Joel Osteen - Your Time to Reign
- Watch
- Audio
- Donate
- Contact Us
I want to talk to you today about Your Time to Reign. We weren't created to go through life overcome by problems, struggling to make it, in mediocrity. God created us to reign, to be the victor not the victim. He's already lined up moments of favor where he's going to make things happen that you couldn't make happen. You didn't have the experience, but suddenly you're promoted. The medical report said you wouldn't get well, but somehow your health turned around. Your family has struggled for years, but suddenly you come into opportunity, promotion, overflow. That's God causing you to reign.
You may have circumstances that look like they'll never change, it's easy to get discouraged and think "I'll never get well, I'll never meet the right person, never break this addiction, it's been too long". It may look permanent but God is saying, "It's only temporary". You're about to reign over the addiction, reign over the depression. The sickness looks like it's the end, but you're going to reign over that cancer, reign over that heart trouble. Even now chains are being broken, things that have held you back are coming down, new doors are about to open, healing is flowing into you. I can see fear, depression, anxiety lifting off of you. This is a new day. Things that have been reigning over you: the guilt, the loneliness, the bad breaks, there's about to be a turnaround, it's your time to reign, it's your time to be free, it's your time to step into abundance.
The scripture says in Psalms that "God has crowned you with favor". That crown is symbolic. He could have said "I've given you favor, I put favor on you". That would have been good, but he used the word crown to let us know: we're supposed to reign. God didn't create you to live defeated, burdened down by fear, addictions. You are crowned to defeat enemies. Crowned to take your family to a new level. Crowned to succeed, to excel, to leave your mark. Anything negative that's been reigning over you: dysfunction, insecurity, people trying to pull you down - there's about to be a shift, a change in authority, you're about to reign over what's been reigning over you.
Second Chronicles 23, there's the story of a young man named Joash. When he was a baby his uncle, the king of Judah, was killed. One of the king's sons should have taken the throne, but the king's mother Athaliah decided she wanted to be the queen. She had all of her children and grandchildren killed, that way she wouldn't have any opposition. Someone heard what she was doing, and they took baby Joash, Athaliah's grandson, and hid him in the temple. He was the only member of the royal family that survived. His grandfather, Athaliah's husband, was a descendant of king David. If she would have succeeded in getting rid of all of her husband's relatives, then the promise God made David, that one of his descendants would always be on the throne wouldn't have happened.
What God promised you will come to pass. People can't stop it. Bad breaks can't keep it from happening. What God started, he's going to finish. The priest in the temple was named Jehoiada. He and his wife took care of little Joash year after year, keeping him hidden, knowing he was destined to take the throne. When Joash was seven years old, Jehoiada went to five different army captains, he told them what happened and they agreed to help him. They all came to the temple and saw little Joash. Verse 23 says "Jehoiada said to them 'the time for the king's son to reign has come'".
It didn't seem like he was ready to reign. He was only seven years old. He didn't have the training, the experience, the size, the wisdom. None of the circumstances looked like he was going to take the throne anytime soon, seemed like it was years away. Yet, Jehoiada showed up and said "It's your time to reign". I can imagine little Joash didn't even understand it all, what does the word "Reign" even mean. What am I saying? God is going to do things for you sooner than you think. It's not going to take as long as it looks. When it seems the least likely, no sign of it, nothing improving, God is going to show up. He does things at unpredictable times. It's going to be unusual, uncommon, out of season, you didn't see it coming.
Everything may say "It can't happen now". "Joel, we're in a pandemic. My business can't increase. Going to take years to pay off my house. Had this addiction since high school. When things improve, then I'll believe". No, get ready, God doesn't do it at a normal time, on a normal schedule. He calls Sarah to give birth at 80 years old, out of season. At a wedding he turned water into wine. Wine should take years to make, he did it in a split second. You're going to see acceleration. God is going to speed things up. What should take you a lifetime to accomplish, is going to happen in a fraction of the time. It's not going to take as long as you think to get well, to get out of debt, to meet the right person. It's going to happen much quicker than it looks. God is going to do things out of season.
A friend of mine works in real estate. He owns hundreds of rental properties, and when the pandemic hit he was discouraged, he didn't know if his business was going to make it. For several months they were completely empty, no income. Just when he thought he would go under, people started booking his properties left and right. They got tired of staying in their own house, and his business exploded. He didn't see it coming. It was unusual, out of the ordinary. He made more in three months than he normally makes in a year. God is not waiting for the conditions to be right so he can bless you, he makes rivers in the desert.
