Joel Osteen Podcast - Mountain Moving Faith | Joel Osteen

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

Sometimes, it’s not enough to pray over a problem. If you want that mountain to move, you have to speak to it. 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 visitJoelOsteen.com/GiveHope.Dream it! Write it! Speak it! Expect it! With inspiring scriptures, daily reflections, intentional goals, personal writing space, and inspiration from Joel, our December offer will help you believe bigger and receive God's promises, https://bit.ly/3OfcB0T!   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.

Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks so much for listening to the podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. We believe you're going to have an awesome 2024, healthy, productive, and favor-filled. God bless you today and enjoy the message. Well, God bless you. Always a joy to come into your homes. We love you. If you're ever in our area, I hope you'll stop by and see us. I promise you we'll make you feel right at home. But thank you so much for tuning in today. And thank you again for coming out. I like to start with something funny each week, and I heard about this little three-year-old boy. He had a sore throat, and his mom took him to the doctor, and the doctor put his stethoscope on his chest to listen to his lungs and said to the little boy, okay, just be still, buddy.

I'm just going to check to see if Barney's in here. The little boy said, Jesus is in my heart, but Barney's on my underwear. Hold up your Bible and 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 having mountain moving faith. In life, we all face mountains. Maybe a mountain in your marriage. You don't see how you'll stay together. A mountain in your finances.

doesn't look like you'll ever get out of death or ever accomplish your dreams. Maybe it's a mountain in your health. The experts have said that you're never going to get well. A lot of times we're praying about our mountains. God please help me. God please make my child straighten up. God please take away this sphere. And yes, it's good to pray.

It's good to ask God to help us. But when you face a mountain, it's not enough to just pray. It's not enough to just believe. It's not enough to just think good thoughts. Here's the key. You have to speak to your mountains. Jesus said in Mark 11, whoever will say to this mountain,

be removed and does not doubt in his heart. He will have whatever he says. Some of you today are praying about things you should be speaking to. You don't need to pray about that fear anymore. You need to say, fear, I command you to leave. I will not allow you in my life. Instead of begging God to heal you, you need to start talking to that sickness. Sickness, you have no right in my body. I'm a child of

the most high God. You are not welcome here. And I'm not asking you to leave. I'm not saying pretty please, do me a favor. No, I'm commanding you to leave my body. If you're going to have mountain moving faith, you've got to speak to your mountains. I've learned. I've learned. I've learned, learned, if you don't talk to your mountains, your mountains will talk to you. All through the day, those negative thoughts, you're never going to get well. You're never going to get out of debt. Your business is going to go under. That's your mountains talking to you. Either you can sit back and believe those lies or you can rise up and say, hey, wait a minute, I'm in control here. I'm not going to let my mountain talk to me. Mountain, I'm saying to you be removed. You will not defeat me.

It's not a coincidence that God chose a mountain to represent our problems. Mountains are big. Mountains seem permanent like they're going to be there forever. You may be facing a situation now that looks like it'll never change. Looks like you'll never break the addiction. You've had it since high school. Looks like you'll never lose the weight. You've struggled for years.

Looks like you'll never accomplish your dreams. There are too many obstacles. God is saying today, if you will start speaking to the mountains, you will discover that they are not permanent. That situation you've dealt with a long time, the sickness, the depression, the addiction, looks like it's not going to change. You've prayed, you believed, you've quoted scripture. That's all good. But if you're going to see the mountain move, you need to start talking to it. When you speak words of faith, something happens in the unseen.

realm. Chains are broken. The forces of darkness are defeated. The enemy begins to tremble. When you say sickness, you've got to go. Debt, you cannot stay in my life. Rebellion, you will not control my child. Depression, you will not steal my destiny. When you speak, not in your authority, but in the authority of the son of the living God, then all the forces of heaven come to attention. the mighty armies of the unseen most high God will stand behind you. Let me tell you, no power can stand against our God. No sickness, no addiction, no fear, no legal trouble. When you speak and you do not doubt, the mountain will be removed.

