what you eat. If you're always feeding doubt, discouragement, I'm afraid I'm going

to get sick. This problem's never going to change. You are drawing in all the defeat, the struggle,

“the hard aim. You need to get back on your diet. Quit eating junk food and start eating faith food.”

When doubt comes saying, you'll always struggle. You'll always have difficulties paying your bills, no funds for your dreams. Never get out of debt. Just say no thanks. You're not on my diet. I only eat faith food. Father, thank you that you're supplying all of my needs. You said I would lend and not borrow. Did my cup would run over? Did I live under the open windows of heaven? Blessings that I cannot contain. That's feeding your faith, not your doubts. That's what allows

God to go to work. When fear comes, trying to get you to worry. What about your children? Are they safe in school? What about the crime? There's so much violence. What are you going to do? Don't feed that fear. It's not on your diet. Switch over into faith. The Lord is my shepherd.

“I shall not fear. No weapon formed against me will prosper. A thousand may fall at my side.”

Ten thousand at my right hand, but it will not come near me. You keep doing that in fear is getting weaker and weaker and your faith is getting stronger and stronger. You're becoming what you eat. You'll have a peace and a trust knowing that God has you in the palm of his hand. Or when thoughts whisper, you're not that valuable. You're not attractive. Look at how beautiful your cousin is. Look at how talented that coworker is. What happened to you? Just say no thanks.

That's not all my eating plan. I have a very strict night. I don't feed insecurity. I don't feed inferiority. I don't feed shame and guilt. Not up to par. I feed confidence. I feed value. Father, you said I am fearfully and wonderfully made. You call me a masterpiece. One of a kind. You've crowned me with favor. You put royal blood flowing through my veins. I know I'm not ordinary. I'm a child of the most high god. You go around thinking like that and insecurity cannot stay.

You'll have a boldness, a confidence to put your shoulders back, to hold your head up high, knowing that you're a son, a daughter of Almighty God. In the scripture, a young man named Gideon was hiding in a wine press afraid of the Midianites. Every time the people of Israel would grow crops or have any kind of flocks and herds, the Midianites would come and raid the city and take whatever

they wanted. They were much bigger and more powerful than the Israelites. Well Gideon was

freshing wheat in this cave so he wouldn't be seen. An angel appeared and said mighty hero, the Lord is with you. You are to deliver the Israelites from this enemy. He said to the angel, "How can I deliver the people? I come from the poorest family and I'm the least one in my father's house. You can tell what Gideon's been feeding, insecurity, doubt, fear. I'm not talented enough. I come from the wrong family. We're at a disadvantage. God knew if Gideon was going to fulfill his purpose,

“he had to get him to change his diet." That's why the angel showed up and said mighty hero.”

He could have just said, "Hey Gideon, God wants you to go do something. Just call him by his name." But when he said mighty hero, something came alive in Gideon, a spark of faith. He thought, "Doesn't he know I'm poor? Did I come from the weakest family? Did I not leadership material? Why is he calling me a hero?" As if am I missing something? He was intrigued. Maybe he knows something about me that I don't know. After he told the angel, these excuses of why he couldn't

do it and how his family wasn't qualified and he was an influential enough, God could have said, "Fine Gideon, I'll go find someone else. Someone more confident, more talented, more courageous." Oh, God said to him, "Gideon, you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man."

Gideon was at this critical point and am I going to keep feeding my doubt, my fear, my insecurity,

or am I going to get in on new diet and am I going to believe I am who God says I am. Then I can do what God says I can do. That I'm not lacking, unqualified, not able, but I'm a mighty

He changed what he was feeding. Instead of feeding fear, he started feeding faith. Instead of feeding intimidation, he started feeding courage. Instead of feeding the weak, poor, defeated man, hiding in the wine press, he started feeding the mighty hero. He changed his attitude, from I can't do this, to God I know you be informed me, is more than the world being against me. He went out with just 300 men and defeated this army of thousands and thousands of supernatural

“victory. He became what he was feeding. Could it be like Gideon, you're feeding the wrong things?”

