Joel Osteen Podcast - Living The Abundant Life | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: July 25, 2025

God wants you to live an abundant life. Enlarge your vision and watch Him take you to new levels of joy, victory and favor. Your best days are still ahead, and together we can make a difference in this world with the message of God's hope and love. To give visit JoelOsteen.com/GiveHope.Your life is marked for distinction. Our July offer will help you silence doubt, shake off rejection, and reach the destiny God has already prepared for you. Request the new Chosen devotional and step forward with confidence—you’ve been chosen for more, https://bit.ly/4dVacnV! Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of the Joel Osteen Podcast ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Victoria and I believe in you're going to have a blessed summer praying for you guys every day. And thanks for being with us today. Hey, I'm excited. Victoria's got a new book out. It's called Grace to Go. And I know it's going to bless you. I'm excited because in this book, you will see how you are strengthened, that you are prepared, and you are ready for anything that's in front of you. You are grace to go.

Enjoy today's message. Well, God bless you. It's always a joy to come into your homes. We love you. We know God has great things in store for each one of you, and we pray for you every single day. If you're ever in our area, I hope you'll stop by and be a part of one of our services.

We give you a personal invitation. But thanks for tuning in today. I'd like to start with something funny each week. Of course, these are just jokes. I don't mean to offend anybody. But I heard about this lady, she was speeding down the freeway. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention she was blonde. She was speeding down the freeway,

and she got pulled over by a female police officer who also happened to be blonde. She said, I need to see your driver's license. And the lady dug and dug through her purse, got more and more agitated. Finally, she said, to the officer, what does it look like? She said, well, it's just a little square and it's got your picture on it.

The lady found a mirror and looked at it and saw her picture. So she said, oh, and handed it to the officer. The officer looked at it and saw her picture, and she handed it back and said, okay, you can go. I didn't realize you were a police officer. All right. I might need a ride home today, y'all. 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 living the abundant life. God's dream is that you not only be blessed, but you be blessed in such a way that you're a blessing everywhere you go. We should have so much peace, so much joy, so much victory. When other people get around us, it spills over onto them.

David put it this way, my cup runs over. I call it the overflow anointing. But too many people have a barely get by mentality. barely able to pay my bills, got an okay job, an okay marriage. No, Jesus came so we could live an abundant life. That means an abundance of joy, an abundance of peace, an abundance of health, an abundance in our finances. You may not be seeing it right now. Maybe you haven't experienced it in the past, but don't get complacent and just settle where you are. Keep a big vision in front of you. I know sometimes people ask me, Joel, are you a prosperity minister?

No, I don't consider myself a prosperity minister, but I can tell you this, I am not a poverty minister. I can't find anywhere in the scripture where we're supposed to drag around defeated, depressed, barely getting by. I want you to have a big dream for your life. You have not reached your limits. You have not seen your best days in your health, in your finance, in your relationships. God wants to take you to new levels. But you got to do your part and enlarge your thinking. Make room for it in your mind. Settle it right now. This is where I am, but this is not where I'm staying. I'm coming up higher. I'm going to step into that overflow anointing. I'm going to live the abundant life. The scripture says here in Psalm 3527, let them say continually, let the Lord be

magnified who has pleasure in the prosperity of his children. Notice they were supposed to go around saying this. Let God be magnified. He has pleasure in prospering us. I believe one reason they were supposed to say it all the time was so it would get down on the inside. God knows when we hear something long enough, we'll eventually start believing it. And all day long they could hear them declaring this over their life. God is prospering me. God has taken me to new levels. God has great things in store. They were saying in effect, new doors are opening. My health is getting better. My marriage is being restored. My children are going to do great things. Friends, God takes great joy in prospering you. Get that down on the inside.

Some of you have been stuck in a rut. You've come from generations of lack and defeat and mediocrity. And now you've just about accepted that that's all you're going to see. But God is saying, this is a new day. You're entering into new levels. You're going to get supernatural opportunities. People are going to go out of their way to be good to you. It's because, number one, you've been obedient, and number two, you've released your faith in this area. And I know this is what my father did. Daddy grew up in extreme poverty. But at the age of 17, when he gave his life to the Lord, something rose up on the inside of him. And he said, my children, will never be raised in the lack and defeat that I'm in right now.

