Conquering Fear and Discouragement

thank you thank you I appreciate it how are y'all doing tonight you're looking good it's so good to see each and every one of you I'm just so glad that you just have a hunger for the things of God amen I'm going to ask you a question before I pray him before I preach if you are here and you have been discouraged or if you have been battling fear in your life if you can and the ushers have already come by with the offering bucket I want you to stand up right now you're just you've been discouraged you're battling fear in your life because I'm going to declare something to you right off hand right off the bat oh that's a lot of people listen I battled discouraged we all have I battled fear in my life I even went through a period where I had panic attacks panic attacks are awful and if you are here tonight and you've been having anxiety attacks and panic attacks I just want to declare to each and every one of you that this is your night of freedom that you're gonna get free for free it fear you're gonna get free from discouragement you're gonna get free from those panic attacks and God is gonna do something in your life amen I want you to be encouraged right now before I even preaching God is gonna speak into your life and I want those around you why don't you touch someone that is standing and we're gonna pray together right now for each and every one father we just thank you that we can come into your presence father your mighty mighty powerful presence father and I think that there's healing in your presence there's deliverance in your presence the anointing is present father right now to drive out fear to drive out discouragement and even healing father God is just speaking to my spirit he's healing people in your bodies today if you're sick in your body stand up right now we're driving out sickness and that's what I meant to say we're driving up sickness I think I said that wrong we're driving out sickness in the name of Jesus the name that is above every name father I thank you that no weapon formed against them will ever prosper I think that that's the fear is leaving them that heaviness is broken over their lives in the name of Jesus I think you that tonight they will be greatly encouraged and father I think that they will not be dogged by this fear any longer in the name of Jesus I declare that they are free and that your restoring their joy in the mighty name of Jesus and everybody said amen amen and amen I don't want to wait to the end you're gonna get free right now and you can turn in your Bibles to Joshua 1 and we're gonna read in just a moment you know I I have been quoting Joshua one a lot this year because I've been meditating on it so much and how many of you know when when you meditate on the word over and over God keeps revealing things to you and that's why it's so important to read the same thing over and over to read you know when you're in school you study that things something over and over so it'll get into your spirit and faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing the Word of God and so I've just been meditating on Joshua 1 and the words that God said to him and and so I saw something in it that I hadn't seen before it and that's what I want to talk to you about tonight I saw that there are two enemies of faith that God mentioned and so my message tonight is conquering fear and discouragement and let's begin by reading in Joshua 1 verse 1 the Bible says that after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord the Lord said to Joshua son of nun Moses servant Moses my servant is dead now then you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I'm about to give them and I will give you every place where you set your foot as I promised Moses if you have your Bible underline that if you like to mark in your Bible I will give you every place where you set your foot as I promised Moses sometimes you have to set your foot on some things we'll talk about that later no one will be able to withstand you well no one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life I was with Moses so I will be with you I will never leave you nor forsake you now I'm going to stop there and say as God was with Moses he is with you as God was with you Joshua he is with you this promise belongs to you say it belongs to me he will never leave you or forsake you you can count on that truth in fact I would just claim this promise to no one or nothing will be able to stand against you all the days of your life sickness cannot stand against you amen tormenting spirits cannot stand against you discouragement cannot stand against you fear cannot stand against you because you bear the name that is above every name Amen so let's go on and read he said be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them that's the first time he says to be strong and courageous he says it again be strong and very courageous be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you do not turn from it to the right or to the left so that when you do it you will be successful wherever you go talking about success this is the best success book you'll ever have do the word obey the word and then you will make your way prosperous you will make your way successful have not I commanded you this is the third time be strong and courageous here it is do not be afraid do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go now I want us to think about Joshua for just a moment because here he was and he was mourning the death of Moses his leader his friend his mentor his father figure he had served Moses probably almost 40 years and so he was in this time of mourning