Joel Osteen - Help from Heaven
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I want to talk to you today about Help From Heaven. We all face challenges that we don’t see how we can overcome. We don’t have finances for our dreams or our health isn’t improving, maybe a child is still off course. It’s easy to get discouraged and feel alone and even helpless. That’s the way David felt. He was hiding in a cave, trying to survive. King Saul was chasing him through the desert; Saul had a whole army coming after him, and David was by himself. He had no weapons, no protection. What made it worse is David had done no wrong; he’d been good to King Saul. He played the harp when Saul was depressed; he was Saul’s armor bearer. But Saul became jealous; he couldn’t stand the favor on David’s life, and now he was making David miserable.
Have you ever been good to someone, but they turned on you? You did your best at work, but people tried to push you down. You worked hard for a dream, but something unfair happened. Now you feel stuck. David could have been bitter and angry. «God, why did this happen?» This could have been the end for David, where he faded off into the sunset. But David knew a secret. Sitting in that cave, he wrote this passage in Psalm fifty-seven: «I am surrounded by fierce lions, those whose teeth pierce like spears and tongues cut like swords. I am weary from so much distress.» He was honest: «God, I’m overwhelmed. Everything has come against me. I don’t know how I can go on.» He went on to say, «I cry out to the Most High, for He will send help from heaven, rescuing me from my enemies.»
David understood that he wasn’t fighting on his own and that it wasn’t just up to him, but help from heaven was on the way. He had seen this when he faced Goliath, a giant twice his size. He didn’t have a chance; the odds were against him, but help from heaven came. God breathed on his slingshot, gave him supernatural ability, and he brought the giant down. He should have been stuck out in the shepherd’s field, where his father left him, not called in when the prophet Samuel came to choose one of the sons as the next king. David was overlooked, left out, and didn’t have a fair shot, but help from heaven came. The oil wouldn’t flow to one of the other sons; Samuel couldn’t anoint them.
Why is that? There are heavenly forces fighting for you. Angels God has on assignment to assist you. What you’re up against may be too much for you, but these powerful warriors will push back what’s trying to stop you. They are dispatched with healing, freedom, and breakthroughs. When you run out of options and don’t have the strength or the experience, you could live worried. You now have a new perspective. Help from heaven is coming; miracles are being set into motion. See, we look at things in the natural: «Joel, this is what I have, and these are my options. Here’s the medical report; here’s the family I come from.» What you can’t see is what heaven is about to do. Jesus said to Peter, «It’s dangerous to see things only from a human point of view.»
It’s interesting that Jesus used the word dangerous. That’s a strong word. He could have said it’s not good, it’s unwise, or it may limit you, but he said dangerous. If you only look at what you’re up against from a human perspective, you can miss your destiny. You can think, «Man, I’ll never get well.» «Joel, Saul’s so much bigger.» «This addiction is stronger; I don’t have a chance.» No, instead of giving up, why don’t you look up? Help from heaven is on the way. You are God’s most prized possession. He chose you before you could choose Him. He’s planned your life, ordered your steps, and crowned you with favor. He goes before you, making crooked places straight. He has His angels watching over you; you’re not doing life on your own. All of heaven is fighting for you. When you can’t figure out what to do or how it will work out, that’s when you have to do like David.
It’s okay to be honest: «God, this child is breaking my heart. This medical report doesn’t look good. This jerk, I mean, this person at work is getting on my nerves. But God, I want to thank You that help from heaven is on the way, that You’re fighting my battles, sustaining me, providing, protecting, and bringing victory.» David said, «I will lift my eyes to the heavens from whence my help comes.»
I talked to a man after service last week and asked him how he was doing. He seemed fine, looked successful and content, but then he put his head down for a long time. He finally looked up and said, «Joel, I’m going through hell.» He lost a family member tragically and is dealing with an illness. He said, «I feel so lost, so alone, so overwhelmed,» with big tears running down his cheeks. There’s a lot of pain in the world, a lot of sadness. The scripture says God collects your tears. He knows the pain and the unfair things.
In these times, we don’t have any good options; there’s no way out. But can I tell you this? When hell comes against you, heaven comes to rescue. You are God’s property. You belong to the Most High. He has you in the palm of His hand. He’s not going to leave you defenseless. When forces come to try to stop your destiny, bringing trouble and loss, when it looks like you’re stuck, heaven doesn’t stay silent. Angels are dispatched; miracles are set into motion. God is fighting for you. Turnarounds are coming. Things that you couldn’t make happen. It looks like you’re at the mercy of the medical report, that child’s too far off course now, the addiction’s too strong. But stay in peace. You have a Defender, a Way Maker, a Healer, a Provider, a Chain Breaker. Help from heaven is on the way.
