Our Own Worst Enemy

We all have our demons. These are the things, or people, that get in the way of us enjoying our lives to the maximum. A lot of the time we tend to lay the blame for our troubles and restrictions on external forces . For the spiritual warfare mode it is satan and for the earthbound issues it is the person at work or our neighbour or the ultimate excuse if only. If only I had the money or the job or the car then I might be fulfilled. The truth is that we are our own w orst enemy. We limit ourselves by allowing things like doubt to creep into our consciousness or a whole plethora of other emotions which restrict the ability of Gods Spirit to work through our life. God alone knows what each of us is capable of and tha t is only achievable by His enabling. But the unvarnished fact is that we have the ability to frustrate the all powerful Father simply by worrying or refusing to be available. Father knows the plans He has for each of us but those plans are contingent on our co-operation. He will not force us into any situation . If we dont like it we will be by passed over, another will be chosen and we will miss the blessing . For God, as it says in the Bible, is not man that His Word will return void but if we fail to live up to a commission then it will be our loss. In a way the story of Jonah is a good example of what I am talking about except that Jonah chose to refuse and then after some interesting experiences eventually went to Nineveh. It is interesting to think a bit about Jonah for a minute . He tried to run clear across the Mediterranean Sea to Spain because he knew that if he did his job that God would not destroy the landlocked town that he had been sent to. The Bible states that when Jonah was regurgitated by the fish he headed to Nineveh immediately, a journey of some days travel. That is obedience. Saul of Tarsus was a man with a mission, to weed out and kill all followers of Christ Jesus. That was until he was caught between Jerusalem and Damascus by Jesus. In an instant of blinding light the man who would become the Apostle to the Gentiles met the Master and from that moment on he was a changed man spending the remainder of his days serving his Master instead of slaying those followers. Down through the years the story has been the same . Not all were elevated to greatness and some hardly saw their dream through, others saw to that. Others are forgotten in the human drama. The hymn Amazing Grace owes its melody to the slaves chained in the hold of trans-Atlantic slave ships, anonymous voices that brought about the end of slavery two hundred years ago. You and I may not be a Paul, Jonah, or even William Wilberforce who campaigned to end slavery; we may not even be able to write as John Newto n did when he penned Amazing Grace. But we can be all that Father asks of us to those around us. The emancipation of our potential as followers of Jesus and sons of the King is a fairly simple task. It revolves around our response to the calls on our lif e. The words, actions, are fairly basic really it starts with listen, trust and obey the voice of our Master. Doubt cannot flourish in the same place as trust. We have been told that we can do anything that Christ enables and for mine I believe that is enough.