Years ago, I had job as a Sales Rep for a major paint company. This job was essentially to be a go between for the local customer and our company. Each day, I did something new. It was the part of the job that I loved!
From time to time, I would have to help pitch in to make sure customers were served well. This included delivering paint to job sites. The problem was, I had a Ford Probe and it didn't have the ability to hold much paint at all. As a matter of fact, this was not a great car. When it would rain, it would not run at idle. It would just shut off the moment I pushed the clutch.
So my wife and I decided we would buy a truck. This was great! I had a new vehicle that could get the job done. It was a small truck, but I could get tons of buckets of paint in it. On one occasion, I had a customer that was doing a project at a private school in Knoxville (Webb School) and I needed to take some products to them that they needed right away.
I was used to seeing mud and ruts all in the drives, but this one was different. The contractors had laid gravel all over where the parking lots would be to keep all the dust and mud down. I was ecstatic because I am particular about my vehicles being clean and neat and this would at least keep things a little better. When I backed into the spot where I needed to make the dropoff, it was perfect...until I got ready to leave.
The gravel that had been seen as such a blessing, now was going to be undoing for the next hour. That's because my truck had a lot of weight in it when I arrived and was able to maneuver in it, but when I when I got ready to leave, it was a lot lighter on the gravel and I got stuck the moment I touched the gas pedal. No matter which direction I tried to go, the truck just buried itself even deeper. To the point that gravel literally was inside of my wheels up to the axle.
I tried everything, but nothing worked. Then one of the guys working outside said he had the answer. He came back with a backhoe and a rope. He connected the rope to the frame of truck and used the arm of the backhoe to pull me out of the rut that I was stuck in.
What I couldn't do in an hour, he accomplished almost instantaneously.
Too many times when we get stuck in life, we rely on our abilities to get out of those situations. But there is a huge difference in your willpower and the power of God. You can have all the right things in place and still not be able to pull yourself out of those buried situations.
The greatest realization any of us can have in our lives is to understand that we don't have the power to get ourselves unstuck!
There are times that the things that we thought would be a blessing actually end up causing us to get buried and stuck. The bible even shows us in the life of Paul the same thing happened to him.
Romans 7:15-24 (ESV) 15For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Paul was essentially saying, no matter what he tried, he kept doing the same things that he didn't want to do. He was getting stuck and it started to creep into the way he thought of himself...as a "wretched man."
Getting stuck is a lot easier than any of us want to admit. It starts many times by seeing something as a benefit but not understanding that if our dependence is on that thing, that it can actually be what can hold you back from God's best for your life.
Paul could give you his credentials as a jewish man, a religious leader and as a worker (Philippians 3:4-6). He understood those things were not what would empower him to get beyond being stuck in life. They would not even move him closer to God.
We can be guilty of holding on to our spiritual past and getting stuck in a singular moment. Those moment can keep us experiencing the greatness that God has to offer. The bible teaches us that salvation in itself is not the goal. It says that we should be growing in grace with God. That means moving beyond elementary understanding of the Word and your Christian life. We get stuck spiritually when we hang on to past victories and our past defeats.
When Paul tells us that he was stuck, we can relate. It's not always bad habits that get you stuck...even good things that can keep you from getting to your best!
Jim Collins wrote in his book "Good to Great," that, "Good is the enemy of great. Good is the mortal enemy of great. If you think about it, it's one of the main reasons why we have so few things that become truly great."
Let me give you a few examples of good things that can keep you from great...reading your bible daily is a good spiritual habit that everyone should aspire to. But simply reading the word will not change your life. We have to apply the word into our lives. We can stop at the good and never move to the great moment even in that.
Paul was essentially, I am dying on the inside. We all know what that feels like. He wasn't separated from God because he was stuck in a cycle of repeat. He was dealing with some thing that could hurt his relationship with God if it didn't change. You can have a lot of activity going on the outside but inwardly being dying at the same time.
You and I don't have the ability to get ourselves unstuck. Paul knew that, and we have to have to learn it. We all need an outside force to work on our situation. Without it, you may see incremental progress only to find yourself back in the same rut you came from.
The power we need is not willpower! We need the power of God to pull us out of the miry clay that our lives get stuck in. The Psalmnist understood that to get unstuck you had to look for a source that had the power to do it. Psalm 121, he asked the question, "Where does my help come from?" Then he answered it with declaring it is the same God who made the heavens and earth.
We have to know that our help is not found in our own ability. But it comes from the Lord. He has the power to pull us out the bog and to put our feet on solid ground (Psalm 40:1-2). Paul, the same man who called himself wretched, would say in Romans 7:25 (the very next verse) "THANKS BE TO GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST!" Why...HE WAS HIS HELP WHEN HE GOT STUCK!
Being stuck is not just a feeling, it's real. It happens to all of us at some point in life. Outside of the Lord, you are stuck. You will continue the same cycles over and over. We don't have the power to remove ourselves from those situations. But with God, we can! He is the one that pulls us out of the clay! He doesn't lift us out of the immediate, but has the power to place you in a better spot.
You and I have access to this power! It is there for us to pull from and draw from. Not our willpower, but through the Power of God, are we able to escape the cycles that pull us backwards. This power is available to all who believe. Its accessible to us all, not just the spiritually elite. It is active, moving constantly on our behalf. It is abundant, it never runs out!
So how do we get unstuck?
Renew Your Mind // You have to change the way you think
Romans 12:1-2 (ESV) 1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
When we allow our minds to be renewed through the power of God, you will change how you think about everything. You will capture the negative things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. It will change how you act out your faith! As a Christian, your thought life is everything. (Philippians 4:8) If you find yourself dwelling in the negative, you will miss the greater!
Renewing mind is about reprogramming its functioning. You do that by:
Reading the word of God
Internalizing what you read
Getting good teaching that reinforces the Word
2. Remain In Christ!
John 15:4-5 (ESV)  4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
You cannot access what you are not connected to.
3. Acknowledge you don't have the strength!
4. Ask for help!
James 4:2 (NLT) You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.Â
God wants to help you in your life. He can get you unstuck and moving in the right direction once again. All He is waiting for, is for you to ask!
No matter what has you stuck, God has the answer. He can pull you out of that situation is keeping you from your best life. It doesn't mean you won't have trouble. Everyone has moments. But you don't have to keep repeating the same cycles.
Are you ready to get unstuck?
PJ