Your thinking sets the limits for your life. When you believe, you're making room for God's favor.
Your best days are still ahead, and together we can make a difference in this world with the message of God's hope and love.
To give, visit JoelOsteen.com/GiveHope
Hi, this is Joel and Victoria.
Thanks for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry.
If you enjoyed today's message, why don't you be a blessing and share it with a friend.
We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in your life. Will God bless you. It's a joy to come into your homes. And if you're ever in our area, please stop buying. Be a part of one of our services. I promise you we'll make you feel right at home. But thanks so much for tuning in today, and thank you again for coming out. And I'd like to start with something funny and I heard about this old country cowboy.
He went to church one rainy.
Sunday and the weather was so bad. Only he and the minister showed up. The minister didn't know what to do. He asked the old cowboy if he should go ahead and speak. The cowboy said, listen, Preacher, I'm not that smart, but if I went out to feed my cattle and only one cow showed up, I would sure feed him. The minister launched into his sermon two and a half hours later.
When he finished, he asked.
The old cowboy what he thought, said preacher. Let me put it this way. If I went out to feed my cattle and only one cow showed up, I sure wouldn't dump the whole load on him. Hold up your bible. Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess. My mind is alert, my heart is receptive. I will never be the same. In Jesus' name, God bless you. I want to talk to you today about making room for increase. Before we see increase on the outside, we have to make room for it on the inside. If you have a small vision, you will have a small life. If you think you've reached your limits and you'll never get out of debt, you've gone as far as your parents. That's going to keep you from God's best. Jesus said, you can't put new wine into old wine skins. A wine skin was a leather container. When it got old, it would become hard and rigid, not able to expand. And if you put new wine into it, when the wine expanded, it would burst the wine skin.
God is saying you're not.
Going to see increase if you're stuck in old ways of thinking. If you think you'll never get out of debt, then you won't. If you think your obstacles are too big than they are, you are setting the limits to your life with your thinking. You've got to give God permission to increase you. You've got to stretch your faith. God has unlimited supplies. The only thing that limits him is our ability to receive. If I had a thousand gallons of water to give you, but you only had a one gallon container, the problem is not with the supply, it's with your ability to receive. If you'd get rid of the small container and get something larger, I could give you much more. It's the same principle with God. If we think the economy's too down, I could never afford that house I really want. My business will never expand I don't have the funding, I don't have the people behind me. Now you've got to get rid of that one gallon bucket, get rid of that small container. The God we serve is a big god. He has an ocean and unlimited supply. And Jesus said, according to your faith, it will be done unto you.
It's not according to God. God has all the power, all the resources in the world.
It's according to what we believe. Second Kings. There's the story about a widow. Her husband is diing. She doesn't have money to pay her bills. Now the creditors are coming to take her sons as payment. The only thing she has of any value is a small pot of oil.
To cook with.
The prophet Elisha showed up at her house and told her to do something that seemed strange. He said, go out to the neighbors and borrow as many of these big empty pots that hold oil that you can possibly find. He said specifically, borrow, not a few, get as many as you can. He was saying, in effect, don't short change yourself. Make room for abundance. She went out, and I can imagine she found five or six of these big empty pots. When she came home, Elisha told her to pour her oil into one of the empty containers. Looked like she would just transfer it from one container to the other, but the scripture says her.
Oil never ran out. She kept pouring and pouring.
God supernaturally multiplied it until all of those containers were completely filled.
Here's my point.
She was the one that determined how much oil she you would have. If she'd have borrored one container, she'd had one full, she'd have barred ten. She'd had ten full. If she had have barred fifty, she would have had fifty four. It wasn't up to God how much she increased. God has unlimited supplies. It was up to her. That's why the prophet said, borrow not a few. My question today, how many containers are you borrowing? What kind of vision do you have for your life. Some people have a barely get by container. They think, oh man, business is so slow. I'm hoping to just make it through this year. They've got a tiny little container. God says, all right, I'll feel your barely get by container. Some of you like this lady, you got five or six containers. You're believing to pay your bills, feed your family, have a little bit left over.
That's good.
God will fill those containers. But some of you have been coming to Lakewood. You are dangerous. You've got radical faith. You don't have one, you don't have five. You're calling home depot. I need a couple thousand empty containers. You know God can do exceedingly, abundantly above and beyond. You know he's el Shaday, the God of more than another. You're making room for far and beyond favor. You're positioning yourself under the open windows of heaven. God is saying you need to get ready. I'm going to fill your containers. It may not have happened in the past, but God has favor in your future. He has new opportunities, good breaks, blessings that will chase you down. You may not see how this could happen, but God has a thousand ways to increase you that you've never thought of. God has explosive blessings, blessings that can thrust you years ahead, like this woman. God wants to bless you beyond your normal income, beyond your salary, beyond your retirement. God can give you one good break, one promotion, one idea, one inheritance, and all those containers.
