Joel Osteen - The Abundance Mind-Set

W e all have vision. Every one of us has a picture in our mind of our self, our family, our future. The question is: What does your picture look like? Do you see yourself rising higher, overcoming obstacles, and living an abundant life? Or do you have a picture of yourself struggling, defeated, addicted, overweight, and never getting good breaks? The pictures you allow in your mind will determine what kind of life you live. If your vision is limited, your life will be limited. The Scripture says that as a man thinks, so is he.

Before your dream can come to pass, you have to see yourself accomplishing that dream. You have to get a picture of it. Before you get the promotion or break the addiction, you have to see it happening in your imagination. The pictures you keep in front of youyour visionnot only drops down into your spirit but it gets into your subconscious mind. Once something is in the subconscious, it will pull you toward it like gravity without you even thinking about it.

Many people have negative images in their subconscious mind. They see themselves weak, defeated, inferior, and wonder why it feels like something is always pulling against them. Its always a struggle. They never feel good about themselves. Its because they have the wrong images. If you will change those pictures and start seeing yourself the way God sees youblessed, prosperous, healthy, strong, talented, successfulinstead of having something pulling against you, it will be pulling for you. Youll be moving toward blessing, favor, promotion, and abundance.

The Scripture says, Where there is no vision, the people perish. It doesnt say where there is no money, no opportunity, or no talent. What limits us is a lack of vision. Dare to dream again. Dare to have a big vision for an abundant life, and trust God to bring it to pass. You dont have to figure out how its going to happen. All you have to do is believe. One touch of Gods favor can bring any dream to pass. But youve got to see it on the inside before it will ever come to pass on the outside.

As you read these pages, Ill help you get an abundant mind-set for your life, and one day soon instead of just having a dream, youll be living the dream. Your vision will become reality.

G ods dream for your life is that you would be blessed in such a way that you could be a blessing to others. David said, My cup runs over. God is an overflow God. But heres the key: You cant go around thinking thoughts of lack, not enough, struggle, and expect to have abundance. If youve been under pressure for a long time and have difficulty making ends meet, its easy to develop a limited mind-set. Ill never get out of this neighborhood. Or, Ill never have enough to send my kids to college. That may be where you are now, but thats not where you have to stay.

God is called El Shaddai, the God of More Than Enough. Not the God of Barely Enough or the God of Just Help Me Make It Through. Hes the God of Overflow. The God of Abundance.

Psalm 35 says, Let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified who takes pleasure in the prosperity of His children. They were supposed to go around constantly saying, God takes pleasure in prospering me. It was to help them develop this abundant mind-set. Your life is moving toward what youre constantly thinking about. If youre always thinking thoughts of lack, not enough, and struggle, youre moving toward the wrong things. All through the day, meditate on these thoughts: overflow, abundance, God takes pleasure in prospering me.

BARELY ENOUGH, JUST ENOUGH, AND MORE THAN ENOUGH

In the Scripture, the Israelites had been in slavery for many years. That was the land of Barely Enough. They were just enduring, surviving, barely making it through. One day God brought them out of slavery and took them into the desert. That was the land of Just Enough. Their needs were supplied, but nothing extra. It says their clothes didnt wear out for forty years. Im sure they were grateful. I dont know about you, but I dont particularly want to wear these same clothes for the next forty years. If I have to, Im not going to complain, but thats not my idea of abundance. It wasnt Gods either. God eventually took them into the Promised Land. That was the land of More Than Enough. The food and supplies were plenteous. The bundles of grapes were so large that two grown men had to carry them. Its called the land flowing with milk and honey.