God's Wisdom In A Nutshell

I have had some people ask me about Joel Osteen. I have much to say about Joel Osteen so there will be three posts in total on his work.  This post is packed full of scripture.  You may think you can read it once and digest all of the verses, but I am asking you to read it several times in order to fully understand what we as followers of Christ have available to us.

Okay on to Joel Osteen.

Let me start by saying that when Joel Osteen’s first book came out in 2004,  I walked past it displayed in my local bookstore and  I remember saying  to myself “Another book about living your best life, what new information could he possibly say?” Well, on another trip to that particular bookstore, I decided to page through it- what I read was enough to intrigue me to buy it. Pastor Osteen speaks about a loving Father in heaven who wants to bless us.  He writes about living a life of excellence and integrity and with this lifestyle to expect to be blessed by God.  I decided to research whether or not the positive hopeful Bible verses that Joel Osteen writes and preaches about were in fact found in the Bible and more importantly, true. (I had only two years of Bible study under my belt at this point so I had to dig into Scripture to gain wisdom to know God’s truth.)

I read his first book  several times and I have purchased, read and reread several of the books he has written. I then started watching his broadcast with pen in paper in hand writing down the Bible verses that he refers to, so that I could fact check them.  Joel’s main message is that all believers in Christ- all who accept the Lord as the only way to get to heaven- are children of God, descendants of Abraham.  Pastor Osteen states that all of Abrahams blessings are ours as well.

“So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” (Galatians 3:9 NIV)

 “Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones.”(Luke 3:8 NLT)

 Deuteronomy 28-Rewards for Obedience  (I am paraphrasing)

“Indeed, if you diligently obey the Lord your God to carry out all His commands that I’m giving you today, then all these blessings will come upon you in abundance, if you obey the Lord your God:

You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country, you will be blessed going in and blessed going out, the fruit of your womb will be blessed, your animals will be blessed, your baskets will be overflowing, the enemies that rise up against you will be defeated before you, you will be the head and not the tail, you will lend and not borrow, the work of your hands will be blessed, and all that you touch will prosper and succeed. The Lord will assign you to be a holy people for Himself, just as He promised you, as long as you keep His commands and walk in his ways. Do not deviate from any of His commands that I’m giving you today—neither to the right nor the left—to follow and serve other gods.

These verses tell us about gaining health, success and eternal life, if we live as children of God.

Joel Osteen tells you how to start to receive these blessings when he states in every broadcast “get into a good Bible based church, read the Bible and put God first place in your life.”

That specific sentence, stated every week on Joel Osteen’s broadcast, is profound and powerful but NOT easy.

Let’s review it again.  Joel Osteen says “get into a good Bible based church (read the Bible) and put God first place in your life…”

This short sentence- serving God first and turning every area of our life over to God and His guiding principles- is  the Key to the abundant life. This is also stated in so many words in the first few sentences of Deuteronomy 28…”If you diligently obey the Lord your God.”  How can you obey if you don’t read your Bible?  How can you obey if you don’t go to church to honor the Lord?

 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only ….” (James 1:22).

By putting God first,  you will enter into the Kingdom of God and you will know, if you read your Bible, that there is something called “Kingdom Power.”  This is the power that rose Jesus from the grave and it lives inside all believers of God. It is activated when you are not only a believer but a follower of the Lord and His teachings.  It defeats strongholds (addictions), it can heal a terminal patient, it can change a person’s circumstance etc. I must say that many people won’t put God first place in their life because it takes sacrifice of your will and your obedience to the Word of God.

Galatians 5:19-21 (New International Version NIV)

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

By choosing not to put God first in your life, and choosing to ignore the Lord’s teachings, conditional blessings are unavailable to you-you can’t inherit the kingdom.

Many of Joel Osteen’s messages are based on conditional blessings of the Lord. The people who get frustrated with Joel Osteen’s messages or don’t believe them, are the people who want to live their life their own way and still receive all of the bountiful blessings and peace from God.  It doesn’t work that way.  You can’t live in sin, you can’t chase after anything more than you “chase after” a relationship with our Lord and still enter the Kingdom of God.

Like any good father, gifts are given because a father loves a child. Additional gifts are given because the child has a heart to follow the fathers teachings. (conditional and unconditional blessings.) Those that label Joel Osteen’s teachings as incorrect, or the “Name it and Claim It Gospel” are most likely those people who believe they can read their Bible, go to church but then live their lives their own way.  I know many avid Bible study participants who rob God of His tithe, have sex out of wedlock, drink heavily, manipulate people, gossip and rack up credit card debt- yet these people are the most critical of Joel Osteen’s message. ( I too engaged in many of those sins listed, until I learned about blessings for obedience.) Again, God blesses all of us because He loves all of us. But we receive Kingdom Power and the blessings of Abraham, when we align our lives as God teaches us in the Bible. This is the arena of miracles.

