Joel Osteen - From Trouble to Double

I want to talk to you today about From Trouble to Double. We all face difficulties and things that are not fair. God doesn't stop all the difficulties, he won't keep you from all the trouble, but he said in Zechariah 9:12, "If you'll be a prisoner of hope, I will restore double back to you". When trouble comes, instead of being upset, have a new perspective: that just qualified you for double.

In life you're going to be a prisoner of something: prisoner of doubt, prisoner of shame, prisoner of discouragement. Get out of those prisons. God is looking for prisoners of hope, people that don't fall apart when trouble comes, people that keep believing, keep praising, keep expecting, knowing that the trouble is setting them up for double.

If you only knew what God had in store, you wouldn't be disappointed. Yes, on the surface it can be discouraging, painful, hard to deal with. You have to remind yourself that trouble is qualifying you for double. It's setting you up up for a level of your destiny that you could have never seen if it had not happened.

God said in Isaiah 61:7, The Message translation, "Because you got a double dose of trouble, your inheritance in the land will be double and your joy will go on forever".

If you'll pass the test, on the other side of that difficulty is double honor, double favor, double resources. And no, we don't like the trouble. None of us like the disappointments, the injustice, but without it we wouldn't see the fullness of our destiny. Don't let the difficulty cause you to give up, get sour. Have a new perspective: the trouble means double is in your future.

It would be easier if God would promise us double without the trouble, but usually there are some tests that we have to go through, difficulties and things we don't understand, that's when we prove to God what we're made of. So when trouble hits, instead of having a defeated mentality, we have a double mentality.

Now, you may be in a difficult time today, keep the right perspective: that trouble has qualified you for double. It's not there to set you back, it's setting you up for increase, for favor, for new levels. I believe and declare: what God promised you that double is coming, something you've never seen, twice the joy, twice the resources, twice the influence, the double blessing, in Jesus name.