You're Closer Than You Think - Joel Osteen (Part 2)

Not long ago, I was in Colorado. I got up early one morning to go for a hike. There was this mountain trail that was about 3 miles up and at the base there was a sign that said it should take about 3 hrs to get to the top.

When I looked at the mountain it was kinda intimidating- it was not only extremely steep, but the altitude even at the base was 8000 feet above sea level, and it went up to nearly 11000 feet. Just walking up the stairs I could feel myself breathing heavier than normal. Now I was not sure if I could make it to the top, but I started out with just my cell phone and a bottle of water, I had a pretty good pace going.

First 15 minutes seemed fairly easy, the next 15 minutes got more difficult. I was breathing heavier and I had to stop every so often to catch my breath. About 45 minutes in, the trail got extremely steep, almost like I was climbing straight up. And I am in shape, I’m a runner, but my legs were burning, my chest was pounding, and I thought to myself -”If there’s another 2 hours like this, I don’t know if I’m gonna make it.”

And I’d just over this big ridge and I had to stop to catch my breath, I could feel my sweat pouring off of my body. And the whole time, all morning, I had not seen anyone else on the path; But about that time, this older gentleman came around the curve, coming round the mountain.

He said one little phrase to me that totally changed my perspective. He didn’t know where I was headed, he didn’t know what I was thinking, but as he passed me, he smiled and said in a real calm voice, “You are closer than you think.”

When he said that, it was like new life was breathed into my lungs. I could feel strength going into my legs, energy coming into my body - I had that second wind.

And from then on out, with ever stride I kept telling myself, " I am closer than I think."
Even though it was difficult, even though it was hurting I kept saying, "I am almost at the top. I am going to make it." And sure enough, just ten minutes later, I came over these big boulders and I could see the top. I made it in just under an hour.

So what's my message?

Without His Words I might have turned around. Without His encouragement, without His insight, I might have talked myself out of it. After all I thought I had 2 more hours to go, but all I really had was just 10 more minutes.

I believe God is telling the same thing to every one of you - You are closer than you think.

I don't know where you're headed, what your dreams are, how many obstacles do you have to overcome, but let these words sink deep down into your spirit, receive them by faith - You are closer than you think.

That means now is not the time to talk yourself out of it, now is no the time to get discouraged. You may think like I do that you're not even halfway there, you've got so far to go; But you don't know - it might be just up around the corner.

You may think it's going to be another 2 years. But if you stay in faith, who knows? It might be just 2 more months.

You may have struggled with that addiction since you were a teenager, but you don't know how close you are to breaking it.

God is wanting to breathe new life into your dreams. He's wanting to breathe new hope into your heart. And some of you are about to give up on a marriage, on a child, on a goal- but God is saying, "If you get your second wind, if you put on a new attitude, and press forward like you're heading down the final stretch, you'll see God do amazing things.

You may be tired. You may tempted to feel discouraged, but you've got t to shake that off and start talking to yourself . Instead of saying things like "Man I'm never gonna get there; I'm gonna break this addiction; I am never going to get out of this problem."

No, Your declaration should be - "I am closer than I think, I know I can raise this child, I can overcome this sickness, I can make this business work."

We may've been doing some weeping in the night, but I know joy comes in the morning!

You've got to get up each day, knowing this could be the day you get the break you'll need. This could be the day you see your health start to turn around, this could be the day your child comes back home.

You single people, this could be the day you meet the man or woman of your dreams.

Zech 9:12 says that we should be prisoners of Hope. It's easy to give up, it's easy to get discouraged- but God wants us to be so full of hope, so full of expectancy that we just can't hep but believing for the best.

When you are a prisoner of something, it is like you are chained to it. In other words, you can't get away from it.

I know people that are prisoners of fear, prisoners of worry, prisoners of doubt, you've heard them, "Nothing good ever happens to me; it's never going to change Joel, it's been too long..."

No. You're chained to the wrong thing. You need to break those chains and become a prisoner of hope.

That means no matter how long it's taking, no matter how impossible it looks, our attitude should just be - I can't help it; I know it's gonna work out. I know I'm gonna overcome. It might have taken a long time, but I know this too shall pass. It might be difficult, but that means I am close to my victory.

Somebody says to you, "What is it with you? You think everything's going to work out. You think you're always going to succeed."

Just tell him, "I don't think so. I KNOW so. I'm a prisoner of hope."

I can't get away from it. I just can't make myself get negative. I just can't let myself start complaining. I've got this hope that's feeding my faith. This hope that's constantly lifting my spirits.

"I don't know why, but I saw that medical report and it don't look good for you."

" Yes, but I've got another report - it says God is restoring health back unto me."

"Well, I saw your child. I don't think he'll ever do much right."

