Ready To Rise | Joel Osteen

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- We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in your life. - God bless you and thanks for letting us come into your homes. We are praying for you and your family for God's very, very best. I like to start with something funny and I heard about these two brothers,

ages four and six. They were spending the night at their grandmother's house. She told them before they went to bed to make sure that they said they're prayers. They went in the bedroom, got down on their knees.

The youngest brother started praying at the top of his lungs. God, I pray for a new bicycle. I pray for a new playstation. I pray for a new puppy. His brother stopped him and said,

"Why are you screaming? God isn't deaf." He said, "I know that, but grandmother is." 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 ready to rise. We all face things in life that try to push us down. It's easy to lose our passion

and think that's the way it's always going to be.

But God didn't create you to be overcome. He created you as an overcomer. He puts something in your spirit called bounce back. Bounce back means when you get knocked down, you don't stay down.

There's a force breathing in your direction. Making things happen that you couldn't make happen. Giving you strength that you didn't have. It causes you to rise up because you have bounce back that difficulty cannot defeat you.

May hold you back temporarily, but it's just a matter of time before you rise back up. And you may have things coming against you now. Thoughts tell you, you'll never get well. This pandemic has ruined your finances.

“You'll always struggle with this addiction.”

Don't believe those lies. You may be down, but that is not your final destination. God is saying, get ready to rise, get ready for favor, get ready for breakthroughs, get ready for healing. What was meant for your harm, God is turning to your advantage.

Mike has said, rejoice not over me, my enemies, when I fall for I shall arise. He wasn't complaining about the trouble. He wasn't discouraged, over being knocked down. He understood this principle that there was bounce back

in his spirit. In the middle of the difficulty, he was speaking victory. Now, if you're going to come out of that challenge, you have to do like Mike. This problem didn't come to stay, it came to pass.

God be in for me is more than the world being against me, I shall arise. When you say that, forces of darkness tremble. When you declare I shall arise, angels go to work.

No more, it's never going to change.

My business will never make it. My child's never going to get back on course, zip that up. If you talk defeat, you're going to have defeat. Say with Mike, yes, I've had difficulties. I'm not denying the problem, not acting like it doesn't exist.

All I'm saying is I'm not staying here. I shall arise. I will see God's goodness, my latter days will be better than my former days. God hasn't brought you this far to lead you.

He won't let you get in a problem that he can't get you out of. That person that walked out on you, they didn't stop your destiny, couldn't give him that much power. Thinking that they ruined your life. God has somebody better coming.

David said, God lifted me out of the pit and set my feet on a rock. You may be in a pit so to speak. You don't see how you could get out. The good news is you don't have to get out by yourself.

The most I God is about to lift you out. He's about to free you from that addiction. He's about to turn the medical report around. He's about to open new doors, bring new opportunities, new relationships.

That pit is not your destiny. Get ready to rise. Paul said, the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives on the inside of you. The forces of darkness did their best to stop Jesus,

but they couldn't keep him from rising. That tells me nothing you face can keep you from your purpose. No pandemic, no sickness, no addiction.

but his best will never be enough.

Few years back, we had a big hurricane here in Houston. I noticed all the different kinds of trees that were blown down. Huge oak trees, three or four feet around. I saw pine trees over a hundred feet tall laying in yard after yard. Big trees, small trees, none of them could withstand

the hurricane force winds. There was only one type of tree that wasn't blown down. It was the palm tree. It's because God designed the palm to withstand the storm. Unlike the other trees, the palm is able to bend so it doesn't break.

A certain kind of palm can bend all the way over to where the top is almost touching the ground. During a hurricane, it may stay that way for three or four hours. All bent over, looks like it's done. But when the wind dies down, the storm is over,

it stands right back up to where it was before.

“All these other trees down on the ground, what's the difference?”

God put bounce back in the palm tree. It may get pushed over, but it's only temporary. Psalm 92 says, "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree." The reason God chose a palm tree, not oaks, or pines, is he knew we would go through storms.

He knew things would try to push us down and keep us from our destiny. So he said, "I'm going to make you like a palm." I'm going to put bounce back in your spirit. You may go through difficulties, a loss, a disappointment, but at some point the winds will stop, the storm will pass,

and like that palm, you'll come right back up again. You may be bent over right now, your facing challenges.

Thoughts are telling you, it's never going to work out,

no get ready to rise. You have bounce back in your spirit. When that storm is over, you're not going to be laying down, beat up, you're going to rise up, healthy, blessed, prosperous. You're not going to look like what you've been through.

Nobody is going to be able to tell that you even had that difficulty. What I love about God is he doesn't just bring you through the storm, he makes the enemy pay for bringing the trouble. When the palm tree is bent over, during the hurricane, you would think that was damaging the tree and making it weaker.

