Joel Osteen - You Are Worthy

I want to talk to you today about You Are Worthy. Here's the key: your worth is not based on what you have, what family you come from, or how perfectly you live. Your worth is based on the fact that you're a child of the Most High God. You are worthy not because of what you did, but because of what Jesus did: he made you worthy.

But sometimes we let our weaknesses and areas we need to improve in cause us to feel unworthy. Don't go go through life living performance-based, trying to earn your worth, and earn your value. The problem is: you'll never measure up. We all make mistakes, we all have shortcomings. Take the pressure off: you don't have to work for it, just receive it, "I am worthy, I am valuable, I've been approved by Almighty God".

Forces of darkness cannot stay when you know you are worthy. Tune all that out, and get an agreement with God: you are worthy, you are valuable, you deserve to be blessed, you deserve to live an abundant, victorious, healthy, productive, favor-filled life. All through the day, "I am worthy. I am valuable. I am a one of a kind. I deserve to be successful. I'm a child of the Most High God".

Don't go through life with the wrong recording playing in your mind, "I'm damaged, I'm not good enough, I'm lacking". No, change that recording: you are worthy, you are valuable, God handpicked you, he breathed his life into you. Now it's up to you to receive your worth, receive your value.

You may feel like you're in Lo-debar, things have come against you, circumstances you don't understand, but nothing has lessened your value. No person that did you wrong, no bad break, no mistake you made. You are still a child of the Most High, you are still worthy, you still have a purpose to fulfill. Yes, they dropped you, but they didn't stop your destiny. You may be in Lo-debar, but don't let Lo-debar get in you. That's where you are, it is not who you are.

The enemy loves to use those things to make you feel unworthy, like you don't deserve to be blessed. You have to remind yourself who you are. If you don't tell yourself who you are, the enemy will tell you who you are.

Now, get your fire back: no more a dead dog mentality, you belong to the king. You are worthy, you are valuable, you deserve to be blessed, to live a happy, victorious, fulfilled life. We are no longer sinners, we are sons and daughters of the Most High God. That's why we deserve to be blessed, because of what Jesus did.

But sometimes we think our mistakes have made us unworthy. We made poor choices, we don't deserve anything good. The scripture (Hebrew 4:16) says, "Come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy". You can't go as a weak worm of the dust, "I don't deserve it, I'm so unworthy, I can't do anything right". No, go to God with boldness, "God, I know you have made me worthy. I believe you love me. I believe you for me, that you have good things in store". Don't go as a beggar, go as a believer, with confidence, with boldness. Not because of who you are, but because of whose you are: a child of Almighty God.

I wonder how many of us are not coming home because we feel unworthy? How many blessings are we missing because we're letting our mistakes hold us back, when in fact God is looking for us? He's not basing your value on your performance, he knows who you are. But if you don't think you deserve to be blessed, then you'll push blessings away. If you don't think you deserve to be loved, you'll push love away. God is longing to be good to you, his mercy's bigger than any mistakes, but you have to come home.