When God puts a promise in your heart, you have to come to the place where you believe in that promise so strongly no one can talk you out of it. It may seem impossible. Your medical report may say there’s no way you will get well. It may look like you’ll never get out of debt. All the circumstances may indicate you’ll never accomplish your dreams, never meet the right person, or never see your family restored. But deep down you’ve got to have this confidence—a knowing that God is still on the Throne.
He is bigger than any obstacle. He already has a way. He is working behind the scenes. What He promised will come to pass at the right time. You don’t get discouraged if it takes a long time. You don’t complain if there is a setback. You have this unshakable confidence.
This is what the Apostle Paul did. He had a made-up mind. He said in Acts 20:24: “None of these things moves me.” What were these things? Circumstances that looked impossible, or people saying it will never happen, or negative or discouraging thoughts. His attitude was: “It doesn’t change my mind. I’m not moved by what I see. I am moved by what I know. And I know if God is for me who dares be against me? I know all of God’s promises are yes and amen. I know God has the final say.”
Your attitude should be: “I’m not moved by what the medical report says. I respect and honor those trying to help me get well, but I know God can do what medical science cannot do. I know God made my body. Doctors can treat me, but only God can heal.”
Or: “I’m not moved by the economy being up and down, by the stock market, or by my job situation, because I know God supplies all my needs. He’s promised to prosper me even in a recession.”
A parent’s unshakable attitude might be: “I’m not moved by how my children are acting. I’m not stressed out because they’re off course, or making poor choices. I know it’s just a matter of time. As for my house and me, we will serve the Lord.”
A single person might think: “I’m not moved by the fact that I’m single and I haven’t met anyone. I know God has already picked out the perfect person for me. God has already ordained someone to come across my path. I am fully persuaded this person is in my future.”
That’s an unshakable faith. You’re not moved by the circumstances. You are not up when something good happens and down when you don’t see anything happening. You know everything God promised you is in your future. So you live in peace. You are not upset, frustrated, or discouraged. You are content.
You know God is on the Throne working on your behalf, so you go out each day with passion, with expectancy, and looking for the great things God has in store. Abraham did just that. God gave him a promise that his wife would have a child. In the natural, childbirth was impossible for them. Abraham and his wife Sarah were each nearly a hundred years old. But it says in Romans 4:20–21: “Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.” How could Abraham have this unwavering faith when in the natural all the odds were against him? I could see how he could have had at least a glimmer of hope, but it says he was fully persuaded.
What was his secret? Romans 4:19 says, “He considered not the weakness of his own body nor the deadness of Sarah’s womb.” The key to having unshakable faith is to not consider your circumstances, but consider your God. Your circumstances, like Sarah’s womb, may look barren. Your financial situation may look impossible. The medical report may look hopeless. All the experts may say you will never accomplish your dreams. If you consider only the negatives, you will be discouraged and doubt will creep in, keeping you from God’s best.
You must be like Abraham instead and say, “I will not focus on the negative things in my mind or what the experts are telling me. I will not focus on how big my problems are. Instead, I will focus on how big my God is. He spoke the world into existence. He flung the stars into space. He’s not limited by the natural. He has supernatural power.”
When you focus on God instead of on your circumstances, amazing things can happen. We were headed to one of our events recently when we hit a traffic jam. The event was set to start at 7:30 p.m. We left our hotel with time to spare, but a car was stalled on the freeway. Traffic was barely moving. It should have taken us no more than thirty minutes to reach the arena, but after more than an hour on the road we were still a long way from our destination. It looked like we weren’t going to make it on time.
One member of our group called ahead and informed those waiting for us that we were running late. They sent a police escort to meet us and bring us in. When the officers found us, one of them got in our car to drive. He steered out of traffic and onto on the shoulder so he could drive around the other cars. After passing the stalled car causing the traffic jam, our driver steered back onto the clear freeway. He drove fifteen miles over the limit, even speeding past other patrol cars.
Our driver just waved to his fellow officers. We could break the law because the law was riding with us. Without that officer in the driver’s seat, we would have been pulled over and ticketed for speeding. But because the law was in our car, we could exceed the speed limit. You can benefit in the same way. In the natural it may be impossible for you to get well. The laws of medical science may say, “no way.” But the good news is Someone who is riding with you supersedes those laws. God’s law supersedes the laws of medicine, the laws of science, and the laws of finance.
Too often we consider only what we can see and only where we are right now. You will limit yourself by thinking: “This is what I make and if I get a cost of living raise the next twenty years here’s where I’ll be.” We analyze and do projections based only upon the cold hard facts. We look at charts and dissect data.
