When you try to grow and move beyond your current place in life, you may experience limiting beliefs that try to keep you stuck. The good news is, if you know it’s coming, you can be prepared to face and overcome those internal limitations.
Insecurities, past failures, things said to you by parents, fear about money - all kinds of things may rise up in your thinking and attempt to derail you from growing and moving forward.
The key is to know who you are in Christ, remember that you’re forgiven, and be honest with yourself.
What do you do when you try to move forward and face internal opposition?
Peter teaches a valuable principle in living by faith. He essentially encourages us to live by faith and do it well. He suggests making sure these specific character attributes are present in your lives as you seek to live by faith, following Jesus.
The interesting thing about it this, if you don’t have these godly attributes in your life, his solution is not to try to do better or work harder to be a good person, his solution is for you to remember that you’re already forgiven. Peter suggests that you have forgotten that your sins have been cleansed if you aren’t seeing these godly traits in your life.
Why would remembering that your sins have been cleansed develop godly character traits in your life?
You’d remember that you’re forgiven
You’d remember that God has cleansed you with the life-blood of Jesus
You’d remember that because you’ve been forgiven and cleansed that you’re holy before God because of this cleansing
You’d remember that you’re now in right standing before God because of this cleansing
You’d remember that you have a new heart that that has God’s character traits encoded within it
You’d remember that His spirit is in you
You’d remember that God is not holding your sins against you, even the sin of not being godly enough
You’d remember that you’re free from the law and that you’re not saved by works
You’d remember that you’re under grace and God is seeking to continually transform you into the image of Jesus
The list goes on…
Because you’d remember those things you mind would be renewed to your true eternal identity in Christ and you’d naturally bear the fruit of the character traits Peter suggests should be part of your faith.
The conclusion is that if you aren’t living godly, remember all these things, and it will renew your mind to the point that you experience transformation and naturally live how God would lead you to.
It’s a beautiful thing when you recognize the power of our freedom in Christ and how God’s spirit works best in us when our hearts are free from the condemnation of not being good enough. It may be paradoxical but powerful for certain.
Then What?
Keep in mind we’re talking about growth in your personal life. We’re also talking about moving forward in your assignment from God. I just know that all kinds of things will come up to keep you down and I want you to be prepared to overcome them when they do.
Once you have this process as part of your faith-walk in Christ you can face and conquer anything. This process will not allow you to stay in sin. This process will not allow you to stay in a place of debilitating limitations. It will remind you of the power that works in you and compel you to follow God freely and boldly!!
From then on you’re only limited by your unwillingness to remind yourself of how free and unlimited you are in Him!!
Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t, you’re right ~ Henry Ford
Practical Example
So let’s say you need to add more self-control to your faith walk with Jesus. You may need more self-control because you keep sinning. It would be important for you to go to God and confess your sin but you must do it from the attitude that you’re already forgiven, you’re not going to him for forgiveness, you’re acknowledging and remembering that you’re already cleansed and in right relationship with him.
This process promotes personal responsibility to guard your freedom and not slip back in to sin.
When you go to God with your sin as a believer, you aren’t seeking to be forgiven, you’re seeking to be reminded by God that you were already forgiven. It is incredibly powerful to know that you have not lost standing with God, that it was all in your own mind.
Now - because of your failures you may feel a sense of remorse for your sin, which is appropriate. As you recapture the reality that you’re already cleansed in Christ, it repositions your mind to walk in what’s already true of you.
You can’t become more virtuous, but you may forget that you already possess that character trait in Christ.
You’re not confessing sin to become forgiven, you’re doing it to be reminded that you already are. As you remember who you are in him, you will begin to display those attributes.
Know That It’s Coming
If you experience an old emotion, an old sin or something else from your past as you try to move forward, just remember that your heart is serving things up to you something that you need to process and let go.
If you bury something in your heart and never deal with it, when you go digging in there to get rid of it, the aroma of that thing may resurface. You may not have been equipped with the transformative power of the Gospel when you stuffed that issue away in your heart.
Now you have the knowledge and the grace to get rid of it for good!!
So be ready. As you seek to grow and step into your calling and assignment from God, you may be your own worst enemy. You may have such deeply rooted beliefs that try to hold you back - BUT - now you know how to deal with them. Now you know who you are in Christ. Now you know the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice on your behalf, and you can face anything about yourself and come out victorious in Christ!!!
You stand in a place of connection with the father that’s based on the finished work of Christ. He loves you, he has forgiven you, and you’re safe in him. From that place you can deal with anything, no matter what comes up, you can get it out of your life and get rid of it for good. No matter the limitation, you can take it to God and experience the power to be free.
