Faith is the only way to receive blessings. There is only one thing that blocks your blessings. Find out what that is in this article. 

Have you ever heard a teaching that if you refuse to forgive someone, you can be blocking your own blessings? 

This is false—unforgiveness is not what stops the blessing. It’s your unbelief, which is demonstrated in your unforgiveness. 

When a person refuses to forgive someone even though Jesus asked us to forgive one another just as He has already forgiven us, he is not fully trusting the Lord. 

He is still insisting in his own ways, instead of placing faith in Jesus—like somehow if he forgives the offender, that person will get away scot free and Jesus won’t do anything about it. 

The underlying unbelief is what blocks the person’s blessings. He is not able to receive because he is not willing to just surrender to Jesus and believe. 

What about sin? Can sin block your blessings? No they can’t, but the unbelief produced by the condemnation and sin consciousness can cause one to feel unworthy to receive God’s blessings—it is a self-imposed stumbling block to faith.

“You husbands, in the same way, live with your wives according to knowledge, giving honor to the woman, as to the weaker vessel, as being also joint heirs of the grace of life; that your prayers may not be hindered.” (1 Peter‬ ‭3:7‬ ‭WEB‬)

In the verse above, we see clearly that treating your wife badly can become a hindrance to your prayers. 
A man who beats his wife can’t boldly stand before Jesus to receive every blessing.
His conscience will keep nagging to disqualify him from every blessing. 
That’s how sinning produces unbelief which blocks your blessings. 

“But you, beloved, keep building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.” ‭‭(Jude‬ ‭1:20‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

There’s faith, and then there’s a “most holy faith”.

Holy means to be set apart. 

When we pray in the Holy Spirit, also known as praying in tongues, we are using a “most holy faith”.

It is a faith that is uncorrupted by worldly beliefs, unhindered by our mind’s tendency to produce unbelief in our hearts and un-limited by our understanding of Scriptures and God’s heart for us.

Praying in tongues is truly a gift that sets us apart unto God’s will—Jesus Himself praying for us through His Spirit living inside us, offering up praise and prayers that are perfectly aligned with God the Father’s will. 

“In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered. He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.” ‭‭(Romans‬ ‭8:26-27‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

It’s the gift that allows the holy Trinity to work in tandem, having free rein over your life—destroying whatever obstacles are in your way, orchestrating blessings in your path, building you up in all ways (body, soul and spirit) and even praying for others who need urgent help. 

“So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest! And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.” ‭‭(James‬ ‭3:5-6‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

As ignorant unbelievers, we once used the power in our tongues to speak death and destroy what is good in our lives, sabotaging our destinies. 

“Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.” ‭‭(Acts‬ ‭2:3-4‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

On the Day of Pentecost when Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit upon the church, the Holy Spirit manifested Himself as tongues of fire to show the nature of the gift of praying in tongues. 
 
Through the gift of praying in tongues, God catches hold of our tongues and uses its power to burn away what is evil and set up what is good and life-giving in our lives. 

If you were to ask me which is the creepiest, scariest and most gruesome chapter in the Bible, I would have to say Judges 19. 

In it, the depths of moral degradation and depravity can be seen, even though in terms of the volume of bloodshed, it's nothing compared to the Book of Revelation.

If you thought the Bible doesn’t depict or describe sin, then be prepared to be challenged in your belief. 

The Bible doesn't portray violence and evil just to scare you or for shock factor like in horror movies. There is a purpose for it, and it's always God-centered.
In this case, we are given a frightful chapter to show what happens when man doesn't want God to be in charge.   

Today, we see the world descending into deep moral darkness, just like the times which we will examine in Judges 19. 

Sin is not only being tolerated, but even celebrated. If you don’t accept it, then the world will say that you’re being hateful, discriminatory, and intolerant. 

“Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil.” ‭‭(Genesis‬ ‭6:5‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

When we live as though God isn’t King over all and try to be upright according to our own biased sense of morality (we tend to excuse the sins that we or our loved ones commit), the inevitable outcome is wickedness and evil. 

