Joel Osteen — A Restoration Mentality
- Watch
- Audio
- Donate
- Contact Us
I want to talk to you today about having a restoration mentality. In life, we all experience times of loss and situations where it feels like something was taken from us. Sometimes it's because of other people's choices. A friend does us wrong, a spouse walks out of a relationship. Other times it's because of our own choices.
Maybe we get involved with the wrong crowd, develop bad habits. We end up with broken dreams. We hear that voice telling us again and again, "It's your fault. You blew it. It's ever going to be". Many people are living with regrets, thinking about what they should've done. "If I'd just spent more time raising my children. If I just been more disciplined and not hung around those people. Or if I just stayed in school, where would I be today"?
They don't realize that defeated mind-set is keeping then there are times it's not somebody else's fault, it's not our own fault, it's just life. You're a good person, you're honoring God, and all of a sudden you're facing an illness, caught you totally off guard, or maybe you're being your best each day, you're going to work, giving it your all, but business starts to slow down. You had more than enough at one time, now you're struggling to get by.
When we encounter loss, it's easy to get discouraged, to settle where we are, and to not expect anything better. But the good news is our God is a God of restoration. He never said we wouldn't have unfair situations. He never promised we wouldn't experience loss. But he did promise if we would stay in faith, he would restore everything that was stolen. Bring you out the same. He makes the enemy pay for bringing the trouble into your life.
God is so merciful, whether it was your fault, somebody else's fault, or just life in general, he says he's not only going to bring you out, he's going to bring you out better off than you were before. You may have made mistakes, you brought the trouble on yourself, but God's mercy is bigger than any mistake that you've made.
Don't settle there, have a restoration mentality. God's not only going to bring you out, he's going to bring you out better. In the scripture, if someone stole an ox, they had to pay that person back with five oxen. If they stole a sheep, they had to pay them back with four sheep. Another place, they had to repay seven times.
In Isaiah, God said he would pay us back double for the unfair situations. Notice the principle. God never brings us out the same. If we say we're going to restore this old car, that means we're going to bring it back to the original condition. We're going to make it look like it did when it was brand new. But that is not how God defines restoration. His idea of restore is to increase, to improve, to promote, to make better.
Now, you may have gone through a loss, somebody did you wrong. Or maybe it was your fault, you made poor choices. The enemy would love for you to sit around your whole life "It's never going to change. It's been this way too long. It's your fault, just settle where you are".
Shake off that doubt, shake off that self-pity. You may have suffered a loss, but your attitude should be, "I know my God is a God of restoration, and I'm not only coming out, I'm coming out stronger, I'm coming out promoted, I'm coming out increased, better off than I was before".
If you're going to see God restore, you have to have this restoration mentality. That means you're not sitting around nursing your wounds, thinking about what you lost and how many bad breaks you've had. No, you've got a smile on your face, a spring in your step. You're expecting things to change in your favor.
Somebody may have done you wrong, walked out of a relationship, but you're expecting the loan may not have gone through, didn't qualify for the new house, but you're expecting a new door, you're expecting a better deal. The medical report doesn't look good, but you've got another report.
You're expecting to get well. You're expecting your child to straighten up. You're expecting to have a blessed, prosperous year, and for everything that you've lost, every person that did you wrong, every unfair situation, every sickness you had to endure, God is saying, "That is not the end, it is not over. I still have something amazing in your future".
And if you will have the right attitude, God will take the loss and use it to promote you. God will use the person that did you wrong to take you to a new level. God can even use the mistake you made. You brought the trouble on yourself, but God is so merciful, he's going to make the enemy pay. He can use that mistake to take you higher than if you had not have made it.
Now, do your part and get your hopes up. Quit reliving all your disappointments, quit telling your friends how it's never going to work out and how you should just settle where you are. No, shake that off and have this restoration mentality.