Breaking Out of the Box

At some point, someone handed you a box.

Maybe it was a label -- "too loud," "too colorful", "too emotional," "too different."

Maybe this box housed an expectation -- what you should study, who you should marry, what your ministry should look like.

Or maybe it was a fear that constructed sides of the box -- fear of failure, fear of judgment, fear of standing alone.

Whatever the reason may be... somewhere along the way, you decided to climb inside that box and made yourself smaller. You folded your wings. You convinced yourself the box was protection when really, it was a prison.

But here's the truth: God never built you to fit in a box.

Ephesians 3:20 says He "is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us." Read that again.

Exceedingly. Abundantly. Above.

Does that sound like Someone who designed you for a box?

Nope!

So let's take this a bit further......

The Boxes We Accept

Some boxes are handed to us by people. A teacher who said you wouldn't amount to much. A family member who told you to "be realistic." A friend who said your dream was too big. Over time, those voices become the walls of your box.

Other boxes are ones we build ourselves. We look at what everyone else is doing and think, "I should do that too." We shrink our vision down to something manageable, something safe. Something that won't make people uncomfortable.

But God didn't call you to be comfortable. He called you to PECULIAR. And peculiar doesn't fit in a box.

Let's take our Savior Jesus Christ as an example....

Think about it -- Jesus broke every box people tried to put Him in.

The religious leaders expected a political king. He came as a servant. They expected Him to associate with the elite. He ate with sinners. They expected Him to play by their rules. He healed sick on the Sabbath and flipped tables in the temple.

Jesus didn't just think outside the box -- He crushed it. And He's calling you to do the same.

So it's time to be honest with yourself:

• Are you holding back a gift because you're afraid of what people will think?

• Are you doing what's expected instead of what God has spoken over you?

• Are you waiting for permission from people when God already gave you the green light?

• Are you comparing your calling to someone else's and feeling like yours doesn't measure up?

If you answered yes to any of these, you're still in the box. And it's time to break out.

How to Break Out

1. Identify the box. Name it. Is it fear? People-pleasing? Comparison? Past trauma? You can't break out of what you won't acknowledge.

2. Go back to what God said. Not what people said. Not what your circumstances say. What did God speak over your life? What does the Word of God say?

His Word is the blueprint, not the opinions of others. Declare the Word over your life and see it be established.

Jeremiah 29:11 -- "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."

3. Take the first step outside the box. You don't need the full plan. You need a willing heart and a mindset of obedience. It only takes one yes...one step and God will meet you there.

4. Stop apologizing for your size. Your calling is supposed to be big. Your vision is supposed to make people in the world uncomfortable. You serve a God who parted seas and raised the dead -- no need to apologize for what God is doing in and through you. Apologies means an error was made and God made no mistakes when He put you on assignment.

You Were Built to Break Out

The caterpillar has to break out of the cocoon to become the butterfly. The seed has to break through the soil to become the tree. The chick has to crack the shell to take its first breath.

Breaking out isn't comfortable.

But staying in the box means stagnation...that's means death to the vision to the hopes attached to it and that just won't do!

Peculiar people don't live in boxes.

Break out. Break free. Break through. Your assignment is waiting.

Want to go deeper?

Check out my Coaching Services to help you shred that box into pieces.