Joel Osteen Podcast - Keep The Right Perspective | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: September 19, 2025

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Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. If you enjoy today's message, why don't you be a blessing and share it with a friend. We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in your life. Well, God bless you. It's a joy to come into your home.

If you're ever in our area, stop by and be a part of one of our services, I promise you, we'll make you feel right at home. But thanks for tuning in today. I'd like to get started each week with something funny. And I heard about this nun. She worked in the home health care field, and she traveled from house to house, taking care of people. One day, as she was making her rounds, she ran out of gas.

There was a station just a couple blocks away, so she walked up there and asked the attendant for a gas can, but it had been checked out. He said, it'll be two or three hours before it gets back. She didn't have time to wait, so she went back to her car and got a bedpan and filled it up with gasoline. She got back to her car, and as she was pouring the gas into her tank from that bedpan, two men were passing by. One man said to the other, if that car starts, I'll be in church every Sunday the rest of my life. All right, hold your Bibles up.

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'll never be the same. in Jesus name. God bless you. I want to talk to you today about living with expectancy. Our expectations set the limits for our life. Too many people are not expecting the right things. They don't expect to rise any higher. They don't expect to get good breaks. They go through the day expecting to get the short end of the stick. They don't realize their own wrong thinking is keeping them in mediocrity. God meets us at the level of our expectations. If we expect little, we're going to receive little. If we don't expect anything to get better, it probably won't get any better.

We need to pay attention to what we're expecting. If we will learn to raise our level of expectancy and start expecting more favor, more good breaks, then we'll see God do greater things. And every morning when we first get out of bed, We should say something good is going to happen to me today. We have to set the tone for the day right at the very beginning. Then all through the day we should have an attitude of expectancy. Like a little child that's about to open up a present. Be on the lookout thinking what's God going to do today? Instead of dragging around thinking nothing good ever happens to me, start

expecting to be at the right place at the right time. Start expecting to get good breaks. Expect God's favor. Don't go to the store not expecting to find what you need. Don't go interview for a job, not expecting to get it. Your expectations is your faith at work. When you expect to get good breaks, you expect people to like you and you expect to have a great year, you are releasing your faith. And that's what allows God to bring it to pass. But our expectations work in both directions. If you get up in the morning expecting to have a lot. Expecting to have a lousy day, expecting people to be unfriendly, expecting not to get any breaks, then you're going to draw that in. Your faith is working. You're just using it in the wrong direction.

I had a young person tell me a while back how he was about to take his final exams. He had studied and studied, but he was very worried because every time in the past he would take an important test. He'd get very uptight, and he couldn't remember what he'd studied, and he'd end up doing poor on that test. And he said, Joel, I wish you'd pray for me because I know it's going to happen again. I told him what I'm telling you, you're expecting the wrong things. You need to change your expectations and throughout the day, start telling yourself, I'm expecting to do great on this test. I'm expecting God to bring to my memory everything that I've studied. I'm expecting to stay calm and be in peace. I saw him not long ago. He said, Joel, that's the best I've ever done.

on one of my final exams. Jesus said this in Matthew 929, according to your faith, be it done unto you. One translation puts it so simple, have what your faith expects. Let me ask you today, what are you expecting in life?

Big things, little things, nothing at all. It's easy to expect the worst. But if you can just switch over into faith and start expecting to excel, start expecting to accomplish your dreams, then you will draw out God's blessings and favor. But some people have had a negative mindset so long, they don't even realize they're doing this. It's just natural to them. They expect the worst, and they usually get it.

They expect people to be unfriendly, and they usually are. I know this lady that had a lot of negative things happened to her, and it was just like she was on autopilot. She expected people to hurt her, and they usually did. she expected to get laid off from her job, and eventually she did get laid off. Her own expectations were drawn in all the negative. One day she learned this principle, and she started expecting God's favor. She started expecting people to be good to her. She started expecting to get breaks.

Today, it's a totally different story. She's living a victorious life. You may have had a lot of disappointments in the past, but don't fall into that trap of staying in a negative frame of mind. Instead of expecting more of the same, start expecting God to turn it around. Don't expect to barely get by. Start expecting to excel. Don't expect to be overcome. Start expecting to be the overcomer. You may not always feel like it, but when you wake up in the morning, you need to remind yourself, you are more than a conqueror. God has great things in store. You should go out excited about the day expecting things to change in your favor.

