What is Stopping Me?

8/3/2019 What is Stopping Me?

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Word from The WORD

What is stopping me?

Many of us today are like the second son who say I go but do not go(Matthew 21:30). What is it that which is stopping us from going and working in

Gods vineyard from serving God, from sharing the

gospel?

Fear of circumstances or people? Fear of being ridiculed?Fear of future? Fear of security? Fear of life? Most of thetime these fears are very real in our lives. But such fearscannot be an excuse for us to not go! Jesus too was facedwith many such fears. Here we will see how He dared toovercome all fears and fulfilled His purpose.

Fear of authorities

And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, sothat they might accuse him. Mark 3:2 (ESV) And he said to them, Is it lawful onthe Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill? But they weresilent. Mark 3:4 (ESV)

Like the Pharisees, the authorities in our church, school, college, office, locality,etc. could stop us from ministering, from sharing the gospel. As was the casewith Jesus we might be faced with a situation where the authorities wanting to bepolitically correct would say nothing and might remain silent. Jesus wasgrieved by the hardness of their hearts (Mark 3:5) but that did not stop Him.

Either I too will be hard hearted and remain silent or I would share the gospel! Idont need to fear any authority, because All authority in heaven and on earthhas been given to me (Jesus). Matthew 28:18 (ESV) And so I need to Gotherefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of theFather and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Matthew 28:19 (ESV)

The fear can be because those in power or those who areinfluential might accuse us. The NKJV & NET versions read inMark 3:2 that they (the Pharisees) watched Jesus closely soas to find fault in His ministry.

The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel withthe Herodians against him, how to destroy him. Mark3:6 (ESV)

The people in power might have authority to destroy us destroy our ministry,reputation, character and even our life. But as the Bible says we need to fearonly God.

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear himwho can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28 (ESV)

Author: Mariyosh J [email protected] Word from The WORD
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Word from The WORD

Moreover, The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord issafe. Proverbs 29:25 (ESV) Let us come out of all fear snares and trusting in theLord, go about serving Him and proclaim His name!

When William Carey shared the need to take the gospel to the unreached a

senior minister said: Sit down, young man! And added: "If God wants to savethe heathen, he will do it without your help or mine!" If he would have feared thissenior minister and stopped from going to India, natives of 40 languageswouldnt have had Bible portions in their own language and the sharing of thegospel to the forthcoming generations would have delayed!

Fear of family

Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not eveneat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they weresaying, He is out of his mind. Mark 3:20-21 (ESV)

Other versions of the Bible like NRSV & NET say that Jesus family memberswent out to restrain Him. Like Jesus our family members can stop us fromministering. The reason is very genuine and the fear is very real. Jesus had justthen sat to eat and people had come to Him and so He had to leave His food andgo. Many a times our parents and relatives might restrain us from ministering forour health reasons saying,

You need to first take care of your health

You health is more important than ministry

Will ministry give you food?

If you lose your health how can you minister?

Like Jesus we need to be founded on the two important truths.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from themouth of God.Matthew 4:4 (ESV)

Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and toaccomplish his work.John 4:34 (ESV)

God is looking for people for whom the Word and fulfilling Gods willand His work is more important than food and health! This doesnt meanthat we are not supposed to take care of our health, but that should never be anexcuse in not making the choice for ministry.

Secondly, Jesus family members went out to stopHim because many said that He is out of Hismind. When we decide for ministry, ourneighbours and relatives would say,

mailto:[email protected]://mariyoshwordfromtheword.blogspot.com/mailto:[email protected]://mariyoshwordfromtheword.blogspot.com/


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Word from The WORD

You have spent so much for your education and now you want to minister?

If you had to minister why did you study so much?

It is crazy for a person like you, with such good education & calibre to earn to

get into ministry

Many a times our parents would stop us from ministering for fear of their andour reputation being ravaged by relatives. When such fears face us weneed to be sure as Jesus. For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother andsister and mother. Mark 3:35 (ESV) Fulfilling Gods will should be dearer to usthan our families!

Jesus said, Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Andwhoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoeverfinds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find

it. Matthew 10:37-39 (ESV)

A high paying job or a well furnished house or a safe locality cannot give uslife. The secret of receiving life is to be willing to lose it and all itsprivileges and comforts for God!

Fear of the prejudiced

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses andJudas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they took offense athim. Mark 6:3 (ESV)

People might have prejudices against us and might build their opinion on usbased on our educational, family, social backgrounds and also upon our past life,our failures, etc. We should never get into the trap of finding out what-do-they-think-about me! That is the end of our ministry!! Whatever might othersthink about us, we are not called to proclaim ourselves or our greatness orgoodness, but about God! Our past is immaterial when it is surrendered to God.Our value is from God and not from people and we need to be secure in ouridentity in Christ. (Prayerfully read Ephesians chapter 1)



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Word from The WORD

Be always reminded of what Jesus said: Already you are clean because of theword that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannotbear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abidein me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him,he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from meyou can do nothing.John 15:3-5 (ESV)

The prejudices of people did not stop Jesus.

And he marveled because of their unbelief.

And he went about among the villages

teaching. Mark 6:6 (ESV)

A much closer look at this passage explains

more on this fear of prejudice.

Jesus is there at Nazareth in the synagogue teaching and the people are

prejudiced against His teaching and wisdom: And on the Sabbath he began toteach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying,

Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given tohim? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Mark 6:2 (ESV)

Knowing our past people might ridicule us or remark exactly at what we are

doing saying,

He never teaches or preaches well

How can he ________ well when his education and experience is very less?

Her father is of a lose character

Like Jesus never allow peoples opinion to stop you from what you arecalled to do. Though people were remarking at His teaching and wisdom andbackground, He went about teaching!

For to be sure what we are called to do, like Jesus our calling and ministry should

be founded on Gods Word. When we read the same incident in Luke chapter 4,

we see that Jesus reads a specific verse from the general context of the book of

Isaiah.

And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and

found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because

he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to

proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at

liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Luke

4:17-19 (ESV)

And he began to say to them, Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in

your hearing.Luke 4:21 (ESV)

Only when our life and call and ministry and all that we do isfounded on Gods Word will we have the strength to faceall fears!



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Word from The WORD

And if we grow in Gods love and His grace nothing no fear can stop us fromproclaiming Him and serving Him all the days of our life!

Amazing grace! How sweet the soundThat saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found;

Was blind, but now I see.

Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,And grace my fears relieved;

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed!

In Memory of the Australian Missionary Graham Staines who was martyred in

Orissa, India in the early hours of 23rd Jan 1999 along with his two sons Philip(10) and Timothy (6). He served the lepers, the widows and the poor in theremote villages of Orissa.


What is Stopping Me?

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