The Monkey on Your Back

A person who is said to have a monkey on his or her back most likely appears to be struggling with an overwhelming and troubling burden. A persistent problem might be described as a monkey on one’s back. www.voices.yahoo.com/idioms-unpacked-monkey-back-5456074.html?cat=37

John Meggiolaro, a managing partner at the business development firm, The Travid Group, in his post Getting A Monkey Off Your Back profoundly stated that “almost all of us are walking around with one or more monkeys on our backs. For some, they are the size of a baby chimpanzee. For others, they may be full-grown gorillas. No matter the size, the fact that one or more are there demands our attention. And it's no secret that the care and feeding of these monkeys can be overwhelming”. http://EzineArticles.com/5174439

I can agree with Mr. Meggiolaro to a certain degree. Unless you are a child as described by Jesus Christ in Matthew 18:3, we all are walking around with a monkey-two monkeys-three monkeys (you get the drift) on our backs! And the monkey or monkeys is sin in its most basic form. So it doesn’t matter the size – sin is sin and because it separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). Anything that we allow to detach us from God puts us in a very bad place.

There were also several suggested for getting the monkey off our back, like: 1) pick a monkey; 2) state your desired outcome in a proactive manner; 3) identify the possible road blocks that might get in the way; 4) select actions to overcome those road blocks; 5) identify anything else that may impact your ability to achieve your desired outcome; and, 6) take action.

Pick a monkey. Galatians 5:19-21

“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which, I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in times past, that those that practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God”. These are your monkey choices and I guarantee you that we all have a multitude of these little critters; they don’t come in ones’!

State your desired outcome in a proactive manner. Matthew 7:7-8; Matthew 6:6; 1 Peter 3:12; 1 John 5:14-15

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened”. “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly”. We want to rid ourselves of the monkeys, we want relief from the stress and we want peace. God knows what we need even better than we do and he is willing to give us the means necessary to put our lives back on track. As a matter-of-fact, he has already given it to us, it is called prayer! But we have work to do…like His will….for starters and enders! “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil”. “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him”. We have to be proactive in our petitions to the Lord and remember we have an active part in our prayers; we must be willing to do our share.

Identify the possible roadblocks that might get in the way. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9; Matthew 6:24; 1 John 2:15-17

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed”. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon”. “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father[a] is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever”. Our only roadblock is the love of the world for this is the catalyst for every sin that we commit, no matter what that sin is, because if we love anything or anyone more than we love the Lord, we will sin. Whatever it is that has put us a guilty distance from God starts with something that is in the world that we desire…whatever it is, and all of this gets in our way of serving Him properly and causes those monkeys to jump all over us!

Select actions to overcome those roadblocks. Romans 3:23; 1 Peter 3:15; Romans 10:17

First of all, we must remember that “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Accept it and move past it! We must open our world up to include Christ. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Also remember that sometimes what we perceive as a roadblock (monkey) is there to help us evoke the power of our Lord and Savior. It helps to recognize that the roadblock produces strength. Our prayer should not be to take it away, but should be to give us the ability to look pas the discomfort; for the end results is faithful endurance. “…My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Identify anything else that may impact your ability to achieve your desired outcome. Ecclesiastes 12:13

Our desired outcome should be a place in heaven and we are own worst enemy. We greatly impact our abilities to achieve that desired outcome through our sinful, willful actions of disobedience. We put our pride and our desires in the way of what God wants for us, and then blame Him when things fall apart. Well my friend, it ain’t about you, it ain’t about me, it ain’t about any of us! Want to get that monkey off your back? Recognize that God is the center of your world, my world, our world! Simply obey Him! “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, and keep his commandments: for that is the whole duty of may.”

 

Take action. Romans 8:35-39

^"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."