Joel Osteen - Supernatural Provision
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I want to talk to you today about Supernatural Provision. When we look at our circumstances sometimes we don't see how we can get ahead, how we can accomplish our dreams, how we can own and not just rent, or how we can live an inheritance to our grandchildren, like the scripture says, with inflation, gas prices higher, food cost and more. In the natural we may not see a way, but God is a supernatural God. When we come to the end of our resources, he steps in and says, "I'll make streams in the desert. I'll take five loaves and two fish and multiply them to feed thousands".
When Peter didn't have money to pay his taxes, Jesus told him to go to the lake. And the first fish he caught had two coins in it, enough to pay his and Jesus taxes. God was showing us that he has supernatural provision. He's not limited by what you don't have, he's not limited by how were raised, the family you come from. There may be lack, struggle, barely get by. That's how it's been, but you've been raised up to break the negative cycle. You're the one that's going to come out of not-enough into more-than-enough. God is not a get by God, he's an overflow God. Don't live with a lack mentality, not enough, limited mindset. Have an abundant mentality, "I will lend and not borrow. My cup runs over. Because I honor God, I live under the open windows of heaven. Blessings that I cannot contain".
You have to prosper in your mind before you prosper in your circumstances. You have to give God permission to bless you. Are you in agreement with what he wants to do? Or are you thinking you're stuck? "Well, I've never seen prices this high. I don't think I could ever get out of this neighborhood. The stock market has me so worried". You're looking at everything in the natural, you have to realize: God is supernatural. The good news is: he's not having a down year, he's not scratching his head thinking, "I didn't see inflation coming. This pandemic threw me off. I'm worried about my 401k". God owns it all. He made streets out of gold. You're connected to a supply line that will never run dry. The economy may go up or down, but that's not your source, God is your source.
And yes, we're grateful for our jobs, grateful for employment, a good boss, but God is not depended on those things. He has provision in your future beyond your normal salary, beyond your training, beyond your experience. He's not looking at what people look at: the qualifications, the talent. He's looking at your heart. He sees how faithful you are, how you always keep him first place, how you have a desire to help others, to build the kingdom, to dream to accomplish what seems over your head, that's when God will step in and show you supernatural provision, open doors ever dream would open, bring income, resources, contracts that will thrust you further than you've imagined.
"Well, Joel, this sounds good, but my boss doesn't give me any credit. My bills are out-pacing my income, and I take one step forward two steps back. I don't think I'll ever have abundance". Let me give you a key: if you have a poor mouth, you're going to have a poor life. God wants to show you supernatural increase, but you can cancel it out with a negative tongue. Your words can speak death or they can speak life. You can speak lack or you can speak abundance. You can speak not enough or you can speak more than enough.
Psalm 35:27 says, "Let them continually say, 'Let the Lord be magnified, who takes pleasure in the prosperity of his children'". They were supposed to go around continually saying, "God takes pleasure in prospering me". God knew if they started talking negative, lack, not enough, they would have had a limited mindset, they would have never seen the blessing, the favor, the abundance that he had in store. Every time you're tempted to talk about what you don't have, how you can accomplish the dream, turn it around, "Father, thank you that you take pleasure in prospering me. I may not see how, but I know you have supernatural provision, supernatural increase. You're not limited by what limits me".
Luke chapter five, Jesus was at the Sea of Galilee, and there were people crowded all around, so he asked Peter if he could borrow his boat to teach the people. He'd never met Peter, but Peter agreed. Jesus pushed out from the shore and talked. When he was finished, he told Peter to launch back into the deep, and he would catch a great haul of fish. Well, Peter had fished all night and caught nothing. He was a professional fisherman. He knew when to fish, where to fish. Jesus was a teacher, a rabbi. I'm sure he thought, "Who is this man telling me how to fish? He needs to stick to teaching, and I'll stick to fishing". He said in effect, "Jesus, this doesn't make sense to me. Nevertheless, at your word I'm going to do it". Went out and caught so many fish that his nets begin to break. He had to call another boat over, they were both so loaded down they were about to sink.
What's interesting is there were no fish there a couple of hours before, they had fished all night. But God controls the fish. He knows where your provision is, and he knows how to get it to you. It may not make sense, may not be logical, what you were expecting. God likes to do things out of the ordinary, uncommon, so you'll know it was the hand of God.
