Chasing Dreams While Battling Self-Limiting Beliefs, Part 3

Overcoming Self-Limiting Beliefs Through Experience

The Battle Against Our Self-Limiting Beliefs

Self-limiting beliefs attempt to restrict our potential and prevent us from achieving our God-given dreams by creating personal doubt and by portraying us as inadequate and incapable of attaining our goals. Self-limiting beliefs undermine self-trust, heightening our fears of failure. We may become overly concerned with potential negative outcomes/or rejection from God and others, or both, if we make the wrong decisions or fail to perform a task properly. Because we don’t fully believe in ourselves, self-limiting beliefs can keep us in our comfort zones, lead us to play it safe, and keep us from taking risks. Dreams usually don’t get attained when we play these games.

Fear is “false evidence appearing real”, lies Satan implants in our brains (often through our self-limiting beliefs) to convince us that we cannot when we actually can. This often happens because the brain repeatedly makes false, projected guesses and predictions based on convoluted comparisons and assessments of how daunting a task is relative to our God-given ability to conquer it. Too often, we experience the fight-or-flight fear response unnecessarily, because the brain incorrectly predicts future situations as probable threats when they are actually benign.

The fight-or-flight response is triggered when self-trust in our God-empowered abilities is too low. For those tyrannized by their self-limiting beliefs, it is as if their brains habitually perceive us as a ‘child’ facing a ‘giant’ (fear). In reality, when we have Christ’s powers, the roles are actually reversed. The truth is that, through the Spirit, all things are possible. Even if the brain views us as a ‘child’ when we face fear, empowered by the Spirit, we can still defeat our ‘giants’.

Just ask David, whose faith in the Spirit led him to believe that victory would come, who defeated his giant Goliath, and who, through David’s dream, later became King of Israel. What enabled him to be victorious over Goliath? David realized the battle was the Lord’s, and not his, and David’s faith was assured that God would not let him down! What gave David confidence that the Lord would not fail him? His previous experiences of defeating lions and bears through the power of God:

^“But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”” (1 Samuel 17:34-37).

From David’s experiences defeating lions and bears, he learned to trust in God’s power within him to defeat Goliath, a larger giant. Because David was willing to put his belief in God’s deliverance into intentional action, his faith grew through experience. Beliefs are only hypothetical; they become concrete when put into practice through experience. “Faith, without works by itself, is dead” (James 2:17).

“You don’t eliminate limiting thoughts by fighting them. You outgrow them by acting beyond them” (Denzel Washington)

“Action rewrites identity. Behavior teaches the brain what’s possible. This is why small, consistent steps matter more than dramatic transformations. They create evidence, and evidence reshapes belief. Your mind learns from what you repeatedly do, not what you repeatedly think. When you move despite fear, the brain updates its narrative. When you speak up in spite of doubt, your confidence recalibrates. When you begin despite uncertainty, readiness flows. Growth is not a mindset first; it is a practice first. Mindset adjusts to behavior, not the other way around.

You are not broken for having these (limiting) thoughts; you are human. Every person carries inherited beliefs, emotional conditioning, and survival strategies. But you are no longer required to live by outdated rules. Awareness gives you choice, choice gives you power, and power gives you the ability to rewrite the story you been unconsciously repeating. As these thoughts begin to loosen the grip, a deeper resistance exists. Most people misunderstand; they assume that once a belief is identified, it should disappear. But beliefs are not erased by insight alone; they dissolve through repetition of new behavior. The mind changes when it is given consistent evidence that contradicts old assumptions. And that evidence can only come from lived experience, not intention alone.

Your nervous system plays a central role in this process. Many limiting thoughts are not logical conclusions. They are emotional memories. They were formed during moments of vulnerability, rejection, failure, or overwhelm. When you attempt to change them, your body reacts before your mind does. You may feel resistance, anxiety, hesitation, or self-doubt without understanding why. This is not weakness: this is conditioning. Growth feels unsafe before it feels empowering, because your system has learned to associate familiarity with safety. This is why willpower is not enough. You cannot force yourself out of deeply rooted beliefs. You must gradually show your system that expansion does not equal danger. This happens through small repeatable actions that stretch you without overwhelming you. Each time you act despite hesitation, you send a new signal to your brain. This is survivable. This is manageable. This is possible. Over time, these signals accumulate, and the old beliefs begin to lose credibility” (Denzel Washington).

Fear weakens over time as exposure to it increases. Start small, then move to increasingly more difficult tasks. Build self-trust and faith through successive positive experiences as you learn to tolerate uncertainty as you step out of your comfort zone. By learning to do increasingly challenging tasks through the power of Christ, self-trust and faith in God gradually expand, loosening the stronghold of self-limiting beliefs over your life.

