Break Out!: 5 Keys to Go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life (27 page)

I
n Genesis 38, there is a story about a woman who is pregnant with twins. When she gave birth one of the baby’s arms came out first. The midwife tied a small cord around it, planning to gently pull him, but before she could do that, the baby pulled his arm back and his brother broke through and was born first.

One stretched and one settled.

In a similar way, inside each of us there are two people. One says, “I will become everything God has created me to be. I can do all things through Christ. I’m surrounded by God’s favor.”

The other says, “I’ll never get out of debt. The economy is too bad. I’ll never lose the weight. My metabolism is off. I’ll never break that addiction. I’ll just learn to live with it.”

One wants to stretch. The other wants to settle. You can choose which person you will be. Too many people make the choice to settle.

“My marriage is not what it should be, but at least we’re still together. It’s good enough.” Or, “I don’t really like this job, but at least I’m employed. It’s good enough.” Or “I would love to make As in school but I’m not that smart. These Cs are good enough.”

No, don’t make the mistake of settling for “good enough.” Good enough is not your destiny. You are a child of the Most High God. You have seeds of greatness on the inside. If you are to see the fullness of what God has in store, you have to have the right attitude: “I’m not letting good
enough be good enough. I know I was created for greatness. I was created to excel, to live a healthy life, to overcome obstacles, to fulfill my destiny. I am not settling. I’m stretching. I’m letting go of the things that didn’t work out and reaching forward to the new things God has in store.”

Maybe you have lost your fire. At one time you may have known you would break an addiction, beat a sickness, or find someone to marry, but you’ve gone through disappointments. Your life has not worked out the way you thought it would. Now you’ve accepted the fact that your vision for your life will probably not happen. You’ve become comfortable with good enough. But God is saying to you what He said to the people of Israel: “You have dwelt long enough on this mountain.”

It’s time to move forward. God has new levels in front of you, new opportunities, new relationships, promotions, and breakthroughs. But you need to stir up what God put on the inside, stir up the dreams and the promises you’ve pushed down.

“It’s not going to happen, Joel. I’m too old. I don’t have the connections. I don’t know the right people.”

God has it all figured out. If you start believing again, start dreaming again, start pursuing what God put in your heart, God will make a way where you can’t see a way. He will connect you to the right people. He will open doors no man can shut. What God spoke over your life, what He promised you in the night, what He whispered in your spirit, those hidden dreams, He will bring to pass.

The good news is just because you gave up a dream doesn’t mean God gave up. You may have changed your mind, but God didn’t change His mind. He still has a victorious plan in front of you. Why don’t you get in agreement with Him?

I read a story about a young man who dreamed of playing professional football. In high school he was a star player and won all kinds of awards. He came from a very small town where everybody knew him. All the children looked up to him, and wanted to be like him; a local hero. But most of the coaches thought he was too small to play in college. All the major universities turned him down. He ended up at a junior college and took a job at a pizza restaurant. He quit playing football.

One night he was delivering a pizza and a ten-year-old boy answered
the door. When this boy saw the young man his eyes grew so big. The boy was starstruck. He couldn’t believe this was the same person he’d watched play at the local high school, the same athlete who had thrilled the crowd so many times. After a second or two, the boy’s father walked up and the young man gave the father the pizza. The little boy was very confused. He looked up at his father. He looked at the young man and said very innocently, “What are you doing delivering pizzas?”

Those words from a ten-year-old boy lit a new fire on the inside for the young man. After work that night he went to the gym and started training. That summer he trained harder than he had ever trained before. He gained seventy pounds, and became bigger, stronger, quicker, and faster.

That fall, he tried out at a major university that had accepted him as a student. He’d always wanted to play there. He made the team and kept working until he also became their star player. After college, he was drafted in the first round to play professional football. Today, he is a star in the NFL living out his dream. But he said, “It would have never happened if that ten-year-old boy hadn’t asked me, ‘What are you doing selling pizzas?’ ”

My questions for you are: Have you settled somewhere way beneath what you know God has put in you? Have you given up on a dream, or let go of a promise, because it didn’t happen the first time?

Maybe you had a setback. Maybe somebody told you, “You’re not talented enough. You’re not big enough.” But I ask you respectfully, “What are you doing there? You have so much in you. You are full of talent, ideas, creativity, and potential.”

When God breathed His life into you, He put a part of Himself in you. You have the DNA of Almighty God. You were never created to be average, to barely get by, to always struggle, or to just have to take the leftovers. You were created as the head and not the tail.

You are equipped. Empowered. Fully loaded. Lacking nothing. Don’t you dare settle for second best. Don’t get stuck in a rut thinking that you’ve reached your limits. Draw the line in the sand and say, “That’s it. I’ve let good enough be good enough long enough. Today is a new day. My dream may not have happened the first time I tried for it, or even the fifth time or the thirtieth time, but I’m not settling. I’m stretching my faith,
looking for opportunities, taking steps to improve. I’m going to become everything God has created me to be.”

When you do the natural, God will do the supernatural. When you do what you can, God will come and do what you cannot. Don’t take the easy way out. Stand strong and fight the good fight of faith.

In the Scripture, Abraham is listed as one of the heroes of faith. God made one of the first covenants with him. But what’s interesting is that God spoke to Abraham’s father many years before and told him to go where he later told Abraham to go.

It says in Genesis 11 that Abraham’s father left Ur and headed out toward Canaan. He had his goal. He was going to the Promised Land just like God told Abraham. But it says, “He stopped along the way and settled in Haran.”

Why did he stop? There were too many difficulties. It was hard traveling with all of his flocks and herds. He had his family and their possessions. It wasn’t comfortable. He finally decided, “I can’t go any farther. I know this isn’t the Promised Land, but it’s good enough. At least we can survive out here. At least we can make it.”

