Break Out!: 5 Keys to Go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life (34 page)

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Authors: Joel Osteen

Tags: #Religion / Christian Life - Inspirational, #Religion / Christian Life - Prayer

BOOK: Break Out!: 5 Keys to Go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life

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At one point, the friend became panicky, yelling at Jeff. “Turn the boat around. You’re taking us out to sea. We’re going to run out of gas. We could get killed.”

Despite all of their confusion and concerns, Jeff kept traveling in the direction his compass said was due north. Another thirty minutes. Another forty-five. Another hour passed.

Then, just as they were running out of fuel, they caught a glimpse of land off in the distance. Greatly relieved, they crept toward it and followed the shoreline until they found their dock and made it back safely.

Sometimes in life, the fog will set in. You won’t know if you are headed in the right direction. You know God’s put a promise in your heart. But every voice is telling you that you’re too old, you missed too many opportunities, and it’s not going to happen. In those foggy times, you have to dig in your heels and say, “God, I believe what You promised me despite how I feel, despite what people are telling me, despite how it looks. God,
I will believe that what You said is true. I believe You are on the Throne. I know You are a faithful God. What you promised You will bring to pass.”

The Scripture says that God put a dream to have a baby in Rachel’s heart. Year after year went by and she couldn’t conceive. At the same time, her sister, Leah, had a child. Rachel was happy for her, and congratulated her, but all the while Rachel kept praying and believing that one day she could have a baby.

Rachel remained without a child while Leah went on to have one baby after another. Rachel was happy for her sister, but still wished for her own child.

It’s good to be happy for others, it’s good to rejoice with them, but God doesn’t want you to just celebrate the lives of others. God wants to bring your dreams to pass. God wants to give you the desires of your heart. He wants you to be celebrated. Rachel did her best to keep praying and believing. But after years of frustration, seeing her sister have baby after baby, Rachel grew discouraged and said, in effect, “This is my lot in life. It’s never going to happen.”

One of the things I love about God is this: just because we give up on a dream doesn’t mean He gives up on it. The Scripture says, “God remembered Rachel.” It doesn’t say that Rachel remembered God.

This is how much God wants you to fulfill your destiny. It says, “God remembered Rachel, answered her prayer, and gave her a baby.” God is so loving. He’s so merciful. Even when we become too discouraged to believe, God does not forget what He promised you.

You may feel like Rachel. Maybe your life hasn’t turned out the way you had hoped. You prayed. You believed. You worked hard. You put forth the effort, but it didn’t work out.

You may have decided: “I’ll never be happy again. I’ll never be married. I’ll never accomplish my dreams.” But understand that God not only remembers you, He remembers the promise He put in you. He knows what He has destined you to do. You may have already said, “Forget it, it will never happen.” The good news is, you don’t have the final say. God has the final say, and He says, “What I started in your life, I will finish.” You may have given up on your dream, but God didn’t.

When my brother, Paul, was twelve years old, he went to Africa with
my father. They were in a tiny nation, once known as Northern Rhodesia, standing on a hot tarmac, waiting for their small plane to refuel. There on the airport runway, God planted a dream in Paul’s heart that one day he would go back to Africa and do medical missions. The Creator of the universe birthed that in him that day. Paul went on to become a doctor, and he spent seventeen years as the chief of surgery at a hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. Deep down, he still wanted to do medical missions, but he was so busy. He had so much responsibility to his patients. He couldn’t do it.

Then, in 1999, while driving home from my father’s memorial service, Paul heard God speak to his heart, telling him to give up his medical practice, come back home, and help us pastor the church. In the natural, that didn’t make sense. Paul had so many years of medical education and training as a surgeon. How could he walk away from his thriving practice in Little Rock?

For ten years, Paul helped us in the ministry and never thought anymore about medicine. He thought his days as a surgeon were over. But God doesn’t forget what he promised you as a child. God remembers the dreams, the goals, and the things that you always wanted to do.