Peter let Jesus borrow his boat, that was his business, his source of income. He could have said, "Jesus, I'm busy, I'm tired. I don't know, you go find another boat", but he gave Jesus his resource, he was generous. This was symbolic of putting God in first place. Proverbs 3:9 says, "Honor the Lord with your income and the first fruits of all your crops. Then he will fill your barns with abundance and your vats will overflow". If you're going to see supernatural provision, you have to be a giver. Honor God with your first fruits, the first part of your income. Invite him into your business. If you work forty hours a week, give him your first fruits. "God, you can use my boat these first 4 hours. I'm giving you this income". When you let God use your boat, you're setting yourself up for overflow, for abundance.
Sometimes we think the opposite, "Well, Joel, if I give I'm going to have less". No, that's a seed that you're sowing. You can't give God something without him giving you more back in return. Peter owned the boat, but God owned the sea. God controls the universe. When you let him use your boat, he'll cause the fish to find you, he'll cause contracts, opportunities, good breaks to track you down. The scripture says when you give it will be given back to you, but not in the same measure: pressed down, shaken together, and running over. That's the way our God is: a net-breaking God.
It's significant that when Peter met Jesus for the first time, he had just fished all night and caught nothing. His mindset was lack, scarcity, not enough. Jesus was about to choose Peter to become his first disciple. He could have thanked him for letting him use the boat, said, "I want you to come be my disciple", but Jesus didn't want Peter to have that limited mindset associated with him. Now, he told him to go back into the deep. That's when he caught so many fish that his nets begin to break. When he came back to the shore, Jesus said, "Peter, from now on you're going to become a fisher of men". Now Peter's mindset was abundance, overflow, more than enough.
That's the mentality Jesus wanted him to have. Not a fisher of men barely getting by, never catch anything, "Can accomplish my dream". No, have a different mindset. You may have seasons where you caught nothing, but that is not your destiny. Abundance is coming. God has some net-breaking blessings in your future. You couldn't make it happen. You fish all night and caught nothing. You did your best, worked hard, honored God, but you still came up: empty your time is coming. God is directing those fish right now. He's lining up supernatural provision, something you've never seen. Boats sinking blessings, increase that not only affects you, but it spills over to your children, your grandchildren. You're going to have to call some other boats to take in the overflow. David said it this way, "My cup runs over". God's going to bless you to where future generations will get the run over. Your family line will be blessed, because you honored God. You had an abundant mentality, God entrusted you with a net-breaking blessing.
I talked to a woman that works in commercial real estate, and she does it part time, her main focus was to raise her children, and she volunteers at the church very faithful. A friend of hers had a large piece of property right on the main freeway that he wanted to sell. And he's a high-powered businessman. He could have called his attorneys to sell it, hire the leading real estate company. Instead he called this woman and listed it with her. He wasn't in a big hurry to sell the property, and it sat there year after year. And she kept raising the price from several million dollars to 12 million, to over 20 million.
People told her it would never sell for that much, she was wasting her time, but not long ago a large company came and wanted to purchase the property. They were a huge brand, offices all over a world. She thought the owner would want to bring his legal team to lead the negotiations, but he said, "No, you're in charge". She wasn't skilled in negotiating large contracts, but she said, "When I went in there I felt the boldness, a confidence. I knew the favor of God was on my life". She stood firm, wouldn't back down on what she wanted for the property. After 2 days they said, "We know the value is not this high, but something just feels right, so we're going to purchase it". That one good break will spill over to her children and her grandchildren. She told me in the lobby, "Joel, I never dreamed God would bless me in such a way".
God has some of these net-breaking blessings for you. He has supernatural provision, supernatural increase. He's not limited by your education, your experience, who you know, how you were raised. He knows how to bring the fish to you. You do your part, and let him in your boat. Honor him with income, and God will bless you in ways you've never imagined.
When Peter saw how many fish were in his nets, the scripture (Luke 5:9) says, "He was awestruck at the size of his catch". God is going to do some things that leave you awestruck. You thought you'd be paying your house off for 30 years, then suddenly a net-breaking blessing, a contract, a good break, an inheritance, and now you're in the overflow. You thought you'd always be in that neighborhood, you thought you were stuck in that environment, then suddenly a new door opened, a promotion where you weren't next in line, the fish came looking for you. "Well, Joel, this is encouraging, but I don't see how it can happen". You don't have to see how. Leave the how up to God, just believe that it will happen. The reason we can't see it is we're natural and God's supernatural. We're limited, but God is unlimited. If you get stuck on the how, you'll talk to yourself of it. Your mind will come up with a thousand reasons why it's not going to happen. Now, God's ways are not our ways. He has ways that you've never thought of.
