How to Overcome the I Can’t in Life
Inside: Did you know you have the choice to choose your success? How to overcome the I can’ts in life and start seeing success! God wants you too!
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My 5-year-old recently told me he couldn’t do something. He said, “Mommy, I can’t walk very far!” My comment back to him was, “yes, you can. You just need to try and believe you can do it!”
In that moment of answering him back, I realized how often I say the same thing.
If I’m brutally honest, I’ve said that word more times in the last 8 years than I want to admit.
For those long years, I’ve felt stagnant and stuck.
The truth is the words we say and the thoughts we have determine our success.
The Way We Think Matters
I think this is the reason God puts such emphasis on capturing our thoughts and watching what we say.
We can live the abundant life He has for us or remain stuck and trapped.
Friend, one looks at this world through the lens of the news, and we can see how destructive our thoughts and words can ring out.
We can see hopelessness, despair, and depression on the rise.
The recent shootings (or any other shootings or mass killings) could all be traced back to the thoughts someone let get out of control. Gosh, our nation needs Jesus in a great big way!
To even emphasize this truth further, we have an enemy that loves to throw the darts of lies at us and nudge us to see how impossible it all seems.
It’s too hard
That situation will never change.
You might as well give up.
I can’t, I can’t, etc.
Have you been there, friend? Or are you there now?
The enemy is good, isn’t he?!? Feel knocked down, and he’ll keep sucker-punching you!
We Can’t But God Can
The enemy is a wrecking ball that knows no boundaries. He’ll mess with anyone, but his laser beam is on Christians.
Watch for an “I can’t” statement and see how stuck and discouraged that friend feels.
Have you met a discouraged Christian lately?
I don’t think you’ll have a hard time finding one because it’s pervasive. This, however, doesn’t mean that this is how God wants us to live or remain.
Honestly, we live in a fallen world, so our marriages, parenting, jobs, and friendships can discourage us, and Satan jumps aboard to bring us down like a sinking ship.
The best news: you know what? God has us covered and has given us the power of choice!
We can believe the lies that Satan throws at us, or we can choose to believe the Truth God says in His Word about us and about whatever we are going through.
God knows life is hard, and many times it seems impossible, but He has given us wisdom and tips to overcome the “I can’t” in life.
God knows life is hard, and many times it seems impossible, but He has given us wisdom and tips to overcome the “I can’t” in life. #ican #overcome #flippingican't #unmaskingthemess Share on XGod wants dependence on Him, and the only way we will be dependent is when life seems impossible, the situation is too hard, or the new habit is too difficult.
The Free-Will of Choice
What are you going to choose?
The power of our lives is in the thoughts and words we say. “I can’t” keeps us stuck, however, “I might not be able now” opens the door to learning and mastery.
We all have had labels placed upon us whether by ourselves or by someone else, which are almost like tattoos that we carry with us wherever we go.
These labels are like cattle prodders to our thoughts and words.
They keep poking our thoughts and words even when we choose to go another way and start believing the Truth instead of the lies.
So the first step we need to do is to take off those labels and replace ourselves with the labels God has given us.
We are heirs. We are loved. You are mine!
Overcoming Labels and I Can’t in the Bible
In the journey from boy to king in the Bible, David’s father labeled him.
Can you picture the scene?
Samuel has been led to anoint the next king in Bethlehem from among Jesse’s sons. As the sons of Jesse are passed before Samuel, no one is the selected one.
Samuel asks Jesse, “Are these all your sons?” In 1 Samuel 16:11, “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”
There it is. The label affixed; David was just a shepherd… no chance he’d be the king.
As we mull over this scene, can you envision how David must have felt once he was filled in on what has happened?
Dad didn’t call me because he didn’t see any kingly-like ability within me. He just thinks I’m cut out for just being a shepherd.
Boy, you better believe in overcoming the I can’t in life that David struggled with.
Start Overcoming the I Can’ts In Life in Small Ways
Even though the next chapter in the Bible is the matchup between David and Goliath, and we wonder if David was subhuman to have such fierce and bold faith, when I did some further studying of these chapters, I noticed something.
From the time David was initially anointed and then fought with Goliath, years had gone by. In those years, David had rescued his flock from lions and bears with his bare arms.
