Break Out!: 5 Keys to Go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life (32 page)

Are you making excuses for why you can’t succeed or be happy? Do you feel you can’t forgive someone who hurt you badly? You are responsible for your happiness. You need to forgive those who hurt you, not for their sakes but for your own. Forgive so you can be free.

“I’ve had some rough times. I’ve had a bad break in my business.”

Get over it. You wouldn’t be alive unless God had another victory in front of you. Nothing in life has happened to you. It’s happened for you. Every disappointment. Every wrong. Even every closed door has helped make you into who you are. You are not defined by your past. You are prepared by your past. You may have encountered some great obstacles, but only because God has a great future in front of you. If you will get over what you think is a disadvantage, God will take what looks like a liability and turn it into an asset. It may not be something physical, but maybe with your childhood or past. Someone did you wrong, you made a mistake or something bad happened to you.

“If only I hadn’t had that accident, then I could fulfill my dreams.”

“If only I hadn’t been through that divorce.”

“If only I hadn’t gotten laid off.”

Those “if only” thoughts can keep you from fulfilling your destiny. Nick Vujicic could be saying, “If only I had arms and legs, then I could make something of my life.”

My mother could say, “If only I had not had polio.”

My father could have said, “If only I was raised in a better environment.”

David could have said, “If only Goliath wasn’t so big.”

Gideon could have said, “If only I came from a better family.”

Joseph could have said, “If only my brothers hadn’t sold me into slavery.”

Everyone has challenges, but you can’t “if only” your way through life. What happened to you may seem like a disadvantage in your eyes, but it is not a disadvantage in God’s eyes. It’s not keeping you from your destiny. It will
thrust
you into your destiny. Now you have to do your part and get over anything that’s holding you back. Get over what anyone said about you. No one else can determine your destiny. God does that.

Get over those things that haven’t worked out as you’d hoped. Get over the mistakes you’ve made. Get over the disappointments. Something may have surprised you and set you back, but it’s not a surprise to God. He’s already arranged the comeback.

Your attitude should be “Nobody owes me anything. I am not going through life with a chip on my shoulder. I’m letting go of those things that didn’t work out. I’m forgiving those who did me wrong. I’m pulling up the
roots of bitterness, and I’m moving forward into the amazing future God has in store.

If you learn this simple principle to get over it, then I believe and declare no disappointment, no bad break, no injustice, will keep you from your destiny. God will take what’s meant for your harm and use it to your advantage.

Like Job, you will not only come out of the difficult times, you will also come out better, stronger, and increased, with twice the joy, twice the peace, and twice the victory.

T
he Scripture tells us there was a paralyzed man who spent his days in bed. One day he heard that Jesus was in a nearby town teaching in a private home. He asked four of his friends to carry him to that home. When they arrived it was so crowded they couldn’t get in.

They’d gone to great lengths to get there. I’m sure the four men were tired. Their shoulders were sore. Their backs were hurting. They’d hurried to get there, so when they couldn’t get in they were let down and disappointed. They could have easily given up and thought, “Too bad. It’s not going to happen.”

But the paralyzed man was not about to give up. He said to his friends, “Take me up on the roof. Tear a hole in it and then lower me down so I can have a front row seat.”

They hoisted him up on the roof. Jesus was in the middle of his sermon and dust began to fall from the ceiling. People looked up, thinking, “What in the world is happening?” All of a sudden a tile came off, then another and another. Finally they lowered this paralyzed man into the room, all curled up on his bed, right in front of Jesus.

The Scripture says in Mark 2:5, “When Jesus saw their faith.” That’s my question for you. Do you have a faith that God can see? Are you doing something out of the ordinary to show God you believe Him? It’s not enough to just ask. It’s not enough to just believe. Like the paralyzed man, you’ve got to do something to demonstrate your faith.

Jesus looked at the paralyzed man and said, “Rise, take up your bed, and walk.” Immediately the man rose from his bed, picked up his mat and went home, perfectly well.

This all started when he did something so that God could see his faith. Don’t you know there were other people in the room who didn’t get well? Other people had the same opportunity. The difference was this man put actions behind his belief. God is looking for people who have faith that He can see. Not a faith that He can just hear, not a faith that just believes, but a faith that is visible, a faith that is demonstrated.

One day after a Lakewood service, I talked to a gentleman who had smoked cigarettes since he was in high school. He looked to be in his midforties. He’d been smoking three packs a day for the last ten years. He smoked the same amount without giving it a thought every day. He wanted to quit. He had prayed. He had believed. He had friends and relatives trying to help him. They encouraged him to give up smoking, but nothing worked.

Then one day he heard this principle: you have to put actions behind your faith. So he started taking simple actions every day to break his nicotine habit. Whenever he’d open a new pack he would immediately throw away three cigarettes. This was his way of saying, “God, I’m trying. I’m not just asking for Your help; I’m not just believing that I’m free of this addiction; I’m not just hoping that one day I’ll stop. I’m taking it one step further and showing You I mean business by putting action behind my faith.”

The action you take does not have to be something big. It could be just a small step to show God your faith. After a couple months of throwing out three cigarettes from each pack he wasn’t missing them anymore, so he doubled up and every day began throwing out six from each pack. Eventually he got to where he could eliminate a whole pack a day, so he kept cutting back more and more.

Several years after he first took action to break his addiction, he realized the cravings were gone. He no longer smokes at all.

“Joel I haven’t felt this good in thirty years,” he told me.

Here’s my point: He could have prayed twenty-four hours a day for God to take away his addiction. He could have believed it would just
happen one day and last for the rest of his life. But the power came when he took it one step further and showed God he meant business by putting action behind his faith.

