Don’t Be A Complainer | Victoria Osteen

If we want to create change in our lives, we have to approach God with thanksgiving. Let’s choose to live with hearts full of gratitude!

Hi. This is Victoria. Thank you so much for downloading this podcast.
I believe God has amazing things in your future. Hope you enjoy this message.
I wanna remind us all today to not be complainers and fault finders.
Oh, man. Really? We don’t need to be complainers and fault binders.
See, it’s easy to see what’s wrong in a situation.
It’s easy to see what could be done better.
You know, naturally, we tend to look at the negative.
Just our natural minds tend to always gravitate to the negative, and it causes us to find fault.
But we don’t wanna be complainers in fault finders because we know that it doesn’t please god.
You know, we’re all guilty of this. I’ll be the first one to raise my hand. Okay?
Because sometimes it feels good to complain.
You get it off your chest, you’re just venting, It feels good. Why do we complain?
That’s one reason. It feels kinda good some time. Okay? Let’s just get real about it.
We’ve all thought, alright, just get it off my chest, and then I’ll be okay.
Or we think or I think, sometimes if I complain, I can change the situation.
I’ll go to Joel and I’ll tell him why this isn’t right and why we shouldn’t do it this way?
Because I think I’m gonna change the situation, right?
But you don’t change a situation by complaining, by finding fault. You usually make the situation worse.
Like I said, we can all think these thoughts of how we could do it better, but we’ve gotta learn that we don’t have to give life to these thoughts.
You see, when we give life to these negative thoughts, we create a more negative environment.
We not only pollute ourselves with this negative environment, but we pollute other people.
We cause them to begin to think, negative thoughts. It’s as if it can spread if we’re not careful.
No one wants to be around a complainer no one wants to be around a fault finder, we don’t either.
So let’s watch what we’re saying.
Even though it may feel good for a time, Have we ever stopped step back in thought, but is it doing us any good?
Is it really doing us any good?
You see, I was reading this study, and I thought it was very interesting.
And these researchers were talking about the brain and the effects of the on the brain when we complain.
And it says that when we complain, we literally rewire our brain to complain.
You see, our brain wants to take the path of least resistance.
It wants to take the easy way out. So it wants to repeat a pattern.
So when you complain, you learn to complain more. You’re wiring in this negative pattern.
And so, really, what the researchers were saying is we’re trying our own brains to complain.
I don’t wanna be a complainer. I wanna be a person that has faith and hope.
Yes. We’re all gonna have the opportunity to complain because there’s no perfect person. There’s no perfect spouse.
There’s no perfect job. Life is imperfect.
So we’re not gonna get rid of the fact that there are opportunities to complain.
But I wanna suggest to us today to be smarter than a complainer and to figure out a way to be the solution to the problem.
To not just complain about the problem, to find a way to act properly when you feel negative.
And the first way is not to train your brain to complain.
Now the scripture is full of of of of stories And the scripture says that these stories are placed here so that we can learn so that we can learn valuable lessons for our own life.
So I wanna quickly take us back to the Israelites.
When god brought them out of Egypt, he led them out by a man named Moses.
We know this story. They were led out of captivity by a leader named Moses, and he did it by god’s command.
He was able to do it because god said, I am taking my people to a land that is rich with milk and honey.
He called it the promised land. Now they had been quickly, uh, captive under the the barbaric hand of pharaoh.
They had been mistreated and god says enough is enough. I’m taking my people out. Now have you been mistreated?
Sometimes you’ve come out very, uh, uh, with a victim mentality. But god wanted to reverse this victim mentality.
So you know what? He had the Egyptians do? Pharaoh and those people.
He had them pour the wealth on the Israelites.
So when they left Egypt, they didn’t leave with nothing.
They left with gold and silver and cattle they left well equipped.
They left with the mindset of, oh, wow. This is god because only god could do that.
They got to the red sea and got part of the red sea. They walked through on dry land.
They were on their way to the promised land.
But as they got on their way, guess what?
They started some seeing some things that could be done better.
They began to look at Moses and think Moses, really, I can do this better.
They began to look at Aaron and question their leadership.
So they began to complain and mumble and grumble.
You see, they began to plan complain about their food and their water and their enemies.
But, you know, it’s really interesting in deuteronomy 12. This is what it says.
It says when god was taking them to the promised land, He had already ordained to get them there.
It was an 11 day journey.
You see, they left with more than enough to get there in 11 days, but it took them 40 years. 40 years.
Was it Moses that stopped him? Was it their enemies that stopped them?
Was it the fact that they didn’t have the right food that stopped them? No.
What they thought was their enemies, the things they were complaining about, the things that they were blaming and pointing the finger at, who wasn’t their enemy at all?
Their number one enemy was their own murmuring and complaining.
