Hindrances to God’s Will Joshua 24 :18-25 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
Just as Israel could not serve God because of the strange gods that were with them, so there are things that will hinder your ability to do God’s will. The things that will hinder your ability to do God’s will are:
Self-will – Mark 8:34-35 – you cannot do your will and God’s will. Sometimes you can’t do God’s will because you just don’t want to do it. Other times, you may want to do what he wants you to do, but you want to do it your way, according to your own terms. Also, we’ve noticed that people will surrender to God. And then shortly thereafter, they encounter a difficulty or a trial and they back off. God sends the difficulty to test whether you are sincere about doing his will. That’s why Jesus told the disciples to take up their cross. Too many people run from God will when they find out it’s going to cost them.
Worldliness – Romans 12:1-2 – you must be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The process of not being conformed to the world and being transformed by the renewing of your mind is a very gradual process. It is ongoing in your life, as you grow in the Lord. God’s will becomes more satisfying and more important to you over time. But the cares of this world will choke the word. If you approach God’s will with a worldly mind, you will never accomplish his will.
Insubordination – 1 Thessalonians 1:6-7 – insubordination is the inability to follow a man. Paul mentioned to the Thessalonians that when they were following him, they were following the Lord. Paul said the same thing to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11:1. He said, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” You cannot follow Christ and do God’s will if you can’t follow the man God has given you to follow. In 2 Timothy 4:10, Paul said, “Demas hath forsaken me.” That is, because Demas loved the world he would no longer follow Paul.
Hypocrisy – 2 Timothy 3:5 – hypocrisy is a powerless form of godliness. The trouble with some Christians, particularly in their youth, is that they learn how to conform to what they perceive are the expectations of other people around them. They pretend to be spiritual when, in fact, they are not. They have the appearance of godliness but they aren’t godly. Therefore, they have no power to do God’s will. When you see them flounder, you immediately ask yourself why this happened so suddenly. The reason is that they never were doing well spiritually; they never were doing God‘s will. They were only going along with what they thought was expected of them. That’s hypocrisy.
The devil – 1 Thessalonians 2:18 – the devil is real; we have a very real adversary. He does not want you to do God‘s will. There were times when Paul was hindered from doing what he wanted to do because God wanted him to do something else. But there were times when Paul was attempting to do God‘s will and was hindered by the devil. The devil wants to break up the church, break up your home, break up your marriage, and so forth. God gave us the whole armor of God to stand against the wiles of the devil. He gave us the shield of faith to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. The devil cannot stop us from doing God‘s will but he can hinder us to the point that we quit and don’t get God’s will done. You must fight and bare the scars of that flight, if need be, like a good soldier, to accomplish God’s willing for your life. You cannot stop just because you have an adversary.
Conclusion: if you want to accomplish God’s will then you cannot let your own will, worldliness, insubordination, hypocrisy and the devil hinder you to the point that God can’t get his will done in your life. If God has shown you an area in your life that is hindering your ability to do God’s will, then address that hindrance tonight, so that God can get his will done in your life.