By Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel

John 6:63 “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

Through the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus, God has provided us with all we need for life and godliness. Every human problem has an answer in what the Lord Jesus died and paid in full for us to have. Therefore, we are complete in Christ! This post will be exploring three of the main roadblocks that hinder Christians from experiencing or living out the complete blessings made available to all through Christ. 

IGNORANCE

Ignorance of the blessings Jesus provided us through his death will rob us of them all. You can only lay claim and take charge of what you know is yours. Some Christians are still praying and begging God for things He has already provided for them. The simple solution is to go to the Scriptures and find out what Jesus died for you to enjoy. Stay in the word until you develop enough faith to appropriate them and be able to fight off any challenges by the devil to make you think they are not already yours. For instance, no Christian prays for salvation after receiving Christ because they know they are saved. Why then should the same Christian pray for all that salvation provides even after they have received salvation? Do you know the benefits of your salvation? Do you believe the Scripture?

Eph 1:3 “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.”

LACK OF INTIMACY WITH CHRIST

Having an intimate fellowship with the Lord Jesus will help us know these truths by revelation. The Bible even calls it “the one thing that is needful”. Mary chose the one thing that is needful according to our Lord Jesus. She sat at the feet of Jesus to hear His word.

Luke 10:39, 41-42 “And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. 41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

We need to find time to be alone with the Lord, study our Bible, meditate on it and pray about what it says. The life, character, and nature of Christ in us flow and manifests out only when we have deep intimacy with Christ daily.

Romans 15:5  “Now may God, the source of great endurance and comfort, grace you with unity among yourselves, which flows from your relationship with Jesus, the Anointed One.”

The revelation of the truth in Christ flows out of our deep fellowship with Him so we can be persuaded about spiritual truths like Abraham was. Paul and Lydia also had personal revelations from the Lord, see verses below.                               

Rom 14:14“I know and am convinced by personal revelation from the Lord Jesus that there is nothing wrong with eating any food. But to the one who considers it to be unclean, it is unacceptable.”

 Acts 16:14 “One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying.”

NOT PLACING VALUE ON THE WORD OF GOD

Many Christians do not value the word of God. They want miracles but they do not want the miracle worker. They do not care to know Him. They are convinced that all they need is to seek miracles and as long as they are where they believe the miracles come from, they have no more need to know Jesus and His word. But, let us be mindful of what the Scriptures say regarding this.

Dan 11:32 “And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”

 Jer 9:24 “But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone:that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord  who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth,and that I delight in these things.I, the Lord, have spoken!”

 Hos 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”             

Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel is the Senior Pastor at Fountain of  The Living Word Church, New Jersey.