He drew the line in the sand and said, this is where I am, but this is not where I'm staying. Back in those days, as a young minister, he was taught you had to be poor in order to be holy. And the churches he pastored, he did his part and stayed holy, and they did their part and kept him poor. My mother and father were raising five children

making $120 a week, barely able to survive. Now, I remember my father telling how in 1959, when they opened Lakewood in the little feed store, one of his main men came up and said, we need to buy a water fountain. It's going to cost $70. My father thought he had lost his mind. He said, are you kidding? Where do you think we'll get that kind of money? He had a poverty mentality.

That's all he had ever known. And it was setting the limits for his life. We will never rise any higher than our own thinking. You've got to be fully convinced that God not only takes pleasure in prospering you, but he has new levels in store. He wants you to go further than you are right now. The scripture says, a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. That means we're supposed to leave something to our grandchildren.

That's not just talking about good memories. And understand, God would not ask us to do something. if he had not already provided a way. You may not see how it can happen, but if you'll stay in faith and keep a big vision, God will make a way, you can fulfill that promise. And I can hear a word down on the inside so strongly, acceleration. Things are going to happen faster than you thought. Supernatural breaks, supernatural opportunities, doors are going to open for you that at one time you thought were impossible. God is going to move people around to get you into the right position. Keep believing and keep being your best. Be a person of excellence. Get to work on time.

Give it 100% whether anyone's watching or not. Learn to work under God and not under people. When you sow these kinds of seeds, that's when you're going to come into this overflow anointing. And I don't say this bragging in any way, but God is blessed victory. and I belong to our wildest dreams. It talks about in Psalm 133, the anointing that's on the head flows down to the rest of the body. You may not have seen it yet, but get ready, it's on its way. We've experienced that, and if you will stay in faith, it's just a matter of time. You're coming into new seasons of increase, new seasons of favor. Doors are going to open for you that'll boggle your mind. You're going to get breaks where you look back and say,

had to be the hand of God. What happened? You stepped into that overflow anointing. Well, you say, Joel, my family and I, we've always struggled. I don't see how it could happen for me. No, you can be the first, but you've got to get rid of that defeated mindset and develop a prosperous mentality. I heard somebody say this, package yourself for where you're going, not for where you are. In other words, you've got to look the part, put your shoulders back, put a smile on your face, and dress. your best. Don't just run out of the house looking sloppy. Didn't have time to iron my shirt. Hadn't bought myself anything new in five years. Now, you've got to take care of yourself. If you feel sloppy on the outside before long, it's going to get on the inside. Just the opposite

is true. If you'll take the time to look your best each day and package yourself for where you're going, not for where you are, that too will get on the inside. And you'll begin to develop this prosperous mindset. I love the story of the prodigal son. When the young man came back home, after wasting all of his money and living a wildlife, the father was so excited, he said, go kill the fatted calf.

Go get the best robe. Notice, he didn't say, go get me a weak, sick, straggly-looking calf. Go get me that old robe that I never wear anymore that's torn, that's all beat-up looking. No, he said, go get the best robe and put it on him. Go kill the fat. calf. That's the way

God thinks abundance. The older brother who had been there the whole time, he got kind of jealous. He said, Dad, I don't understand it. I've been here all this time, but you've never even given me. One translation says a skinny goat.

That's the way a lot of people are. They're limited in their thinking. I'll never rise any higher. I'll never get out of this mess. I've gone as far as I can go. You know what their problem is? They have a skinny goat. mentality. The fact is there are other people in that same situation, but their attitude is, I'm coming out. I know God takes pleasure in prospering me. I may not see how it's going to happen,

but I know God's a supernatural God, and I'm coming into new seasons of increase. What's the difference? They have a fatted calf mentality. If you're going to experience God's best, if you're going to come into this overflow anointing, you have to keep a big vision in front of of you. I was at the mall one time years ago with a friend of mine and we were just killing time looking at things. And every other phrase he said, I can't afford it. Looking at sporting equipment, I can't afford it. Looking at some shirts. I can't afford it. Looking at shoes. I can't afford it. Finally, I said, will you quit saying I can't afford it? If you keep saying that, you're never going to be able to afford anything. He was setting the limits for his life with his own

words. The truth is most of the things we were looking at, I couldn't afford either, but I've learned I don't have to announce it to the world. And if you can't afford something, I'm not saying to lie or to have some kind of fantasy land in your head. I'm simply saying

if you're going to say that, you need to at least add two more words, I can't afford it right now. It's just a matter of time. I know, because I'm faithful, God will give me the desires of my heart. But friends, if you have a poor mouth, you're going to have a poor life.