“The whole earth was of one language and of one speech. As they traveled east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there. They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”” ‭‭(Genesis‬ ‭11:1-4‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

There was a time that the whole earth under the sky spoke one language. 

The Bible teaches that the sky is a solid structure shaped like a dome:

“God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.” ‭‭(Genesis‬ ‭1:6-8‬ ‭WEB‬)

The word “expanse” in the passage above  is “rakia” in Hebrew which means a solid structure that stretches out like a dome.

Mankind wanted to built a tower that reached the dome of the sky (to try entering Heaven), to make a name for themselves—based on their own strength and ability, apart from God. 

The pre-incarnate Jesus came down from Heaven to see the tower that man was building, and He made an interesting statement: 

“Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built. Yahweh said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do. Come, let’s go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth.” ‭‭(Genesis‬ ‭11:5-9‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

God said that the people were united, and that in their oneness, nothing would be withheld from them—there is greatness in unity. 

God is not against man ascending to Heaven, but He doesn’t want them to try and do it by their own strength. 
God had a plan to restore mankind and bring them to Heaven through faith and not by works—it would be by God’s goodness and not by man’s strength.

That plan is the cross, and we know that no one is saved by their works. 

“yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law.” ‭‭(Galatians‬ ‭2:16‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

The word Babel comes from the Hebrew word “balal” which means “to confuse”.
God confused mankind’s language and from then on, they lost the power they had in their unity. 

“Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil. Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. Yahweh said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground—man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky—for I am sorry that I have made them.”” ‭‭(Genesis‬ ‭6:5-7‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

When Bible skeptics read the account of God sending a flood to destroy all living things on earth, they claim that God is a cruel dictator who committed the worst genocide. 

However they don’t consider what kind of evil mankind was doing on earth at that time. 
Back then, mankind’s lifespans were incredibly long due to the pre-flood atmosphere of the earth which was still good for supporting life. 
Imagine what kind of evil contraptions, corporations and activities can be imagined and produced by villains who live for multiple hundreds of years? 

People were probably raping others in plain sight, having sex with all kind of creatures, torturing those weaker than them and so on. 
Not to mention, the fallen angels led by the devil were making everything worse by filling the earth with their half-man, half-angel offspring calledthe Nephilim. 
They were giants—huge in stature and very strong. 

“The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” (Genesis‬ ‭6:4‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

Yahweh (the pre-incarnate Christ) saw all the evil that was happening on earth, and gave Enoch a prophecy, warning him about the flood that would come many years later. 
That explains why Enoch named his son Methuselah, which in Hebrew means “his death will bring”, in reference to the flood that would come upon Methuselah’s death. 

“Enoch lived sixty-five years, then became the father of Methuselah. After Methuselah’s birth, Enoch walked with God for three hundred years, and became the father of more sons and daughters. All the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not found, for God took him...All the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty-nine years, then he died.” ‭‭(Genesis‬ ‭5:21-24, 27‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

From the time that God gave Enoch the prophecy to the time of the actual flood, was 969 years—the length of Methuselah’s life. 
Methuselah also happens to be the longest living person in history.
This is definitely not by coincidence, but was designed by God out of His patient and longsuffering character. 

God does not enjoy executing judgment—He delights in showing mercy and Grace.

“Tell them, As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, house of Israel?” ‭‭(Ezekiel‬ ‭33:11‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

After receiving the prophecy from God, Enoch probably began preaching strongly about God’s impending judgment, urging hearers to repent before it was too late. 

“About these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”” ‭‭(Jude‬ ‭1:14-15‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

After revealing the truth about the impending flood to Enoch, Jesus (Yahweh) also warned Noah about it.

“Yahweh said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred twenty years.”” ‭‭(Genesis‬ ‭6:3‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

For about 120 years, as Noah was building the ark, he was also preaching to the people, telling them to place their faith in God and to repent of their ungodly ways. 

