Joel Osteen

“Faith is easy; I think people complicate it.”

“I try to speak in everyday language. I feel like God has gifted me to take Bible principles and make them practical.”

“I really believed that fear is contagious.”

“Encouragement to others is something everyone can give. Somebody needs what you have to give. It may not be your money; it may be your time. It may be your listening ear. It may be your arms to encourage. It may be your smile to uplift. Who knows?”

“Indeed, it is as important to learn how to receive a blessing as it is to be willing to give one.”

“My friends and I had fun together, but I was more reserved, not at all the life of the party. I would just be the quiet one in the room.”

“I purposely don't talk about money, because people are already skeptical about TV preachers. But I do say that I want you to be blessed. To me, prosperity is having health, having great children, having peace, good relationships. It's not about the money.”

“Because you have honored God, He will put you in a position you never could have attained on your own. It’s not just your education, not just your talent, or the family you come from. It’s the hand of God shifting you to a new level of your destiny.”

“I've always been - you know, my personality is motivating and encouraging. And so I'm just being who God made me to be.”

“You have to come to your closed doors before you get to your open doors... What if you knew you had to go through 32 closed doors before you got to your open door? Well, then you'd come to closed door number eight and you'd think, 'Great, I got another one out of the way'... Keep moving forward.”

“You were not created to just get by with an average, unrewarding, or unfulfilling life. God created you to leave your mark on this generation.”

“I don't mind saying, you know, that I don't take a salary from the church, and God has blessed me with more money than I could imagine from my books.”

“It's God's will for you to live in prosperity instead of poverty. It's God's will for you to pay your bills and not be in debt.”

“I deal with more practical issues of the Bible.”

“I'm not the judge. You know, God didn't tell me to go around judging everybody.”

“God wants to bless us where we are.”

“I don't know what can be so dangerous about giving people hope.”

“Let go of yesterday. Let today be a new beginning and be the best that you can, and you'll get to where God wants you to be.”

“Sometimes we look at gay being a bigger sin than being proud or not telling the truth. I don't think God categorizes sins.”

“Sometimes what works 40 years ago doesn't work today.”