Joel Osteen - Your Right Time Is Coming
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I want to talk to you today about Your Right Time is Coming. We're all waiting for something: waiting for a dream to come to pass, or to meet the right person, for our health to turn around. When it's been a long time, and we don't see any sign of it, it's easy to get discouraged and think it's never going to work out. But God said in Isaiah 60:22, "When the time is right, I the Lord, will make it happen". When God put the promise in your heart, when he gave you that dream, he determined the right time to bring it to pass. He's already scheduled your healing, your breakthrough, your promotion. There are right time moments in your future where things will fall into place, the right people will show up, opportunity will find you. What you're believing for may not have happened yet, but when you understand that God has a right time, that it's already been scheduled by the Creator of the universe, you won't live worried, frustrated, "When is it ever going to happen". You'll stay in peace, knowing that your right time is coming.
The right time is the best time. God can see the big picture. He knows not only when you're ready, but when other people are ready. While you're waiting, it may seem like nothing is happening, but behind the scenes God is working. He's moving the wrong people out of the way, lining up the favor, arranging the breaks that you need. It's important to not only trust God, but trust his timing. Thoughts will tell you, "It's never going to happen. You'll never meet the right person. It's been too long. You'll never get well, the odds are against you". Don't believe those lies. When you come into your right time, all the forces of darkness cannot stop what God has planned. At the right time your healing will come. At the right time the person of your dreams will show up. At the right time your business will take off. At the right time you'll come out of that addiction, that depression, that trouble at work, and live in freedom, wholeness, victory. Don't get discouraged because it hasn't happened yet, your right time is coming.
God said, "When the time is right, I the Lord, will make it happen". The beauty is: we don't have to make it happen. You don't have to manipulate things, force a door to open, make yourself get well. God is going to make it happen. You may have obstacles that are too big for you, you don't see how you can get out of debt, how you can have a baby, how you can accomplish a dream. The good news is: you're not on your own. At the right time God will open the doors, he'll cause you to concede, he'll turn your child around. At the right time God changed the city council members mind, and we got the Compaq Center. At the right time God stepped in and healed my mother of terminal cancer. At the right time David took a slingshot and defeated a giant. At the right time prison doors flung open for Paul and Silas.
You may not see how this can happen: the odds are against you. You're looking at it in the natural, God is supernatural. He's not limited by what limits us. He has these right time moments in your future, where he's going to make things happen that you could never make happen. Now here's a key: if there's a right time, that means any other time is the wrong time. It takes faith and patience to see the promises. We live in a microwave society. I like everything fast, "God, do it now". The longer I live the more I've learned to trust God's timing. God knows what he's doing. He can see the big picture. If it hasn't happened yet, it hasn't been the right time. You have to trust him. Doesn't mean it's not going to happen, God has not forgotten about you. Your right time is already on the schedule. If it would have happened sooner, it wouldn't have been a blessing. In the waiting process God is doing a work in us, getting us stronger, developing our character, preparing us to carry the weight of glory.
If the situation is not changing, maybe God is using the situation to change you. If it's not working out yet, maybe he's working out something in you. The test is: will you trust him while you're waiting for the right time? Will you keep a good attitude? Will you stay in faith, when you don't see anything happening? This is when it's easy to get discouraged, live stressed out, "God, when are you going to turn this around? When am I going to meet someone? When is my business going to grow? When one of these people at work going to start treating me better"? Why don't you relax, come back to a place of peace? God sees what you're going through. He knows what you need, he knows your dreams, your goals, he's the one that put them in you. What he has purpose for your life will come to pass. One scripture says, "It won't be one second late". Thoughts will tell you, "No, you're falling behind. You're missing out. Everyone's getting ahead of you". No, you're right on schedule. God is ordering your steps. You keep honoring him, doing the right thing, and you're going to come into these "Right time moments" - moments, where he's going to thrust you ahead. It was a long time waiting, but when you see what God does, you'll say "It was worth the wait". What God is going to do is going to be bigger, better, more fulfilling, than what you had in mind.