and and I just want to say that some of you may be in a time of mourning in your own life because a loss of a friend a loss of a loved one the loss of finances the loss of a marriage I don't know what it is but you relate to Joshua because you're in this good morning but listen God is about to turn your mourning into dancing amen he is about to give you the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness but not only was Joshua mourning the loss of Moses he was also taking on this daunting and challenging task to take Moses place take the leadership and bring the Israelites into the promised land and when God told him that he said Joshua I want you to do this but I want to tell you from the go from the get go don't be afraid and don't be discouraged you see he said it three times to him have not I command you be strong and be very courageous and he said the reason you can be strong is because I'm gonna be with you everywhere you go it's like you got Papa Bear with you everywhere you go so these words you hear repeated all through the Bible in fact God said them to Joshua over and over when he would face battles in his life God said the same words to Moses he said Moses don't be afraid or discouraged when he faced Pharaoh in the army this is what God told Jehoshaphat do you remember in the Old Testament when he was facing this vast battle and God said listen Jehoshaphat I know you look outnumbered but don't be afraid and don't be discouraged for the battle is not yours it belongs to me amen it's the same thing that Jesus told Jay Iris before he raised his little daughter from the dead he said Jairus don't be afraid just believe and she will be healed it's the same thing that Jesus said to his disciples before he calmed the storm he said don't be afraid so I want you to see the pattern when God says don't be afraid or discouraged he's about to calm your storm when God says that to you he's about to resurrect some dead things in your life he's about to bring you into your promised land amen God wants you to know that he's with you and that he's fighting your battles for you but he also wants you to know that fear and discouragement will try to stop you their schemes their enemy that their schemes intact six of the enemy it's it's Satan's war plan Satan is trying to get you to give up that's his that's his main main job right there trying to get you to give up turn your back on Jesus he's trying to silence your voice now I want you to get this he's not only trying to get you to give up he wants to silence your voice but listen we need your voice your voice is needed your life is needed God has a plan and a purpose for you and and God has a great purpose on this earth for you so we have to be aware of the scutes of the enemy and then what do we do we keep moving forward into the Promised Land say keep moving forward see our promised land is the things that God has promised us the things that he has told us in his word things like healing forgiveness Redemption restoration reconciliation but then how many of you know sometimes God puts a dream in your heart he gives you a vision and you know it's from him see that is your promised land and so God doesn't want you to allow this fear and discouragement to stop you but it keep moving forward to your promised land you know God promised the Israelites he said I'm gonna give you a good land I'm gonna give you a land filled with milk and honey but they had to do something about it God wasn't just going to put it in their laps they had to cross the Jordan River they had to set their foot on the land to possess it themselves and so when Joshua stepped out in faith and and they came to the Jordan River that was the first obstacle that they faced but when they got to the Jordan River God parted that River and they walked right through it and do you know after that just like he'd done with Moses in the Red Sea and after that Joshua saw a miracle after miracle after miracle until they got into the Promised Land now I want to say this how does it relate to you when God puts a promise in your heart or a dream in your heart you have to set your foot on it so to speak and possess it by faith God's not gonna just drop it in your lap and say you know that dream I told you about here it is no God expects you to use your faith Amen God expects you to follow him footstep by footstep and so you have to set your foot on that promise on that dream on that vision and so to speak and walk it out amen you have to take that promise put a footprint of faith upon it amen because God says everywhere you set your foot that land I will give you you need to healing put your footprint of faith on the healing scripture same in every place you put your foot that will I give you I tell you what whatever's in your heart just go for it by faith they meant you have to take that promise you have to run with the vision run with a dream that God has given you and pushed through the fear because fear comes fears come to me in many forms in my life fear after I open that mail bomb fear that it would happen to me again one time I faced a battle with fear that that I didn't want to get on the airplane again because I was in a really bad and some bad turbulence and I didn't want to get on the airplane again but I knew I had to push through that and I got on it anyway and I was nervous for several months in an airplane but finally that fear left me because I didn't let it rule my life I faced the fear of what is God gonna do in my life after I went through a divorce the fear of my future and then you know when I was going through infertility you know and I was going through all these treatments and