Mountain Top Life Daily Devotional 16 October 2023 TOPIC: Hindrances To Believers’ Relationship With God

 

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Jeremiah 31, Jeremiah 32, Acts 18, Acts 19

FIRE SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 59:1-4 (KJV)

1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:

2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

4 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.

MEMORY VERSE: “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” – Isaiah 59:2 (KJV)

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES:

God’s presence is the best place you will ever be.

PRAISE AND WORSHIP:

PROPHETIC WORD FOR TODAY

THE BARRIER BETWEEN YOU AND GOD IS BROKEN BY FIRE, IN THE NAME OF JESUS.

MESSAGE:

A believer’s relationship with God is a privilege that should be guarded jealously. The reason is that every good thing he enjoys in the kingdom of God springs from that relationship. He should nurture and grow it as well as keep the enemy away from ruining it. What are the hindrances we need to identify and prevent from intruding into our relationship with God?

The first one is unconfessed sin. Sin, iniquity and transgression separate us from God. If the Father could turn His back to Jesus, His Son, when Jesus carried the sins of the whole world, the will distance Himself from sinners. The Psalmist said if he regarded iniquity in his heart, the Lord would not hear him (Psalm 66:18). The second one is being “too busy” to take time with God. Cultivating and developing intimacy with God requires spending quality time regularly in His presence studying, memorizing and meditating in His word as well as praying to Him. Today, we have many microwave Christians who come hastily into God’s presence and leave hastily. They are the ones who check their wristwatches and complain that the praise and worship time or the sermon is too long. The third hindrance to believers’ relationship with God is lack of faith. Hebrews 11:6 affirms that without faith, it is impossible to please God…” Also, James 1:6-7 underscores the same point, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.”

Another hindrance to the believers’ relationship with God is wilful disobedience. In John 14:15, Jesus said, “If ye love me, you will obey me.” Many have denied themselves of the privilege of a growing intimacy with God because of their lives of constant wilful disobedience to His word. Also, unforgiveness hinders intimacy with God (Matthew 6:14-15). The Bible enjoins us to be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has forgiven us (Ephesians 4:32).

Finally, beloved, if you have an idol in your heart, you will not have an intimacy with God. A life of intimacy with the Father is highly rewarding!

PRAYER POINTS:

MORNING

Blood of Jesus, destroy any hindrance to my intimacy with God, in the name of Jesus.

Father, help me to love what You love and hate what You hate, in the name of Jesus.

Fire of God, consume any idol in my heart, in the name of Jesus.

EVENING

Sin will not have dominion over me, in the name of Jesus.

Father, give me the faith to walk successfully with You, in the name of Jesus.

I overcome the spirit of unforgiveness, in the name of Jesus.

I bind and cast out the spirit of wilful disobedience from my life, in the name of Jesus.