A Healthy Soul | Joel Osteen

God bless you, it's great to be with you today. And I hope you'll stay connected with us during the week through our daily podcast, our YouTube channel, social media, and you can come visit us here in person. It'd love to have you be a part of one of our services. I'd like to start with something funny, and I heard about this elderly gentleman. He'd had a hearing problem his whole life, and he went to the doctor and was fitted with this new state-of-the-art hearing aid where he could hear 100%. A few months later, he went back for a checkup. The doctor said, "Wow, your hearing is perfect. "I bet your family is so excited that you can hear again." He said, "No, I haven't told my family. "I just sit around and listen to the different conversations, "and I've changed my will three times." (audience laughing) Saying 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 wanna talk to you today about a healthy soul. We spend a lot of time and energy taking care of our physical body, we try to eat right, exercise, get enough sleep, and that's all important. We wanna feel good, but we don't spend enough time

taking care of our soul. We don't realize how much our emotions, our attitudes, our thoughts are affecting us physically. The scripture says, "I wish above all things "that you succeed and be in good health, "even as your soul prospers." This links being healthy physically, having energy, vitality, to how healthy your soul is. If your soul is unhealthy, it's going to spill over to the physical. If you're living stressed, worried, bitter, guilty, angry, those negative emotions are not just affecting your relationships, your creativity, how productive you are, but they're weakening your immune system. Your cells are not fighting off sickness like they should. 90% of all doctors' visits to a primary care physician are stress-related. You can't sleep at night, your food won't digest, you have ulcers. Much of that goes back to your soul not being healthy. You're worried night and day about that child, stressed over your finances, holding a grudge over that person that did you wrong. You don't realize you're making yourself sick. All that negative energy is poisoning your soul. And because your soul is unhealthy, it starts to spill over to the physical. You wake up in the morning, you wonder why you're still tired, why you don't have any energy.

It's because your mind worked all night. Your body laid there, but your mind wrestled, wondered, reasoned. What if, how could I, what may happen? You're trying to control things that you can't control. Trying to fix people that you can't fix. Worried about a problem that may not even happen or even bitter over something that took place 20 years ago. You can't take in all those toxins and not be poisoned. You can't let anger, unforgiveness, guilt, worry, dominate your life. If you'll get your soul healthy, you'll get your energy back. If you'll quit letting the negative emotions rule, then many of these physical ailments will go. It's all interconnected. In my late 20s, I developed this redness between my eyes and all around the top of my face. I made my skin flake and it's very itchy. It looked really bad. I tried creams, lotions, different face soaps. Nothing improved. I went to a couple of dermatologists. They gave me prescriptions that would help control it. That lessened it, but it never went away. A couple of years later, I went to a different doctor. He said, Joel, I know exactly what's causing it. It's stress. You're living too uptight. You have too much pressure.

I can give you more medicine, but until you change, until you get more balance, it's not going to go away. I was young, had all this energy. I thought I'm not under stress, I'm fine. Sometimes we can't see what's poisoning us. We have a blind spot. We can look in the mirror and see things. I have this redness, I have this blemish. We can see the physical, but we can't see what's happening on the inside. Your inner life is more important than your outer life. What's going on in your emotions? How you feel about yourself? What you're allowing to play in your mind? That's affecting what's happening on the outside. I thought, just fix the outside. Just clear this redness up, but it kept coming back. One day, I got honest with myself. I looked at all that I was doing. I was married to Victoria. That was incredibly relaxing. (audience laughing) I'm not even a joke about that one. We had a two-year-old son, another baby coming. We had moved out of our townhouse and were remodeling this older home. I had traveled several weeks to India with my father, was working long hours at the church, trying to get the TV ministry going. I didn't realize it, but I was living

under all this pressure, this stress. Much of it, I was putting on myself. I like to go fast, work hard, accomplish goals. But here's the key. You are responsible for your own emotional well-being. It's not up to anyone else. Your spouse can't keep your soul well. Your doctor, your friends, your parents, nobody has control over your soul except you. In one sense, not even God. He's not gonna make you forgive, make you not worry, force you to not live angry, offended, guilty. These are choices that we have to make. My question today is, is your soul healthy? We can see your looks, your talent, your personality, but what's going on inside? Are you at peace? Are you turning things over to God? Do you know that you're valuable? Is your heart free from bitterness, offense? Or is there worry, guilt, insecurity, self-pity? Look what I've been through, Joel. I'm angry. Yes, I have this chip on my shoulder 'cause these people did me wrong. That's poisoning your soul. Like with me, you may not be able to see it. Sometimes we've gotten used to these negative emotions. We've adapted. We wonder why we don't have energy,

