Making A Course Correction

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(Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 11)

If we put together all of the words and phrases from Hebrews 12:1 that we have looked at in the Greek, we are able to write the verse with even greater clarity. 

"Putting all of those definitions together, we will see an 'amplified' version of what it is really telling us."  Let me show you.

Considering that God has designed for us a particular race to run, one in which we are to lay aside the things that trip us up on our journey to Him, we should set our minds on giving the race a strenuous effort so as never to surrender to our stumbling blocks and sin.  We should attack this race as our course on earth, one of mastery and victory over satan and sin.

If we do not live out this verse in our daily walk of obedience to God, our sins and our encumbrances will keep us from the kind of runner's race of faith that could influence others.  Have you considered what effect your sin and 'allowances' have had on those around you?  What impact could it have if you continue in your disobedience?  Do you remember the legacy left to us by the great cloud of witnesses?  What legacy do you really want to leave behind for others to follow?  Do you want your legacy to be that you tolerated your own disobedience to your Creator while He abhorred it, or that  your fought the good fight, that you ran a great race, that led you to the surrender the brought victory into your life?

Do you find that you now have a course correction to make?  The masterful author of Hebrews has the 'how to' in verse 2 of Hebrews 12.  He says to 'fix your eyes on Jesus' because He is the Author and Perfecter of faith.  Our faith began at our salvation, with Jesus and our belief in Him.  Though we are a character in the book He is writing of our faithful journey, He is the Author of it, not us!  He is also the One who is doing the perfecting in us.  We would never be capable of heart transformation on our own!

As a reminder, let's revisit the 'let us' phrases and what they are telling us to do:

• Lay aside what is holding us back.
• Run with endurance.

The 'laying aside' of our sin and heavy encumbrances is a call to Lordship in our lives.  As we begin to walk in the Spirit and lay aside our stumbling blocks, we are actually making Jesus the Lord of those particular areas of sin and barriers to holiness.  In surrendering them, we are giving Him His rightful seat in our hearts, which allows Him full control over the things that can entangle us and get us off course."

The Solution To Our Stumbling Blocks

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(Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 11)

Yesterday I promised you a story from the Bible that would be an example of a stumbling block, to help us see the difference between a sin and an encumbrance.  The story is found in Matthew 16.  Let it inspire you to overcome both!

". . . Jesus had just told the disciples of the real events that were about to happen in Jerusalem.  Jesus' prediction of His death gave them more detail than had been disclosed during their previous discussions.  Peter couldn't handle the truth he had just heard.  Jesus told them that He was about to die, and Peter's rebuke was strong.  But it was filled with adoration for his Master.  In his blurting sort of way, Peter boldly told Jesus that His death would never happen!  Jesus immediately turned to address Peter, saying, 'Get behind Me, Satan!'  (Matthew 16:23).  Jesus understood that the thoughts of Peter had been infiltrated by the enemy.  So Jesus said, 'You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's.'  (Matthew 16:23).

You see, your own thoughts or actions that are self-absorbed, self-centered, and self-focused can just as easily be a stumbling block to you or to someone else.  They are flesh-fed thoughts, and satan delights in such thoughts, for they do not consider the thoughts or plans of God.  If you struggle with these kinds of encumbrances, your battle plan to overcome them is found in the verses that follow the account of Peter's wrong thought processes.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.'  (Matthew 16:24)

This is the answer not only to self-centered thinking or activities but also for every sin you will battle.  We must learn to simply tell our flesh 'no!'  By denying ourselves what our flesh wants, we 'take up our cross,' for that is what Jesus did when He clearly understood what His Father's will was.  If we tell ourselves 'no,' and then obey what God says, in any situation, then we are following Him in that moment.  Those things that encumber us are our stumbling blocks, and they often appear to be innocent thoughts or activities that seem right, on the surface.  But we still will trip over them.

What thought or activity is currently encumbering your walk?

What Are Your Stumbling Blocks?

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 (Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 11)



"Let's take a closer look at some very important words in [Hebrews 12: 1-4].

