What’s Blocking My Blessings? (Pt.1) (313) - August 30 2025

This week we are looking at what could be blocking your blessings in your life. When we buy a house or car, we find out what the instructions are for owning what we have been given.  With blessings from God, do we even know what the blessing is? What can we be blessed with from God? What are God's Blessings? What is a Curse? Sometimes a delay in receiving or experiencing God's blessings are from not knowing the fine print of what you are entitled to.
 
What are the instructions? Are you following them? Are you helping blessings or curses come about in your life? Thinking we know what God's blessings are, is not the same as knowing you are walking in God's blessings.
 
This program covers the following Scriptures from the Amplified Classic version (AMPC):  Romans 5:8, James 1:17-18, John 3:16, John 10:9-10, Joshua 24:15-16,
 Romans 8:28, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, John 21:17, Mark 16:15, Deuteronomy 28:1-15, Galatians 6:7, Luke 3:3-5, Isaiah 59:1-3.
 
 Pastor Catrice teaches on this topic this week.

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) And welcome back to another episode of Touch of God. My name is Catrice. I'll be bringing the message for you guys this week. And this week we're going to be talking about what's blocking my blessings. And this will be part one because there's a lot that I feel like the Lord has given me and I can't wait to share it with you guys. So for those of you following along, we like to use the amplified classic Bible. This week we're going to talk about what's blocking my blessings. Things that can block your blessings may not be a blocked blessing, but a missed blessing. Sometimes not being thankful and considering the little things as a blessing can cause you to miss out. Not knowing what the biblical definition of blessing is can cause you to miss out on a blessing as well. Not walking in obedience to God's word can cause a person to miss out on a blessing. Last but not least, living in sin can separate a person from Jesus and the plans for a blessed life that the Lord has for you. So this week we're going to talk about what is a blessing. Biblically, where do blessings come from? What is God's blessing and what was the intent of God's heart towards our lives being blessed? Who are God's blessings for? Understanding a blessed life and a cursed life. How do we get blessed and what separates us from blessings? The first thing that we need to acknowledge is that the Lord's blessings are for his children. If you're not his children, meaning a child of Christ, then you're not yet saved and you need to become saved and to be living according to the Bible. It sounds a little harsh, but we must start with the truth in order to just even move forward. If you want God's blessings, make sure you are a child of God. Not just by saying that you are a child of God, you must be doing the work and living holy, living righteous, a life that's according to the Bible standards, right? And not just what we're saying. Blessings can be blocked for many different reasons. Not being a child of God is one of them. Yes. In Romans 5, 8, Jesus came while we were all sinners. Christ the Messiah, the anointed one, died for us. Jesus came to save us from our sins. If you are choosing not to be saved, it will be hard to walk in freedom without doing the first step to receive the blessings of an abundant life. Let's define what a blessing is so we can understand what an abundant life that Jesus meant for us to have. So a blessing, according to the world's definition, is the act or words, one that blesses approval, encouragement, a thing conducive to happiness or welfare. Examples in a sentence. My daughter is a blessing to me in my old age. Their absence turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Count your blessings. These are all examples of using the word blessing in a sentence to help you to better understand the definition of what a blessing is. Biblically, where did the blessings come from? Let's go to James 1, 17. Every good gift and every perfect free, large, full gift is from above. It comes from the father of all that gives light in the shining of whom there can be no variation, rising or setting, or shadow cast by his turning as an eclipse. Verse 18, and it was of his own free will that he gave us birth as sons by his word of truth so that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creation, a sample of what he created to be consecrated to himself. So this is what the Lord is putting forth for us to just bring understanding of what blessings are and giving us a background foundation. So what is God's blessing? What was the intent of God's heart towards our lives being blessed? Let's look at John 3, 16, which says, for God so greatly loved and endearingly prized the world that he even gave up his only begotten unique son so that whoever believes in, trusts in, clings to, relies on him shall not perish, come to destruction, be lost, but have eternal everlasting life. This is a popular verse, but this clearly shows God's intent towards us that he sent his son here so that we can have eternal life. And this is referring to a blessed life. Let's look at John 10, verses nine to 10. So this is Jesus speaking and Jesus is saying, I am the door. Anyone who enters in through me will be saved, will live. He will come in and he will go out freely and will find pastor. The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life and have it in abundance to the full till it overflows. So God is wanting life to be in abundance and to overflow for us. This is his intent, his heart's intent. And this is the blessing that he's trying to give us. He's also trying to show us that if he came to bring life, the thief in John, verse 10, he came to kill, steal, and destroy. And that's not a part of the Lord's blessings for us who believe in Jesus. I