Now it may not happen overnight. You may speak to the mountain. It looks just the same month after month. Don't worry about it. In the unseen realm, things are changing in your favor. You remember when Jesus was walking through a town and he saw a fig tree. He went over to get something to eat, but the tree didn't have any fruit on it. He looked at the tree and said, you will not produce fruit anymore.

Notice Jesus talked to a tree. People of faith talked to their obstacles. Jesus walked away and it didn't look like anything had happened. The tree was just as healthy and green as it was before. I'm sure some of his disciples whispered it didn't work. Jesus must have lost his touch because he said for it to die, but he didn't die. What they didn't realize was underneath the ground. In the root system, the moment Jesus spoke, all the life was cut off to that tree.

When they came back through the town a little later, the disciples stood there in amazement. They saw that tree withered up, totally dead. in the same way, the moment you speak to your mountains, something happens. In the unseen realm, the forces of heaven go to work. God begins to dispatch angels. He begins to fight your battles. He begins to release favor. He begins to move the wrong people out of the way.

Sending healing, sending breakthroughs, sending victory. Now, you may not see what God's been doing behind the scenes for some time. that mountain may look just as big and permanent and strong as it was before. But if you will stay in faith and just keep speaking to the mountain, calling it gone, calling yourself healthy, calling yourself blessed, calling yourself victorious, one day all the sudden you will see that mountain be removed. God will supernaturally do for you what you could not do for yourself. This is what happened to my mother.

She was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1981. She spent 21 days in the hospital. She came home and she and my father went to their bedroom and got on their knees. And they not only prayed and asked God to heal her, but they spoke to the cancer and commanded it to leave. See, there's a time to pray, but there's a time to speak. You don't pray about your mountains. You speak to your mountains. You command them to go.

Jesus didn't pray about the fig tree. He didn't say, well, I'm believing it's not going to produce any fruit. I'm hoping it's not going to produce fruit. No, he commanded it to not produce fruit. You got to command sickness to leave your body. You got to command depression to get out of your life. You got to command strife and division to get out of your family. If you will say to the mountain be removed, you will have what you say.

Here's the key. Your mountain responds to your voice. I can speak faith over you all day long. Your friends can build you up with the scriptures. You can put on good music that will encourage and inspire. And all that's important. That's all good. But your mountain is not necessarily interested in what I'm saying about you. It's not interested in what your friends are saying about you. In one sense, it's not even interested in what your parents are praying about you. your mountain is paying attention to what you're saying. It will respond to your voice. When you rise up in faith and with your own mouth you say, sickness, addiction, depression, I'm talking to you in the name of Jesus. You've got to go. That's when the forces of heaven come to attention. I was talking to a man that had been trying to sell some property for two years. He moved here from another state.

He's never sold his other house. And now he's having to make payments on both. And he was discouraged. He said, Joel, I don't understand it. I've prayed about this situation. I've fasted. I've had other people stand in faith with me. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

I told him what I'm telling you. That's a mountain. It's not enough to pray about a mountain. You've got to speak to a mountain. You've got to say, house, I'm commanding you to sell. I declare God's favor over you. you say, Joel, this is kind of far out today. You mean we're supposed to talk to a house?

Jesus talked to a tree. He talked to the winds. He talked to sicknesses. He talked to rains. If you're going to see your mountains moved, you've got to talk to your obstacles. A lot of times we're doing just the opposite. We're talking about the mountain instead of talking to the mountain.

The more you talk about the mountain, the bigger you make it. When you talk about something, you magnify it. Well, I don't think I'm ever going to get out of debt, Joel. The economy's so down. Business is so slow. I don't see how I'm going to make it. No, you're making it worse.

You're making it bigger. What's the problem? You're talking about the mountain. You're supposed to be talking to the mountain. When those thoughts come telling you how bad it is and how you're never going to make it, just turn it around. Say, listen here, mountain of debt, mountain of struggle. mountain of lack. You will not keep me from my destiny. God has promised I am the head and not the

tail. I will lend and not borrow. He said he would prosper me even in a desert. So I'm not asking you to leave. I'm not begging God, please make it leave. No, with my own mouth, I'm saying Mountain of debt, mountain of lack, you've got to go. That's mountain moving faith. I think about David when he faced Goliath. Everyone around him was taught. talking about the mountain. They were saying, Goliath is so big. There's no way we can defeat him. Along came a young man named David. He was only 17 years old. But somehow he understood this principle of talking to the mountain and not talking about the mountain. When he saw Goliath, instead of saying like the others, he's so big, we don't have a chance, he said,

who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God. He was saying, hey, wait a minute, this is not right. One man is going to keep all of God's people back. One mountain is going to keep us from our destiny. I don't think so. I'm going to take care of him. David's friends and the people around, they begin to laugh. They said, David, are you crazy?

