Joel Osteen - A Thousand Times More (05/20/2024)
Joel Osteen preaches that God desires to bless His people a thousand times more than they currently are, drawing from Moses' blessing in Deuteronomy 1:11, and encourages believers to receive this extraordinary favor by faith, illustrating it through biblical examples and his own journey to delivering his 1,000th message.
A Thousand Times More Blessing
I want to talk to you today аbout: A Thousand Times More. God’s dream for your life is much bigger than your own. The places he is going to take you, the doors that are going to open, the people you are going to meet are going to far exceed anything you have thought. You are listening today to my 1,000th message. I did not think I could do one message, I did not know this was in me. What God has for you is going to boggle your mind. The favor you are going to step into, the dreams you are going to accomplish, the giants you are going to defeat. Moses said in Deuteronomy chapter 1:11, «May the Lord God of your fathers, make you a thousand times more than you are».
God has a thousand times more blessing for you, a thousand times more joy, thousand times more influence, thousand times more resources. That means you have plenty not only to pay off your house, but to pay off your family members houses. Thousand times more opportunity: you are not hoping to get a good break, you have to choose which opportunity is the best. Thousand times more energy: you are not dragging through the day tired and run down, you are full of vitality, supernatural strength. You run and do not get weary. Now, the whole key is you have to receive this thousand times blessing, you have to let it take root in your spirit, cause in your mind it will say, «There is no way, this will never happen for me, Joel. I do not have the talent, I do not come from the right family, I have reached my limits». Tune all that out and get in agreement with God. One touch of his favor can make you a thousand times more. One idea, one contract, one divine connection can catapult you further than you have ever dreamed.
The Israelites' Perspective
Imagine what the Israelites thought when they heard «A thousand times more». They were former slaves, they had been mistreated, taken advantage of, now they were wandering in the desert, no place to live. I am sure they thought, «Moses, you have the wrong people. Maybe that happened for the Pharaoh, his family, or maybe the royalty in Ethiopia, they have influence, but we are stuck out here in the desert». God knew everything about them, he knew what they had been through, he knew what they did not have, he knew how impossible it looked, yet he still told them «Get ready, I am going to make you a thousand times more than you are. I am going to give you houses that you did not build. You are going to reap from vineyards that you did not plant». There was scarcity out in the desert, just enough to survive, but they were coming into a land where it took two people to carry the cluster of grapes, a land of overflow, abundance, a thousand times more.
God is not limited by your resources, your position, your background. He is bringing you into a wide and spacious place. Now, do not talk yourself out of it, talk yourself into it, «Lord, I receive this thousand times blessing. Lord, thank you for a thousand times more influence, a thousand times more resources, a thousand times more creativity». «Well, Joel, that is kind of far out», yes, we serve a far out God. And today is not for ordinary people, this is for radical believers, this is for people that will take the limits off of God and believe for the exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond favor that God has in store.
Joel’s Personal Testimony
I have seen this in my own life. I did not think I could get up and minister, I told my father for 17 years that I was not a pastor. One Sunday he asked me to speak for him, just give him a break, and I said that I would. I sat down to write my first message, and it was so painful trying to think of what to say. I got through and thought, «Thank God that is over, I will never have to do it again». And it is not that I did not want to, I just did not think I was able, did not have the training, I was not dynamic like my father. But when he passed that next week, I knew I was supposed to step up and pastor the church. And I spoke my second message and walked off the platform, and thought said, «You are done. You have nothing to share next week. Your well is dry». And it seemed like the truth, but on that next Wednesday, when I sat down to write my message, much to my surprise something else came out.
I did message number three, then message 25, then 240, then 560, then 920. I can tell you today on my 1,000th message that we serve a God who can make you a thousand times more than you are. But if you would have told me back when I was behind the scenes, doing the television production that one day I would be a pastor, and I would have a thousand messages, and we would have church in a former basketball arena, I would have said, «You have the wrong person. There is no way that could happen». You do not know where God is taking you. Maybe you have only heard what you cannot do, and how you do not measure up. Or even your own thoughts like with me, «You do not have what it takes. You are not as good as your father, Joel. Just accept where you are». Those are all lies to try to keep you from the greatness God put in you. Receive this into your spirit. Because you are obedient, the Lord God of your fathers is making you a thousand times more than you are. Thousand times more successful, thousand times more influence, a thousand times more wisdom. We hear that, our mind goes tilt-tilt-tilt, that is impossible. You have to turn your mind off and let this take root down in your spirit. This is what faith is all about.
