Now, some examples I can think of in the area of barriers are of fear, denial, not taking responsibility, lack of motivation. Plus, there are many more. They are deeply personal. They’re different for each of us, there’s a lack of trust. Perhaps because of past experience, I may not want to trust anyone. I don’t want to be hurt again. And what about those who come to Australia and have to learn a new language? Now that’s a barrier. How difficult that is. Having a difference in language is probably the top communication barrier anywhere in the world. Communication can be complex when people don’t understand a word you’re saying, and what about those?
Have a disability. That’s another issue affecting many people. And so there are many barriers that people have to contend with, breaking through barriers, not easy, but with God’s help. It is possible, God says he will help you with obstacles that get in the way. I think one of the barriers is this fear of what others think of me. If you want to be successful in life, you can’t take what others say.
Personally, it’s not helpful to react to everything you hear taking it to heart. The only person that you should compare yourself to is the person you were yesterday. As long as you’ve made some sort of improvement on your former self and you’re on the way to success, the biggest prison that you can live in is this fear of what others think of you. But what God knows about me is more important than what others think about me. You are a child of God created by Him, for Him. He doesn’t leave you alone to battle with inferior thoughts like this. That could drag you down. Now just think about it for a moment. If you did not care what other people think then you would be the most confident person in the world.
You wouldn’t be dealing with those discouraging thoughts. Oh, I’m too old for this. I can’t do that. Fear would be something in the past how liberating that would be. But unfortunately, there are mean people in this world. So, I’m saying this morning don’t allow people to hurt you with negative words. Their words are irrelevant. You are fearfully and wonderfully made, and God thinks good thoughts about you.
So think good thoughts about yourself as well. Fear itself is a huge barrier for many people, the fear of failure fear you’re being made a fool of or being laughed at. And as for a fear of failure, everybody fails. Successful people fail all the time. They don’t give up. They use their failures as a learning tool and as a springboard to success, surround yourself with good people who will encourage you and allow you to be yourself. No one likes toxic people. They don’t want to see you succeed because they will feel inadequate themselves.
Negativity that drags you down. Don’t dwell on what could go wrong. Imagine how incredible your life would be if everything goes right, and of course, it doesn’t go that way. But combined with your faith in a living, loving, powerful God and your own positivity, you’ll have a better chance of enjoying a full life. Dwelling on the past is called guilt Dwelling. On the future is called anxiety.
Both of these are a major waste of time. You can’t go back in time. There’s no point dwelling on the past mistakes. Yes, you should always learn from mistakes that you’ve made and work your hardest to avoid making them in the future. But that’s really all about you can do.
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I love what’s called the serenity Prayer. Maybe you’ve heard it. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, encouraged to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference.
Now that’s a powerful prayer to overcome your barriers if you think about the state of our world. Yes, there are a tonne of things going wrong, but there’s no sense in letting these events get you so down that you’ll fail to improve your own life. There’ll be things in your life you wish you could change, but maybe you can’t let these things go and focus on what you can do to make the world a better place. Even if it’s something small in your community, you’ll still be doing your part to improve some aspects of the world that you live in and you’ll be improving your own life and, in the process, getting rid of personal barriers one by one.
Let’s Pray
Dear God, there are many barriers in my life. And, Lord, I pray that you will come with your wisdom and discernment to show me what the barriers are. Sometimes I put barriers up for no reason. And, Lord, you can come and remove them one by one. And this is a prayer, I ask, in the name of Jesus, amen.
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