But research shows just the opposite. When the tree is being pushed over and stretched by the strong winds, that strengthening the root system, giving it new opportunities for growth. When the palm tree straightens back up, after the storm, it's actually stronger than it was before.

When you come out of that storm, when you straighten back up, you're not going to be the same, you're going to be stronger, healthier, better off ready for new growth. When you're in difficult times,

“you need to remind yourself, I may bend, but I'm not going to break.”

God won't let you face anything that will be too much for you to handle. Things may become an against you, but know this, down is not your destiny. The feet is not how your story ends. Sickness, trouble, not having enough is not permanent.

I believe even now those winds are starting to subside. Forces that have hindered you are being broken. Powers of darkness are being pushed back. You're about to see breakthroughs, freedom, joy, victory. Micah chapter 7, Micah list all these negative things that have happened.

He talked about how he was overwhelmed with sorrow, had gone through bad breaks. If he would have stopped there, we wouldn't be reading about him. He went on to say in verse 7, "But as for me, I'm not giving up.

I'm sticking around to see what God is going to do. I know he will make things right. He had this attitude of faith. I've come too far to stop now. He was expecting God to turn it around.

That's why he said in the next verse,

“"Don't rejoice when I fall, I shall arise.”

But sometimes we've been in the storm so long. We've forgotten what it's like to be standing back up. The enemy would love to convince us to settle for being been over, living in dysfunction,

bitter over who hurt us, thinking we'll never be happy again.

We need to do like Micah. Yes, I've had some bad breaks. Yes, life has thrown me some curves, but I'm not giving up on my dreams. I'm not settling for mediocrity.

I'm sticking around to see what God is going to do. I know he's going to make things right. Don't get talked out of your dreams. Don't let the delays.

convince you that you've seen your best days. God is up to something.

“What looks like a setback is all a part of his plan.”

He may not have sent the difficulty, but he wouldn't have allowed it if it was going to keep you from your destiny. If you'll have this attitude of faith, God will make things right in your life. He will restore what the enemy tried to steal.

He'll pay you back for the wrongs. He'll open doors that you couldn't open. He will get you to your destiny. In Genesis 37, Joseph was a teenager. God gave him a dream that he would be in leadership.

He would have great influence. He had many older brothers, but he was the favorite son of their father, Jacob. Because he was born later in life, Jacob treated him differently.

He even had them make Joseph a special robe of many colors. I'm sure Joseph was proud of that robe. Made him stand out, gave him prestige. But his brothers were jealous of Joseph. They didn't like the special treatment.

They didn't like the fact that he had these dreams and that he thought he was going to do something great. One day his father asked him to travel to another city to check on his brothers. They were outworking in a field.

When they saw Joseph coming from a distance, wearing that colorful robe, they thought this is our big chance to get rid of Joseph. They took the robe off of him and threw him into a pit. They were going to put blood on his robe and tell their father

that he had been eaten by a wild animal. But about that time, a caravan of Israelites came passing by. The brothers decided to sell Joseph as a slave instead of leaving him to die in the pit.

It's interesting how God will always have the right people

show up at the right time. That caravan had been traveling for months. They left long before Joseph went to check on his brothers. But God has everything figured out. He knows what you're going to need.

“When you're going to need it, who's going to need to be there?”

You don't have to worry. God has it all lined up. He's going to get you to your destiny. People can't stop you. A bad break in justice.

God is ordering your steps. He's not only in control of your life. He's in control of the circumstances around you. Now Joseph was no longer the favorite son wearing the colorful robe. He was a slave in a foreign country.

Working for a man named Pottafer. Year after year went by, Joseph kept doing the right thing. Being good to people that weren't good to him. I can imagine many nights he thought about home. About that robe he used to have and what that mountain.

Tears would feel his eyes and thoughts would whisper. It's not fair.

You'll never accomplish your dreams.

You'll never see your father again. You'll never have that robe of many colors. But deep down I can hear Joseph praying. Father, thank you that what you started in my life you will finish. I don't see a way, but I know you have a way.

“I may be down, but I believe I will rise again.”

That what you promised me will come to pass. 13 years after Joseph was thrown into that pit. The Pharaoh had a dream. He didn't know what it meant. Joseph was in prison. Someone remembered that he could interpret dreams.

They called him in. He told the Pharaoh what the dream meant. How it had to do with the food supplied. How they needed to store up grain and get everything prepared for a famine. The Pharaoh was so impressed with Joseph.

