You’ve Got to Go For the Root – Letting Go of What’s Holding You Back

The number one deterrent to success in any area of life is self-imposed limitations derived from past negative mental conditioning. The reason for the action steps in the last blog was to assist you in discovering the obstacles standing in your road to success in life. It is important to understand that every single limitation you have is imbedded in your mind. It is in how you have been programmed to think about yourself, God, others, your potential, your life purpose, health, finances, relationships, vocation, and future.

These limiting thoughts though, are not based on truth, they are based on lies. Lies you believe to be true. I have learned this first-hand. For a number of years I had behaviors that were incredibly damaging to my life. Try as I might I couldn’t overcome them. Counseling, prayer, accountability groups, behavior modification, nothing worked in helping me overcome them.

One day when reading “Shattering Your Strongholds,” by Liberty Savard, I read a chapter that addressed finding the root of the problem as the only way to truly overcome negative behaviors. Since nothing else to this point had worked, I decided to spend time searching for the root cause of my destructive behaviors. Sure enough, when I uncovered the root, I found the answers. I discovered the lies I had believed, and I was able to replace them with truth that brought me freedom. When I replaced the lies with the truth, my behaviors literally changed overnight!

Everything that happens in life, good or bad, positive or negative, is the result of something else. There is a natural law in effect that is just as powerful as the law of gravity. It is the law of cause and effect. In Philosophy it is known as Causality. Causality is the relationship between an event (the cause) and a second event (the effect), where the second event is a consequence of the first. The Bible calls it sowing and reaping. Galatians 6:7 declares, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows that shall he also reap.”

According to scripture, words are seeds. (Read Mark 4) Whether the words are from God or the enemy doesn’t matter. They are still seeds. The purpose of a seed is to produce a harvest in your life. The words (seeds) that dominate your thinking will produce after their kind in your life. This works in both the positive and negative sense. Positive, faith-filled words produce positive faith-filled results. Negative, fear-filled words produce negative fear-filled results in your life.

If you were told all your life that you will never amount to anything, you grow up believing you are incapable of being who God made you to be. The result is you never truly become the person God created you to be. Why? Because the seed, based on the lie, has been planted in the soil of your mind and is producing after its own kind. It has conditioned you to accept failure, low self-esteem, and living below your potential, as your lot in life.

On the other hand, if you were told that you could do anything God created you to do, and become everything God created you to be; you expect to be productive in life. Your expectation, created by the seeds planted in your mind, produces the harvest of being productive and successful in life. You will always rise to the level of your expectation.

So the key to letting go of what’s holding you back is to uncover the root and destroy it. By uncovering the root to your lack of growth, effort, and negative results, you uncover the lie that’s holding you back, and are able to replace it with the truth. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32

Here’s a simple method, which I was introduced to by my wife, that has had a profound effect in my life. As you uncover the root (lie) of what is holding you back, write it down. Then find the truth, what God’s word says about you, and write it under the lie. Then write down an action you can take to ingrain the new belief in your mind.

For example:

Lie: You’ll never amount to anything in life.

Truth: I am created in the image of God. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Other people just like me have accomplished great things in their lives.

Action: Find something you’ve always wanted to do, but have never attempted because of the lie you’ve believed. Study up on the subject and take a step of faith to accomplish it.

Lie: What you are attempting to do is impossible.

Truth: All things are possible to him that believes. Other people have accomplished what they were told was impossible. The Wright Brothers were told by their father “if God wanted man to fly He would have given them wings.” Yet they believed they could do the impossible, and they did.

Action: Spend time reading about ordinary individuals that did extraordinary things such as Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, and Sam Walton.

By doing this you are exposing the lie to the truth of God’s word and taking the power the lie has had on you away. You are getting rid of the lie and replacing it with the truth, which makes you free.

After you have written the lie you have believed, and replaced it with the truth of what God says, you need to keep the list with you and review it on a daily basis until the new seed begins to produce new thoughts. In turn the new thoughts begin to produce new actions which lead to new results in your life. This is the key to what the Bible calls “renewing the mind.” (Romans 12:2)

It is a fact, “Change your thoughts and you will change your life.” From this day forward as you begin to change your thoughts, by dealing with the lies you have believed about yourself, and replacing them with the truth, you will begin to see more positive, life changing results.

