How to Identify and Overcome Limiting Beliefs That Hold You Back
This morning I’ve been prayerfully considering again how I can live all of God’s plans and purposes for my life and how I can help others do the same.
The Point of Life
I think about this a lot. I often think about how to identify and overcome limiting beliefs that hold us back. As far as I can tell from the Bible, being and doing what God created me to be and do is the whole point of my life.
I am here only because God willed it. (Revelation 4:11, ESV). I exist because God Almighty decided I should exist, and He put me here on purpose and for purpose.
He made those plans based on His love, wisdom, and grace. He made those plans for me before He created the world. What I become and do matters, whether I do “big things” or “little things”. (2 Timothy 1:9)
I made lots of notes (again) and then I heard an interview with Josh Axe regarding his brand new book, Think This, Not That.
Think This, Not That
I immediately bought it and in the very first chapter read 4 sentences that I found powerful in living God’s purposes for our lives. Here goes:
“Regardless of where they originally come from, negative beliefs can become the soundtrack of your life and then start capping your potential and restricting your growth. THEY LEAVE NO ROOM FOR TRANSFORMATION. When left unchallenged, they will keep you from becoming the person you were born to be.
When you believe you are capable of very little, you BECOME capable of very little.”
Negative beliefs leave no room for transformation! We all want to grow and become more like Jesus. But if we let false beliefs remain planted in our minds (strongholds of wrong thought 2 Corinthians 10:4, ESV), they will block us from becoming all God has planned for us.
limiting beliefs: We Really do Fight Most of Our Battles in our Minds
As I was thinking about how to fully live God’s purposes, it came to me again that what I DEEPLY BELIEVE is the most important factor in how I live.
Mental knowledge, sometimes called “mental assent” gives me information but not transformation. I “knew” for years that Jesus died for my sins and that God loved me. But it had absolutely no effect on how I lived.
I knew it as information, but it had not gotten deep inside me yet.
As soon as I came to deeply believe that God loves me and I needed His saving grace, my life changed.
The same is true in how I live right now.
If I believe I am capable of very little, I will BECOME capable of very little.
Limiting beliefs leave no room for transformation.
Our hearts, our “bottom-brain”, our soul, has an incredible capacity in Christ. But we can severely limit what God can do in us and through us if we block it with wrong and limiting beliefs.
True beliefs. Beliefs based on God’s words, when internalized, set us free to be and do what God says we can be and do. (John 8:31–32, ESV)
The first step in getting rid of them is to realize what God says, the second is to identify the false belief.
My goal is to help busy believers experience God more deeply, grow consistently—both spiritually and personally—and confidently live out their unique purpose.