People's abilities are only limited because of the mind barriers they've set up. Pastor Joel Osteen from Lakewood Church says once those barriers are overcome, then people can achieve amazing things in the name of God.
Osteen writes on his blog that for several years, scientific experts who studied the human body determined that no one would be able to run a mile under four minutes. They deemed the act impossible because the body might collapse under that much pressure. Scientists warned that it is dangerous to try.
However, a young man named Roger Bannister didn't believe those reports. "He didn't let his mind become conditioned to think that it couldn't be done. In May of 1956, he made history by running a mile under four minutes. What's interesting is that 46 days later, someone else broke the four-minute mile. Within 10 years, 336 people had run the mile under four minutes," says Osteen.
For years, nobody attempted to do what the scientists deemed as literally impossible. But after Bannister attempted it, many people suddenly realised that it is achievable.
"Why was that? The barrier was broken in their mind. For years, people believed what the experts said. They were convinced in their own thinking that it couldn't happen. Once that barrier was removed, they were able to do things that seemed impossible," shares Osteen.
In the same way, people have become conditioned to think what they can and cannot accomplish. There might be a sickness that seems difficult to get well from, or an addiction that feels incurable. Osteen suggests people should be like Bannister and start thinking better, so they can start sowing seeds of greatness and break barriers that appear impossible.
"Think about this: When you break a barrier, you make it easier on those who come after you. You're paving the way for your children, friends and relatives. That's what it means to set a new standard. That's what my dad did. When he broke that curse of poverty, he took our family to a new level. Because he broke that barrier, I was able to start much further along," he says.
