Overcoming Obstacles

Overcoming Obstacles


Obstacle: something immaterial that stands in the way, impedes, holds up progress. They create complication and conflict. They are barriers. And, we all face them. E. Joseph Crossman said, “Obstacles are things a person sees who take his eyes off the goal.” Frank Clark said, “If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably does not lead anywhere.”

Having anything of value in your life will be fraught with obstacles. In fact, obstacles are necessary for success as victory is achieved after many struggles and countless defeats. There will always be a reason why you cannot achieve it. There will always be a barrier as to why it cannot be obtained or be done. A new recruit looking at the daunting gauntlet of the obstacle course before him, feels “there ain’t no way I can do that.” But, before basic training is completed the obstacle course will be beaten! In life you will face obstacles. That is a given. What remains to be seen is, will you succumb to or overcome the obstacles?

So, why do people choose to be held down by obstacles rather than overcome them? Why do they choose to be bound to something they detest? Why will remain where they are so close to what they want to have and be?

1. Failure to take responsibility—In John 5 is the story of a man who had been laying near a pool of water that was believed to hold healing properties. An angel was said to come down at certain times and stir up the waters. Whoever would step into the water at that moment would be healed. This man had lain beside that pool for 38 years! He blamed his continued condition on there not being anyone there to help him. Your success depends on YOU! It is solely your responsibility. Jesus did not ask him “do you have anyone to help you?” He said, “Do you want to get well?”

• Accept responsibility for where you are. Accept your role in the way things are (whether you contributed to it or not)—end “the blame game and woe is me game”. Nothing you can do to change the past. But you can change your future!

• Accept responsibility that happiness is a choice—end the “who will make me happy game” Happiness is not contingent upon externals, it is determined by what is inside of you. Paul said; “I've learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I've found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.” Philippians 4 Message Bible

• Accept responsibility for your thoughts, feelings and actions and end the “I can’t do anything right” game. If you can change the way you think, you can change the way you feel. If you can change the way you think you can change the way you act. If you can change the way you think you can change your life.
2. Failure to Believe—Faith is essential for anything to change. You must have faith for a better future. You must have faith for a brighter tomorrow. You must have faith that things will get better!

• Truth is not enough—if truth was enough, then why are you where you are?

• Anointing is not enough—if anointing was enough, then why are you where you are?

• You must have faith that your life will turn around!

• Your perspective will determine your reality. Your perspective will determine whether you overcome or succumb. Feed your faith!!

3. Failure to Act—when instructed the man to pick up his bed roll and walk, the man had two choices: stay where he was on obey. This is perhaps, the strongest reason why people stay where they are. They fail to act. You will miss 100% of the shots you fail to make.

• Faith without corresponding actions is useless! Are you willing to be shown [proof], you foolish (unproductive, spiritually deficient) fellow, that faith apart from [good] works is inactive and ineffective and worthless? James 2:20 Amplified

• The journey of one thousand miles begins with a single step. Get up and start moving! The longer you fail to act, the more you cement yourself to where you are

We are only as hindered by obstacles as we allow ourselves to be. There are countless stories of how people have overcome insurmountable odds and achieved success. And, if they can do it so can you and me! So, take responsibility for where you are, believe that you were born to succeed and get up and moving!! You will find that there is a miracle inside of you!

Where was I thinking?

Where are your thoughts taking you?


Have you heard the expression “his brain is in neutral”? I take that to mean that a person’s brain is running, but going nowhere. There are lots of revving, smoke, vibration, allusions to power, and great expenditures of fuel, but nobody is going anywhere.

It is a shame, but we all have met or known someone with their brain in neutral. A person with great potential and natural ability who could easily succeed at anything they wanted to do. But instead of moving toward success and achieving something, anything, they live a life that produces absolutely nothing. They are always working on the next big thing. They are always talking big plans, big ideas they are going to do this, that and the other thing! These people have great aspirations but their biggest challenge is just getting out of bed in the morning. What’s up with that?

The problem is focus. If there is no sense of purpose then one feels no need to move in any particular direction. An aimless life is the result of aimless thought. Thoughts that are unfettered, free to think about whatever they wish whether good or bad, profitable or unprofitable will lead a person nowhere. There must be a desired destination for one to reach—a purpose. If there is no focus, no purpose, one will live a life devoid of any real significance. “Aimlessness is a vice” declared James Allen that should be avoided because it leads to destruction.

Success at anything is not an accident or a fluke. It is when preparation and timing intersect. One must be constantly moving toward their purpose in life in order to fulfill it. To reach your goal you must not allow yourself to think or meditate on those things that would detract you from reaching it.

Here are some things you can do to get your thinking on track:

1. Get a goal, get a purpose. Without any direction you will get nowhere. There is a story of a farmer who had a big get together at his farm. During the festivities, he invited a friend of his to accompany him to the barn. Once there, the farmer took him to the rear exterior wall of the barn. The wall was decorated with hand painted targets on it. In the center of each target was an arrow. The friend said to his farmer friend, “you are a great archer.’ You hit the bull’s eye every time.” The farmer replied, “No. I just shoot the arrow and then paint a bull’s eye around it.” Unfortunately, this is how some people live their lives. They just take a shot and hope it hits something. Purpose provides your life with a target to aim for. It provides you with direction. Imagine taking a trip to a particular destination, but having no map or instructions on how to get there. That is a sad way to live. Setting a goal, determining a purpose, will provide you with a destination. Purpose gives your life direction.

