Joel Osteen - You Lack Nothing
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I want to talk to you today about how You Lack Nothing. Sometimes we see ourselves at a disadvantage. If we had more talent then we could do something greater, we had more personality, more height, more attractive, then we could accomplish our dreams. Or if we had more funds, more resources, more opportunity, then we could overcome this obstacle. But as long as you see yourself as lacking, at a deficit, you'll make excuses to settle where you are and be less than your best.
Psalm 34:10 says, "Those who trust in the Lord will never lack any good thing". God has given you everything you need for your destiny. He's already put in you the wisdom, the confidence, the strength. He's already lined up the right people, the good breaks, the resources, it's already there. The question is: do you recognize what you have? Are you using what God is giving you or are you overlooking it because it seems common, ordinary? Are you discounting yourself because you feel short changed, too small, wrong nationality, not up to par? You have to change your mindset.
It's not enough to just have faith in God, that's important, but you have to take it one step further and have faith in what God has given you. You have to believe that you're equipped, that you're empowered, that your steps are being ordered. Here's the key: you don't have to have great talent tent to do something great. If you'll use what you have, God will breathe on it, and you'll accomplish more than you thought possible. It's not necessarily the amount of education, the amount of resources, the amount of friends, who you know. What makes the difference is the anointing on your life.
You can have average talent, but when God favors you, you'll go further than people with great talent. You can have an extraordinary problem, you're outnumbered, surrounded, but God can take an ordinary solution, something that seems common, and cause you to be victorious. Don't discount what you have. Don't overlook what God has given you. The enemy would love for us to get stuck, thinking we're at a deficit, "When I get more funds, more training, more good breaks, then I could move forward". We're waiting for more when in fact everything we need is already there. Look around at what God has given you, recognize what you have.
Moses felt like he was at a disadvantage. He'd been out in the desert for 40 years, hiding because of a mistake. God came to him in a burning bush and told him to go tell the Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. They'd been in slavery for many years. Moses said, "God, he's not going to listen to me. I don't have any influence, the right credentials. I'm not a good speaker, I stutter". He went on and on making all these excuses. God said (Exodus 4:2) to him, "Moses, what do you have in your hand"? Moses said, "God, it's nothing, it's just a stick. Just a piece of wood I got off a tree. I've been using as a staff for my animals". God said, "Throw it on the ground". He threw it down and it turned into a snake. God took something Moses had that seemed common, ordinary, nothing special, but God breathed on it, and it became extraordinary.
There are things that God has put in your life that seem common, normal talent, normal neighborhood, normal job. It's ordinary to us, but when God steps in, supernatural things happen. When Moses saw that snake, verse 3 says he was so terrified, that he took off running. You would think he'd be so amazed and so inspired, that he' be full of faith - just the opposite. God told him to pick the snake up by the tail. Took a lot more faith to pick it up than to throw it down. When he did, it turned back into his staff. God was showing him that he had what he needed. It looked ordinary, insignificant, just a stick, but if it needs to be a key to open a door, God will turn it into a key. If it needs to be a shield to protect you, God will turn it into a shield. If it needs to be provision to fund your dream, God will turn it into a bank. If it needs to be an auditorium to expand your church, God will turn it into a Compaq Center.
Anytime you tell God that you're stuck, you're at a deficit, you're lacking, God ask the question "What's in your hand? What are you discounting? What are you overlooking"? "Joel, I don't have the talent, the training, the connections. I'm limited in my career". Just keep being faithful, using what you have, God will take the ordinary and do something extraordinary. You do the natural and God will do the supernatural.
Jesus told his disciples to roll away the stone, and I'll raise Lazarus. Jesus could have rolled away the stone, he's God. He spoke to the storm and calmed the winds. Why did he tell his disciples to do it? It's this principle: if you'll do the ordinary, God will will do the extraordinary. If you'll do what's common, God will do what's uncommon. If you'll throw down the staff so to speak, he'll turn it into what you need.
When my father went to be with the Lord, I knew I was supposed to step up and pastor the church, but I didn't feel qualified, I didn't have the training, never ministered before. On top of that my father was such a great minister: he was strong, dynamic, had a big personality. And I was just the opposite. All those thoughts told me, "Joel, you're not enough. You're not like your father". Here's the key: you don't need what someone else has. You're not running their race. You have what you need for your race. Don't compare yourself to other people. If you're focused on what they have, their gifts, their looks, their resources, you're going to start discounting yourself, thinking, "Man, I can't speak like my father. I'm not as attracted as my cousin. My coworker is so much more talented". If you needed what they have, God would have given it to you. You're not lacking anything you need to fulfill your purpose.