" No, I've got another report - it says as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

Understand you may not see any of this in the natural, it may not look like it's going to come to pass. But that's okay. The scripture says, "We walk by faith, and not by sight." - that means we don't have to see it to believe it, it's just the opposite. If we'll believe it then we'll start to see it.

You need to take those dreams, those promises that God has put in your heart, and everyday declare that they are going to pass.

Just say something like "Father, I wanna thank you that my pay day is coming. You said that no good thing will you withhold because I walk upright and I believe that even right now, you are arranging things in my favour."

Let me ask you - what are you a prisoner of? Fear, worry, self-pity, negativity...no, break those chains and become a prisoner of hope. Expect God's favour, believe that He is working in your life, even right now.

I read this experiment that was done with these rats. The researchers wanted to see how their attitude affected their will to live. And so they took this rat and put it in a large tub of water with high sides so that it could not get out. They put that tub in a totally dark room, and they timed how long the rat would keep swimming before he gave up. The rat lasted a little over 3 minutes. They then put another rat in the same tub, but this time they allowed a bright ray of light to shine into the room. That rat swam over 36 hours- 700 times more than the rat with no light.

Why was that?

The rat with no light had no hope. When he looked into his future, he didn't see anything. There wasn't anything worth living for. That's what happens when we don't get up expecting God's favour- knowing we can overcome our obstacles, believing that God's in control. We lose our passion, we lose our enthusiasm.

That's why it is so important, especially in times of difficulty, to keep reminding yourself that the creator of the Universe is directing my steps. He has me in the palm of His hands and even though this is difficult, I know it's just a matter of time before it turns around. I know my pay day is coming.

And some of you are just about to give up on a dream. You think it's been too long, it's never gonna change, it's never gonna work out. You've gotta get your fire back. Flame that flame - that dream is still alive. Even though it's taken a long time, the good news is God still has a way to bring it to pass.

Several years ago, Victoria had lost her ring that her mother had given her. It was a diamond band that had been in the family for several generations. Now although it was valuable, it had even more sentimental value to this. And sometimes when we go on trips, Victoria would hide the ring in difference places in our house. And so we'd look and look and look, in every drawer and cabinet; I'd look behind couches and in between chairs... I mean I found things I hadn't seen in ten years! But never the ring.

After a couple of months of looking on and off, I'd finally given up. That ring was nowhere to be found. But every few days, I'd hear Victoria saying, "Father thank you that I'm gonna find my ring. Thank you that you are leading me and guiding me."

I didn't say anything out loud, but inside, being the great man of faith that I am, I thought, "Victoria, you are wasting your time. We've turned this house upside down. That ring is just not here."

It's funny. Even her mum noticed she didn't wear it very much anymore and she asked her about it. Victoria said, "Oh Mum I've got it put away in a very safe place." "Yea," I thought. "So safe that we can't even find it!"

As the months went by, I'd heard Victoria talking about how she was going to find that ring five hundred times.

I never once heard her say, "it's gone... I've lost it. What am I gonna do?" She had the attitude- "I'm closer than I think! I know that any day that ring is gonna show up. "

3 years later, we were driving home from Victoria, Texas - 2 hours south of Houston. We'd just ministered for my brother-in-law, Jean and my sister, Tammy. Driving home the freeway, 7 o'clock at night.

Victoria said, "Joel, you'd better slow down. You're gonna get a ticket."

I said, "I'm not going to get a ticket. I'm only going 70. The speed limit's 65."

She said, "No, the speed limit is 60 at night."

I said, "No. It's 65." She said, "Joel, I'm telling you- you need to slow down."

I kinda laughed and said, "Victoria, I have got the favour of God. I'm not gonna get a ticket."

But God has a sense of humour because just about that time, I looked in my rear view mirror and I saw the red flashing lights. I looked at Victoria and said, "You made me get this ticket."

The officer came up. He was a real nice, polite young man. He said, "I need to see your driver's licence." I gave it to him.

He said, "Are you the minister?"

I said, "I am."

He said, "Did you speak at Faith Family Church tonight?"

I said, "I did. That's my sister's church."

He said, "I know. My father was there. He's the head usher."

I said, "Oh man. That's great."

He was so nice to me, I had to repent later - I didn't know him from Adam.

He kinda laughed and said, "I need to see your insurance card."

And so Victoria started digging and digging through the glove compartment.

You know it was dark and we were a little uptight about being pulled over. It seemed like we could find every card but the right one.

And so Victoria started taking all the stuff out and moving it around, and at one point she reached out way back there with her little finger, in the crack of the glove compartment, in the dark she felt something sharp. She kept digging and digging, and sure enough, she dug it out, and lo-and-behold it was her ring!

She was so excited, she was so thrilled, she forgot looking for the insurance card.

I thought, "Girl you're rejoicing and I'm about to go to jail. We've got to find that card." We finally found it, gave it to the officer.

