Supernatural Provision | Joel Osteen

God bless you. It's great to be with you today, and I hope you'll stay connected with us during the week through our daily podcast, our YouTube channel, social media, and you can come visit us in person. We'd love to have you be a part of one of our services. I'd like to start with something funny, and I heard about this pastor that was in the lobby one Sunday after the service greeting people. He saw this man he hadn't seen in a long, long time and pulled him to the side and said, sir, you need to join the army of the Lord. The man said, what are you talking about? I'm in the army of the Lord. The pastor said, well, how come I only see you on Easter and Christmas? The man whispered back, I'm in the secret service. Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today I will be taught the Word of God. I boldly confess my mind is alert. My heart is receptive. I will never be the same in Jesus name. God bless you. I want to talk to you today about supernatural provision. When we look at our circumstances, sometimes we don't see how we can get ahead and how we can accomplish our dreams, how we can own and not just rent, or how we can leave an inheritance to our grandchildren like the scripture says. With inflation, gas prices higher, food costing more. In the natural, we may not see a way, but God is a supernatural God. When we come to the end of our resources, he steps in and says, I'll make streams in the desert. I'll take five loaves and two fish and multiply them to feed thousands. When Peter didn't have money to pay his taxes, Jesus told him to go to the lake. The first fish he caught had two coins in it, enough to pay his and Jesus' taxes. God was showing us that he has supernatural provision. He's not limited by what you don't have. He's not limited by how you were raised, the family you come from. There may be lack, struggle, barely get by. That's how it's been, but you've been raised up to break that negative cycle. You're the one that's going to come out of not enough into more than enough. God is not a get-by God. He's an overflow God. Don't live with a lack mentality, not enough, limited mindset. Have an abundant mentality. I will lend and not borrow. My cup runs over. Because I honor God, I live under the open windows of heaven, blessings I cannot contain. You have to prosper in your mind before you'll prosper in your circumstances. You have to give God permission to bless you. Are you in agreement with what He wants to do, or are you thinking you're stuck? I've never seen prices this high. I don't see how I could ever get out of this

neighborhood. The economy, the stock market, it has me so worried. You're looking at everything in the natural. You have to realize God is supernatural. The good news is He's not having a down year. He's not scratching His head, thinking, I didn't see inflation coming. This pandemic threw me off. I'm worried about my 401K. No, God owns it all. He makes streets out of gold. You are connected to a supply line that will never run dry. The economy may go up or down, but that's not your source. God is your source. And yes, we're grateful for our jobs, grateful for employment, a good boss, but God is not dependent on those things. He has provision in your future that is beyond your normal salary, beyond your training, beyond your experience. He's not looking at what people look at, the qualifications, the talent. He's looking at your heart. He sees how faithful you are, how you always keep in first place, how you have a desire to help others, to build the kingdom, a dream to accomplish what seems over your head. That's when God will step in and show you supernatural provisions. Open doors you never dreamed would open. Bring income, resources, contracts that will thrust you further than you've ever imagined. Well, Joel, this sounds good, but my boss doesn't give me any credit. My bills are outpacing my income. I take one step forward and two steps back. I don't think I'll ever have abundance. Let me give you a key. If you have a poor mouth, you're going to have a poor life. God wants to show you a supernatural increase, but you can cancel it out with a negative tongue. Your words can speak death or they can speak life. You can speak lack or you can speak abundance. You can speak not enough or you can speak more than enough. Psalm 35 says, Let them continually say, Let the Lord be magnified, Who takes pleasure in the prosperity of His children. They were supposed to go around continually saying, God takes pleasure in prospering me. God knew if they started talking negative, lack, not enough, they would have unlimited mindset. They would have never seen the blessing, the favor, the abundance that He had in store.

Every time you're tempted to talk about what you don't have, how you can't accomplish the dream, turn it around. Father, thank you that you take pleasure in prospering me. I may not see how, but I know you have supernatural provision, supernatural increase. You're not limited by what limits me. Luke chapter five, Jesus was at the Sea of Galilee and there were so many people crowded around. He asked Peter if he could borrow his boat to teach the people. He had never met Peter, but Peter agreed. He pushed out from the shore and taught. When he was finished, he told Peter to launch back out into the deep and he would catch a great haul of fish. Well, Peter had fished all night and caught nothing. He was a professional fisherman. He knew when to fish, where to fish. Jesus was a teacher, a rabbi. I'm sure he thought, who is he telling me how to fish? He should stick to teaching and I'll stick to fishing. He said, in effect, Jesus, this doesn't make sense to me. Nevertheless, at your word, I'm going to do it. He went out and caught so many fish that his net began to break. He had to call another boat over. They were both so loaded down that they were about to sink. What's interesting is there were no fish there a couple of hours before.