why we can't sleep, why we're not creative. You have to get honest with yourself. You have to look inside and ask, why am I so jealous? Why can't I celebrate my friend's success? Why am I so easily offended? Why do I argue so much? Or why don't I feel good about myself? Lady told me how every time she and her husband had the smallest disagreement, she would blow up, get loud and come unglued. Be this huge ordeal. The man couldn't understand why she was so on edge and so easily angered. Over time, it had become too much. Their relationship was falling apart. As a teenager, she had been in a relationship with a young man that really hurt her. He suddenly broke up and said some things that were very derogatory. She felt rejected like she wasn't good enough. And instead of letting it go, knowing that God is our vindicator, that what people say don't determine who we are, she held onto that offense. It was poisoning her spirit, making her insecure and easily offended. And when you don't let go of things, they never heal. Any time her husband didn't agree with her, it was like touching a bruise. She would push back and lash out.

One day, she did what we all have to do. She got honest with herself. She looked inside. She said, "Why am I like this? "Why do I get upset so easily?" She realized it was from the pains of the past, from things that weren't fair that she hadn't dealt with. She made the decision to get the unforgiveness out, the bitterness, the resentment, the insecurity. That was the turning point. As she got her soul healthy, her relationships became healthy. Today, she and her husband are happy and enjoy in life. What am I saying? Pay attention to your inner life. It's easy to adapt to things that are poisoning us, and we don't realize it. We end up going through life, just treating the symptoms. If we would get to the root cause and get our soul healthy, then God said we will have good health and good success. Now, question we need to ask ourselves, is am I making myself sick? Am I sabotaging my relationships? Am I limiting my potential, holding myself down because my soul is unhealthy? Hebrew says, make sure that no root of bitterness springs forth and defiles you. It describes bitterness as a root. A root is underground, you can't see it. But if you let it grow, it's going to spring forth. A bitter root will produce bitter fruit. What's on the inside is going to show up on the outside.

We try to fix the fruit. We deal with the symptom, but the fruit is not the real problem. We need to go to the source and get rid of the root. Proverbs says, guard your heart. One of our main responsibilities is to keep the toxins out. Keep those roots from springing up. Offences are going to come. Cranky co-workers will come. Disappointments, hurts, jealousy, anger. You can't stop it from coming. The question is, are you going to let it take root? Get down in your spirit, contaminate your joy, take your energy, open you up to sickness, trouble to feed. No, keep your soul healthy. You have to be an active gardener. Pull up those roots. Pull up that unforgiveness. Pull up that insecurity. Pull up that guilt and condemnation. Don't let your soul become poison. If your soul is bitter, your life will be bitter. Why are you letting that worry take root? Lose and sleep, living stressed out. You've seen God take care of you in the past. You've seen him make ways where you didn't see a way. You've seen him provide in a pandemic. Give you peace in a storm, favor in the fire. He did it back then. He's going to do it again.

He didn't bring you this far to leave you where you are. Or why are you holding onto that guilt, beating yourself up over past mistakes? God has forgiven you. Why don't you forgive yourself? God doesn't remember it. Why don't you quit remembering it? God has moved on. Why don't you move on? Why are you jealous over that coworker that got the promotion? That friend that you think is more talented, more beautiful, more successful. Now you're finding fault, critical, feeling bad about who you are. God blessing them doesn't mean he's not going to bless you. God didn't run out of favor. He didn't forget about you. He has things in your future better than you've imagined. But don't let that jealous root keep you poisoned. Pull it up. Keep your heart pure. Celebrate their success. When your soul is healthy, God can trust you with more. Or why are you still upset over something that happened 20 years ago? Why are you still holding a grudge over who hurt you, who walked away, what you didn't get? That didn't stop God's plan. What they did is not going to keep you from your purpose.

God knew it was going to happen. And he already had a plan to bring out better, to give you beauty for the ashes, joy for the morning. Pull up that root of disappointment, resentment, self-pity. That's poisoning your future. Don't just deal with the symptom. Get to the root. Learn to live from a place of faith. God, I trust you. I know you're in control. You're fighting my battles. You've ordered my steps. You have a good plan for my life. Lord, I thank You that You're my provider, my protector, my way maker, my deliverer, my vindicator. God, my life is in your hands. That's how You keep Your soul healthy. On a regular basis, You have to pull up the roots. Get rid of the toxins. Guard your heart. There was this man that owned all these horses. And he was out riding one day. This large tree branch had fallen across the trail. As his horse went to jump over it, it didn't quite clear. And the horse scraped its back leg very badly. Men took him to the barn, cleaned up the womb, put some antiseptic on it, wrapped it up. A couple of weeks went by, and he noticed the horse was still bothered by it. He had the veterinarian come out, take a look at it.

