Joel Osteen - Call It In (08/01/2019)
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Joel Osteen teaches that faith must be activated by speaking it out—calling in God’s promises through declarative words, as seen in David’s victory over Goliath, Joshua and Caleb’s report on the Promised Land, and his own experiences. He emphasizes that negative words call in defeat while positive declarations aligned with Scripture release faith for healing, abundance, favor, and destiny.
Activate Your Faith by Calling It In
I want to talk to you today about «Call It In.» It’s not enough to just hope something happens, just believe a dream will come to pass, just think positive and that situation will turn around—you have to take the next step and call it in. Words give life to our faith.
When you’re sick, you need to call in healing: «Father, thank You that You’re restoring health back into me. Thank You that by Your stripes I am healed.» That’s not just quoting Scripture; that’s calling in health, calling in wholeness.
If you’re struggling in your finances, you need to call in abundance: «I am blessed. I am prosperous. Father, thank You that You’re supplying all of my needs. Thank You that You are more than enough God.» You just called in promotion, called in opportunity.
Maybe you’re single and wanting to meet someone. It’s fine to pray about it; it’s fine to believe. Why don’t you call in that spouse? «Father, thank You that You have someone awesome coming my way. You said no good thing would You withhold because I walk uprightly.» You have to call in divine connections.
You can be specific: I called in someone loving, someone kind, godly, good-looking, well-off, fun—as long as you can back it up with Scripture, you can call it in.
«Well, Joel, I can’t just say things and it’s going to happen.» It’s already happening. You are who you are today in part because of what you’ve been saying about yourself, because of what you’ve been calling in.
«Well, I’ll never get out of debt. My business is so slow"—you just called in lack, called in struggle. «I’ll never meet the right person. I haven’t had a date in years"—you just called in loneliness. Pay attention to what you’re calling in.
The Scripture says, «We will eat the fruit of our words.» What we’re constantly talking about, we’re inviting into our life. Don’t invite defeat; don’t invite lack.
If you’re struggling with an addiction, don’t say another time, «I’ll never break this bad habit. I’ve had it so long.» You need to start calling in freedom. All through the day: «I am free. I am clean. I am whole. No weapon formed against me will prosper.»
You can’t call in defeat and have victory. You can’t call in lack and have abundance. Start calling in what you want and not what you have.
Let the Weak Say I Am Strong
The Scripture says in Joel 3:10, «Let the weak say I am strong.» It doesn’t say, «Let the weak say I am weak.» Why? That’s calling in more weakness. You have to call in strength, call in vitality, call in passion.
Don’t go around saying, «I am so tired. I never have any energy. I don’t know what’s wrong with me"—all that’s doing is making it worse. You’re calling in more of what you don’t want.
Turn it around: «I am strong. I am full of energy. I will run and not be weary. I will walk and not faint.» Don’t say what you feel; say what God says about you.
«Well, I look so old. I’m getting so wrinkled, so out of shape. It’s all downhill from here"—that’s calling in more oldness, more wrinkles, more pains. That’s going to age you before your time.
Every day you need to say, «I am young. I am energetic. I am sharp. My youth is being renewed like the eagles"—that’s what God says about you.
I was at a pastors event. There was a gentleman that had been in the ministry over 60 years. We asked him to stand so we could honor him. He popped up out of that chair like he was a teenager. We asked how old he is; he said 91. He looked like he could be 65—barely had any wrinkles, big smile, joyful personality, full head of hair.
What are you calling in? Don’t go around talking about how it’s not going to work out, how bad the medical report is, how your children aren’t making good decisions.
Change What You’re Calling In
A lady came down for prayer. She told me how her teenage son is off course and how he wouldn’t listen to her and how he was running with the wrong crowd and on and on. She came back the next week and gave even more detail. I would see her out in the lobbies—same thing, always how bad he was doing, how much trouble he was in, how he wasn’t doing good in school.
It’s one thing to tell people so they can agree with you in prayer, but you can’t keep talking about the problem. She didn’t realize she was calling in defeat; she was calling in more trouble. We were praying for victory, but she was canceling out our prayers. She was eating the fruit of her words.