In the scripture Isaac planted in a drought, and reaped a hundredfold return. God is not limited by your environment, by the economy, by the medical report, by who's against you, by how you were raised. He's about to do some things out of season, out of the ordinary, things that catapult you ahead. Joash was born into a dysfunctional family: a chaotic environment, his grandmother trying to get rid of him, family all gone, strife, confusion - all the odds were against him. Didn't look like he had any kind of future. He should have lived struggling, defeated, overcome. What made the difference was he was a king's son.
Maybe you've had some bad breaks. You weren't raised in unhealthy environment, you feel like you're at a disadvantage, you've been overlooked, pushed down. That would keep most people in defeat, mediocre, but not you - you're a king's son, you're a king's daughter. You have an advantage. There is a favor on your life that will cause you to go where you can't go on your own, a blessing that will lift you up when life tries to push you down, an anointing to excel when you should be limited, to rise higher when you should be stuck, to defeat the odds, to outlast the opposition. Bad breaks can't stop you - you're a king son. That disappointment is not how your story ends - you're a king's daughter. That breakup, the sickness, the trouble, it's only temporary.
God is saying to you what he said to Joash "It's time for the king's sons to reign. It's time for the king's daughters to reign". Put your shoulders back. Hold your head up high. Have the right perspective: you're a king's child. Who told you you can't accomplish your dreams? Who told you you can't go to college, you can't be happy, you've had too many bad breaks, your obstacles are too big? That may be true if you were average. If you were ordinary I might agree with you, but I know something about you - you're a king's son, you're a king's daughter. You have royal blood flowing through your veins. You have the DNA of Almighty God. You're wearing a crown of favor. It's time for you to reign. You haven't missed your chance, you haven't made too many mistakes, your obstacles are not too big. Get your passion back, get your fire back, you wouldn't be hearing this if God wasn't about to do something unusual, something unprecedented. You're on the verge of seeing favor that you've never seen.
I know a man that lives in another state. He comes to Houston several times a year for treatment at MD Anderson, the cancer hospital. And he was told that the cancer was incurable. The only way he could stay alive was by taking the treatments, and he never complained. When I'd see him out there in the lobby, he would tell me how blessed he was to be here. The last time he came in for treatment, his doctor, one of the leading cancer specialists in the world said "In all my years of practice, I've never seen this happen, but this disease that's supposed to be incurable is slowly fading away, and you don't need to keep taking this treatment".
Let me tell you, God has the final say. When it's your time to reign, the sickness can't stop you. It may be raining over you now, but a turnaround is coming. You're about to reign over it. You're going to reign over the depression. Reign over the lack. Reign over the injustice. The reason the enemy is fighting you, is because there's a calling on your life, there's an assignment for you to fulfill. That's why at times like with little Joash, you'll encounter difficulties that you have nothing to do with. You didn't choose what family you'd be born into, you can't help that there's dysfunction, people that don't like you, you came down with the sickness, that co-worker is stirring up trouble. Here's the key: it's not about you it's about the calling on your life. If you weren't a king's son, a king's daughter, you wouldn't have that opposition. The fact that you have forces trying to stop you, is a sign that you have an awesome destiny. The enemy wouldn't be fooling with you, if you weren't a threat.
Like Athaliah, there will be people and forces trying to keep you from your throne. The good news is: the forces that are for you are greater than forces that are against you. You're not fighting by yourself. The Most High God, the Creator of the universe is fighting for you. Right now he's pushing back forces of darkness, he's making crooked places straight, he's equipping you, empowering you, breathing in your direction.
Joash was only seven years old. There wasn't any way he could take the throne in his own strength, in his own ability - God fought for him. God is not going to let you miss your destiny. What he has purposed no person can stop, no bad break, no sickness, no injustice. It may be unfair, you don't understand it, but your time to reign is coming. God has not forgotten about you. He's seen everything you've been through: the struggles, the hurts, the lonely nights. The scripture says: he's collected all your tears, he's got a lot of mind, he's not going to just bring you out, he's going to bring you out better than you were before.