When Abraham was 80 years old, his wife Sarah was 70, God gave them the promise that they would have a baby. In the natural this was impossible. No one had ever had a baby at that age. Sarah had been bearing her whole life, never had children. When they first heard this promise, it was so far out - they laughed. They thought, "That's a good one, God, you think we're going to have a baby? You have the wrong couple, we can't have a child". If God would have given them this promise when they were in their 20s, 30s, when it was a normal time to have children, they would have believed. But sometimes God will wait on purpose to when the odds are against us, seems like it's too late, we're too old, we don't have the training, the medical reports not good, we don't come from an influential family, we have plenty of excuses to not believe. But when God gives the promise, he sets the time to bring it to pass. He doesn't give you the dream and then say, "Well I think about when I'm going to do that, let me ponder it for a few months". No, the moment he gives it to you, he puts the promise on the schedule. He Marks the right time.
Like Abraham and Sarah, what God has spoken to you may seem impossible, like it could never happen. Don't get talked out of your dream. Don't let doubt, what you don't see happening, how unlikely it is keep you from believing for what God promised. When thoughts tell you, "There's no way, it's been too long", just say "No, thanks, I know my right times are coming. Father, thank you that what you promised is already on the schedule. That I don't have to figure it out, but you're going to make it happen, and it's not going to be one second light". We're all going to wait, but learn to wait the right way: wait in faith, wait with expectancy, wait with praise, thanking God in advance that it's on the way.
Abraham and Sarah at first didn't believe they could have a baby. They were filled with doubt, "How can this happen"? But God said in Genesis 18:14, "Is there anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time, I will return and give Sarah a son". God said in effect, "You may be doubting, you don't see how, but I have already set the right time. At the appointed time she will give birth". Notice, God set the time when he gave the promise. Whatever God has promised you, he's already set the right time. It's already in your future. The question is: what do we do when it's taken longer than we thought? God's timing is not our timing. On the way to your promise being fulfilled, there will be opportunities to get discouraged, give up on what you're believing for. "If it was going to happen, it would have happened by now. Just accept it". That's when you have to dig down deep and say, "No, God, I trust you. I know you wouldn't have promised me this, if you didn't have a right time on my schedule". Don't live with a "It's never going to happen" mentality, live with a "Right time" mentality.
If you knew one of your right times was October 16th, at 2:30 in the afternoon, you were going to meet the person of your dreams, or the medical report was going to say cancer-free, an opportunity to expand your business was going to come to you. If you knew that right time was coming, you would relax, you wouldn't live worried, you wouldn't waste time trying to figure it out, not able to sleep at night. Well, God doesn't tell us when, but he does promise: when the time is right, he's going to make it happen.
Year went by and Abraham Sarah didn't see a child. Two years, no child. Three years, she was still barren. They made some mistakes, he tried to help God out. Sarah told Abraham to sleep with her maid, that way they could have a child. Abraham said, "Let me pray about it". He prayed for four seconds, and said "Okay, I'm good with it". He's sleep with the maid, they had a son... But it wasn't the promised child. That baby caused all kinds of strife and division. The point is: you don't have to help God out, you don't have to manipulate, force, strive. It may not happen as fast as you would like, but you have to trust his timing. Trying to force things to happen, the scripture calls that works of the flesh. That's not going to change the right time, it's just going to bring frustration. It's much better to wait for God to do it his way.
Abraham and Sarah eventually learned this principle. Romans 4 says, "Even though Abraham was a hundred years old, Sarah was 90, and had been barren, Abraham never wavered in believing that the promise would come to pass". They quit being frustrated, they quit trying to force it to happen, and they started believing that their right time was in their future. Instead of living sour, "God, when is it going to happen? We're too old, it's been too long", I can hear Abraham all through the day, "Lord, thank you that that right time is coming. We don't see how, we don't know when, but we do know that you're a faithful God. That when you promised us the child, you put the right time on our schedule".
What's interesting is: Sarah wanted a baby, but God wanted a nation. She would have been thrilled to give birth to a son, but God was setting up something much bigger. God said in Genesis 17:16, "I will bless Sarah with the son, she will be the mother of nations, kings of people will come out of her". She not only had a son at 90 years old, but she gave birth to nations, kings came out of her. Maybe the reason your dream has taken longer, the reason that promise hasn't come to pass yet, is because what God is going to do is going to be so much bigger, so much more fulfilling than what you have in mind. You're not going to give birth to a son, you're going to give birth to nations so to speak. When you see how God shows out in your life you're going to be amazed.