Are filled to overflow him.
Now make sure you don't shortchange yourself. God is saying borrow not a few. Don't have a narrow, limited vision. You may not see how it can happen, but that's.
Not your job.
Your job is to believe. I know a man that was believing to pay his house off. It was a standard thirty year mortgage and he had twenty three years left in the natural.
There was no way he could do it. All the circumstances said.
It would take him years in years, but he was bold enough to do what I'm asking us to do. Instead of thinking this is impossible, there's no way it's going to take me twenty three years. Now, he'd go around saying, Father, I want to thank you that you're Jehovah Jirah, the Lord, my provider.
I know my job is not my source. You are my source.
It may look impossible, but I know you can do the impossible.
He borrowed not a few containers, but many containers.
Several years ago, he received an inheritance from a family member that he had never met before.
He didn't even know they were related.
He was able to not only pay his house off, but he paid a friend's house off as well.
What was that explosive? Blessings? My prayer? God give us relatives like that.
How you say, Joel, I don't think I should focus on what God can do for me. That wouldn't be right, that'd be selfish. Listen to Psalm thirty five. Let them say continually, let the Lord be magnified, who takes pleasure.
In the prosperity of his children.
They were supposed to go around saying continually, let God be magnified, he takes pleasure in prospering me. I believe one reason they were supposed to say it all the time is so it would get down on the inside. When we hear something long enough, we start to believe it starts to affect our vision. Now, I wonder what would happen if all through the day instead.
Of dwelling on these negative.
Defeated thoughts like I'll never get out of debt, my business will never expand how.
Can I send my children to college? It's so expensive.
No, zip that up and start dwelling on God takes pleasure in prospering me. Good breaks are in my future. Explosive blessings are come in my way. I have some friends that bought property out in the country. They've had it for years and years, and they hardly paid anything for It's out in the middle of nowhere. Now while back, they got informed that the state was putting a new freeway that would go right through their property. They not only sold part of that for a substantial profit, but now they have several developers bidding on the rest of it because they're going to have so much freeway frontage. That property went from being worth hardly anything to being extremely valuable. That one good break put that family at a new level. The apostle Paul talks about this. He said in Ephesians two seven, in the ages to come, we would see the unlimited, immeasurable, surpassing greatness of God's favor. We need to start believing for this far and beyond favor. Don't go around expecting the same thing the same way year after year. Where you are is not where you're supposed to stay. God has new levels.
Get a bigger vision. It's like this man I heard about.
He was out fishing one day and he noticed a man on the other side of the bank fishing as well. And every time this other man caught a big fish, he would throw it back in the water, but when he caught small fish he would keep them.
This went on all day. He became so curious.
He finally went over to the man said, I don't mean to be nosy, but I can't help, but notice you throw back all the big fish and you keep all the small fish.
Why is that?
The man said, oh that's easy. All I have is a ten inch frying pan. It's sad to say, but there are a lot of people like that today. Instead of making room for increase, instead of believing that God can do something bigger, they go around with this ten inch frying pan. It's been in their family for generations. Mama used that frying pan. Great granddaddy used that frying pan. It's an attitude that says, I could never afford that nice house, I could never attend that college, will never be that successful.
We always struggle. We're just ten inch frying pan people. That's the way my father was raised. All he was exposed to was poverty, defeed, mediocrity.
In high school he got the Christmas basket that went to the poorest family in the school. When he is growing up, all he could afford to drink was something called blue John milk, real cheap milk, half milk and half water. My father couldn't stand it. To make matters worse, his name was John. Why did they have to name it my name blue John? Why didn't they name it blue Bill, blue Mark, blue Lee?
Roy.
He was tempted to think that was his lot in life. Every circumstance said he had a ten inch frying pan.
But when he was.
Seventeen years old, he gave his life to Christ, and something rose up on the inside, a boldness of faith, a confidence that said, my children will never be raised in the defeat that I was raised in. What was he doing getting rid of his ten inch frying pan? He went on to live a blessed, abundant, victorious life. No matter what environment you were raised in, no matter what may be trying to push you down or hold you back, God is saying I created you as the head and not the tail. I made you to lend and not borrow. I take pleasure in prospering you.
Friends.
God has some big fish in your future. Do yourself a favor. Get rid of that ten inch frying pan. Who says you can't rise out of that limited environment. Who says that you'll never own that home that you really want, Who says you can't send your children to a great college, Who says you'll never get out of debt, you'll never meet the right person, you'll never start that business. All it takes is one touch of God's favor, get an agreement with him. God has explosive blessings in your future, blessings that will thrust you years ahead. Second Peter says to God, a thousand years is like one day, and one day.
