The Roadblock

Last week Dan, Cliff and I were getting ready to head out for the Tuesday night service when my cell phone rang. It was Bob. Now when Bob calls at 6:45 Tuesday night, it’s usually with the news that the service has been cancelled. Since this was to be only the second time that I was going to be giving the message, I was a little down as I answered the phone. The call went something like this:

“Hey Bob.”
“Scott. How you doing?”
“I’m good. What’s going on?”
“Are you, Dan and Dave heading down?”
“Actually, Dan, Cliff and I. Maybe Dave.”
“OK. Well Royce and Michael are both home sick in bed. And I’m not feeling too well either. Are you guys up for running things yourselves tonight?”
“Uhh, I guess so.”
“You sure?”
“No. I mean yeah. I think we’d be ok.”
“Let the guys run the praise worship, maybe give a testimonial or two, read some scripture – anything to fill the time before you do the message. You ok with that?”
“Yeah. No problem. We’ll be fine.”
“Ok. Good luck. Call me at the end of the night and let me know how it goes.”
“All right. We’ll see you.”

I disconnected and looked at Cliff. He asked, “Are we on our own tonight?” “Yes we are”, I replied.

When Dan came back into the room, we let him know. There was a moment of quiet while the three of us, plus Kelli, took it in.

You see, the service we were going to now lead was at CFCF, a maximum-security facility, and “the guys” Bob suggested we have run the praise worship, would be the 65 to 85 men incarcerated there, that come to worship with us every week. We had been going down there and participating in this ministry for over a year, but had always had the other guys running it, or were there for support the one time we did lead the service. This would be the first time we were doing it alone.

I could feel the nervous tension as we got in Dan’s car and headed out. But within a few minutes, we began talking. About what my message was going to be. How they could help with prayer, sharing and scripture. We even called tech support (Kelli) to get an Old Testament scripture we could use that would fit in right. By the time we got to the facility, we knew that we would be fine.

We met Pat inside. Pat is even newer than we are. He had only been to a couple of services and was really still just getting his feet wet. However, he agreed to take a part and spend a few minutes of share time.

While Dan and Pat went to the lockers to put our stuff away, the guard at the front desk came over. He told us that the CO down at the chapel had some bad news. They were having some cross-count problems. We weren’t going to be able to get in tonight. In thirty-five minutes we had gone from anxiety to anticipation to disappointment.

As we left, we talked about what a letdown it was. As we prayed in the parking lot, the recurring theme seemed to be the roadblock that the enemy had set for us that night. However, we were also united in the knowledge that it was a temporary thing and that the Lord would support us and that we would keep coming back. No defeat, just a roadblock.

It was the next day when it struck me.

It hadn’t been the enemy that had stopped us. He doesn’t work that way. He doesn’t bring direct confrontation to the table. If he tried that, the battle would be over almost as soon as it began. He works in other ways. He deals in fear, deceit and confusion. He had been in the car at the beginning of the drive down, throwing doubt and fear in our minds. He tried to make us think that we couldn’t handle it; that the Lord wouldn’t be there to give us our strength. He was wrong and we escorted him out the door, without even realizing it.

I then remembered the passage in Acts 16:6-8.

“6Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.”

I believe it was the Holy Spirit that stopped us last Tuesday. I don’t know why. Maybe he wanted to give me material for the next time I give the message. Whatever the reason, the Spirit decided that we would not get in that night.

The challenge we all face is making the determination of which it is that is setting the roadblocks in our life. We had it easy Tuesday night. It was the enemy that tried to spread the doubt, but the Holy Spirit that kept us out of the chapel that night. Other times it might not be so obvious. When I’m not sure, I turn to the Father in prayer and ask him to give me the wisdom to make that decision. Let him be your guide.

Say a prayer for somebody today.

Scott