Tongue Trouble | Joel Osteen

the week through our daily podcast, our YouTube channel, social media, and you can come visit in person. It'd love to have you be a part of one of our services. I like to start with something funny, and I heard about this man. He was out walking on the beach. God said, "Son, you've been so faithful. I'm going to grant you one special wish." He was so excited. He said, "God, I've always wanted to go to Hawaii, but I'm afraid to fly." So my wish is that you'd build me a bridge across the ocean. God said, "Son, that's impossible. Think of the logistics of that. Now take a moment and wish again." The man thought about it and said, "Okay, God, I've been married four times. All my ex-wives say I'm so insensitive." So my wish is that I would be able to understand a woman. I want to know why they think like they think, why they feel like they feel. There was a long pause. God said, "Do you want two lanes or four lanes on that bridge?" 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 tongue trouble. One thing that can keep us from our destiny is our mouth. If we go around saying negative things about ourselves, our family, our future, it will limit how high we can go. Things like, "I'll never be successful. I'm not that talented. I can't break this addiction. It's flu season. I'll probably get it. I've been through so much in the past. I don't think I'll ever be happy again." Everything you're saying, you're giving the right to come to pass. You are prophesying your future. It's just like you're inviting that into your life. Before you say it, make sure you want it. I'm so lonely. I don't think I'll ever meet the right person. You just invited more loneliness. Imagine you're sending an invitation. Loneliness, please come. I'm so old, so wrinkled. I'll never get back in shape. You're inviting more wrinkles, more fatigue, sending that invitation. Oldness, you're welcome here. Well, it's going to be a rough year, man, with inflation, trouble at work I'm having, raising these kids. You're inviting difficulties, hardships. Do yourself a favor, change your invitations, start sending out some new words. It's going to be a great year. I'm surrounded by favor. I'm strong in the Lord. Goodness and mercy are chasing me. Get your words going in the right direction. You can't talk negative and have a positive life. You can't talk defeat and live victoriously. You can't talk lack and have abundance. Your words are setting the course for your future. If you want to know what you're going to be like five years from now, listen to what you're saying about yourself. I can't accomplish my dreams. I don't have the connections. I'll never

get well. The medical report's not improving. I can't break this addiction. My children will never get back on the right course. You know what's limiting you? Tongue trouble. If you have a negative mouth, you're going to have a negative life. Quit speaking defeat over your future. I know people that are always saying negative things about themselves, what they don't like, what they wish they had. I played basketball with the young men at the YMCA for many years. When I would see him, I would ask how he was doing just nonchalantly. He'd always say, "Oh, I'm fine. I'm just getting old and fat and bald." I must have heard him say that hundreds of times, every time I saw him. We'd always laugh and not think much about it. Well, I hadn't seen him in 20 years. I ran into him at the mall. I didn't recognize it. He said, "Don't you remember me? I'm so-and-so. We used to play basketball together. I couldn't believe it. He was old and fat and bald. He did not look like the same person. He had prophesied it all those years. Be careful what you're inviting in. I don't know about you, but I am good-looking. I have plenty of hair. I am healthy. I am strong. I am vibrant. My mind is full of wisdom. My youth is being renewed like the eagles. Prophecy of victory over your life. You're going to talk about yourself. Talk about the way you want to be. Speak hell. Speak vitality. Speak abundance. Most of us would never go up to another person and criticize them. You wouldn't say to that person sitting next to you, man. That hairstyle is in the past. Your personality is kind of dull. What were you thinking when you put those clothes on? We may think some things, but we would never say it. We're not gonna put them down. We're not gonna make them feel bad. Sometimes we're better to other people than we are to ourselves. Why are you criticizing yourselves? Why are you talking so badly about you? Why do you think it's okay to put yourself down, to find fall, verbalize all the things you don't like? Why don't you be as respectful to you as you are to others?

Let me encourage you. Don't say another negative word about yourselves. You may think it, but don't verbalize it. If you don't speak it out, that thought will die stillborn. You won't give it light. It won't become a reality. But when you go around putting yourself down, I'm an attractive, I'm not that talented. I don't have a good personality. That's pushing down all the good things God put in you. That will keep your personality from blossoming, your beauty from shining, your gifts from flourishing. And the scripture says, the tongue can nourish and the tongue can kill. Don't let the tongue kill your dreams. Kill your personality, kill your self-esteem, kill your value, let it nourish your life. You should be your best encourager. You should compliment yourself more than you compliment anyone else. You should speak better of you than you do others. I don't mean be selfish or arrogant, but if you're not positive towards your self, you're not going to be your best for the other people God put in your life. The scripture says, love your neighbor as you love yourself. You can't love others the way you're supposed to if you don't first love yourself. It's not humility to put yourself down,