The Widow of Zarephath
First kings chapter 15, there was a famine in Israel, and the people were struggling to survive. God told the prophet Elijah to go to the city of Zarephath, for there was a widow that would take care of him. When he arrived, he asked the woman to make him something to eat. She said, «Sir, I would love to, but all I have is enough flour and enough oil to make me and my son one last meal». She had already decided they were going to eat, then that would be it, she was done. Elijah said, «I understand, but please do me a favor, and make me a meal first, and then you and your son can have what is left over». That seems so selfish, she could have said, «Who do you think you are? Not going to feed you, we are starving». But sometimes God will ask you to do things that do not make sense. It is a test. «Joel, will you speak that first message even though you do not feel qualified»? Or «Will you forgive that person that does not deserve it»? «Will you be good to that neighbor even when you need the funds»?
This woman had every right to turn him down, but she took that step of faith and cooked him a meal first. She noticed in those containers, even though she had used the flour and the oil, there was still some left. She thought, «That is strange», she made another meal. The next day there was still more flour, more oil. When you do things God asked you to do that do not make sense, when you obey when you do not understand, God will do things that do not make sense. The oil and the flour never ran out during the whole famine. It is significant that the famine was 3.5 years, that is over a thousand days. She went from only enough for one meal to having over a thousand meals. What happened? She came into the thousand times more blessing.
When you look at your circumstances, like this woman you may think, «I do not have enough. I do not have the talent, the strength, the finances». You are looking at it in the natural, but we serve a supernatural God. He knows how to multiply, how to sustain, how to open doors. He can part Red Seas, he can bring water out of a rock. He can take five loaves and feed a multitude. He can use a slingshot to bring down a giant. He has not brought you this far to leave you, he has supernatural provision, supernatural healing, supernatural breakthroughs.
Listening to the Right Voices
If you are going to see this thousand times more blessing, it is important what voices you listen to. I got my nerve up and spoke my first sermon, my father was so proud, beaming with joy. I never dreamed that would be the last Sunday of his life. He had a heart attack, and went to be with the Lord. I started speaking on the weekends. I was very unsure of myself, nervous, intimidated. I knew everyone had come because of my father, now I was up there, and I did not have the experience or the training. The third message I ever spoken, I was walking through the lobby that Sunday after the service, and there were two older ladies in front of me talking, and they did not know I was behind them. One said, «He is not as good as his father». The other answered, «Yeah, I do not think the church is going to make it». That was the worst possible thing I could have heard. They might as well said, «He is a loser, he should quit right now». I was already insecure, wondering if I could do it.
The enemy is strategic. He knows how to plant doubt, discouragement, inferiority at just the right time. Often he will use people. This was a critical moment, my destiny hung in the balance. I was tempted to believe them, «Man, I am not good at this. Nobody is going to listen. It is going to go downhill». Right when I was about to agree with them, something rose up in me like a fire, like a holy anger. I thought to myself, «You do not determine my destiny. You did not call me, you did not anoint me. I am not who you say I am, I am who God says I am. I am favored, I am confident, people like me, I will become who I was created to be». That was a destiny moment. I could have shrunk back and believe what they said, I would have stopped at message number three. 997 messages would have laid dormant, never being spoken, because I listened to the wrong voices.
Tune out all the negative, and get in agreement with God. He said, «A thousand times more». He says, «You will lend and not borrow». He said, he is restoring health back into you. He said, «Your children are mighty in the land». He said, «Your latter days will be better than your former days». And do not let wrong voices talk you out of it. The enemy would love to keep you from your thousand times more. He will use discouragement, sometimes people that try to push you down, «Man, you will never get well, I saw the medical report. You cannot break that addiction, you have had it for so so long. You cannot lead your company, you do not have the talent». He would not be talking to you if he did not know a thousand times more is coming. God will give you grace for every season. Like with me, you will feel that fire, that knowing that what is being said is not your destiny. That is when you have to rise up and say, «No, thanks, I am not who you say I am, I am who God says I am».