You're dwelling on what you can't do, how you've made too many mistakes, you come from a limited family or that giant, the sickness, the addiction, the dream is too big. God is saying to you, what he said to Gideon, you're a mighty hero. You are destined to do great things. You are not limited by your background, your education, by how big the opposition is, what limits us is our wrong diet are thinking. Stop feeding the limited, average can't do it you and start feeding the mighty hero

you. I can do all things through Christ. I am strong in the Lord, equipped, empowered and anointed. This is what I had to do when my father went to be with the Lord. I stepped up to pasture the church, but I was very insecure and nervous. I didn't feel qualified. I didn't have the training. Every thought told me that I couldn't do it. Nobody's going to listen to you, Joel. You're going to get up there and fail. The enemy specializes in serving junk food.

Doubt, fear, inferiority. For years I had convinced myself that I couldn't minister.

“That's what I told my dad. I didn't have the right personality. I was too quiet. I wouldn't know”

what to say. I had beded those thoughts again and again and I became what I was feeding, intimidated, insecure, no way. But when my father died, something changed on the inside,

there was this boldness, this faith. All of a sudden I believed I could do it. I had never felt that

before. It was like God showed up and said, Joel, you're a mighty hero. This is your time to shine. I felt the faith, but the problem was the doubt didn't leave. The fear didn't leave. The insecurity. I had to make a decision. Am I going to keep feeding this fear? This doubt, this intimidation? Or am I going to change my diet and start feeding faith? Feeding home, feeding courage? I did what I'm asking you to do. When fear came, saying, Joel, you're not going to know what to say.

You better not get up there. I said, no thanks. You're not on my diet. I am well able. The favor of God is on my life. I've been raised up for such a time as this.

Joel, you're not qualified. You've never been to cemetery. I mean, seminary. You don't have the

degrees. Lord, I think that you qualified me. You chose me before I was born. You've approved me. You've anointed me. You put your hand of blessing on my life. I would not be up here today if I had not changed my diet. I've learned to stay on a very strict eating plan. It's easy to feed

“worry, feed bitterness, feed hurts, betrayals, negative things people have said. You need to pay”

them back. They're making you look bad. Don't feed that. That's junk food. You can't feed faith and feed fear at the same time. You can't feed hope when you're feeding bitterness. You can't feed peace when you're trying to get even with that coworker. You can't feed the mighty hero if you're feeding insecurity, comparing yourself to a friend. Life is short. You need all your energy for the right things. Every time you feed worry, that's energy you could be using

to feed faith. When you feed doubts, that's taken time away from the dreams you could be feeding. Bottom line, don't feed what you don't want to grow. If you start starving the doubt,

not dwelling on how it's not going to work out, how you'll never get well,

starving the insecurity, how you're not up to par, you're at a disadvantage, starving the fear. What if I get laid off? What if I never meet someone, use that same energy to feed faith, feed hope, feed victory. Maybe you're struggling with an illness. Those negative thoughts will come when if you don't get better. What if this is more serious? What if it doesn't work out?

when you're worried and stressed. Try different approach. Don't feed the fear. You don't want

“it bigger. Feed your faith. That's what you want to grow. All through the day, in your thoughts,”

under your breath. Father, thank you that you're restoring health back in the me. Thank you that healing, wholeness, strength, energy, vitality is flowing through my body. That's building up your faith, building up your hope. In the scripture, several times it compares the life of a believer to an eagle. As they have said, they will mount up with wings like the eagles. What eagles are known for soaring and how they can rise above the storms. They're known for their keen sense of

vision. They can spot a fish in the ocean from a hundred yards away. They're a strong, majestic bird. It's been said, the strength of the eagle is found in its diet. An eagle feeds off of live foods. Their main source of food is fresh fish and other live animals. They don't feed off of dead things nearly as much as other animals. It's not a coincidence that God chose an eagle to compare us to. An eagle doesn't go around eating junk food. It couldn't

sore and reach great heights if it was feeding on the wrong things. In the same way, our strength is found in our diet. We're not going to sore if we're eating dead things. Worry, bitterness, doubt, fear, that's junk food. That's going to limit your height, cloud division, stunt your

