Joel Osteen — It's Coming Together
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I want to talk to you today about "It's coming together". We all face situations that look like they're never going to work out. Our dream is too big, a medical report is too negative, or our family is so dysfunctional, we don't see how we could and as the months go by, sometimes even years, and we don't see anything happening, it's easy to get discouraged and give up on what we're believing for. But just because you don't see anything happening doesn't mean that God is not working. Behind the scenes, he's arranging things in your favor, lining up the right people, the healing, the promotion, the favor, and if you will stay in faith, at the right time, you will see it come together.
What you couldn't make happen on your own, God will make happen for you. Your dream is coming together. Your relationship is coming together. The healing, the promotion, the vindication will all come together.
A friend of mine has been in a legal battle for over 6 years. It's a business dispute. These people were making false accusations against him, trying to take his company. He knew he was in the right. He thought it'd take 3 or 4 months to clear up, but it's drug on year after year. He's had to fight those thoughts telling him, "This is going to ruin your career. Bankrupt your business, and make you look bad". He could have been discouraged, bitter. Instead, all through the day, "Lord, thank you that you're my vindicator. Thank you that you're fighting my battles". He was saying, in effect, "Thank you that it's coming together," and one day, unexpectedly, the other side called the judge and admitted that they were making it up, that it was totally false. The case was dismissed.
Suddenly, it all came together, he was vindicated, and it may not happen on your timetable, but I can assure you God is a faithful God. He said in Hebrews 13 in the amplified version, "I will not, I will not, I will not in any way fail you". God said it three times because he knew how easy it would be to give up on our dreams, and let our circumstances and how long it's taking talk us out of his best, and you may have a situation that looks impossible today. The odds are against you. You've had some setbacks.
Let me encourage you it's coming together. God is not going to fail you. The breakthrough is already in your future. That person you've been dreaming about, you're not going to have to find them. They're going to find you. Your relationship is coming together. Don't believe the lie that you'll have to live your life lonely. The right person has already been ordained to come across your path. Or you may think you could never get out of debt, never live in a nice house, never really be successful in your career. You've gone as far as your education allows. No, don't talk yourself out of it. It's coming together.
Promotion, abundance, new levels are when you go through the day with this expectancy, knowing that God's working behind the scenes, bringing it together, that's what allows God to do great things. You could be complaining. Instead, you're saying, "Lord, thank you that my healing is coming together. You can do what medicine cannot do". Or that business, you put in my heart, "Lord, thank you that the connections, the funding, the permits are all coming together".
In the scripture, the prophet Ezekiel saw a vision of this valley filled with dry bones. Was a huge graveyard with thousands and thousands of bones on the ground, and God told him to speak to those bones, and they would come back to life. He could have thought, "That's impossible. They're just bones, disjointed, dried up. They can't live, it's too late". But in this vision, to these dead bones. The scripture says there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together. All at once, into the right place. The organs came, the tissue, the flesh. Then God breathed life into them, and they stood up like a vast army.
The Israelites had been discouraged. They were saying, "Our bones are dried up. Our hope is gone. We've been cut off". In other words, "We're just slaves, and we're never going to reach our destiny. We just have dead, dry bones". God said, "Ezekiel, go tell my people the sovereign Lord says, 'I'm about to open up your graves. I'm going to take you back to your land, and you will know he was saying, "Ezekiel, go tell them what you saw in this vision, that there's about to be a great coming together, and what they couldn't make happen on their own, I'm going to supernaturally make happen for them," and your situation may be impossible.
The good news is you're not on your own. You have the most powerful force in the universe on your side. One touch of God's favor can catapult you to a new level. But like the Israelites, what you have may seem dead. The medical report says you'll never get well. You lost a loved one, and you don't see how you could ever be happy again. Or you've been through some bad breaks, now all you have are these dead bones, disjointed, broken pieces. No way in the natural. But the sovereign Lord is saying to you what he said to the Israelites, "Get ready, there's about to be a great coming together".
