OBSTACLES

Let us suppose that we are on a trip to a remote cabin high in the mountains somewhere in the U.S. This vacation spot is only reachable via one road with a mountain wall on the left and a sheer drop just 5 ft. off the road on the right.
We are tooling along at a comfortable pace when all of a sudden, just around a bend in the road appears a humongous rock blocking the road.

So much for a peaceful vacation experience. We cannot, on our own, navigate this formidable obstacle. There is no way to turn around, and attempting to back down is extremely dangerous.

As we seek to develop our intimate relationship with God, our Father we are faced with obstacles of many kinds. Most are not of our making but the Holy Spirit helps us navigate through those challenges. However a MAJOR obstacle to our goal is self imposed. Have you ever recited the Lord’s Prayer? Have you ever “prayed”
the Lord’s prayer? Big difference. Reciting scripture, prayers, etc. is of limited value. When we pray, we are concentrating on the entire content of the verse, prayer,etc.

Let us PRAY the Lord’s Prayer together as Jesus taught in Matthew 6: 9-14.TLB Jesus said, “pray like this. Our Father in heaven may your name be kept holy. May Your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.Give us today the food we need. and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation but rescue us from the evil one.

If we examine this model prayer carefully we can find hours of study to the depth of meaning for us. A GREAT OBSTACLE to our intimate relationship with our Father lies in the line that says,”and forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
In verse 14 Jesus says ‘if you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But is you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.’ That is a major obstacle to our relationship with God. This obstacle is of our own making and can be removed by OBEYING JESUS and forgiving any and all whom all who have “sinned” against us. When we “recite” the Lord’s prayer we most often fail to “hear” Jesus teaching. When we PRAY the prayer we “see” the truth that we are meant to believe. Remember, believing is not an intellectual exercise, it is putting into practice what we “hear”.

Most of us have been wronged by another person sometime in our lives. This “wrong” may be real or simply perceived. In either case it impacts our lives in a grossly negative fashion. In 1 John 4 we are told that it is not possible to love God whom we do not see, while we fail to love our neighbor who is “in our face”. Do it. If you have someone in life who hurt you, regardless of the severity of the sin, we must forgive in order to be forgiven. God loves you and wants your fellowship.