What's Limiting You?
What’s your limit? Did you know that limits are learned? Have you ever had to tell a child not to touch a hot stove or not to run in the street? How about the confidence of a five-year-old? Maybe you’re like me and proclaimed in kindergarten orientation that you would be the president of the United States one day. Unknowingly, we pick up limits. Life, people, and our own voice slowly and quietly establish limits of what we believe God can and cannot do in our lives.
We need to eliminate three phrases from our thoughts and speech if we want to take the limits off!
1) I can’t--- You can’t or you won’t? Much of the time, our confession of cannot actually is a will not. This statement often comes from feelings of doubt or insecurity. When God calls you to do something, you will feel like you can’t do it in your own strength. The beautiful thing is that He never asked you to. The point of feeling like you can’t is a great starting point for your faith! Stop saying and professing that you can’t and decide that if God said it, I’m doing it! His power is perfected in your weakness. God works best when we realize we need to rely on Him! Read about Gideon in Judges 6. When approached by an angel, Gideon didn’t even respond at first. When addressed as a mighty man of valor, Gideon looked around to see who else might be around that the angel was talking to. Gideon didn’t see himself as a mighty man of valor; he saw himself as the least of his tribe. How you see yourself matters! Start seeing, speaking, and aligning with what God’s word says about you, and what He says is possible through you instead of all of the “I can’t” confessions!
2) It’s too hard--- The enemy loves to put a limit around you as a child of God through adversity. Do you quit or give up the minute adversity comes? The enemy loves to use adversity to back you off of what God has. God tells us that adversity actually makes us stronger (James 1). If you face adversity, instead of quitting, allow it to fuel you to keep going! In Exodus, Moses had to take the Israelites the long way (like the really long way) through the desert. God said that He knew if the Israelites faced adversity right away, they would go back to Egypt. Don’t allow the enemy to cause you to quit when things get hard; let the trial grow your faith! Take the limit of adversity off!
3) What if---- The what if limit is put on through fear. Fear loves limits. Fear keeps you caged. What lies have you been entertaining about what if this happens? In Daniel 3, three Hebrew boys were told to bow before an idol. They knew this violated their worship to the one true God. The King tried to get them to compromise out of fear by telling them he would throw them into a hot furnace to die if they didn’t bow. These boys could have gotten caught up in the “what if,” but instead, they responded with an “even if” In Daniel 3:17, they declared, “even if you through us into the fire, our God is faithful.” What are the narratives of fear that try to limit you? What are the “what if’s “ in your life that you need to turn into “even if’s God is faithful”? Disarm fear with faith; if you feel limited by fear today--do it anyway. God will never let you down!