They had fished all night, but God controls the fish. He knows where your provision is and he knows how to get it to you. May not make sense, may not be logical what you were expecting. God likes to do things out of the ordinary, uncommon, so you'll know it was the hand of God. Peter let Jesus borrow his boat. That was his business, his source of income. He could have said, Jesus, I'm busy. I'm tired, I don't know you, go find another boat. But he gave his resource to Jesus. He was generous. This was symbolic of putting God first place. Proverbs says, honor the Lord with your income and the first fruits of all your crops. Then he will fill your barns with abundance and your vats will overflow. If you're going to seek supernatural provision, you have to be a giver. Honor God with your first fruits, the first part of your income. Invite him into your business. If you work 40 hours a week, give him your first fruits. God, you can use my boat these first four hours, I'm giving you this income. When you let God use your boat, you're setting yourself up for overflow, for abundance. We think the opposite. Joel, if I give, I'm gonna have less.

No, that's a seed you're sowing. You can't give God something without him giving you more back in return. Peter owned the boat, but God owned the sea. God controls the universe. When you let him use your boat, he'll cause the fish to find you. He'll cause contracts, opportunities, good breaks to track you down. The scripture says, when you give, it will be given back to you, but not in the same measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. That's the way our God is, a net breaking God. It's significant that when Peter met Jesus for the first time, he had just fished all night and caught nothing. His mindset was lack, scarcity, not enough. And Jesus was about to choose Peter to become his first disciple. He could have thanked him for letting him use the boat. Said, I want you to come be my disciple. But Jesus didn't want Peter to have that limited mindset associated with him. So Jesus told him to go back into the deep. He caught so many fish that his net began to break. When he came to the shore, that's when Jesus said, Peter, from now on, you're going to become a fisher of men. Now Peter's mindset was abundance, overflow, more than enough. That's the mentality Jesus wanted him to have.

Not a fisher of men, barely getting by, never catch anything, can't accomplish my dream. No, have a different mindset. You may have seasons where you caught nothing, but that is not your destiny. Abundance is coming. God has some net breaking blessings in your future. You couldn't make it happen. You fished all night and caught nothing. You did your best, worked hard, honored God, but you still came up empty. Your time is coming. God is directing those fish right now. He's lining up supernatural provision, something you've never seen, boat sinking blessings, increase that not only affects you, but spills over to your children and grandchildren. You're going to have to call some other boats to take in all the overflow. David said, my cup runs over. God's going to bless you to where future generations will get the runover. Your family line will be blessed because you honored God. You had an abundant mentality. God entrusted you with net breaking blessings. I talked to a woman that works in commercial real estate and she does it part time. Her main focus was to raise her children. She volunteers at the church, very faithful. A friend of hers had a large piece of property

right on the main freeway that he wanted to sell. He's a high powered businessman. He could have called his attorneys to sell it or hired a leading real estate company. Instead, he called this woman and listed it with her. He wasn't in a big hurry to sell the property and it sat there year after year and she kept raising the price from several million dollars to 12 million to over 20 million. People told her it would never sell for that much, that she was wasting her time. But not long ago, a large company came in and wanted to purchase the property. They were this huge brand, offices all over the world. She thought the owner would want to bring his legal team to lead the negotiations, but he said, no, you're in charge. She wasn't skilled in negotiating large contracts, but she said, when I went in there, I felt a boldness, a confidence. I knew the favor of God was on my life. She stood firm, wouldn't back down on what she wanted for the property. After two days, they said, we know the value is not this high, but something just feels right and we're going to purchase it. That one good break will spill over to her children and grandchildren. She told me in the lobby, Joel, I never dreamed that God would bless me in such a way. God has some of these net breaking blessings for you.

He has supernatural provision, supernatural increase. He's not limited by your education, your experience, who you know, how you were raised. He knows how to bring the fish to you. You do your part and let him in your boat. Honor him with your income and God will bless you in ways you've never imagined. When Peter saw how many fish were in his net, the scripture says he was awestruck at the size of his catch. God is going to do some things that leave you awestruck. You thought you'd be paying off your house for 30 years, then suddenly a net breaking blessing, a contract, a good break, an inheritance, and you're into overflow. You thought you'd always be in that neighborhood. You were stuck in that environment, then suddenly a door opened, a promotion where you weren't next in line. The fish came looking for you. Well, Joel, this is encouraging, but I don't see how it can happen. You don't have to see how, leave the how up to God. Just believe that it will happen. The reason we can't see how is we're natural, but God's supernatural. We're limited, God's unlimited. If you get stuck on the how, you'll talk yourself out of it. Your mind will come up with a thousand reasons