You can't fight Goliath. You're just a kid. You're too small. You don't have any experience. He would crush you. David shook it off. He went out to face Goliath. When Goliath saw him, he began to laugh.

When he saw how young and small David was, he said, am I a dog that you would come at me with a stick? He was saying, don't you have anything better to send out against me than this little runt? It's not even going to be a fight. No, David wasn't focused on the size of his giant. He was focused on the size of his God. He understood this principle. He didn't just pray that he would defeat Goliath.

He didn't just believe and hope that he would defeat him. David spoke to his mountain. He looked him in the eyes and said, Goliath, you come against me with a sword and a shield, but I come against you in the name of the Lord God of Israel. In other words, you've got a sword, but I've got something better. I've got a name. I've got the forces of heaven backing me up.

Listen to how he spoke to his mountain. He said, Goliath, this day, the Lord will deliver you into my hands. I will defeat you and feed your head to the birds of the air. He was saying, you may be big, but I know my God is bigger. And when I speak to the mountain, God's promised, it will be removed. If you're going to be victorious, you've got to speak to the giants in your life. some of you are facing a situation now that looks insurmountable. The medical report says no way.

The financial situation says impossible. In the natural, there are too many obstacles between you and your God-given dreams. You are standing exactly where David stood. It's not enough to just pray about it. It's not enough to just believe that you're going to get better. Now more than ever, you need to start talking to the mountain. Just say mountain of debt, mountain of addiction, mountain of depression. It may look like it's over, but I'm here to serve you, notice.

This is not the end. You will not defeat me. You come against me with natural weapons, but I come against you in the name of the Lord God of Israel. And I know when I call on the name of Jesus, all the forces of heaven come to attention. So I say to you, Mountain, be removed. get out of my life, I will live and not die. I am blessed and I cannot be cursed.

I'm a victor and not a victim. Friends, incredible power is released when we speak to our mountains. Too many times we're talking to God about how big our mountains are. We should be talking to our mountains about how big our God is. The more you talk about the mountain, the weaker it makes you. Well, Joel, they've said this sickness may not ever go away. I prayed, but my marriage isn't getting any better. This legal problem, it may go on for another 10 years.

I don't know what I'm going to do. When you talk like that, all it's doing is making you weaker, have less faith, have less energy. You've got to quit talking about the mountain and start talking to the mountain. It's what David did. He said, I will defeat you. You need to look at that cancer and say, cancer, you may be big, but my God is much bigger you will not get the best of me, I will defeat you. Look at that addiction and don't say, I'll never break it, Joel.

I just don't have the willpower. No, announced to that addiction, the power that's in me is greater than the power that's in you. You will not keep me from my destiny. I will defeat you. We see this principle from the very start of the scripture. In the book of Genesis, it says that the earth was without form and void. there was darkness everywhere. What happened? And God said. In other words, it was dark and gloomy, chaotic, trouble everywhere. Isn't it interesting that things didn't change just because God's presence was there?

It didn't get better just because God thought, I wish I had a world, I wish it was all in order. Nothing happened until God spoke. He said to the darkness, let there be light. Think about the word let. It indicates that something was opposing it. If I say let go of my hand means that you're holding it or you're opposing it. God said in the middle of the darkness, in the middle of the opposition,

let there be light. In our times of difficulty when it's dark and gloomy, you've got to speak light to the situation. When there's tension and strife in your home, you need to say, let there be peace in my home. In the middle of a financial crisis, looks like you're going to go under.

Let there be abundance in my finances. In your health, it doesn't look good. Don't talk about the darkness. Speak light. Let there be health. Let there be strength. Let there be renewed vitality. Remember talking to this man after the service that was very discouraged.