It’s good to have a plan, but there are times when every circumstance and every report will say, “It’s impossible. It will never happen. Might as well settle where you are.” But you’ve got to dig down deep and say, “Wait a minute. I’ve come too far to stop now. I will not focus on just what my medical report says. I will not focus only on what my bank account looks like. I will focus on my God and His power to supersede all things in the natural.”
Business may be slow. The economy may be down. But God says He will prosper you even in the desert. Your checkbook may say you will not make the mortgage payment, but God says He will supply all of your needs. It may seem like you will never get out of debt, but God says, “You will lend and not borrow.”
Your medical report may say your only option is to live with that sickness, but when you consider God, He says, “I will restore health unto you.”
When you focus only on feelings of discouragement and loneliness, you may not be able to foresee anything good happening in your life. But when you consider God, you realize your best days are ahead. Your future will be brighter than your past. The greatest victories are not behind you; they are in front of you.
Are you considering your circumstances? Or are you considering your God? He is called “the Great I Am.” He’s saying, “I am everything you need. If you’re sick, I’m your healer. If you’re struggling, I’m your provider. If you’re worried, I’m your peace. If you’re lonely, I’m your friend. If you’re in trouble, I’m your deliverer. If you need a break, I’m your favor.”
When you consider God and not your circumstances, God will show up and do amazing things. My friend Courtney applied for a scholarship at a major university. She wanted to study acting and theatre. Twenty-six hundred students applied for only twelve scholarships. She could have thought, “What’s the use? Those are terrible odds. Less than half of one percent.” But instead of focusing on the odds, she considered her God.
Her attitude was: “God, You control the whole universe, and if You want me in this college, then I believe You will cause me to stand out. I’m not moved by what I see; I’m moved by what I know. I know Your plans for me are for good. I know You have far-and-beyond favor. I know You reward those who honor You.”
A few months ago, Courtney was notified that out of twenty-six hundred applicants, she was one of the twelve chosen for a full scholarship, a very prestigious position.
In the Scripture, God asks Abraham, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” You may be spending too much time analyzing your situation. You have so many facts and figures that you’ve talked yourself out of what God can do. If you spent more time considering your God and thinking about His greatness and the times He’s made a way in the past—dwelling on His promises, declaring victory and favor—then like Abraham, and like Courtney, you will see God show up and do supernatural things.
When we acquired the Compaq Center for Lakewood Church, our architects said the renovations would cost about $100 million. We had to put in a whole new power plant and do many other major renovations. I thought: “How in the world will we pay for all that?”
Our financial team ran the numbers and projected how much the church would take in from donations in coming years. We considered selling a piece of property owned by the church. After running the numbers, we realized that even if everything went just right, we still would be significantly short of the funds we needed for renovations.
We couldn’t make it work on paper. I studied those numbers so much that I woke up in the middle of the night dreaming about them. I analyzed them a hundred different ways, and no matter how I looked at the calculations we always came up short.
One day I did what I’m asking you to do: I said, “God I’ve considered the numbers. I’ve considered the facts. I’ve had very intelligent people give me charts, projections, and analyses. It doesn’t look good. But now, God I’m changing my focus and considering you. I know you parted the Red Sea for Moses. You stopped the sun for Joshua. You protected Daniel from hungry lions. You took five loaves and fed five thousand. You turned water into wine. I know You did all of those great things back in biblical times, but in my life I’ve seen you heal my mother when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. You brought my father out of poverty and defeat, leading him into a life of abundance and purpose. You spared my life on the freeway when my car was spinning around and an eighteen-wheeler was a few feet in front of me. You caused Victoria and me to stumble on a house that doubled in value overnight. Now You gave us this beautiful building when all the odds were against us.
“God, You said You would finish what You started in my life. You said we’d see the surpassing greatness of Your power. You said You would supply our needs according to Your riches.”
When I changed my focus and considered my God instead of my circumstances, then my doubt, fear, anxiety, and negativity didn’t have a chance. Faith rose up. Expectancy rose up. Hope rose up. I became fully persuaded. I knew God would make a way, even though I didn’t see a way.
That’s exactly what happened. Today, all of us at Lakewood Church are not just believing for the promise, we’re also enjoying the promise. We’re not just dreaming the dream; we also are living the dream in our beautiful facility.
What you focus on is so important. What are you dwelling on right now? Is it the size of the obstacle, or the size of your God? If you go around all day thinking about your problems, worried, anxious, and playing all the negative scenarios in your mind, you will draw in the negative.
You’re using your faith, but you’re using it in reverse. It takes the same amount of energy to be negative as it does to be positive. It takes the same amount of energy to worry as it does to believe. I’m asking you to use your energy for the right purposes.