• Lay aside -- to put away, cast off, lay down, put off, the opposite of storing up

Can you think of any examples of 'storing up'?  I like to create word pictures.  They help me 'see' better what is meant by certain words.  That's how visual learners learn best!  Here are my word pictures:  a well-stocked pantry [as I stated in yesterday's blog], grain bins too full for even one more kernel of corn, and fat stores.  I know!!!  Don't remind you!  Things that are used to store up other things are designed with a plan and purpose for 'storing up.'  There is no other reason for it!  So, if 'laying aside' means the opposite of 'storing up,' then we need a plan and a purpose for 'laying aside' every encumbrance that we have, as well as the sin that entangles us on our Christian walk.

• Every encumbrance -- a burden, hindrance, or weight; specific to this verse it means a tumor, mass, impediment, a stumbling block

It is critical that we understand this definition because an encumbrance and a sin are defined as two different things in this verse.  The encumbrances that the writer of Hebrews is referring to are not those things that are clearly and scripturally sinful.  He covers that in the next phrase of our passage, and we will define 'sin' next.

So what is he referring to?  Encumbrances are those stumbling blocks that are often called the 'gray areas' of the Bible.  An encumbrance can be anything that impedes your walk that isn't specifically identified as sin.  Consider these:  watching too much television,  smoking, drinking, and being a workaholic.  Do you get the picture now?

The word 'encumbrance' concerns those things that weigh you down or hinder you from doing what God wants you to be doing.  Often you justify their presence in your life because the Word doesn't strictly forbid it or state they they are sins to you.  Yet they rob you of certain aspects of your relationship with God and eventually burden you.  What do you depend on or rely upon other than God  What do you do that creates a way for you to spend more time involved in it than with the things of God, causing you to sometimes exclude Him from your daily life?  These are stumbling blocks that are intentionally set in your way by our enemy."

Join me tomorrow for a specific example of a stumbling block found in the Word!

Jacob's Surrender

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This morning the Lord spoke these word to me.  Maybe they are words He wants you to hear and receive as well.  Blessings to you as you listen to His voice.

"My precious one, you are much like My servant, Jacob.  In the same way that I had to wrestle with him, I must wrestle with you.  You see, Jacob was a man who relied on his own resources rather than simply trusting Me.  Even when I set an army of angels in his camp, he still needed to do things his way.  As a result, he was marked by his fear and distress. 

You, too, tend to rely on your own thoughts, ways, and plans.  I am with you, My child; I am right beside you. Why is it that you come to Me in the morning for your spiritual meal, and then you gorge yourself on your flesh for the rest of the day, ignoring My Presence and My will?   When you go after your own way of doing things, you set Me aside and away from you.  I am your Help,  I am your Protection, and I am the Way!

How will you ever know Me as this if you do not surrender yourself fully to Me?  You are wrestling with Me even as Jacob did.  You are strong and you are unrelenting, but there must come a time in this battle when you are satisfied with just clinging to Me, a time when you are utterly surrendered to My power and My will.  That is when you will succeed in all that I have for you to do.  Jacob had to discover this the hard way.  I prefer that you take the easier course and simply submit yourself to My rule.  When I changed Jacob's name to Israel, he was changed on the inside.  Jacob the con man became Israel, the one whom I ruled. 

Let Me change you like I changed Jacob.  I desire for you to humbly surrender all that you perceive as your strengths, those characteristics and attitudes that you are using to move you along your spiritual journey, for they are not capable of accomplishing that in you.  They distract you from Me.   Your divided attention reveals that you trust yourself as much as you claim to trust Me.

I am calling you to wave the white flag.  Let Me lead you on My path, even hold you captive, for in this surrendered state you will find not only the greatest freedom that you have ever experienced, but also the greatest victories you have ever known.  Do you not know that until I conquer you, you will not be able to conquer those tasks that I have set before you?

Victory and power will ooze forth from you when you surrender to Me and to the idea that your proud self-will and self-reliance are stumbling blocks to the work I desire to do in  and through you.   Jacob realized this after he struggled and strained with Me.  He knew this kind of surrender, but not until I touched his hip and dislocated it.  For the rest of his days he would painfully remember that one encounter with Me.  I would prefer that you would surrender without the fight. 

Wave the flag, my precious one.  Surrender the battle, and let Me RULE your life."