Our attitude should be, I may have difficulties, but I'm expecting God to turn them around. My dreams may look impossible, but I'm expecting God to make a way. My finances may be kind of low, but I'm expecting supernatural increase. My child may not be doing right, but I'm expecting him to change. Get your faith out there. Our expectations are setting the limits for our life. I had somebody tell me one time, Joel, I don't like to expect anything good. That way, if it doesn't happen, then I'm not disappointed. But that's no way to live. If you're not expecting something good, you're not releasing your faith. And if it doesn't happen the way you want or on your timetable, just know God has something better in store.

Don't go through life trying to protect yourself from a disappointment by not expecting anything good. Well, you say, Joel, I'm not expecting anything bad. But really, it's not enough to just not expect anything bad. You cannot be in neutral in your thought life, in your expectations, and have God's best. My question is, are you aggressively expecting something good? Do you go out of the house expecting God's favor? Are you expecting your dreams to come to pass? Are you expecting to be better off this year than you were last year? Pay attention to what you're expecting. Maybe you're hearing you're single today and you have a desire to get married. Don't go around thinking it's never going to happen. I'm getting too old. I'm never going to meet anybody. No, you need to start expecting to be at the right place at the right time.

Start expecting God to bring you divine connections, the right people across your path. Well, you say, Joel, what if I do this and nothing happens? What if you do it and something does happen? I can tell you, nothing's going to happen if we don't first believe. And I found if we're not disciplined in our thought life, in our expectations, then our mind will just default back into expecting the worst, expecting failure, expecting bad news. I know people that are just waiting for the next disaster. They live in fear. Everything can be going great, but they're sitting around thinking instead of enjoying it, when's it going to come to an end?

I had somebody asked me a while back, Joel, you've got a beautiful family, you've been blessed in your life, you've had some success. Don't you ever worry that it's almost too good to be true? Don't you ever worry that something bad's going to happen? It's not going to last. I thought to myself, I don't even think like that. I've learned to not put my faith in the negative. I'm not expecting it to end and expecting failures and tragedies and mistakes. I'm expecting God's goodness. I'm expecting God's goodness. I know God is going before us making crooked places straight. I know God has said no weapon formed against us is ever going to prosper. I'm not going to live in fear expecting the worst. I'm going to live in faith and expect the best. And the fact is, even if the worst happens, I'm not going to fall apart and get all upset. And so just my luck. I should have known it wasn't going to last.

No, I'm going to stay in faith and expect God to turn it around. I'm going to expect to come out better off than I was before. Don't go around expecting the worst. Somebody told me once, Joel, you're in a season of favor. You need to enjoy it. It's not going to last forever. They were trying to encourage me, but I just assume they kept that encouragement to themselves. There's a scripture in Psalms that says God's favor is not for a season, it's for a lifetime.

When you're seeing God's goodness, when you're seeing God's blessings in favor, don't you dare go around thinking, well, I better enjoy it. I know it's not going to last. No, as long as you keep believing, God's favor is going to be on you for a lifetime. Doesn't come and go.

Even when it's difficult, his favor's there to help bring you out. The scripture says in Deuteronomy, if we will obey God's commands and keep him first place, his blessings will chase us down and overtake us. we need to start expecting God's goodness to overtake us

not failure, calamity, bad breaks. Don't sit around thinking nothing good ever happens to me. I tried and I failed. It happened once. It'll probably happen again. Don't expect setbacks. Don't expect trouble and heartache. Release your faith by expecting God's favor. God's

blessing, God's increase. Several years ago, I was in a difficult situation. Some things had come against me, and they had the potential to turn out really bad. And it went on and on month after month, and my mind was going 90 to nothing, telling me all the reasons why it wasn't going to work out, how bad it was going to be. And I was very tempted to expect the worst. If we're not disciplined in our expectations, in our thoughts, most of the time our mind will play out the worst case scenarios. And I was reading the scriptures one day in Psalm 112. And it says, we do not have to fear bad news. I made a decision that day. I wasn't going to live in fear. I wasn't

going to expect the worst anymore. I turned it over to God and started expecting for him to turn it around. Every time I was tempted to worry, every time I was tempted to lose my joy, I'd say, no, God is in control, and I'm expecting this to work out to my advantage. Year or so later, I got a call out of the blue telling me that it had totally resolved. God had changed it in my favor. But it's easy to expect the worst. You know how you have a pain in your side? Something I'll tell you, that's cancer, man. They're laying off people at your company, even in another state. Something will tell you, you're next. You better pack up. What are you going to do? Don't expect the worst. Don't fear bad news. Keep expecting God to turn it around. And even if it doesn't work out,

even if you do get bad news, you don't have to get all upset. God is still on the throne. He's giving you strength for every battle. Instead of saying, I knew this wasn't going to work out. No, just say, God, I know you're bigger than this problem. I'm not going to get discouraged. I'm expecting any moment for you to show up and change things in my favor. What I'm saying is let's stop expecting calamity and trouble to overtake us and let's start expecting God's blessings and favor to overtake us.