When God delivered the Israelites out of slavery and parted the Red Sea, these two million people were in the desert, headed toward the Promised Land. There were no grocery stores out there, no fast food, no DoorDash, and no water. They begin to complain, "Moses, why did you bring us out here to die? We're so thirsty, we need something to drink". God didn't go to all that trouble to bring them out of slavery, free them from the Pharaoh to let them starve to death. God will allow situations where it looks impossible, so he can show us his supernatural provision. Don't be surprised if you face times where all the facts say, "There's no way. Your resources are limited. You fished all night and caught nothing". No, God is up to something. He didn't bring you this far to leave you.
God told Moses to take his staff and strike a rock. When he did, out there in the desert water started pouring out of a rock: supernatural provision. God can make things happen that defy the odds, things that you couldn't plan for. You have to trust him. Everything in your mind will tell you, "You'll never have abundance, you'll always be thirsty, you'll always struggle, have debt, not enough". That maybe true logically speaking, what I'm saying is: God will defy logic. He knows how to bring water out of a rock. The scripture says, "He makes streams in the barren places, rivers in the desert". There may be some barren things in your life, you don't see how it could ever change, now get ready, God's about to strike the rock, you're going to see provision that you can't explain, good breaks that don't make sense, increase that's not logical. The same God that brought water out of a rock can cause promotion to find you, the right people to track you down, abundance to come knocking on your door.
See, if we can do this in our own strength, we wouldn't really need God. But God will put dreams in your heart on purpose that you cannot accomplish by yourself. You don't have the resources, the funds, the connections. It's easy to get discouraged and let what we see in the natural talk us out of it. This is where you have stir up your faith and say, "God, I believe, you have supernatural provision, that you have net-breaking blessings, that you can still bring water out of a rock".
I know this couple, they were believing to have children for a long long time with no success. Well, after much prayer and fertility treatment she became pregnant with triplets. They were so excited, but during the pregnancy there were complications, and the babies were born prematurely, weighing less than a pound each. They had to stay in neonatal intensive care for 6 months. By the grace of God they grew and today they're perfectly healthy. These parents had insurance, but it didn't cover everything. A few months after they brought their children home they received a bill for $2 million dollars. The father was a police officer, the mother worked in education. In the natural they would be paying on that bill the rest of their life, they'd always be in debt. But God knows how to bring water out of a rock. He knows how to the fish to find you. They didn't start complaining. They didn't get discouraged they kept thanking God for supernatural provision, declaring what he promised, "We will lend and not borrow. Father, thank you that our cup runs over, that we have more than enough, that you take pleasure in prospering us".
If you're going to see God's blessings, you have to see this abundant mentality. You have to know he's Jehovah Jireh, the Lord your provider. This phrase comes from when Abraham was on top of mount Moriah, about to sacrifice his son Isaac. Right before he went through it, an angel came and told him not to do it, to stop. It was a test of his obedience. He needed an animal to sacrifice. He heard this noise in the brush, and he looked over and saw this ram caught in the thicket. He took the ram and it became the sacrifice. Abraham named that place "Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide". What's interesting is rams aren't normally found that high up in the mountains, but God knows how to get the provision to you. The ram was waiting on Abraham. It was going up the mountain before Abraham even knew he needed it, it was already in route. God has some rams waiting for you. He's already lined up your provision, your abundance. Before you had the setback, he put the ram in place.
Maybe you grew up in a family that lack and struggle, don't worry, rams are in your future. May look you're stuck, you don't have the funding for your dream, how can you expand your business? Stay encouraged, a ram will be waiting for you. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord your provider has already put the abundance, the good breaks, the supernatural provision. It's already in your path. That's why we can stay in peace, he's the Lord our provider. Not our job our provider, our boss our provider, our salary our provider. No, the God who spoke worlds into existence, the God who makes streets out of gold, the God who calls his fish to show up, the God who brings water out of a rock, the God who puts rams in the thicket, the God who said, "You'll lend and not borrow", the God who said, "Your cup will run over", that's who's ordering your steps, that's who's planned out your future. You may know him as your Savior, that's the most important. You may know him as your healer, that's good. But you need to know him as your provider. He has supernatural provision.
This couple with the triplets, they didn't see how it could work out. They just kept standing in faith, and kept believing that God would make a way. And right before Christmas that year the hospital called said, "We've never done this before, but we've decided to cancel your two-million-dollar debt". Like Peter, they were awestruck. They didn't see that coming. Like Abraham, that was a ram waiting for them. You don't know what God has waiting for you. It's hidden right now, you can't see it, but at the right time it's going to show up. It's not going to be ordinary, something you were expecting, is going to leave you awestruck, net-breaking blessings, abundance that runs over to your children, increase that takes you from just enough to more than enough.