God is going to bring things to life that you thought were dead. Dreams you've given up, suddenly the right people show up. You get the break you need, the funding all of a sudden comes through. That sickness you've been struggling with for years, you don't think you could ever get well, no, get ready, health is about to spring forth. God knows how to bring the pieces back together, and by faith, I can hear a sound, a noise, a rattling. It's the sound of a great coming together. I can hear the sound of abundance, the sound of promotion, the sound of victory.
God asked Ezekiel at the first part of this vision, Ezekiel could have looked at it in the natural and thought, "No way, that's impossible". Instead, he looked away from his circumstances, and he looked toward his God. He said, "O sovereign Lord, you alone know". He was saying, "God, you control the universe. You have the final say. You part Red Seas. You open blind eyes. You stopped the sun for Joshua. I may not see a way, but o sovereign Lord, I know you have a way," and God said, "All right, Ezekiel, that's what I'm looking for, not a doubter, not a complainer, not somebody that's going to tell me all the reasons why it's not going to happen. I'm looking for a man or a woman like you, full of faith, people who know all things are possible.
God told Ezekiel to prophesy to those dead bones, and whatever looks dead in your life, you need to prophesy victory, prophesy wholeness, prophesy abundance. You may be struggling in your finances. Don't go around talking about how you'll never get ahead, how high prices are, and what you can't afford. If you have a poor mouth, you're going to have a poor life. Dare to prophesy, "I am the head and not the tail. Whatever I touch will prosper and succeed". Maybe you're up against a big obstacle. Don't talk about how big your problem is. Talk about how big your God is. Dare to prophesy to that sickness, "Cancer, you can't defeat me. I'm a child of the most high God".
That son that's off course, don't go call your friends, talk about how bad he is, how he's going to give you a nervous breakdown, how he keeps running with the wrong crowd. Will fulfill his destiny. I am calling out his seeds of greatness. No weapon formed against my family when you get in agreement with God and speak life, and faith, and favor, and health, you're going to see a great coming together. Suddenly, you get the break you need. Suddenly, your business turns around. Suddenly, your health improves. God will do what you couldn't do.
My father wasn't raised with any kind of spiritual upbringing. His parents and family, they were fine people, cotton farmers, but they didn't know anything about God. At the age of 17, my dad gave his life to Christ, the first one in the family, and against all odds, he left the farm and went on to become a successful pastor, and over the years, he would come back home and talk to his family about the Lord. His mother and some other relatives, they were open, they received Christ. But his father wouldn't have anything to do with God. He said, "John, I don't need any of that religious stuff. That's not for me. When I'm dead, I'm dead like a dog. Just roll me over in a ditch".
My dad would tell him, "No, dad, you have to live on somewhere". It would go in one ear and out the other. This went on year after year. Looked like one of those dead, dry bones, but my father didn't get discouraged. He didn't go around complaining. He kept prophesying to those dead bones. "Father, you said as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord". All through the day, instead of worrying, "Lord, thank you that you're working behind the scenes. Lord, I believe these dead bones can live. I believe you'll reveal yourself to my father," and one day, my dad was a guest minister in the town where his parents lived, and he'd been talking to his father for over 30 years about the Lord with no response, and my dad was up in the podium, giving his message, when he saw his father walk in the church and sit down on the back row, first time his dad had ever been in church.
My father was thrilled, and as my dad was speaking his message, his father got up, started walking down the center aisle toward the platform. He didn't stop at the altar. He didn't stop at the stairs. He came all the way up on the platform, stood right next to my father, interrupted his sermon. He said, "John, what I started over 30 years ago. I want to give my life to Christ," and my father prayed with him right there in front of the whole congregation. A dream came true.
Afterwards, my dad asked him what he meant about finishing what he started years earlier. He told how, one day, he was out in the woods, he got caught in a huge snowstorm. He couldn't see anything. He lost his sense of direction. Night came in, he was so cold, he was certain he was going to die that night. So, he prayed for the first time, and said, "God, if you'll let me live, I'll serve you". He fell asleep there in the snow. His body was shutting down. But he woke up the next morning as warm as toast. God had spared his life.
