Human beings are bound to face times of difficulties in life and this is what makes life what it is. As far as one lives, limitations to goal achievement will always surface to stop you from getting to the target you have set for yourself. Whatsoever thing may come our way in life, we are to face such with courage and break every limitation.
Break means to separate something into two or more pieces. It also means to escape from someone or somewhere by using/applying force. The word ‘overcome’ means to control a feeling or problem that prevents you from achieving something. It could as well mean to fight and win against someone or something. It could be better still be put as having such a strong effect on someone that he/she becomes weak, unconscious or unable to control their feelings.
Limitation is the act of limiting something or the limit on how good someone or something can be or what they are able. Storm, connotatively, means unpleasant occurrence, life full of ups and downs, limitations, barriers and/or hindrances. The limitations and storms of life are what we are expected to break in order to move on with life.
There are number of reasons for the occurrence of limitations and storms and they include:
o There will always be storms because there is an expected good end
o Storms always want to stop you from getting to the end/achieve result
o Storms come to make you turn back
o Storms know how strong, focus and determine you are and want to discourage you
o Storms are life lessons or experiences and you must learn from them
In times of storms and limitations of life, there are number of things you must know and feed your spirit with to enable you overcome:
o They are for a short time
o They are time wasters
o They are simple to overcome and break, but you need a key
o They are at times purposely created
o They are meant to create fear and discouragement
o Storms are part of life and inevitable
o They are test for experience
o They are to strengthen us when we eventually overcome and get them broken
It is quite good here to talk about those things that can serve as limitations or storms in life so that when you see them, you can better appreciate them (see them as mere challenge) and not to see them as unsolvable problems. These include:
o You can be a limitation to yourself
o Your relatives and family members
o Your experience and past as a result of sufferings and pains
o Your mentality, thinking and philosophies of life
o Your perceptions and act of human calculations, rudiments of this world or traditions
o Your cravings and unwholesome heart desires
o The environment (threats and forces)
o Your habits, attitudes and behaviours
o Your confessions, speeches and beliefs
o Your set standards and choices in life
o Your enemies and life circumstances
o Your life goals, purposes and objectives
o Your spirit of complacency i.e. settling for the good or better instead of best
Let me point out to four major ways or tactics of overcome storms and limitations of life that I have learnt as a Christian over the years. They are biblical standards of overcoming storms and they are:
o By speaking to the storms or limitations as Jesus did in the boat i.e. positive confessions
o By encouraging yourself and be courageous enough to face the storm as David did when his people were taken captive. The bible says ‘he encouraged himself in the Lord’
o By consulting your creation, God as Moses did in Exo 14:10
o By having faith in God, learning his guidelines to every storms of life as he has given us. Understand his power and what he wants you to do at this time
The major setbacks to breaking limitations and calming storms of life are innumerable but some of them are:
o Lack of faith in God and to speak to the storms
o Complaints and negative comments or confessions (Ex 14:10b)
o Fear (Ex 10:10b)
o Lack of courage or boldness
o Lack of focus