Most people have considered their difficult circumstances long enough. They’ve considered the medical report, the bank statement, and the odds against them over and over. Now it’s time to make a switch and start considering God.
Why don’t you spend that same time you would normally be worrying on thanking God instead? Thank Him for working. Thank Him for the answer that’s on its way. Thank Him for being in complete control.
Instead of overanalyzing a bad situation, spend your time meditating on the Scripture: “God always causes me to triumph. I can do all things through Christ. I am strong in the Lord.”
Instead of reading the bad medical report for the twelve hundredth time, overanalyzing every word, instead of spending four hours Googling that disease, reading about every person who has died from it, take the same time and go walk in the park and with every step say: “Lord, thank You for the healing flowing into me. Thank You that I’m getting better, stronger, healthier.”
With every breath, pray: “Lord, thank You that You’re still on the Throne. You have me in the palm of Your hand, and nothing can snatch me away.”
Here’s a key: When you make God bigger, your problems become smaller. When you magnify God instead of magnifying your difficulties, faith rises in your heart. That faith will keep you fully persuaded. Pay attention to what you focus on. Be aware of what’s playing in your mind all day. Are you considering your circumstances, or are you considering your God?
One time Jesus was on His way to pray for a sick girl in a nearby town. Along the way He was stopped time and again, one delay after another. At one point these people came up and said to those with Jesus, “Tell Jesus He doesn’t need to come any more. It’s too late. She has died.”
The Scripture says Jesus overheard it but ignored it. Sometimes in order to stay in faith you have to ignore a negative report. It doesn’t mean you deny the facts and act like they are not there. Instead, just like Jesus, you may hear the negative report, but you choose not to dwell on it.
You don’t go around defeated, thinking, “Just my luck. I knew I wouldn’t get well. Look at this doctor’s report.” You may have one negative report, but the good news is, God has another report. The medical report may say as far as medical science is concerned you won’t get well, but God’s report says, “I am restoring health unto you and healing you of your wounds.”
Whose report will you believe? The financial report may say you will never get out of debt, or that you could never afford the house you want, or you will never take a mission trip. You see the numbers. You’ve run all the projections. That’s one negative report. Don’t deny it, but choose to believe the report of the Lord instead.
God says, “Whatever you touch will prosper and succeed. You will lend and not borrow.” Get in agreement with God. Other reports may say, “You’ll never accomplish your dreams. You’ll never meet the right person. You’ll never get that promotion.” God’s report says, “Because you delight yourself in me, I will give you the desires of your heart.”
If you are to have unshakable faith and become everything God created you to be, then learn to ignore the negative report and choose to believe the report of the Lord. One time Jesus saw some men on the beach folding up their fishing nets, putting their equipment away. They had been out fishing all night. Jesus asked them if He could borrow their boat so he could push away from the shore and teach the gathered crowds. They didn’t know each other, but the men agreed and He borrowed the boat.
When Jesus was finished teaching, he thanked the fishermen by telling them to launch into the deep where they would catch a great number of fish. These men began to reason in their minds, and doubts rose up. They thought: “This man is a teacher. We’re professional fishermen. This is how we make a living. We know when the fish bite and when they don’t. We’ve been doing this for years. We are experts and this is not the time to fish. Nothing is biting.”
The problem with some people is they know too much. They know all the reasons why they can’t get well and why they can’t get out of debt and why they won’t be successful. Sometimes our intellects get in the way of what God wants to do.
A lady once told me after a Lakewood service that she had a rare form of cancer and a very short life expectancy. Even though I’d just talked about someone beating cancer three times, she had no hope. She told me all the details of why she couldn’t get well. She gave me story after story of people who didn’t make it. She went on and on about how the medicines that worked for other forms of cancer didn’t really affect her type.
By the time she finished, she had convinced me. I was depressed, too. I wasn’t even sick, but I was ready to plan my funeral! Do you know what her problem was? She knew too much. She analyzed it and reanalyzed it and studied it and thought about it and researched it. No wonder she didn’t have faith.
It’s good to have information. I’m not saying you should live with your head in the sand, but at some point you have to say, “I will not fill my mind with any more doubt and disbelief. Yes, I want to know the facts, but I don’t need to know all the details of why I will not get well or why I’ll never be debt free or why I’ll never accomplish my dreams.”
Sometimes you have to turn off your mind. If you listen to the experts long enough, they can talk you into the ground. With all the facts and statistics and details, they can make you feel defeated. It’s like this guy I heard about who was standing on a bridge about to jump. He was so depressed, so discouraged. A man ran up and said, “Please, please don’t jump. Just tell me what the problem is.” For the next three hours, in great detail he told the man all of his problems. When he finished, they both jumped!