to speak less of you, to say things that diminish, devalue, lessen who you are. I know some people that are always complimenting others. Talking about how beautiful their friend is what a great personality their brother has and how talented their co-worker is, and that's good. We should be generous with our compliments, but when was the last time you complimented yourself? You thought about how great you are, how talented you are, how kind you are. You don't have to do this in front of others, but in your private time. Lord, thank you that I'm gifted, I'm talented, I'm smart, I'm attractive, I'm favored, I'm anointed, I have a good personality that I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. In the scripture, God told Jeremiah that he was going to become a prophet, that he would speak to nations, that he would do something great with his life. But Jeremiah was very young. He didn't have the training, the experience. No one in his family had done anything significant. All these doubts and insecurities started to fill his mind. He said, God, I can't speak to nations, I'm too young. I wouldn't know what to say. You must have the wrong person. God entered back, Jeremiah, say not that you're too young. He didn't say, don't think you're too young, don't believe you're too young.

He said, don't speak it out. Don't say negative things about yourself, Jeremiah. God was giving us this principle. Don't give life to those doubts, those weaknesses, those insecurities. God knew if Jeremiah would have gone around saying, I'm too young, I'm not tall enough, I'm not attractive enough, I don't have the experience. If he would have been negative toward himself, he would have missed his destiny. When you start to criticize yourself, tell God what you're not, what you don't have, what you can't do. God says to you what he said to Jeremiah, say not. Zip that up, quit telling me what you think you're lacking. Quit talking about how you're at a disadvantage. Friends, when God created you, He put in you everything you need to fulfill your destiny. He gave you the right looks, the right height, the right personality, you have the gifts, the confidence, the wisdom, the favor. Now say not that you're too young. Say not that you're not attractive enough. Say not that you don't have the talent. Say not that you come from the wrong family. Zip that up and say what God says about you. I am well able, I'm a masterpiece, I'm gifted, I'm valuable, I'm attractive, I'm competent, I'm creative, I can do what God's called me to do.

Don't go through life cursing your future. You have enough people in life against you, don't be against yourself. The enemy would love for you to go around feeling wrong on the inside. Like you're not up to par, you're at a disadvantage. And too many people swallow that bait, go around speaking defeat. I don't have a good personality, I'm overweight, I don't like my nose, I wish I had more here, less there. No, you've been made in the image of God. When you criticize yourself, you're criticizing God's creation. You're saying God, you didn't do a very good job on me. No, God wasn't having an off day when He created you. He calls you a masterpiece. He put His DNA in you. You have royal blood flowing through your veins. Don't let tongue trouble keep you from becoming who you were created to be. Proverbs says we are snared by the words of our mouth. Snared means trapped. It doesn't say we're trapped by our thinking, trapped by our circumstances, trapped by the giant that's in front of us. What traps us is what we're saying. Negative thoughts come to us all. We can't stop them from coming. The mistake we make is when we verbalize them. When we start speaking defeat, like,

and how big this obstacle is. Listen, I don't see how it can turn around. You just gave life to the negative. If you continue to speak it, it will become a reality. The key is when these negative thoughts come, don't verbalize them. Don't speak them out and those thoughts will die stillborn. They need words to come to life. When David went out to face Goliath, you can imagine the thoughts that came to his mind. He's too big. He's twice my size. I don't have any armor. This is impossible. All these negative thoughts bombarded his mind. One thing that made David a champion is he didn't speak them out. If he would have had tongue trouble, we wouldn't be talking about him. I know negative thoughts are going to come, but the scripture says, "Put a watch over your mouth." When you're in difficulties up against giants, things that look impossible, that's when it's easy to start talking to feet. How's it not going to work out? And the pandemic set me back. Inflation, gas prices. I don't see how I'm going to get ahead. Zip that up.

God's on the throne. He makes streams in the desert. He said, "In famine, the righteous will have more than enough." There's not a giant in your path that he can't bring down. He's already armed you with strength for every battle. One of the best ways to change negative thinking is to start talking positive. And every thought is telling you it's too big. You don't have a chance. It's been too long. Your report should be, "I am well able. I will defeat this giant. I will accomplish my dreams. God being for me is more than the world being against me." When you go around speaking faith, speaking victory, speaking hell, speaking abundance, negative thoughts cannot stay. Your words will override what you're thinking. But the enemy would love for us to verbalize the negative. He knows when you speak it, he can bring it to pass. But when you turn it around and speak victory in the face of defeat, health in the face of sickness, abundance in the face of lack, angels go to work, forces of darkness are broken, favor is released. God will do what only he can do. This is what David did. He looked at Goliath, this giant twice his size, and said, "You come against me with a sword and a shield, but I come against you in the name of the Lord God of Israel.

