53 Lessons from Joel Osteen

If someone would ask me “Who is the best presenter in the world?” JOEL OSTEEN is the first name that would come into my mind. Joel Osteen is nicknamed “The Smiling Preacher”, he is the Senior Pastor of Lakewood Church, the largest Protestant church in the USA in Houston, Texas. He is an American preacher whose sermons are followed by over 7 million viewers weekly and over 20 million monthly in over 100 countries. He is the book author of five New York Times Bestsellers: “Your Best Life Now” is just one of them. I would like to invite you (no matter what your religion is!) to visit his website (http://www.JoelOsteen.com) and follow him on Twitter @JoelOsteen. In this article I would like to summarize 53 lessons from Joel Osteen which I learnt wile watching him during his sermons.

I started watching Joel Osteen’s sermons in 1998 via CNBC Europe for the first time when I lived in Italy. I was instantly hooked on his TV sermons. I love his delivery style. Every time I listen to him I feel …… as if I would be listening to a good friend who shares his sound advice, as if he would just talk to me, as if I would be attending a motivational course on personal development rather than a sermon filled with religious quotes. I could listen to him for hours and hours and would recommend it to everyone, no matter how happy one might feel in life! His speeches are truly inspirational, the number of his listeners and the number of Twitter Followers ( 4.34 M) speaks for itself. He is a real master in creating a connection between himself and his loyal audience.

Joel Osteen’s delivery style is something that really fascinates me every time I’m watching his videos and podcasts. As a public speaker myself, there is always something to learn from other experts when they deliver their speeches. He never reads from notes, his delivery style is so natural that you feel a friend is talking to you, even though he is talking in an arena to thousands of people.

Sometimes he gets emotional when he shares his or other people’s stories. While some would think it’s a weakness, it brings him actually closer to the audience by looking and sounding more “human”. Would you think a preacher would start his sermons with a joke? Usually not, but it’s his way of starting each of his sermons on a regular basis. You would think there is no room for humour, but he proves that it works and it puts a smile on people’s face every time! Furthermore, the fact that you can sometimes spot people taking notes during his speeches proves how serious people take his advice. The real life stories and episodes that he shares (some from his personal life and many others from other peoples’ lives) make his speeches so much more important, inspirational and meaningful.

Today (5th March 2016) he celebrates his 53rd birthday and I would like to use the opportunity to share 53 lessons that we can learn from watching Lakewood Church sermons on TV (and YouTube) and reading his books.

Lessons from Joel Osteen

# 1 — Talk positive words to yourself. Say to yourself every day: I’m strong. I’m healthy. I’m in shape. I weigh what I’m supposed to weigh. I’m full of energy. I’m passionate. I’m talented. I’m secure. I’m valuable. I’m confident. I have a good personality. People like me. I’m fun to be around with. I’m happy. I enjoy my life. I’m a person of excellence. I’m a person full of integrity. I’m successful. I’m prosperous. My future is bright. My children are mighty in the land. My legacy will live on to inspire our future generations. I see a purpose in every step. I’m blessed. I’m victorious. I’m a child of the most higher God.

If you repeat them to yourself on a daily basis these words will become your ordinary vocabulary. Forget negative thoughts and focus on the positive!

# 2 — If you want to change your outside, you need to change your inside first. Have the right “I AMs”!

# 3 — If you have the opportunity to take over the company of your parents, have the courage to be YOU. You don’t need to follow in their footsteps by copying them. No matter what people expect from you, show yourself the way you are. Be true to yourself and be proud of it.

# 4 — Keep your vision right in front of you. If you always had this dream of writing a book, one day you will do it, just believe strongly in it and it will happen.

# 5 — Do what you can do and believe that God will take care of the rest.

# 6 — If a door closes for you, don’t look at it as if it would be the final closed door. Another door will open for you again, a door with a better opportunity for you!

# 7 — Look at setbacks as setups for something greater.

# 8 — Don’t complain, criticise, condemn others. Why wasting your time if it sucks your energy? It’s just counterproductive.

# 9 — When individuals are recognized and encouraged, organisations can flourish.

# 10 — It’s up to you how you want to live your life. Don’t blame others. You decide. Make it a happy life!

# 11 — Learn to listen to the right voices. Don’t allow small things or other people to pull you down.

# 12 — Turn your greatest rejection into your greatest direction.

# 13 — Don’t be a victim, look at yourself and act as a victor.

# 14 — No matter how often you get knocked down, make it a habit to always get up back again.

# 15 — If you allow others to upset you by saying something malicious, it means you give them the power to control you. Do you really want that? Instead think that what matters is what YOU think.

