Indulge me for a moment or two. Get in a quiet, comfortable space; sit back, and allow the peace of God to rest within you. Now, I want you to allow your mind to wonder back a bit. Think of a time in your life where you were the happiest you’ve ever been. Don’t rush the memory of this. Be patient and just allow it to come to you with ease. Think about what you were doing and how you were occupying this space. Who was present? What was in the environment? Most importantly, what were you feeling during those moments? How were you responding to those around you, and how were they responding to you? Get this picture firmly in your mind, and hold it there as long as you can.
Whether you know it or not, this simple exercise tells us something very interesting. Did you know that your brain records every second of your existence? But yet, if you tried to recall what you were doing at this same time exactly two weeks ago, you probably would not be able to do it. On the flip side, most of us can recall our most joyful and blissful experiences, as well as our most traumatic ones, without too much effort. This is because our emotions help to serve as markers of time for our experiences. They assist us with recall from place holders or catalogs of information in our minds. In other words, our feelings work together with our thoughts and experiences to make impressions upon our consciousness. This is why most of us can remember our happiest moments, because they were embedded in our consciousness by the emotions and thoughts we experienced during that time.
When it comes to certain important and meaningful aspects of our lives, as well as emotional events that have transpired in the past, it can be said that we are very conscious about those things. We have an awareness of them that allows us to recall associated memories, and some of us recall them much too often for our own good, but that’s another teaching. The point I’m making is that there’s a whole other part of us that we’re not as knowledgeable about, and it hangs out in our subconscious.
You’ve got a bunch of stuff going on in your subconscious mind that you probably never give much thought. We don’t think about breathing, sneezing, or coughing. Our bodies know what to do because God designed them to execute commands they receive from the subconscious mind, and it is almost as if we run on automatic in certain respects.
The subconscious mind stores data that is collected from daily living, and not all of this data is good for our souls. Some of it is quite harmful. We typically do not realize how harmful it is until something impactful happens in our present and conscious reality.
The impact of a traumatic or joyous experience can elicit emotions from deep inside us that we’ve never felt or never knew existed. Experiencing trauma of any kind will show us what we are willing to believe and feel. It will reveal our proclivity towards one particular emotion or the other, and it will also demonstrate the extent to which we are willing to surrender our faulty subconscious programming to Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ.
The Psalmist said in Psalm 139:14 (NIV), “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” God declared through David that we, you and I, are meticulously and marvelously created. We are God’s masterpieces. The scope of our complexity and design is still a mystery to even the greatest minds on earth, but this has not stopped or hampered the curiosity of geniuses. They continue their explorations. It is natural for human beings to be curious about certain things; to investigate and educate ourselves so that we can do and know better.
As someone that is interested in going higher and higher in the Lord, you must have more than a cursory interest in elevating your mind. God tells us in Proverbs 4:7(KJV), “Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.” As a blood bought, Spirit filled believer, it is absolutely available for you to know and understand why you, in some instances, will almost make it to the finish line, and then something happens to throw you back to where you started. I will venture to say that the reason why so many people have become too frustrated and exasperated to continue pressing is because they have assumed a position of ignorance. They have refused to become knowledgeable about what they are dealing with, and how they, themselves, are self-sabotaging their efforts subconsciously.
Sure, we know that the enemy will stop at nothing to try to derail our successes, but the devil has no foot-hole lest we provide it. So when we notice a recurring pattern in our lives, we owe it to ourselves to change the trajectory of our prayer lives and begin to ask God for a particular kind of wisdom. James 1:5(NLT) tells us, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” We need to ask God specifically if there is something we’re doing or not doing that is causing us to work against ourselves, because we are our own worst enemy more often than we’d like to think.
Sometimes there is a programming of fear running in the background, and we’re not aware of it. Arrogance is fear of the worse kind. Proverbs 6:16 tells us that the sin of a proud look is an abomination to God; it’s something He strongly hates. Arrogance will keep us from scrutinizing ourselves, and it causes us to blame God and others for our missteps. It’s characteristic of someone who is dismissive of others because they think of themselves more highly than they have any right. This sin is one that gives birth to many others. I’ve known plenty of individuals suffering from the curse of the ‘almost there’ syndrome that have achieved great levels of professional success, but they never manage to hold on to a position for long. Arrogance and pride causes them to feel that everyone around them is inferior and far less knowledgeable than they are. This is a lie, and lies always lead to destruction.
There are countless women that experience the curse of the ‘almost there’ syndrome with regard to getting married. We cannot think that this is of the Lord. He doesn’t want a precious sister to be without the thing she desires greatly, but there’s a reason why the things we want most seem to elude us. If we truly desire to humble ourselves before Heavenly Father, and to please and honor Him with our whole lives, He will speak to our Spirits and deliver the very Word that will set us free. We can’t keep going to this person or that person for answers. God wants to speak to you. He wants you to learn to lean on Him for yourself and to hear from Him for yourself.
Jesus Christ told us in John 4:24 (NLT), “For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” It really is time out for business as usual. Our flexibility to the Will of God must increase to a degree that it never has before. We must worship Him the way that HE has ordained; the way that He has sanctioned in His Word. Anytime we’re dealing with attitudes and behaviors that are not in alignment with the example of Christ, we’re going to ultimately self-sabotage and our faith is not going to yield the results that it could.
The examples mentioned above are just a few of the ways in which fear can run amuck. It will keep us subconsciously on the hamster wheel of self-sabotage if we don’t seek God’s intervention. Through the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, be loosed from this curse of hiccups and missteps! Jesus Christ told us in John 6:63(KJV), “It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing.” Bring your conscious and subconscious mind under the subjection of God’s love through the Spirit of Christ that is within you. He will reverse this curse and cause your every endeavor to prosper with great success! ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“The Curse of the ‘Almost There’ Syndrome” written by Reverend Fran Mack, edited by Kim Times for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2016. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.
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