فصل 28

PART SEVEN

STAY PASSIONATE ABOUT LIFE

CHAPTER 28

Plan for Blessing

If you want to become a better you, it is important to put the right actions along with your faith. It’s not enough to believe, as important as that may be. We have to take it one step further and start expecting. While we are expecting good things from God, we should be making plans. We need to talk as if what we are praying about is going to happen.

When a couple is expecting a baby, they make all sorts of preparations. Why? Because they know a child is on its way. The fact is, in the early stages of the pregnancy, they haven’t seen the baby or touched it. Yet they have faith in the doctor’s report, so they start making preparations.

God has put dreams in every one of our hearts. We all have things for which we are believing—perhaps you are believing to overcome an illness, believing to get out of debt, or believing to accomplish your dreams. Here’s the key: We have to go beyond believing. True faith puts action behind it. If you’re sick, you need to start making plans to get well. If you’re struggling in your finances, start making plans to prosper. If your marriage is on the rocks, start making plans to see that relationship restored. Lay your faith on the line.

Too often, we say that we are believing God for good things, yet with our actions, we’re doing just the opposite. Understand that your faith will work in either direction, positively or negatively. I know some people who plan to get the flu. At the grocery store, I hear them predicting their future: “Well, it’s flu season. I had better pick up some of this flu medicine just in case. After all, it was bad last year. I got lucky and didn’t get it. But I’ll probably get it this year.” They talk as though it is sure to happen. They take it even further and put actions behind their negative faith, by purchasing the flu medicine. Not surprisingly, a few weeks later they come down with the flu. Their faith worked, albeit negatively.

Please don’t misinterpret what I am saying. It is prudent to take precautions; we have medicine at our house. However, I don’t think we should run to the pharmacy every time a television commercial announces that flu season is here.

Funny, sometimes we put more faith in those commercials than we do in what God says. I love what it says in Psalms: “A thousand may fall at my side, ten thousand at my right hand; but it will not come near my dwelling.” Everybody at work may be getting the flu, everybody at school may have it, but I believe God has put a hedge of protection around me, and I’m going to stay in faith and not make plans to get it.

If we read the news long enough, and watch all the studies, they’ll nearly talk us into having heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, and all sorts of ailments. “Well, you know what they say, one in four people gets cancer”.

Maybe that’s true, but let’s believe we will be among the three who don’t get it instead of one of those who do. It is just as easy to believe for the positive as it is the negative. Start making plans to live a long healthy life. When you face sickness—and we all have things come against us from time to time—don’t just give up and start making plans to live with it. I’ve had people tell me, “Well, Joel, I’m learning to live with my arthritis. I’m learning to live with my high blood pressure.” No, that’s not your high blood pressure; that’s not your sickness. Quit taking ownership of it and start making plans to get well. Our attitude should be, this sickness didn’t come to stay, it came to pass. Say things such as, “I know with long life, God is going to satisfy me. So I declare it by faith, I’m getting better and better every day in every way.”

Don’t quit dreaming. Keep the vision in front of you. A friend of mine was in an accident where both of his knees were crushed. The doctor told him he would be fortunate to walk, but he would certainly never run or play sports again. My friend was so disappointed. After being in the hospital for over three months, the first thing he did when he was discharged was to join a health club. He took a step of faith. The fact is, he couldn’t go to the club for over a year. He was too weak, but he made up his mind he was not going to sit back and plan on staying in that wheelchair; he was making plans to be up walking again. That was more than five years ago, and today that young man can outrun me. He defied the odds. What happened? He started making plans to rise up out of that injury. He could have easily let the doctor’s negative words sink in, convincing him to give up, and settle for mediocrity. Instead, he believed God and began making plans to be well.

Maybe you’ve had some negative things happen to you or some negative comments spoken over you. Don’t allow those negatives to take root. Keep believing for good things. And remember, faith is always in the now. Get up every morning saying, “Father, I thank You that right now You are working in my life. I thank You that right now I’m getting better. Right now things are changing in my favor.”

I read a study the other day. It included a chart that showed how at different ages, certain parts of our bodies start to decline. According to the research, when we get to be thirty years old, our hearing diminishes so much every year. We lose so much muscle mass every year. Our brain cells decrease by a certain percentage each year. If you start believing all those reports and acting on them, no wonder your body is falling apart! The other day someone told me, “Joel, I just turned sixty and I can’t hear as well as I used to. I knew this day was coming. Everybody told me my hearing would go down.” I told the person, “You are agreeing with the wrong voices. Quit putting your faith in the wrong places, and start agreeing with what God says about you. It says in Deuteronomy 34, verse 7, that when Moses was a hundred and twenty years old, his eye was not dim and his natural strength was not abated. That means he could still see clearly, he could hear clearly, he was strong and healthy. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to believe to live out my days like Moses. Instead of listening to all these negative reports, let me give you a different report. Let me give you a study found in God’s Word. It says in effect, ‘At sixty, you’re still supposed to hear well. At seventy, your mind is supposed to be as sharp as it was when you were twenty-five. At eighty, you’re supposed to be full of joy, full of life, full of energy.’ Why don’t you start making plans to live a long, healthy, satisfied life?”

Certainly, we should use common sense; we have to be realistic. What I’m saying is don’t make plans for defeat. Everybody around you may be getting old and cranky, complaining that this part of his body doesn’t work or that part of her body is failing, but you can be the exception. Believe to live a long, healthy life.

Maybe you have a history of serious illnesses in your family. You must stand against those diseases and believe God for good health. You can be the exception. You can be the one to start a new standard for your family. Here’s what you have to do: You must think differently, and you need to take a different tack, take different actions. You cannot prepare for defeat and expect to live in victory. Keep your faith working for you, rather than against you.

Grandmother Osteen, my grandmother on my father’s side, was a feisty woman. She stood only about five feet tall, but she had a big faith. One time, when she was older in life, she went to see her doctor. He said, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Osteen, but you’re in the beginning stages of Parkinson’s disease.” Well, Grandmother Osteen didn’t know what that was, but she was sure she didn’t want to have any part of it. She bristled back and she got real stern. She said, “Listen here, doctor, I’ll not have that. I refuse to have it. I’m too old to have it.” She went home and never did come down with Parkinson’s disease. She just kept doing what she’d always been doing, planning on living a long, healthy life. She didn’t let the negative words take root.

I realize that we can’t just wish things away; but we can decide what we’re going to plan for. We can plan to get old and lose our health, or we can plan to live a long, healthy, blessed, prosperous life.

What are you planning for today? Sickness or divine health? To barely get by or to be blessed? To stay where you are or to rise higher and accomplish your dreams? According to our actions or lack of action, we are making plans for something.

Maybe you are preparing to fail, preparing to barely get by or to lose your health. Start preparing for good things; prepare for success, prepare for abundance. Prepare for victory. Prepare for a long life. Prepare for good health. Get your faith going in the right direction. If you do this, God will do more than you can even ask or think. He will pour out his blessings and favor and you will become a much better you!