If you go around saying, well, I'll probably never get out of debt, Joel. I don't see how I could send my kids to college. No, can I say two words to you very respectfully, skinny goat? You need to switch over into this fatted calf mentality. Why don't you believe that God could open up the windows of heaven for you and pour out blessings you can't contain? Why don't you believe that goodness, mercy, favor, follow you all the days? your life. Why don't you believe like David, your cup is running over? Instead of going around with

that poor mouth, you need to start declaring, God takes pleasure in prospering me. I have not reached my limits. I know that overflow anointing is coming my way. When we were drawing plans to renovate this facility, the first instructions I gave to the design team was to do it as cheap as possible. I had no idea how we were going to pay for it. And one day we were walking through the lobbies, with the whole architectural team. And they said, Joel, we're planning on putting carpet over all this tile. I said, no, we don't need to do that.

This tile is fine. It was 30 years old, had big cracks in it. There were these large stains where they had moved the concession stands. But in my mind, it was fine. We went into the restroom areas. They said, we're planning on replacing the stalls and replacing the sinks and changing out this tile.

Again, I said, no, no, no, this is just fine. Well, my brother-in-law, Kevin, was with me. He's our administrator and in charge of all of our construction. He said, Joel, we are not going to let people go into these restrooms. They are terrible. I thought to myself, where did he get such a fatted calf mentality? Then I remembered he was raised on a farm in Iowa, no wonder. But I had this skinny goat mentality.

My first idea was to use portable buildings to have our children's services. and to just do the minimal amount of lighting and sound. They said if we did just that, we could probably get in here for $25 million. So we went and met with our bankers. We'd known these people forever. We had excellent credit. At that time, we didn't have one penny of debt, millions and millions of dollars worth of assets.

And we simply asked if we could borrow $25 million. Man, it was like pulling teeth. They told me how we were such a big risk and how we might not be able to pay them back and how we just shouldn't do that. I left there so discouraged. I thought, man, alive, I may have a skinny goat mentality,

but their goat is starving. Their goat hadn't eaten in six months. I was so down. I didn't know what we were going to do. But about two weeks later, we met with another bank, Bank of America. We'd never dealt with them before, but it was a night and day difference.

They were excited for us. They wanted to help. We weren't in the meeting five minutes before they pulled out a letter and said, we're prepared to loan you $25 million today. They hadn't even seen our finances. They didn't know anything about us. I was so excited. I thought to myself, if they'll loan us $25 million that quickly,

maybe they'll loan us the $60 that we really need to do it right. I laughed and said, $25 is great, but how about $60? They came back a couple weeks later and said, you got a deal. Friends, God has the right people, the right opportunities, the right breaks already lined up for you. Don't have a skinny goat mentality. Dare to believe. You may not see how it could happen, but that doesn't mean it's not going to happen. People may have told you know a thousand times.

Now you're kind of discouraged and tempted to just settle where you are, but you've got to get your fire back. God is in control and he still has a way to bring your dreams to pass. Every time you walk out in those lobbies, every time you look at this beautiful facility, it should remind us that our God has a fatted calf mentality.

God wants to do more than we can even ask or think. It says in Deuteronomy 28, if you will fully obey the Lord your God and follow his commands, these blessings will come upon you. that means they will overtake you. And it goes on to list blessing after blessing. It says you will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

Your seed will be blessed. That's your children and grandchildren. Your business and career will be blessed. Everything you put your hands to will prosper. You will be the head and not the tail. Verse 11 sums it up. God will fill your life with an abundance of good things. But here's the key.

all these blessings are dependent on the very first phrase if you fully obey the Lord your God. Obedience is a key to see in God's blessings. You have to lay aside any weights that are holding you back. When God brings to light issues and attitudes that you know are not right, be quick to change. The longer you put it off, the more you delay God's blessings. When God asks you to do something hard, maybe he asks you to, forgive somebody that's really hurt you, or he asks you to give up a relationship that you know is not healthy. God's never trying to take anything away. He's trying to get more to you. The more

obedience you are, the more of his blessings you will see. God rewards people that fully obey. A lot of times, partial obedience is what's keeping people in mediocrity. And some of you are holding on to things that you know are not God's best. Let me tell you, it's not worth it. Be willing to change. And I realize the pain of change can be difficult, but the pain of staying the same is even more difficult. Don't miss this abundant life because you refuse to deal with issues. This is between you and God. Nobody can make you treat people right. Nobody can make you stay pure in your thought life or pure in your marriage. It's totally up to you. I want you to experience this overflow anointing.