“and didn’t spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly;” ‭‭(2 Peter‬ ‭2:5‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

​““But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap; and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness.” ‭‭(Malachi‬ ‭3:2-3‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

I was just meditating on the passage above, about how Jesus is a Refiner and how He purifies is to become useful to God. 

To understand the illustration that Yahweh (the pre-incarnate Jesus) uses, we must first understand how gold and silver are refined. Here is how it works, based on a good article by Precious Metal Technologies (PMT):

"Gold is processed into it’s purest form through smelting and refining. High heat, pressure and chemicals are used to remove impurities from the gold.

A gold refinery receives the raw material such as rock, gold nuggets, scrap gold and re-liquefies the metal in a hot furnace, then adds various chemicals to the molten substance to separate the gold from the other metals.

A sample of the gold is used in an assay to measure the purity of the gold content, usually found to be 99.9% pure. The gold can now be used in many applications, including in electronics and jewellery making."

When you first believed in Jesus, you were like a gold nugget trapped encased in rock. 
Your spirit was reborn and perfectly holy, righteous and perfect, but your mind and body were still carnal—wanting to obey the desires of the sinful flesh.  

The high heat and pressure in Jesus’ illustration represents the trials, persecutions and sufferings that we experience in life—they are sent by the devil, not by God. 

Sometimes, God protects us from them, such that we don’t even know they were planned against us in the first place.
However at other times, when God allows us to go through them, He is with us through His Spirit, leading the way.

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” ‭‭(Matthew‬ ‭4:1‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to experience this high heat and pressure from the devil’s temptations as well as the inhospitable heat and dryness of the environment

In this case, Jesus didn’t need to be purified because He was already sinless and perfect in all His ways. 
He was allowed to be tested by the devil to show us that He is really pure gold. 

I just read an article recently about how Pope Francis just officially approved the change of a verse in the Lord’s Prayer. 
He changed “lead us not into temptation” to “do not let us fall into temptation”—this change only affects the Catholic religion. 

“Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’” ‭‭(Matthew‬ ‭6:13‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

This is a big mistake—an example of man trying to make sense of God’s word according to his own understanding. 

“Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding.” ‭‭(Proverbs‬ ‭3:5‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

I wonder what’s the new hit song they have composed that is the equivalent of “Let It Go”? 
One thing I know is that it’s going to be super catchy and extremely attractive, and everyone around the world is going to be crazy over it. 

The world is so skilled at producing high-quality animation that captures the imagination and arrests the heart. That’s the danger of the quickly incoming Frozen 2. 

I have no qualms watching it myself because I know that it’s just for entertainment and I don’t covet magic or anything, but to a little child watching it, it is tempting them to seek magic.

The main character, Arendelle’s Queen Elsa, is a character designed based on the Snow Queen from Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale, who is basically a witch. 

Elsa was born with ice magic and is able to use these magical powers whether for good or evil. 

““‘Don’t turn to those who are mediums, nor to the wizards. Don’t seek them out, to be defiled by them. I am Yahweh your God.” ‭‭(Leviticus‬ ‭19:31‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

We know that magic and witchcraft is of the devil. He has an extent of supernatural power, but it is greatly inferior to God’s power.  

“The magicians tried with their enchantments to produce lice, but they couldn’t. There were lice on man, and on animal. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is God’s finger:” and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them; as Yahweh had spoken.” ‭‭(Exodus‬ ‭8:18-19‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

Try as he may, the devil can’t create life. His powers are no match for God’s. 
After all, he is a creature whereas God is the Creator. 

Should we allow our children to watch Frozen 2? I think it’s ok if they are able to understand that it’s purely for entertainment and enjoying a well-written, fictional story. 

However, if they don’t understand that, you may find them dressing up as Elsa after watching the movie, and pretending to have ice magical powers. 

Don’t underestimate what a sampling of the occult from a young age can lead to — it’s not just harmless fun. 
As they grow up, they may be tempted to seek hidden power from dark sources, such as playing with ouija boards, casting magical spells, or practicing witchcraft.  

Satan wants them hooked from young, so that they will be easier to tempt and deceive when they grow up.

