What am I missing?


What if you are not living a fulfilling life of abiding in Jesus, The True Vine, and being a vessel for our Heavenly Father to pour Himself through to touch others?  It seems that my journey has crossed paths, so to speak, with your journey, so maybe I can make some suggestions from what I have learned over the years.

MAYBE THERE IS A HINDRANCE

Over the years I have encountered various things which hinder a person from doing God's will.  Here are a few which come to my mind:

SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS

When we think that we are right to the degree that we cannot receive correction or instruction, we are in trouble.  It is one thing to be steadfast in the face of opposition, but it is another matter to be unable to receive correction or instruction.  As always, there is a balance which only Jesus can establish and maintain if we simply ask Him to do so.

One passage of Scripture always comes to mind when I think of the manifestation of self-righteousness.  It is in The Acts of the Apostles where Paul tries to explain himself to a crowd of angry Jews.  Paul reports:

Act 22:17-22  "Then I [Paul] returned to Jerusalem. While I was praying in the Temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord saying to me, 'Hurry up and get out of Jerusalem at once, because the people won't accept your testimony about me.'  "I said, 'Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I kept imprisoning and beating those who believe in you.  Even when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I was standing there approving it and guarding the coats of those who were killing him.'  "Then he told me, 'Go, because I will send you far away to the gentiles.'" Up to this point they listened to him, but then they began to shout, "Away with such a fellow from the earth! He's not fit to go on living!"

I find it interesting that the Jews were unable to listen to Paul after he mentioned that Jesus was sending him to the gentiles.  This was apparently because they considered the gentiles [non-Jews] to be far inferior to themselves, not fit for God's grace.  This was in spite of the fact that the nation of Israel was supposed to be "a light to the gentiles".  They were a chosen people, but they made the mistake of looking down on the gentiles rather than being the vessels of God's grace to the gentiles.  This was because the pride of their hearts deceived them.

The remedy?  I find that asking Jesus to correct me where I am wrong seems to get a good response from Him.  It's as simple as that.  And do not expect some angel to appear to instruct you.  God usually chooses nobodies to instruct those who consider themselves to be 'somebody'.

TRADITIONS OF MEN CAN NULLIFY THE WORD OF GOD

On one occasion Jesus told the Jewish Pharisees and Scribes:  Mar 7:9  And He said unto them, Full well youall reject the commandment of God, that youall may keep your own tradition.

Rather than try to figure out what traditions we hold to which vacate God's commandments, I find again that simply asking Jesus to show me any such things, or other hindrances which are affecting me is the correct way to resolve these issues.  One thing I learned as a new Christian is that, if I am at least a little bit interested in doing God's will, He is able to make His will known to me and to enable me to do His will.  It's a great arrangement.

LEANING ON OUR OWN UNDERSTANDING

One of the fundamentals of God's arrangement for mankind is expressed in Proverbs 3:5:

Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

I find that a good way to find fulfillment of this commandment is this prayer, "Lord Jesus, help me to stop leaning on my own understand so that I can begin to trust our Heavenly Father with all of my heart."

More later.  5/28/14

Another story:

Years ago a guy named Bill attended our home fellowship meetings.  His son and our son were classmates in grade school, and I first met him during a weekend retreat held by our local Roman Catholic Church.

During the retreat Bill told me that he had been commuting for work from his home in my town to Dayton, Ohio - a two hour drive each way.  The stress of this commute took its toll, and eventually he saw a sign by the roadway which proclaimed, "Jesus is the Answer".  So he prayed, "Lord, if You have an answer for me, I'll take it."

When he arrived at work that day he was notified that his job was terminated!  His immediate reaction was, "Lord, I gave You one chance to help me, and You blew it!"

As a result of this development Bill's wife looked for work, found a job right away, Bill became a house husband for the first time in his life.  At the end of one year of house-husbanding he told me that he had gotten to know his children and wife in a way that would have been impossible without being a house husband, so he was glad that this had developed in his life.  But he and his wife still felt that he should be the main breadwinner in their family.  So I joined him in prayer that the Lord would lead him into the job of His choosing.  The next day he got a job in our town, and worked happily in that job for a year.  During that year he attended our home fellowship meeting on a sporadic basis.

Then, after working in our town for a year, Bill got a 'dream job' as a food service worker in a large hospital in Florida in his hometown where his parents still lived.

On the night before he left for Florida he stopped by our house to say thanks for the fellowship and prayer, and to ask a question.  His question was this:  "I have heard you telling about being baptized in the Holy Spirit for a year, and have been praying for that to happen to me, but nothing has happened.  Would you pray for me to be baptized in the Holy Spirit?"  So we prayed, and nothing happened.  So I suggested that there may be a spiritual hindrance in his life.  When we asked Jesus to reveal any hindrances, the Lord told me that Bill needed to renounce the Book of Mormon.  So I told Bill what the Lord had told me, and asked him what he knew about the Book of Mormon.  He told me that he had been raised in a small branch of the Mormon Church which sounded to be about half Mormon and half Baptist.  He told me that he had never studied the Book of Mormon or had even owned a copy.  I suggested that he simply do what the Lord had told me he needed to do.  So Bill said, "I renounce the Book of Mormon."  Immediately he began to laugh and cry and erupt in joy!!! 

The next day he moved to Florida, and his family followed him when the children's school year was done.  I heard from him once - about a month after he had moved South.  He reported that they had found a nice church family in their new hometown, and he was continuing to flow in the Holy Spirit!.

IN SUMMARY, as usual, hindrances can be things which we could never discover or understand without God's help, so I suggest to you that you stop trying to figure out what is going wrong or why, and simply ask Jesus to reveal to you any hindrances in your life.  And I will look for a good report soon, dear reader!!!

8/11/14