His advisors were discussing who should be appointed for this new position. Pharaoh told them no one could do it better than Joseph. He put Joseph in charge of the whole nation. He said in verse 44 no one will move hand or foot in all of Egypt without your approval. He had his staff bring a royal robe and put it on Joseph.

He took off his prison clothes, took off his slave clothes and he put on this robe of honor, robe of influence, robe of authority. Imagine now Joseph thinking back about the robe that his brothers took away from him. The robe that represented favor. He was disappointed at the time.

He wanted it back. He didn't seem fair. But now he realized without losing the robe of many colors,

he would have never had the robe of authority.

That robe that said I'm in charge of a nation. If you knew what God has in store for you, you wouldn't be discouraged over the robe of many colors that you lost. That job that didn't work out. The person that walked away, the loan that didn't go through.

If you could see the robe of authority that's coming,

the robe of unprecedented favor, you wouldn't be bitter over who hurt you.

“Upset over the time in the pit, frustrated by what you lost.”

What God has in your future is so amazing, you will never complain about your past.

You may be down now, but like Joseph, get ready to rise. Fever is coming, like you've never seen. God is about to do something unusual, something uncommon, something that catapult you to a new level. Your story doesn't end with the robe of many colors that you lost.

Doesn't end with the dream that didn't work out. A relationship that didn't make it, a business that went down. The robe of many colors was simply foreshadowing what God is about to do. It was supposed to be temporary. Was it supposed to last?

If the door closed, accept it and move on. Don't spend your life wishing you had the robe of many colors back. When God has something so much better in your future, don't go around bitter because someone through you into a pit. Someone betrayed you.

You were cheated in a business deal.

God saw it. He wouldn't have let them take the colorful robe. He wouldn't have let that bad break happen if it was going to keep you from your destiny.

“But how many of us are longing for the robe of many colors?”

Which in we could go back where we knew we were favored? Before the setback, before the health issue, before the pandemic. Here's the key. Not having the robe of many colors doesn't mean that you don't have favor. It means greater favor is coming.

You had to lose that robe to step into the awesome future that God has in store. You haven't seen, heard, or imagined where God is taking you. You may feel like you're in a pit. That's okay. The pit is leading you to the palace.

You had a setback. That's okay.

It's setting you up for greater influence.

Greater authority, greater honor. Don't sit around sour, wishing for the robe of many colors. Get ready for the greater things that God is about to do. Joseph was in charge of the food supply. There was a great famine in the land.

The only place that had food was Egypt.

“One day Joseph's brothers, the same ones that threw him into the pit,”

traveled to the palace looking for food. Joseph came out, but they didn't recognize him. The last time they saw Joseph, he was in the pit. Defeated, no future, but God has the final saying. They knew him in the pit, but now he was so successful.

He had so much influence, prestige, they didn't recognize him. That's the way God vindicates. When he raises you up, you'll be so blessed, so favored that your enemies don't recognize you. 13 years earlier, Joseph was down, and his brothers were up. Joseph was in the pit.

They were on top. Now, Joseph was on top, and his brothers were down. Joseph was in charge, and his brothers were in need. When you let God fight your battles, there will be a day like when Joseph, when the tables are turned.

You will be up, and those that try to stop you will be down. God knows how to make things right. You may be in a tough time, stick in there, and see what God is up to. Keep believing, keep praying, keep dreaming, your time is coming. The pit is only temporary.

The depression, the sickness, the lack, is not how your story ends. God is working behind the scenes. You are closer than you think. It's going to happen sooner than it looks. God is going to surprise you.

Joseph woke up one morning in prison. Seem like another ordinary day, but a few hours later, he was the prime minister of Egypt. He didn't see it coming. There was an any sign of it.

That's how God works. Many times, you don't see anything happening, and suddenly things fall into place. Suddenly, your health turns around. Suddenly, you meet the right person.

The soul must say, "Let God arise and His enemies be scattered." Let means you have to allow it. You can let it, or you cannot let it. We can't stop God from arising. This is talking about in our thoughts.

When you let God arise, you make him bigger than your problems. Bigger than the sickness, bigger than the financial trouble. You focus on his greatness. You think about his power. You talk about how he's brought you through in the past.

You go around bragging on what he has done. Declaring, no weapon formed against me is going to prosper.

God is turning to my advantage.

“The bigger you make God, the smaller your problems will become,”

and the more faith will rise in your harm.

But the enemy is always trying to get us to let the problem arise.

Maybe your child is off course. It's easy to talk about how he's not making good decisions. He's never going to reach his destiny. I don't understand what I did wrong. You're letting the wrong thing arise.

Turn it around, start letting God arise. Father, thank you that as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Thank you that my children will be mighty in the land. Thank you that my seed, the seed of the righteous, is blessed.