One day I told her what I’m telling you: instead of talking about how bad he is, start saying, «Father, thank You that as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Thank You that my son will fulfill his destiny, that he makes decisions that honor You, that he has great friends, that he’s kind, respectful, and focused.»
She started doing that. It didn’t happen overnight, but do you know today that young man is exactly what she said: he is kind, respectful; he has great friends; he volunteers for us. What made the difference? When she changed what she was calling in.
You can pray for victory all day long, but if you’re calling in defeat, it’s going to cancel out those prayers.
Speaking Favor Over Yourself
«Well, Joel, my coworkers don’t like me. I don’t really have a good personality. Nobody wants to be around me"—zip that up. You’ve been made in the image of Almighty God. He calls you a masterpiece. You have something to offer that nobody else has. But every time you discount yourself, you’re making yourself unattractive, unfriendly. You’re calling in insecurity.
Why don’t you start saying under your breath, «I am well-liked. People love to be around me. I have a great personality. God’s favor is on my life.» When you speak that out, it not only allows it to come to pass, but it gets down on the inside. You cannot call in negative things about yourself and feel good about who you are.
When I took over for my father, all of a sudden I was on television. My first thought was, «Nobody’s gonna listen to me. Nobody’s going to watch.» I was very insecure. But one thing I’ve learned is to not speak out the negative. You may think it, but don’t give it life by saying it. Don’t call it in.
Instead of verbalizing that, I would say, «Father, thank You that when people turn me on the television, they can’t turn me off. Thank You that people like me, that people are drawn to me, that people are being helped by me.» I’ve said that every morning for the last 20 years.
Now practically every time I’m out, someone will stop me and say, «Joel, I don’t like TV ministers. I’m not a religious person, but I was flipping through the channels, and when I turned you on, I couldn’t turn you off.» I think to myself, «I called you in.»
You have to call in favor, call in influence, call in your destiny. The Scripture says with our words we can bless our future or we can curse our future.
Calling In the Compaq Center
I wouldn’t be up here if I had cursed my future, if I had kept saying what I thought: «Nobody’s going to like me.» I had to call in what God says about us—that we are surrounded with His favor, that whatever we touch will prosper and succeed.
Don’t go around saying, «Well, I’ll never live in a nice neighborhood. I’ll never have a nice house"—call in a nice house: «Father, thank You that You have a house already picked out for me. You said because I delight myself in You, You will give me the desires of my heart. So thank You that new house is on the way.»
That’s not just wishful thinking; that’s releasing your faith. In your business you need to call in customers, call in the clients you need, call in opportunities. «You have not because you ask not.» You could say, «You have not because you call not.»
We had to call in the Compaq Center. When this building came across our path, it seemed impossible. I thought, «There’s no way we can get it. It will be too expensive. It’s too prominent. The city will never let a church have it.»
But sometimes God will bring things across your path that are far beyond anything you’ve imagined. The key is to not cancel out the greatness of God’s favor with a limited vision and negative words.
You may not see how it can happen; you may not have the finances, know the right people, have the training. You may not, but God does. Now do your part and call it in: «Father, thank You that You’re taking me where I couldn’t go on my own. Thank You that You’re opening doors that no man can shut, that good breaks are chasing me down, that the right people are headed my way.»
We called in favor; God sent us divine connections—people that used their influence to help us get the building. We called in finances; we sold a piece of property that we were told would never sell for almost twice what it should have sold for.
What you need may be big, but we serve a big God. He wouldn’t have put the dream in your heart if He couldn’t bring it to pass. Maybe He’s just waiting for you to call it in—to use your words to release your faith.
David Calls In Victory
When David faced Goliath, in the natural he didn’t have a chance. David was a teenager, small in stature. He had no formal training, no military experience. All he knew how to do was take care of sheep.
Goliath was the Philistines' most skilled warrior. He was almost twice David’s size. He had a full set of armor. His sword weighed 20 pounds—almost eight times the normal amount. David had no armor. All he had was a slingshot and the favor of God.
But here’s the key: having favor alone is not enough. You have to activate it. You have to call it in. When David heard Goliath taunting the Israelites, something rose up in him. He said, «Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he would defy the armies of the living God?»
