Staying Calm Through Pressure | Joel Osteen

[0:00]Sometimes we think we'll get to this place where there's no pressure, no people getting on our nerves, no traffic, no delays. Everything's fallen into place, plenty in our bank account, healthier than ever, children making straight A's, Texans undefeated. Mother-in-law moves to China. If we can just endure, we'll get to this utopia, this perfect place where we don't have any more pressure. The truth is, not all pressure is bad. There is healthy pressure. If you were comfortable all the time, you couldn't reach your potential. If you didn't have opposition, and things you don't understand, problems not changing, you would never develop endurance and trust and character. That pressure is getting you prepared. You have to have resistance to get stronger. God will allow situations where we're over our head. We don't know how it's going to work out, and it's taken longer than we thought. He's not making your life miserable, those are opportunities to grow. That's when you have to rely on him. When you're pressured, you learn to stretch your faith, pray bold prayers, and believe for what looks impossible. The pressure is causing you to get stronger. Quit fighting it and learn to embrace it. God wouldn't have allowed it if he wasn't up to something. Maturity is being at peace in the pressure, trusting in the trouble, staying calm in the conflict. And yes, I know we all love the seasons where there's no pressure, and everything's going great. But those seasons are few and far between. There are very few times that we're not dealing with some kind of issue that could have a stress. You can have a dozen things going right, but there's one thing you could easily worry about. But that one thing is what causes you to keep pressing forward. It's healthy tension. God knows how to put just the right amount of pressure so we don't get complacent. We don't put our faith on autopilot, but we keep stretching, we keep growing. Years ago, fishing for codfish in the Northeast had become a huge commercial business. There was a demand for codfish all over the states, but they had a problem with distribution. At first, they tried freezing the fish and shipping it out, like the rest of their product. But for some reason, the codfish didn't have any taste after it was frozen. Next, they tried shipping the codfish alive in these big tanks. They put them on trains and had them shipped across the country in regular sea water. They thought for sure this would solve the issue, but it only made it worse. Because the fish were sitting in the water inactive, they became soft and mushy, and once again lost their taste. Someone came up with an interesting idea: they decided to put some catfish in the tank with the codfish. The catfish is the natural enemy of the codfish. So the whole time they were being shipped, the codfish had to stay alert and active and be on the lookout for the codfish. Well, that solved the problem. When the codfish arrived, they were as fresh and tasty as they were on the East Coast. Sometimes what we think is an enemy is really an asset. That person at work that gets on your nerves, you've been praying 27 years for God to take them away. They're a catfish. God's using them to grow you up, to trust him to be your vindicator, to be good to someone that's not good to you, to learn to forgive, and not let people steal your joy. You wouldn't be who you are without them. Next time you see them, instead of being upset, just smile and say, Good morning, Mr. Catfish. You don't know it, but God's using you. Some of the things that we're asking God to take away, that make us uncomfortable and causing pressure, if he removed them right now, we would get stuck. He's using them to keep us fresh, to keep us growing, to keep us stretching. That's why you can't pray away everything you don't like. The catfish, you may not like that pressure, but it's working for you, it's healthy pressure. A minister friend of mine was very well known and influential. He was loved by people all over the world. But in his hometown, the local newspaper didn't like him. For 40 years, they never wrote a positive article. It's always something demeaning, something out of context, where they were putting him down, showing him in a bad light. It would get him so riled up and so passionate. This went on for years. At the end of his life, a reporter asked him, who had helped him the most? What were the pivotal events that kept him going? He said what helped me more than anything else was my local newspaper. They were so biased against me and so determined to make me look bad, they didn't realize, they caused me to pray bolder, to work harder, to believe bigger, to go further. He said, I want to publicly thank them for what they've done to build my ministry. What was that? A catfish. God could have changed the newspaper's mind. He could have put someone in that loved his ministry. But God uses pressure. He uses opposition. Things that are not fair, things that make us uncomfortable. If we'll have the right perspective, like him, instead of being sour, discouraged, trying to straighten them out, we use that as fuel for our faith, to pray, to stretch, to believe. Then instead of stopping us, it will propel us. I've learned you can't pray away the catfish. God's not going to remove what he's using to keep you growing and stretching and believing. What's interesting is a few weeks before this man passed, the local newspaper did this huge front-page glowing story on how amazing his ministry was, and