David put it this way. what would have become of me had I not believed to see the goodness of God? What he was saying was, what would have happened to me if I had not had the right expectations? Where would I be if I had not believed and expected God's blessings and favor? I know some of you feel like you've had a thousand things go wrong. Life has dealt you some tough blows and that dark cloud tries to follow you around, kind of like a heaviness. And it's constantly telling you, it's never going to change.

It's never going to get any better. You can't expect good things. But you need to shake off those lies. God is saying today, this is a new day, and I have great things in store for you. You need to draw the line in the sand. Say it may not have happened in the past, but that's not going to keep me from believing for the future. This is my time for increase. This is my time for favor. I'm expecting to have a blessed and prosperous new year. It says in Psalms that goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives. In the past, you may feel like disappointments and setbacks have followed you around, but you need to let go of everything that didn't work out. Let go of every disappointment. Let go of every person that hurt you and start expecting goodness and mercy to follow

you everywhere you go. Matter of fact, sometimes it's good to look back and say, hey goodness, hey mercy, how y'all doing back there? Make sure you keep up with me. But some people are constantly looking for the next disaster. They're looking for the next bad break, looking for the next failure. No change what you're looking for. Start looking for goodness, mercy, favor, blessings, promotion. That's what's supposed to be following us around. When I think about how God is going before us making crooked places straight, goodness and mercy are following us, favor is surrounding us. No wonder we can stay in faith. No wonder we can expect good things. God is in control. He has us in the palm of his hand. He knows the end from the beginning.

He's already said he has arranged the good life for each one of us. When we're positive and hopeful, expecting good things, then we're in agreement with the creator of the universe. But when we're negative, worried, expecting the worst, we're in agreement with the enemy. We have to choose who we're going to get in agreement with. And I'm not saying that when we expect good things, we'll never have a problem and every day will be perfect. Of course not. But when we expect the best, even when negative things happen, we can say, God, I know you're still in control and I'm expecting this to turn around. Every morning, I've gotten into a habit. I never leave the house without saying something good is going to happen to me today. It's important to declare that over your life. Worker

Words have created power. Well, you say, Joel, does something good happen to you every single day? Not at all. Some days, everything in the world that can go wrong does. You know what I do? I get up the next morning and say, something good is going to happen to me today. You've got to be determined. You've got to be persistent.

I'm not talking about trying this for three days to see if it works. I'm talking about developing a lifestyle of expecting the best. not expecting things to not work out, things to go wrong. I'm expecting to have a productive day. Not expecting to barely get by. I'm expecting to live an abundant life. Not expecting problems and always be struggling. I'm expecting God to turn it around. I know we are victors and not victims. It's all in our mindset. It's all in our approach to life. The scripture says in Isaiah 30, verse 18. God is longing to be good to the people that are looking for his goodness. Let me ask you today, what are you looking for? What are you expecting? Do you go out expecting favor, promotion,

God's blessings, or do you go around expecting the worst, thinking that you've reached your limits, you've got so many problems, you don't think it'll ever change? No, you're missing out. God is longing to be good to you. He wants to you. He wants to you. He wants to you. You've got so many problems. You don't think it'll ever change. You're missing out. I'm to show you more of his favor. He wants to do more than you can even imagine, but you've got to do your part. Number one, we have to walk in obedience, of course, and number two, you have to be looking for God's goodness. Some of you, this is exactly what's holding you back. You're not expecting anything good. You're not expecting your marriage to get better. You're not expecting your dreams and desires to come to pass. Without the right expectations, we lose our enthusiasm.

for life. We lose our passion. That's why many people are just dragging through the day. The scripture says this, hope deferred makes the heart sick. One definition of hope is happy anticipation of something good. When you're anticipating something good, it's going to give you joy. It's going to give you enthusiasm. When you know God's working behind the scenes, arranging things in your favor, about to bring your dreams to pass, then you'll go out with expectancy with a spring in your step. But if you're not anticipating anything good, you'll just drag through the day, going through the motions of life, no joy, no enthusiasm, no passion. Friends, God has created us to have something good to look forward to. You need to

stir up the dreams and desires that he's placed in your hearts. And every day, you should anticipate God's showing up and doing great things in your life. He's longing to be good to you. He's searching right now for someone to shower his blessings in favor. The question is, are you looking for God's goodness? Somebody asked me one time, Joel, what's the secret of your success? What's the secret of God's favor on your life? I told them two things.

