Pastor Candy Christmas | Breaking Limitations (Part 2 – Barriers)
Many believers live far below their potential, not due to external circumstances, but because the enemy has established mental strongholds and self-imposed limitations. This message focuses on identifying and destroying these barriers to step into the fullness of God’s purpose and power. True spiritual victory begins by understanding that God has furnished you unto every good work.
1. Recognizing the Trap: How Mental Limits Hinder Purpose
The first and most critical step toward freedom is identifying the limitations the enemy has placed on your mind. These limitations prevent soaring in talents and callings.
The Eagle Analogy: Resigning to Restriction
Limitations are often self-imposed, even after the restriction has been removed. The source describes an eagle, initially held in a small cage while its wing healed. Even after being moved to a much larger cage, the eagle would only fly as high as the previous, smaller cage because it had set limitations in its own mind. The eagle could have soared into the mountains but resigned itself to the confines of the smaller cage.
Personal Example: Inferiority and Silencing
The speaker shares a personal experience where the enemy used a feeling of inferiority to restrict her ministry. Because the churches she visited were unfamiliar with Southern Gospel music, she felt her style was “out of date” and “antiquated”. This limitation led her to attend ministry events where the Holy Ghost moved, but she never sang one song, allowing the enemy to shut her mouth and keep her from singing the gospel.
The Lie of Unworthiness
The enemy aggressively works to instill doubt, questioning, and inferiority. This includes questioning giftings, calling, and ability to move forward. The internal voice often says:
- “I’m not perfect, I’m not ready”.
- “I’ve aged out”.
- “I’m not educated enough”.
- “My methods are antique”.
- “I don’t have formal training to be a speaker”.
Many great men and women of God throughout history overcame limitations like speech impediments, physical impairments, or lack of education.
The Devil’s Strategy: Permission and Doubt
The devil is identified as a liar and the father of lies. His primary strategy is to cause doubt, asking, “Did God really say?”. He goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Crucially, the devil cannot devour us unless we give him permission. He cannot take the power or anointing God has given, but he wants to make us doubt it.
2. The Solution: Act Before You Feel Ready
To break free, believers must counter the heart’s tendency to wait for perfection.
The Mindset Shift
The speaker emphasizes a personal declaration: “I act before I feel ready”. The Bible notes that the heart is “deceitfully wicked above all things”. God is always ready, and the Bible advises believers to be instant in season and out of season.
The Peril of Unbelief
Waiting for perfection or readiness is a form of unbelief that prevents God from moving. Jesus himself could not do mighty works in certain places, except healing a few sick people, because He marveled because of their unbelief.
Unbelief can even lead to tragic consequences. The source recounts the story of an officer who refused to believe the prophet’s word that food would be plentiful. The officer saw the fulfillment of the prophecy but was trampled to death by the starving people rushing out, demonstrating the devastating consequences of not believing the word of the Lord.
The sources ask: If you are not ready now, when will you be ready? The Holy Spirit inside you is ready to act and has furnished you for every good work.
3. Weapons of Warfare: Destroying Mental Strongholds
Once limitations are recognized, the next step is destroying them using the weapons of spiritual warfare.
The Word of God as a Weapon
The weapons of our warfare are not carnal (physical), but are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. A stronghold is defined as a place of security where the enemy hides. This place is built one rock at a time—a rock of offense, inferiority, failure, or defeat.
The central spiritual weapon is the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The Word of God is described as nuclear to the works of the devil.
- Jesus’s Example: When the enemy tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus used only the word of God to defeat him.
- The Power of Fire and Hammer: The Word is like a fire and like a hammer that breaks the rock into pieces. The Word is the only thing that effectively breaks down these rocky strongholds.
The Armor of God: Standing Firm
Believers must stand firm using the full Armor of God:
- Belt of Truth.
- Breastplate of Righteousness.
- Feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
- Shield of Faith: Used to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one (the lies and accusations that say “you’re not enough”).
- Helmet of Salvation.
- Sword of the Spirit (the Word of God).