He said, "Joel, I'm gonna let you go. I just have one request- when I come visit your church, will you save me a seat?"

I said, "Officer, I'll save you a whole section."

We drove off that night thinking, "God You are so good. I didn't get a ticket and Victoria found her ring."

But God works in mysterious ways. I thought about it later and God caused her to find her ring at my expense. But the truth is Victoria stayed in faith; she had that attitude -"I'm closer than I think."

I know this young couple. They wanted to sell their house. Several people had looked at it but they didn't have any good leads. At that time the market was kinda low and people were telling they'd take 6 months, a year, maybe even 2 years to sell. But this couple had that attitude of faith; they were prisoners of Hope.

Even though it didn't look good, they kept reminding themselves, "We are closer than we think. It could happen any day."

This man came back to look at the house a second time. He wanted to spend a couple of hours and really study, see if it was right for him. And this young couple debated if they should take down their personal pictures - pictures of themselves and their children - just so they could remain more private. But after they thought about it, they just felt good leaving those pictures where they were.

The man came over and looked at the house. A coupla hours later they got a call from the Realtor to say that the man wanted to purchase the house.

What's interesting is this young couple are faithful members of our church here in Lakewood; and a coupla months back we took a picture together in the lobby. And they framed it and put it on the bookshelf in their house. And this man that purchased the house, he told how he and his wife were trying to decide between 2 different houses, going back and forth, and he said, "When we saw that picture of you and your pastor, we thought - this people love God, they go to Lakewood. This must be the house for us."

That young man told me later, "Joel did you hear? You helped me sell my house."

And I said, "I heard. Now let's talk about commission."

That proves God has all kinds of ways to bring your dreams to pass. He can cause a simple picture to be at the right place, at the right time to help you sell a piece of property/

He can even cause a police officer to pull you over in the middle of the night to help you find something you'd been looking for.

God is in complete control. I'm asking you to be a prisoner of hope. Get up each day expecting His favour. When those negative thoughts come, and it looks impossible. You feel like getting discouraged, just keep telling yourself, "I'm closer than I think. Right now, the creator of the Universe is lining up things in my favour - the right people, the right breaks, the right opportunities. "

You say, "Joel, I've been through a lot of tough times..." You are exactly right. You've been through, don't stay there. Put on a new attitude. Disappointments are for a season but God's favour is for a lifetime.

I heard about this man that had a picture in his office. It was of a large row boat that had washed up on the beach. The 2 oars were resting gently on the sand. You could see the ocean off in the distance - 20 or 30 feet away. The boat was too heavy to drag. Too big to move. It was just sitting there stuck. It had washed up during the high tide and now it was stranded. And the picture wasn't very beautiful, wasn't even inspiring. In fact, it was very depressing. Here this boat that was created to live in the water, to dance on top of the ocean, it was sitting there lifeless, no energy, stuck in the sand. But at the very bottom of the picture, there was a small caption, if you didn't look at it carefully you might have missed it. The caption read, "The tide always comes back."

What's the message? When the tide comes back, the seemingly helpless, lifeless boat will get a new beginning. It comes back to life. A friend saw the picture and said, " Why'd you put this up in the office? It's so depressing." The man told how he'd gone through a great disappointment. He didn't think he'd ever be happy again. He saw the painting at a small, antique store and bought it for just a few dollars. Nobody else wanted it. It was too discouraging looking. But he said, "Every time I looked at it, I said to myself - the tide is coming back."

What was he doing? Speaking faith into his heart. He was saying, "I am closer than I think. Things are changing in my favour."

You may be here, kinda like that man- stuck, stranded, things aren't going your way, you don't have the energy and enthusiasm you used to have. You need to hear these words - The tide is coming back. God is breathing new life into your dreams. You're gonna feel the wind of His Spirit lift you to where you begin to sail once again. Not just endure life and barely get by, but to even dance on top of the waves - that means to live the abundant life that you were created to live.

You need to start telling yourself every day, "My tide is coming back. I am closer than I think." It may be difficult but the good news is that difficulty means you're closer to your victory. Don't give up on that dream! Don't give up on that marriage. Don't give up living a healthy life. It may be difficulty but remember, there is a reward for staying in faith. God promises your pay day is on its way.

If you'll learn to be this prisoner of hope, get up every day expecting God's favour, you'll see God do amazing things. You'll overcome every obstacle, you'll defeat every enemy, and I believe and declare - You'll see every dream, every promise God's put in your heart. It will come to pass. Amen?"

Do you receive it today?

We never like to close our broadcast without giving you the opportunity to make Jesus the LORD of your life.

Would you pray with me?

Just say, LORD Jesus I repent of my sins, come into my heart, I make you my LORD and saviour.

Friends, if you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you've been born again. Get into a good bible-based church, keep God first place. He'll take you places that you'd never dreamed of.