point this out because we have to choose to be blessed. Sometimes we think, oh, we just wake up in the morning and we're just blessed. No, the blessing is a choice. In order to receive your blessing, it comes from the Lord. If you're not choosing Jesus and salvation, then you're not choosing biblical blessings. So sometimes we'll sit and we'll pray and we'll want the blessings of God, but we haven't chosen to be in Christ. Maybe we don't know that we have to be saved in order to receive his blessings. So this may be eye-opening to some, and this is probably old news to others, but it's good that we just all know it going forward when we're looking to God for a blessing, we want to be a part of his kingdom, right? So let's go to Joshua 24, verse 15. And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served on the other side of the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And so this is just basically saying you have to choose this day whom you serve and you want to be serving the Lord. Let's go to verse 16. And verse 16 says, the people answered, far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods. So they're saying we don't want to forsake God to serve other gods. So in the biblical understanding, those who choose to serve any other gods are not serving God, Jesus, right? They have chosen outside the Lord. So if you're listening to this program and you're wanting God's blessings and you're wanting all the things that you hear other people talking about when they're in Christ, remember, you can't be serving other gods. You have to be serving Jesus Christ, not serving both, but you have to choose. So who are God's blessings for? Let's go to Romans 8, 28. We are assured and know that God being a partner in their labor, all things work together and are fitting into a plan for good to and for those who love God and are called according to his design and purpose. So God is telling us right here, those who love God and are who are called. So we need to understand. What does it mean to love God? How do we love God? How are we called according to his design and purpose? To better understand this, let's go to 1 Thessalonians 4, verses three to eight. Verse three says, For this is the will of God that you should be consecrated, separated and set apart for pure and holy living, that you should abstain and shrink from all sexual vice, that each of you should know how to possess, control, manage his own body in consecration, purity, separated from things profane and honor, not to be used in the passion of lust like the heathen who are ignorant of the true God and have no knowledge of his will. Verse six, that no man transgress and overreach his brother and defraud him in this matter or defraud his brother in business. For the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we have already warned you solemnly and told you plainly. Verse seven, for God has not called us to impurity, but to consecration, to dedicate ourselves to the most thorough purity. Verse eight, therefore, whoever disregards sets aside and rejects this disregards not man, but God, whose very spirit whom he gives to you is holy, chaste, pure. God wants us to live holy. God wants us to live a consecrated life. And the part that it's saying restrain from all sexual desires, that's talking about when you are outside of marriage and you're having these sexual desires. God did not mean for us to have sexual lust and desires outside of marriage, that for all biblical representation, if we're pursuing being in Christ, we want to pursue the things that he says that is making us holy and pure. So it's not by the world's definition. This is being in Christ and doing the things that the Lord wants us to do. So we defined just now what it means to be called because we are wanting to know what does it mean to be called because of the previous verse. So let's just go back to verse seven, where it says, for God has not called us to impurity, but to consecration, to dedicate ourselves to the most thorough purity. So now we understand what it means to be called according to God's purpose. So now let's try to understand what does it mean to love the Lord Jesus? It's the plans that God has for those who love the Lord and who are called according to his purpose. And we just define what it means to be called according to his purpose. It means to be set aside, to be consecrated and to be walking in purity. So we're looking at what does it mean to love the Lord? Let's go to John 21, 17 in verse 17. He said to him for the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me with a deep, instinctive, personal affection for me? As for a close friend, Peter was grieved, was saddened and hurt that he should ask him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you, that I have a deep, instinctive, personal affection for you. As for a close friend, Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. So we're understanding that to love the Lord means to feed his sheep, right? So how do we feed God's sheep? Let's go to Mark 16, verse 15. And he said to them, go into all the world and preach and publish openly the good news, the gospel to every creature of the whole human race. If the Lord has plans for those who love him and walk according to his purpose, then these are the criteria for the blessing in your life. So God is wanting us to express the love that we have for him by going and feeding his sheep. Now, this can be done in many different ways. There's all kinds of different ministries. Some people text a bunch of people. Some people create videos on Facebook. Some people, they have ministries where they go to different countries and they're ministering to people. Some minister on the street. You get to decide how you want to do it. But this is a part of what the Lord is calling his people to do if you love him. And it's no different than when we believe in something, we talk about it. A lot