Overcoming Your Limits Through Faith
By Sara Castellanos
1. Be birthed into a life of faith
Just as one is born in the natural, so we also need to be born into a life of faith which will involve living in the supernatural realm, depending completely on God, and knowing that the impossible is possible through Him. God has deposited a seed of faith in each of us. But for this seed to grow we must do more than simply attend a church. We must wholeheartedly ask the Lord to birth this faith within us. For our faith to grow we need to seek God above all things, read and study his Word, and believe in His promises for our lives. The faith of Abraham cannot be obtained overnight. Every time we draw near to the Lord through prayer and through his Word, we rise to a higher level in the life of faith. Every obstacle is an opportunity to climb higher as long as we have our eyes set on Jesus.
When I came to Miami I was not the type of person who would pray every day. I had not been born into the ministry yet, nor had I made God my first love. But when I saw how distant many young people were from God, I told the Lord that I did not want to be like that, and I purposed in my heart to pay the price to grow in the Lord. The basis of our relationship with God is to seek Him daily and to be in His presence. There we find peace, love and security. Don’t think that you know everything. Every one of us still has much to learn. The Lord want us to grow and to set our eyes on Him, not looking at the circumstances, so that we may know Him in a supernatural way.
2. Overcome all fear
Fear is a demon, and it comes into our lives when we accept the thoughts of the enemy. I have had to overcome fear on many different occasions. First, I had to overcome my timidity in greeting people at church. Then upon opening my cell group I had to conquer my fear of preaching to new people and the fear of being a bad leader. It wasn’t easy for me to walk up to someone whom I did not know and to talk to them about Jesus. But I understood that one must simply take a step of faith and God will back them up. Once I went to a mall with my sister Manuela to evangelise. It was difficult at first to figure out who we were to talk to, but we took the step of faith, and many of the people whom we spoke to went to the youth convention and are now attending a cell group. All this was possible because we overcame our fears. One of my greatest challenges was preaching in the arena where our church meets in Bogota. Although I had preached to my disciples in my cell group, being in the arena and standing in front of pastors with thousands of cells was quite different. The enemy tried to make me look at the circumstances. But one day as I was reading the Bible, the Lord gave me a powerful word. I put my trust in that word, and I was able to overcome my fear. To be birthed into the ministry, it is crucial that we overcome our fears.
3. Have clear images of what God wants for you
The things one imagines and is able to see in the spiritual realm are what will occur in the natural realm. I remember going with my family to Brazil and before my sisters and I went onto the stage to greet the church we had a quick conversation in which I described the words I would use to greet the church, and I even described the response I would receive from the people. When I went to the front what happened was exactly what I had imagined. This served as a lesson to me through which I came to understand that what we visualise and confess is what will happen in the natural realm.
4. Positively influence others
When we have a clear image of what God wants for us, our faith increases. This is when we become a positive influence on others. Young people today need to meet radical youth who truly love God and who are willing to make a difference in the world. I want to lift up a new generation for God and to be a person of faith. From the time of their youth my parents decided to be a positive influence on others, and today all can see that they have stuck to this decision. At times I am shocked to listen to people who don’t know God and who don’t do His will, and who talk about Him as if they’ve had experience of Him. They have no fear of God, and that believe that they can go on living a life of sin with no consequences. I know that one day I will be face to face with the Lord and he will ask me to give an account for all my actions. This is why I pray everyday, asking the Lord to fulfil His purpose in my life. To be a person who will truly make a difference in the world, you must accept the challenging of living in holiness everyday and to be a positive influence on others.
“Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6