And I was tempted to shrink back and feel less than because my father was such a gifted leader. I had to do what I'm asking you to do. I said, "God, I don't have what my father had, but I believe I have what I need for my destiny. I'm not going to to compare myself to him, I'm going to take what you put in my hands, my gifts, my personality, my smile, and use it to the best of my ability". I started speaking week after week, and I didn't really know how to write a message, I didn't have deep theology, I just talked about the goodness of God and how to live a life of victory. People started telling me, "Joel, you have a gift. You have such a good way of explaining the scripture and making it relevant". That always puzzled me. I would think, "What are they talking about having a gift? I'm just up there talking".
What felt ordinary to me, God breathed on, and it became something much greater. Never dreamed I'd be a pastor, and speaking to people around the world. When you look at what you have, your skills, talents, personality, it's easy to think, "This is ordinary, it's just a walking stick". That's what God uses. There's something he's given you that's going to take you to new levels. It's not spectacular, it's ordinary. Don't discount it. Don't go around with a disadvantaged mentality. Use what you have and he'll take the natural and do something supernatural.
Moses spoke to the Pharaoh and eventually he let the Israelites go, but as they were leaving he changed his mind, and he sent 600 of his most skilled war warriors and all these chariots to capture them and bring them back. Moses and the Israelites came to a dead end at the Red Sea, they had nowhere to go. The people started complaining, "Moses, why did you bring us out here in the desert to die? We'd rather stayed in Egypt as slaves than come out here and be killed". Moses was praying, "God, do something supernatural. Send an army to rescue us, rain down hell upon them". God said in verse 16, "Moses, why are you crying out to me? Lift up your rod, stretch forth your hand and part the sea". I can hear Moses saying, "God, you mean you want me to do something ordinary? You're going to use this stick again, this common thing? You want me to lift it up"? When he did, the waters begin to push back, the Red Sea parted, the people went through on dry ground.
We're looking for the spectacular, but often it starts with something ordinary, something we could easily discount, think it's common. What do you have in your hand? "I'm just a business person. I'm just a student. I'm just an architect. I'm just a stay-at-home mom. I'll never do anything significant". That's how Moses felt out there in the desert 40 years, but God has put something in your hand, something that seems ordinary. If you'll dare lift up your rod, do what he's asking you to do, you're going to come into these destiny moments where you see Red Seas part, deliverance from enemies, gifts come out that you never knew you had.
It's in you. God put it there before you were born. He marked you for greatness. He already set the time for you to break out to levels you've never dreamed. Now you have to get in agreement with him. This is not going to happen if we have a lack mentality, "I don't have the talent, it's too big. Joel, I got a Red Sea in front of me right now, a dead end. What do you expect me to do"? Lift up your rod. Do the natural and God will do the supernatural. He'll breathe on your life in a new way.
This is what happened with Samson. He was surrounded by the Philistines, a huge army. He had no weapons, no protection, all the odds were against him. He looked around to try to find something to defend himself. All he could find was the jawbone of a donkey, some dead bones. I'm sure he thought, "Oh, great. God, I need a sword, I need a shield, I need some troops to come rescue me, but all I have is this jawbone". Was common, lot of dead animals out in the desert, he could have ignored it and thought, "Well, that's of no use", but he was smart enough to realize it was a part of his destiny.
What you need need to accomplish your assignment will always be within reach. It won't be far off where you can't attain it, it will be close to you. Pay attention to what God brings across your path, and who he brings across your path. It's not there by accident. It's easy to discount, think, "Oh, that's common, that person, that opportunity, this idea. It's just a stick, Joel, it's just the jawbone of a donkey". God uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary. If you'll recognize what you have, and be a good steward, then you'll see what God was up to.
Samson picked up that jawbone, the scripture says, "The Spirit of God came upon him, and he defeated a thousand Philistines". One man, not with a rifle, not with an army, not with fire coming down from heaven, but with something ordinary, a jawbone of a donkey. What God is going to do in your life won't always happen through spectacular ways. Maybe some of that, but most of the time God is going to use something ordinary, something within reach, something close to you. God asked Moses "What do you have in your hand"? Not "What do you wish you had, Moses? What does your neighbor have? What are you hoping for that's far off"? There is something close to you. It's easy to overlook, it's easy to over discount, but God put it there. It's instrumental in you reaching your destiny.
