01/19/03 - "The Unhindered Walk" - by Pastor Mike Baker

Ps 32:8

Reminder from previous week's messages:

• We acknowledged God has a plan for our lives
• He instructs and teaches
  • we don't get the whole picture at once
  • we need to press into God for the next step
• He guides us with His eye
  • He works & walks with us to succeed with the plan

Ps 37:23-25

• God has lovingly planned/thought-out the plan He has for our life
  • He knows our gifts, desires, fears...
  • He delights with us when we walk in the plan

Hebrews 12:1-2

• Describes the path as a race to run
  • look to Jesus as the example as how it is to be run
  • Jesus is also the Author & Perfecter of the race
• Need to remove sin & weight so that we can run without hindrance
  • weights can be many different things
  • could be character traits which need to be confronted & changed

As much as God wants us to succeed, the enemy wants to hinder us.

Seven character traits & what to do to confront them:

1. Negativism
   • their personality says no to everything to begin with
   • can't see how God's plan will be fulfilled
     • this only feeds self-fulfilling negative outcomes
   • it is not negative to identify problems/challenges, but it is negative to see them as bigger than the goal
   • God watches over His word to perform it. Jeremiah 1:1-12
2. Perfectionism (related to #1)
   • can't affirm themselves because it wasn't perfect & therefore they cannot affirm others.
   • work toward excellence
   • learn that everything is not going to be perfect
   • God uses imperfect vessels to do a perfect work
   • negativism also leads to criticism
3. Moodiness
   • leads to uneasiness for those around you
   • get a grip & be consistently good
4. Oversensitivity
   • constantly looking inward
   • there will always be criticism
5. Low self-esteem
   • comes across as insecurity which can lead to suspicion
   • lack of confidence Joshua 1:8-9
   • God is going to call us to do things to stretch us that are not natural to us
   • God is on our side & if we step out, He will empower us
6. Impatience
7. Pride I Peter 5:5-6
   • God hates any form of pride
   • Five areas of pride:
     1. prideful in confession
        • fail to allow Spirit to work in us
        • we cannot just confess something away
     2. spirituality Ro 12:3
        • the anointing is not for us, but for someone else
     3. resistance to authority
        • open rebellion
        • resistance to anyone in authority over your life
          • presenting yourself as one who knows more to one who is in authority
     4. unteachable Eph 5:22-27
        • creates an unwillingness to receive things from those in authority
          • we should receive a corrective word with gladness
        • He never stops using those around us
        • if we are not teachable, you are not washable
        • if we resist the truth from other people, we will start to resist God
     5. self-sufficiency
        • if I share my challenges, they'll think I am weak
        • each one of us has blind spots