trying to have kids you know all of a sudden I started having these things the Heidi attacks and it came against me in a fierce way so I'm just telling you that fear comes to stop you discouragement comes to stop you but God wants to bring you into your promised land amen and so you have to set your foot down and you have to say I'm never ever gonna give up why don't you just say that right now I'm never ever gonna give up the enemies in front of your nothing for God they're no match for God that fear that that discouragement that depression those obstacles in front of you that husband that won't do right that child that is remained they are no match for God when you're at home with the promises of God brilliant and speaking over them amen they're no match for God not when you put your faith in the Word of God amen I know that some of you are facing big battles right now but this is what's in my heart God wants you to be greatly encouraged tonight greatly encouraged and he also wants to wake you up sometimes you know we need to be shaken a little bit we need to wake up and he wants to wake you up to the fact that this fear and discouragement is of the devil and and he is trying to stop you and so tonight we're going to shake it off we're just going to shake it off shake it off you're not going to leave here with that fear and discouragement hanging over you we're gonna shake it off so let's talk about this because you know me I like to be very practical I I sort of liked it I like to find in the word how to do something and then I like to share my experiences too of how I've walked it out and what has helped me and so I want to talk about this how do we conquer this fear and discouragement what are some of the steps you could take and so what do you need to know about these enemies since I'm going to give you some thoughts on that the first thought is this you have to realize that you're not alone in facing fear and discouragement I mean you saw people stand up we all experienced it you know sometimes when we are facing these things we think we're the only one going through it and we can get isolated and we can begin to think there's something wrong with me no we all face it you know the great prophet Elijah he was discouraged because of his circumstances sometimes we look around and we get discouraged at our circumstances and he was discouraged he was tired he was afraid because Jezebel was after him and trying to kill but God helped him and deliver him from her hand job got discouraged because his wife and friends let him down but you know what he didn't let discouragement keep him down God gave him double for his trouble Peter got discouraged because he failed himself and he failed Jesus he denied Jesus the very one that had been the closest to him but you know what he didn't stay there because Jesus forgave him and restored him and called him into the ministry David got discouraged many times and I loved to read the Psalms because you really see how to pour your heart out to God it you see this great man of God the shepherd boy that became an anointed king and and profited in a psalmist you see how he this great man of God he also got discouraged and he said one time in in the Book of Psalms he said why are you so downcast on my soul he asked that question then he answered it himself he said put your trust in God when you're dead downcast just say I'm gonna put my trust in you Oh God so discouragement happens to the best and strongest of people and you're not alone and all of these great men of God came out in victory what's true about all of these people what's common about each one of them is that God was with them the whole way through you see the Bible says in Psalm 34:18 that the Lord is close to the broken and heart the Lord saves those who are crushed in spirit listen God is close to you sometimes we think God is so far away and have you ever been in a season where you just can't feel God and you can't sense them and you read the Bible and you think God why aren't you speaking to me but listen that doesn't change the truth of the matter that God is still with you he may be a little silent in your life but he is ever-present with you and so you have to know Amen he's with you on the mountaintop and he's with you in the valley he's with you when you're joyful and he's with you when you're crushed in spirit and and the thing about Jesus is he's there not to condemn you but to comfort you he's there to lift you up to offer mercy and hope and victory and to instill purpose into your life see Satan is after your purpose he's after your purpose there's greatness inside of each one of you and you have to realize realize that you know I'm looking at you now I think some of you you don't really believe that but there is greatness on the eat on each side on the inside of each one of you and you ought to just say that over and over until it registers with your mind and it registers with your spirit because when that starts registering with you God is going to show you what he wants you to do you begin to say God is there really greatness in me what is it you want me to do he'll start giving you assignments he'll start giving you wisdom he'll direct your steps the second thing you can do is simply this number to just be honest with yourself and be honest with God I'm discouraged god I feel hopeless God you know you really can't take action against these negative feelings until you admit that you have them and there's no weakness and admitting that you have them and even admitting them to a friend and admitting them to yourself instead of living in denial and then just being transparent and open with God and