# 16 — People of excellence are those who are always prepared to go the extra mile.

# 17 — You can’t expect to live a positive life, if you surround yourself with negative people.

# 18 — Find the joy in each day. Instead of thinking of the things you are not looking forward to, find positive things that might happen and look at it more positively.

# 19 — Start seeing the positive things in negative things that happen to you. Nothing happens to you, it actually happens for you. Everything happens for a reason, use the opportunity to turn a situation around.

# 20 — Don’t be jealous about others. Think instead: if God could do it for them, he will be able to do it for me too!

# 21 — Be a bounce back person, because life will offer you many storms. Every adversity is only temporary. Bounce back, always!

# 22 — The moment you start praying, the chains have already been loosed because God is already in the process of making things happen for you. Often, sooner than you might expect! Be ready for unexpected deliveries!

# 23 — Be happy and content with what you have. But God wants you to be more than satisfied. Keep your faith up to achieve greatness.

# 24 — You might give up, but God will not give up.

# 25 — Shake off all the negative thoughts and people who tell you it’s not going to happen (whatever that is). God is still in control of your life.

# 26 — Don’t stay focused on your pain. Keep moving forward.

# 27 — Don’t get tired of doing the right thing. Keep believing, keep expecting, keep honouring God, and abundance will happen to you.

# 28 — It’s great to be at the right time, at the right place, but make sure you are also in the right frame of mind.

# 29 — Don’t carry the negative baggage from yesterday into the new day. Drop it, let it go! Don’t relive always what didn’t work out in the past! Quit dwelling on it, move forward! Don’t be a prisoner of the past. You will miss your destiny.

# 30 — You might have had a rough start, but it doesn’t have to be a rough ending.

# 31 — Don’t live in the yesterday. If your mind is always in the yesterday, you can’t move forward. Believe that joy, healing, breakthrough and/or victory is coming for YOU. Don’t spend more energy on dwelling on the past, put instead your energy in what is ahead.

# 32 — Drop it, leave it, let it go of the negative! Don’t pick it up again and again. Life is too short to carry around negative baggage.

# 33 — If you carry around negative thoughts you are not harming the other person, you are harming yourself by constantly thinking about it. You are limiting yourself. By holding onto negative past experiences you will poison your future.

# 34 — God has already lined up all our solutions. You don’t need to be frustrated, put your believe and faith into God and things will fall into place.

# 35 — Your life will move in the direction of your words. Pay attention to what you are saying. You plant seeds when you talk. Make sure you plant the right kind of seeds. You can’t talk negative and expect positive things to happen.

# 36 — Stop cursing your life and start blessing your life.

# 37 — Every day in the morning when you get up say to yourself “Good morning you good looking thing!”

# 38 — Use words not to describe your situation, but instead to change your situation!

# 39 — Don’t talk too much about a problem, you give that problem even more power. Talk instead of the promise.

# 40 — There will be always two voices: the voice of defeat and the voice of faith. Choose the voice of faith. Negative thoughts will bring negative results.

# 41 — Even if you feel fear, speak faith!

# 42 — Write down your goals, read over it out loud. Do it more times in a day. Do as if your goals would have already been achieved.

# 43 — If someone tells you that you can’t do something or that you don’t have what it takes, remember: You don’t need other people’s approval. You will have God’s approval. He will promote you in front of your critics. YOU will have the last laugh.

# 44 — If you give up, it doesn’t mean that God gives up to helping you in order to achieve your goals.

# 45 — Be careful what you say when talking about “I am….” What you say will determine your life. Don’t be focused too much on the negative things. Nobody can say this for you, you have to say it to yourself (make sure you do it in a positive way). Your life will go in the direction of your words!

# 46 — Never put yourself down in front of your spouse. It will neither do you any favour, nor to your spouse who will start looking at you differently (negatively) too.

# 47 — Realise that God made you “his masterpiece”. You are what God said you are, not what others are saying you are.

# 48 — A lot is already against us, don’t be against yourself by criticizing yourself and putting yourself down.

# 49 — Be bold to ask for big things, don’t be satisfied with small things. When you pray do it every time as if it would be your birthday and ask for what you want.

# 50 — Don’t allow the facts to talk you out of your believe. Often things turn around unexpectedly.

# 51 — If you don’t use your talent, you will lose it.

# 52 — If God is for you, nobody can be against you!

# 53 — In Joel Osteen’s own words “GET UP TODAY AND SAY, THIS IS GOING TO BE A GREAT DAY. I’M EXCITED ABOUT MY FUTURE. SOMETHING GOOD IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME.”