In 2013 there was a young African-American woman working as a nurse. And she and her husband were pregnant with another child, and unfortunately the baby was born with no brain functioning. Six months later the child passed. She was so distraught, and so empty, didn't feel like she had any purpose. She wasn't raised in church and didn't have any kind of religious background, but in that dark time she turned to her faith, she got involved in a good church in another state, started volunteering, supporting, never missed a service. To try to distract herself from the pain of the loss, she started researching hair products and experimenting with different things that work for her. She put this on her Instagram: tips to take care of your hair, ways to style it. She thought maybe one day she'd open up a hair salon.
Much to her surprise, her Instagram blew up. There was so much interest in her hair products that she started selling them online. She began in her kitchen, it grew and grew, they moved to her garage. Over the next few years it took off into a multi-million-dollar business. In 2019, Procter & Gamble purchased her company for an amount she never dreamed. She said it was largest series a investment ever obtained by an African-American woman. On top of that they committed $10 million dollars to her charity to help educate underprivileged children.
You don't know what kind of rams God has waiting for you. When you honor him, you live with an abundant mentality, he'll do things you didn't see coming. Not just meet your needs, but supernatural provision, uncommon, unusual, things that you can't explain. She told how she didn't feel qualified to run a company that large, she'd never been to business school, she was trained in health care. Some of her friends told her she was making a mistake leaving her nursing job. But God has things in your future that are not going to make sense to everyone: water coming out of a rock, that doesn't make sense. Peter go back and launch into the deep, there were no fish there a few hours ago, now there's a net-breaking blessing. Don't let people talk you out of what God put in your heart. His ways are not our ways. The blessing is in the obedience. The ram is waiting for you where God told you to go.
Out in the desert, every morning the Israelites had manna on the ground, something like bread to eat. That's how they survived. But the people got tired of it, they complained to Moses, "We want some meat to eat. Back in Egypt, yeah, we were slaves, but at least we had fish and steaks, now all all we have is this dried up bread". God didn't like their complaining, but he's so merciful, he told Moses that he would give the people meat not for a day, but for a whole month. Moses said, "God, what are you talking about? There are two million people out here. Even if we butchered all of our flocks, all of our herds, there wouldn't be enough". God didn't say, "You know what, Moses? You're right. I miscalculated. What was I thinking"? No! God said, "Moses, is there any limit to my power"? He was saying, "Don't you realize that I control the universe, I put rams in a bush, I tell fish get in a net, I tell water to come out of a rock, I tell Compaq Centers to come to my people"?
The scripture says, "God shifted the wind and caused hundreds of thousands of quail to come in from the sea". Like the ram, quail or not normally found in the desert, they wouldn't go that far from water, but God controls the quail. That one shift and they had steak dinners for a whole month. Numbers 11:32 says, "No one gathered less than 50 bushel of quail". Let's assume there were 10 quail in a bushel, then everyone gathered 500 quail. There were 2 million people there. That adds up to a billion quail.
We're praying about our light bill, look at how God thinks: abundance, overflow, more than enough. They were all struck at what God had done. Like with them God is about to shift some things in your life, he's going to cause the quail to come looking for you. You couldn't have made it happen. You didn't have the connections, the experience, the background, but you kept God first place. You've been faithful, you've honored him with your first fruits, now he's going to cause the wind to blow in your direction. A shift from borrowing to lending, a shift from renting to owning, a shift from employee to employer, a shift from not enough to more than enough.
Now you may not see how this can happen, your mind is telling you, "There's no way. How could you get out of debt? How could you leave your family better? How could you accomplish that dream"? God is asking you what he asked Moses, "Is there anything too hard for me"? You're looking at it in the natural, but God has supernatural provision. One shift and you'll go from no-fish to a net-breaking blessing, from playing with hair products to a business exploding, from a two-million-dollar medical bill to being debt free.
What are you looking at: how big the lack, the debt the struggle is? Or how about to how big your God is? Have a new perspective. Let God be magnified who takes pleasure in prospering me. Get in agreement with God. Live with this abundant mentality. He has some rams waiting for you. He's already lined up your net-breaking blessings. If you do this, I believe and declare: you're going to step in the supernatural provision. New doors opening, good breaks finding, new contracts, businesses, opportunities. You're going to be awestruck at the goodness of God. I believe it and declare it in Jesus name. If you receive it, can you say amen? Amen!