Have you ever thought that your own murmuring and complaining could limit your thinking could literally stop you from going to the next level Have you ever thought how unhealthy it really is?
See, I think if the Israelites could have read the research that I read, they would have said, oh my gosh, I’m train training my own brain to complain.
And that complaining is enemy number 1. Enemy number 1. I wanna encourage us today.
If we can train our brain to complain, we can train our brain to see god and how he can work in a situation.
We can literally train our brain to believe that god can do something.
You know, god is taking us all somewhere. And can I tell you right now?
You have everything you need right now to get to where god’s taking you.
If god is leading you, nothing can stop you. You see, that’s where the Israelites missed it.
They were looking at the things, the circumstances around them. They forgot to look to their guide.
It’s easy to blame. It’s easy to see out of these eyes, but we’ve got to begin to see out of our supernatural eyes.
The things un scene, the hand of god behind the scenes that’s fighting our battles for us and keep our mouth closed until we get there.
You see, they complained about Mana.
Manna was the bread that came down from heaven that god provided for them every single day.
Now granted they had this Manna every single day. And they tired of the manna.
Have you ever got tired of something? Every day I go to work.
Every day, I clean this house. Every day I pick up my husband’s socks.
You see, they tired of this manna.
So they began to grumble and complain about this manna.
And it’s so interesting that that just took fire in the whole camp.
So they all started grumbling and complaining. And when you grumble and complain, you know what happens?
Attitudes come up out of you that are not pleasing to god.
In fact, grumbling and complaining can literally change our perspective.
They started thinking about the food they used to eat, the onions and the leeks and the garlic They begin to take their mind back to what they used to eat in captivity.
So much that that food became more important than their freedom.
That food became more important than their freedom.
Instead of going to that man every day and saying, God, I’m gonna eat this until you change it, but I am grateful that I am free.
I am grateful that you are taking me somewhere.
See, sometimes we all want something bigger We wanna go to the next level, but we don’t wanna do what it takes to get to that next level.
Yeah. I want a job promotion. I I want this job promotion.
Now I don’t wanna work any extra hours.
Man, if I could have a husband, my life would be complete.
I am waiting for my man. I certainly don’t wanna cook for him, though.
We want things but we don’t want what it takes to have those things.
And this was their dilemma they wanted out of captivity.
God says I’m taking you somewhere, but they didn’t want to face the trials until they got there.
Listen. If you don’t like what’s going on in your life, change is coming. Change is coming.
Change is coming. Change is coming, but you’re not gonna find it by complaining and grumbling.
You’re gonna find it by staying the course by being grateful.
See, complaining finds the worst in the situation, not the best.
If you can train your mind to complain, you can train your mind to find the best.
Listen to what it says in Philippians 2 14. This is kind of the antidote.
For seeing the negative and figuring out what to do with it.
Because, see, it’s gonna get in there, but what are you gonna do with it? Don’t give it life.
Don’t spread it. Don’t ruin relationships. Don’t stop your destiny.
Figure out what to do with it before you let it out.
And this is what god is saying, first of all, he’s commanding us, do all things without grumbling, finding faults, and complaining.
Alright. So there’s one thing I can recognize. I’m not supposed to let it out.
What am I supposed to do with it? God? I mean, I’m only human. Right?
He says a little later in Philippians 45. He says, pray.
Hey, if you’ve got a complaint, if you see something wrong, pray and ask god about it. Yeah.
Pray and ask God about it. That’s what you do with it.
And then it says with Thanksgiving in your heart.
Can you imagine if they would have said, lord, this man is getting a little old Do you think you could send some Quell god?
Thank you father for this manna, though.
And if you don’t send some Quell, I know you’re getting me where I’m going.
But god, I’m asking I’m asking you for some quell.
You see, if they would have sandwiched their request between Thanksgiving, I think we’d be reading a different story about them.
God would be teaching us a different lesson about them. Don’t weaken your faith by your complaining.
Strengthen it by your prayer, by your petitions to god, making your request known with Thanksgiving in your heart.
You see, what they did is they left what they had to chase after what they didn’t have.
That’s what complaining does. It doesn’t say, hey, I’m grateful for what I have until I get more.
It says, you know what? I don’t care what I have. I want more. Really, that’s what complaining does.
And the scripture says that when they thought they were complaining to Moses and Aaron, they were really complaining about god.
Listen. I’m guilty of complaining. But you know what?
I’m gonna watch my complaining because I know it’s right up there with worry.
It isn’t changing a thing. It’s not doing a thing.
For me, for my life, it’s only shrinking it, limiting it, and not get to where I need to be.
Let’s don’t be fault founders and complainers.
Let’s be those who pray and petition god with Thanksgiving in our heart. Amen Hey, man.
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