Dodie Osteen’s Healing
This is what my mother did when she was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer, back in 1981, and given a few weeks to live. She was very sick, weighed 89 pounds. Medically speaking there was nothing more that could be done. Voices whispered in the night, «You can be buried in that new red dress». She could have been depressed, gone around defeated. All throughout the day I would hear my mother quoting scriptures, «I will live and not die. By his stripes I am healed. With long life God will satisfy me». It did not happen overnight, but little by little my mother got better and better. Was 43 years ago. One report said, «A few weeks to live», but my mother came into that thousand times more blessing. 43 years is over 15,000 days. God has some of these thousand times more for you. The medical world may say, «Just a little while», but Joel Osteen — God Has The Final Say. Why do you not believe for a thousand times more? Those ladies said I was done at message number three, but a thousand messages later I am still going strong.
But often we look at the medical report, and what we do not have and «Man, these ladies are not for me», but when you come into that thousand times blessing supernatural things happen, things that you cannot explain.
Levels of Favor and Anointing
In the scripture Samson killed a thousand enemies with the jawbone of a donkey. Not a sword, not a rifle, not a slingshot, but with the jawbone. How could that be? He had the thousand times more blessing. With this blessing you will defeat giants that are much bigger, you will overcome the cancer, the addiction, the bad childhood. You will accomplish dreams that seemed impossible. There is a divine empowerment on you to do things that seem far over your head. The scripture talks about different levels of favor and anointing. Elisha received a double portion of Elijah’s anointing. Double is great, talks about when you sow a seed you can receive a 30-fold return, 60-fold, even hundredfold. 100 times is amazing, but when God says, «I am going to make you a thousand times more than you are», he is talking about things that you cannot imagine, things that you did not see coming. If you are going to receive this thousand times more, there has to be an expectancy, a faith that says, «God, I believe that you have greater things for me».
God gave David an incredible promise that his family would always be on the throne, and that they would have a lasting dynasty. Was more than David could imagine. He said in 2 Samuel 7, «God, who am I that you would do this? I am just a shepherd, I come from an ordinary family». He was so overwhelmed and so amazed, trying to take it all in. He could have stopped there and thought, «It seems impossible, I do not see how that could happen», but David understood that he had to get in agreement with God. The only promises that will come to pass in your life are the promises that you let take root. David said in verse 25, «Lord God of Israel, you have declared this over me, and I am bold enough to pray it. God do what you promised concerning my family». He was saying, «This seems far out, but God, since you said it, I am in agreement: let it happen».
God is saying to you today, «I am going to make you a thousand times more than you are. I am going to open new doors. I am going to bring new people. You are going to discover gifts you did not know were in you. You are going to step into favor, leadership, influence that you have never imagined». Now you can discount this, «I do not see how, Joel, looks impossible. You do not know my background». David was a shepherd, the Israelites were former slaves, why do you not do like David and say, «God, let what you have spoken over my life come to pass. I will receive the thousand times more blessing». You do not have to figure out how, the how is not up to you, all you have to do is believe. That is when the Creator of the universe goes to work.
Quail in the Desert
Moses was in the desert one time, the Israelites started complaining about not having any meat to eat. They had manna every morning, something like bread, but they were tired of that. They said, «Moses why did you bring us out here in the desert to die? We could have stayed in Egypt as slaves, but at least we would had some good food». God was so fed up with them, he told Moses, «Tell the people I am going to give them meat for a whole month». They were out in the middle of the desert. Moses said, «God, that is not possible. Even if we butchered all of our flocks and all of our herds, we would not have that much meat». I love the way God answered back. He said (numbers 11:23), «Moses, when did I become weak»? He was saying, «Have you forgotten who I am, the all powerful Creator of the universe»?
And sometimes we look at our situations, think, «A thousand times more? How could that be possible? Here is where I work, here is what I make, here is the family I come from». We are telling God all the reasons it cannot happen. God is saying, «When did I become weak? I spoke worlds into existence. I shut the mouths of hungry lions. I gave Sarah a baby at 90 years old. I opened prison doors for Paul and Silas. I healed Joel’s mother of terminal cancer. I changed a council member’s mind and gave you the Compaq Center». When God says, «I am going to make you a thousand times more», he is not scratching his head trying to figure out how. He is not checking with your bank account, your education, the family you came from. This is not dependent on what you have, it is dependent on what he has. All he needs from us is to obey and to take the limits off of him, «Lord, I am in agreement with you, a thousand times more».
These two million people out in the desert, God shifted the winds and caused a huge flock of quail to fly into the camp. The scripture says, «No one gathered less than 50 bushels of quail». They had meat for over a month. What is interesting is quail normally would not fly that far away from the water, they would stay close to the shore. But when the wind shifted, they were so strong that it blew them into the Israelites camp. One shift and you will see a thousand times more, one shift and the quail will come looking for you. They did not have to go find it, go hunt, God brought the provision to them. You do not have to make this happen, force doors to open, manipulate people. No, just keep honoring God, and he will bring the thousand times more, he will make things happen that you could not make happen.