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs‬ ‭22:6‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

The question I want to ask you is: Who is training up your child in the way he/she should go? 

Are they acquiring a taste for God’s word, or for the deceptions in the world? 

This is important because what they are trained in from young, will be difficult to  remove from their programming when they are old. 
​

When your child becomes an adult or begins university studies, it can seem like the world is their oyster. Did you know, however that stress, anxiety, and depression are among the most common adjustment problems youths face as they cross the bridge from childhood into adulthood?

A study of over 10,000 students showed that many students can struggle with adaptive social and emotional skills, though the good news is that these issue can be overcome.

​In addition to taking advantage of specific programmes at universities to promote mental health, students can also rely on one powerful tool that can help them feel that they are never alone: their faith.

When I first read about believers talking about a flat earth, I laughed to myself and thought how ridiculous it was. I started off as a skeptic.

All my life I watched shows about outer space, aliens, seeing zoom-out footage of the earth as a globe spinning in space, and never questioned it.
The earth as a globe (ball) was taught to me in science class, reinforced in Hollywood movies, and by NASA.

Notice that all of the above are secular sources? 
I haven’t been to outer space, neither have most of us, and yet we take what they say as truth. 

It wasn’t until I delved deep into the Bible to see for myself what God says about the structure of the heavens (the sky) and the earth that I realized I had been believing a lie. 

A circle and a ball/globe are not the same thing. A circle is flat, whereas a globe is three-dimensional. 

“When he established the heavens, I was there; when he set a circle on the surface of the deep,” ‭‭(Proverbs‬ ‭8:27‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

The verse above is talking about how Jesus was there with God the Father when He made the sky and was forming the foundation of the earth.

The Father drew a circle on the face of the deep. A circle is not a ball/globe. 

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, He made the expanse which He called “sky”.

“God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.” ‭‭(Genesis‬ ‭1:6-8‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

The word expanse in Hebrew is “rakia” which conveys a sense of stretching out, like a dome. 

Ever wondered why the sky looks blue? It’s because beyond the sky is “the waters above the expanse” like the passage above says. 

“Can you, with him, spread out the sky, which is strong as a cast metal mirror?” ‭‭(Job‬ ‭37:18‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

The Bible teaches that the sky is a solid structure, like a cast metal mirror. The sky is impenetrable. No weapon fired against it can destroy it or even make a scratch. 

“Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.” ‭‭(Psalms‬ ‭150:1‬ ‭KJV‬)

The word firmament is also “rakia” in Hebrew and is also referring to the sky. The sky is a demonstration of God’s power. 
No rocket or missile fired against it can ever make a dent. Satan was cast out of heaven and is trying to find a way back up there. 

In order to get back above, he has to destroy the sky. That's what all the rocket and missile tests are about -- testing weapons to see if they are strong enough to penetrate the sky.  

Okay we’ve seen what the Bible says about the sky. Now what about the earth?

The Prophet Isaiah wrote the following: 

“It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in;” ‭‭(Isaiah‬ ‭40:22‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

The verse above itself proves that the earth is not a globe. The earth is a flat circle. 
The word circle in the verse in the original Hebrew is “chug” which means a flat circle like a coin, or a compass. 

Firstly, congratulations on being born-again as a child of God!
Being a new Christian can be both exciting and confusing. 
You know that something good has happened — you just sense it somehow, but you’re not sure how everything works.

I’m not saying that this guide covers everything you need to know, but this will get you off on a good start, to point you in the right direction. 

The Bible is a book containing God’s words. Men living in different eras and different locations wrote different parts of this book. 
The whole Bible although having so many different authors, is a cohesive whole that agrees and tallies throughout. 

Back then without the internet or widely accessible records, it was impossible in the natural for the different authors to know what their predecessors wrote. 

Seeing how the whole Bible flows as one narrative is miraculous, and proves that the words in it were inspired by God Himself. 

I won’t include too many Bible verses as you’re a new believer, but just some important ones that I feel are crucial and bite-sized enough for you to digest at this early point in your journey as a Christian. 

Okay, let’s begin!