Break Out!: 5 Keys to Go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life (24 page)

When I ran track in high school, our coach would give us unbelievable workouts. One time we had to run eighteen half-mile races. We would run a half a mile, take a two-minute break, and then run the next one. We had to do that eighteen times in a row. We thought, “This man is trying to kill us. There is something wrong with him.”

But several months later, we were all running at new levels and breaking our old records, and we realized he wasn’t trying to kill us. He was simply increasing our endurance. He was stretching us so we could reach our full potential. In the same way God sometimes will allow us to face difficulties to increase our endurance, to stretch us so we can reach our full potential. We may think, “This is too hard. This boss is too unfair. This math teacher is too difficult. How can I raise these children?”

It may be very difficult. It may have been meant for your harm, but stand strong and declare, “I can handle this. It’s not too much for me. I’ve been armed with strength for this battle.” Then when you make it to the other side, you will not only receive your reward, you also will have an inner strength, a confidence, and a resolve you never had before.

You will face situations that might have been too much ten years ago. They might have caused you to be upset and fall apart. But because you’ve passed these tests, something has been deposited inside your spirit. What used to be a big deal is not a big deal at all.

What’s happening? You’re growing. You’re increasing. You’re stepping up to new levels.

I believe right now the Creator of the universe is breathing a second wind into you. Just receive it by faith. Strength is coming into your body. Strength is coming into your mind. You will run and not grow weary. You will walk and not faint. You will not drag through life defeated or depressed. You will soar through life on wings like eagles!

W
e all know that God opens doors. We’ve seen Him give us favor, good breaks, promotion. That’s the hand of God opening the door. But the same God Who opens doors will close doors.

Maybe you prayed, but you didn’t get a promotion you wanted. You applied, but your loan application didn’t go through. A relationship you’d enjoyed didn’t work out. So often we can become discouraged and feel like God has let us down.

But God can see the big picture for your life. God knows where every road is leading. He knows the dead ends. He can see the shortcuts. He knows some roads are a big circle.

We would go for years and end up right back where we started, never making any progress. We can’t see what God can see. A big part of faith is trusting God when you don’t understand why things happen the way they do. God may close a door because you’re believing too small. If He opened the door, it would limit what He wants to do in your life. Another door may close because it’s not the right time, or there are other people involved and they’re not ready yet. If God opened that door at the wrong time it wouldn’t work out.

The bottom line is this: God has your best interests at heart. When a door closes, you don’t know what God is saving you from. If your prayers aren’t answered the way you want, instead of being discouraged or feeling like God let you down, why don’t you have a bigger perspective? The reason the door closed is because God has something better in store.

If God wanted you to have that promotion you didn’t get, He would have given it to you. Shake off the disappointment and move forward. Know that there is something better coming. Or if God wanted the person who left you to stay, that person would still be with you. Shake it off. The right people are in your future.

It’s no accident that some doors are closed to you. You may not understand why right now. You may feel that the opportunity of a lifetime just passed you by. But one day you will look back and thank God for the closed door, because if God hadn’t closed the door you wouldn’t have met the right person. Or if God hadn’t closed another door, you would have been stuck at one level and not seen the amazing favor He has in your future.

I used to get excited about my open doors, but I really felt down about my closed doors. Now I thank God for my closed doors just as much as I do my open doors. I want you to come to this place where you have the same trust in God, and you are so confident that He is directing your steps, you say, like David: “God, my life is in Your hands.”

If you believe that then when a door closes and you don’t get your way, you won’t be upset. Your attitude will be: “I know this door didn’t close by accident. God closed it on purpose, and what God closes I don’t want to open. I don’t want my way. I want His way. He knows what’s best. He can see what I can’t see. God, not my will but Yours be done.”

That’s a very freeing way to live. When you really believe God is in complete control, it takes all the pressure off.

A few years ago this man flew to Houston for a big job interview. He was so excited about it. It was a top position at one of the largest companies in the world. It looked like a golden opportunity, a huge boost to his career. He was ready to give up his position of nearly thirty years and move his family.

I know this because he came to the service at Lakewood Church and asked us to pray over his big interview. We prayed God would give him favor and cause him to stand out. In a few days he called and he was on cloud nine. Everything went great. It looked very promising.

Several weeks went by, and they invited him back for a second interview. He did the same thing. He came by the church. We prayed: favor,
promotion, on and on. After talking with him for several hours that company called him back in and said, “We really like you. You’re incredibly talented. We just don’t feel you’re the right fit for our organization.”

It was like they let the air out of his balloon. He came to the service like he had lost his last friend. He looked twenty years older. He was so discouraged. He said, “Joel, I don’t understand it. I prayed. I believed. How could God let this happen?”

I told him what I’m telling you: The same God Who opens doors will close doors. You have to trust Him. You may not understand the disappointment now, but one day you will understand it. One day you will thank God that you didn’t get that position.

A couple of years later, this same businessman showed up for a Lakewood service and he was smiling from ear to ear. The Houston company that had turned him down was in bankruptcy. Thousands of people were being laid off. It was a big scandal and all over the news. The company eventually shut down.

Here’s how good God is: When he applied for the Houston job, the businessman was less than two years from retirement at the job he wanted to leave. If he had been hired by the Houston company, he would not only have been out of a job, but he also would have lost nearly thirty years of retirement benefits.

God knows what He is doing. Don’t be discouraged by your closed doors. If God wants a door to open you can be certain it will open. All the forces of darkness cannot stop it.

