I was listening to Keith Moore, Pastor of Faith Life Church Sarasota, say that so many people are trying to get God to give, but He already has. He took our sins to the cross, went to hell, served the time we should have spent there, came back, gave us power over all demons, authority to cast out devils and to heal all manner of sickness and disease, and then told us that if we’d sow, we’d receive thirty, sixty, or a hundred times our investment. Yet we have the nerve to ask Him to give us more. He already gave us His precious Son and the Holy Spirit. What more can He give? When I thought about that, I saw that the problem isn’t that God needs to give us anything; the problem is that we have to learn to receive.
The Hot 14
There are some habits, personality quirks, attitudinal problems, and more importantly, your beliefs that are preventing you from receiving. In fact, you’re blocking your own blessing. I’ll use me for example. During 2017, the Lord revealed some things in my character that He wasn’t pleased with. I call them ‘the hot 14.’ Though I don’t want to put myself out there like that, I’ll share a few. 😊
1. Hardness.
2. Unwilling to let people in.
3. No desire to let people get close to me.
4. Too guarded.
As you can see, ya girl has a few trust issues. But those trust issues are blocking me from receiving from God. Why? Because God told me that in order to get past them, I had to learn to ‘love on people’; which I found difficult because I can’t love you if I don’t trust you. But He reminded me that He didn’t tell me that I had to be ‘in love’ with people. I just had to ‘love on’ them…by way of not being sohard and guarded. At the time, I didn’t see the correlation, but this is why I haven’t received what I’ve been praying for. It’s because the people that I don’t want to get to know me are the same people He’ll probably use to give to me. The people I don’t want to get close to me, are likely to be the very ones He’ll use to give me accessto someone or some place that's integral to my call. And the same is true for you. A prime example of this can be seen with the racial divide today. The very white person you think uses their privilege too much, may just be the very person holding the key to the door to your next opportunity. And the black person you think less of, could be the very person with the testimony to deliver your teen from opioids.
You’re a Blessing Blocker
Another reason why you have to work on you, is because you’re blocking that person’s blessing. For instance, if I don’t allow people to get to know me, then I’m blocking that person’s seed which means I’m blocking their ability to receive their blessing; simply because I wouldn’t give them the opportunity to sow into me. And the same holds true for you. You have to get out of your own way and allow God to give you the answer to your prayer the way He designed. We can’t receive from God on our own terms and as such, we need to settle it within ourselves to look at the good, the bad, and the ugly parts and see if those parts are blocking us from receiving.
Practical Application: Ask God to reveal your ‘hot list’. I started mine by making a list of everything I knew didn’t please God. For some, you may get to 14 like I did, but don’t get depressed. After you make the list, simply…
Pray this with me: Heavenly Father, please forgive me for everything on this list. I know I’m not right. I thought I had to be this way Lord, but I see its blocking You from taking me to my next level and I see that I can’t receive until I start to work on them. So Lord, I ask You for the grace to work these things out of my life and thank You that as I do, I’ll receive all You’ve shown me. In Jesus’ name.
Comments