why it's not gonna happen. No, God's ways are not our ways. He has ways that you've never thought of. When God delivered the Israelites out of slavery, parted the Red Sea, these 2 million people were in the desert headed toward the promised land. There were no grocery stores out there, no fast food, no door dash, and no water. They begin to complain, Moses, why did you bring us out here to die? We're thirsty, we need something to drink. God didn't go to all that trouble to bring them out of slavery, free them from the Pharaoh to let them starve to death. God will allow situations where it looks impossible so he can show us his supernatural provision. Don't be surprised if you face times where all the facts say there's no way. Your resources are limited. You fished all night and caught nothing. No, God is up to something. He didn't bring you this far to leave you. God told Moses to take his staff and strike a rock. When he did, out in the desert, water started pouring out of the rock. Supernatural provision. God can make things happen that defy the odds Things that you couldn't plan for you have to trust him Everything in your mind will tell you you'll never have abundance. You'll always be thirsty

You'll always struggle have debt not enough that may be true logically speaking What I'm saying is God will defy logic. He knows how to bring water out of a rock The scripture says he makes streams in the barren places rivers in the desert There may be some things barren in your life. You don't see how it could ever change. Oh get ready God's about to strike the rock. You're going to see provision that you can't explain Good breaks that don't make sense Increase that's not logical The same God that brought water out of a rock can cause promotion to find you The right people to track you down Abundance to come knocking on your door if we could do this all in our own strength We wouldn't need God's help, but God on purpose will put dreams in your heart that you can't accomplish by yourself You don't have the resources the funds the connections It's easy to get discouraged and let what we see in the natural talk us out of it This is where you have to stir your faith up and say God I believe you have supernatural provision that you have net breaking blessings that you can still bring water out of a rock. I Know this couple that were believing to have children for a long time with no success And after much prayer and fertility treatment, she became pregnant with triplets. They were so excited But during the pregnancy there were complications the babies were born prematurely Weighing less than a pound each they had to stay in the neonatal intensive care for six months By the grace of God they grew and today they're perfectly healthy These parents had insurance, but it didn't cover everything a few months after they brought their children home They received a bill for two million dollars The father was a police officer mom worked in education in the natural They'd be paying on that bill the rest of their life, but God knows how to bring water out of a rock He knows how to cause the fish to find you. They didn't start complaining. They didn't get discouraged They kept thanking God for supernatural provision Declaring what he promised we will lend and not borrow Father, thank you that our cup runs over that we have more than enough that you take pleasure in prospering us If you're going to see God's blessings you have to have an abundant mentality You have to know that he's Jehovah Jireh the Lord your provider

That phrase comes from when Abraham was on top of Mount Moriah About to sacrifice his son Isaac right before he went through it an angel appeared and told him to stop It was a test of his obedience He needed an animal to sacrifice He heard this noise in the brush. He looked over and saw this ram caught in the thicket He took that ram and it became the sacrifice Abraham named that place Jehovah Jireh the Lord will provide What's interesting is rams aren't normally found that high up in the mountains But God knows how to get the provision to you The ram was waiting on Abraham it was going up the mountain before Abraham even knew he needed it It was already in route God has some rams waiting for you He's already lined up your provision your abundance before you had the setback. He put the ram in place Maybe you grew up in a family lack and struggle. Don't worry rams are in your future They look like you're stuck you don't have the funding for your dream How can you expand your business stay encouraged a ram will be waiting for you? Jehovah Jireh the Lord your provider has already put the abundance the good breaks the supernatural provision It's already in your path That's why we can stay in peace. He's the Lord our provider Not our job our provider our boss our provider our salary our provider Know the God who spoke worlds into existence the God who makes streets out of gold The God who causes fish to show up the God who brings water out of a rock? The God who puts rams in a thicket the God who said you'll lend and not borrow the God who said your cup will run? Over that's who's ordering your steps. That's who's planned out your future Now you may know him as your Savior. That's the most important you may know him as your healer That's good, but you need to know him as your provider. He has supernatural provision This couple with triplets, they didn't see how it could ever work out, but they just kept standing in faith, believing that God would make a way.

