How a Christian Can Move from Stuck to Unstuck by Jennifer Maggio

In full disclosure, I could have taken this article in any number of different directions, as I see a variety of issues plaguing Believers and the modern church. However, I want to hone in on the primary issues the Lord has guided me into writing today – how to move a Christian from stuck to unstuck.

Believers, I want you to first know that the God we serve can radically and completely save, heal, and set free. 100% of all three of those is the bread of every Believer. There are many who don’t know that God – the God who radically heals in body, mind, and heart, the God who frees, the God who transforms. Sure, they may have had an “experience” with the Lord, whereby an altar call yielded some tears. But, friend, I am not speaking about an experience. Today, I am speaking about true intimacy with the King of Kings that will radically shake your world and change everything.

I will start by saying that even writing about how a Christian can be “stuck” seems in err. Christians aren’t supposed to be stuck. They are free by the blood of Christ Jesus. They are not supposed to be bound by anything but their love to the Father who freed them. Yet, we see so many whose life does not reflect the John 8:36 freedom we read about in Scripture. There are some who understand that a price was paid on a Cross a long time ago, so that you they spend eternity in Heaven. And they understand that Jesus is Savior. However, they don’t know the mountain-moving, earth-shattering, chain-breaking intimacy with the Father that paid for the great unsticking in every area. I was once there. I was the Believer who knew the Savior but didn’t know Him as healer and deliverer. It is my deepest desire as a Believer to ensure that other Believers know His power and the full payment of Calvary.

In 2020, as the world shut down, the Lord began to do something in my life. And I didn’t know it at the time, but He was beginning to do a very similar thing with Christians all over the world. As we were forced to stay at home, more than any of us probably had in years, there was a stirring that happened beneath the surface (or rather in the spirit realm). We were all kind of stumbling through how to learn to worship at home when we couldn’t lean on a pastor or a church service. And what happened was the Lord began to separate the wheat from the chaff. It was a time of great exposure for the church. Where is the power of the Believer – the same power that rose Christ from the dead? Who are the ones who are attending church because they yearn for social activity or religious check box fulfillment? Where are the ones who desire to be set on fire for God, willing to lay down everything, including their lives, to serve the one true King? The great unsticking began.

The Lord began slowly reigniting an ember in me during this time that set me on fire to a raging inferno that I would no longer be satisfied with the status quo of Christianity, the checking church off the religious box. Hear me, Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is time for the remnant to rise, no more feeling stuck – exhausted, beat-up, overwhelmed, stressed out. The anointing of God breaks the yoke off our backs. But how? How do you move from feeling stuck to unstuck? Here are two major areas to consider:

Full surrender is required. Too many Believers know Jesus as Savior, but not Jesus as Lord. They know the sacrifice of the Cross and the necessity of Jesus’ blood as atonement for sin and payment for eternity with the Father. However, they do not understand surrender.

What I have found is that many Believers in the modern church have no problem recognizing Jesus as Savior. They have a problem repenting. Jesus said in Matthew 3:2, “repent from the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Repent does not mean to be sorry. It does not mean I don’t want to walk out this pain that my sin has caused. It does not mean tears. It means “turn”. True repentance is turning. I found that in my own life I did not have much of a problem believing I was a sinner in need of a Savior, or that Jesus was the only way to the Father. I had a much bigger problem turning from my sin. I wanted to keep my sin and get my salvation. Many of us spend much time rationalizing that our sin “is not that big of a deal.” But sin is a really big deal. In fact, many have unrepentant, habitual sin that is binding them so tight they can barely breathe. Many are drowning in the consequences of unrepented sin and are not receiving clear teaching on why they are stuck.

Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” In Luke 6:46, He also says, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” I would submit to you this day, Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, that to truly know the Lord is to truly surrender to His majesty. There was a time in my life when I thought truly surrendering to the Lord was too great of a sacrifice. I had to give up too much.

I didn’t understand that what Jesus offered was far greater than the temporary, counterfeit, satisfaction the world offered. I gave him 40% or 50% or even 90%. But the Lord requires the whole kit and caboodle. He requires surrender. The day you surrender your plans, children, emotions, finances, career path, and entire life before the Lord is the day you receive the great unsticking.

The second thing binding many Believers is unforgiveness. Some of you refuse to forgive. The pain which you have endured has been immense and sometimes long-standing. The disappointments are countless. Consequently, you want someone to pay. Too often we want justification for our pain. Vengeance rages. Bitterness grows. We want someone to pay for how they have hurt us, our families, and our children. But forgiveness is an act of discipline not emotion. Jesus taught us how to pray in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6. He says in vs. 12: “and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.” Forgiveness is the key that is going to unlock your freedom. It is going to unlock your freedom to parent better, to manage your money more effectively, to hear from the Holy Spirit more clearly, and to laugh without fear of your future. Forgiveness is a Kingdom principle. And because we have been taught to follow our heart and not the Word of God, many do not understand that failure to adhere to this instruction from the Lord gives access to a great stuck life. One’s unwillingness to obey in this area is keeping many stuck.  

Believer, forgive your children, when they have disappointed you. Forgive your parents, when they’ve hurt you. Forgive every harbored resentment for comments made and criticism administered. Forgive old bosses, coworkers, and family members. It is time to let the childhood abuse go. It’s time to forgive the father who walked out.

Some of you do not know why your life is so very hard right now. It is because you have not unlocked the freedom of full surrender and forgiveness. Today is that day.    

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Jennifer Maggio

Jennifer Maggio is an author, national speaker, business consultant, single parenting subject matter expert, and CEO of the national nonprofit, Unstuck Ministries. Maggio's personal story through homelessness, poverty, single parenting, and severe abuse has been shared in hundreds of media venues, including the New York Times, 700 Club, Power Women, Daystar, and countless others. After becoming an 11-time Circle of Excellence Winner in Corporate America, she left her corporate successes behind to serve over one million women with one mission - to see bound women become free in Christ. To learn more, visit jennifermaggio.com.

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