I talked to a lady that was raised in a very rough environment. Her mother and father weren't around, at 15 she was living on the streets, and she got into drugs and all kinds of harmful things, she ended up in prison. She had such low self-esteem, didn't feel any sense of value. It seemed unfair, she had all these bad breaks, no one to give her guidance and watch after her. In prison she started watching us on television. She had never had anyone speak faith into her and tell her who she was. When she heard me talking about how we are children of the Most High God, and how God has hand picked us, and called us a masterpiece, how we have seeds of greatness, how no weapon formed against us will ever prosper, something came alive on the inside, and she gave her life to Christ right there in the prison. Her whole outlook changed.
A few years later against all odds she was released. Today she owns her own business, she's happily married, she has children. She said, "I used to be homeless, but now I own a beautiful home. I lend, I don't have to borrow". She volunteers here at Lakewood. She never dreamed she'd be this blessed, this fulfilled. You may have been through some bad breaks: that didn't stop your destiny. God knows how to get you to where you're supposed to be. Instead of thinking of all the reasons why it's not going to happen, turn it around, "Father, thank you that it's my time to reign. I may not see a way, the conditions may not look right, but I believe what you said that I'm going to reign over this sickness, reign over this depression, reign over this injustice".
Jehoiada went out and got five armies to help this one little boy become king. When it's your time to reign, Jehoiadas are going to show up. God has already lined up the right people, that will go out of their way to help you, people that will use their favor to push you into your destiny. Sometimes we have people conspiring against us, but when it's your time God will have people conspire for you. Those co-workers that get together try to make you look bad, maybe family members that leave you out - don't worry, God knows how to turn the tables. He knows how to cause people to be for you, and not against you.
When we were trying to acquire the Compaq Center, we were one vote shy. We needed 10 votes from the city council members, but we only had nine. We had worked on this for two years, the final vote was just two days away. Didn't look like it's going to work out. A young Jewish council member, a man that had been against us the whole time, received a phone call from an older Jewish woman that he hadn't spoken to in over 20 years. He knew her growing up and had great respect for her. She told him in no uncertain terms that he was to vote for Lakewood having the Compaq Center. Because of that lady he changed his mind. His vote gave us the facility.
What's significant is: I don't know who the lady is. I've never met her, I never asked her to call, but when it's your time to reign, God will make things happen that you couldn't make happen. He'll have your Jehoiadas show up. People that you don't even know put in a good word for you. I believe you're about to see God do some of these unusual things, favor that catapult you ahead, good breaks that you didn't see coming, healing when the medical report says that it's not possible.
Joash's grandmother, Athaliah, was still on the throne. These five armies gathered at the temple and they brought Joash out. Verse 11 says "Jehoiada put a crown on Joash's head, they anointed him, and everyone started shouting, long live the king". When Athaliah heard all the noise, all the commotia, she came running out. When she saw little Joash, this little boy wearing the crown and realized who he was, she nearly passed out. That day she not only lost the throne, but she lost her life.
Don't worry about the people that are against you, God knows how to fight your battles. And someone may be on your throne so to speak, they've manipulated things at work to get that position, it seems like they're holding you back - God is a God of justice. He knows how to move people out of the way, he knows how to vindicate you, how to promote you. You keep doing the right thing, and trust God to fight your battles. No person can stand against him.
We all have people that come against us and things that aren't fair, but I've learned: if you'll just keep honoring God, he'll take care of the opposition. You don't have to manipulate things, try to pay people back, work your way onto your throne. When it's your time to reign, doors will open that no person can shut, people that were against you will either change and be for you, or like this lady, they'll take off running. Let God fight your battles.
What's interesting is: Joash hadn't done anything significant. He hadn't defeated a Goliath, hadn't parted a Red Sea, yet the people were celebrating him, shouting "Long live the king". When it's your time to reign, you're going to see favor that you didn't deserve, doors opened you couldn't open, promotion when you didn't have the experience, people going out of their way to be good to you.
That's what happened with the Compaq Center. I don't know how I had the faith to go after it. I had only been ministering for three years, I didn't have the experience, the qualifications, but deep down I knew it was supposed to be ours. The scripture talks about having the faith of God. Sometimes it's not even our faith, it's God giving us faith to believe for things that are way over our head. When the city council voted for us, we got the compact center, like little Joash it was simply my time to reign. I can't take credit for it, it was the goodness of God, making things happen that I couldn't make happen. You don't know what God has in your future.
What I want us to see is these things don't always happen when you think they would. Joash was seven years old, yet he had all these people fighting for him, protecting him, favoring him. It was because he was a king's son, and it was his time to reign. It may look like you can't accomplish your dreams, you don't have the connections, the experience. You can't get well, your child's never going to get back on course. There's no sign of it. That's when God shows out the most. He's not waiting for the conditions to be favorable, the scripture says (Psalm 37:19) "Even in famine the righteous will have more than enough".
