Break Out!: 5 Keys to Go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life (20 page)

But I’m bold enough to believe that was the hand of God holding back the rain.

I’ve learned that when you have this uncommon faith you will see uncommon results. You may not need something as trivial as good weather. Maybe you need God to heal a child. Maybe you need a relationship restored or favor at work with a client. You may need a break in a legal situation. Are you releasing your faith for the extraordinary? For the uncommon?

This was what my father did. He was raised in extreme poverty. His parents were cotton farmers. They lost everything they had during the Great Depression. My father had no money, no education at the time, no future to speak of.

But at the age of seventeen, he gave his life to Christ. God put a dream in his heart that one day he would minister to people around the world. In the natural it looked totally impossible. He had no connections, no way to get out of that limited environment. All he had was this uncommon faith. He dared to ask God for the right breaks, and the right opportunities.

Years later, as we traveled to India together, the young Indian ministers
would recognize my father and hold up their Bibles. Then they’d say in their own language what they’d heard him write in his books and say on his tapes, videos, and television broadcasts: “This is my Bible. I am what it says I am.”

One day, we were way back in the jungles of Thailand walking by this little hut, and we saw a family inside watching a video of my father ministering from Lakewood. Going down the Amazon River, back in the villages, we saw people reading my father’s books in Spanish. How could it be that a young boy with no resources, no connections, could fulfill his dream and not only touch people here but people all over the world?

My father had this uncommon faith. He did not settle where many others would have settled. When all the odds were against him, instead of giving up, he believed that God would make a way. He was bold enough to ask for God’s favor. He saw God take him places that he never even dreamed of.

What is holding you back? It’s easy to make excuses:

“I come from the wrong family. I didn’t get good breaks like you did.”

“I’ve had this problem too long.”

“The economy is too down.”

“I’ve made too many mistakes.”

No, God knows how to get you to your destination. I want to light a new fire under you. There is no obstacle too difficult for you to overcome. No dreams put in your heart by God are too big to accomplish. Ask yourself, “Is my faith radical? Is what I’m believing for, the vision for my life, is it big enough to make someone think, ‘What’s his problem? Who does he think he is?’ Or, are you stuck in a rut and just accepting where you are as the way it will always be?”

If you are not stretching your faith, you’re not tapping in to everything God has in store. For years, Elisha took care of the Prophet Elijah. He was his assistant. He would make sure he had food and water. He traveled with him from city to city. The Prophet Elijah was an older man, very well known, and well respected for the great miracles he performed and just for being a man of God.

When Elijah grew very old and was about to go to Heaven, he said to
his assistant Elisha, “You’ve been faithful to me all this time. Now what do you want me to do for you before I leave?”

You might think Elisha would have asked for something simple. “Just give me a bonus. Give me a couple weeks off. Throw me a party.”

Instead, Elisha was thinking in uncommon ways. He said, “Elijah, I would like to have a double portion of your spirit.” He was saying, “I want to do twice the miracles that you’ve done. I want to have twice the influence, twice the wisdom, twice the friends, twice the income.”

I’m sure Elijah thought, “You are bold. You are something else.” He said, “Elisha, you have asked a hard thing; nevertheless…” That’s the key word. He was saying, “It may be hard. You’ve asked for something big;
nevertheless
, it will happen. It is not too big for God.”

If you study Elisha’s life you’ll find out that was exactly what happened. He did twice the miracles. He had a double portion of his anointing. I wonder what would happen if each one of us would be bold enough to say, “God, I’m asking You to let me do twice what my parents did. Let me have twice the influence, twice the wisdom, twice the favor, twice the income.”

When my father went to be with the Lord, people used to come up to me and say, “Joel, do you think you can continue on what your dad and mom started?”

I never said this arrogantly, but I would always tell them, “I don’t think that I can just continue it. I believe that I can go further.”

That’s the way God intended it, for every generation to increase. It’s interesting; the former sanctuary that my mom and dad built had eight thousand seats. The current Lakewood Church auditorium has sixteen thousand seats, exactly double. I’m not bragging. I’m simply making the case that if you take the limits off God and release your faith in uncommon ways, then you will see God do uncommon things. Like with Elisha, God will increase you and take you further than previous generations. Like with Joshua, God will show you His favor and do the extraordinary. Like with my father, God will take you from the cotton fields to have an impact on the world, and you will experience the fullness of your destiny.

W
e all face challenges, but it’s not the size of the problem that’s important, it’s our perception of that problem; it’s how big or small we make it in our minds. When Moses sent twelve men to spy out the Promised Land, ten came back and said, “We’ll never defeat them. There are giants in the land.” But the two other spies, Joshua and Caleb, came back with a different report. They said, “Yes the people are big, but our God is bigger. We are well able to take the land. Let us go in at once.”

Both groups saw the same giants and the same situation; the only difference was their perspective. One group focused on the size of their God, the other group focused on the size of their enemy. Out of the two million people camped next door to the Promised Land, only two made it in, Joshua and Caleb. Could it be that your perspective is keeping you out of your promised land? If you see your challenges as impossible and you tell yourself, “I’ll never get out of debt and I’ll never overcome this sickness, and I’ll never accomplish my dreams,” then just like them, your wrong perspective can keep you from becoming all God’s created you to be.