What I want you to see is when you pray, you believe, you stand in faith; if the door doesn’t open, take it as a sign from God. It’s not His best. Sometimes, like this man, you may be disappointed, but God loves you too much to open that door. God is not letting you down. He is doing you a favor. He is keeping you from all kinds of heartache and pain.

If you really trust God you have to be content with the answer God gives you. So often we say we’re trusting, but the truth is that we’re happy only if God does it our way, on our timetable. You have to put the dream on the altar and say, “God, if this is what You want for me. If this is Your best for my life. I know You are in complete control. There is no power greater than Yours. God, I trust You. If it happens, I will be happy and
thank you for it. If it doesn’t work out, I won’t be discouraged. I won’t quit believing. I know that means You have something better in store.”

This takes off all the pressure. You won’t be frustrated if it doesn’t work out. You won’t live in self-pity if it doesn’t happen your way. You know the steps and the stops of a good person are ordered by the Lord.

This was difficult for me to accept for a while, because some opportunities looked so great. In my mind I thought, “God, it’s perfect. There will never be anything better.” The problem is that our thinking is limited. God’s plan for our lives is so much bigger than our own plans that if God didn’t close certain doors they would keep you from the fullness of your destiny.

A couple of years after my dad went to be with the Lord and I took over at Lakewood, the church really started growing. We needed property to build a new sanctuary. My father said that he would never move the church. So we looked for property as close to our location as we could possibly find. We found this one-hundred-acre tract of land right off the freeway, about two miles from our existing location. It was perfect. We talked to the owner. He said it had been on the market for more than twenty years. He’d never had an offer, not one person had been interested.

We said, “Thank You, Lord. You’ve saved this property for us.”

After about six months of doing our research and our soil tests we went to close on the property. We had an eight o’clock meeting. We walked in fifteen minutes early, and I’ll never forget what happened. The secretary came out and said, “I’m so sorry, but the owner sold the property last night to another party.”

I was so disappointed. I went home very discouraged. I told Victoria what had happened. She said, “Listen, Joel. God closed that door for a reason. We’re not going to be discouraged. We’ll keep a good attitude. God has something better in store.”

In my mind I couldn’t believe it, but in my heart, I knew what she was saying was exactly right. I thought, “God is still on the Throne. His plan cannot be stopped by a bad break, a disappointment, or by a person. God has the final say.”

I made a decision that day. Instead of sitting around in self-pity saying, “God, why didn’t it work out?” I chose to believe that God was still in
control. A few months later, a friend called me. He said, “Joel, the Houston Rockets basketball team is moving out of the Compaq Center. That would be a great facility for Lakewood.”

When he said that, something came alive on the inside. I knew right then and there that was the reason God closed the other door. It was too small. It would have limited what God wanted to do. Things began to fall into place, and now Lakewood Church has an amazing home in the former Compaq Center. But back then I couldn’t fathom having a church in a basketball arena. It wasn’t even on my radar. This was exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond. I would have been happy with the other property. I would have celebrated God’s goodness if He would have done it that way. But God’s dream for your life is so much bigger than your own dream.

There will be times when a door closes and you can’t understand why. In a relationship, you may feel that you’d found the perfect person, but it doesn’t work out. Or maybe it will be the perfect house, but your offer will be turned down. It may not make sense when it happens, but one day it will. One day you’ll have your Compaq Center moment. You’ll look back and say:

“God, thank You that the other property was sold out from under me.”

“God, thank You that the loan didn’t go through.”

“God, thank You that the other person walked out on me.”

Here’s the question: Will you stay in faith while you wait to see what God is up to? Will you not grow discouraged and start complaining? “Nothing good ever happens to me. I can’t believe I didn’t get the promotion. I’ve been at the company longer than anybody else.” Or, “I treated this girl like a queen and she just wants to be friends. She says I’m just like her brother. God, I don’t want to be a brother. I want to be a husband!”

Trust God with your life. He knows what He is doing. I pray every day, “God, open the right doors and close the wrong doors. God, bring the right people across my path. Weed out those who shouldn’t be there.”

I’ve learned the closed doors are just as important as the open doors. You know what brought Lakewood Church to the former stadium location? A closed door. Don’t be discouraged by your closed doors.

You may be like me. You may want a piece of property right now. But
God has a building already built for you. He has more than you can ask or think—an exceedingly, abundantly, above-and-beyond future.

God loves you so much that He hasn’t answered certain prayers. He hasn’t allowed certain people into your life whom you really wanted, because they would have limited your growth. Learn to trust Him. Thank Him for your open doors. Celebrate His goodness. But thank Him just as much for your closed doors knowing that He is still directing your steps.

A hurting young lady came down for prayer at Lakewood Church a few years back. She was so discouraged because her boyfriend had broken up with her. She didn’t think she could live without him. She believed he was the man of her dreams. Every Sunday we would pray that that relationship would be restored. This went on month after month. She was as faithful as can be. And I could tell, though, she was only going to be happy if God did it her way.

I tried to encourage her: “Stay open. God knows what’s best. He can see the big picture.”

She didn’t want to hear any of that. She only wanted this young man back, but it didn’t work out the way she hoped. He married someone else. She was so disappointed. She felt God had let her down. She said, “Joel, all those prayers we prayed. I quoted the Scripture. I was good to others. I did everything I was supposed to do.”

She was so discouraged, she dropped out of church.

The Scripture says, “God’s ways are not our ways. They are better than our ways.” Maybe like that girl, you have prayers that weren’t answered the way you wanted, or something didn’t turn out the way you had hoped. Let these words sink down into your spirit: God’s way is better than your way. His plan is bigger than your plan. His dream for your life is more rewarding, more fulfilling, better than you’ve ever dreamed.