Every Day a Friday: How to Be Happier 7 Days a Week (24 page)

If you have struggled with discouragement, depression, and heaviness, I declare right now, in the name of Jesus, that the spirit of discouragement is broken in your life. I declare that the spirit of heaviness and depression is broken off you, off your family, off your future. It will no longer have any effect on you. Happiness will be yours to claim each and every day of the week. I declare this so and I believe it.

I
was on a flight to India with my father years ago when the friendly skies turned mean. We had been flying for about thirteen hours. We had another couple of hours to go. Up to that point the flight had been very smooth and comfortable. But at one point we hit some turbulence like nothing I had ever experienced.

This was worse than the worst roller coaster. The plane was going every which way. Food and bags went flying, hitting the ceiling, passengers, and the floor. For ten minutes it was the wildest ride of my life. People were hollering. Babies were crying. That plane was shaking so violently, we were sure the whole thing was breaking apart.

Being the great man of faith that I am, I thought,
This is it. It’s over. There is no way we will survive.

Yes, I surrendered my happiness and joy to sheer, unadulterated panic.

The turbulence seemed to last an eternity, but sure enough, in about ten minutes we were through it and returned to a calm and smooth ride. Two hours later we landed safely at our destination.

That’s the way it is in life. One minute you are happy and filled with contentment, doing just fine. You have a good job, healthy children, and you are feeling blessed. Then you hit some turbulence. Your routine medical tests turn up a problem. Your relationship becomes rocky. A lawsuit is filed.

The challenge is to keep looking ahead, knowing that the turbulence will not last forever, that one day soon, happiness will be possible. At the
time, you may feel the good life is over, but take it from me, this, too, shall pass.

God is still on the throne. He has brought you this far. Your life may have taken a plunge, and you may feel like you’ve been put in a giant mixer. Others around you may be panicked. But sooner or later, calm will be restored.

My theory is that every person has at least ten minutes of turbulence in life. Usually, the scary moments don’t come all at once. You may experience a minute here, five minutes there, a couple of minutes down the road. In those tough times when you feel like the plane is breaking apart and panic overwhelms you, go to your faith. Trust that the Creator of the universe is piloting your plane. The Most High God is directing your steps. Remember that He said no weapon formed against you will prosper. God said not to be surprised by these fiery trials. Do not panic. Go to that place of peace even in the midst of turbulence.

I’ve heard that “trouble is inevitable, but misery is optional.” Trouble descends on all of us from time to time, but we can decide whether to fall apart or to pull it together. We have that power even when we are blindsided.

It’s one thing to know that you are entering a challenging season and facing a test of discouragement. You can mentally prepare for those trials. But what about the difficulties you do not see coming? What about life’s earthquakes, tsunamis, and tornadoes; the unexpected illnesses, sudden deaths, divorces, and other tragedies and crises that catch us totally unprepared and off-guard? They can be overwhelming, even devastating. They come out of nowhere and suddenly our lives are turned upside down.

Our family has had its share of unexpected hits, but probably the most shocking was the mail bomb that exploded and injured my sister Lisa in January 1990. The package contained a pipe bomb packed with seven-inch nails. Lisa opened it in her church office, holding it in her lap. Miraculously, she was not seriously injured. She had minor burns and cuts. To this day, we don’t know who sent the package addressed to our father.

Lisa was just opening the morning’s mail, a daily routine. Her life was
spared. She did not suffer long-term injuries. Yet, you can imagine how it turned her life upside down. We were all affected to some degree, but she dealt with both the physical and, even more, the emotional impact for many, many years. In the end, the power of her faith pulled her through.

We all have to deal with unexpected tragedies and trauma. Being a believer doesn’t exempt you from life’s turbulent times.

The Scripture says rain falls on the just and on the unjust. When you find yourself facing a crisis, it’s easy to give up your happiness, panic, and fall apart. But you have to realize that crisis is not a surprise to God. It may be unexpected to us, but God knows the end from the beginning. God has solutions to problems that we haven’t even had. And God would not have allowed the difficulty unless He had a divine purpose for it.

You have to remember, you are in a controlled environment. It may seem that your circumstances are out of control, but the Creator of the universe is in complete control. He has you in the palm of His hand. Nothing can happen to you without God’s permission.

In fact, God is even in control of our enemies. The Scripture talks about how God caused Pharaoh to harden his heart and not let the people go. Notice that God
caused
him to be difficult. Why was that? So God could show His power in extraordinary ways.

When something unexpected happens and catches you off-guard, instead of falling apart and blaming God and panicking, your attitude should be:
God, I know You are still on the throne. This is not a surprise to You. I know You wouldn’t have allowed this unless You had a purpose. The surprise may look like a setback, but I know the truth. It’s a setup for You to show Your power in a greater way. It’s a setup for You to show my unbelieving co-workers Your greatness.

God’s purpose in crises is to show not just us His power but to show other people what He can do. If you will view that adversity as an opportunity for God to display His greatness, God will use you as an example. He wants your neighbors to say, “How in the world did she make it? The medical report said ‘impossible,’ but look at her today. She’s as strong and
healthy as can be.” Or, “He was laid off at the worst possible time, but look at him now. He has an even better job than before.”