2. Make your purpose the focus of your life. Everything we experience on the outside was first determined on the inside. Our thinking affects the way we see the world and how we interpret events and circumstances. If we believe that we are destined to live a mediocre life, we will live such a life. It is vitally important that we find our purpose and build our lives with the desired result in mind. This is not as easy as it sounds. Each of us is prone to a particular way of thinking. Our thinking is the result of years of experiences that have created our belief system. Therefore, to fulfill our purpose, we must undo all of our previous ways of thinking and construct a new way belief system. It will take more than wishful thinking to change your life. It will take focus. A marksman must intentionally set his sights on his target. He cannot randomly discharge his weapon and expect to hit the bull’s eye. Marksmanship is all about precision shooting. The marksman must take into consideration such things as; stance, range, accuracy of weapon, accuracy of ammunition, wind velocity and sight adjustment. Any one of these things, if not taken into consideration, can result in missing the target. Does a marksman ever miss his target? Yes. What does he do? The marksman makes adjustments and refocuses. Your purpose is your focus. Zero in on it! You will miss the target from time to time. When you do, just refocus and make the necessary adjustments and you will hit the target!

3. Understand that accomplishing your purpose can be achieved by effort and practice. I had injured my right arm lifting an object. Upon medical examination, it was determined that the bicep tendon was severed and surgery was needed to reattach it. This meant that I was facing a long recovery time. My normal range of motion was severely impaired. Lifting my arm was strenuous and using it for long periods of time, was unthinkable. I had been accustomed to working out with weights three times per week. After the surgery, I could barley lift a fraction of the weight I had previous to the injury. The road to recovery would be a long one. Yet, I was given hope by my health care professionals that the normal use of my arm would indeed return. They informed me that by working the arm little by little I would regain range of motion and strength. And, as it turns out, they were right.

That same principle can be applied when it comes to accomplishing your purpose. Exercise it little by little. Just as physical stretching keeps muscles and joints strong and pliable; stretching yourself to achieve your purpose will do the same for you mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Be patient and practice over and over again. Then one day you will achieve what seemed impossible.

4. Purposefully change your thinking—purposefully incorporate positive influences in your life through associations, reading materials and positive affirmations. You are more likely to succeed if you have a mentor. Mentors are a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a kick in the seat of the pants to get you up and going. If you are to fulfill your purpose, you will need mentors in your life. It is imperative that you have a positive network of individuals in your life who celebrate you and challenge you to grow and be better.

Feed your mind through ingesting materials that challenge your thinking, motivate you to success, and inspire you to reach higher.

Positive affirmations serve by helping to undo dysfunctional belief systems that may be plaguing your life. You cannot change thought by thought. The way to change a thought is by changing your words. By changing your words you can effectively begin to change your life. Man is the only creature given the ability to bring what he thinks into reality. This is part of our divine nature. In Genesis chapter 1, the bible tells us that man was created in the image and likeness of God. God saw the world dark and void and His thoughts were expressed into words—“let there be” and it was so. We, who are God’s image here on earth, have the ability to think and speak and turn those thoughts and words into being. Jesus said, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.”(Mark 11:23 NKJV)

Where are your thoughts taking you? If they are moving you closer to failure than success, change them. You are the captain of your ship! Where do you want to be heading toward? Only you have the power to change you. And, the way to change your life and the direction it is taking begins by changing your thoughts!

"You don't always get what you deserve in football"

“You don’t always get what you deserve in football” said the announcer as I watched Arsenal get pummeled by Barcelona in the semi-finals of the UEFA champion’s league. Be advised I am speaking from a purely one sided opinion as I am in fact an Arsenal fan. Watching Lionel Messi of Barcelona dominate the field by scoring all four goals against the Gunners was aggravating enough. But it was the officials I really had a problem with. Allow me to explain.


European football is faced paced and the clock never stops. I prefer watching a soccer match over an NFL game anytime because of these two facts. The NFL has taken a game consisting of four fifteen minute quarters and been able to stretch it out for three hours!! Who has that kind of time?? And, who wants to spend the majority of that time watching beer and truck commercials? Not me.

However, there is a down side to soccer. One we Americans would have a problem with; there is no challenging an official decision. The NFL has allowed us to scream “look at the tape!” and thus decisions have been over-turned upon review. In soccer that option does not exist. You abide by the decision, good or bad and go on. Sometimes it works out against you, other times it is in your favor. In the case of Barcelona vs. Arsenal, there were many bad calls made. The officials made the decision based upon what they saw or thought they saw. Thus, the announcer commented; “In football, you don’t always get what you deserve.” Truly, Arsenal deserved better calls. I have no way to know if those calls would have made a difference in the outcome (Barcelona is a pretty good team). But, the fact remains, in football you don’t always get what you deserve and the same is true in life.

In life you don’t always get what you deserve. In life there is no challenging the decision, reviewing the tape, or stopping the clock and starting over. You deal with the decisions made and go on! You must get up; dust yourself off and keeping playing to win! Because in life you don’t always get what you deserve! Refuse to allow yourself to collapse into a sobbing heap of self pity. Refuse to allow yourself to be crippled by life’s circumstances. Refuse to cry “foul” every time something doesn’t go the way it should have. Refuse to whine and moan about how unfair it all is. The truth is life ain’t fair: get use to it!! KEEP PLAYING TO WIN.

Yeah, the decisions that got you where you are may have been bad ones. Yeah, you may not deserve what has happened to you. But are you going to be a victim or a victor? If you keep playing eventually good decisions will be made in your favor. If you stay in the game, you will get that undeserved decision to benefit you. The only way to win is to play on. Push through the hurt. Push through the disappointment. Push through the defeats. Stay in the game and win!

Romans 8:35-37 New Living Translation

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us’’

No, you may not always get what you deserve, but if you stay in the game victory is certain!