I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
— Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)
When I was younger, I used to practice kicking field goals in our backyard garden. It was a decent-sized space, and I worked hard at it. I had my goalpost set up at one end, and I would back up as far as I could to practice from longer distances. Eventually, I could consistently kick from forty-five yards out. I was proud of that. Forty-five yards is a respectable distance.
But here’s the thing: I never got past forty-five yards. I would go out to the high school stadium and try from farther back, and the ball just wouldn’t make it. For a long time, I assumed that was my limit, that forty-five yards was as far as my leg could send it.
It wasn’t until years later that the Lord showed me the truth: forty-five yards wasn’t my limit. It was the size of my yard. There was a property fence behind me that wouldn’t let me back up any farther. I could only set up from forty-five yards because that’s all the room I had to work with. I had confused my environment with my potential.
How many of us are doing the same thing?
We look at our circumstances (our resources, our education, our family background, our church size, our income) and we treat those things as the measure of what’s possible. We set up from forty-five yards, run out of room to back up any farther, and conclude that we’ve reached our ceiling.
But God never said that fence behind you was your ceiling. He never said the size of your current situation defines the scope of your potential. That fence was a property line, not a prophecy.
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