All those years, he had been putting it off. He said, "Today, I'm keeping my promise. I'm going to do what I told God I would do". He went on to join that church. They asked him to become an usher, and you would have thought they'd asked him to become the president of the United States. He was so proud, he never missed a service. He only owned one suit. They were very poor people, but he wore that same suit every service. Years later, when he died, he was buried in that suit, and at the funeral, they found stuffed tracts that he used to pass out everywhere he went.
Friends, God knows how to bring it all together. What you think was dead, over, too far gone, you better get ready, it's coming together. People that you think will never change, like my grandfather, God has already planted seeds in their heart. God's been working behind the scenes in your life since the day you were born, arranging the breaks you need, moving the wrong people out of the way, lining up the favor, the advantages. He's got it all figured out. You don't have to worry, God has you in the palm of his hand. He's not going to fail you. He is faithful to his promises. Your family is coming together. The dream may look too big. Keep believing, it's coming together. God has a way. That addiction you've been trying to break for years, don't give up. Keep prophesying; freedom is coming together.
See, when you realize that God's in control, that he's directing your steps, that he's already lined up everything you need, then you can relax. You don't have to go through life trying to make it all happen on your own, worried about your children, frustrated because it's taking too long, discouraged because a dream looks dead. No, keep reminding yourself the sovereign Lord, the God who breathed life into you, the God who knew you before you were born, the God who has planned out your days for good, the God who has protected you, the same God that brought you to where you are, he's going to get you to where you're supposed to be. It may take a little longer than you thought, but that's okay, God's timing is the perfect time. It may not happen the way you had planned. My father never thought his dad would interrupt him in the pulpit, but God's ways are not our ways. They are better than our ways.
When my father went to be with the Lord in 1999, I knew I was supposed to step up to pastor the church. I felt it so strongly, but I didn't know if I could do it. I liked being behind the scenes. That's where I'd spent the last 17 years, doing the television production at the church and editing my father's sermons. But I took that step of faith, not knowing what was going to happen, and looking back now, I can see how God was guiding me all that time. When I edited I would have to listen to them each probably five or six times to cut them down to time.
All those years, those scriptures, those stories were going into me over and over, getting me prepared for what I'm doing now. I never dreamed I would become a minister, what I needed, God had already put in me. Never dreamed we'd have church in the former Compaq Center, but it all came together, more than we could ask or think.
Are you worrying about your future, worried about how you're going to accomplish a dream, or how you're going to raise your children, how you're ever going to meet the right person? God has already lined it up. He's already arranged everything you need. Like with me, you may not even realize how, right now, God is getting you prepared for something much greater, much bigger than you've ever dreamed. Keep honoring him. Keep being your best. Keep prophesying life to those dead areas. You too are going to see it all come together, more than you imagined.
Our daughter Alexandra was 2 months old when my father died, and Jonathan was 3, and our lives had suddenly changed, and we had a lot more responsibility, pastoring a large church. Plus, never having ministered before made it even more stressful, and we knew we were going to need some help with our children, and like any parent, we were very picky. We wanted to find the perfect person, very loving and kind, that would treat them the way we did, and we didn't really know where to start.
One Sunday, Victoria was leaving church, walking by the platform, and she saw this young man that she'd seen there many times. And wholesome, always faithful, and Victoria went over and struck up a conversation, eventually asking what his mother did for a living. He said, "She doesn't have a full-time job. She does a lot of volunteering work," and Victoria told that we were looking for somebody. Long story short, we met her and things fell into place. She was a perfect fit. Our children loved her like our own family.
She was always laughing, loving, easygoing. You couldn't find a better person, and about a year after she started working for us, she told how years earlier, she had had a dream one night where she was taking care of a beautiful blue-eyed, blonde-haired baby girl. She's Hispanic. She has two sons of her own. She didn't understand what the dream meant. But when she saw little Alexandra, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, she said, "That's the baby that I saw in my dream".
What am I saying? God has the right people already lined up for you. At the right time, it's all going to come together. You don't have to worry. You don't have to live stressed out. God is directing your steps. He controls the whole universe. You can stay in a place of peace.