how he had done so much good for the city. He said, if they had done that 40 years earlier, he would have never accomplished what he did. Don't fight the catfish. Don't fight the pressure, embrace it. Use it as fuel to go further, to believe bigger, to trust that God is in control. But practically, at every stage of life, there are going to be some catfish. People that are not for you, a neighbor that gets on your nerve, a problem that's not going away. That catfish is not really your enemy. It's a tool that God allowed to keep you fresh and growing. Potential is released when you're under pressure. It's nice to be comfortable, not have any opposition, know where all the funds are coming from, all the people lined up. That's appealing, but it's limiting. The greatness God put in you is going to come out by stretching, by going beyond what you're used to, by being good to people that are not good to you. By not letting that pressure cause you to shrink back, but instead, you dig down deeper, knowing that God is getting you prepared for something greater. When my father went to be with the Lord, I knew I was supposed to pastor the church. I'd never ministered. I was nervous, I didn't have the training, but I took that step of faith. A few weeks later, one Sunday morning after church, I just finished ministering. I was in the front lobby walking behind these two ladies, and they didn't know I was there. Now, I overheard one of them say, he's not as good as his father. The other answered back, yeah, I don't think the church is going to make it. You know what those ladies were, no disrespect, they were catfish. Have you noticed catfish have a big mouth? You can't become who you were created to be without resistance. That resistance is not working against you, it's healthy pressure. It's designed to make you stronger, but you have to handle it the right way. Pressure can defeat you or pressure can propel you. At first, what those ladies said discouraged me. I thought, you know what, they're probably right. But then something rose up on the inside. I thought, they don't determine my destiny. They didn't know me before I was formed in my mother's womb. They didn't call me, anoint me, crown me with favor, plan out my days for good. Instead of defeating me, I turned it around and used that pressure as fuel to go further, to study harder, to pray bolder, to be more determined, more passionate, more disciplined. David said in Psalm 4, God enlarged me in my distress. He didn't get enlarged with good breaks, open doors, the right people showing up. Those were the good times. He was enlarged when his father didn't believe in him, when his brothers were making fun, when King Saul was jealous and trying to kill him. He had a lot of catfish, a lot of things he didn't understand, situations that weren't fair, family turned on him, a son that tried to take the throne. Here's the key, he used that pressure as fuel for his faith. He didn't get bitter, he didn't try to pay people back, prove to his father who he was. He didn't give up in the shepherd's field, when it didn't look like his dreams would ever come to pass. He saw it as healthy pressure. King Saul was chasing him. David had done nothing but good for Saul, so loyal and honoring. But Saul was a catfish. He wasn't there to destroy David, but to develop David. So David could show God what he was made of. One time out in the desert, Saul and his men were sleeping, and David snuck up on him. This was his big chance. He could have killed Saul, but he wouldn't do it. He knew Saul was anointed as king, and God said to touch not the anointed. Even though Saul was trying to kill David, David wouldn't kill Saul. All that pressure wasn't defeating David, it was developing David. He was growing with greater character, proving to God that he was ready to lead the people. Saul looked like an enemy, really he was an asset. You don't really know who you are until you're put under pressure. You don't know your true character until it's tested in the fire of affliction, adversity, and you're not getting your way. Maybe you're dealing with a catfish at work, a catfish at the gym, a catfish at your school. Perhaps you're married to a catfish. We're not going to go there. But quit letting that pressure defeat you, make you sour, give up on your dream. Do like David, keep the right perspective. You'll be able to say, God enlarged me in my distress. He took what was meant to stop me and turned it around and used it to increase me. The catfish is a tool. It's an opportunity to come up higher in our character. Anyone can treat people the way they treat us. Anyone can take revenge, talk bad about who's talking bad about you. That's the easy way out. But to reach your destiny, you have to do some hard things. You have to take the high road, stretch when you want to stay comfortable, be more determined than what's trying to stop you. You have to ignore the negative voices and do what God put in your heart. When you do this, God will enlarge you in your distress. It won't be the good breaks, the people cheering you on, the doors that open that cause you to see new levels. It will be the catfish, the Sauls, the local paper that wouldn't acknowledge you, the two ladies that said you couldn't. Take that pressure and turn it into power. Our mindset should be, I will not shrink back, be talked out of my dreams, settle for mediocrity. I'm going to stand stronger, believe bigger, pray bolder, be more determined. Yes, this catfish looks like an enemy, but I know the truth, it's an asset.