The Right Connection
Being connected to the wrong things can create a significant distance between you and the right blessing. One could be praying for their next spouse, but God will delay this until they are completely disconnected from their last relationship or marriage. A complete disconnection isn't just breaking up with the person. It involves leaving the pain, bad habits and negative thoughts behind as well. Receiving a blessing loses value if you're unable to sustain it! As I mentioned in a previous blog, the wrong mindset can damage the right blessing (Embrace Your Environment). The right opportunity could be missed or mismanaged if you aren't completely ready for it. How can one properly manage a future blessing if they're still connected to a previous failure? We have to break up with our past, and become engaged with the future! Having a bad internet connection will delay the time it takes to watch something on a phone or a tablet. God works in a similar fashion. He'll delay certain blessings until we get a better connection with him!
Feed Your Faith
Before God can increase the amount of blessings we receive, we must increase our faith! There's a direct correlation between our faith and our connection with God. During a recent sermon, my pastor (Dr. William Curtis) mentioned the following about being a spiritual optimist, "I can't have a lot of faith and be a negative person". I believe the same applies to our spiritual connection with God. You can't have a strong relationship with him, and have weak faith! As Bishop John E. Guns stated, "People with real faith don't flinch". You only gain this type of faith if you truly know and understand the type of God you serve. The best way to build your faith is fully connecting yourself to the word! The New American Standard Bible translation of Romans 10:17 states the following: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” An individual lacking faith isn't hearing enough of the word. So we must learn to disconnect ourselves from distractions if we desire to hear the word, and properly apply it to our lives. If it's not feeding your faith or contributing to your future, why are you focused on it? Faith enables us to grow while doubt keeps us stagnant. If we are aware of this, why do we listen to doubt or remain connected to doubtful people? We have to learn to starve our doubt instead of feeding it! If you choose to entertain and listen to gossip, don't be surprised if you get overwhelmed by adversity. Your faith is your foundation and without consistently hearing the word, your foundation becomes weak! (See The Message Translation of Matthew 7:24-27)
Consistently Connected To Christ
Our connection and relationship with Christ has to be consistent. We can't be partially connected to Christ and expect full time blessings! If you're connected to the wrong things, God will delay your blessings. Some people are more connected to Facebook than God's book. Some people know everything happening in the world, but don't know what happened in the Bible. People are quicker to read comments on a post instead of the word, and wonder why their blessings aren't coming yet. Your focus isn't where it needs to be. Until your focus shifts towards the right things, your blessings will be on hold!
Delayed Not Denied
The good news comes from our blessings being delayed not denied. Our blessings are only on hold until we are ready to receive them. It's important to never confuse delay and denial. Denial can be defined as the refusal of something requested or desired, while delay is defined as putting something off until a later time. We often get discouraged and upset when we pray for something, and God doesn't deliver it right away. This is why our faith and our connection to the word is important because it tells us that God will provide us what we asked for in prayer. The New International Version of Mark 11:24 states the following: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” The New International Version of John 14:14 tells us that, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” Everything you're praying for will arrive at the right time, but only if you believe in what you're praying for. You also have to believe in the one you are praying to. If you're not truly connected to the word of God, you'll pay more attention to your fear and frustration instead of your faith! Once you consistently connect to God and his word, your desired blessings will be delivered!