of people are looking for things that are healthy. And so when you find a product that you believe in that's healthy or it has done something for you that you feel good about, you go and you tell somebody else about that product and you say, wow, can you believe what this product has done for me? Well, God is wanting the same thing, right? We love that product. So we tell other people about it. So if you love Jesus, you're going to go and tell other people about what he's done for you in your life. So you're simply advertising for the Lord, which is we get the work for the Lord. All right, so understanding a blessed life and a cursed life. So we got to understand what it means, part of it of having a blessed life. And we define what a blessing was. And we define the Lord is looking for because God has plans for those who love the Lord and who are called according to his purpose. And so we define who is called, who the blessings are for, and we defined what it means to love the Lord. And so now we're just going to go a little bit deeper into what does it mean to have a blessed life and a cursed life. So we're going to go to Deuteronomy 28, verses one to 12. In verse 28, it says, if you will listen diligently to the voice of the Lord, your God being watchful to do all his commandments, which I command you this day, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all of these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you. If you heed the voice of the Lord, your God, blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body and the fruit of the ground and the fruit of your beast and the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your needing trough. Blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out. The Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before your face. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. The Lord shall command the blessing upon you in your storehouse and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you. The Lord will establish you as a people, holy to himself as he has sworn to you. If you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. Verse 10, and all people of the earth shall be that you are called by the name and in the presence of the Lord and they shall be afraid of you. Verse 11, and the Lord shall make you have a surplus of prosperity through the fruit of your body, of your livestock and of your ground in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord shall open to you his good treasure, the heavens to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. Verse 13, and the Lord shall make you the head and not the tail and you shall be above only and you shall not be beneath. If you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day and are watchful to do them. Verse 14, and you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day to the right hand or to the left to go after the other gods to serve them. Verse 15, but if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, your God being watchful to do all his commandments and his statutes, which I command you this day, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. So in this Deuteronomy 28, I just read you all the blessings. And if you want to go ahead and read all the curses or what it's like to have a curse life, it's a good reading. I encourage you to read the rest of Deuteronomy 28, but for the sake of time, I'm not able to go through what it's like to have a curse life because in this session, we're understanding what it's like to be blessed. But again, I encourage you because when you read what it's like to have a curse life, then you know what to stay away from and you can pray that you don't have that kind of life. I hope that you guys go forward and you read that. So let's look at how do we get blessed? Did you know that you play a role in your blessings coming to pass or not coming to pass? I want you to think about these pointers that I'm going to give you. Always read the fine print of the instructions that you are following. So this is how you can play a role in your blessings coming to pass. So you're always reading the instructions, always reading the fine print of whatever it is that the Lord gives you, whatever Bible verse that the Lord is giving you. If we do not read the instructions and understand them and do them, we can't reap the blessings waiting for us. Always do research to make sure that you are thoroughly understanding what is happening so you don't miss out on your blessing. An example, the word says that we reap what we have sown and that's Galatians 6-7. Do not be deceived and deluded and misled. God will not allow himself to be sneered at or scorned, disdained or mocked by mere pretensions or professions or by his precepts being set aside. He who inevitably deludes himself, who attempts to delude God for whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap. So this means don't try to trick God. What you sow, you will reap. That's what the verse is saying in Galatians 6-7. So look up the word sow and look up the word reap. So I'm telling you like what to do in this particular verse where I'm giving you the example. Get full understanding of what the Lord is saying by getting full understanding, we can't say we don't understand or didn't know. Guess what? The devil does not go on vacation and will still try to steal your blessings even if you say that you're ignorant because ignorance doesn't stop a thief from stealing from you. Desire and seek wisdom for they will guard your life. If you don't sow, you don't reap. So when we're looking at this verse, it says we'll reap what we'll sow, but if you're not sowing and you're just sitting there, you're not going to reap anything, right? So that's one thing, just looking at it from that perspective, trying to understand this. And then what you sow, you will reap. If you sow evil, you reap evil. If you say something