I was watching this old western movie where an army had dwindled down to nothing. They’d been battered and bruised, lost many men, and were now running out of supplies—all beat up and on their last leg—with an enemy army on the other side of the mountain, much bigger and with more equipment, about to attack. It was a very emotional scene as they came to the end, saying their goodbyes, giving hugs, and preparing either to be captured or killed. They had already accepted defeat, wanting any way out. But way off in the distance, one soldier saw dust billowing from an army approaching—horses coming at full speed. They were confused because the enemy army was in the other direction. They focused their binoculars, and when they saw the flag, they realized it was an ally army coming to rescue them.
Soon they heard the bugles playing; they couldn’t believe it! They started shouting, «The cavalry is coming! The cavalry is coming!» One moment they were discouraged, thinking they were done and preparing to surrender; now they were excited, with all this power, force, and backup. When the enemy army arrived, it was like, «Surprise! We are not who you thought we were. We’re bigger, stronger, and more powerful.» They easily defeated the opposition. Sometimes in life, like that man said, hell has come against us. We’re dealing with sickness, family troubles, or business setbacks, and we end up bruised and kind of alone. We’re suffering from battle fatigue. We’ve stood strong and fought well, but now we don’t think we have the strength to keep pursuing the dream, the passion to keep fighting for our marriage, or the endurance to keep believing for our healing. We’re tired.
What you can’t see is that the cavalry is coming. There are forces that have your back. When you run out of options, out of strength, heaven is on the way. Angels are en route to assist you, to push back darkness, to open doors you couldn’t open, to bring healing, to bring breakthrough. It’s interesting that it’s called the cavalry—reinforcements and backup. When heaven comes, it’s because of what happened on Calvary; it’s because Jesus gave his life and defeated the enemy. Now he has all power. That phrase «the cavalry is coming» closely resembles the natural meaning of backup and soldiers, but when we say the cavalry is coming, I’m talking about heavenly forces—the Most High God fighting for you. On your own, you may be outnumbered. What you’re up against is bigger and more powerful, but I’ve got my binoculars. Through the eyes of faith, I can see dust in the distance; I can hear the trumpets blowing. What is that? The cavalry is on the way!
That sickness should take you out, but healing is coming. That bad break should keep you in debt, but abundance is coming. That family member running with the wrong crowd should stop his purpose, but breakthrough is coming. Backup forces are headed your way—angels with the favor of God on assignment to assist you, to strengthen you, to fight for you. If you could see into the unseen realm, you would see these powerful warriors working on your behalf, pushing back what’s trying to stop you, breaking through what belongs to you. When thoughts tell you, «No, you’re stuck. It’s too much. You’re too tired. You’ve fought too long,» just look up and say, «Father, thank you that the cavalry is coming! Thank you that help from heaven is on the way.» Heaven’s help is supernatural—good breaks chasing you down, healing, the right people showing up, freedom from bondages, generational limitations being broken.
Second Kings, chapter six: the king of Syria found out that the prophet Elisha was telling the Israelites the battle plans of the Syrian army. Every time they made a move to attack the Israelites, Elisha knew it and went and told the commanders. They were always one step ahead of the Syrians. Well, this king was furious. He sent a whole army—thousands of soldiers and horses—to capture one man, Elisha. That’s how powerful you are; the enemy knows it. The question is, do you know it? Do you realize who you are and what you have? Because you belong to the Most High, His favor is on your life. There are heavenly forces backing you up. The army snuck up at night and surrounded Elisha’s house, and the next morning, Elisha’s assistant went out. When he saw the thousands of troops and horses, he panicked and ran back in to wake Elisha up. «Sir, we’re surrounded! There’s no way out! Everywhere I look, I see the Syrian army—not hundreds, but thousands!»
He was so distraught, so upset. Elisha said, «Don’t worry; there are more for us than there are against us.» This is if the thought he must still be asleep; he’s groggy, he doesn’t understand. «No, Elisha, there are two of us; there are thousands of them!» This is why Jesus said it’s dangerous if you only see things from a human point of view, because he was correct: they were surrounded. It was two people versus twenty thousand, but Elisha understood that when the enemy comes against you, heaven shows up. God doesn’t stay silent. You may be outnumbered in the natural, but in the unseen realm, there are more for you than there are against you. While you were sleeping, the cavalry showed up. God is watching over you; nothing happens that He doesn’t see. When Saul is chasing you and you’re hiding in that cave, so to speak, you can say, like David, «I know help from heaven is on the way.»