One day, a group of doctors from our church asked Paul to go on a medical mission to Africa with them. He joined their group, thinking he’d just watch from the sidelines and support them. But when he arrived in Africa, the other doctors assigned my brother to an operating room and said, “We need you to do these surgeries.” He hadn’t performed surgery in more than ten years. I just thank God I wasn’t the first patient that day!

The medical mission trip to Africa lasted two weeks. Late on his last night there, Paul woke up and went outside. He looked up at the star-filled African sky and the thought hit him: he was doing what God had put in his heart when he was twelve years old.

What God starts, He will finish. You may not understand how it can happen. It may look like you’re too old, you missed too many opportunities, and it’s no longer possible. But God has it all figured out. He knows how to connect the dots.

Here’s the key: God is not okay with you fulfilling half of your destiny. He’s not okay with you fulfilling part of it. God will make sure you complete what He put you here to do.

Today, my brother spends five months a year over in the remote villages of Africa operating on the poor and needy. One of the places he returns to often is Zambia—formerly called Northern Rhodesia—the exact place where God planted the dream in his heart some forty-five years ago. God knows how to finish what He started.

I thought of this while reading a story about Bill Havens, a rower who had been favored to win at least one gold medal in the 1924 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France. But his wife became pregnant, and her due date was at the exact time as the Summer Olympics.

Back in those days, they didn’t have high-speed air travel like we do today. Havens would have had to travel by boat to France. He would have missed the birth of his first son. He informed his coach that he could not compete in the Olympic games.

He missed the Olympics, but he was there when his son, Frank, was born. As the years passed, the father and son grew close. Young Frank shared his father’s love of rowing, especially canoeing in whitewater. They spent many hours on the water together, and soon the son’s skills surpassed his dad’s. He kept practicing, and training, getting better and better.

In 1952, Frank Havens qualified for the Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. He went over and competed. One day, Bill Havens received a telegram. It said, “Dear Dad, thanks for waiting around for me to be born. I’m coming home 28 years later with your Olympic gold medal.”

Frank won the gold medal. Then he returned home and presented it to his father. After so many years of thinking it would never happen, Bill Havens had the gold medal that he always dreamed about. But this medal meant far more to him, because it came from the son he loved so much.

That’s the way our God is. We may think, “It’s too late. It could never happen. I’ve missed too many opportunities.” But God still has a way to bring your dreams to pass.

Here’s how the Scripture puts it: “Be confident of this: he that began a good work in you will bring it to completion.” God is saying to you that He will complete your incompletions. He remembers the dreams He placed in your heart. He has lined up the right people, and the right opportunities. It’s not too late. You haven’t missed too many opportunities. You haven’t made too many mistakes. Get your fire back. Get your
passion back. Things have shifted in your favor. God is going to finish what He started.

Now do your part and break out of anything holding you back. Pray God-sized prayers. Don’t settle for good enough.
Yes
is in your future. Move forward in faith, and your seeds of greatness will take root. You will go beyond your barriers and become everything God created you to be, and you will have everything He intended for you to have.

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WE CARE ABOUT YOU

I believe there is a void in every person that only a relationship with God can fill. I’m not talking about finding religion or joining a particular church. I’m talking about developing a relationship with your Heavenly Father through His Son, Jesus Christ. I believe that knowing Him is the source of true peace and fulfillment in life.

I encourage you to pray, “Jesus, I believe You died for me and rose from the dead, so now I want to live for you. I am turning away from my sins and placing my trust in You. I acknowledge You as my Savior and Lord, and I’m asking You to guide my life from now on.”

With that simple prayer, you can get a fresh, clean start, and establish a close relationship with God. Read the Bible every day, talk to God through prayer, and attend a good Bible-based church where you can find friends who will lift you up rather than pull you down. Keep God in first place in your life and follow His principles. He will take you places you’ve not yet imagined!

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