This day I will defeat you and feed your head to the birds of the air." In the midst of all those negative thoughts, negative circumstances, he could have verbalized doubt. Uncertainty, this is not possible. But David knew this secret. He spoke victory. He said, "I am well able. I will defeat you. I will fulfill my destiny." In the face of difficulties, that's what needs to be coming out of our mouth. I will overcome this sickness. I will break this addiction. I will see my family restored. I will have a bountiful year when we were trying to acquire this place, the former compact center. There were many times I would wake up in the middle of the night and thoughts would say, "You're never going to get it." That company that's against you is way too big. The city's never going to let a church have it. Besides, Joe, you don't have the funds, the experience, the influence. We can't stop negative things. them life. I learned from David, if I'm going to prophesy anything, I'm going to prophesy victory. See, the enemy doesn't know what you're thinking. He can't read your mind. He only knows what you're saying. What's coming out of your mouth is telling him what you believe. I felt doubt. I felt over my head like I was outnumbered, but I knew better than to let any of that come out of my mouth. If you can't say anything good, zip it up. Don't speak defeat over your life. Don't come into

agreement with the negative. Use your words to give life to your faith and not your doubt. When those negative thoughts came, they roared. It's never going to happen. The words that came out of my mouth were, "Lord, thank you that you're fighting our battles, that you're making ways where we don't see a way, that you're causing the right people to be for us, that you're open indoors, that no person can shut." It was a three-year battle God caused things to fall into place. Here we are today. I don't believe this would have happened with negative words. It's easy to talk about how big the problem is, but how about talking about how big our God is, how about prophesying victory, prophesying favor, prophesying abundance. Don't be snared by the words of your mouth. Don't let a negative report keep you from your destiny. There are dreams God will put in your heart that seem impossible. There will be giants on the way to your destiny that are too big for you. Now test that we all have to pass is what are we saying? It's not going to work out. These giants are too big, sickness too great, the addiction too powerful, or are we going to say like David, "I will defeat them. I will get healthy. I will break this addiction. I will set new standards for my family." Don't be snared by your words. Be propelled by your words. The key is to not say what you feel, not say what you think, not say what it looks like, say what God says about you. Pay attention to what you're speaking. Are you suffering from tongue trouble? Are you talking about the problem, what you don't have, what's not going to work out? Your words are setting the direction for your life. Ask yourself, is what I'm about to say what I want to come into my life? I don't see how I could ever get out of debt, zip that up. You don't want struggle and lack. That's inviting the wrong things. How about I will lend and not borrow. I live under the open windows of heaven. Father, thank you that my cup runs over. I don't know, man. It looks like this sickness will be the end of me. I'm not improving at all. Zip that up. That tongue trouble will keep you from your healing. Turn it around. Father, thank you that you're restoring health back into me. That I'm getting better every day. That with long life, you will satisfy me. Well, Joel, we tried to have a baby, but we weren't able to. I guess it wasn't meant to be. Zip that up. Father, you said in Psalms, you would make the barren woman a happy mother of children. So Lord, thank you that my baby is on the way. Before you see promises come to pass, there will always be these tests. Before you go into your promised land, there will be giants, things that look impossible. One way our faith is released is by what we're saying. If we're speaking negative, doubtful, it's going to limit what God will do. It's one of the best

things you can do. Speak faith when every thought is telling you, it's never going to work out. You've been through too much. You've seen your best days. You can complain. Talk about how bad it's been. Or you can say, Father, thank you that you have beauty for these ashes. Lord, I thank you what was meant for harm. You're turning to my advantage. That's what causes God to go to work. That's when you'll defeat giants. See, compact sinners beat the cancer. The right people suddenly show up. In the book of Numbers, Moses had led the Israelites out of slavery and through the desert. Now they were camped next door to the promised land. He sent 12 men in to spy out the land. God had already promised he would give them the victory. After 40 days, 10 of those men came back with a negative report. They said, Moses, we don't have a chance. There are giants in the land. The people are too big. We'll never defeat them. There were two other spies, Joshua and Caleb. They saw the same giants, same opposition, but they had a different report. They said, and take this land. There were two reports, one of victory, one of defeat. What's interesting is the negative report spread like wildfire throughout the rest of the camp. Before long, all two million of the Israelites were afraid, intimidated, they started complaining. They said, "Moses, why did you bring us out here to die? We're never going to make it in." Let's just go back to Egypt. Let's go back to being slaves. Here God had told them that they were going to go into this land, that they were going to defeat these enemies, live in houses that they didn't build, eat from vineyards that they didn't plant. They had this great report of victory in this other report. You're not going to make it. There's no way. Not how big the people are. They could have come into agreement with Joshua and Caleb. Yes, let's go in. We know we are well able.