He put the horse on antibiotics. He'd begin to improve, but a few months later, the infection came back. The horse could barely walk. They started another round of antibiotics, and like the first time, the leg got better. The wound began to heal, but three months later, the wound was reinfected. This happened again and again. The owner finally decided to take the horse to the clinic, find out what was going on. They put the horse under anesthesia, opened up the wound. They found this huge piece of wood about the size of a golf ball buried way up in the horse's leg. Every time he went off the medicine, the infection would keep coming back. They were treating the symptoms, but until they went deeper, until they got to the root of the problem, it wasn't going to go away. We treat symptoms because we can see the symptoms. It's obvious. Have red between my eyes. I need some medicine. We have to go deeper. We have to deal with the root. I can't get rid of this headache because I'm so worried. I'm so stressed, I'm making myself sick. I can't get along in this relationship because I'm insecure. I don't feel valuable.

Or I'm not reaching my potential because I'm mad at myself. I'm living in regrets, thinking about where I should be. the fruit is going to be better. And the good news is you control what's in your soul. You can't control what happened to you, what someone did, but you can control how you respond, what you choose to dwell on. Is there some infection, some toxins that are keeping you from getting well? Some bitterness, worry, guilt that's keeping you stuck where you can't flourish. Sometimes we can't get along in a relationship because we have a root of pride. We think we're right all the time. We won't listen to others' opinion. We never apologize. We're hard to get along with, contentious. That's one of those toxins that we can't always see. You have to look deeper. It's under the surface. When your soul is healthy, you're loving and kind. You see the best in others. You're the peacemakers, you let them be right. David said in Psalm 119, God keep me from lying to myself. That's one of the most powerful prayers we could ever pray. That takes as much faith as God give me the compact center. God help me to be honest with myself. Help me to look in the mirror and see where my soul is not healthy, where I need to change, where I need to forgive, be more kind and understanding,

where I need to quit letting people take my joy, where I need to get over what happened three years ago, or where I need to quit beating myself up to see myself as valuable, attractive, a masterpiece. My prayer is God, don't let us go through life lying to ourselves. It's one thing to be dishonest with others. That's certainly not good, but don't lie to yourself. Don't sweep things under the rug. Make excuses for why you're angry, bitter, jealous, hard to get along with. There's no fault in being there, but there is a fault in staying there. It may be your explanation, but don't let it be your excuse. Well, Joel, I have this ongoing injury because I scrape my leg. I'll get the wood out and move forward with your life. Well, I'm bitter because my loved one died. No, pull up that root and go out and do great things. Make them proud by leaving your mark. I'm stressed 'cause my finances, my children, this pressure at work, you can't control all that. Don't let circumstances be an excuse to live worried, on edge, short with your children. Get back in balance, get your soul healthy. If you'll look inside and deal with things that are stealing your peace, taking your joy, causing you to compromise, as your soul gets healthier, physical healing will come.

Your gifts will come out in greater ways. Your relationships will be better. New doors will open. It's interesting that David prayed that prayer about not lying to himself. Maybe it stemmed from the time he had an affair with Bathsheba. His men were out fighting a battle. He stayed back in the palace. One night, he went on top of the roof to get some fresh air. He saw this beautiful girl taking a bath, instead of walking away, not going there. He went and got the binoculars. She was a married woman, but David said for her, she ended up getting pregnant. David tried to cover it up. He had her husband come home from the battle, but he was so loyal, he wouldn't sleep with her, while his colleagues were out fighting. David told the commanders to put him out on the front lines, where he wouldn't be protected. He was killed in the battle. David took Bathsheba as his wife. He thought everything was fine. He covered it up. No big deal. But the problem with burying negative toxins is they never stay buried. Those toxins will eventually come back up and begin to poison your life. For the next year, while David was lying to himself, pretending that nothing was wrong,

his health began to deteriorate. He was sick, weakly. Here he had been strong his whole life. He was a warrior, but now his soul was unhealthy. The guilt, the shame, the compromise started to affect his physical body. He finally got honest and admitted his mistake. He said, "God, create in me a clean heart. God forgive me of my wrongs." He was saying, "God, I'm not hiding anymore. I'm going to deal with these toxins that are poisoned in my soul." The beauty of our God is his merciful. He'll forgive you. God restored David. He got his health back, his joy back, and he went on to fulfill his purpose. But until you get honest with yourself, deal with what you know is holding you back, you're going to be limited. your body is going to get healthier. You're going to have more energy, more vitality. David is the one that wrote in Psalm 23, "He restores my soul." Your soul may feel broken today, wounded, hurt from mistakes you've made, or from what someone else did, but your soul can be restored. When you get honest with yourself, you release what you need to release,