How many times do we do the same thing? We start off right. We’ve got a big dream. We’re fulfilling our destinies. But along the way we face opposition. Adversity arises. Too many times we say, “What’s the use? I’m never breaking this addiction. My marriage is never getting better. I’ll never accomplish my dreams. I’m just settling here. It’s good enough.”

But I want to light a new fire in you today. You are not weak, defeated, or lacking. You have been armed with strength for every battle. That obstacle is no match for you. You have the most powerful force in the universe breathing in your direction.

Don’t be a weakling. Be a warrior. Your marriage is worth fighting for. Your health is worth fighting for. Your dreams and your children are worth fighting for. Dig in and say, “I am in it to win it. I know God didn’t bring me this far to leave me here. I’m not settling halfway, three-fourths of the way, or nine-tenths of the way. I will make it all the way in to my Promised Land.”

If you’re to be victorious you must have a made-up mind. Be determined. You can’t give up when life becomes difficult. You can’t complain
because it’s taking a long time. You can’t be discouraged because you went through a setback. Everything God promised you is worth fighting for, so you need to be in it for the long haul.

You may need to pull up your stakes. You camped halfway like Abraham’s father. You have become comfortable and decided that your dreams will never come to pass, your health will never improve, or you’ll never get out of debt. I’m asking you to pack up your tent, gather up your belongings, and start moving forward.

You may have hit a temporary delay, but that’s okay. That won’t stop you from fulfilling your destiny. Today can be your new beginning. God is breathing new life into your spirit. He has greater victories in front of you. Get a vision for it.

“This sounds good Joel, but I’ll never meet the right person, I’ll never earn the promotion at work, I’ll never break this addiction.” Every time you dwell on those negative, discouraging thoughts you are stopping short of your Promised Land.

The first place we lose the battle is in our thinking. If you don’t think you can be successful, then you never will be. If you don’t think you can overcome the past, or meet the right person, or accomplish your dreams, you’ll be stuck right where you are. You have to change your thinking. The Creator of the universe is arranging things in your favor. He said no good thing would He withhold because you walk uprightly. He will not withhold the right person, the wisdom, the breaks, or the turnaround.

I read about this university professor who was giving his students their most important test of the year. Before he gave them the test, he told his students he was proud of them because they had worked so hard. He made them a special offer. He said, “Anyone who would like an automatic C on this test, just raise your hand and I’ll give you a C. You won’t even have to take the test.”

One hand slowly went up, and then another and another, until about half of the students opted out of taking the test. They walked out of the room so relieved, and so happy.

The professor next passed out the test forms to the rest of the students. He placed a form facedown on each desk, then asked the students not to turn their forms over until he told them to begin. For the next few
minutes he gave them encouragement, saying they would do great things in life and how they should always strive to do their best.

Then he told them to turn over the test forms and begin. But when they looked at the test, there were only two sentences: “Congratulations. You just made an A.”

Too many times, like those students, we settle for a C when God has an A for us. If you say you will never recover from an illness, that’s taking a C. You need to change your thinking: “God is restoring health unto me. I will live and not die. I’m getting stronger, healthier, better.”

That’s going for the A.

Or, “This guy I’m dating, I know he’s not good for me. He doesn’t treat me right, but I may not ever meet anybody else.” That’s not a C. That’s a D!

God has an A, but you’ll never see it if you keep taking the Cs. Yes, the Cs are easier. You don’t have to stretch. You don’t have to leave your comfort zone. But you’ll never be truly fulfilled if you keep settling for Cs. The good news is God already has As in your future. He has the right person, a happy marriage, a successful career, health, wholeness, freedom, and victory.

Don’t take the easy way out. The As are worth fighting for. I can’t think of much that would be sadder than to come to the end of life and have to wonder, “What could I have become if I didn’t settle for good enough? What could I have been if I didn’t take so many Cs but instead I pressed forward, striving to be my very best?”

You may have taken some Cs in the past. We all have. But make a decision with me that from now on you’re only going for the As.

Here’s a key: if you’re not seeing the things in your life that God promised in your spirit, then keep moving forward. It’s only temporary. Like the young man delivering pizzas, you may be doing something that’s below your potential, working at a job in which you’re not using your gifts. Don’t slack off when you’re there. Keep being your best, but see that as only temporary.

You are just passing through. Don’t put your stakes down. Don’t settle there. If the medical report doesn’t agree with what God says about you, don’t accept it as the way it will always be. Your attitude should be: “This
is just a season I’m passing through. I’m coming into health, wholeness, and victory.”

Maybe God has blessed you with good things like a great family, a wonderful job, and good health. You’ve seen His favor. But you know there are greater levels in front of you. It’s easy to think, “I’m happy. I have no complaints. God has been good to me.”

But I’ve learned that good is the enemy of great. Don’t let that be an excuse to keep you from God’s best. Stir up your greatness. Stretch into a new level.

This is where the people of Israel missed it. God brought them out of slavery. They were headed toward the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey. The spies came back and said, “Moses, we have never seen such a magnificent land so beautiful, luscious, green.” The fruits and vegetables were like nothing they had experienced. It took two people to carry the bushels of grapes because they were so big. That was the vision God had in front of them. That was the A.

In the wilderness they saw God’s goodness. They saw God part the Red Sea, bring water out of a rock, and rain down manna from heaven. But do you know that was all only temporary provision? That was only the C. The mistake they made was that when they came to the Promised Land, there were people living on it. All the people of Israel had to do was fight for the land. God had promised them the victory, but they were not willing to fight. They thought, “It’s not worth it. It’s too much trouble. Besides, those people are bigger than us, anyway.”