Free The Power of I Am: Two Words That Will Change Your Life Today by Joel Osteen Page A

break out in your thinking, you would see things begin to improve.
    The first place we lose the battle is in our own thinking.
    You may have struggled in an area for twenty years. The medical report says, “Just learn to live with it.” But there is another report. It says, “God is restoring health back unto you. The number of your days He will fulfill.” Your attitude should be,
This sickness cannot stay in my body. It’s on foreign territory. I am a temple of the Most High God.
In your career you may feel stuck. You haven’t had a good break in a long time. You’ve gone as far as your education allows. It’s easy to think,
I’ve reached my limits. This is as good as it gets.
All through the day you should declare, “I’m not settling here. My greatest victories are still out in front of me.”
    You have to stir up your faith. God is not limited by your education, by your nationality, or by your background. But He is limited by your thinking. I’m asking you to stand against the lies of permanency, lies that state, “You’ll never lose that weight. You’ll never break that addiction. You’ll never own your own house.” When those thoughts come, dismiss them. Don’t give them the time of day. God is saying, “It’s not permanent; it’s temporary. It didn’t come to stay; it came to pass.”

The Seventh Year
    In Deuteronomy 15, there was a law God gave the people of Israel that said every seventh year they had to release any Hebrew slaves. If you were Hebrew and owed another person money that you couldn’t repay, they could take you in as a slave and make you work full-time until you paid them back. But every seventh year, if you were a part of God’s chosen people, you had a special advantage. You got released. No matter how much you still owed, no matter how in debt you were, in the seventh year you were set free. All the pain,struggling, and suffering were gone in one day. This tells me God never intended His people to be a permanent slave to anything. You may be in debt today, but God did not intend that to last forever. You may be facing an illness, but it is only temporary. You may be struggling with an addiction, but it’s not going to keep you in bondage.
    I believe you are coming into one of your seventh years. The seventh year is when you break free from any limitation that is holding you back—sickness, addictions, debt, constant struggles. It looked as though it would never change. It looked permanent, but then one touch of God’s favor and it suddenly turns around. Suddenly you get a good break. Suddenly your health improves. Suddenly you meet the right person. Suddenly a dream comes to pass. What happened? You came into a seventh year.
    The seventh year is when you break free from any limitation that is holding you back—sickness, addictions, debt, constant struggles.
    Quit telling yourself, “This sickness is permanent. I’ll always struggle financially. I’ll never break this addiction.” You are a child of the Most High God. You have an advantage. Just like God promised the Hebrews, you’re not going to be a permanent slave to anything. Now you have to get in agreement with God and affirm, “Yes, I’m coming into my seventh year. It is my time to break free. Every chain has been loosed. Every stronghold has come down. I know I have been released into increase.”
    I talked to a gentleman in the lobby of our church. He was in town for a consultation at MD Anderson, Houston’s world-renowned cancer hospital. For the last three years he had a large tumor in his stomach area. He went through chemotherapy and radiation, but nothing affected it. The doctors had been studying him, trying to figure out what to do next. About six months ago, he came to a Lakewoodservice for the first time and had one of the volunteer Prayer Partners pray over him. He went back to the hospital for more tests. The doctor was very puzzled. For no apparent reason, the tumor had started to shrink. It was