Generational Blessing
Moses said the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more than you are. This is implying a generational blessing. «The God of your fathers». There is favor you are going to see because of those that went before you in your family line. You may have never met them, but they honored God, they prayed, they served, they helped others, but they did not see the fullness of what they should have. Some were overlooked, mistreated, not given what they deserved, but they did not complain, they were not bitter, they just kept doing the right thing. God is keeping the records, part of this thousand times more is payback for what should have been your family’s. There are blessings that have been stored up because of their faithfulness. Your relatives paid the price for you to step into houses you did not build, vineyards that you did not plant.
As I speak my thousandth message today, I realized I did not get here by myself. I can look back and see the faithfulness of those that went before me. My parents pastored here for 40 years, I am reaping seeds that they have sown. My grandfather worked at a refinery in Baytown for decades, never missed a day of work. When he retired, he would come down to the church and do repairs, I would see him under the portable buildings fixing the plumbing. He was an orphan growing up, nobody wanted him, passed from house to house, but today his grandchildren, his great-grandchildren, we are seeing favor because of him. God is releasing some of those stored up blessings.
As a little boy I would travel with my family during the summer to these conferences where my father would speak. I would see him up there in front of a couple thousand people ministering. And everyone loved my dad, he was so strong and inspirational. I would watch as a little boy and think, «Look at my father. How can he do that? He is amazing», I would beam with joy. In my mind he was so far above anything I could ever become. And I was fine with that, I love celebrating my father. Those 17 years that I worked behind the scenes, my goal was to make him look good, help him to shine. But you do not know what God has put in you. I was in awe that he could speak to a couple thousand, when today through the media I speak to a thousand times more every day. I never dreamed I would be here.
To honor my father, today I wore his shoes. These are the shoes that Victoria and I bought him 37 years ago. He wore them for many years, and when he passed I wore them in that first year that I ministered in 1999. Today a thousand messages later I can say, «The God of my fathers is a faithful God. He has taken me where I have never dreamed and brought things out of me I did not know I had». Like that widow with the meal every week, these messages just keep coming. When my father wrote a book, it would sell about 10,000 copies. I never thought I could write a book, I barely passed English in high school. Victoria was always encouraging me to write one, but I thought, «Man, what would I say»? Eventually I wrote my first one, «Your Best Life Now». It sold 10 million copies, a thousand times more than my father’s.
And I am not here to brag on me, I am bragging on the greatness of our God. I want to light a new fire in you to know that God has greater things. I can tell you firsthand, he has a thousand times more for you. Will you receive it? Will you start expecting, believing, praying bold prayers? I get up every morning and I still think, «How did this happen»? I did not know this was in me. Who knows where God is taking you? It is not depending on your talent, your background, who you know. Keep your heart pure before God, walk humbly before him. Let go of things you know are holding you back, compromise, wrong people, lack of integrity. Your destiny is too important. God is looking for people he can trust with a thousand times more. Not perfect people, but people that have a heart to please him.
I have not worn these shoes in 24 years. One thing I have noticed this time is they do not fit me anymore. Either the leather has shrunk up or my feet have grown, but they are not comfortable. What I have come to understand is they are not supposed to fit. What God has for you is greater than those that went before you. Honor them, show them respect, but do not settle where they were. God is a progressive God. He wants every generation to increase. Your parents, your family, they may have done well, but the God of your fathers is going to make you a thousand times more than you are. Get ready for something that you have not seen, favor you did not deserve, good breaks that find you, quail coming into the camp. God has some explosive blessings, blessings that will catapult you ahead.
Declaration and Prayer
Let me ask you: have you ever prayed this prayer, «God, make me a thousand times more than I am»? That is not being selfish, that is getting in agreement with God. Do not go through life with a little vision, thinking you have reached your limits. Try a different approach: every morning, «Father, thank you for a thousand times more», that is your faith being released, that is what allows God to exceed your expectations. And on my 1,000th message, I want to declare this over you, receive it into your spirit: may the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more than you are, a thousand times more influence, a thousand times more resources, a thousand times more strength, a thousand times more fulfillment for the glory of God to build his kingdom, in Jesus' name. And if you receive it, can you say amen? I will receive it as well!