At one point, he had an extremely successful business. He was in the design and the graphics industry. Over the last couple of years, his business, has gone down to nothing, lost all of his major clients. It looked like bankruptcy was inevitable. As we were talking, he went on and on telling me about the problem, explaining in great detail all the setbacks he had suffered and how bad it was and how impossible it looked. He was real good at talking about the problem. I told him what I'm telling you. You've got to start talking to the problem. You've got to start calling light in the middle of the dark. You've got to start calling light in the

middle of the darkness. I encouraged him all through the day to go around saying things like, I'm blessed. The favor of God is turning this situation around. God's favor is bringing me new clients. Debt and lack cannot stay in my life. I command those mountains to be removed. I saw him about six months later and he was beaming with joy. He said, Joel, I did just what you said. I started declaring favor and speaking to my mountains and calling light in the midst of the darkness. He told how at his lowest moment when it looked for sure like the business

was going to go under, he got a phone call out of the blue from a company he had never done business with before. They asked him to make a presentation and he made it and they ended up hiring him as their graphics firm. Now that one new client

brings in more business than all of his other clients did combine. He's on pace to have a banner year. But here's what I'm saying. I believe he would still be struggling, maybe even have lost his business if he had not kicked his faith into action and started speaking to his mountains. In life, we're all going to have mountains that will try to keep us from God's best. And yes, it's good to pray. It's good to believe. It's good to quote scriptures. But remember, the mountain moves when we talk to them. You don't ask them to leave. You tell them to leave. Hey, Mountain of Debt, you've got to go. I'm a child of the most high God. Mountain of sickness, mountain of addiction, mountain of a rebellion, mountain of lack, you will not defeat me. I speak favor over my finances. I speak health over my body. I speak peace

into my family. I speak blessings into my future. There was a man in the scripture that did just this. His name was Zerubabel. He was facing a mountain in his career. He was in charge of rebuilding the temple. everything had come against him. The city leaders had hired lawyers to try to stop him. They wouldn't give him the permits that he needed. Other people were causing strife and division. What did he do? Complains. Say, God, it's not fair.

Or did he just pray? Say, God, please, I'm begging you. You've got to help me? No, Zarubabel understood this principle. He said, who are you, O great mountain that stands against me? you shall become a mere mole hill, and I will finish the temple by shouting grace, grace to it. Notice his declaration.

He was saying, this mountain is going to be turned into a mole hill. How is it going to happen? By speaking grace to it. Another word for grace is favor. In other words, he went around talking to his mountain, saying, I have the favor of God. I can do all things through Christ. I will fulfill my destiny. I love the way he started that passage. Who are you, O Great Mountain? He was saying like David, you can't defeat me. Don't you know who I am? I have an advantage. I have the favor of God. In the same way, when you face difficulties,

don't start complaining, don't start talking to feet. Do like he did, dig your heels in and start speaking favor over that situation. Some of you are struggling in your finances. You need to get your checkbook out and speak favor over it. You have a child that won't do right. Quit complaining about him and start speaking favor over him. You're in a legal situation. Start talking to your mountain. When you declare favor, God says he will turn your mountains into mole hills. I remember one time years ago, Victoria and I were traveling overseas. We were at this smaller airport in Indian. And and we were going to meet my father in another city. When we got to the gate, just about to leave,

the man working there was very unfriendly. He had a sour attitude like he was mad at the world. We handed him our tickets, and he looked at him, and he threw him on the counter, and he said, you're too late, you can't go. We were there 30 minutes ahead of time. The tickets still said we had 10 minutes left aboard. There wasn't another flight till the next day.

I said very kindly, very friendly, sir, we really need to get on this flight. There's any way that you could help us, we would really appreciate it. He didn't even look up. He ignored us, acted like we weren't there. I went over by the gate, and it was like a holy anger rose up on the inside. I didn't pray about the mountain. I started speaking to that mountain. Not out loud.