saying God I need your help I'm discouraged and I don't know why maybe this god I've been fearful of this for a long time show me why I'm so fearful show me what the root is show me what I can do I love what King David said in Psalm 56 it's verses 3 and 4 he said when I'm afraid not if I'm afraid when I am afraid I will put my trust in you in God whose word I praise and God I trust I will not be afraid what can mere mortals do unto me when you are afraid just admit it you know one thing that I learned I think I learned it the you know I begin to realize it in my early 20s is that I can talk to God about anything and everything and nothing I say shocks him or surprises him and I think it's been the month that it's really been very therapeutic for me and you and it's like going to a counselor or how many of you know it helps to just sit and talk to somebody yeah and they just listen to you and they give you wisdom and advice well when you talk to the Lord like it's a very therapeutic just to say God I'm struggling with this I'm struggling with that I don't know why I keep sinning in this area God would you help me God I don't know why I feel this way but just to be very honest with God and pour your heart out to God the song says pour your heart out to God amen Jesus is the best friend I've ever had he is the best listener I've ever had God never gets tired of your voice he never gets tired of your voice and he can comfort you like no other so be honest with yourself be honest with God and listen when you do that he will rush to help you John near to God and He will draw near to you another thing that's important is this number three you have to recognize the source of fear and discouragement you know when a person goes to the doctor because he may be in a lot of pain you know the doctor can help him with the symptom of pain by just giving him pain medicine but to alleviate the pain altogether the doctor has to find the what the source of the pain is it coming from the kidneys is it coming from a muscle is it a nerve is it a disc in your back is it your appendix see once he knows the source he most likely can just take care of the problem all together we don't want to just mask problems we want to get them taken care of amen fear and discouragement are like the symptom and we don't have to search for the source we know the source is Satan you see 2nd Timothy 1:7 says for God has not given you a spirit of fear but a spirit of power and love and a sound mind you can always distinguish God's voice from the voice of Satan because God's voice will always speak power and love and mercy and encouragement to you the enemy tries to discourage you to take courage away from you to make you fearful the Bible says that Satan is a liar and he is the father of all lies so you have to you have to get to the real source and many times the battle is simply one in our mind if we will just stop and say who's talking to me in my head right now where is this thought coming from is it coming from God or is it from coming from the enemy or is it just my crazy mind imagining things you know sometimes you just have to stop because it brings clarity where is this thought coming from 2nd Corinthians 10:5 says that we're to take every thought captive and make them obedient to Christ and let every thought that opposes God I see that's another thing just discouraging and fearful thoughts they oppose God and everything he says about you God says you're his child you're bold you're courageous you had the power the Holy Spirit he says you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you so you have to you have to recognize is this the enemy or is this God's voice and and once you do that you have to trust the voice of God over every other voice you have to decide I'm gonna stick with God's thoughts I'm gonna stick with his truth you know I'm preaching to myself because when it comes down to the nitty-gritty of life and you're all alone and you're discouraged and you're afraid it's not always easy to put it into practice but I'm telling you right now if you'll just stop and say there is this voice coming from you will get the real perspective and then that brings us to the next point because once you know who the source is then you've got to deal with it and number four is this don't feed that fear and discouragement this is so important too many times we just we buy into it we feed into it yeah yeah that's true that's true you just give it more food that's true that's true you know you can you can feed it by speaking it over and over you can feed it by meditating over it in your mind you know sometimes we say a lot more to ourselves in our mind than we do to anybody else you got to think about what you're thinking about amen you have to starve negative thoughts because the more you dwell on them the bigger they get how many of you know it's like a tumbleweed keeps rolling around in your mind it gets bigger and bigger and bigger the more you talk about it you know what the worse you get I said I mentioned first Corinthians second Corinthians 10:5 it says that we're to cast down vain imaginations and every high thing every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God there it is again it's opposing God it's opposing the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ now what does that mean it means you have to arrest those negative thoughts immediately and you have to replace them with what God says arrest them take them captive you see if you have low self-esteem and the way to pull yourself out of that is to start thinking a positive Bible filled excuse-me thoughts you're not going to get you're not going to get