Our last discussion was on How to Build a Personal Relationship with God, and I believe many of you read it. That write-up came as a continuation of our discussion on Silent Forms of Idolatry Practiced by Christians Today—further helping us see How to develop a strong personal relationship with God, not just in words, but in daily, intentional walk with Him.
Before we continue with this lesson, you may be wondering what the benefits of having a personal relationship with God truly are. If so, I encourage you to read this post first.
People wanted to know how to build a personal relationship with God, and I promised to write about it—which I did.
Today, we will be discussing hindrances to maintaining an effective personal relationship with God. If you read the first discussion, I believe this one will also bless you.
Below are some things that can hinder an effective personal relationship with God.
1. Lack of Strong Determination
Having a strong determination to maintain a consistent walk with God is the most important factor in building a personal relationship with Him. I could have started with sin, but sin is not the number one hindrance.
If you truly have a strong determination to build a relationship with God, He will help you deal with sin—if you are willing to surrender.
There is a Scripture that says, since they have made up their minds, nothing will be impossible for them to achieve.
You must make up your mind firmly. Without strong determination, many things will distract you. There will be days you don’t feel like praying, days you don’t even know what to pray about. You may feel you have prayed all the prayers you know and wonder what else you are doing there—but that is part of building a personal relationship with God, where consistency matters more than feelings and staying becomes more powerful than knowing what to say.
Remember, you are building a relationship, not just praying.
From experience, prayer often becomes sweeter when you don’t know what to pray and you surrender to the Holy Spirit to lead you.
Many people give excuses for why they cannot maintain a relationship with God. Those excuses exist because they have not truly made up their minds.
Sometimes, you will have to leave an interesting discussion with loved ones to pray. Other times, you may have to leave your favorite football match. If your determination is not strong, even when you leave physically, your mind will still be on the match, and that won’t help your relationship with God.
Maintaining a relationship with God requires sacrifice. Sometimes it will cost your sleep and comfort. If your determination is weak, this is where you begin to struggle.
Some complain that children will not allow them to maintain a consistent walk with God. This complaint exists because they have not fully decided—they are using God’s blessings as an excuse.
Strong determination alone already solves many of the other hindrances we will discuss, especially when it is rooted in the secret place, where uninterrupted time with God builds resilience, focus, and intimacy that no external circumstance can shake.
2. Laziness
If you are lazy, you cannot build an effective relationship with Jesus. You know it’s time to pray or study the Word, but you keep dragging your feet. You feel unnecessarily tired and start giving excuses about how busy your day was—this is laziness.
Even if your day was truly busy and you are genuinely tired, why not go to God with that tiredness? Tell your Friend that you are exhausted. Be free with Him.
Religion tells us it’s wrong to sleep in God’s presence, yet many of us have slept there—and God did not kill us.
I am not encouraging you to go and sleep, but instead of avoiding God because you think you might sleep, go and rest in His arms. Whenever you wake up, continue from where you stopped.
Sometimes, God will overrule the tiredness and strengthen you until you are done (Isaiah 40:29).
Don’t allow laziness to stop you from relating with your new-found Friend.
3. Bitterness, Unforgiveness, and Anger
These are serious issues that can hinder your relationship with God. Do not harbor bitterness or unforgiveness against anyone. Forgive those who offend you—whether they ask for forgiveness or not. You forgive them for your own good, not theirs.
Be careful with anger while relating with God. Anger can grieve the Holy Spirit, and that is not what you want.
Bitterness, unforgiveness, and anger make you heavy in God’s presence. They hinder free flow and intimacy. No one has done anything to you that compares with what was done to Jesus, yet He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Sin in general will hinder an effective personal relationship with Jesus. Stay away from sin.
4. Noise and Distractions
Choose a quiet place when relating with God. You will not hear Him clearly when there is noise. Noise is an enemy of spiritual communication.
This is why many people prefer night prayers—everywhere is quiet and free from distractions.
If daytime is too noisy for you, then use the night. God wants to relate with us throughout the day, but we must start somewhere.
I see some people go to prayer with shekere, and I wonder why. It is okay to use instruments while singing before prayer, but once prayer starts, quietness is important. God may want to speak to your spirit, and noise can hinder that.
Learn to use silence to your advantage.
5. Fear of Surrender
This is a major reason many people stop relating closely with God. Many run away during God’s training process.
When you relate with God, He will make demands—this is normal. You may want to eat your favorite meal, and God says, “Fast today.” He knows why.
Sometimes, God demands something very important to you—something you spent time, money, and effort to get. He may ask for your cherished possession, just as He asked Abraham for Isaac.
If you are not fully surrendered, you will feel God is asking for too much.
Another difficult area is when God becomes strict with you. Things He allows others to do freely, He will not allow you. He corrects you sharply, and you begin to feel different—even strange to yourself.
This is where some people run away. That is very dangerous. When people run at this stage, their lives begin to move backward. May this not be you in Jesus’ name.
Complete surrender is what makes your relationship with God sweet and lasting. God does not owe any man. Whatever He takes, He gives back much more.
6. Transactional Mindset
This is the last hindrance we will discuss here, though the list is not exhaustive.
Do not relate with God transactionally—“I do this, and God must do that.” Many Christians approach God this way, and it is wrong. You are building a relationship, not striking a deal.
If you have a transactional mindset, you won’t last long with God. He has His own timing and process, which you may not understand.
God does not bless you primarily because you gave to Him; He blesses you because you obeyed Him. Everything you have already belongs to Him, so He owes you nothing.
Relate with God out of love, not for what you can get. Whatever you desire materially, there is someone out there who has it without knowing God.
Your joy should first be that you know Him and relate with Him as your Father and Friend. Other things are additions.
We will have one more discussion on this topic: The Benefits of Having a Personal Relationship with God.
I am sure you will love it. See you there.
If this message has spoken to you, here are some related teachings that will help you understand Hindrances to Effective Personal Relationship with God more deeply:
No comments:
Post a Comment