There was a young woman named Mary Bethune born in South Carolina in the late 1800s. She was the youngest of 17 children. Her parents were slaves. Despite the odds being against her, she was able to get a good education, and even attend college. From the time she was a little girl she always had a dream to teach young people. After getting her degree, she sent her application to different schools, hoping to get a teaching position. She was a straight A student, you couldn't meet a finer young woman. She waited month after month, unfortunately no one would hire her. She was disappointed, but she knew that God still had a plan, that when one door closes God will always open up another door.
Other than sitting around defeated she decided to start her own school. She didn't have any desk, but she did have some cardboard boxes. She set them up as desks. She didn't have any pens, but she did have some red berries out in the field. Every night she would drain the juice so the students could use that for ink in their pens. After several years the local college saw what was happening, they asked her to join her school with theirs, it became the Bethune Cookman College. She went on to become the first African-American college president.
Now, in the natural Mary was at a deficit, she was lacking, a poor family, turned down for the position, no equipment, no funding. That didn't stop her. What she needed was within reach. If it's out of reach, you don't need it. If you can't attain it, it wasn't meant to be. Don't sit around in self-pity, God has something better. He said: because you trust him you will not lack. If you needed it for your destiny, and it was out of reach, God wouldn't be a just God. Let go of what didn't work out, and who didn't stay in your life, the promotion you didn't get, how you weren't raised right. None of that has stopped your purpose. Nothing you've been through has cancelled your assignment. No bad break has lessened your greatness.
What you need is close to you. Recognize what you have. May seem common, just some cardboard boxes, just the jawbone of a donkey, just this thick, this rod. Yes, but when you use it, Red Sea's part, enemies are defeated, doors will open, opportunity that thrust you into your destiny. What's in your hand? Is there something you're overlooking? It seems ordinary, but when you do the natural, God will do the supernatural. When you set up the cardboard desk, when you drain the ink, God will bring the college president position, more than you can imagine.
John chapter 6, a great crowd had followed Jesus to a remote area to hear him teach. And it's getting late in the day, almost dark. Jesus said to his disciples, "You need to feed the people, they're too tired to go home hungry". They said in effect, "Are you kidding, Jesus? There are 15,000 people here. We're out in the desert, the nearest Walmart is 300 miles. It's Sunday, Chick-fil-A is not even open". They came up with all these good reasons why it was impossible. Jesus asked them, "What do you have"? They went out in the crowd, came back in a few minutes and said, "All we could find was this little boy's lunch, just five loaves of bread, two fish, but what is that among so many"?
It was a logical question, what good is this one lunch going to do when we need lunch for 15,000 people? But God doesn't ask you to figure out how it's going to happen, he just ask you to use what he's given you. To not discount, to not live thinking you're at a deficit, but to believe that he can take what seems small, and make something great out of it.
Same thing when I stepped up. My mind said said, "What is this among so many? God, all I have is five loaves and two fish. We need something much greater, more talent, more wisdom, more training". God is not asking you for what you don't have, he's asking you to trust him with what you do have, with what's in reach. "Joel, all I have is a little lunch". God can take the little and multiply. "It I just have a little faith", a little faith can move a mountain. "I just have a walking stick", you can part a Red Sea. "I just have the jawbone of a donkey, something I found close", you can defeat an army, you can beat the cancer, you can break the addiction. You're not lacking, you have exactly what you need. And sometimes on purpose God will let you be outnumbered, he'll let the door closed, let you not feel qualified for the position. He takes that small and breathes on it.
Jesus prayed over the five loaves and two fish, and they multiplied and they fed off 15,000 people, plus they had 12 baskets full left over. But the disciples almost talked themselves out of it, thought they were at a too big of a deficit. But the deficit is a sign that God's about to do something amazing. Many of you have been faithful with what God has given you, going to church, doing more than you have to, going to work, serving, serving, giving, believing, you're going to come in to some of these destiny moments, where you see God breathe on your talent, you rise to a new level. Breathe on your finances, you come into overflow. Breathe on your health, that cancer is gone. Breathe on your children, they're back on track, fulfilling their purpose.
