Stuck!

When I was eight years old my parents took me on a scary carnival ride. It had one long steel pole with cages at each end that rotated around and around as the pole swung us through the air. All of a sudden, as we were at the highest rotation point, the ride lurched to a halt and we stopped. Hanging upside down, squished between my parents, I thought I was going to die. We were stuck!

Have you ever been stuck? Stuck in traffic? Stuck in a line? In an elevator? At a family or work event? Have you ever had gum stuck on your shoe or in your hair? What feelings come with being stuck? Anger, frustration, exhaustion, fear, bitterness towards others, maybe even loss of hope, or wanting to just give up?

The definition of stuck: unable to move forward, trapped, unable to set oneself free.

It happens to us in our spiritual walk too. It doesn’t matter where you are with your relationship with God, whether you are a brand new Christian, not a Christian at all, or you have been walking with God for years. We all get stuck!

Why do we get stuck?

1. We Don’t Trust God

• We don’t believe He is who He says He
• that He is going to show up
• that He is listening
• That He will keep his promises or his word. 
• that HE created us for a purpose and has a plan for our lives
• We don't believe He tries to protect us by telling us not to do certain things. 
• how much He loves us
• that we are his precious children who He relentlessly pursues no matter what we have done
• We don't believe God won’t quit on us.

How can we mature in Christ if we don't trust God is who he says He is and will do what He promises? We will remain stuck.

2. Our Past

It’s a powerful thing that can get us trapped, entrenched. The wounds are deep binding us in chains. The hurt, the shame, the bitterness, the anger all goes down to our soul. But you cannot become unstuck if you don't free yourselves from your past.

I know some of you are thinking, “You have no idea what I have been through or what I have done!” You are right I don't. I know that some of you have been abused, misused, violated or you some of you have done those things to others. Many of you have secrets that you think are so ugly that you can never truly get over them.

BUT Your past does not define you. THE CROSS DOES!

Your identity is not found in your past. Satan uses our past to defeat us because we focus so much on his lies that we don't believe we can ever get over our past.

“If you don’t let your past die, then it wont let you live.” Perry Noble

You will always remain trapped. Are you going to live in self-pity or triumph? Are you going to remain a victim or are you going to claim the victory of the cross? 

Don't get stuck in your past so you can’t claim the future God has for you!

3. Our Feelings

Sometimes we are stuck because of our feelings. Anger, bitterness, selfishness, or maybe we are disillusioned. We don't feel close to God, we don't feel joyful, we are angry because someone in the church has disappointed us, so we don’t feel like going to church. We don't feel called to volunteer. We don't feel like forgiving. Our feelings can get in the way of moving forward. We focus so much on how we feel and our emotions. Let's be honest here, feelings can’t always be trusted. They can be all over the place, up and down like a roller coaster. Do you tell your teenagers to trust all their thinking when they are going through those years? No way. Teenage filters can be way off. Think of girls who one minute they are BFFs forever and the next minute they are done. Sometimes we have to look past our feelings, look at the bigger picture. Look at God’s viewpoint rather than through our filters.

As we mature in following Christ we begin to believe what God’s word says over the way we feel.” Perry Noble

God’s word is true and trustworthy. Our feelings and emotions can sometimes be cloudy and confused.

4. Our Sin- Sin is anything that breaks the relationship between you and God.

“It's impossible to experience spiritual maturity while hanging on to an area of sin in our lives. Sometimes when we don’t want to give up our sin so we try to immerse ourselves in some sort of Christian activity believing that maybe we will appease God and he won’t notice this other little sin part over here. Just like if you go to McDonalds and order a big mac, large fries, an apple pie and a diet coke. The diet coke doesn't cancel out all the other garbage you just bought.” (Paraphrased from Perry Noble) The same with sin.

The consequence of sin is separation from God. When you don't deal with the sin in your life it moves you farther and farther away from Him. Often you start becoming pretty comfortable with sin as your sidekick that your life is no different than the worlds. Sin will keep you stuck. It will stop you from moving forward. It will stop you from maturing in your spiritual walk.

If I were to ask many of you where are you right now with your walk with Jesus or this season in your life, many would say, “I’m stuck. I don’t feel like I am making any progress. Or I feel like I am backsliding. I am discouraged because I keep doing the same things over and over again. Or some of you may be near the breaking point, I am quitting this is too hard I don’t see enough change.”

Stop and ask yourself; Am I letting my feelings rule my thoughts? Not trusting the one who created me? Playing the tapes of my past over and over?  Making choices that will keep me in destructive patterns? The One that lives in You is GREATER than all of these things!

"But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless." 1 Corinthians 15:57-58

Tomorrow: How to Get Unstuck