Daily Devotional for Tuesday November 9, 1999

You Could Be Hindering God From Blessing You

(Genesis 19:23-26)

You could be hindering God from blessing you. If you have read many of the devotionals I write each day, you will see that a common thread is personal responsibility. Many of you are missing the blessings of God because you are hindering God from working in your behalf. In today's scripture passage, we read how God was trying to bless Lot's wife, sparing her life in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. It was her disobedience that hindered God from blessing her and actually cost her her life. Your disobedience, your sin may not have such tragic consequences, but they are still a hindrance to the blessings God has for your life.

There are many factors that come into play that can cause us harm. The sins of others, consequences that God allows to happen that we might never understand. But when it is an outside influence, whether you ever see them or acknowledge them, God is still blessing you and keeping you by His grace and mercy despite what you are going through. Others cannot hold back God's blessings on your life. However, your sins, your rebellion can hold back the blessings of God and keep you from realizing all the wonderful things that He has for your life. To me, the worst part of sin, the worst part of living in rebellion is not so much the consequence of those actions, but all that we miss, all the blessings of God that are held back. God cannot and will not bless sin, so on top of everything else, you are missing the best He has for your life.

I am going to pray today that as you read this devotional, the Holy Spirit brings to your thoughts the things in your life that you know, even though you try to suppress them, are keeping you from knowing all of God's blessings in your life. I am going to pray that God will strengthen you to turn from your sin, turn from your rebellion, and come to Him with a broken and contrite heart, asking forgiveness. He loves you. He wants to bless you. All he is waiting for is for you to turn from your sin and follow Him. Why would you settle for a hamburger if you could have a New York strip? That is what you do when you won't let go of the sin in your life. God has so much for you, it is up to you to get all the benefits there are from following Christ. Blessings you can't even imagine are waiting. All He is waiting for is your life, totally surrendered to Him. My prayer is for you to turn to Him today and have all the wonderful blessings waiting for your life.