free of that if you just continue to think about you know what you're lacking or they're your the qualifications that you are lacking or the gifts you're lacking I'm not smart enough and I'm not good-looking enough I can't talk you no good enough I'll never have a job like that listen you're never gonna change that way you got to get aggressive with your thoughts say I'm gonna get aggressive see get aggressive with your thoughts and change the recording in your mind and begin to delete push that delete button as Joel says and get rid of those those awful you know negative lies of the enemy see when we continue to dwell on those negative thoughts the Bible says they will produce vain imaginations you know one thought will lead to another thought and then you know we'll begin to think the worst and all of a sudden you know we feel hopeless because we just continue down that road my good friend Irene she's sitting down here Irene Franco she travels with me a lot of times when I preach and we were on a trip probably a couple of years ago and she was telling me on her trip that her shoulder was hurting and it was really bothering her because she's a hairstylist and she needs that arm to work and and so it was a big deal to her and so when we got into Dallas we got into the hotel and she said I'm gonna walk around and I'm gonna grab something to eat well her shoulder began to hurt as she was walking but she noticed that also it began to affect her hip her hip was hurting and then one it seemed like one side of her body was pulled in and she said I realize I'm limping and she said she got so concerned and she thought oh my goodness there's something wrong with this whole side of my body and so she went back to the hotel because she decided I need to go back in and he'd get in bed because something's not right with me well when she got back to the hotel room she kicked her shoes off and she realized she had on two different shoes one was a flat and one had a little bit of a heel so a pain in her shoulder turned into a major health problem all in Irene's mind it's amazing what we can concoct in our minds but see that's how our imagination works if we don't deal with the negative thoughts you know we will just imagine the worst first John 4:18 says this fear brings torment into your mind in life that's not God's will if you're tormented in your mind that is not God's will in fact I take authority over those tormenting thoughts in the name of Jesus that's you you just put your hands on your head right now on your mind father in the name of Jesus I take authority of those tormenting negative thoughts Satan take your hands off of them in the name of Jesus those of you who are watching online I command Satan to take his hands off of you and I thank you Father that they have the mind of Christ and they will think your thoughts and they will submerge themself in the Word of God and father they will just be so full of the Word of God in Jesus name Romans 8:6 says a mind controlled by the spirit is life in peace see when we keep our mind on God's thoughts we are full of hope we're full of lie we're full of peace so the question is whose thoughts are you going to believe it comes down to that whose thoughts are you gonna believe Almighty God who made you created your masterpiece are you gonna come down to the devil's level and sink to his level no way you know when I was in my early twenties most of you know that but I went through an unwanted divorce and and it was during that time that I battled discouragement and depression like I'd never battled before and I never had battles since and so that's why I refer to this because it was a very hard time for me and it was it was a battle in my mind like it felt like it was 24 hours because I wasn't sleeping well and I when I went to bed you know I just wished for a morning when I went when I got out in the morning I wish I could go back to bed that's how I felt and my mind was bombarded with all these negative thoughts you know that your life is over or your life is ruined you'll never be in the ministry you you know you felt rejected and unloved and so it was hard not to dwell on those thoughts and and during this time I called my father at the office and I would do this often and I would tell him that I needed prayer and I was crying because I wasn't in church yet I was still at home and I was just hoping everything would work out and one time when I called my dad I told him I said I said daddy I'm so depressed and I said I'm having a nervous breakdown and he said oh no he's really encouraging Holy See you're not having a nervous breakdown I just talked I said no I'm having one I'm having it right now and and so I never said that before and so he he said well here there's somebody in the office that wants to talk to you and so it was brother TL Osborn who is in heaven now with my daddy and he's a great man of God and he said Lisa I just want to encourage you he said you know I love you like a daughter and can I talk to you like a father and I said sure you can and I was crying this whole time and he said you know I want to encourage you do you know why you're crying so much and I said no I don't he said just because you're feeling sorry for yourself well I thought is there anybody else in the office that might talk to me because this is not what I wanted to hear that is not I'm feeling sorry for me are you kidding me I just went through a divorce sometimes you have a right to feel sorry for yourself but you know what he got my attention and he said Lisa I'm not trying to be harsh she said I know what it's like to lose someone he lost his son and he said but I'm telling you