Elisha didn’t condemn the assistant, saying, «Man, you need to have more faith! Why are you always doubting?» He simply prayed, «Lord, open his eyes and let him see.» He went back out and looked a second time. This time he could see into the unseen realm. He didn’t see the army surrounding them; he saw a heavenly army—hundreds of thousands of powerful warring angels dressed and ready for battle, chariots of fire all across the mountainside. He thought he was surrounded. The fact is, the enemy was surrounded. Amen!
You may feel like you’re surrounded today—what’s up against you is bigger, stronger, closing in—but what you can’t see are the forces of heaven surrounding what surrounds you. It feels like that trouble, that death, that cancer has you surrounded, but the cavalry has shown up. That cancer is surrounded by the forces of heaven. Your child is surrounded by angels. Your business is surrounded by the favor of God. He’s your protector, your shield, your healer, your provider. No, in faith doesn’t keep us from trouble, but when trouble shows up, heaven comes down. God dispatches these warring angels to watch over you, protect you, and push back the darkness. If you stay focused on what you can see in the natural, you can get discouraged—medical reports, financial situations, my child—it doesn’t look good. Things are happening that you can’t see; help from heaven is on the way.
Elisha prayed that God would make this enemy army blind to who he was. The Syrian commander knocked on the door and said, «We’re here looking for Elisha!» Elisha said, «I’m so sorry; he’s not here. You’ve got the wrong house. In fact, you’re in the wrong city. If you follow me, I’ll take you to Elisha.» One lie after another. Sometimes you have to lie in faith. I don’t know if that’s in the scripture, but anyway, this commander said, «Thank you so much!» He followed Elisha all the way to Samaria, to the Israelite camp. When they arrived, Elisha prayed, «God, now open their eyes!» Suddenly, they realized they were in Samaria, captured by the Israelites. The scripture says, «The trap the enemy set for you, they will fall in themselves.» God knows how to turn things in your favor.
I know this mother who was so concerned about her son. He had grown up in church and had great parents, but after college, he started running with the wrong crowd, got involved in drugs, struggled with addictions, and ended up selling drugs. His life was spiraling out of control. This mother had done everything she could—prayed and stood in faith. She got him into recovery at one point, but he wouldn’t stay there. This had gone on year after year, and now she was worn out, not knowing what more she could do. God sees these times. You feel helpless and alone; you don’t have any more options. Stay in peace. The cavalry is coming. Like with Elisha, angels have been dispatched to push back the darkness, to rescue your child, to bring your healing, the freedom, the breakthroughs. You’re not fighting on your own; Heaven is fighting for you. God is concerned about what concerns you—a child that keeps you up at night, the medical situation, the struggle in your business. Thoughts whisper, «Man, you’re on your own. Nobody cares. Just get through it.» No, God knows everything you’re going through. He feels the pain; He sees the lonely night. He’s going to step in and do things that you can’t do.
One night, this young man was in another country. A drug deal had gone wrong, and he owed this guy a lot of money and wasn’t able to pay him. These people were after him. His life was on the line, and he was hiding in a bathroom in an old downtown warehouse. He locked the door, got behind the stall, hoping he wouldn’t be found. Hour after hour went by; he was so afraid. He knew if he was caught, it wouldn’t be good. At three in the morning, he heard rumbling outside the building—people talking, all this commotion, and his heart was beating fast. He knew they were closing in. The warehouse door flung open. He could hear footsteps getting closer and closer, people calling his name: «Where are you? Where are you?»
Then came the moment he feared the most. They started pulling on the bathroom door, trying to break the lock. They worked and worked until finally one of the men stepped back and kicked with all his might. The door came crashing open, slammed against the wall, and sounded like an explosion. He thought, «Oh man, I’m done. This is the end.» He had accepted his fate was sealed. As he was sitting there bracing for harm, they opened the stall and said, «We’re with Teen Challenge. We heard you were in trouble. We came to rescue you.» This young man was a part of Teen Challenge many years earlier, a ministry for young people. Somehow, they had gotten word in this foreign country that he needed help. They got him out of there and saved his life. Today, he’s free and clean, fulfilling his purpose.