What you focus on, you magnify. If you stay focused on your problem or what you don’t have and how it will never work out, all you’re doing is making it bigger than it really is. When you magnify something you don’t change the size of the object; you only change your perception of it.

That was why David said, “Magnify the Lord with me.” He was saying if you want to make something bigger, then don’t make your problems
bigger, don’t make the medical report bigger, don’t make the opposition bigger. Learn instead to make God bigger.

When David faced Goliath, he never called him a giant. Everybody else did. They talked about his size, his strength, and his skill. But David called Goliath an uncircumcised Philistine. He never even gave him credit for being that big. Here’s the key: David didn’t deny it, but he didn’t dwell on it. His attitude was: “If I’m magnifying anything I’m magnifying the source of my strength. I’m talking about God’s greatness. I’m not focusing on how big my problems are. I’m focusing on how big my God is.”

His brothers and the other Israelites were afraid and intimidated, wondering what they were going to do. When David told them he wanted to fight Goliath they said, “You can’t fight him—you’re just a kid, you’re too small, you don’t have a chance.”

But David had a different perspective. He knew if God be for him, who would dare be against him? He knew he was strong in the Lord. David knew he wasn’t alone, that all the forces of Heaven were backing him up. They tried to warn him, “David, you better be careful, you’re going to get out there and get hurt. Goliath is too big to hit.”

David said, “No he’s too big to miss.”

He went out, stood before Goliath and said, “You come against me with a sword and a shield, but I come against you in the name of the Lord God of Israel!”

David was magnifying his God, talking about God’s goodness. This teenage boy—half the giant’s size with no chance in the natural—defeated this huge giant. How? He had the right perspective.

Philippians 1:28 says, “Do not be intimidated by your enemies.” You may be like David, up against a big giant right now; a giant of debt, a giant of sickness, a giant legal problem. It’s so big, it looks impossible in the natural. You could easily be overwhelmed and think, “I don’t have a chance.”

No, God is saying, “Don’t be intimidated. Those for you are greater than those against you. Put your shoulders back and hold your head up high. You are not weak, defeated, or powerless; you are a child of the Most High God, anointed, equipped, well able. Don’t you dare shrink back and think, ‘It’s just too big. It’s been this way too long. My property is
never going to sell. I’ll never break this addiction, I’ll never accomplish my dreams.’ ”

Do as David did—get a new perspective. You are full of can-do power. The greatest force in the universe is breathing in your direction. There is no challenge too tough for you, no enemy too big, no sickness too great, and no dream too far off.

The same power that raised Christ from the dead lives on inside of you. The enemy would not be fighting you so hard if he didn’t know God had something great in store. I’ve found the size of your challenge is an indication of the size of your future. If you are facing a big giant challenge don’t be discouraged; that means God has something amazing just up in front of you. He has a new level of your destiny.

Do you know what made David king? Goliath. God used the opposition to take him to the throne. When you face great difficulties, it’s because God wants to take you to your throne. He wants to take you to a higher level. Your challenge may have been meant for your harm, but God wants to use it to your advantage. That giant is not there to defeat you; it is there to promote you. You may be in tough times, but the right perspective to have is “I’m not staying here—I’m coming out. This too shall pass. I’m not buried; I’m planted. I may be down, but I’m coming up stronger, better, increased, promoted, and at a new level.”

That is what it says in Exodus, “The more opposition, the more they increased.” When you face adversity, don’t get depressed and say, “God, why is this happening to me? I thought Joel said this would be a good year. I went to church last Sunday.”

Your attitude should be: “I know this opposition is a sign increase is headed my way. It looks like a setback, but I know it’s really a setup. It will not be a stumbling block to take me down. God will use it as a stepping-stone to take me up.”

Like David, you need to have an attitude of victory. Sometimes we’re talking to God about how big our problems are, when we should be talking to our problems about how big our God is.

I love the way David responded to Goliath when the giant was laughing and making fun of him for being so small. Goliath said, “Am I a dog that
you would come at me with a stick? Don’t you have anything better than this little runt?”

David looked him in the eyes and said, “This day I will defeat you and feed your head to the birds of the air.” He didn’t say, “I hope so,” “I believe so,” or “I’m praying about it.”

Your declaration should be: “I will have a blessed year, I will beat this addiction, I will come out of debt, I will live healthy and strong, I will fulfill my God-given destiny.” You may be up against big opposition, but don’t be intimidated by that medical report, don’t be intimidated by that legal situation, and don’t be intimidated by the size of your dream.

One of our Lakewood Church visitors told me she was in Houston for treatments, but she had such a positive attitude I found it hard to believe she was facing a serious illness. She told me “Everything is fine,” and wouldn’t even say the word
cancer
.

She would not give the disease credit for what it was. She wasn’t denying it. She was choosing not to dwell on it. Her attitude was: “I’m not intimidated. This cancer is not bigger than my God. He made my body. He controls my destiny. No weapon formed against me will prosper. If it’s not my time to go I’m not going.” She had the right perspective. She didn’t let the disease define her or dominate her life.

Her story reminded me of this little boy I’d heard about. There was a big bully from down the street who was always bothering him. The boy was trying to get his nerve up to stand up to the bully, but he was too afraid.

One day his father bought him a new telescope. He was out in the front yard playing with it, but he was looking through the wrong end. He was looking through the big side.

His father came out and said, “No son, you’re doing it backward. Turn it around and it will make everything bigger like it was meant to do.”