That’s why I want to know the facts, but I don’t want to know too much. If you don’t cut off negative information it will depress you. Step out of the natural and say, “This may be impossible with men, but I know with God all things are possible.”
The fishermen said to Jesus, “We’ve fished all night. We didn’t catch anything. We’re very experienced. We’re very knowledgeable. This is not our first time out here. We appreciate your advice but we’re the experts, we know the facts. The latest fishing report was e-mailed to us this morning, and nothing is biting.”
Jesus told them in effect, “What I’ve promised you may not make sense in the natural, but I have supernatural power. Your report may say there are no fish out there, but you have to understand, I control the fish. They may not have been there last night, yesterday, or last week. But I can assure you the fish are out there right now.”
Jesus finally convinced them. Even though it seemed like they were wasting their time, one of the fishermen said, “Nevertheless at your word I will let down the net.”
They had to turn off their doubt-filled minds. They had to ignore what their reasoning and logic and experience told them. I’ve learned God is not always logical. His ways are not our ways. They went out and caught so many fish that their boat began to sink. They had to call other fishermen to bring another boat.
Make sure you don’t talk yourself out of what God wants to do in your life. It may not seem logical. All your reasoning may say it will never happen. You may feel you’re too old, or you don’t have the experience. It may seem that the report is too bad and all the odds are against you. But dare to do what the doubt-filled fishermen did and say, “God, this promise You’ve given me doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t seem like it will ever come to pass. I don’t know why I should even get my hopes up. Nevertheless, if You say so, I believe so.”
Mary, the mother of Jesus, did just that. She was a teenage girl living in Nazareth. One day an angel appeared to her and said, “Mary, you are a highly favored child of God. You will give birth to a baby without knowing a man, and He will be the Son of God.”
God spoke an incredible promise to her. You can imagine the doubts that bombarded her: “You can’t have a child without a man. That’s impossible. That defies the laws of nature.”
If Mary had just looked at what was possible in the natural she would have given up. But Mary understood this principle: She didn’t consider her circumstances. She considered her God.
I love the way she replied to the angel. Mary didn’t say, “This sounds really far out. It’s not logical, I don’t see how it could happen.”
Instead, she was bold. She said, “Be it unto me according to your word.”
Mary was saying, “I’m in agreement. Let it happen. If God says I’m highly favored, then I will not talk myself out of it. I believe I’m highly favored. If God says the impossible can happen, then I believe the impossible will happen.”
That’s the way we need to be when God puts a promise in our hearts. We may not understand how something can happen, but we don’t reason it out. We don’t come up with excuses. We do as Abraham did and become fully persuaded.
You may be sick, but God puts the promise in your heart that He will restore health unto you. You can say, “The doctor’s report doesn’t look good. My great-grandmother died of this same thing. It’s been in our family for five generations.” You can talk yourself out of believing the best, or you can do as Mary did and say, “God, if You say I will be well, then I believe I will be well.”
Mary said something interesting when the angel told her she would have a child. She asked how that could be possible, since she had never been with a man. She was talking about the physical, but I believe there’s a deeper meaning to her question. God was saying, “My promises are not dependent on man.” You don’t have to have a certain person to fulfill your destiny. You don’t need your boss to give you a promotion. You don’t need someone with power to help you catch a break. God’s promises are not dependent on who you know or who you don’t know. The main thing is for you to know Him. God controls it all.
The Scripture says promotion doesn’t come from people, it comes from God. When it’s your time to be promoted or healed or restored, God doesn’t check with your friends, your boss, or your family. As the angel told Mary, God will make it happen without a man.
If God can do it without a man, then He can do it without a bank. He can do it without medicine. You may have spent long enough considering your circumstances. It’s time to start considering your God. He is the all-powerful Creator of the universe. What He has spoken over your life may seem impossible. It may look too big. When you run the numbers, it may not seem logical. But don’t do as the fishermen did and overanalyze. Don’t try to reason it out, because you’ll talk yourself out of it.
Do as Mary did and say, “God, I don’t see a way, but I know You have a way. Let it happen.” When negative thoughts come, learn to ignore them. That’s one report, but God has another report. He’s saying, “What I have spoken over your life I will bring to pass. What I have promised I will do.”
Because you have this unshakable faith, because you are fully persuaded then, like Abraham, God will do supernatural things in your life. He is bringing you out of debt into abundance. You will live healthy and whole. You will break every addiction. You will see your family restored. You will meet the right people. You will accomplish dreams greater than you ever imagined.