“grow. You need to feed on live food. Faith, hope, favor, victory. When you're in tough time,”

it's easy to go get some junk food. Why did this happen? God, where were you? I don't understand it. No, get some faith food. Father, you said many are the afflictions of the righteous, but you deliver me out of them all. Lord, I think I'm coming out better than I was before. Well, Joe, my child got off course. I don't think he'll ever get back on track. That's feeding discouragement. That dead food is going to drag you down. Feed on live food. Father, thank you

that as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That my children are marked, set apart, called, anointed, that they are mighty in the land, that they will fulfill their destinies. Or your dream may seem too big. You don't have the connections, no doors have opened. It's

tempting to eat dead food. Never going to happen. Was it meant to be? I don't have what it takes.

That's going to talk you out of it. Eating dead food is causing the wrong things to grow. Doub, discouragement, you can't do it. Change your diet. You're not a chicken, pecking around on the ground at anything they can find. You're not a crow eating roadkill, leftover stinky stale. That junk's going to poison your spirit. You're an eagle. You are made for live food. The healthiest food you can find is what God says about you. Father, my dream looks

impossible, but I know you can do the impossible. It's your making ways where I don't see a way. At your favors causing me to stand out. That what you have promised me will come to pass.

“That's feeding faith, feeding hope. That's what's going to cause you to soar in go places”

that you've never dreamed. This is where the Israelites missed it. God brought them out of slavery.

They saw the Red Sea part. Pharaoh's army drowned. Water come out of Iraq. God supernaturally delivered them and sustained them. They were headed toward the promised land when Moses at 12 men to spy it out. Ten came back and said Moses, we don't have a chance. There are giants in the land. The people are huge. We felt like grasshoppers compared to them. After all God had done, you would think they would be confident. Believe that they could take the land. But instead of

feeding their faith, they made the mistake of feeding their fears. That negative report got back to the camp and before long, all two million people were discouraged. A phrase, say Moses,

let's go back to Egypt. Let's just go back to be enslaved. That's how powerful what we're feeding

is. If you feed the wrong things, it will keep you out of your promise land. There were two other spies, Joshua and Caleb, they said, we are well able. Let us go when it wants and take the land. They fed their faith not their fears. They were the only two out of all those people that ever went into the promised land. Are you feeding the grasshopper? Are you feeding the mighty hero? They're both in you. You determine which one is going to show up by what you're feeding,

knowing that you are well able, knowing that God be in four years more than what's against you?

“Or are you feeding the grasshopper? We can't get the compact center,”

and that other companies too big. I can't beat this cancer, Joel. The doctor said it's permanent.

I'll never get out of that. Everybody in my family struggles. Do yourself a favor, change your diet.

Quit feeding the grasshopper, the doubt, the worry, the fear, and start feeding your faith. Friends, you have an assignment. There's a calling on your life. Something God has destined you to accomplish. He didn't put you here to just take up space. Hopefully make it through. He created you to leave your mark, to set a new standard for your family. He's put greatness in you. There's a mighty hero waiting to emerge. Here's the key. The enemy would love to deceive us

into feeding the grasshopper, living weak, intimidated, thinking you can't do it. No more eating junk food. You can't soar like the eagles if you're eating dead things. Stay on this new diet, faith food. Feed your hope. Feed your confidence. Feed the promises God put in your heart.

“If you'll do this, I believe in declare forces that have held you back or be in broken right now.”

Like Gideon, the mighty heroes about to come out. Like Joshua and Caleb, you're going to go into your promise land and become all that you were created to be in Jesus' name. And if you receive it, can you say amen? I'd like to give you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your lie. Would you pray with me? Just say, Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I make you my Lord and Savior. If you pray that simple prayer, we believe you got born again.

We love to send you some free information on your new walk with the Lord. You can text the number on the screen or go to the website, but I hope you'll get into a good Bible-based church and keep

God first place. We all go through disappointments and things that are not fair, but God sees

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“If you've never been to Lakewood, we have a great opportunity to come. We call it homecoming weekend.”

We'd love to meet you and your family and you can see the building and attend one of the

services. It's a great time to be a part of the Lakewood family. Looking forward to seeing you at homecoming weekend.