David also became an armor bearer to Saul and witnessed and experienced war-related things.
As a human being, David had to start at the beginning. Maybe initially some small predator attacked his flock. Or perhaps he began doing the grunt work around the military.
David like the rest of us had to fail and stand back up, each failure was a force to get him closer to God.
The reason David could clearly demonstrate an “I can” mentality is his training grounds were as a spectator of what God was doing.
And it’s the same with us.
Only by drawing in close to our Lord and grasping tightly to His promise can we flip our choice to overcome that hard thing.
Only by drawing in close to our Lord and grasping tightly to His promise can we flip our choice to overcome that hard thing. #ican #overcome #unmaskingthemess Share on X13 I can do all things through [a]Christ who strengthens me.
7 Tips to Overcoming the I Can’ts in Life
- Trust God- remember Lysa’s TerKeurst words: God is good. God is good to me. God is good at being God.
- Tested faith equals greater faith.
- Growth happens when something is hard, so press in closer to God.
- Increase your intimacy with God and watch your mountain become a molehill
- Stake claim to Jeremiah 29:11
- Remember God is glorified when you do that hard thing.
- God adores weak people 🙂
This week I’m sharing on my Instagram and Facebook stories how I have flipped the I can’t in my life. I invite you to join me. Not because I think my story is anything great but because I want to see you claiming I can in your life.
Unmasking the Mask Facebook page: click here
My Instagram: juliealoos
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My favorite line in this blog is “I can’t but God can.” If he leads us to it, he will lead us through it. Thanks for the reminder!
Amen! “God has us covered and has given us the power of choice!”
I love this: “These labels are like cattle prodders to our thoughts and words. They keep poking our thoughts and words even when we choose to go another way and start believing Truth instead of the lies.”
That’s a profound problem. We keep hearing the lies even after we know the truth.
Nancy- those lies…
I love this SO much, Julie! I can’t tell you how many times something seemed like a mountain I couldn’t possibly climb… too weak, too tired, too [fill in the blanks here with whatever excuse was handy]. The truth is I CAN do all things through Jesus Christ who gives me strength. (Phil. 4:13).
Thanks for sharing. God can do so much more in our life than we realize. I have seen Him accomplish so many things that I could not do. I believe He can even when we think we can’t
I can’t but God can! I felt those words leap off the page and embrace me today. Thanks Julie for taking the time to share these wonderful insights!
Lies are powerful, but they are still lies. So, yes, our thoughts about them are critical. I like the verse you referenced: “every thought captive” (2 Cor 10:5), and David surely relied on God’s ability to overcome his “I cant’s.” Amazing stories of God’s triumph throughout David’s life. Thank you for focusing our hearts on Him.
These are great tips, Julie! I love what you share about David, the one who wrote “though my father and mother have forsaken me, the Lord will take me up.” Sometimes that grooves embedded in us by our parents are worn deep. David, the shepherd, whom his father “forgot” to call to walk before Samuel, because surely David wasn’t important. When we’ve held a position like that in our childhood home life, having labels attached, it can feel insurmountable decade after decade. BUT GOD sees us differently. We can. He has called us, and he will enable us! Thank you for choosing to share on this today! It’s timely.
Love this post Sister, God Bless
Thank you for this message. I needed the reminder of how my thought life influences my heart and behaviors.
I love, “We are heirs. We are loved. You are mine!” Isn’t that the heart of it. When we know we are loved, when we know we are His, it changes everything!
Yes, Julie! There are many “I can’t” scenarios from biblical people and from us today! Enjoyed all your closing thoughts and tips to overcome the “I can’t” in my life. I loved this post because of something I always say, “When we can’t, God can, then He gets all the glory.” 🙂
This is excellent. I used to grumble or despair when hard times happened. Now I’m choosing to understand and appreciate them as times when I can draw closer to and lean more heavily upon God. Great blog, Julie!
Amen. “We can’t, but God can.” Love this!
Great post! What jumped out at me is the Lysa Terkeurst’s quote you mentioned: God is good. God is good to me. God is good at being God.
Tamika- I love that quote!
Great post. Thanks for the reminder. So grateful to know that when “we can’t, God can”