Don't put your faith on hold, thinking when everything gets better then you can be blessed - God is about to bless you in the famine, promote you in the pandemic, heal you in the struggle, free you despite what's coming against you. This won't happen for everyone, it's going to happen because you're a king's son, you're a king's daughter. You're going to see these moments of favor where God catapults you ahead. And yes, there are seasons of testing where we have to be faithful, do the right things, even though nothing is changing, but at a certain point God is going to say "You passed the test. Now it's your time to be promoted, it's your time to meet the right person, it's your time to be healthy and whole, it's your time to see your business flourish".
Don't get discouraged by what hasn't happened yet, you don't know what God has coming. One touch of his favor will put you 50 years down the road. You're not falling behind, you're being prepared. Every day you do the right thing with a good attitude, you're passing the test. You're about to see what God was doing behind the scenes, getting things lined up for you to go where you've never dreamed.
I love the fact that Joash didn't go after the crown, but the crown came to him. God has blessings that are going to chase you down, increase that's going to come looking for you. This is what happened with David: he was a teenager, out in the shepherds fields when Samuel came looking for him. David wasn't seeking fame, power, notoriety, he was seeking God. Out in the shepherds fields he was being his best when no one was watching. It looked like he was stuck, it was boring, lonely - none of the conditions said "You're about to be anointed king". He wasn't being celebrated, he didn't turn in a resume, he didn't have a friend put in a good word for him. All the circumstances said that was his destiny. But one day there was a knock on David's father's door. The prophet Samuel came to Jesse's house to anoint David king.
I wonder who's about to receive a knock? Who's about to show up at your door? Who's about to see a Samuel, an unexpected phone call, a divine connection, a good break that takes you from the background to the foreground, something that you didn't see coming? "Well, Joel, I don't think this could happen for me, especially not during a pandemic". God does things out of the ordinary. When it doesn't seem likely, when you don't have the connections, when things have slowed down, get ready for a knock on the door, get ready for something unusual. "Well, Joel, you're just getting people's hopes up". You can't have faith if you don't first have hope. If you don't want your part, God will give it to someone else. Why don't you step up to who you were created to be? You're a king's son, you're a king's daughter.
David said: what would have happened to me, if I had not believed I would see the goodness of God. I'm asking you to believe that it's your time to reign, believe that favor is on your life, believe that something good is going to happen to you. Samuel came to David, the least likely one, the youngest son, out in the shepherds fields, an insignificant position, but with that one knock on the door David's life was never the same. After he was anointed, he went back to the shepherd's fields, but now it was different. When he saw Goliath, he picked up a rock, put it in his slingshot, and brought down the mightiest Philistine warrior. He became an overnight hero.
When it's your time to reign, you will defeat big enemies with small resources. You don't have to have great talent, great influence, great experience. What you have with God's favor will bring down great giants, great obstacles. You and God are a majority. Chapter 24 says, "Joash was seven years old, when he became king". He did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight throughout his lifetime. I believe one reason God crowned him king at such an early age is God knew he could trust him, he knew he would do what was right. He tore down the pagan altars, kept Jehovah first place.
Same thing with David. The scripture says, David had a heart after God. He wasn't perfect, he made mistakes, but he had a desire to honor God. When God can trust you, when he knows he can count on you to honor him, to handle the influence, the resources, the right way, then there's no limit to where God will take you. You don't have to be perfect, we all make mistakes, it's not so much about your performance, it's about your heart. Keep him first place. Do the right thing when it's hard. Say no to the things that are pulling you down. You're not just anyone, you're a king's son, a king's daughter.
God is saying to you what he said to little Joash: it's time for the king's children to reign. You are coming into destiny moments. God is about to take you where you can't go on your own. It's going to be unusual, it's not going to happen on a normal schedule, it's going to be sooner than you think. Whatever has been raining over you, the dysfunction, the lack, the sickness - this is a new day, there's about to be a turnaround, it's your time to reign. I believe and declare: forces that have held you back are being broken right now, good breaks are about to find you, the Jehoiadas, the right people are about to show up. You're going to reign over the sickness, reign over the depression, reign over the struggle, healing is coming, promotions, breakthroughs, freedom, the fullness of your destiny, in Jesus name.