Action Steps:

1. Review the list of limiting beliefs you uncovered in the previous blogs action steps.

2. Write down the limiting belief, which is a lie, on a piece of paper.

3. Write the truth of what God’s word says right below the lie.

4. On a daily basis for at least 21 days (how long it takes to form a new habit) read and speak the truth out loud.

5. Write down and implement actions that will help imbed the truth in your mind.

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What’s Holding You Back?

You are created with incredible potential. Perhaps one of the greatest burdens a person can bear is undiscovered, undeveloped, and undeployed potential. So, why if we have such great potential, do we not maximize or live up to it? Perhaps it’s because we have allowed invisible barriers to hold us back.

If you are going to enjoy the “good success” God has promised you, then you are going to have to discover what is holding you back and work to eliminate it from your life.

Several years ago a study was done to determine how we become conditioned to failure and rejection over time. A large northern pike was taken alive and placed in a large aquarium. The water temperature and surroundings were designed to be like the natural environment from which it was taken. Then, live minnows were put in the tank. In the wild the pike fish survive by eating minnows. The pike thought he was in heaven. When he was hungry he ate all the minnows he cared to eat

A few days later, the researchers played a trick on the Pike. They placed a large glass cylinder of water into the tank, and then filled it with minnows. The Pike tried to get to the minnows only to bump his snout against the invisible barrier. He tried over and over day after day to no avail. Finally he gave up and settled on the bottom of the aquarium.

The researchers then removed the cylinder allowing the minnows to swim freely. To their amazement the Pike never attempted to eat any of them. They would swim right past his face, brush up against him, but he never moved. Due to the painful experience of hitting his snout on the invisible barrier he was persuaded that he would never have another minnow. In the end, he starved surrounded by minnows.

Many of us are just like the poor Pike. We have allowed ourselves to be conditioned to accept what comes our way. We have given up because of the setbacks and obstacles we have encountered on the road to success. We have developed a belief system or mindset of mediocrity or failure. Sadly, what holds us back are not physical barriers. They are invisible barriers; barriers in our minds. Wrong belief systems, fear, negative attitudes, unrealistic expectations, past hurts and rejection, unresolved issues, poor self-image, preconceived notions, the opinions of others, and bad theology, just to name a few.

The writer of the book of Hebrews wrote, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” (Hebrews 12:1 TLB) In order to follow the path God has laid out for you, to accomplish the goals you set, to finish what you start, to see your potential realized, to see your dreams manifested, you must let go of whatever’s holding you back.

Now, here’s the good news. Things don’t have to stay the way they are. You have the ability, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to let go of what’s holding you back. You have the ability to become everything you were created to become. You have the ability to be successful in your personal, spiritual, social, physical, vocational, familial, and financial life. It starts with getting rid of the stuff that’s holding you back.

Some may say, “That sounds good, and I know it’s true, but it’s easier said than done.” And, you’re right. In my next blog, I will share with you some secrets and principles for letting go of what is holding you back. But first you must take the following action steps. They are designed to help you uncover the invisible barriers that are holding you back. After all, you can’t let go of what is holding you back, until you know for sure what it is!

Action steps:

1. Do you really want to be successful in all areas of your life?

2. If yes, are you willing to do what you need to do in order to be successful?

3. Take out a sheet of paper and evaluate the following areas. Be honest!

a. What kind of attitude to I possess? Is it negative or positive?

b. What is my work ethic? Am I lazy or ambitious?

c. What preconceived notions do I have about myself, my career, my purpose, my finances, my relationships?

d. Do I allow fear to dominate and control my life? What am I afraid of?

e. What past hurts and rejections do I constantly think about and blame for my lack of success?

f. How do I view myself? Do I feel good about myself and believe in the abilities God has given me? Or, Do I dislike myself? Why?

g. What have I been taught, from a Theological standpoint, that have influenced my belief systems in a negative way?

h. What do I believe about, God, success, money, relationships, family, work, and life? Why do I believe these things?