In the scripture, a lady named Ruth lost her husband, and she was out in the fields, picking up leftover grain, trying to survive, Boaz, the owner of those fields, spoke to his workers about Ruth, telling them to leave wheat on the ground on purpose for Ruth to make it easier on her. He didn't speak to Ruth; she never heard what he said, but her life got a whole lot easier. She had more wheat than she needed. She was finished in half the time, all because somebody she didn't even know put in a good word for her.
In the same way, God has already spoken to the right people to be good to you, to bless you, to show you favor, to open the right doors. Like Ruth, suddenly you come into blessings that you didn't work for. People go out of their way to help you succeed. You may never know why it happened. That's God working behind the scenes, as a young man, God put a dream in Moses' heart that he would deliver the people of Israel out of slavery. But Moses got in a hurry and didn't wait for God's timing, and he saw a Hebrew slave being mistreated by one of the foremen, and he didn't think anybody was watching, he went over and killed that foreman, trying to help his Hebrew brother out.
Moses ended up having to flee for his life. He spent 40 years of the desert. Looked like he had missed his destiny. I'm sure he felt like a failure, thoughts telling him, "Too bad, Moses. You had your chance. That mistake really did you in". Moses was raised in the palace, in the household of the Pharaoh. He was trained to be a prince, educated by the best scholars, spoke different languages. He was gifted, talented, prepared to do something great.
But now, instead of wearing his royal robe, he's got on an old, dirty, smelly piece of cloth that he found on the ground. Instead of conducting his business in the palace, where he's esteemed and respected, now he spends his days taking care of sheep, shoveling their waste out in the middle of the desert. Year after year went by. Moses thought, "I must have heard God wrong. Maybe I was never supposed to deliver the people of Israel. Maybe I'm not supposed to do something great. What was I thinking"?
Just when he was about to give up, suddenly a bush exploded, in front of him, and this bush burned and burned, but it wouldn't burn up. Moses thought, "What in the world is going on"? He went over to get a better look at it. When he did, a voice boomed out, saying, "Moses, Moses, take off your sandals. You are standing God was saying, "Moses, I haven't forgotten about you. You may have made some mistakes. You may have taken some wrong turns, but get ready, I'm about to bring it together. What I promised you, I'm still going to bring to pass". After 40 years of not seeing anything happening, suddenly God turned it around. Moses went out and delivered the people of Israel.
You may think, "Joel, it could never come together for me. It's been too long". You've made too many mistakes. You've missed too many opportunities. In your heart, you know what God has promised you. But in your mind, the enemy will whisper these thoughts of doubt, "Maybe I'm not supposed to get married. Maybe I'm not supposed to break this addiction. Maybe I'm not supposed to start my own business". Deep down, you feel seeds of greatness stirring on the inside. But every circumstance says no way, it's too late. But just like with Moses, what God promised you, he's still going to do.
It may not have happened yet, but don't worry, it's coming together. God is still on the throne. He sent me as your burning bush to let you know it's not too late. You haven't missed your destiny. You haven't seen your what God started in your life, he's going to finish. You're about to see a divine coming together. That means it's supernatural. You couldn't make it happen. You didn't have the strength, the talent, the funds. God set the bush on fire. God healed you, God sent the right people, God brought your dream to pass.
In the scripture, Jacob thought his son Joseph was dead. Joseph's brothers brought his bloody robe, and told their father that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. The truth is they had sold Joseph into slavery, and Jacob was so heartbroken, the father so devastated, he thought he couldn't go on after losing his youngest son.
Year after year passed by, those same brothers brought him the news that Joseph indeed was still alive and in charge of the nation of Egypt, and Jacob was overwhelmed. They took him to see his son. He said, "Joseph, I never thought I'd see your face again. But not only did I get to see my grandchildren".
When God brings it all together, it's not going to be what you thought. It's going to be bigger, better, more rewarding than you ever expected. Like Jacob, you're not going to die without seeing that promise fulfilled. Don't stop believing, God's working behind the scenes. He's already arranged exactly what you need. Now, do your part, get up every day, prophesy life to those dead areas. If you'll do this, I believe and declare your dream is coming together. Your health is coming together. Your relationship is coming together. You're about to hear a noise, a sound. God's going to make happen what you couldn't make happen. Like Ezekiel, you're going to see a great coming together in Jesus' name.