The scripture says Sarah laughed when she had that son. She even named him Isaac, which means laughter. The first time when she heard the promise, she laughed in unbelief, thinking "There's no way". This time when she saw the promise, she laughed in amazement, thinking "Wow, God, I never dreamed this could happen". I love how merciful God is. He could have said, "Fine, Sarah, if you think it's impossible, if you don't think it'll ever happen, I'll find someone else". But God doesn't hold our lack of faith or doubt our unbelief against us. You may have laughed in unbelief, thinking you could never get well, never get out of debt, never break that addiction, but I believe the second laugh is coming. You're going to laugh in amazement, overjoyed, full of wonder, thinking "Wow, God, you showed out in my life. Wow, God, you've done amazing things".
Some of your right times God has already scheduled "Wow" moments, things you never dreamed would happen, favor like you've never seen, new levels for your family, opportunities, healing the right people, abundance. Your right times are coming, and they're going to be better than you thought. Now here's the key: trust him while you're waiting. Trust him while his plan is unfolding. Don't get discouraged by what you don't seem happening. Don't live frustrated because it's taken longer than you thought. The right time is the best time. God controls the universe. He can see things that we can't see. He can open doors that no person can shut. Sometimes he'll close a door on purpose. David said (Psalm 31:15), "God, my times are in your hands". He will saying, "God, I trust you where I am. Not discouraged because I'm in the shepherd's fields, being overlooked. Not frustrated, because king Saul is chasing me. Not stressed out, because people are slandering me, saying things about me that are not true. God, I believe my right times are coming. I believe you've already scheduled the promotion, the vindications, the breakthroughs. That you will make things happen, that I can't make happen. That you will get me to my destiny".
Genesis 21:2 says, "Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son at the very time God had set". It's significant that when God gave them the promise, he said "She would give birth at the appointed time". When the promise was fulfilled he said it again, "She had this baby at the set time". God was showing us: he doesn't give you a promise without setting the right time. He puts it on the calendar. How we wait is up to us. We can wait discouraged, "When is it going to happen? God, I thought you said I was going to meet someone, it's been so long. I thought you said I was going to have a bountiful year, I'm in a pandemic. The only thing bountiful is my bills". No, switch over into faith. Be a believer, not a doubter. "God, you said as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. My child may be off course, but I thank you that the right time is coming, that you will turn things around, that he will honor you, and fulfill his destiny. God, you promised that I would be the happy mother of children. I haven't been able to conceive yet, but I thank you that the right time is coming, that there's a baby that already has my name on it. God, you said you would prosper me in a famine. This pandemic has slowed things, but I thank you that there are right times in my future, that increase, promotion, abundance is already scheduled for me". When you understand that God is going to make it happen, it takes the pressure off. You can relax, you can live in peace. You just keep honoring God, and he'll take you places that you've never dreamed.
I was in my early twenties, I had never really dated anyone. I grew up playing sports, and I was always busy. Even after college, I was playing softball practically every night, and tournaments on the weekend. I got tired of hanging out with all the guys. I said, "God, I need to meet someone". A few years went by and nothing changed, but I just kept believing that God had the right person already lined up. I didn't try to force it to happen, I just kept honoring God, doing the right thing, knowing that he was ordering my steps. One day the battery from my watch died. My friend Johnny and I were going to work out, and I saw this Jewelry store along the way, and I pulled in to get a battery. Out walked the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen to wait on me, it was Victoria. I didn't tell her, but I thought, "God, you just answered my prayer". I didn't have to pray about it anymore. I wasn't walking by faith, I was walking by sight, she looked good.
We started talking, and I found out she was a good Christian girl. She went to a church like ours across town, and I thought that's great, because if she wasn't I was about to convert her. I went in to buy a battery for my watch, she ended up selling me a whole new watch, she's been taking my money ever since then. What happened? I came in to a right time. God had already put that on my schedule. He had already lined everything up. Think about all that had to happen. There are hundreds of Jewelry stores in Houston, I just chose that one, her mom's store. Victoria could have been off that day, she could have been with another customer, she could have been out to lunch, but there she was waiting for me. We started dating, the funniest thing she couldn't keep her hands off of me. I said, "God, I'm a Christian guy, slow her down", but... I'm not even going to look at her, though she remembers it differently, but... Here's what I'm saying: God has some of these right times in your future. There are right people are going to show up, the healing you're believing for, the freedom, the promotion, the baby. You keep honoring God, you're going to come into these moments of favor, where things happen that only God can make happen.
