Have you ever felt as if there were forces trying to impede your forward progress? Ever felt like giving up and throwing in the proverbial towel because you were overwhelmed by those things that seem to rise up against you? I believe all of us, at one point or another in our life, have felt this way. The problem we often face is we are unable to put a finger on what it is that is keeping us in limbo. We know we are up against something and that something is keeping us in lockdown. We just do not know what it is. I have discovered that if I am going to overcome something in my life I have to identify what it is that is stopping me from moving forward. I have to identify the enemy!
Growing up it would have been very easy for me to accept my condition as something negative and develop a victim mentality. Hey, if anyone had an excuse it would have been a guy with one arm. I could easily have checked out on life and just accepted things for the way they were. Most people just expected me to do that and to live my life by one big excuse after another. (I talk about this in my ebook The HandBook which is on sale on Amazon!)
During my early years of life, I began to discover three primary enemies that kept fighting me trying to keep me from becoming what I was created by God to become. I believe that these three forces are predominant in all of our lives at one point or another and are desperately attempting to keep you and I from moving into what God has orchestrated for our lives. I want to help you by identifying what I have found these three enemies to be.
FEAR – Fear is crippling! Fear scares the life out of you. Fear of the unknown and fear of the future – they both have the ability to impede your progress. On top of that, I have learned something about fear that I have found to be quite interesting : Fear is contagious! You can catch it from others if you are not careful, so be careful who you allow to speak into your life. You fight fear with FAITH.
DESPAIR – It has been said that one can live weeks without food, days without water, minutes without air but only seconds without hope. Your greatest challenge will be to keep going on when it seems like nothing is happening. When it is hard to see the end result, it is often easy to feel that all hope is gone and slip into a place of despair. However, the good news is that you can fight despair with faith and hope. If you maintain hope, tomorrow really will be a brighter and better day, but if you lose your grip on hope, then it’s over. There have been more times than I can count on one hand (good thing I have at least 5 fingers) that I have had to deal with this thing called despair and wrestle it to the ground.
APATHY – The tendency to become indifferent is huge. The definition of apathy is simply lacking interest, enthusiasm, and concern. I have watched this deadly disease called apathy defeat many people throughout my life. I have watched young people succumb to apathy’s chilly grip and roll over and play dead for the rest of their lives. Apathy will suck the life out of you. It is an “I don’t care attitude” that will stop you in your tracks. Don’t allow indifference to get a foothold in your life. Get passionate about your life and what you are placed on this planet to accomplish.
By identifying what it may be that is keeping you from moving forward, you have a better chance of arriving at your destination God has selected for you. The Apostle Paul told Timothy, his young protege, to FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH! Keep pushing forward knowing God has something great for your life.
Believing in YOU!!
