Recently, I stopped procrastinating and began to organize and declutter my bedroom closet shelves.
As I stood staring at them for the umpteenth time, I realized the stumbling block that was keeping me from tackling this chore was the middle shelf. It was piled high with a jumble of items that did not seem to have anything in common. It was tripping me up.
I finally took the tiger by the tail and emptied the entire shelf, put everything on my bed, then started looking for things that could be put into nameable categories. I counted the piles and ordered a set of bins from Amazon that would be the right size and shape for the shelf. When they arrived the next day, I put a pile in each bin and arranged the bins on the shelf. After that, the other shelves seemed less formidable.
Spiritual stumbling blocks can also trip us up. They go by many names: obstacles, mountains, negative mindsets, etc. The concept is the same in all of them: something serious must be dealt with before we can proceed. The stumbling block must be cleared, removed, or gone through.
In our spiritual growth we may come up against a problem that isn’t responding to our prayers. It could be a habit we can’t break or a relationship that is more of a burden than a blessing. Our tendency as human beings is to work around the obstacle, tackling everything but the factor that is really holding us back.
The Bible calls these strongholds, and it provides the answer to removing them. Second Corinthians 10:4-5 tells us that, “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual for the pulling down of strongholds.” Or, as the NLT puts it, “We use God’s mighty weapons… to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning, to destroy false arguments and every proud obstacle.”
We need to face these strongholds head on. One of the most destructive things we can say is, “It is what it is (sigh!)” resigning ourselves helplessly, abdicating our responsibility. Whatever the problem may be, it is what it is right now, but the truth is that it may not have to stay that way. Jesus gave us authority over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19).
It has been said that most spiritual warfare takes place right between our ears. The Bible is loaded with powerful weapons to use against our strongholds. For example, in Psalm 105:20 we read that angels respond to the Word, so we can use the Word to set angels in motion.
To say, “It is what it is,” and leave it at that, enables the situation to stay the way it is. To follow it with, but “My God is able to do exceeding, abundantly beyond what I ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20), or another encouraging scripture, sets angels in motion on our behalf. In Hebrews 1:14 we are told that angels are ministering spirits sent to help us.
The bottom line is that our spoken words, lined up with the Sword of the Spirit, and the Word of God, are powerful weapons.
Like my messy closet, we must identify the stumbling block and clear it out. Then we’ll be free to move forward.