guilt, worry, anger, jealousy, then healing will come. Joy will come, peace will come. I believe even now, God is restoring souls. Emotional healing is taking place. Healing from the hurts, the pains of the past, what wasn't fair, the loss, the heartache. Healing from self-inflicted wounds, mistakes we've made, regrets we're living in. Healing from tormenting spirits, from mental illness, from anxiety, from depression. God is doing a new thing. Forces that have held you back are being broken. Offer your emotions, your attitudes, your thoughts. You are not going to live wounded. He's restoring your soul. Your latter days are going to be better than your former days. You're about to step into a new level of joy, peace, fulfillment, abundance, victory. Don't believe those lies that it's too late. You've made too many mistakes. You've been through too much. You know the best part of your life is still in front of you. We knew a man growing up that loved to play the piano. He was very talented, but he suffered from rheumatoid arthritis over the years that kept getting worse and worse and got to the point where his fingers were all been over like he was making a fist. He couldn't open them anymore.

All of his joints were swollen. Of course, he couldn't play the piano. He was so discouraged. He used to play for hours, and now that dream was gone. He attended Lakewood. And one day he heard my father speaking about forgiveness and how important it is that we don't hold on to these hurts and how that can poison our life. This man felt convicted. He had held something against his parents for years. He felt like they had done him wrong. And instead of letting it go and show in mercy, he let that bitterness take root. He wouldn't speak to them, shut them out of his life. He thought that was the best way to handle it. He didn't realize that was poisoning his soul. When your soul is unhealthy, it can affect you physically. That day, he made a decision that he was going to forgive his parents, make things right. Went to their house, his mother was weeping, his father hugged him so happy. It was an answer to their prayer. This man told how he felt this heaviness, this weight left off of him. He had gotten used to it. He forgot what it was like to be free and not have that bitterness in the back of his mind always poisoning his joy. It was great that his parents wanted reconciliation. They were happy to have their son back.

But there may be times where the people that did you wrong don't want to reconcile. They don't want to have you back in their life. That's OK. You're not forgiving for their sake. You're forgiving for your sake. Forgive so you can keep your own soul healthy. Let it go so that negative root doesn't spring up and contaminate the rest of your life. They hurt you once. Don't let them continue to hurt you by holding on to it. Let God be your vindicator. He sees what wasn't fair. He knows who did you wrong. And he knows how to make it up to you. He knows how to bring you out better than you were before. Over the next few months, much to this man's surprise, his fingers, little by little, started opening up. The swelling started going down. He got better and better. A year later, he could sit down and play the piano like he'd never missed a beat. It's amazing what will happen when our soul gets healthy. When we get free from the bitterness, the guilt, the stress, the worry, that's when healing is released. That's when you'll see good success, the blessing of God in new ways. And I realize not all sickness is from a lack of emotional well-being,

but any time you face sickness, you're gonna have to be strong in your emotions, in what you allow to play in your mind. When my mother was sick with cancer, she wrote letters to people that she thought she may have offended, asking them to forgive her. She was making sure that there were no toxins in her spirit, that nothing she was doing was poisoning her emotional well-being. She knew the emotional will affect the physical. She even watched cartoons. The scripture says, "A merry heart is like taking medicine. "Be enjoyable brings healing, "but a broken spirit dries up the bones." If you go around discouraged and defeated man, this medical report's so bad, I don't think I'm ever going to get well, you're helping that sickness, you're giving it life. But when you're cheerful, when you know God's in control, when you're thanking Him, when you could be complaining, you're laughing when you could be crying, that's sending healing to your body. And I believe many of these diseases would go away, headaches, high blood pressure, digestive problems, if we'd start taking our medicine, laughing, be joyful, good in nature. We focus a lot on the outside, but today I'm asking you to look inside. He's your soul healthy. How are you spending the day positive, hopeful, grateful,

or are you weighed down with stress, burdens, worry? How can you be creative when you're using so much energy for the negative? How can your immune system work properly when you have bitterness, anger, regrets? How can you be the mother, the father, the leader you'll call to be when you have these toxins poisoning your spirit? It's time to get honest with yourself. Don't go another year letting something you have control over, hold you back, get your soul healthy, pull up those bitter roots, start turning things over to God, release the worry, the hurt, what didn't work out, keep your heart pure. If you'll do this, I believe and declare, because your soul is healthy, you're gonna have good success and good health, new doors are about to open, opportunity is gonna find you, healing is coming, strength, energy, vitality, the fullness of your destiny in Jesus' name, and if you receive it, can you say amen today? I'd like to give you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life. 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 prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again.

We'd 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.