Luke 13:31
The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee.
Being faithful to the end of the Christian life will not be easy. From the time you get saved to the time you go to Heaven, Satan will do everything in his power to get you to quit or to sidetrack you from doing what you are supposed to do. As a believer, you have the greatest calling of any person; the calling to reach the lost for Jesus Christ. However, I have discovered with nearly five decades of serving God that there are things Satan throws at us that we must be aware of so that we don't succumb to his tactics.
The first hindrance is to make decisions by fear. The Pharisees tried to get Jesus to run out of fear that Herod would kill him; this was a plausible fear because Herod had already killed John the Baptist. The Pharisees were trying to get Jesus’ mind on plausible fears to get Him to make a decision by fear. Decisions of fear always lead to faithless decisions. You cannot run in fear and build anything for God. You cannot let fear have any part of your decision process. Decisions made with fear always cause you to come to the wrong conclusions. There is always something to be afraid of, but you must silence fear and have the courage to make decisions of faith. Fear always gives you a good excuse to run, but the excuse is not a credible reason when you realize you have the power of Christ working within you.
The second hindrance is being sidetracked with the battle. Satan tried to get Nehemiah focused on the battle, but Nehemiah had the right answer by keeping a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other. If you stand for truth, you will find yourself in many battles, but you cannot be so focused on the battle that you lose sight of the purpose of truth, which is to reach the lost for Christ. Never run from battles, but don't let battles become your focus; keep your focus on building what God has given you to build.
The third hindrance is being sidetracked in service. We are warned in Galatians not to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. There are many good things you can do on the side while you are serving the Lord, but never let those things pull you from being the believer God needs you to be. The world has many entanglements that can pull you away, but those entanglements will choke God’s Word from working in and through your life. Be very careful about what you allow yourself to get involved with so that the entanglements don't pull you from what you are supposed to be.
The fourth hindrance is compromise. In the book of Numbers, God’s people became discouraged because of the way. The hardness of the battle discouraged many to the point that they compromised what they believed in hope that it would make life a little easier. Compromise never makes life easier; it only complicates life and hurts your fellowship with Christ. Never let the difficulty of living the old paths cause you to consider compromise.
The fifth hindrance is being at ease. Twenty-four times in the Scriptures God uses the phrase at ease with a negative connotation. Be careful not to allow past accomplishments to move you to be at ease in your Christian walk. Always press toward a higher mark in Christ Jesus, and you will never find being at ease hindering you from your service to Christ.
Comments