Are you doing something to show God you’re serious about your dreams coming to pass? God is not moved by our needs. He’s concerned about our needs, but God is moved by our faith. When God sees you doing what you can to get well, when He sees you getting to work a little earlier because you want that promotion, when He sees you bypass the cookie jar because you’ve been believing you’ll lose weight—that is when extraordinary things will happen.

Like the man who took small steps to kick his nicotine addiction, you’ll find that you have a power to do what you couldn’t do before. You’ll see favor and opportunity that will thrust you to a new level when you take action to show your faith.

When my sister Lisa was about three years old, she wanted to go to the office with my father. She heard my dad saying he was going to the church. When she asked to go with him, he said, “No, Lisa, I’ll take you some other time, but not today. I have meetings and I’m going to be busy. Maybe tomorrow or next week.”

But Lisa wouldn’t take no for an answer. She didn’t want to go some other time; she wanted to go that day. She was so determined she ignored my father, ran back to her room, and got dressed as if she were going with him. You would have thought she hadn’t heard a word my father said. His negative response simply didn’t register in her mind.

After dressing, Lisa heard the back door open. She realized our father was about to leave. She took off to grab her shoes, going full speed. My father turned around and saw his little three-year-old daughter suddenly dressed and struggling to put her last shoe on. His heart melted.

He couldn’t say no.

“Come on, Lisa, you can go with me,” he said.

What made the difference? He saw her faith. When he saw how badly she wanted to go, when he saw how determined she was, when he saw her going all out to prepare herself, he was so touched he changed his mind and allowed her to go with him. Lisa’s actions spoke louder than her words. She could have begged him all day. She could have sat in a corner pouting.
Neither of those approaches would have worked. Our father wasn’t moved by begging or by pouting. He was moved when he saw little Lisa’s faith.

God is the same way. Can He see your faith? It’s one thing to ask for God’s help, it’s one thing to believe He loves you—but if you want to get God’s attention, take it one step further and put actions behind your faith.

A man I know felt called into the ministry. He took a step of faith by renting the small auditorium of a high school for his first service. He invited his friends and neighbors to come, and he spread the word through the town’s newspaper.

He was so excited. The first big meeting started at seven o’ clock. He couldn’t wait to see how many people were going to come. But at 6:30 there was no one. Six forty-five, and still no one. The clock struck 7:00 p.m., and the auditorium was empty. Not a soul in the seats. My friend was alone onstage. The only other person was a technician in the sound booth. He was so disheartened. He felt like going home and calling it quits. But just as he was about to give up something rose up on the inside, a holy determination.

“I’m not going home a failure. I’ve prepared my message,” he thought. “I’ve taken this step of faith so I’m giving it my all.”

He went up on the platform, and without one person in the auditorium seats he preached as if the place was packed. He went on for over an hour doing his very best.

At the end he even gave an altar call and invited people to receive Christ. It looked as if he was just going through the motions. Later, he told me he’d felt like a fool and a total failure.

But as he finished his altar call invitation, a side door opened and this older gentleman, who was part of the cleaning crew, walked down to the front, shook the young minister’s hand, and said, “I want to accept Christ.”

The man told him later, “It wasn’t your message that got to me—it was the fact that you preached your heart out without a person in the room.”

A few seconds after the janitor came down, the sound technician joined them, saying, “I want to make a commitment to Christ.”

The young minister went home that night not feeling like a failure at all. Instead, he knew the hand of God was on his life. That was a turning
point. Door after door opened to him after that. Today, he has a church with thousands of people in the congregation. He travels the world ministering. When God can see your faith, extraordinary things are going to happen.

The Scripture tells us that a group of lepers once saw Jesus passing by. They came over and said, “Jesus, please make us well.” Jesus could have healed them right there easily enough. But he asked them to do something to express their faith. He said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”

And as they went, they were cleansed of their disease. Jesus asked them to do something that they were not allowed to do by law. They were not supposed to be near other people. They had a contagious disease and were considered unclean.

I’m sure they debated whether to follow His instructions. “Should we do what He asked us to do? My skin doesn’t look any different. I’m not well. Why should I go?”

But they put actions behind their faith. The Scripture says, “As they went they were cleansed.” In other words, if they had not had the courage to demonstrate their faith, then they would not have seen God’s goodness. As they started down the road, I can imagine every few blocks they said, “Look I’m getting a little better.” Another mile: “Can you see it? I think my skin is clearing up.”

They just kept moving forward, demonstrating their faith, and by the time they reached the priests they were perfectly normal.

A lot of times we want change without taking action. “God open all the doors, then I’ll step out. Give me the power to break this addiction, then I’ll cut back. Give me the big crowds, and then I’ll launch my ministry. Let my husband straighten up, and then I’ll start treating him better.”

Yet God says, “As you go, as you show me your faith, then I’ll give you what you need.”

Lakewood Church was still in its first small auditorium back in 1972. It held 270 people, and it was very crowded during most services. We needed a bigger building. My father had some plans drawn for a building that would seat one thousand people. It was estimated to cost about $200,000.

One Sunday he took a special offering for the church’s building fund and the donations were right at $20,000. Month after month went by as
my father waited for the rest of the funds to come in. The donations trickled in a few hundred dollars here and there. At that rate, Lakewood would have needed another five or ten years to raise all the money needed for a new church.

One day an old friend of my dad’s came by.

“John, what are you still doing in this little building?” he asked. “You’ve got to have more room so you can grow.”

My father said, “I know that. But I don’t have the money.”

“How much do you have?”

“I only have $20,000,” my father replied. “That’s just enough for the foundation.”

The man looked at my father and said very sternly, “John, pour the foundation and watch what God will do.”

He was saying, “Put some actions behind your faith.” My father got his courage up, and they poured the foundation. Before long the money came in for the steel, and then for the exterior. It wasn’t any time before the whole building was up and totally paid for.