good and mean evil in your heart, you will reap evil. If you dress innocent, look innocent, but casting witchcraft spells of destruction, you will reap witchcraft spells of destruction. Lastly, the end of Galatians six verse seven says that only is what he will reap. So this means a person can say they're saved, give to the poor and homeless, but if in their heart they are serving the devil at night, then they are not sowing good things because they intend harm. They are sowing to appear good, but are worshiping the devil. This means they will reap the true intent of their heart, which is evil. So we just broke down Galatians six verse seven. We're looking up all the definitions. We're trying to understand what each word means. We're breaking it down and you wanna take your time, right? So always read the fine print on every scripture. Research, look up everything to the best of your ability and learn as you go. Always pay close attention to the words, if, but, or, and. These words indicate that there are more than one thing to consider. They're all like connecting words. So look up these words and get the fullness of the definition. Example, the sowing and reaping scripture. Sowing and reaping are not separate. They are linked instructions that you must understand. One thing is based off of the action of another. Here's some more examples. Seek and ye shall find. Ask and it shall be given unto you. Knock and the door will open. In all you're getting, get wisdom and understanding. Pray without ceasing. These are all examples of, it's not just one thing, but you have to do both things together. These scriptural instructions are telling us that all the words matter. We cannot half learn one thing and not the other. Let's move on some other examples of how we can get blessed and not miss out on our blessings. I'm gonna give you three examples. A person is waiting for a blessing to get a car. The Lord gives them a dream to save money in order to get the car. Years pass by and the person is angry because they asked the Lord to bless them with a car. God told them to save, but they decided to go drinking with the money. The blessing was missed because the person did not follow the instructions. Yes, they came to the Lord and asked for a blessing. They received a answer and did not do it. That is not the Lord's fault that they were not blessed with the car. Let's go on to example number two. A person is waiting for a blessing to get a car. The Lord gives them a dream to save money in order to get the car. They save the money, but they're also stealing from their job. They get arrested and thrown in jail. Years go by and they're angry at the Lord. They say to God, I asked you to bless me with a car and my life got worse. So in this example, it is not the Lord's fault that they were committing a sin in the Lord's eyes that caused them to be locked up. What they have sown, they have reaped. They stole from someone and now years of their life is being stolen in jail while they reap what they have sown. Let's go on to example three. A person is waiting for a blessing to get a car. The Lord gives them a dream to save money in order to get the car. The Lord provides a car and brings them favor in finding a good price. In this case, the girl is so excited. Her parents are so proud of her. She can now get to work on time and take classes in school. In this case, the girl followed the Lord's instructions in obedience to his word. She saved and continued to pray and the Lord brought favor in finding a good price. Was this easy for her? No, she had to miss out on spending the money on things she wanted. She had to fast temptations. She had to walk in a straight path of obedience to the word of the Lord in her life. The girl sowed obedience, discipline, fasting temptations. Now she reaped from the obedience, instruction, wisdom and understanding and now she has a car. In the third example, it shows us how to stick to God's promises to see the reward come to pass. Remember, bad decisions and doing bad things do not belong in the instructions of the Lord. Luke 3, verses three to five, verse three. And he went into all the country round about the Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance, of hearty amending of their ways with abhorrence of past wrongdoing unto the forgiveness of sins. So this is just talking about John the Baptist who went around preaching the gospel. Verse four, as it is written in the book of words of Isaiah the prophet, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, shouting in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord, make his beaten path straight. Every valley and ravine shall be filled up. Every mountain and hill shall be leveled and the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough roads shall be made smooth. Making the crooked places straight in your life is telling us to remove the sinful areas and sinful ways that keep us bound and separated from God's blessing. Sin separates us from God and the blessings he has for us. Isaiah 59, one to three. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened at all that it cannot save nor his ear dull with deafness that it cannot hear. But your inquiries have made a separation between you and your God and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear. Verse three, for your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken lies, your tongue mutters wickedness. Sin can separate us from God, that's not God's intention, but when we commit sin, then we can't hear God as well because we're not walking in obedience. And remember in God, there is no darkness or shifting shadows, right? So God will have no part of evil or of sin, but remember in 1 John 1, 9, that when we come to the Lord and we repent, he's faithful to forgive us. For those of you who have not become saved, it is still not too late for us to become saved. God has a place for all of us and.