What am I saying? When you don’t see a way out, help from Heaven is coming. God knows how to speak to the right people. He knows how to keep you hidden from the enemy, how to rescue you, and how to turn your sickness around. He knows how to open doors that you couldn’t open. Maybe you’re in a situation like this mother. You’ve prayed. You’ve stood in faith, but it hasn’t worked out. You’re tempted to think you’re stuck, that you’ll always be lonely, have family issues, or can’t get out of that financial strain. I’ve got good news: the cavalry is coming. Backup is on the way. Reinforcements are already en route. Things you can’t explain, favor you didn’t deserve, healing that confounds the experts, breakthroughs when it looks permanent—the right people suddenly find you. It wasn’t a lucky break or a coincidence. That was help from Heaven, the Most High rescuing, protecting, and bringing you out of what should have stopped you.
In Luke chapter one, there was a man named Zechariah. His wife Elizabeth had been barren her whole life, unable to have a child, and now they were both far too old to have children. For many years, they had prayed and hoped for a baby, but it had not worked out the way they thought. They had accepted that it wasn’t meant to be. Then an angel appeared to Zechariah and said, «God has heard your prayer. Your wife Elizabeth will have a son. You are to name him John.» They had given up on having a baby, but notice that God heard their prayers. All those prayers you prayed may not have resulted in anything. You might think it’s too late, that the ship has already sailed. You don’t know what God is up to. Sometimes God will wait on purpose, making the odds seem against us in a greater way, so when He acts, everyone will know it’s His power, His favor on your life.
Zechariah said to the angel, «I don’t see how this can happen. I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years.» Notice he didn’t call his wife an old lady; he’s a smart man. Our wives are never old; they are well along in years. Zechariah doubted, saying that it was impossible, that it defied logic. He told the angel all the reasons it wouldn’t happen. The angel said, «Zechariah, I am Gabriel. I stand in the very presence of God. What He has spoken will come to pass.» Zechariah was looking at it in the natural, but Gabriel said, «I’ve come from heaven. I have help that you haven’t seen. The Most High God has given me His authority.»
We all face situations like Zechariah that seem impossible. It’s too late to accomplish a dream. The problem seems too big. You might think, «I’ll never meet the right person,» or «I’ll never have a baby.» We look at it logically and wonder how it can happen. There seems to be no way. But imagine Gabriel standing before you, this powerful, majestic angel. He says, «Wait a minute! I stand in the presence of Almighty God. I carry the authority of the Most High to release heaven’s help, to bring about what He has purposed.» All of heaven is backing what God put in your heart. You may be correct that it can’t happen in the natural, but supernatural forces are at work. Help from heaven is coming to do what you can’t do.
Now, don’t count yourself out of it. Gabriel told Zechariah, «Since you doubted, and since you are going to go around speaking against what God has purposed, I’m going to shut your mouth, and you’re not going to be able to talk.» For nine months, he couldn’t speak. That’s how powerful our words are. If you go around saying, «I’ll never get well,» or «I can’t break the addiction,» or «We’ll always struggle,» you are stopping help from heaven. You are blocking the blessing. Do yourself a favor: zip it up. If you can’t be positive, be quiet. If you can’t speak victory, then don’t say anything at all.
Nine months later, when the baby was born, Zechariah could talk again. Gabriel appeared to another woman around that same time, a teenage girl named Mary. He said, «Mary, you have found favor with God. You will conceive without knowing a man and give birth to a son. You are to name him Jesus.» Mary answered back, «How can this be since I do not know a man?» Gabriel said, «The Spirit of God will come on you and cause you to conceive.» He was saying, «Don’t worry, Mary. Help from heaven is coming.»
Now, she could’ve been like Zechariah, doubting and saying, «I don’t think so; that’s impossible,» but Mary simply replied, «Let it be unto me even as you have said.» She indicated that she was a believer, not a doubter. God puts promises in all our hearts that don’t seem possible: that you’re going to get well, that your children will be mighty in the land, that you will lend and not borrow. The question is: are you going to be like Zechariah, doubting, or are you going to be like Mary and say, «God, let it happen. Send heaven down, fight my battle, show Yourself strong in my life?» Friends, you’re not fighting alone; all of heaven is backing you up.
It may look like that situation will never turn around, that nothing is improving. Can I remind you again that help from heaven is on the way? I can hear trumpets; I can see the dust in the distance. God has heard your prayers. He sees you standing in faith, doing the right thing, and angels are on assignment right now, dispatched with your healing, your freedom, your spouse. Miracles have been set into motion. Now you do your part: keep thanking God that He’s working, and I believe and declare that heaven is about to come down with supernatural healing, provision, and the fullness of your destiny. In Jesus' name.