Believe That God Will Break Through Your Barriers

We all, at times, experience circumstances that create obstacles which block our ability to believe what God has promised in His word. Without belief, we are unable to experience all of what He has for us to do in this life (Mark 11:24), and consequently, we will not be very effective in building the Kingdom.

“But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord” (James 1:6-7).

Depending on where we find ourselves in life, our obstacles could be:

- Career barriers, like Jesus’ disciples, when they fished all night and caught nothing (Luke 5:5)

- Relationship barriers, like the Samaritan woman, who’d had five husbands and the man she was currently with was not her husband (John 4:18)

- Financial barriers, like the widow woman who said to Elisha, “the creditors are coming to take my two sons to be slaves!” (2 Kings 4:1)

- Spiritual barriers, like David, when he cried out, “How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?” (Psalm 13:1)

- Self-image barriers, like Moses, when he said, “Who am I Lord… I am slow of speech and slow of tongue” (Exodus 4:10)

- Fear and anxiety barriers, like the 10 spies who returned from the Promised Land, and said to the people, “We cannot go up and take the land, there are giants in the land and we are like grasshoppers in their sight” (Numbers 13:33)

- Cultural and racial barriers, like Jesus when they said of Him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46)

- Emotional barriers, like Elijah, who suffered from deep depression (1 Kings 19:8-10)

- Religious barriers, like the Pharisees, who were so focused on the letter of the Law that they were blind to the Spirit of it (2 Corinthians 3:6)

Whatever the barrier is, breaking through is never easy. It takes God's enabling grace, personal determination and a kind of holy discontent, meaning you simply become sick and tired of being stuck. In fact, breaking through barriers can be scary; everything in you will shout pull back! But in order to succeed, we must embrace the courage God supplies and push forward.

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“Jesus said to him, ‘If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes’” (Mark 9:23).

Jesus made it clear – belief is an essential key to breaking every kind of barrier. Sadly, the thing that hinders most Christians in life is the ability to remain standing strong in faith, especially when we don't immediately see God move in response to our prayers. Like Peter, we take our eyes off Jesus, and begin to sink in the stormy sea.

But clearly, God's unlimited power to do miracles is only restrained by our ability to believe Him for the miracle (Mark 6:5-6). As Jesus said, we must believe first, then we will receive: “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24).

This spiritual principle is demonstrated in 2 Kings 4:4-6, by the miracle of the outpouring of oil to pay the widow woman's debt. Elisha told her to go and borrow containers from her neighbors. God supernaturally filled them. And it was only after every container that she provided had been filled that the oil stopped flowing. I think we can presume that had she borrowed more jars, the oil would have continued to flow. Her belief (or unbelief) put a limit on the miracle God could do in her life.  

My question is, how often do we limit the power of God like the widow woman?  How often does our lack of vision prevent God from using us to do great things in the Kingdom of God? “God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we can ask or think!” (Ephesians 3:20). God wants you to stretch your faith, break through every barrier, and accomplish great things for His Glory!

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“These things says He who is holy, He who is true, ‘He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens’” (Revelation 3:7).

Many people feel like every door of opportunity has closed, one after another. No matter what they try, they can’t catch a break. They live frustrated lives, defeated, and have simply given up. But all that can change because God is THE door opener, even in the most unlikely situations!

Remember Esther, the orphaned slave girl, raised by her uncle Mordechai in a foreign land. She lived under King Xerxes of the Persian Empire. On the surface, it appeared that Esther had a bleak future and was destined to live a life of servitude among pagan worshippers. She had barriers all around her in life. But God is a door opener! Through a series of unusual events, the King of the empire chose this unlikely slave girl to be his new queen – Queen of the most powerful empire in the world.

God continued to give her great favor and ultimately, Esther was in the right place, at the right time to influence King Xerxes, and to allow the Jewish people to survive an attempted genocide.  Only God could have opened doors of opportunity like that for Esther. Despite every barrier she faced, God opened the necessary doors for her to walk through, to fulfill her destiny.

And God is no respecter of persons; if we continue in faith and follow His leading, God will open the right doors, at the right time, for us as well. And finally, remember – God is faithful: if a door does not open for you, it is not necessary for you!

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“Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19).

Remember this aspect about God whenever you find yourself facing an impossible situation, especially, if you’ve prayed and cried and done all you know to do. His answer may be no, or not yet because He has something better in mind! If we focus on the goodness of God, and His love for us, we will ultimately never be disappointed.

But He never says, I can't or it's impossible. He is a God who makes roads through the wilderness and rivers in the desert!

I remember my first published book attempt. I tried and tried to get it published (back in the day before Kindle Direct!) No one was interested. I was told it’s impossible, there’s no way to get a book published unless you have a big name and a big audience. And since I was a nobody, it was just impossible. But do you know what God did? The impossible!

One Sunday morning, a Pulitzer Prize winning author for New Yorker Magazine drove past our new church facility. She was astounded to see this huge building that had sprung up, seemingly overnight, in this small Connecticut town. She pulled in to visit the worship service, and afterward, asked me for an interview. She wrote such a wonderful feature on this ministry that the book publishers began to beat down our doors. And the rest, as they say, is history.

God made a road through the wilderness and a river in the desert.

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There’s an often overlooked story in the Bible about Joseph’s last moments with his father Jacob, found in Genesis 48. In this account, Jacob is an old man close to death. Joseph comes to say his good-byes, and to receive Jacob’s blessing on Manasseh and Ephraim, Joseph’s two sons. Jacob said to his son, Joseph, I will bless your sons as if they were my own children!

In that cultural tradition, the right hand was used to give the greater blessing, and it belonged to the firstborn son. So Joseph placed the oldest son, Manasseh, in front of Jacob’s right hand, and his younger son, Ephraim, on his left. By that time, Jacob was nearly blind. As he started to give the blessing, he crossed his hands, putting the right hand on the younger son and his left on the older.

Joseph stopped him, saying, No Dad, I had them lined up for you! Just put your right hand on Manasseh, the older, and your left hand on Ephraim, the younger.

Then Jacob said something very interesting, and it gives us insight into God and why we should believe for bigger breakthrough in our lives:

“’I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.’ So he blessed them that day, saying, ‘By you Israel will bless, saying, ‘May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!’ And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh” (Genesis 48:19-20).

In other words, Son, I know who's next in line for the blessing, who deserves the blessing, but I’m going to put the greater blessing on the one who isn’t lined up for it and doesn’t deserve it!

Jacob crossed his hands on purpose, which is just the way God is. He loves to "cross His hands" and grant us supernatural favor, to put us in positions of influence we didn’t earn, or weren't next in line for, simply because we're His children. God loves to bless and reward those who pursue Him, and who are faithful to ask in prayer. Remember “you have not, because you ask not” (James 4:2).

 But regardless of your barrier, and as exhilarating as a sudden, supernatural break through can be, everyone of us is assured that we may inherit God's promises through faith and patience! (Hebrews 6:12).

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