Upgrade through Obstacles

In pursuing the destiny God has for your life, you will surely come upon obstacles that seem to block your path in moving forward.  Many have wrongly concluded that if they are following their God-given destiny that it will be a straight path with very little obstacles or struggle.  People who come to this conclusion are dismayed, sidelined, strive until tired or become resentful as they encounter obstacles that are not removed right away.  I can guarantee you on the path of your God-given destiny there are obstacles that will seem impossible, if you're on a path that does not include the impossible then you are not on a God-given destiny but a human derived path.  God has certainly called us to the impossible, our call is in the likeness of Christ and He was called to the impossible that could only be accomplished through dependence on the Father through the Holy Spirit.  In 1 John 3:8 we are told, "The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil."  Since this is the purpose for the Son of God and we are "in Christ", then we (as sons and daughters of God) are to destroy the works of the devil.  Thus this Scripture is telling us that we will have adversity on our to see the Kingdom of God manifest here on earth as it is in Heaven but this is not of God's making but of the enemy's.  Yet through the finished work of Christ, the enemy was stripped of his authority so we are engaging a defeated enemy not through our own effort but through what Christ did on the cross. There are many "works of devil, some of them are lies about people's identity, bondage that keeps people from their destiny, generational sins that oppress families, diseases and sicknesses, and different types of torment.

Praise God if you have hit an obstacle or barrier that you cannot seem to overcome, don't worry, stress, or strive for God through Christ has overcome where no human effort can breakthrough.  We must rest in what Christ has done on our behalf to defeat the obstacle in our path but when we are in a position of attempting to walk or overcome it through our own strength then we will not see God move on our behalf through faith in His finished work.  God does not bless our fleshly efforts to overcome what only He can overcome through His finished work on the cross.  In Ephesians there are three postures or positions in this book that are powerful for us to understand in the Christian life, sit, walk, stand.  The posture of sitting is our position "in Christ", which is referred to in Ephesians 1:20 when God raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.  Amazing that Christ was so dependent on the Father that He could not raise Himself from the dead or could He exalt Himself to the right hand of the Father, if He did these things He would cease being under God's authority but then would be submitted to an orphan spirit.  Jesus being the firstborn Son was always under the authority of His Father and lived in complete dependence and obedience to His Father.  We are exhorted in 1 Peter 5:6, "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time," this makes sense because Jesus Christ was exalted as a son not by His own hand but by God.  He is our example, so if it's good enough for Jesus it's good enough for us.  We are to be conformed to image and likeness of Christ therefore we must not exalt ourselves but position ourselves to be exalted by God in His timing and not ours.  It was the Father's doing to exalt Christ who humble Himself to the point of submitting to the cross and it is the Father's doing to exalt us from our place of bondage, trapped behind an obstacle, or from our inability to overcome.  Will we come to a place of rest, place our faith and trust in God who has already delivered us through the finished work of Christ.  Could it be that we are attempting to do to overcome the obstacle in our own fleshly strength is a bigger barrier than the actual barriers because it is a way of exalting ourselves, rather than exalting the God who has paid the ultimate price for us and our destiny.

Overcoming through trusting Him,

Bret