People also label Joel Osteen’s preaching as the “Prosperity Gospel.” Did you know that the Bible teaches about money/prosperity in over 2000 bible verses!  That is quite a significant number.  If the Lord included money in that many Bible verses, then money- both to have and to share is highly important.

Look at the Bible verse Malachi 3:10 ( NIV)
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

When you spend time in your Bible, you will learn the heart of God.  God owns it all, all the good things of this world including money which can be used for the good of this world.  The Lord wants to bless people financially so that they can distribute His resources.  He is looking for true believers who tithe their money faithfully and give gifts of time, talent and money to other organizations to help those in need. Without Christians who believe in the provision of God there would be no giving.  If God had to rely only on only the wealthy people to give of their resources, our churches, food banks and other charitable organizations would be destitute.  God needs all believers- those who are lower, middle and upper income earners to share 10% with the church to advance the teachings of Christ. And beyond tithing, to give gifts.  The upper income people have it easier- they are giving out of their abundance.  The lower income earners who are generous givers most assuredly, have a rich faith.   They know that if they use their money wisely, following the Lord’s teachings, putting their trust in Him, God will always provide for them.

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? (James 2:5 NIV)

Yes, the gift of prosperity is real and does happen- but not for everyone, only those that use their current income for the good of man and the glory of God.  Money (prosperity) is not a taboo subject in the Bible, its important. It shouldn’t be a taboo subject in church either.

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His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3 NIV)

Pick up one of Joel Osteen’s books- turn on his  broadcast on Sunday and take notes.  Then go to your Bible and look up the verses he discusses. Ask God to open your mind and heart to His truth.  You will see that the amazing Lord Joel Osteen portrays is real, kind, and abundantly blesses those who serve Him. People can call it the “Name It And Claim It Gospel”  but  believing and following Christians call it “standing on the promises of God.”  As for me, there is no other choice.  Serving  the Lord is the only way to a healthy, happy, blessed life.

“If you serve only me, my blessing will be on your food and water and I will take away any disease from among you.”(Exodus 23:25)

“The righteous will have many afflictions but the Lord delivers them out of all of them, not one of their bones will be broken.”(Psalm 34:19-20)

“The Lord’s eyes move to and fro throughout the earth to help those who’s hearts are completely His.“(2 Chron 16:9)

“If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth…all that you touch will prosper and succeed.” (Deut 28 1,11,12)

Lastly, people comment that Joel Osteen is a businessman and the Bible is his “product.”  They say that Pastor Osteen is in it for the money.  Let me simply say that some sources reveal that the Catholic church pulls in 85 million dollars every Sunday from collections and the Vatican has 8 billion in assets. I think  it’s unwise to be critical of a man who is a multi- millionaire from his books alone. Nor should we be critical of a man who is teaching people to live a life of excellence, integrity and trust in the Lord- quite a different message than the sexual scandal and subsequent cover-up that continues to plague the Catholic Church-most recently in the country of Guam. As a side note, the Vatican rented out the Cistine Chapel to the Porsche organization in 2014 for a gala that cost nearly $6k per plate. (money.cnn.com) The Bible teaches that God’s churches/temples should not be a place where money exchanges hands.

Matthew 21:12-13(ESV) Jesus Cleanses the Temple
“And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

We need to remember that no pastor or religion is perfect, but they should follow Scriptural teachings. Knowing Scripture is the only way you can be sure that you aren’t being a blind follower of any pastor or any religion.

My question to you is -Does your church or religion lead you to live a life pursuing knowledge of God?   Does it lead you to a life of kindness, integrity and placing God and His teachings first place in your life? Or, are you like I was, sitting in church out of obligation, not understanding much of anything and planning what I will have for lunch when I got home!  If the second scenario is the case, you might want to find a pastor who can accurately convey Scripture and encourages you to read it for yourself -your life will never be the same!

God’s Promise:

“It is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom”(Luke 12:32 ESV)

What is the Kingdom?  Everything related to life, health and happiness.  Keep in mind that God tests all of us to see if our allegiance to Him is true.  Seasons of testing help you understand that nothing is more important than a relationship with our Lord.  For example, say you start to follow the Lord so that you could be assured that your family will never be destitute financially.  After following the Lord for a few years you realize that the other blessings of the Lord – the peace, lack of anxiety and stress, the beneficial coincidences, quick healing of some illness -are even better blessings than the financial reasons you had to follow our Lord to begin with- and a relationship with our Lord is priceless!

Wisdom Bestows Well-Being

My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.  Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. “(Proverb 3:1-4)