Number one, I've always done my best to keep my heart pure before God. And number two, I've learned this principle of expecting good things. I've done it so long, it's ingrained in my thinking. Even in my subconscious mind all through the day, I'm expecting God's favor. I'm expecting blessings. I'm expecting good breaks. And just as you train yourself to expect the worst, you can train yourself to expect the best. And I don't say this arrogantly, but I expect people to like me. Maybe I'm naive, I don't know, but do me a favor and leave me in my ignorance.

When I go somewhere, I don't have to be. have these walls up, defensive, intimidated, insecure. They're probably not going to like me. They're probably talking about me right now. No, I expect God's favor to cause people to be drawn to me. I expect when people turn me on on the television, they won't be able to turn me off. I expect I expect when people see my books in the stores, they'll be drawn to it, want to read them. I'm talking about having an attitude of expecting good things. I don't know about you. I don't know about you, but I'm expecting this year to be better than last year. I'm expecting God's blessings to overtake us. I'm expecting us to rise to new levels in our careers, in our finances, in our

relationships. I'm expecting our children to be mighty in the land. I'm expecting God to take our ministry where no ministry's gone before. I'm expecting us to overcome every obstacle. I'm expecting us to fulfill every dream, every desire God's put in our hearts. Some of you today, you need to get your expector out. That thing needs to be overhauled. You hadn't used it in six months. You need to start expecting greater things for your own life. Start expecting to rise higher. Start expecting every enemy in your life to be defeated. Start expecting supernatural opportunities. Start expecting favor at work. at home, favor at the grocery store, favor on the freeway. God's longing to be good to you. He's

looking out over the heavens right now, but you've got to get in position. What's the position? Expectancy. That's what gets God's attention. You remember the lady in Mark chapter 5. She had been sick for 12 years with some kind of bleeding disorder. The doctors had told her there's nothing more they could do. Now she's at home, no doubt, thinking that it's over. She could have easily gone back to bed, depressed, defeated. But she did exactly what we're talking about. She heard that Jesus was passing through her town. And she started saying to herself over and over, I know if I can get to him, I will be made whole. What was she doing? Releasing her faith, expecting to get better. She fought her way through the crowd and eventually got to Jesus and touched the edge of his robe. And instantly,

she was made whole. Jesus stopped and said to his disciples, who just touched me? They were kind of confused. They said, Jesus, it's crowded, everybody's touching you. He said, no, somebody touched me with such faith, with such expectancy, that they drew the supernatural power

right out of me. Friends, when we live with expectancy, we can stop God in his tracks. When we expect good things, it gets God's attention. If you're facing a sickness today, Don't sit back expecting the worst. Well, Joel, I'll probably never get better.

I got a bad report. No, let me give you another report. With God, all things are possible. God's report says, you will live and not die and declare the works of the Lord. Why don't you start expecting God to turn it around?

Instead of expecting the worst, start expecting God to bring you out of it better off than you were before. Some of you today, you are not expecting enough. You need to raise your level of expectancy. You've gotten too easily satisfied. God's been good to you in the past. You feel very blessed. There's this tendency to just sit back and kind of coast. But let me assure you, God has more in store. He's trying to stir your faith. He's trying to convince you to believe for new levels. You have not seen your greatest accomplishments yet. There are new mountains to climb. There are new horizons. There are new horizon. to explore. God's dream for your life is so much bigger than your own. Don't stop believing. Don't let past disappointment steal the dreams out of your heart. Don't let what somebody did to you

cause you to get soured on life. God is still in control. He's saying if you will raise your level of expectancy, he'll take you places that you've never even dreamed of. It says in Isaiah 54-2, enlarge the place of your tents. Let the curtains of your habitation be stretched forth. Spare not. Lengthen your cords. Strengthen your stakes. What's God saying? Get ready for more. Make room for increase. Enlarge your tents. In other words, start expecting more favor. Start expecting supernatural breaks. Start expecting negative situations to turn around. It may not have happened in the past, but God is saying it can happen in the future. Don't get stuck in a rut. God doesn't want us to be at this same place next year as we are right now. He wants to increase you. He wants to give you more influence. He wants you to be better off in your health, in your relationships, in your finances. You've not reached your limits. There are gifts and talents on the inside of you right now that you've not yet tapped into. You are full of incredible. You are full of incredible.