I talked to a man out in the lobby, he was diagnosed with cancer of the kidney. They were able to remove the kidney, but when they tested his lymph nodes, it came back positive, the cancer had spread throughout his body. The doctors gave him less than two years to live. That was one report, but God has another report. Sometimes medical science comes to the end of what they can do. They run out of options. There was no more treatment they could give him. The scripture talks about, "Whose report are you going to believe"? I'm not saying to deny the problem, act like it doesn't exist, but you do have to choose to believe what God says about you, and not what people say. People can talk you out of your miracle.
This man was very respectful, but he told his doctors that he didn't believe he was finished, that he had more to do, and that he was going to defy the odds. His main doctor said, "Sir, you're in denial. You need to accept it, and just deal with it". He came to MD Anderson, the cancer hospital here in Houston, to get a second opinion. He stopped by the service, and asked us to pray. And I told him what I tell you all the time: that God has the final say, that he can do what medicine can't do. That when you believe all things are possible. That there are some right times in your future.
The experts studied all of his records, and they agreed with the first diagnosis, said "It looks like they're correct, the cancer has spread all over". The men asked if they would take new tests. They didn't see any need for it, hadn't been that long, but they went ahead and ran all new tests. They came back a week later. This main doctor said, "In all my years of practicing, I've never seen this, but we can't find any cancer in your body". One x-ray, he showed me one x-ray showed all the cancer, the new one it was completely gone. When it's your right time, God says, "I the Lord, will make it happen". May seem impossible, the experts say no way: like Sarah, God is asking you, "Is there anything too hard for the Lord"? You don't know what God is up to. There are right times that are not just ordinary, not just a good break, but they are supernatural. It's the hand of God that defies the odds, that thrust you into places you can't go on your own, that makes ways where there is no way. What you're up against may look bigger, stronger, more powerful, but it's no match for our God. Stay in peace, you have the most powerful force in the universe on your side.
Jesus was at a wedding in Galilee. At one point in the festivities they ran out of wine. His mother Mary came to him, and told him about the problem, said "They don't have any more wine, can you do something about it"? Jesus said, "I can't do anything, my time has not yet come". Up to then he'd never done a miracle, never healed a person, never walked on water, never multiplied food, yet his mother could sense that he was close to stepping into a new level of his destiny. Down deep she knew he was going to impact the world, she just didn't know when. When Jesus told her it wasn't the right time yet, Mary heard it, she understood what he was saying, but in faith she told the assistants just do whatever he asked you to do. She was saying, "His time may not have come yet, but it's close. There's about to be a shift, he's on the verge of his right time, where he steps into his ministry, where a new level of favor, and power, and miracles are released".
In just a few minutes after Jesus said "My time has not yet come", he told the assistants to go fill the empty pots with water. As they were bringing them back, the water suddenly turned into wine. He went from "My time has not yet come", to "The right time is here". That was his first miracle. From then on he went out and impacted the world.
When you look at your circumstances, the obstacles you're up against, how long you've been trying to accomplish your goals, you could say like Jesus, "My time has not yet come. I can't do anything about this". But like Mary could sense something new was about to happen with Jesus, I can sense that God is about to do something greater in your life. You wouldn't be hearing this if you weren't about to come out of "My time is not yet come", into "My right time is here". You're on the verge of stepping into a new season: a season of greater favor, promotion, healing. Things that have held you back in the past, barriers that have limited your family, those powers are being broken. You're going to see influence, resources, talent coming out in ways you've never dreamed. Problems that look permanent are about to suddenly turn around. Family members that wouldn't have anything to do with you, that strife and division is coming down. You don't have to make this happen, it's going to be the hand of God. You came in to your right time.
Like Mary said to the assistant, the key is: just do whatever God's asking you to do. Just keep being faithful, even though you don't see anything happening. Keep believing for your healing, keep declaring that you're blessed. Keep thanking God that it will be a bountiful year. Your time may not have come yet, but it's closer than you think. There's about to be a shift from struggling to ease, from barely making it to abundance, from fighting that addiction to freedom, from dealing with that sickness to health and wholeness. Or from closed doors, nothing working out, to things falling into place, the right people, the contracts, the resources. What God promised already has the set time. It's not going to be one second late. It's no reason to live worried. No reason to live frustrated. Trust his timing. If you'll do this, I believe and declare: you're about to come in to one of your right time moments. Like Abraham and Sarah, dreams that seem impossible are about to come to pass. Healing, promotion, divine connections, it's going to be better than you think, in Jesus name. And if you receive it, can you say amen today? Amen.