Is like a thousand years.
I heard somebody say, if you will stay in faith, God can take a thousand years of blessing and release it in one day. Are you bold enough to dare say, God, I'm asking you to release any blessings that my ancestors may have missed out on. Well, Joel, that's kind of far out. Yeah, we serve a far out God.
I know this couple.
They bought a house in another state and several months later they got a certified letter letting them know that a company had discovered oil under the whole neighborhood. They were offered an incredible contract not to sell their property, but to just let that company come and drill on a part of the property. Then they got a commission off of all twelve hundred homes in that neighborhood. That was years of blessing being released in one day. Well, that would never happen for me. I never get any good breaks. You're right, it's not going to happen for you. Why a ten inch frying pan. I'm asking you.
To enlarge your vision.
Believe that you can rise higher and not only accomplish your dreams. Not only pay off your house, but believe that you can pay off somebody else's house. Believe that you can build an orphanage somewhere. Believe that you can further the kingdom in a greater way. The God we serve is not a barely get by God. He's not a hold on till we make it to the sweep by and by. He is a more than enough God, a running over God, and exceedingly abundantly above.
And beyond God.
The scripture talks about how God has blessings stored up for those that honor him. God has contracts, houses, ideas, good breaks that already have your name on them. They've been stored up for you. Now, how do you see them released? Number one by honoring God by keeping him first place, and then number two by making room for it in your thinking. You've got to believe that something big is in your future. When you take the limits off of God and say, God, I don't see how this could happen in the natural. But I know you are a supernatural God. I know you have blessings that already have my name on it. So Lord, I just want to thank you for your far and beyond favor. You live like that, and you will see God amaze you with his goodness. And it's time for us, as God's people to rise up as the head and not to tell. It's time for us to rise up and lend and not borrow.
We are not.
Supposed to be second class and kind of just take all the leftovers.
We are children of the Most High God.
In the coming days, there is going to be a transfer of wealth, a shifting of large amounts of resources into God's people's hands. If you will be faithful with what you have and proved to God that you can be trusted to further His kingdom, then you're going to be a part of this transfer.
You're going to see unusual increase. And that's what this beautiful facility is.
When they built it back in the early nineteen seventies, they thought they were just building.
It as a sports arena.
They didn't realize they were building it for Lakewood Church. It already had our name on it. This is a part of that transfer. For years, Lakewood was on the other side of town. We started off in small wooden buildings, the original feed store. Then we went to metal buildings and they were all right, but you could see people kind of look down on you, see as second class.
But one day we came into an explosive blessing.
We saw the surpassing greatness of God, God's favor. Now we're in one of the premier facilities in all the world. That's what God's doing. He's stepping it up a notch.
You need to get ready. There are buildings that have your name on it.
There are contracts and good breaks, promotion ideas. Almighty God has stored up for you. Now do your part.
And make room for it in your thinking.
Victoria and I can look back over our life and see time and time again blessings God had stored up for us. All we did was dare to believe for big things. We got rid of our ten inch frying pan. We didn't listen to all the negative voices that tried to talk us out of it. We didn't get discouraged when we didn't see anything happening. We just kept making room for it in our thinking. We've seen God's blessings chase us down. When you have a big vision, you honor God with your life, you won't be able.
To outrun the good things God has in store. That's what happened to a friend of mine.
He's a member of Lakewood and about ten years ago he started his business with just one employee himself. Today he has a whole floor in a downtown office. Recently, he was awarded a contract to build one of the biggest refineries in the world, a multi billion dollar contract from China. He told how he was the least likely one to receive it. The other companies that were bidding were bigger, more qualified, more experienced. Some of them had been in business for decades and decades. Yet somehow God caused his.
Company to stand out. Now he's seen as one of the leaders in the field. That's a part of this transfer.
Just like him, God can cause contracts to come your way. He can cause you to stand out. In the natural, you may feel the least likely, but with the blessing of God on your life, the odds dramatically change.
You and God are a majority. You need to get ready.
There's going to be an explosion of God's goodness. It's going to be far and beyond anything you've ever seen before.
What is that?
It's what Paul talked about, the unlimited, immeasurable, surpassing greatness of God's favor. Here's how Proverbs thirteen twenty two puts it. The wealth of the ungodly will eventually find its way into the hands of the righteous, for whom it has been laid up for.
Notice.
God has already laid up contracts, houses, businesses, promotions, good breaks. They already have your name on them. And if you'll keep honoring God making room for it, then eventually they will find their way into your.
Hands, the hands of the righteous.