And I know when you walk in obedience, when you live a life that honors God, his blessings will chase you down and overtake you. You will not be able to outrun the good things of God. It says in Deuteronomy, there was a law that God gave Moses for the people of Israel. It said that every seventh year you had to release any Hebrew slaves. And the way it worked was,

if you were Hebrew and you owed someone money but you couldn't pay, that person had a right to take you in as a slave and force you to work full time for them until you paid them back. But God did not want his people to remain slaves forever. So every seventh year, this law said, no matter how much you owed, no matter how in debt you were, if you were a part of God's chosen people, you had a special advantage and you got released. This tells me that God does not want his people to remain permanent slaves to anything. You may be in debt today, but God doesn't want that to last forever. You may be facing sickness, but that's only temporary. You may be bound by some kind of addiction, but God doesn't want you to stay in bondage. You need to see that as temporary. This had to do with their finances. Every seventh year they were released.

All the debt, the lack. the struggling in one moment they walked away from it. Total freedom. You may be struggling today. Maybe you haven't seen a lot of increase, but I can sense in my spirit, we're entering in to one of those seventh years. The seventh year begins new seasons of increase. It's a time where God's going to break bondages off of you that have held you back. Bondages of debt, lack, sicknesses, addictions, depression, mediocrity. The seventh year is a time of release. It's a time of freedom. You've got to do your part and get this on the inside. Believe this is my seventh year. This is my time to be free. I'm being released into increase. It talks about in Exodus 15 that even though some people had a legal right to be free from that slavery, they could have walked away.

from the debt and the bondage, but they chose not to. You know why? They were comfortable. They were satisfied. They didn't want to rock the boat. Here they had all that freedom in front of them. They had an abundance of joy, peace, and victory, but they chose to remain as slaves. Don't let that be you. You have been released into increase. This is your seventh year, but you've got to rise up and take hold of it. And the scripture tells how all of God's promises are yet, Yes and amen. A lot of times people hear this. They think, yes, God wants to prosper me. Yes, God wants to bless me. Yes, God wants to heal me. But yes alone is not enough. You've got to add the amen to it. Amen means be it under me. In other words, I receive this by faith. I let this take root in my spirit. See, it's one thing to know that God wants to heal you. It's another thing to rise up and say God is my healer. He's restoring health. unto me. It's one thing to know, God wants you to be free. It's another thing to rise up and say,

I am free. This addiction cannot control me. It's one thing to know, God wants you to be blessed. It's another thing to rise up and say, God is supplying all of my needs. I'm coming into the seventh year. This is my season of increase. You have to mix faith with it. You add the amen by making it personal. I am blessed. I am prosperous. I am the head and not the tail. One of there was a great famine in the land. The prophet Elijah was at a brook and every day, once in the morning and once in the evening, God caused a raven to bring him bread and bring him meat. This went on for three and a half years. And you think about during a time of famine, there was nowhere to get food. The people didn't have it. How much less likely would this

bird be able to do it? But God caused that raven to supernaturally find food. He would come with bread in one claw and meat in the other claw. And just like clockwork, at breakfast and at dinner, he would swoop in and just drop it on Elijah's plate. Isn't it funny? God thought of home delivery before Pizza Hut. But some of you are wondering how God can supply your needs. How can I ever get out of debt, Joel? How can I be well? How can I rise higher? God is a supernatural God. He supersedes the laws of nature. He supersedes the laws of medicine, the laws of finance. What's interesting is the raven that brought Elijah food every day was called a fowl of the air. It was an unclean bird. You remember in the parable of the sower, Jesus talked about when the seed was sown on a certain kind of soil, the fowls of the

air came immediately to try to steal it. The fowl represented the enemy. And what God was saying to Elijah by having this raven, this fowl bring him food every day. After all, God could have chosen a dove. That represents the Holy Spirit. But God was saying, Elijah, if you will be obedient and go where I tell you to go, I'll cause even your enemies to bless you. I'll cause your enemies to supply your needs. Friends, God controls it all. He can cause your biggest enemy to be your biggest blessing. He can cause the people that are trying to push you down to be the very ones that lift you up. He can take that sickness that's meant for your harm and turn it around and use it to make you stronger. When you stay in faith, God will use your enemies to increase you.