As a person increasingly trusts themselves, they become more willing to tolerate uncertainty and to challenge their limiting beliefs by taking more calculated risks, which increases the likelihood of fully attaining their God-given dreams.

Managing Potential Setbacks of Growing Self-Trust & Faith

Thomas Edison is an example of a dreamer who revolutionized his world through inventions like the electric light bulb. Despite many setbacks and failures along the way, Edison never let his self-limiting beliefs defeat him. Through persistence and perseverance, he never gave up on his dreams. Despite 10,000 failed attempts, his faith never wavered; he kept on dreaming, he kept on believing. In 1879, Edison finally invented the light bulb, and the world changed because he kept dreaming, kept believing, despite great odds.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work” (Thomas Edison)

I believe Edison’s persistence in inventing the light bulb after “repeated failures” was driven by his mindset about failure. Instead of viewing failure as a judge of character or self-worth, he saw it as a teacher, a chance to learn from one’s setbacks and mistakes, and he embraced a growth mindset.

No one is perfect; everyone makes mistakes. We evolve in life by viewing failure positively, as a teacher from whom we can grow and learn. As we make mistakes in life, we should always try to be patient and kind with ourselves on our journey to overcome our limitations, and to accept and love ourselves unconditionally, as Abba Father accepts and loves us. Learning and growth require living in an environment of acceptance; if we don’t accept ourselves when we fail, or we believe that God or a significant person in our life will be harsh and rejecting to us when we fail, we will inevitably view failure as a rejection to our self-worth, rather than failure being a loving teacher who we can grow and evolve from.

We are more likely to persevere when we show ourselves kindness and patience, especially when we experience setbacks.

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is to try just one more time” (Thomas Edison).

When you feel like giving up on your dream, ask the Spirit in prayer to lead and empower you, and then trust in God as you surrender your fears and circumstances to God. That is the only way to move through a seemingly unmovable self-limiting belief.

Here are some verses to meditate upon, to help you with trusting and surrendering your daily doubts and fears to God:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

“The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.” (Psalm 37:23-24)

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

“Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24)

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

The Purpose of Our Trials: Going to the Gym

Facing trials is like going to the spiritual gym to work out. Obstacles are weights that strengthen and build our spiritual muscles. God, our workout trainer, is smart enough not to let us lift too many weights at once, so we won’t overuse our spiritual muscles and end up injured; God will give us strong enough trials to refine our character, hope, faith, and perseverance, but not too heavy to destroy our well-being. If we don’t regularly go to the gym, our physical muscles will get weak; if we don’t regularly face trials, our spiritual muscles will also weaken. When our spiritual muscles are strengthened regularly, our self-trust grows incrementally.

To believe we can do all things through Christ in spite of our self-limiting beliefs, our spiritual muscles, like faith and hope, need to be regularly strengthened through trials. If we don’t believe, we don’t achieve our God-given dreams.

Jesus said in Matthew 17:20, “If you have faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”

Be willing to go regularly to the spiritual gym so your faith can be strong enough to move the mountains (self-limiting beliefs) that block your path to attaining your God-given dreams. Your spiritual legacy is what you leave behind. Don’t let the mountains of your self-limiting beliefs prevent you from making a difference in this world. Time is limited; make it count.

Final Thoughts:

“Don’t limit your challenges; challenge your limits.” (Jerry Dunn)

“Too many of us are not living our dreams, because we are living our fears. Decide to become fearless. Face the thing you fear the most. You are stronger than you give yourself credit for. If you can laugh at it. You can move past it. You have the ability to do more than you have ever hoped, imagined or dreamed. You have GREATNESS within you!” (Les Brown)

Don’t limit yourself, and don’t let others convince you that you are limited in what you can do. Remember that you can achieve what you believe you can. Trust and believe and have faith.” (Thomas Monson)

“Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.” (Birgitta A. Sunding)

“There are going to be times when you are questioning yourself, but if you stay the course and believe in yourself, take it one day at a time, there’s going to be a light at the end of the tunnel.” (Nick Bosa)

Chasing Dreams While Battling Self-Limiting Beliefs, Part 1

Chasing Dreams While Battling Self-Limiting Beliefs, Part 2

Sources:

7 Thoughts That Are Holding You Back – DENZEL WASHINGTON MOTIVATION

https://iask.ai/q/what-are-limiting-beliefs-p8i9m08

https://iask.ai/q/overcome-limiting-beliefs-father-wound-5k61s6o

https://iask.ai/q/satan-limiting-beliefs-purpose-light-jesus-rgf6q48

https://iask.ai/q/faith-overcome-limiting-beliefs-father-wound-501kolo

https://iask.ai/q/bible-meditation-neuroscience-overcome-limiting-beliefs-father-wound-jsetet0