That means, right now, something is looking for you, not bad breaks, not disappointments, not lack me yocrty. You are the righteous. Increases looking for you. Favor is looking for you, Good breaks are looking for you. My question, are you making room for it? Are you gathering up enough empty containers to receive it? You've got to take the limits off of God, get rid of any old wine skins that are telling you you've gone as far as you can you never get any good breaks. This sounds good today, but this is not for you. This is for everybody else. You've made too many mistakes. You come from the wrong family. There will always be voices that try to talk you out of it. When you look at it in the natural, your own thoughts may tell you it's impossible, there's no way. But this is what faith is all about. You have to believe it before you see it. You've got to go around knowing that almighty God puts something on you. You have an advantage. It's his favor.
It causes you to stand out, It causes people to be good good to you.
It puts you at the right place at the right time. It may look impossible, but don't ever rule out the favor of God.
Isaiah said, Arise, shine, for the glory of the Lord is upon you.
It doesn't say that it's going to come on you one day, maybe when the economy gets better, when you graduate from college, when you get that good break.
No, it says God's glory is already on you.
And the word glory in the original language indicates God's favor, God's blessing, and God's splendor is on you in a heavy way. It indicates weight. If you're going to make room for increase.
You have to have the right image.
You are not less than intimidated weak. You are heavy with God's favor. You are dripping with God's goodness. Our attitude should be there's no telling what's in my future. I am weighted down, not with burdens, not with problems.
I am weighted down with the favor of God.
And when you really understand that you are heavy with favor, then it's easy to be heavy with expectation. It's easy to believe for big things when you know God has favored you in a big way. There's a couple that attends Lakewood and they were believing to have a child for a long time with no success. The lady finally became pregnant with triplets. They were very excited, very grateful. She had complications during the pregnancy and had to be admitted to the hospital. When the babies were born, they were very premature. They had to stay in the hospital for nearly six months. The doctors weren't even sure they were going to make it, but with much prayer and God's goodness and great care, eventually they were able.
To go home, healthy and home.
And these parents had insurance for part of the medical cost, but not all of it. Three months later, they got a bill from the hospital for two million dollars. They didn't know that's what they thought. They didn't know how they could pay that. It looked like they could be paying that off.
Their whole lifetime.
They didn't get discouraged, they didn't start complaining.
Their attitude was God, our life is in your hands. You've given us these beautiful babies. We know you can make a way where there is no way. They stayed in faith.
When the lady was in the hospital and wasn't able to attend our services, they would always send their tithes and offerings in faithful people honoring God didn't want to miss an opportunity to give. One day, the administrator of the hospital called said, We've never done this before, but we've decided to cancel your two million dollar death.
You know what that was heavy.
That was the surpassing greatness of God's power.
I'm asking you to believe for some of these explosive blessings. Stretch your faith.
Not just making room for God to get you through this year, God to help you survive.
God wants to catapult you to a new level.
Like this couple one good break and you're totally out of death. One person in your career takes off one touch of God's favor in your fifty years down the road. Now, don't go around thinking, Wow, this never happens for me. I never get any good breaks. Know all through the day, Father, I know you take pleasure in prospering me. I know I'm heavy with your favor. You told the widow to borrow not a few. So God, I take the limits off of you, and I make room for you to do something big in my life. I arise, shine, I know your glory is upon me. You have that kind of attitude, and you won't be able to.
Outrun God's goodness.
And when I look out at you today, not with my physical eyes, but through my eyes of faith, can I tell you.
You are heavy?
Not heavy with problems, not heavy with burdens.
You are heavy with God's favor.
You are dripping with God's goodness.
Now, if you happen to.
Have come in here with a ten inch frying pan, do me a favor.
Drop it off at the door before you leave.
We'll take it back to Walmart for you.
You go out of here with a big vision. Take the limits off of God.
If you will make room for His increase, then I believe in declare you're going to see explosive blessings.
Far and beyond favor.
You will accomplish your dreams, overcome your obstacles, and become everything God's created you to be in Jesus' name. If you receive it, can you give the Lord a shout of praise today? We never like to close our broadcast without giving you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life.
Would you pray with me?
Just say, Lord, Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I make you my Lord and savior.
Friends, if you've prayed that simple prayer, we believe you.
Got born again. Get in a good Bible based church. Keep God first place. He's going to take your places that you've never dreamed of.
Thanks so much for listening to today's message.
I hope you'll subscribe so you can receive the latest podcast to keep you encouraged and inspired all through the week.
Help us to continue to share the message of hope with those all around the world. Visit Joelosting dot com or click the link in the description to partner with us today.
We hope you'll share this message with a friend and be sure to follow us on social media.
We're praying for you. I know God's best is still ahead. We'll see you next time.