Barriers or Hurdles?

It only takes one person to question an existing “truth” in order to do the impossible.

From the late nineteenth century through the early twentieth, many athletes tried in vain to break the four-minute mile. It became an impenetrable time barrier, and many believed the human body could not survive such an endeavor.  

That was until May 6, 1954.

On a cold and wet day in Oxford, England, Roger Bannister stepped across the finish line and into the history books as he ran a mile in three minutes, fifty-nine and four-tenths of a second. 

Just over a month later, someone else broke the record. A year later, three runners broke the four-minute mark in a single race. Since then, more than a thousand runners have surpassed the “impossible” mile time.

But why have so many broken the record after it took mankind almost a century of trying?

Hope. Belief. Vision.

Once Bannister broke the record, it rewrote the “facts” of what was achievable. It was no longer a question of if it was possible. The rest of the world now knew what Bannister had known all along.

What is the four-minute mile in your life—the thoughts, beliefs, and false truths that create self-imposed barriers?

I can’t succeed.

I’m not smart enough.

I have a disability.

I don’t have enough money.

Nobody in my family has ever…

Usually something is only a barrier because we’re looking at it through the lens of our eyes instead of God’s eyes. At the end of the day, it’s what we choose to believe that restricts God from working His best plan in our lives.

But what if God working in us makes us stronger than we can imagine? What if you can get healed by touching a piece of cloth? What if you can have wisdom, without a high-school diploma? What if you can pay for your taxes by going fishing? What if God can use you to change the world, even if you were a murderer?

Listen to the video below as Pastor Mark talks more on Mental Barriers.