When Satan hinders

For we wanted to come to you – certainly I, Paul, did, again and again – but Satan blocked our way. –1 Thessalonians 2:18

Have you ever faced a situation when you wanted to do something, and as you prayed about what you had in mind the feelings intensified? Yes, you thought, this is what God wants me to do, so you poured yourself into it. You planned and worked hard but it seemed as if you were up against a brick wall. Nothing came together. It was uncanny how good things looked and how bad things went. About then you began to ask yourself, How could I have felt so positive about this situation and yet things just haven’t come together? Then you began questioning whether God was prompting you at all. Honestly, you were just plain confused.

Paul encountered a situation where he was checkmated by Satan. It happened following his visit to Thessalonica, the capital city of Macedonia – Greece as we know it today – after he had visited there and planted a church. Paul wanted to again visit the brothers and sisters in the new fellowship, but Satan stopped him. Here’s what Paul wrote, “For we wanted to come to you – certainly I, Paul, did, again and again – but Satan blocked our way” (1 Thessalonians 2:18).

Perhaps Satan has stopped you, as well, from doing what you wanted to do, something you felt was pleasing to your Heavenly Father. That very thought is a bit scary.

If your dream has been thwarted because God is saving you from something you ought not to do, stop pushing. But when you sense that your plan has been thwarted by Satan, who is the perpetual enemy of God’s people, you need to do spiritual warfare. You need to know your enemy, how he operates and how he does guerrilla warfare. He’s had lots of experience, but he’s not invincible at all. Paul did battle with Satan and sometimes we, too, must do the same.