he said your life is not over I needed to hear that your life is not over and he said God has great plans for you and he's going to use you greatly and he said you just need to put your shoulders back up in your put your head high and he said let me tell you God is going to take this scar in your life and he's going to turn it into a star for him and God has done exactly that God has done exactly that you see that didn't disqualify me but what did I do I got myself in this whirlwind of discouragement depression thinking that my life was over and I got into self-pity but that day I dried my tears and I said God I'm not gonna live in self-pity I'm not gonna feel sorry for myself anymore I'm not the only one that has problems I'm not the only one that's been through a divorce I know that you have good plans for me and so I wipe my tears and I resolved in my heart that I was going to fill my mind with the Word of God because I knew I needed to do that but so anyway this I I was so full the brother would make us so full of these negative thoughts have you ever been there you're like wow it's like a battle of going in your head how do you even stop him and so I had this thought it was a God thought and it's a decision I made that changed my life I thought I can win the battle one thought at a time don't think about all the thoughts that come later don't think about what's going to happen down the road just take one thought and win over that one thought and so I started doing that when I had a negative thought your life is ruined I refuse to think about it let me tell you it's hard not to think about it because your mind wants to go there your mind wants to think about why your life is ruined and how you gonna turn out as a bag lady on the side of the street your mind wants to go there and so it was hard to do so I'm telling you that because I'm not saying it's always going to be easy but I'm telling you it's gonna pull you out of the pit of despair and so if you will just take those thoughts and so I would just stop in and instead of thinking about that thought I would call it out as a lie let me tell you something I would say to my if I was alone I said it out loud if I wasn't I would say it to myself I would say that's a lie and then I would say God says the plans he has for me are good and not able to give me a hope in a future Amen when you just say it out loud that's a lie it'll get a hold of you don't sink into the lies of the enemy and so I did that I'm telling you I did that so much I was so busy in my head for so long but I'm telling you after a few weeks after a few weeks the thoughts got less and less and less and one day I woke up and I thought battle is done I am free in my mind it looked impossible but it wasn't you see if you're gonna enter into your promise and you got to do something about it God's not gonna come down here and and tell you you got to brush your teeth and you got to get up in the morning you got to go to work and you got to quit thinking on that no he's told you in his word and he expects you to walk it out amen amen when you continue to speak words of fear and discouragement you're actually magnifying the lie and you're giving place to the enemy but when you speak words of faith what your what are you doing you're magnifying God and you are bringing peace and joy into your life remember what we read in Joshua that keep this book of the law always on your lips and meditate on it day and night if you got to saturate yourself in the Word of God so starve your negative thoughts resist them and replace them with what God says about you the fifth and last thing is this learn how to encourage yourself yeah I heard that guess Lord you and I do things all the time that bring encouragement to our life the fact that you're here tonight means you put yourself in a place of encouragement you could be sitting at home in front of a TV but that's not going to encourage you is it you brought yourself into the presence and the anointing of God and it brings encouragement you can read the Word of God and that will instantly bring encouragement to you I loved it when my dad years ago he sat down on the airplane airplane and he opened up his Bible and the man on next to him sat down and opened up his newspaper and he nudged him he said you got the bad news and I've got the good news well you can open up the good news anytime you want to let me tell you something if you're having bad thoughts open up the good news men but there are times when we're all alone and we have to draw on the things that we know and so I think about David how he had to encourage himself when everyone around him wanted to kill him you know it's bad when your own army wants to kill you didn't it I mean that that's really low and but David didn't get give up even in that town the Bible says that that he encouraged himself in the Lord his God in other words he said God if no one else is here to encourage me I'm going to encourage myself I'm gonna go to you myself and god I know that you were for me and I know that you will fight my battles for me that's basically what he was saying that's the Lisa Kuma's translation right there but when David did that God began to talk to him listen you can stir up the voice of God in your life and so God said to him David I want you to go after the enemy and he said I'm gonna help you recover everything that was taken from you and you know David did and God gave him a great victory and he recovered all he recovered I listen as a side note that promise is for you too because God will cause you to recover everything that has been stolen from you amen I believe that with all my heart everything