In this short talk Guy Finley discusses what stands in the way of  spiritual fulfillment…

http://www.guyfinleynow.org/members/1198.cfm

It is a mistake for us to think in terms of spiritual “success.” We are not here to succeed as we currently believe; we are here to change. If we wanted to use words, we could say that real success lies in genuinely knowing and living our part in life. However, the problem is that we have unknowingly named for ourselves what our part is.

If we truly want a new life, it will come at a great cost. Where did we ever get the idea that taking our life back from the nature that presently possesses it was going to be an easy task? We have to grow up and begin to understand that, just as there are celestial forces that are always active in our favor, there also exists forces that are set against our spiritual growth. What becomes of us all depends upon what we want in our heart of hearts.

There is no true spiritual fulfillment apart from being what we are in the moment. In our daily efforts to meet ourselves as we actually are, we are going to get knocked down again and again. But strangely enough, the harder we get knocked down, the better it is because it begins to shatter the immature illusion that somehow we are going to master this wild ‘self’ by ourselves. This lower nature is mastered when the room is made for the Master to come into our lives. The real nature of success is in letting God change us.