I didn't want him to hear me. He was mad enough. But under my breath, I said, said you mountain of a sour attitude that would try to keep us from our destiny, you've got to be removed. I'm saying to you to leave. I started speaking favor over

that mountain. I said, Father, I want to thank you that your favor is turning this situation around. Thank you that your favor will cause him to let us on this plane. Lord, I thank you that your favor is greater than his sour attitude. It was the strangest thing. About 10 minutes later, he came over to where we were and he motioned with his hand for us to follow him.

He never said a word. He still seemed just as perturbed as he was before. But we followed him and he opened the door to the gate. He led us down the jetway. When we got to the plane, he put his hand out like that for us to get on. Still never said a word. You know me, I smile real big. Thank you so much.

I appreciate that. He had this frown almost like he was going to start growling at us. It was like somebody forced, him to let us on that plane. I believe that was the power of the most high God moving a mountain. Friends, God knows how to get you to where you're supposed to be. And let me tell you, no grouchy person can keep you from your destiny. I see a lady saying, thank God, my husband can't stop me. But it's funny, when we got on the plane and went to our seats, somebody was sitting in them. Our assigned seats were taken and the flight attendant came over and she was very

very nice, very friendly. She said, oh, I'm sorry, I gave those seats away, but follow me. She took us up to first class. She said, these are the only two seats we have available. Do you think they would be okay? I said, well, I think so. That was the favor of God moving a mountain. Well, you say, Joel, does that happen every time you speak favor? Every time you speak to the mountain? Of course not. But if we would have missed that flight and not been allowed to get on, we would have stayed in faith and believed that God was directing our steps. But are there times that we don't see mountains moved because we're not speaking to them? I believe there are. Faith is what moves God. When you speak to the mountain, when you

declare God's favor, that activates the power of the most high. That's when he said he'll turn mountains into mole hills. Let me ask you, are there mountains that are holding you back today? Is there something that's keeping you from God's best? A mountain. mountain in your career, a mountain of guilt, a mountain of losing weight. Your mind is telling you it's permanent. It's never going to change. My challenge to us is to start speaking to those mountains. You've prayed about it long enough. Now it's time to say, mountain, be removed. You will not defeat me. I speak favor over this situation. Remember, your mountain is going to respond to your voice. there's nothing more powerful than you declaring victory over your life.

And some of you have talked about the mountain long enough. You need to start talking to the mountain. If you will rise up and say to the sickness, say to the strife, say to the depression, be removed, you've got to go, then God will do for you what he did for Zeruba Bell. He will turn your mountains into mole hills. You will overcome obstacles that looked permanent. You will accomplish dreams that you thought were impossible. And I believe and declare you will become everything God's created you to be

and you will have everything God intended for you to have. Amen. Do you receive it 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 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. What if what you imagined came to pass? What if what you asked for turned out greater than what you can see? What if you could plan for God's best in your life? We all have hopes and dreams and things we're believing for, but what God has in store for you is more than you can imagine. When you start the year off in faith, believing for greater things, that's when God will exceed your expectations. We'd love to send you our 2025 more to imagine planner. You can write down your dreams and goals, plus use it for your everyday activity and reminders. It is so important to feed

yourself hope and faith on a daily basis. This planner is not only a calendar, but it's filled with inspiration in scripture to help you stay encouraged and keep believing for what God is put in your heart. He sees your faithfulness, how you're being your best each day. You're going to see the goodness of God in new ways in 2025. As you support the ministry this month with a special year-end gift of any amount, we would like to bless you with the more to imagine 2025 planner. With the new planner, you can start each day writing down the fresh vision God gives you, whether it's appointments, daily tasks or long-term desires in your heart, let each note be a testament to your faith. Included are handpicked scriptures and uplifting reflections to empower you as you walk this

faith journey with Jesus one day at a time. Joel and I are standing in faith with you that 2025 will be a year of far and beyond favor for you and your family. We pray for you every day for God's very best, and we want to thank you for your prayer and support, especially your your year-end gifts, you are impacting people all over the world. Remember, you can watch the services online every Sunday morning, download our daily podcast, listen on SiriusXM, or watch our YouTube channel and the new Joel Osteen streaming television network 24 hours a day. Until we see you next time, have a very Merry Christmas. Be sure to request your copy of the More to Imagine 2025 planner. Today, visit joelowsteen.com or call us toll-free.