Right before Christmas that year, the hospital called and said, we've never done this before, but we've decided to cancel your $2 million debt. Like Peter, they were awestruck. They didn't see that coming. Like with Abraham, that was a ram waiting for them. You don't know what God has waiting for you. It's hidden right now. You can't see it, but at the right time, it's going to show up. It's not going to be ordinary, something you were expecting. It's going to leave you awestruck. Net breaking blessings, abundance that runs over to your children, increase that takes you from just enough to more than enough. 2013, there was a young African American woman working as a nurse. She and her husband were pregnant with another child. And unfortunately the baby was born without the brain functioning. Six months later, the child passed. She was so distraught and so empty. Didn't feel like she had any sense of purpose. She wasn't raised in church, didn't have any kind of religious background, but in that dark time, she turned to her faith. She got involved in a good church,

started volunteering, supporting. She never missed a service. To try to distract herself from the pain of the loss, she started researching hair products and experimenting with different things that worked for her. She put this on her Instagram, tips to take care of your hair, ways to style it. She thought maybe one day she'd open a hair salon. Much to her surprise, her Instagram blew up. There was so much interest in her hair products that she started selling them online. She began in her kitchen. Her business grew and grew. They moved to the garage. Over the next few years, it took off to a multimillion dollar business. In 2019, Proctor and Gamble purchased her company for an amount she never dreamed. She said it was the largest series A investment ever obtained by an African-American woman. On top of that, they committed $10 million to her charity to help educate underprivileged children. You never know what kind of rams God has waiting for you. When you honor Him, live with an abundant mentality, He'll do things you didn't see coming. Not just meet your needs, but supernatural provision. Uncommon, unusual, things you can't explain. And she told how she didn't feel qualified to run a company that large. She had never been to business school.

Her training was in healthcare. Her friends told her she was making a mistake leaving her nursing job. But God has things in your future that are not going to make sense to everyone. Water out of a rock, that doesn't make sense. Peter, go back and launch into the deep. There were no fish there a few hours ago. Now there's a net breaking blessing. Don't let people talk you out of what God put in your heart. The blessing is in the obedience. The ram is waiting for you where God told you to go. Out in the desert, every morning, the Israelites had manna on the ground, something like bread to eat. That's how they survived. But the people got tired of that. They complained to Moses, we want some meat to eat. God didn't like their complaining, but He's so merciful. He told Moses that He would give the people meat, not for a day, but for a whole month. Moses said, God, what do you mean? There are 2 million people out here. Even if we butchered all of our flocks, all of our herds, that wouldn't be enough. God didn't say, you know what, Moses, you're right. What was I thinking? I miscalculated. God said, Moses, is there any limit to my power? He was saying, don't you realize I control the universe?

I put rams in a bush. I tell fish to get into a net. I tell water to come out of a rock. I tell compact centers to go to my people. This scripture says, God shifted the wind and caused hundreds of thousands of quail to come in from the sea. Like that ram, quail are not normally found in the desert. They wouldn't go that far from the water, but God controls the quail. That one shift and they had steak dinners for a whole month. Verse 32 says, no one gathered less than 50 bushels of quail. Let's assume there were 10 quail in a bushel. Then everyone gathered 500 quail. There were 2 million people. That adds up to a billion quail. We're praying about our light bill. Look at how God. things, abundance, overflow, more than enough. They were awestruck at what God had done. Like with them, God's about to shift some things in your life. He's going to cause the quail to come looking for you. You couldn't have made it happen. You didn't have the connections, the experience, the background, but you've kept God first place. You've been faithful. You've honored Him with your firstfruits. Now He's going to cause the winds to blow in your direction. A shift from borrowing to lending, a shift from renting to owning, a shift from employee to employer, a shift from not enough to more than enough. Now you may not see how it can happen. Your mind will tell you there's no way. How can you get out of debt? How can you leave your family better? How can you accomplish your dream? God is asking you what He asked Moses. Is there anything too hard for me? You're

looking at it in the natural, but God has supernatural provision. One shift and you'll go from no fish to a net breaking blessing, from playing with hair products to a business exploding, from a two million dollar medical bill to being debt free. What are you looking at? How big the lack, the debt, the struggle is, or how big your God is? Have a new perspective. Let God be magnified who takes pleasure in prospering me. Get in agreement with God. Have this abundant mentality. He has some rams waiting for you. He's already lined up some net breaking blessings. If you'll do this, I believe and declare you're going to come into supernatural provision. Doors suddenly opening, good breaks finding you, contracts, opportunities. You're going to be awestruck at the goodness of God. In Jesus' name, if you receive it, can you say amen? I'd like to give you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life. Would you pray with me? Just say, Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I make you my Lord and Savior. If you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. We'd love to send you some free information on your new walk with the Lord. You can text the number on the screen or go to the website. I hope you'll get into a good Bible-based church and keep God first place.