DEALING WITH ALL OBSTACLES
DEALING WITH ALL OBSTACLES
Obstacles are hindrances, barriers, snag, opposition, impediment along the way of progress.
It is only objects or people that are moving that experience obstacles. A stagnant person is an obstacle on his own.
The fact that you are experiencing obstacles is due to the fact that you are not stagnant. It is also an indication that you have an aim and objectives that are worthy of the attention of the adversaries. It is also an indication that you are in the opposite direction with the devil. If you have no obstacle it is probably you are not moving at all or you are moving in the same direction with the devil.
As a matter of fact great opposition arises when you are on a God-given assignment. Just like the Jews who were trying to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. They faced many oppositions from neighbours and nations around and at a point the work on the house was stopped totally.
Ezr 4:23-24 KJV 23 Now when the copy of king Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power. 24 Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
This happened until God raised prophets who began to encourage the people and speak to them.
Zec 4:7 KJV Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
The “mountain” is a figurative expression to denote the various difficulties that stood in Zerubbabel’s way and impeded the carrying out of his great design. great mountain?] The hindrances which were thrown in the way; the regal prohibition to discontinue the building of the temple.
Ezr 5:1-2 KJV 1 Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. 2 Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them.
Even when they decided to start all over again, opposition came but they were disgraced. See what happened:
Ezr 6:14-15 KJV 14 And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. 15 And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.
You will finish well in Jesus name. Whatever you have started, will be accomplished in grand style.
Can Satan hinder the believers?
Yes, a very good example was that of Paul. He had objectives of what he intended to do but see what happened to him:
1Th 2:17-18 KJV 17 But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. 18 Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.
He had already sent Timothy and Silas to them; but he himself was anxious to see them, and had proposed this once and again, but Satan hindered.
The apostle recognized the hand of Satan in frustrating his attempt to do good, and preventing the accomplishment of his strong desire to see his Christian friends. In the obstacles, therefore, to the performance of our duty, and in the hindrances of our enjoyment, it is not improper to trace the hand of the great enemy of good.
The Greek for “hindered” is literally, “to cut a trench between one’s self and an advancing foe, to prevent his progress”; The word means, literally, to knock in; make an incision into; and hence, generally, to hinder or thwart (Gal 5:7 ; 1Th 2:18 (refs2) ). Some, however, read to cut off or destroy. to cut into, to impede one’s course by cutting off his way
How do we deal with the mountain?
The Lord had given us power which is the resurrection power. The power to overcome all obstacles. When we generate power, power like kratos, exousia, anaghazo, alchae, dunamis, energeia.
Mountains are dealt with by speaking to them.
Let us go back to Zechariah
Zec 4:6 KJV Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
Zec 4:7 KJV Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
The angel addressed the mountain, the great mountain.
In the New Testament a similar thing is there.
The Lord Jesus gave us an instruction on how to deal with our mountains:
Mar 11:23 KJV For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
It is by saying or speaking to the mountain and not talking to God about the mountain. Command, decree against it, tell it what to do, speak against it, order it, bind it, declare to it.
How do you say it? Some people will say but I have said it and nothing happened. Hear what the Lord said:
Luk 17:6 KJV And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
The word “ye might say” is in imperfect tense, active voice and indicative. This means it is a command that is done by you in a repeated manner. It is like when Jesus was talking to the man with the legion of devils in Mk 5:8. He repeated the command several times.
You say it again and again and again until you get the desired result, have a note of victory and the mountain is removed.
He was talking to the Jewish disciples who were not born again yet, so it was proper to tell them if they have faith. But for us believers, we have faith when we are born again. That faith of God is implanted in us and became the fruit of the Spirit. Rom 12: 3 says to everyone of us is health the measure of faith. We have faith. What do we do with our faith? We speak to the mountains. Mountains of lack and insufficiency, mountain of sickness, pain, unbelief, sin, weakness, etc.
Notice the different tenses with ἄν : ἐλέγετε ἄν , ye would say: ὑπήκουσεν ἄν , it would (even while you were speaking) have obeyed In other words, while you are speaking it would have obeyed you. The rooting up is done by someone else but the speaking is ours.
What happens when we speak to the mountains?
Isa 40:4 KJV Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
Isa 49:11 KJV And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.
That is, he would remove all obstructions from their path.
There are human, physical and spiritual mountains.
PRAYERS
Physical
1Ki 15:17 KJV And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
Demonic
Mat 8:28 KJV And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.
Spiritual
Dan 10:12-13 KJV 12 Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.
- Let all anti-breakthrough designs against my life be shattered to irreparable pieces, in the name of Jesus.
I paralyze all satanic antagonism against my destiny right from the womb, in the name of Jesus.- I trample upon every enemy of my advancement and I unseat all evil powers sitting on my promotions, in the name of Jesus.
- Let all blocked ways to success be opened, in the name of Jesus.
- I bind every anti-breakthrough, anti-miracle, and anti-prosperity force, in the name of Jesus.
- Let my finances be too hot for any evil power to sit upon, in the name of Jesus.
- O Lord, quicken my spirit to evolve money-yielding ideas.
Let every spirit of debt and financial blockage be rendered impotent for my sake, in the name of Jesus. - O Lord, transfer, remove or change all human agents that are bent on stopping my advancement.
- O Lord, smoothen my path to the top by Your hand of fire.
- I receive the anointing to excel above my contemporaries, in the name of Jesus.
- O Lord, catapult me into greatness as You did for Daniel in the land of Babylon.
- O Lord, help me to identify and deal with any weakness in me that can hinder my progress.
- I bind every strongman delegated to hinder my progress, in the name of Jesus.
- O Lord, despatch Your angels to roll away every stumbling block to my promotion, advancement and elevation