Psalm 19:12-13
Here are 8 things people often unknowingly do that hinder them from being blessed by God.
And if you haven’t heard, there are only a few more days to enroll in my relationship training courses at AGW University. These are self-paced online courses that I designed for Christian single adults who want a deep biblical study on how to best meet the person God has for them.
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1. They Have a Poor Application of the Theological Truths About God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Responsibility
I originally titled point 1 as “They have a poor theological understanding about God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility,” but that’s not quite right. Many people study this topic in Scripture and can understand a lot of very true ideas. It’s the application of these truths that most people struggle with.
Some do too much and some don’t do enough. Some just pray for God’s blessings and some just work hard for God’s blessings. But when you apply what the Bible says about God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility, you will work hard in faith and trust that God alone brings the blessing. God does it but he often uses our efforts.
As Colossians 1:29 states, “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”
2. They Follow a Bad Teaching
The only teacher who is always right is Jesus. Every other teacher is right sometimes and wrong sometimes. Ideally, as Christians, we are following teachers who are mostly right, especially when it comes to the most important gospel truths.
Sometimes a teacher was used by God to accurately explain the gospel, but then this teacher lacks a proper knowledge about sanctification or some other life principles.
All that to say, we must never mindlessly follow a teacher, even if they helped us in the past. We each need to weigh through what advice we are following (Galatians 1:8-9, Philippians 3:15), or else we could be unknowingly following bad advice that will block God’s blessings (1 Timothy 4:1-2).
3. They Are Committing Sin They Don’t Even Know Is Sin
Sadly, I’ve talked to many people who were living in sexual sin and didn’t even know it was wrong until later in life. While this is sad that no one ever told them what the Bible says, ultimately, it’s each of our responsibilities to read the Bible and to know what is commended and forbidden.
Pray that Holy Spirit will open your eyes to sin you may be blinded to, as Psalm 19:12-13 states, “But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.”
4. They Are Imbalanced Between Speaking Words of Love and Truth
In Ephesians 4:15 we are told to speak the truth in love. Sometimes we are tempted to just speak in love and then we avoid telling people the whole truth. And at other times we say the truth but we say it an unloving way. Either way, when there is imbalance here, we miss out on the good God produces through speaking in a biblically balanced way (Proverbs 18:21, Proverbs 13:3).
5. They Only Love People Through Niceness
Christians often get taught an oversimplified version of love. We often equate love with niceness. But sometimes it’s actually unkind to only be nice. Sometimes it’s loving to discipline (Hebrews 12:6), to rebuke (Galatians 6:1), and to encourage someone boldly to live better than they are living (2 Corinthians 10:1-6).
When you only show niceness, you are missing the blessing of being a bigger blessing to people who need something other than niceness (Acts 20:35).
6. They Think Love Means Being Misused
Depending on what you have experienced in your past, especially in your childhood, it’s very easy to have a skewed version of love. If your parents loved you but they also yelled at you in frustration, you may feel led into a relationship with lots of yelling and fighting because you feel like that is a sign of love. Or if you had a selfish parent who made you serve them when you were a child, you may feel this selfishness is how all loving relationships are meant to be.
If your understanding of love has been warped and you think it’s okay to be misused, this will hinder you from receiving the blessings God wants to give through living a healthy life in healthy relationships (Philippians 2:1-5).
7. They Are Expecting Blessings God Never Promised
It is absolutely essential that Christians depend on the promises of God and to always have faith. However, the only promises we can be sure are truly from God are the promises made in Scripture.
In the Scriptures God has promised that he can bring a spouse, produce a certain amount of money, and heal diseases. But he has not promised everyone a spouse, earthly riches, or to live forever on earth without ever getting sick and dying.
No, God has not promised to bless everyone in the exact same way when it comes to material and earthly blessings. But when it comes to eternal blessings in Christ, we can be sure that God will bless all Christians with these (Ephesians 1:3).
8. They Miss the Main Message of the Bible
Perhaps the main way we unknowingly block God’s blessings in our lives is by missing the main message in the Bible – Jesus Christ is our salvation. While the Bible does contain many amazing principles for living, ultimately everything in Scripture points us to the person and work of Jesus Christ (Luke 24:25-27, 44-45, John 5:39-40, 46).
If you miss Jesus, you miss everything good God has to give you! As 2 Corinthians 1:19-20 explains:
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you . . . was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.”
AGW University is not for everyone. I made these biblical relationship training courses for a very specific type of person. If you are married or dating someone right now, these courses won’t benefit you much. But if you are a Christian single person who has been struggling for a long time to get into a godly relationship, then these courses will really benefit you.
And if for some reason you are not helped by these courses, I offer a 30-day money back guarantee, no questions asked. Here’s what one AGW University Alumni just shared with the other students and me:
I certainly can’t guarantee you will find the one God has for you if you take these courses. But I can guarantee that you will learn a lot and grow a ton if you put in the hard work. If you are ready to put in the work but you just need help to know what you need to do to prepare for a relationship and you are unsure of how to actually meet the person God may have for you, feel free to click here to learn more about this opportunity.
Lastly, if you enroll before the May 29th deadline, I’m giving you three months of bonus email coaching with me for no additional tuition cost along with the biggest scholarship I’ve ever offered before. Click here if you are interested so you don’t miss out!