You Have A Defender | Joel Osteen
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Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. If you enjoyed today's message, why don't you be a blessing and share it with a friend? We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in your life. Well, God bless you. It's a joy to come into your homes. And if you're ever in our area, please stop by. Be a part of one of our services. I promise you, we'll make you feel right at home. I like to start with something funny and heard about this man named Bubba. He lived way out in the country and there was this stray dog that kept showing up at his house. His wife said, Bubba, you have to put the dog in the truck and take him out to the woods and drop him off.
That's where he lives. Bubba drove him a mile down the road, dropped him off. When he came back home, the dog was walking up the driveway, practically beat him back. He did the same thing. It happened again. His wife said, Bubba, you have to take him way out. Drive him around in circles. Get him all mixed up. Bubba drove him an hour away, crisscrossed country roads he'd never driven down before and dropped the dog off. Two hours later, Bubba called his wife from the truck and said, did that dog make it back home? She said, yeah, here he comes walking up. He said, do me a favor, put him on the line. I need directions. I need directions. Say it 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 taught 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 you have a defender. We all have people that come against us, make negative comments, trying to discredit us or belittle us. Human nature is to get in there and try to straighten them out, prove to them how they're wrong. We think we have to defend ourselves. After all, that's our reputation. But the problem with this approach is as soon as you get one person straightened out, three more will pop up. There will always be somebody that's against you, somebody that's trying to make you look bad.
If you're constantly trying to defend yourself, you'll get distracted fighting battles that you were never supposed to fight. It's easy to get baited into conflict thinking. Did you see what they said about me on social media? I'm gonna show them who they're messing with Do you know how much energy it takes to try to pay somebody back? Or to try to prove to them that you really are a nice person You are spending emotional energy that you need for your dreams for your goals Here's the key. You don't have to defend yourself. God said he will defend you. He will protect your reputation. Quit worrying about the chatter, the negative comments. Those are all distractions. That's the enemy trying to bait you off course so you'll waste your time and energy involved in battles that don't matter.
well, Joel, I'm upset because I'm a good person. What they're saying about me is not true. Doesn't matter how good you are, how loving, kind, upstanding, somebody's not going to like you. Somebody's going to try to discredit you. It happened with Jesus. When he was on this earth, he went around healing the sick. lifting the fallen, encouraging those that were down. He did nothing but good, but he was falsely accused. He was misunderstood. How did he defend himself? How did he protect his reputation? says in first Peter, even though he had never sinned or done any wrong, he did not retaliate when he was insulted. When he suffered, he didn't threaten to get even. He left his case in the hands of God. I wonder how much more peace you would have, how much more you would enjoy your life if you would start leaving your cases in the hands of God.
We spend too much time trying to defend ourselves, trying to prove to people who we are, worried about what they think. Why don't you put your reputation in God's hands? I can assure you, God can vindicate you better than you can vindicate yourself.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–6:19
2
What does it mean to have a defender in your life?
6:19–8:53
3
How can negative comments affect your emotional energy?
8:53–14:09
4
What lessons can we learn from Jesus about defending ourselves?
14:09–24:10
5
How did Mordecai demonstrate faith in his defender?
24:10–30:23