Instead they let the doubt, the fear, the negativity dominate their thoughts. They made the mistake of speaking it. We'll never get in. We're going to die out here in the desert. God answered them back something very significant in Numbers 14. He said, "I will do exactly what I heard you say. You will all die here in the desert." They didn't realize they were prophesying their future. Unfortunately, they prophesied defeat. If God were to do exactly what you're saying, would it be what you want? Are you speaking victory, speaking health, speaking abundance, freedom, new levels? Or are you talking about how big the giants are and what you've been through in the past, how you can't accomplish your dreams, can't get out of that dysfunction? No, don't be like the 10 spies. Be like the two. The majority are always going to complain, talk about the economy, what they can't do. You have to be in the minority. Be one of the 20 percent that say, "Yes, there's inflation, prices are high, but I know I'm going to have a bountiful year. God is supplying all of my needs." Yes, there are some giants in my land dealing with this sickness, this addiction, this trouble at work, but I know I am well able. Breakthroughs are coming. Favor is on the way. What God started in my life, He will finish. Don't let tongue trouble keep you out of your promised land. In the 1990s, there was a star baseball player for the Houston Astros named Jose Lima. He was one of the best pitchers in the league. One year, he won 20 games. His future looked very bright.

But in March of 2000, the Astros moved from the Astrodome into their new ballpark downtown. The fence in left field was much closer than in the Astrodome. Of course, that favors the hitters and makes it more difficult on the pitchers. The first time Jose went to the new ballpark, he stood on the pitcher's mound and looked around. When he saw how close the outfield fence was, the first words out of his mouth were, "I'll never be able to pitch in here." The fence is way too close. The next season, he went from a 20-game winner to a 16-game loser. He prophesied his future. I wonder how many times we've been snared by the words of our mouth, "I'll never get in that college. I can't break this addiction. My husband will never change. I don't think I'll ever get out of debt. You have to zip that up. You're looking at it in the natural, but God is supernatural. Don't cancel out the blessing, the favor, the abundance, but speak and defeat. He's going to do what he hears you saying. In the scripture, have you ever heard of a man named Cether, a man named Gaddy, a man named Shafith? You've never heard of them. You know why? They were one of the 10 spies. They were called to be a history maker. They had seeds of greatness. Deep down, they knew they could take the land. But instead of overriding the fear, the doubt, the intimidation, like Joshua and Caleb's speaking faith and speaking victory, they chose to speak defeat. They chose to verbalize the negative to talk about how it could never happen.

They didn't know that God was listening to what they were saying, that he was going to do exactly what they said. My challenge, don't be a Cether. Don't be a Gaddy. Don't be a Shafith. Be a Joshua. Be a Caitlin. They said they would go into the Promised Land and they were the only God did exactly what they said. Now don't go around talking to feet about the problem, how impossible it is, have a Joshua spirit. Learn to speak victory. You are prophesying your future, prophesy healing, prophesy abundance, prophesy new levels. God is listening. What he's hearing you say, he's going to do. Father, thank you, this is going to be a bountiful year. God says, angels, did you hear that? Go to work. Bring some good brights, bring abundance, bring increase. Lord, thank you that as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Thank you that my children will be mighty in the land. God says, all right, let me get that child back on course. Let me help break that addiction. Let me free them from that dysfunction. Father, thank you that I'm healed, that I'm whole, that this sickness is not how my story ends. God says, all right, let me send healing. Restoration, let me do what medicine cannot do.

Is tongue trouble keeping you from your destiny? Are your words helping you or are your words hindering you? Pay attention to what you're saying. Don't let negative words keep you wondering in the desert. The promised land belongs to you. If you'll put a watch over your mouth, zip up the negative, only speak positive, faith-filled words. I believe and declare, like Joshua and Caleb, you will go into your promised land. See favor that you've never seen. Like David, you will defeat giants that are much bigger. Negative situations are about to turn around, healing, breakthroughs, the right people, the fullness of your destiny in Jesus' name. If you receive it, can you say amen? 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 new information on your walk with the Lord. You can text the number or go to the website. I hope you'll get into a good Bible-based church and keep God first place. Datoran, I'll be right back to speak a blessing over you.