Do you often wonder why you’re not where you’d like to be in life? Wonder if you’ll ever live the life of your dreams? Well, I’m realizing that we are the reason why. We often stand in the way of a better life for ourselves.
You are stopping you.
We are the reason we are where we are in life. Remember on my birthday when I wrote Less of me, more of Him? Well, every since then the Lord has been doing a work on me. It’s been a work like no other.
One example: The other day the Lord was showing me something about myself and it really stopped me in my tracks. It humbled me. I thought: Lord, I don’t have a problem with that. Now, I know I’m not perfect, but my thinking was that’s not one of my problems. The Lord used this situation to teach me so much:
1. WE ARE ALL HUMAN and none of us are exempt from struggling with certain things.
2. IT’S ONLY BY HIS GRACE that I don’t struggle with certain issues. Don’t ever pridefully say How could you struggle with that? Instead, thank the Lord for what you do struggle with. It could be worse, and it’s only by His grace that it’s not. This reminds me of the book Purpose Driven Life which states: Any of us put in a particular situation are capable of any sin.
3. NONE OF US had any input on our natural weaknesses. Some things we all naturally struggle with and that’s just how it is. We didn’t choose, we just came here that way.
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”
– Romans 7:15
You know what the Lord is growing me in? Humility, understanding, compassion.
The Lord has work for each of us to do. He created us all for a particular purpose. The problem is not regarding our ability to do the work He created us to do, because He put in us what we need to get the job done.
The issue at hand is US.
You are stopping you.
What condition is our heart in? Our mind? How are we on the inside? We try so hard to look the part and sound the part, while all the while we’re missing it. We’re overly focused on the outside, but God doesn’t look at the things people look at. God looks at the heart (I Samuel 16:7).
How are you on the inside?
Your thoughts, your attitudes, your secret sins, your prejudices, your insecurities, your fears. That’s what He’s after- those things that make us uncomfortable. The things that we try to cover and hide are the very things that God desires to deal with.
We cannot conquer what we will not face.
We are standing in the way between us and our dreams. We are standing in the way of fulfilling our purpose on this earth. It’s not God, it’s us. Let’s not forfeit what God has for us due to fear, insecurity, pride or shame.
Let’s deal with ourselves so we are able to do everything that God created us to do. Don’t stand in your own way any longer.
