I want you to Let Go! What do I mean by this? I was just thinking about this yesterday, about how people intentionally yet subconsciously hold themselves back. But I really need you to know and understand that God made you as a floodgate. In other words, there is something in you that can open a floodgate of prosperity but because you’ve placed limits on yourself due to fear, you hold it back.
I looked up floodgate in the dictionary and found this awesome definition that explains it so well:
Floodgate: a last restraint holding back an outpouring of something powerful or substantial.
You have something in you that is powerful and substantial. There’s an energy in you that can influence people and events. It has a strong effect on people’s feelings, thoughts, and spiritual lives that’s of considerable importance, size, or worth that is real and tangible; not just a dream. How does that fit with you? I believe you know it and can feel it. I believe you desire it and want it. Yet, I also believe that somehow you stand in the way of it because you’re afraid.
Have you ever watched Seinfeld? I’ve watched every episode and it cracks me up because it’s so real life. If I remember correctly, the episode that comes to mind right now is when Seinfeld and George finally got NBC to work on their sitcom he and Seinfeld wrote. George went to his therapist who, at one point, congratulated him saying that George would now be rich and successful. George’s response was, “God would never let me be successful. He'd kill me first. He'd never let me be happy.” George thought it was too good to be true that he thought the only way it could happen is if God was about to kill him. In other words, George believed that things like that don’t happen for him. He believed it so much so that he considered that he wouldn’t live long enough to enjoy it. How many times have you thought this way or something similar?
What if you could push through your beliefs and fears that limit you and open your flood gates? What if you could break down those walls that keep your spirit locked up? What if you could finally walk straight through that dark shadow of fear that holds you back from God’s Promise?
It's easy to think that our fears protect us because we can’t see the unknown. We fear change. We crazily fear success. We all say we want success but when it gets close we may push it away or sabotage it because of what the change will threaten to take away from us that’s familiar. What do you think you will lose if you’re successful and prosperous? Do you think you’d lose your friends? Do you think people will get jealous and because you want to please them, you hold success away from you? Are you afraid that success will put you in a lonely place if the same thing isn’t happening for others close to you? You’d be an outcast? How much are you holding yourself back because of others? Are you a people pleaser who wants to be liked?
What are your fears of success? What holds you back truly? What is that thing that rears its ugly head when you’re ready to push forward and make a change, do something different, or make a transformation. You’d be surprised how much people hold back because they let the idea of what others think validate their success. You’d rather hold up your floodgate than to rock the boat. You’d rather risk people who you don’t know to starve than to stand out from the crowd. Yes, your floodgate can feed millions. Think about that. You may be sacrificing the lives of millions for a few folks whom you allow to validate God’s Promise on your life. Does that even sound right? How can others have that much influence over you about God’s gift and Promise for your life. No, it doesn’t make sense.
Like George, you may also hold back due to a warped idea that you have about God placing limitations on you. Imagine that God gives you gifts, talents, and a beautiful promise to feed others but He’s also the one who doesn’t want you to use them because you should always live in condemnation. Does that even sound right? Is like saying I’m blessed but should be punished. You can mix and match with God. One day you believe your blessed and God will prosper you. Next day you believe your life is cursed and punished because you can’t get ahead. That’s not God. That’s you being confused and living in a confused state that keeps your life living in a spiritual and unstable pattern.
I’m going to tell you how you can begin to open your flood gate. I’m not promising you that it will be easy. You’re dealing with many years of certain beliefs and fears about yourself that you’ve created or have picked up from others. But I believe with determination, you could be one of those who opens the flood gate that allows the Spirit to unleash power and abundance.
Here are some suggestions:
1. Pray. Thank God for His Gifts and Promise in you. Ask Him for forgiveness for allowing certain beliefs to hold you back. Ask Him to help you face those beliefs and then overcome them.
2. Face your beliefs and your fears. Write in a journal what holds you back. Make a list. You need to be completely honest and authentic. Here’s a clue on if you’re doing it right: The Holy Spirit will touch you and your spirit will drown in Him with tears. Let it all out!
3. Acceptance. Accept that you are worthy and beautiful. Accept that you are powerful in Christ and all that’s in this earth God gave to you. You can do this by writing affirmations about yourself in a journal. You can also find scriptures that confirm this for you.
4. Meditate. Envision yourself as the person you see as the Ultimate You. What do you look like? What do you feel like? How do you carry yourself? What are you doing? See yourself as the self who has dared to open her floodgate and is now courageous in God’s Promise.
5. Practice. Test yourself over and over. The more you face the fear, the weaker it will get. If you find yourself making a decision and you run through your mind how others will think about it, cut them out the picture and then make the decision. The more you do this, you will find yourself living a happier life because it’s what you want and not what you think others will be happy with for you.
6. Receive God’s test. As you begin this journey, you’ll start to see experiences pop up that will test you. Don’t let God down. Don’t get frustrated. See it for what it really is. Walk through the fear.
7. Set Goals for success. Create one goal at a time around your ‘fear list’ under #2. Start small and then go big. As you walk through each one, you’ll get used to the feeling of success. Success will become first hand.
Listen, you are more than you give yourself credit to be. The sooner you grow into your Purpose and Promise, the sooner, God can get His glory from your life and those who you are called to feed. Time is a precious thing and every minute that you wait becomes very expensive to your future and the future of generations to come. Understand that this is all bigger than you. There is a BIG PICTURE here. Open your eyes, heart, and spirit to your space of influence. Face yourself! It will change everything!