Combatting Hindrances to Obedience

[Christsfreeservant]

“Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,​

for I am poor and needy.​

Preserve my life, for I am godly;​

save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God.​

Be gracious to me, O Lord,​

for to you do I cry all the day.​

Gladden the soul of your servant,​

for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.​

For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,​

abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.​

Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;​

listen to my plea for grace.​

In the day of my trouble I call upon you,​

for you answer me.” (Psalms 86:1-7 ESV)​

We all go through stuff, don’t we? Your “stuff” may be different from mine, or not, but we all have “stuff.” And by that I mean things that we experience and go through, i.e. the kinds of things that life throws at us on a regular basis, but not speaking here of material possessions. So we may have good days physically, mentally, and experientially, but then other days may not go so well. Like today I have had a foggy brain and I have had difficulty functioning mentally, so it was a good day for me to do my laundry.

So, whether our experiences are minor difficulties or complications or hindrances, or if they are major upsets in our lives and circumstances, the solution is still the same if we are followers of Jesus Christ. We need to pray to the Lord for his help and his guidance and his strength to make it through each day and to combat and to overcome every hindrance that might take us down and that might have power to destroy us or to weaken us and to cause us to lose hope, or to lose sight of our calling, or to give up.

For we don’t have to let our circumstances get the best of us. We don’t have to let them rob us of our joy or our hope or our excitement over living for the Lord Jesus and for doing his will. And Satan will send people into our lives to try to rob us of all that God has provided for us, to get us to doubt God’s mercy to us, and to believe that we are hopeless and without help. But we need to keep trusting the Lord, even when we don’t understand the reasons for everything in our lives, for God has a plan and a purpose for it.

So, no matter our circumstances, and no matter how we are feeling physically or emotionally or mentally, we must not let how we feel impact what we do. We must keep serving the Lord even when we don’t feel like it. And I am not saying that we should not get adequate rest, or that we should not take proper care of ourselves physically. But I do know that one of Satan’s methods in preventing us from doing the will of God is to convince us that our circumstances can prevent us from continuing to obey God.

But just know that our Lord is our healer, and he is our provider, and if he has work for us to do, he can give us the strength to do it even when our brains are foggy or we are feeling sad or we are being persecuted, or whatever the difficulties and the hindrances or roadblocks may be. So there is a balance here that should be maintained that requires wisdom and discernment from the Lord as to when to push forward when our bodies are resisting and when to step back and take a short rest and then move ahead.

For me personally, there have been times when the Lord had me write while I was running a fever and had a pounding headache, but once I obeyed him and did what he said, the headache went away. Other times he has had me write when my brain was in a fog and when I could see nothing to write about and had no idea what to say, like today. And sometimes those were the writings that encouraged people the most. So take care of yourselves, but don’t let Satan keep you from obeying the Lord. Balance! Wisdom!

Draw Me Close To You

Donnie McClurkin

Draw me close to You
Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear You say that I'm Your friend

You are my desire
And no one else will do
'Cause nothing else can take Your place
To feel the warmth of Your embrace

Help me find a way
Bring me back to You
Bring me back, oh Jesus

You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know You are near

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