That's letting God arise.

That's what causes things to change.

“When you speak defeat, you bring defeat on the seed.”

When you speak victory, you bring God on the seed. He created the universe. He plunge stars into space. There's nothing that he can't do. Maybe you're struggling in your finances.

Business is slow. You can't go to work. You can either let that defeat arise. You'll feel discouraged, worried, or you can let God arise. Father, thank you that I will lend and not borrow.

Thank you that the economy is not my source, but you are my source. You said you'd cross for me even in a desert. When you let God arise, the Scripture says your enemies will be scattered. Depression, lack, trouble cannot stand against our God. When you let Him arise, chains that have held you back are broken.

Problems that look permanent will turn around. When God arises, favour comes, new doors open, things that you couldn't make happen. Now the question is, are you letting the problem arise, or are you letting God arise? All through the day, it's so important to keep a song a praise in your heart. Instead of worrying, thinking about all the things that are wrong, what might not work

out in your thoughts, Lord, thank you that there's nothing you can't do. There's no mountain that you can't move. You're a way maker, a miracle worker, a promise keeper. Take the same time that you would normally worry and turn it into worship. That's not just being positive, that's letting God arise.

“That's what allows the most powerful force in the universe to go to work on your behalf.”

Well, Joel, this all sounds good, but I don't think I'm gonna rise back up. I've made a lot of mistakes. Nobody did me wrong like Joseph, I brought the trouble on myself. Jesus told a story about a young man like this in Luke chapter 15. He asked his father for his inheritance early.

He left home and went out and spent all the money, partying, living wild, making poor decisions. When he ran out of funds, he got a job working at a hog pin feeding hogs. He was so desperate, so hungry that he had to eat the hog food to survive. One day he was sitting around depressed, mad at himself, feeling condemned. He began to think about home, how even the servants at his father's house had a hot meal every day.

They had plenty of food, here he was out there starving. Verse 17 says, "He said to himself, "I will arise and go to my father's house." He made a decision that he wasn't going to stay in that defeat. He wasn't going to sit around depressed, guilty, beating himself up, but he was going to go back home. He didn't know how his father would respond.

He didn't know if he had tell him to stay off the property. But when the father saw him a long way off, he took off running toward his son. He hugged him and kissed him. Now, the son was wearing these dirty clothes, smelly, he'd been in the hog pin. The first thing the father said was go get the best robe and put it on my son.

Not any robe, not one that's been used, not a hand me down, go get the finest robe. It's interesting, like God gave Joseph a royal robe of influence, a robe of authority, God gave this young man a robe of honor, a robe of favor. Both of them rose out of what was holding them back. The difference between the two is God calls Joseph to rise up.

He didn't have to do anything to make it happen. He just kept honoring God, being his best, and Pharaoh called him in. But with the protocol son, he had to make a decision that he wasn't going to sit around discouraged, defeated, thinking about all the mistakes he had made.

If he had not said I will arise, he would have never seen this coat of favor.

Some wondering, "Are you waiting for God to do something for you?"

I'm not going to go through life, beating myself up, living condemned.

“Yes, I've made mistakes, but I know I'm forgiven.”

I know I've been redeemed. If you'll arise, there's a robe of favor waiting for you, a robe of honor." Those mistakes didn't cancel your destiny. But listening to the accuser, reminding yourself of everything you've done wrong, God is already forgiven you.

Now forgive yourself and move on. It's time to arise and go to your father's house. The proverb says, "A good person falls seven times, but they rise again. Get your fire back. Get your passion back.

Nothing you've done is too much for the mercy of God. He knew every mistake we would ever make. He's already taken them into account. He has a plan even for the times where we've missed it. Now, arise and go get that robe that belongs to you.

You can still become who you were created to be. When the winds blow in your life, the storms come. Remember this phrase, "There's bounce back in your spirit. You may bend, but you're not going to break. Like the palm tree, you're going to come right back up.

All through the day, let God arise. When your thoughts keep thanking Him for His promises, making Him bigger than what you're facing.

“If you'll do this, I believe and declare.”

Like with Joseph, you're going to see promotion, vindication, breakthroughs. God is going to make things happen that you didn't see coming. You may have lost the robe of many colors, but get ready for the robe of authority, the robe of influence, the robe of favor in Jesus' name. Well, 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'll 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.

Get in a good Bible-based church and keep God first place.

We all go through disappointments and things that are not fair. But God sees every hurt, every injustice, and He's promised to pay you back for the unfair things. Now, love to send you my new resource, double for your trouble. It's filled with inspiration, doubt you stay in faith and not get bitter and think, "Why

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today.

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Looking forward to seeing you at Homecoming Weekend.