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By Robert H. Schuller

I believe in breakthroughs. No matter what insurmountable walls you or I face this year, I believe that a breakthrough is right around the corner. I believe in breakthroughs for the simple reason that I welcome and respect change.

Breakthroughs happen to people who take a positive attitude toward change. On a psychological level, you are well on your way toward emotional, mental and psychological health once you recognize the reality of change, no longer resist it or fear it, but take a positive attitude toward it

There's an old hymn that we used to sing when I was a boy:

"Change and decay in all around I see."

Today I would sing the hymn this way:

"Change and improvement in all around I see. For God Who changes not abides with me."

That's the positive attitude toward change. Some of you know I recently spent a few days in the Holy Land. Most of my time there as spent alone in prayer. I have been there many times, but I'll never forget the morning when I woke before sunrise.

My room faced the Sea of Galilee. From my I window I could see the hills of the Golan Heights, dark, silhouetted against the sky of night. Then about 30 minutes before the rising of the sun, the sky became a brilliant orange. And as it changed from orange to pink, the first golden, melted yellow edge of the sun came above the horizon of the Golan Heights. The very top of the mountain seemed to be melting under the rising sun, until it emerged like a new life coming out of a womb sending its golden path across the Sea of Galilee which was like a mirror.

The only sounds were birds singing and the crowing of the cock. Across this beautiful, peaceful scene I sent a prayer of rededication to my Lord, Jesus Christ. It was a very important time in my spiritual pilgrimage.

Having completed my devotions, I picked up the phone and called my wife, Arvella, who was here in California. It was 5 a m., Tuesday, in Galilee, and 7 p.m., Monday, in California. My wife and I chatted briefly. I shared my experiences with her. And then instead of saying good-bye, she said, "Have a wonderful tomorrow." I said, "But tomorrow is already here." I continued, explaining, "Tomorrow is already today." Because of the time difference between Israel and California my today was her tomorrow.

The principle I want to share with you today is an important one. It is: Tomorrow is today! Of course! Don't worry about tomorrow. Concentrate on today, for your tomorrow is today. How you think and how you act today will determine your future. To an overwhelming degree, you can control your life, your changes, by how you perceive them. So, plan and pray your way toward tomorrow.

Now let's take a look at how different people approach this whole concept of change. There are many people who resist change. They resent it and they resist it Some people resist change because they're afraid that if things change, they might fail. Others are afraid that they might in fact succeed. Then there are those who are afraid that a change might make more demands on them.

There are other reasons why people resist changes. There are those who say, "I'm not going to change, because this is the way I've always been. I've always had these habits. And I'll always have them 'til I die."

This is what is called, in the study of alcoholism rehabilitation, denial. There are several people who have been helped through Alcoholics Anonymous. They know what I'm talking about. Denial is resistance to change. It is saying, "This is the way I am. I need to accept that fact before I'll ever be cured or change for the better."

There are a variety of psychological devices that we call subconscious defense mechanisms that cause people to resist change. You may need to lose weight, but you've been denying it. You might be drinking more than you should, but you really have not faced the fact that you have a problem. Or, perhaps you smoke cigarettes, knowing the risks that you are taking, but you think that it'll never happen to you. That's what you call denial.

There are those who resist change. Then there are those who adapt to change by being reactionary. They change only under negative pressure, and then they go through life complaining that they're victims. Such people react negatively by complaining and blaming it on others or any circumstance that will suit their need. We call that victimitis. You hear from them, statements such as:

"My mother made me do it."

"My husband insisted on it this way."

"I didn't have a good education."

"I didn't have the breaks."

"I'm the victim of prejudice."

Every person has the capacity to dream up reasons to be a reactionary. They are the resistors to change. They are the reactionaries to change.

Then there are what I can only call the possibility thinkers. They know change is going to happen. They know that nothing stays the way it is. But they happen to believe that they can, to an overwhelming degree, call the shots and determine how the change will happen.

Possibility Thinkers know that how they think today will determine to an overwhelming degree what happens tomorrow and the rest of the year. So, don't resent change. Don't look upon it as a threatening thing. Thank God for it. After all, change only means that we can improve.

When people are kind enough to say something good about my ministry, I express my gratitude for their faith in me. And when I meet people who find something justifiably missing and faulty in my work, I likewise thank them for their comments and I always add, "Keep tuning in, please, I'm going to get better."

That's the attitude that possibility thinkers maintain, and it is the secret of their joy-filled, successful life. Why don't you make that the hallmark of your life this year? "Keep tuning in to me, I'm going to get better. "

Do you have problems in interpersonal relationships? Look, things aren't going to stay the same. They're going to change.

Do you have problems in your spiritual life? Are you wondering whether to throw in the towel and abandon the whole subject of faith? Wait a minute! Believe in change.