Well, eventually, the brook dried up and the ravens quit coming. God spoke to Elijah and told him to go to a widow's home and she would take care of him. He did. And when he got there, he asked her for something to eat. She agreed, but she said, this is my last little bit of meal. She was planning on making him dinner, and then she and her baby would probably die, probably just starved to death. So she reached down into that big barrel and scooped out the last cup full of meal. But then she just looked down in passing and she saw some more. She thought, well, I must have missed some. She reached down and scooped up another cupful. Look back down, she saw more meal. This happened again and again. God caused that meal to supernaturally keep multiplying,

and instead of going through seven years of famine, she went through seven years of increase. What happened? She hit one of those seventh years where she was released into increase. I believe God is saying that to each one of you. It's your seventh year. It's your time to be released from debt into increase, from six. sickness into health, from bondages into freedom. Why don't you get this down into your spirit? Have the attitude? Yes, this is my seventh year. I am coming out of debt. I'm going to break this addiction. I'm going to defeat this sickness. I'm going to overcome these obstacles. The chains of lack, defeat, mediocrity are broken off of me. I'm coming into new seasons of increase. I know some of you like that widow, you kind of feel like you've been in a famine. You haven't

seen a lot of increase. In the natural, the future doesn't look very bright. But God is saying to us, if you'll stay in faith, that famine is going to come to an end and you're going to come in to supernatural increase, supernatural blessings, supernatural opportunities. If God can cause a bird to take care of Elijah for three and a half years, he can surely take care of you and me. Why don't you get rid of that skinny goat mentality and start thinking fatted cats? God wants you to live his abundant life. He's already paid the price. When you walk in obedience, you have a big vision. He's promised his blessings are going to chase you down and overtake you. And that's my prayer for each one of you that you will come into this overflow anointing,

that you will see God pour out blessings that you can't even contain. I believe something supernatural happens when it's spoken over us. So I speak over you an abundance of health. an abundance of joy and abundance in your finances. You are being released into increase. The tide of the battle is turning. God is accelerating his blessings in your life. The chains that have tried to hold you back in your mind, in your health,

in your relationships, in your business, they are being broken off of you. God is releasing favor into your future. The right people, the right opportunities are coming across your path. You will be blessed in the city blessed in the country, blessed when you come in, blessed when you go out. Your seed will be mighty on the land.

And abundance of good things are coming your way. I declare it in the name of Jesus. And if you receive it, can you shout amen? 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 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 you places that you've never dreamed of. Sometimes in life, people don't choose us. We've all felt overlooked and like we're not good enough. It's easy to live inferior thinking we don't measure up. People may have left you out.

The good news is God has chosen you. He's the one that matters. And in my new book, Chosen, your life is marked for distinction. You'll discover, before you were born, God not only knew you, but he handpicked you and placed a calling on your life. You are equipped and empowered to fulfill your destiny. When you understand that you're chosen, fear and doubt can't stay, you'll live with a boldness to step into the greatness God put in you. I love to send you my new book, Chosen, plus the chosen T-shirt from our friends at Copper Fet. As our way of saying thank you for your gift of any amount this month,

we would like to send you a copy of Joel's book, Chosen. Your life is marked for distinction. In the scriptures, Jesus encouraged us by saying, You didn't choose me, I chose you. This powerful guide will help you discover the abundant life you were designed to live. As a child of God, you have a calling, a purpose, a destiny still to be fulfilled. you request your copy, we also want to send you our exclusive chosen t-shirt from CopperFit that will remind you that you've been chosen by Almighty God every time you wear it.

Please request these gifts today and discover that God is moving on your behalf. Your next days are going to be your best days. You're not average, you're not ordinary, you've been chosen by Almighty God. Victoria and I want you to know how much we love you, we pray for you and your every day. Thanks so much for your prayer and support. Your generosity is helping people all over the world. A 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, live every Sunday morning, download our daily podcast, watch on YouTube, the new Joel Osteen Network, social media, listen on SiriusXM. 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 Chosen. Your life is marked for distinction, plus our exclusive chosen t-shirt from CopperFit. Visit Joelosteen.com or call 888-567, Joel. For an additional donation this month, we are also offering the NLT Large Print Thinline Reference Bible. This Bible also enables you to connect through your smartphone or tablet.

to a vast power-packed array of study notes, devotionals, interactive maps, videos, and worship music. You can request these inspiring resources by calling 888-567, Joel, or logging on to joelosteen.com today. Call or click anytime 24 hours a day. Yes, God has chosen you for a reason, for a purpose. Request your copies today.