Through my own walk with God and decades of coaching others, He has revealed to me an important truth: being overweight or struggling with health is not always your fault—but now it is your responsibility. Many people are doing the best they know how yet still feel frustrated when progress feels hard or seems to stall altogether. In most cases, it’s not a lack of effort; it’s because something unseen is standing in the way.
Whether your goal is losing excess body fat, improving overall health, or strengthening your body, many people find themselves working hard yet feeling stuck. In situations like these, it’s worth pausing to ask a deeper question:
Is there something beneath the surface that hasn’t been addressed yet?
Stumbling Blocks
The Bible tells us that when progress is being hindered, God’s desire is to remove the stumbling blocks that keep us from moving forward.
Stumbling Blocks are issues or circumstances that obstruct, or become obstacles, with the intention of crippling and preventing you from reaching your goals. A stumbling block can also be a diversion to distract you from God’s truth concerning your life; an interference to reaching your God-given potential.
Two Types of Stumbling Blocks
There are two primary types of stumbling blocks that can interfere with achieving your goals. Some are easier to identify and address, while others are rooted much deeper and require spiritual attention. Learning to recognize the difference is a critical step toward lasting progress.
Hindrances
Hindrances are natural or physical stumbling blocks that primarily come from outside sources penetrating the mind or the intellect. They affect you mentally and physically. This type of stumbling block can be dealt with and dispelled intellectually.
You overcome a hindrance by understanding your old counter-productive thought process and replacing it with accurate knowledge, so that you can send your body the appropriate signals. After you embrace and apply what you’ve learned you will achieve results.
Soul Wounds
Soul wounds are spiritual stumbling blocks that also come from outside sources. But they penetrate deeper, not only affecting the mind, but they create wounds to the heart and soul. They affect you mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Soul wounds are more difficult to rectify because the stumbling block is caused by an injury deep within. They must be ministered to spiritually by acknowledging and releasing the root of the hurt, coupled with prayer for God’s overcoming power and grace.
Hindrance or Soul Wound?
Throughout our lives there are many situations in which hindrances or soul wounds can occur. Sometimes we are unable to determine whether a particular stumbling block is a hindrance or a soul wound. A hindrance and a soul wound may be interwoven because a soul wound is often inflicted through the doorway of the mind. Remember, a hindrance is easily dealt with because all we need is a change of mind or a new thought process, but a soul wound requires much more than a change of thought. The key to identifying the type of stumbling block you are dealing with is by discovering its root.
Depression is one example of a stumbling block that can be either a hindrance or a soul wound. If your depression originates from a mental source, such as being overwhelmed with daily tasks, it is a hindrance. If your depression originates from an emotional source, like an abusive relationship, it is a soul wound.
You must establish whether you are dealing with a hindrance or a soul wound, so you can know how to effectively address the problem. If a soul wound is dealt with like a hindrance, it is like putting a band-aid over a malignant cancer — the band-aid is not equipped to heal cancer.
A stumbling block resulting from misinformation can be resolved by acquiring appropriate knowledge. With a soul wound, all the knowledge in the world cannot heal the problem. Only God can.
Lay Aside Every Weight
One mistake many of us make is we try to separate the physical from the spiritual, not realizing the connection. Whatever affects you mentally, emotionally, and spiritually will affect you physically. By the same token, what affects you physically will also affect you mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. These stumbling blocks, whether they are hindrances or soul wounds, can create excess weight physically and spiritually.
The Bible says in Hebrews 12:1, “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” God’s desire is for us to lay aside every “weight and sin” that hinders us. The adversary’s desire, on the other hand, is for us to accumulate as much excess weight as possible, physically and spiritually, because he understands that this will hold us back on every level. God wants us to have a life of balance. Stability and balance may seem hard to find, but with God’s help we can do what seems impossible {Proverbs 11:1; 20:23}.
Where True Transformation Begins
Man’s opinions and misinformation have created massive confusion that only compounds the problem of being unhealthy and out of balance. In order to dispel the confusion, you must gain an understanding of how true transformation works by learning the facts concerning the stumbling blocks that have hindered your progress.
In Hosea 4:6 God says, “My people perish for lack of knowledge.” God is not saying, “My people perish for lack of information.” The problem is we have way too much information, but a great deal of it has been incorrect and void of God’s power. When God speaks of knowledge in Hosea, He is referring to knowledge concerning Him and His Word. When God’s Word is involved, God Himself supplies the power to fulfill what He says. He says, “My Word is settled in Heaven,” so Heaven has already made a stance on earthly circumstances.
If you are struggling to achieve lasting change in your health and life, you need to agree with God’s stance concerning your well-being and trust Him to bring it to pass—this is the only solution to true transformation.
How to Begin Removing the Stumbling Blocks
• Ask God to reveal the root.
Take time in prayer and honest reflection, asking God to show you what may be impeding your progress—whether it is a hindrance or a deeper soul wound.
• Identify what you’re dealing with.
Discern whether your struggle is rooted in misinformation, unhealthy patterns, or something deeper that requires spiritual healing. The solution depends on the source.
• Apply the correct solution.
Hindrances require accurate knowledge and disciplined action. Soul wounds require spiritual attention, humility, and God’s healing power. Treat each appropriately.
• Stop relying on willpower alone.
Lasting change is not achieved through effort by itself. True transformation requires God’s wisdom, God’s truth, and God’s power working in your life.
Moving Forward Into Real, Lasting Transformation
Many of the obstacles that stand in the way of lasting change have deep roots, and those roots must be identified and addressed. Let God help you uncover the stumbling blocks and give you the courage to face and stand up to the hindrances and soul wounds that have held you back. As you take responsibility and invite God into the process, you can be healed and finally move forward into real, lasting transformation.
Need Support?
For help with overcoming hindrances and soul wounds, reach out to me at support@yourchampionlife.com.
I invite you to join my SKOOL community — a faith-based health and fitness community helping you live strong in body, renewed in mind, and anchored in God.
