Has God blocked you in areas He is asking you to press for?

By Ramona Wallace

Over the last several months I have realized that God has been blocking me in quite a few areas, including one in particular, and yet I have known that the very areas where I was being blocked were areas God has promised me. This has confused me. I have been compelled strongly, in fact God has interrupted what I was doing repeatedly to pray that these promises will come, and yet in the spirit I look and I see that HE is the one blocking them from happening!!!

As I was questioning Him one day, I felt Him remind me of many of the woman in the Bible who could not have children, in particular Hannah. I Samuel 1:6 says, “the Lord had closed up her womb.” It's interesting that HE CLOSED Hannah’s womb. And then He opened it, in response to her prayers, with a child who changed the world. Others who could not conceive were Sarah (Isaac’s mom), Rebekah (Jacob and Esau’s mom), Rachel (Joseph and Benjamin's mom), Samson’s mother, Elisabeth (mother of John the Baptist) and Mary (mother of Jesus). It was IMPOSSIBLE for her to conceive because she was a virgin.

But God especially pointed out to me Hannah. She cried out to God! She was sooo desperate for an answer that she appeared drunk. AND then she gave the child to God! If her womb had never been closed by God would she have been willing to give the child to the complete service of the Lord?

He has been showing me that yes, He has been the one to block me, but that doesn't mean He DOESN'T want to give to me! I have gone through months of pressing Him for these promises and then yielding it all to Him in deeper ways, then pressing yet again. And He is happy with this process. I can even see Him smiling right now as I write.

A few weeks ago, the Lord asked me to fast for one promise in particular. He said all the other promises hinge on this one. He said it was time to fast for this one and press for it to happen.

Ever wonder why God wants us to press so much for the things He wants to give us? I'm not talking about striving. This whole last year has been very much like being in labor for these promises to me to be fulfilled. He'll tell me to PUSH, push, push, then rest, don't strive, and give it all back to Him, then its back to...PUSH! push, push!

Why does He block us but ask us to ask for the very things He is blocking from us? I'm not entirely sure, BUT I have noticed a change taking place inside me in this process. As I have pushed and pushed and then yielded, there has been a change in me as to the ownership of these promises. It's a change that is within my heart not just my mind anymore. It's not that I even saw these promises as mine to begin with, BUT through this process I believe I am becoming more capable of working with God for HIS PROMISES to be fulfilled here on earth. And within me there has been a letting go of MY (unconscious) CONTROL of how HE does it!

SOOOO, are there areas that God is asking you to PRESS FOR and YIELD to Him in a similar process?