As I celebrate the 30th anniversary of this ministry, I remember that there were tough years. There was a period of many years when under the glass top of my desk I kept some lines written by Dr. Butler, from Baylor University. I read them every day, week after week, month after month, year after year, when we had nothing except a dream, a vision, and mountains. We had great and glorious hopes, but no resources to make them happen. These were the lines that pulled me through:

"When things get rough, don't move. People and pressures shift. The soil remains the same, no matter where you go."

I read those lines and I made a commitment to God that I would never leave this church for any other job. I promised Him that I would never abandon my calling to build a great church on this property.

Why was I able to make that commitment in tough times? For the simple reason that I know things change. I just keep believing, thinking, expecting, and praying that things will change for the better.

I'll admit it takes a lot of inner strength to take a positive attitude toward change. So, how do you get that strength? How did I get it these past 30 years? I got it first of all because a lot of people prayed for me. We are a super successful ministry today simply because people prayed for us.

So, if you want to have a breakthrough, whether it's psychological, spiritual, emotional, financial, or professional, my advice to you is this: the first thing you need is a secret, silent corps of positive people who will pray for you.

I recently had a funeral for a wonderful friend of mine, 26 years of age. He was my guest in 1978 on television. At that time he shared how he wanted to become a minister. He was scheduled for a dangerous surgery for an aneurysm in the brain. The surgery was a success. Three months later there was another rupture. He lived for 6 and 1/2 years in a coma.

"Tragic!" you say. But not really. Brian's funeral, as his life, was an inspiration to hundreds. For, even though he was in a coma for 6 and 1/2 years, he was alive in his soul. When people talked with him they could tell that he heard and he understood. He radiated courage, even in that condition. He had a fabulous ministry in a coma for 6 and 1/2 years.

"Change and improvement in all around I see, Oh, Thou who changes not, abide with me." This faith, this possibility thinking reaction to change is no pollyanna affair. It is real and it works, even in the toughest of times, the most trying of changes.

Those of you who were in church last Spring know what I'm talking about. I called you last Sunday from Israel. And those of you who heard me, heard my tears as I was crying on the telephone.

The day before, there was a funeral in this church. The services were for a young mother, 32 years old, and her three little children. All of the children were regular in this Sunday school. The mother and the three children were all killed instantly in one car accident by a drunken driver.

The husband and father, who was suddenly facing life all alone, came to me and asked me to say a prayer for him in the Garden tomb when I was in Israel. And so, I prayed from that spot with the entire Crystal Cathedral congregation, via a phone link up.

Do you have problems today? Do you have hang-ups? Do you have hurts, addictions, or habits that enslave you? Do you have trouble believing in God? Do you wish you could have the breakthrough of faith? The first thing you need is somebody to pray for you. You can't pray your way through alone. I can't. And you can't either.

You need somebody to pray for you before you can expect a breakthrough. You also need to make a choice to believe and be positive, for breakthroughs happen when you choose to be positive. And being positive is making a decision that's positive.

Finally, if you are in need of a breakthrough, this year, you need the most important thing of all. You need to have one essential friend who believes in you. William Glasser, the psychiatrist, author of Reality Therapy, and The Positive Addiction, says "Every person needs one essential friend."

In Alcoholics Anonymous you're taught to find one person to whom you can bare your soul. Once an alcoholic finds a person with whom they can share everything, garbage and all, and not be rejected but embraced, then the breakthrough comes.

The same is true for me and for you. The breakthrough comes when you have one person that you can tell it all to. That friend to me is Jesus Christ. I know He's alive. He's living here in my life, and He wants to live in you.

This is probably the breakthrough for you this year. Maybe you're apathetic, dull, and bored with life. Perhaps you don't have anything exciting to live for. If so, then I urge you to look around. Listen to the people that are crying. Find the people who are hurting. You can be their friend.

When there are so many people who are hurting, there's no excuse for anybody saying, "I don't have anything to live for."

Become a Christian. I invite you to accept Jesus Christ now. He's alive. He can live in you. His love can come through your life. That's living.

Change - you are changing. You are not the same person you were 30 minutes ago. And where you're going to be tomorrow depends upon what you do in the next 30 seconds.

Let Us Pray: Thank You, God, that You have brought us to a place where we can understand that there is "change and improvement in all around we see, if the Lord will only abide with me." I thank You, God, for the persons who are, for the first time in their lives not resisting change, not resenting change, not denying that they should make changes and not being afraid of what people might say. Rather, we pray that they will welcome change and be prepared to make a commitment now, to become believers, to follow Jesus Christ, to become Christians, and let the love of Jesus flow through their life today and all through the months to come. Thank You, Lord. A breakthrough is happening now. Amen.