and more because that's what happened to David everything and more say everything and more how do you encourage yourself in the Lord will reach out to a trusted friend who will pray with you somebody if you don't have somebody that really knows how to pray call one of our wonderful prayer partners here at Lakewood Church they'll pray with you it makes a difference to get out of your eyes isolation and say hey pray with me pray for me when two or more believers agree it's touching anything what does the Bible say it shall be done it shall be done another thing you can do is to draw near to God don't move away from him draw near to him get into the presence of God all by yourself you can usher in the presence of God God is with you but get into the presence of God all by yourself and change your focus from your circumstances or how you feel to your almighty magnificent God and begin to worship Him and and and set your love and your concern on him and let and then just receive his love and his care and his concern he's your heavenly father and he loves you greatly and you know the Bible says I'm I'm just just came to me the Bible says cast your cares on the Lord for he cares for you affectionately cast your burdens on the Lord and He will sustain you and so in a way you're getting before the Lord and saying God I'm casting these burdens on you because you want to carry them you don't want me to carry them there's a scripture in first John 4:18 that says there is no fear in love but perfect love cast out fear if you won't recognize that God loves you perfectly meditate on that God loves you perfectly that will drive a lot of fear out of your life right there you see there is nothing there is no one there is no past that can separate you from God's love amen and so if he loves you perfectly then you can trust him with your life you can trust that he's going to take care of you so draw near to God another thing you can do and you have to do is to put on the garment of praise there's some things you got to take off and there's some things you got to put on amen tonight we're taking fear off tonight we're taking discouragement off tonight we're taking tormenting thoughts off tonight we're taking depression off amen and we're gonna put on the garment of praise have you ever noticed that discouragement is like this black heavy cloud on top of you it's just that heaviness but you can dispel that heaviness as you begin to praise and-and-and thank God and there's a scripture in Isaiah 61 3 that says this that God will give you the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness but you know sometimes we've got to put that garment on ourselves sometimes by faith whether you feel like it or not you have to intentionally just get up and put on the garment of praise and your atmosphere around you with with praise and thanksgiving and fine things that you can be grateful for it stop talking and thinking about all the things that you don't have it and thank God for the things that you do have amen and praise God because God promised that he would turn your mourning into dancing whoo that's good in there he'll clothed you with joy put on praise and God will put joy on you amen I declare that joy has been released to you I declare that you're going to laugh again and that joy is going to come so full into your spirit and you're gonna be happy and you're gonna smile again and that dark cloud is not going to follow you around goodness and mercy follow you all the days of your life amen there's a scripture in Ecclesiastes 11:10 it says there therefore love this listen this therefore banished anxiety from your heart I think that's the NIV therefore banished anxiety from your heart it sort of sounds like what Jesus says let not your heart be troubled there are some things we can let or not let but think about that therefore banished anxiety from your heart that's what Kings used to do you know they didn't like a person they would banish them they would send them to exile and they could never return I'd like to do that too some people wouldn't you not just kidding tonight let's banish fear and discouragement tonight let's send it into exile in the mighty name of Jesus because I believe that God is going to liberate you actually I already believe that something's taking place in you I already believe that liberation and freedom has come to you some of you I want to say this because this is on my heart some have you been held back my fear for way too long you're afraid of what people think you're afraid you're not good enough you're afraid that God is not going to come through for you you're afraid you're not going to get married you're afraid you're not going to have children you're afraid that the money's not going to be there to meet your needs you're afraid about the future you're afraid about the the present some of you this is in my suit you're afraid to fly in an airplane and I'm telling you enough is enough and it's time to get set free amen it's time to get set free if that's you and you want to just stand out declare I'm receiving my freedom not just stand up wherever you are just worship God on your own father we received that freedom we declare we banish anxiety we banish depression father we banish sickness in the name of Jesus I think you father that you're pouring out your joy father the joy the joy the joy of the Lord is our strength I think that we are filled with joy by the Holy Spirit father our joy doesn't come from circumstances it comes from the Holy Spirit and we thank you for father in Jesus name say I'm free I am liberated once and for all amen and amen you may be seated Oh give the Lord a good shout