God wants to turn your test into a testimony. That’s why God will allow you to face adversity. Being a believer doesn’t make you immune to difficulty. But God promises if you will stay in faith, He will take what was meant for your harm and use it not only to your advantage but to display His greatness to other people.

When something unexpected happens, instead of falling apart and panicking, expect God to show up and turn the situation around. Expect God’s favor. Expect His supernatural power.

It is true that the rain falls on the just and the unjust. But here is the difference. For the just, for the believers—that’s you and me—the Scripture says no weapon formed against us will ever prosper. It doesn’t say that challenges will never take form. Instead, it says you may face difficulties, but because you’re a child of the Most High God, they will not prosper against you. They will not get the best of you. You will get the best of them. God will bring you out better off than you were before.

When you face an unexpected challenge, it’s easy to get down on yourself and think,
I’m trying to do my best, trying to honor God. I must be doing something wrong. I must just not be doing good enough.

Often, you have difficulties not because you’re doing something wrong but because you’re doing something right. It’s because you are making a difference. It’s because you are taking new ground for your family. It’s because you are a threat to the enemy. He would leave you alone if you weren’t advancing the kingdom. He wouldn’t bother you if he didn’t know God had something amazing planned for you in your future. That’s why he is trying to make you discouraged and bitter and blaming God, to keep you from the new levels that God has in store for you.

Darkness never likes the light, but don’t worry about it. Light will always overtake the darkness. Just keep shining. Keep smiling. Hold on to
your happiness and your joy. Keep treating people well even though they mistreat you. Do the right thing even though the wrong things happen to you again and again. Your troubles are a sure sign that God has something amazing planned in your future. Your happiness will be restored, in abundance.

The enemy will not roll out the red carpet and allow you to fulfill your destiny unopposed. He will throw out unexpected challenges, unexpected trouble, and unexpected difficulties. But know this: The God we serve has unexpected favor, unexpected healing, unexpected breakthroughs, and unexpected turnarounds.

In Matthew 13:24–30, Jesus tells a story about a man who planted wheat. He sowed good seed, doing the right thing, honoring God, being good to others. But while he slept an enemy came and planted weeds in his soil. He was expecting to have a great harvest of wheat. He had sown good seed, but when it came time for harvest, weeds sprang up among his wheat.

Don’t be surprised if things turn bad on you even as you do the right things, honor God, and work to be your best every day. It may not seem fair, but the enemy is spreading weeds among your wheat, just as was done to this farmer.

The workers said to the farmer, “Where did these weeds come from? We saw you. We know you sowed good seeds.”

The farmer said, “An enemy has come in and sown these destructive seeds.”

The good news is, those weeds do not have to keep you from your God-given destiny. Scripture says when the wheat was ready for harvest, the weeds sprang up unexpectedly. The message is that when you are close to victory, when you are on the verge of your greatest accomplishment and your greatest breakthrough, when you’re about to go into the harvest season, that’s when the unexpected challenges will pop up as the enemy tries to keep you from moving forward.

The parable of the weeds and the wheat ends with the workers asking the farmer, “Should we go out and pull up the weeds?”

“No. Just wait, and at the right time the weeds will be destroyed,” the farmer said.

That’s what God is saying to us. You don’t have to spend your life constantly trying to pull the weeds that pop up. If you do that, you will destroy the harvest, too.

A dog bit a man on his walk one day. He went to the doctor and discovered the dog had rabies. When he learned he would have to have a series of painful antirabies shots, the man went into a rage.

The doctor left him to prepare the shots. When he came back, he found the man writing out a list. He thought his patient was writing a will.

“Sir, it’s not that bad,” the doctor said. “You won’t die from this.”

“This is not my will,” his patient said. “This is a list of all the people I’m planning to bite.”

I know people like that. They encounter some turbulence, and they become mad at the world. They spread poison everywhere they go. Don’t let that be you. When unexpected challenges appear, your attitude should be:
This, too, shall pass. God will help me handle this. It’s just another step on the way to my divine destiny.

Joseph had to have this attitude in the Bible. He was constantly dealing with unexpected difficulties. He never expected his own brothers to throw him into a pit and sell him into slavery. He could have said, “God, that’s not fair. I thought You put a dream in my heart.”

Instead, Joseph understood this principle. He knew God would take care of the weeds, so he just kept being his best. He never expected Potiphar’s wife to lie about him and have him thrown into prison. He never expected the cellmate he had helped to turn his back on him.

Joseph was hit with one bad break after another. He could have turned bitter and angry. Instead, he kept being his best, and he ended up second in command of a whole nation.

“What was meant for my harm, God used to my advantage,” he said (see Matthew 50:20).

You may be in one of your ten minutes of turbulence right now. Your situation may look very difficult, but I’m here to tell you, “This, too, shall pass.”

God did not bring you this far to fail you now. It may be rocky. But
God is saying, “I still have a way. I am Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord Your Provider. I’m Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord Your Healer. I am El Shaddai, the God Who Is More Than Enough.”

If that unexpected crisis you are facing could stop you, be assured God would have never allowed it to happen. If that sudden challenge could have kept you from your destiny, the Most High God would not have permitted it.

If you’re alive and breathing, you can still become everything God has created you to be. Don’t allow a crisis to steal your joy or keep you from pressing forward.