potential. And some of you have had a lot of negative things come against you. And it's tried to steal those seeds of greatness. But I believe today something new is happening on the inside. Those seeds are taking root in a greater way. Faith is rising in your hearts. You need to draw the line in the sand and say that's it. I'm done with low expectations. I'm done with living in mediocrity. I'm expecting more of God's favor. I'm expecting his goodness to overtake me. I'm expecting this year to be my best year so far. Friends, God works where there's an attitude of faith. If we're not expecting to rise any higher, then it'll keep us right where we are. Psalm 3119 says, God has blessings stored up for those that honor him. I believe today you're going

to begin to walk into your blessings that God has already stored up for you. Because you've honored God by living a life of integrity, by expecting good things. And I believe you're going to come into new levels of favor. I believe that you're going to see supernatural doors begin to open. You're going to overcome obstacles that you once thought were impossible. You're going to see God do new, unusual things in your life. When you go out each day, you need to just imagine right now in your path. There are blessings, favor, increase, promotion.

they already have your name on it. It's just a matter of time before you come across them. Keep believing. Keep expecting. Don't fear bad news. Don't expect the worst. We're going to have exactly what we expect. Let's get up every morning and just declare it by faith.

Something good is going to happen to me today. Then all through the day, don't expect trouble to overtake you. Expect God's blessings to overtake you. Don't expect calamity to chase you down. Expect goodness and mercy to chase you down. if you will raise your level of expectancy instead of expecting the worst to expect the best,

I know God's going to pour out his blessings in favor. You're going to rise to new levels and you're going to live the life of victory he has in store. Amen. Can you say amen today? We never like to close our broadcast without giving 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 life. heart, I make you my Lord and Savior. Friends, if you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again, get in a good Bible-based church, keep God first place. He's going to take your places that you've never dreamed of. God's healing isn't earned. It's received, and you can discover how in the next 31 days. Life has a way of wearing us down physically, mentally, emotionally,

but God didn't create us to just survive, but to thrive. I'm excited about our new devotional, happy, healthy, and free. For 31 days, I'll take you on a wellness journey for your spirit, body, and soul. It's filled with daily declarations, scriptures, encouragement. As you get your mind in tune with what God says, you'll experience a refreshing, a revitalization. You are created to be strong, to be passionate, to live happy, healthy and free. When you contact us today,

we'll send you happy, healthy, and free, a 31-day wellness journey as our way of saying thank you for your gift of any amount. This devotional will help you strengthen your faith, declare God's promises, and receive the healing he's already made available to you. Spirit, soul, and body.

God wants you whole, and this resource will help you experience His Peace from the Inside Out. Please request your comment. today. Begin a life-receiving, life-giving journey that will transform your spirit, mind, and body in just 31 days. God is going to restore what the enemy tried to steal, your joy, your peace, your hell. Victoria, I pray for you and your family every day. Thanks so much for your prayer and support. Your generosity is bringing hope to people around the world. Special thank you

to our champion of hope partners for your monthly gifts. If you're not a partner, I hope you'll consider becoming one. Remember, you can watch the services online every Sunday morning. Download our daily podcast, watch on YouTube, the new Joel Osteen Network, social media. You can listen on Sirius XM 24 hours a day. We'll keep you encouraged and inspired. Until we see you next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you. Be sure to request your copy of Happy, Healthy, and Free, a 31-day wellness journey.

Visit Joel Osteen.com or call 888-567 Joel. For an additional gift this month, we are also offering the Wholeness and Promise bundle, which includes the Happy, Healthy, and Free Book, plus The Words of Promise Journal, a beautifully designed journal where you can reflect, record prayers, and speak life over your future. You can also request the Happy, Healthy, and Free Collection, featuring the devotional, the journal, and a beautifully created. set of three desktop encouragement blocks. Each whitewashed wooden block displays one powerful word, happy, healthy, and free,

along with a carefully chosen scripture. Place them in your home or workspace as daily reminders of God's promises for your life. You can request these life-changing resources by calling 888-567, Joel, or logging on to joelosteen.com today. Call or click any time, 24 hours. hours a day. This is your season to rise stronger, live lighter, and walk daily in God's healing and peace. Request your copies today. If you're a pastor, we'd like to invite you to our pastor's gathering. We'd be honored to spend the day with you here at Lakewood. We'll share some of the things we've learned,

insights, and behind the scenes. Be a time of inspiration and encouragement. We'd love to meet you.