Don't be fooled by the facts. Every circumstance may say, "You're at a deficit. You just have five loaves and two fish. You're lacking talent, lacking funds, lacking confidence". No, your time is coming. You keep doing the natural, using what you have, God's going to step in and do the supernatural, taking you where you can't go on your own.
I talk to a man, he's an attorney and he always had a desire to be in the sports industry, but he didn't know anyone in that field. And he was living in a small town where he was raised, and working there. And several times a week he'd go up to the gym to play basketball. And he played with this same group of men for a few years. One day this older gentleman asked him what he did for a living. And he told how he was an attorney, doing corporate law, but he said, "My dream is to be a sports agent, I just don't have any connections". The man said, "That's interesting. My nephew is the number one college football player in the nation. He was just asking me about who I knew that could represent him, I'm going to have him call you". That was his first sports client, his business grew and grew, today he's one of the top sports agents in the world. He said, "Joel, I never dreamed I would be where I am".
Seemed like he was lacking, didn't know anyone in a small town, then that one good break, that one connection. You don't know what God is up to. You don't know the doors he's about to open, the people you're about to meet, the favor you're about to see. May seem like you're at a deficit, what's in your heart is much bigger than you think could ever happen. Just stay faithful where you are, keeping God first place, being your best with what he's given you, you're going to come into your destiny moments, where suddenly the Red Sea parts. You're doing the ordinary, and God steps in and does the extraordinary. You're gathering the five loaves and two fish, not complaining, not discounting it, then God multiplies it, gives you supernatural increase, supernatural provision, the right people show up, favor that you can't explain.
2 Kings 4, there was a widow that was trying to survive. Her husband had served with the prophet Elisha, but he had passed and he left her some funds to live off on, but she'd used all that up, now she didn't know how she was going to make it. In those days, if you couldn't pay your debts, they would take your family members and they had had to work for the payment. Well, these creditors were coming for her two sons. She was so distraught, she went to the prophet Elisha and explain what was happening. Elisha said to her, "What do you have in your house"? Verse two, she answered, "Nothing at all". She was saying, "We're done. It's over. There's nothing here".
Then she thought about it and said, "Wait a minute, nothing except a small jar of oil". Elisha said, "That's all we need, just a little oil". He told her to go out and borrow as many large empty containers as she could find. She and her sons went out and knocked on the neighbor's door, and they brought back all these containers. Elisha said, "Now, take the little oil that you have, and pour it into the empty containers". That didn't make sense, but she obeyed. As she did, the oil never ran out. God multiplied it. She kept pouring and pouring, until all the containers were filled. She went out and sold the oil, paid off all her debts, and had plenty to live on.
When Elisha asked her what she had in her house, at first she said "Nothing at all". She discounted the oil. Was too small, not significant, but the truth truth is: that's all God needed. She was looking on the outside, hoping Elisha would save her, but what she needed was on the inside, it was within reach. In her house, but it was common, ordinary, just a little oil. "This can't do any good, I've got a big problem", but when you use what you have, God will breathe on it.
And some of us are like this woman. What do you have in your house? "I don't have anything, Joel. I'm not that talented, I don't have a good personality, I got an okay job, it's it's nothing". If you only knew what God can do with a little. A little jar of oil, a little boy's lunch, a little faith, a little talent. God asked Moses, "What's in your hand"? He said "Something ordinary". He asked this woman, "What's in your house"? She said, "Nothing at all".
Both times they had what they needed, they just didn't recognize it. Moses had a rod that would part a sea, a stick that we'd be talking about thousands of years later. This widow had a little jar of oil, oil that would sustain her for years until the famine was over. What's in your hand? What's in your house? What you need is close to you, it's within reach. You are not lacking, you are not at a deficit, you are in position to see the hand of God do something supernatural.
Now, do your part and give him the five loaves and two fish, even though it seems insignificant. Pour the little jar of oil, lift up your rod. Small acts of obedience lead to great miracles. No more thinking "I'm at a disadvantage, I'm lacking", turn it around, "I have everything I need. I'm equipped, empowered, and anointed". If you'll do this, I believe and declare: like Moses, Red Seas are going to part in your life, doors are going to open, problems turn around. Like this widow, God's going to multiply what you have, and pour out abundance, breakthroughs, healing, the fullness of your destiny, in Jesus name. And if you receive it, can you say amen?