Right there God put the dream in David to defeat Goliath. Sometimes the reason people are not for you, the reason they don’t encourage you, is because God didn’t put the dream in them; He put the dream in you.
David looked Goliath in the eyes and said, «This day I will defeat you and feed your head to the birds of the air.» What was he doing? Calling in victory, calling in favor.
When you face challenges, it’s so important what you’re saying. David could have looked at Goliath and said, «King Saul was right. What was I thinking? I’ll never defeat him.» I’m sure those thoughts came to his mind, but he understood this principle: that what he spoke out he was calling in.
When you face an illness, you need to declare, «I will defeat this cancer. I will live and not die.» You have to call in that healing.
Calling In Healing and Destiny
When my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer back in 1981, do you know how many times I heard her say, «I am healed. I am free from this cancer»? Thousands of times.
The first couple of years when she said it, it seemed just the opposite. But when you keep calling in healing, keep calling in freedom, keep calling in abundance—what you’re calling is on the way.
Now, almost 40 years later, my mom is still healthy and whole. Don’t be discouraged by what’s not changing. Let that challenge you to call it in even stronger.
This is what I had to do when my father went to be with the Lord and I stepped up to pastor the church. I was afraid, intimidated. I had never ministered before. Every thought told me how it wasn’t going to work out.
I was tempted to verbalize my fear and talk about how I felt unqualified, but I did what I’m asking you to do. All through the day I felt the negative, but I said the positive. Under my breath I was constantly saying, «I am strong in the Lord. I can do all things through Christ. I am equipped. I am empowered. I am anointed.»
At that time what I was saying—none of it felt like it was true. For months, even the first couple of years, I was still insecure, still afraid. But I kept calling in courage, calling in favor, calling in the anointing.
Today, 20 years later, I am what I called myself. I’m asking you to start calling in what you want to be.
You’ve heard the line from the movie: if you build it, they will come. God is saying, «If you’ll call it, it will come.» If you’ll call yourself blessed, blessings will come. If you’ll call yourself healed, healing will come. If you call your children fulfilling their destinies, their destiny will come.
Joshua and Caleb: Calling In Victory
In Numbers 13, Moses sent 12 men to spy out the Promised Land. After 40 days, 10 of them came back and told Moses how it was an amazing land—more than they ever imagined.
They had struggled all those years out in the desert. Now they had finally made it next door to the land flowing with milk and honey. God had already promised that He was going to give them the land.
But these 10 spies went on to say, «Moses, the people are huge. They are so powerful. We will never defeat them. We felt like grasshoppers compared to them.» They felt weak, but instead of calling themselves strong, they called themselves weak.
God can call you one thing, but if you call yourself something different, you can override what God says—not because we’re that powerful, but God works where there’s faith.
If you’re going to become who you were created to be, you have to get in agreement with God. Don’t cancel out the amazing plan He has for your life by calling in the wrong things.
There were two other spies—Joshua and Caleb. They had a different report. They said, «Yes, Moses, the people are big, but we know our God is bigger. We are well able to take the land. Let us go in at once.»
They called in victory. They called in favor. Like David, they said, «We will defeat them.» What’s interesting is Joshua and Caleb were the only ones out of those two million people that ever made it into the Promised Land.
It’s not a coincidence that they were the only ones that called in victory. Are there Promised Lands you’re not entering because you’re calling in defeat instead of victory?
It’s time to change what you’re calling in. You’re going to eat the fruit of your words. I’m asking you to be a Joshua, be a Caleb, and call in what God says about you.
Let me help you get started. Receive this into your spirit: I call in healing for you, wholeness, restoration. I call in strength, energy, vitality—your youth being renewed. I call in confidence, courage, and ability. I call in blessings, favor, promotion, and abundance. I call in that business you’re believing for, that property you need, that house you’re dreaming about. I call in a spouse for you—somebody awesome, a divine connection. I call in that baby you were told you couldn’t have. I call in children that are off course. I call in a fresh anointing, fresh vision for your life.
Now I believe and declare, like Joshua and Caleb, you’re about to enter into your Promised Land. Get ready—what we’re calling in is on the way, in Jesus' name.