Breaking Out of Prison!

In his newest book entitled Your Best Life Now, Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, shares a short story about “One of the common slogans among men and women who are serving long sentences in federal prisons.” The slogan is “You’ve got nothin’ comin’.” Osteen points out that this is “a sad, hopeless statement, robbing the inmates of what little hope they have.” For the inmate, it’s clear that “You’ve got no income; your kids are embarrassed to say they are related to you; your wife isn’t coming to see you and will probably divorce you before too long; nothing is going to change in your life.” They are told: “Don’t expect anything better. You’re getting what you deserve. You’ve got nothing coming.”

Osteen goes on to say, “Sadly, many people ‘on the outside’ are living behind self-imposed bars, in prisons of their own making, and have succumbed to the same type of thinking. This is the best you can expect. It isn’t going to get any better, so you might as well sit down, keep quiet, and endure it.” Even though such people may have good jobs, a wonderful family, and even a great church family – they still may feel a sense of bondage that keeps them from rising to be everything that God has planned for them. They feel trapped by their own thoughts and emotional state of being.

Fortunately, Jesus has come to “proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed” (Lk. 4:18, NIV). This means that we have been set free! We don’t have to stay in prison any longer. The door has been unlocked and you are free to go! As Osteen says, “All you have to do is start expecting good things in your life and start believing God for a great future.” He says, “Our expectations set the boundaries for our lives.” So if you expect nothing to happen, then chances are, nothing will. But if you rise in faith and begin to focus your thoughts on a new beginning, then freedom shall be your destiny! Why is this? Well, to quote Osteen one more time, “We move toward what we see in our minds.”