“You are your own worst enemy”. You’ve said this to someone or heard it about yourself. Far too often we are in situations where we sabotage ourselves. In any situation, if your behavior or choices are preventing you from achieving a positive outcome, you are sabotaging yourself. Self-sabotage is defined as any action that gets in the way of achieving your goals.
Can you recall a time when you’ve asked yourself, “Why? Why do I always do this? Or remember smacking your forehead with the palm of your hand saying something like, “I did it again!”, if so, it’s time to analyze your actions.
Unfortunately, if this sounds like you, (because it sure sounds like me) I’m sure self-sabotage is also reflected in your walk with God.
Hebrews 5:12 states “you have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies and cannot eat solid food” (NLT). Here we see that even when we walk in the will of God, hoping to fulfill His plan for our lives, we can hold ourselves back.
So the real question is, what holds us back? How do we get to a point in our lives where we start moving forward?
Research shows there are reason for these behaviors. A mindset of negativity and doubt sabotages any situation. Ultimately, negative thinking is poison and doubt is a sin. Next time you set your mind on something and then start thinking about “what if’s” or “I can’t do this” try to recognize it as a cycle of. sabotage.
Consider who you are in Christ. We were created to “speak before kings” (Mat 10:18) and we are to be like “trees planted by the water” (Jer 17:8). As children of the Great I Am, who speaks things into existence, we are quick to forget that nothing is impossible with Christ. God’s word teaches us to “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (col 3:2).
The Word also explains in Romans 14:23, that when we have doubt, we are condemned because to doubt is to be without faith and to be without faith is to be in sin. How is negativity and doubt sin? We were made to be more than conquerors through Christ who strengthens us in any situation. To be anything other than what God made us to be, is sin.
I remember a time when I set out to do something, prepared for it, prayed about, built myself up to go and do it, and then stopped dead in my tracks. FEAR. Fear is a self sabotager. Fear can take control of you not only mentally, but physically. In the face of something frightening, your heartbeats faster, you breathe faster, and your entire body becomes tense. It can paralyze you. This is why God commands us to Fear Not!
Joshua 1:9 (NIV) Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
God is with us wherever we go. Wherever we go, God is with us. If God is for us, who can stand against us? (Ro 8:31). There are over 365 scriptures about Fear, Anxiety and Worry in the Word. That is an awful lot of convincing and encouragement our Lord and Savior is trying to get through to us.
We can break the cycle of self-sabotage by creating a new cycle. Studying the Bible will transform our mind and the way we think, resulting in a new way of thinking so we can fulfill God’s plan for our lives and accomplish what we set out to do.
A great scripture to start with is Philippians 4:8. “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (NIV).
When you’re going after that new job, striving to pass a class in school, or pursuing the love of your life, focusing on the Word of God will prevent negative thinking, doubt and fear from sneaking up on you. Eliminate self-sabotage from your life.