Taking Control of Your Happiness

Joel Osteen @ Lakewood Church

• A lot of people are sacrificing their own happiness to keep everyone happy. We are not responsible for anyone else's happiness. If someone gets upset because you don't help them then they are trying to manipulate you. That person will never be free if you keep being a crutch. If that person is not taking responsibility and you keep giving in you are not dealing with the real problem.
• You need to cut the strings. It's like a toddler throwing a fit. As long as someone can pressure you they will keep doing it.
• Life is too short to go through life sacrificing your dreams for people who make poor decision.
• I am not the potter, God is. The best thing sometimes is to not rescue the person.
• You have to put your foot down and say I love you but I'm not going to feel guilty because I'm not making someone happy.
• Luke 15:17 NLT
  "When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, 'At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger!
• Sometimes people have to come to a place where no one is bailing them out.
• Be careful of high maintenance people.
• Lift, thrust, weight, and drag are the factors of flight. People will usually fall into one of these categories. Make sure you spend the majority of your time with lifters and thrusters.
• You can't go where God is taking you with certain people on board.
• Get prayed up, praised up, and encouraged before you go to places where you have to be around weights and drags. You can't go into the day in neutral.

******Victoria Osteen @ Lakewood Church ******

Psalms 44:5 NLT
Only by your power can we push back our enemies; only in your name can we trample our foes.

We need to take the pressure off of ourselves, it's not our work, it's God's power.

Victoria sat there for a day waiting for the fog to lift so that they could enjoy themselves. What made it worse is that the weatherman said that it would be sunny. Finally they went down to the lobby to find something to do and the concierge told them that 10 minutes down the road it was clear and sunny. It had only been a pocket of fog. That's what a lot of people do, they sit in a fog waiting to enjoy life when they really need to get up and move around.

Thank you for the S-O-N, he's always shining.