Topic: Identifying Blessing Blocker
God has called us to be obedient to his instructions.
Unfortunately our disobedience rarely only impacts us. Our disobedience usually
has a domino effect. It usually impacts those around us. We have to be obedient
even when we don’t understand the purpose.
We are not in this world alone. We are all connected to each
other. We can think about some sinful acts in our past and how affected those
around us or even our present. Even those things we felt that only God knew
impacted someone inadvertently.
We pay a premium for our disobedience. It can cost us
receiving God’s promises. God gives us grace & mercy but he is not in the
habit of continually blessing disobedience. There are many definitions for
grace and one of them is time. When we sin and we do not know any better God
gives us time, he gives us grace to get it right. He favors and protects us
during our grace period. He covers our sins because he has mercy on us. Jesus
has compassion on us, which is why we must repent and ask for forgiveness.
We find multiple examples in the bible of disobedience/sins
that impacted others. Moses and almost an entire generation were kept out of
the Promised Land due to sin and disobedience. Mankind fell for disobeying God
in the Garden of Eden. Two cities Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed due to sin.
Sin is contagious. Once we begin, we bring others along and the cycle continues.
Then it spreads like a fast moving cancer destroying everything in its path.
Think of this minor example of sin similar to speeding and
breaking the speed limit. When we are in our cars, speeding the very competitive
person next to us is encouraged to speed as well. The person that is in front
of us feels pressure to increase their speed because we are behind them
speedily approaching their bumper. We have then influenced at least two other
drivers to break the speed limit. The first few times we may receive grace, we
may not get pulled over by the authorities. Suddenly we begin receiving camera
speeding tickets in the mail. Spiritually we have speeding tickets coming in
the mail. Those things we shouldn’t do and we haven’t felt the full effects of
our actions but the Lord is warning us. Then we are pulled over by authorities,
ordered to pay a fine and given points against our license. We are given multiple chances to reduce our
speeding and if our behavior doesn’t change we lose our license and our ability
to drive.
Disobedience is the ultimate blessing blocker! God has
things he wants to get to us but we are blocking our blessings due to
disobedience. God delivered the children of Israel out of the wilderness to the
other side of the Jordan to the Promised Land. When they arrived, God turned
the city over to them, he specifically instructed them not to take anything
from the land for themselves as it was cursed (Jos 6:18-21). Later they went up
for a minor battle and lost (Jos 7:1-5). Joshua prayed to the Lord asking why he
didn’t save them, why did he bring them across the Jordan without protection
(Jos 7:6-9). Joshua prayed to the Lord and the Lord informed him someone in his
camp had disobeyed his command and had taken that which was cursed, which he instructed
against (Jos 7:10-13). One man’s disobedience put an entire nation at risk. Our
sin is not our own. We take others with us.
Sometimes we are praying and doing what God has called us to
do but we have some blessing blockers in our home that are sinning against God.
Some of them we can remove or manage and some we have to continually offer up
prayers on their behalf. Either way we have to recognize it, pray and seek the
Lord for guidance. We have to be careful who and what we allow in our homes or
into our space. There are blessings the Lord has for us but cannot get to us
because we have some blessing blockers that we are trying to satisfy and make
comfortable in our space. The blessing blocker is usually us.
God is gracious and merciful and he never gives us what we
deserve for the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). He gives us mercy and he always he gives
us a way out. He gives us the opportunity to repent. There is still time to
repent, ask forgiveness and obey. There are things the Lord has instructed us
to do that we have repeatedly disobeyed. There are people around us, which are
influencing us to disobey God, and we continually allow ourselves to be
influenced. We need to seek the Holy Spirit for assistance to resist and obey.
The Lord wants the absolute best for us and he cannot give it all
to us if we are disobedient. He can’t give us a new car if our license is
suspended. He can’t bless us with health if we continue to eat fatty foods and refuse to
exercise. He can’t give us joy if we won’t let go of those things he instructed
us to release. There is no lack in Jesus there is only lack in us. If we find
ourselves not receiving what God has promised us we need to take an inventory
of ourselves and our space. We need to determine what our blessing blockers
are, pray and seek the Holy Spirit for guidance.
Pray
Most Holy and Sovereign God. You are the Most High God.
Creator of the heavens and the earth. You are a strong tower and in you we run
and find protection. You are the only one that upholds the kingdom and each of
us with your right hand of righteousness. You are wonderful in all your works
of wonder and glory. You and you alone are exalted, lifted up and praised for
your wonders abound. We repent today for being disobedient and causing those
around us to disobey your will. We ask for forgiveness for allowing ourselves to
be influenced and for when we influenced others to disobey your will. We thank
you for covering our sins. We ask that you give us the will and the strength to
obey. Teach us to lift you up when sin and doubt assail us. Help us to walk
ever sensitive to your upholding hand. Open our heart to you and flow inside us.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen
God Bless you and yours!
Jesus Loves You! Are you in need of salvation? Take the first step. Click here
God Bless you and yours!
Jesus Loves You! Are you in need of salvation? Take the first step. Click here
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