and praise yes yes yes we're shaking it up or shaking it off so you might need to stand back up and shake it off a little bit just stand back up and shake it off shake it off shake it up I'm telling you don't let it back on you I'm gonna just shake a little bit I wish I could shake matter but that's not all I got okay you can shake shake shake shake it off father we shake it off in the name of Jesus we shake it up we break that heaviness over our lives in the name of Jesus we say go in Jesus name in the name of Jesus in the name of Jesus how about of you thank you Father praise you Jesus praise you Jesus it's just whiteness presence praise you Jesus we thank you Father we praise you Jesus if you're sick in your body you can sit in if you're sick in your body I want you to stand up right now because God wants to heal you hallelujah thank you Father touch him if you're renting a father I thank you for the healing anointing the healing anointing father you said you sent your word and you heal them by the stripes of Jesus we have been healed Father we can we can only do so much doctors can only do so much but father you can do it all you are the healer and I'm asking you to heal your people from the top of their head to the soles of their feet I'm asking to infuse them with energy to restore their health to restore their energy to restore their hormone levels father rather to make their sugar levels normal father I'm asking you to touch their heart in their organs I thank you for your healing touch I thank you for strength right now in the name of Jesus I thank you Father thank you father we receive it salary see that you may sit down I want you to tell me the good report God's touching it God's touching it amen amen amen amen thank you Jesus thank you let's wait on the Lord a minute thank you Father we praise You Father we bless your holy name thank you praise You Jesus if you're here and you say Lisa I'm broken into spirit I'm broken in my heart I've been through just hurtful situations and relationships I need a touch from God I want you to stand up right now you can touch them around and father I thank you for touching them I thank you Lord Jesus that you'll heal every hurt we banish every ugly word that has been spoken over them and father we thank you Lord Jesus for healing and their emotions in their heart and I think you father that you will restore to them wonderful relationships and I think your Lord Jesus that they will be whole and they will feel whole and they will be strong emotionally and in every area not only strong father but confident they will be confident men and women of God no matter what's been said to them no matter what's been done to them I think that you're just lifting up lifting those lies off of them father people have spoken lies to them God is saying people have spoken lies to you and don't believe them anymore he's saying don't believe what they have said to you don't believe what they have said about you because it's not the truth and until you let that lie go you're not going to advance much farther and God is saying let it go because it's not who you really are you're not defined by relationship you're not defined what by what people say to you God defines you so by faith I want you to lift your hand and say I let those lies go I believe who you said I am in the name of Jesus now I want some men for man woman for let me give him a good hug just give him a good hug they need a good loving hug that's a my miss this man right here somebody missed it they need to hug him thank you bow your heads in prayer just a moment we can't go without an altar call if you're here today and you would say Lisa I've never accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior if I died tonight I don't know where I'd spend eternity I've never prayed this how they should prayer I want peace with God I want to pray that prayer with you put your hand up right now you want to pray The Salvation prayer you want to accept Jesus into your life amen I see all those hands you can put him down if you'd say Lisa I've known the Lord but I've been far away from him but I'm returning to him and I want to get in on that prayer too to rededicate my life to the Lord I want you to raise your hand a man you can put it down if you raise your hand or if you know you should have I just want you to be bold right now and stand up because we're gonna pray for you we're gonna put a book in your hands we want to congratulate you the ushers will give you a book that will encourage you but the most important thing is what we're gonna do right now when you pray God is gonna forgive your sins he's gonna delete your past he's gonna make you new inside sometimes we say I wish I had a brand new start what you do tonight amen let's pray this prayer with him say Oh God I come to you right now I know I'm a sinner I'm in need of a savior I ask you to forgive me of all of my sins and Jesus I ask you to come into my life I need you I want you to be my Lord and Savior I thank you that you receive me God and you're now my heavenly father I publicly confess Jesus you are my lord you are my Savior I'm a new creature in Christ Jesus I am forgiven I am made new and I am a person of purpose in Jesus name give him a good hand clap bless y'all bless you let's stand up thank you so much for coming tonight we'd love each and every one of you be blessed and we'll see you on the weekend

Channel: LisaOsteenComes

Views: 139,970

Rating: 4.8365245 out of 5

Keywords: Lisa, Osteen, Comes, Lakewood, preaching, bible, message, hope, joy

Id: KnIb3siFDn4

Length: 51min 31sec (3091 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 08 2018