3 Things That Prevents Us For Experiencing God's Best

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1. Denial
Many people hang on to stubborn resistance just as Pharaoh did in the days of Moses.

Moses went to Pharaoh and asked to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Pharaoh resisted with entrenched stubbornness. So God sent plagues on Pharaoh’s nation to turn his thinking around.

Now, if I had been Pharaoh, I might have resisted Moses’ request to let my slaves just walk out of my country. But after the gnats, it would not have been a problem at all. If not the gnats, the flies surely would have turned my heart. One fly is enough for me. I know where those dirty, hairy little legs have been.

But the gnats and flies were not enough to break through Pharaoh’s stubborn resistance. Nor were painful, infectious boils. He remained stubborn until Egypt was utterly devastated. But still he stubbornly resisted, finally to his own undoing.

We do the same thing. We become kings of stubborn resistance in our own little worlds. We develop habits and hang-ups we will not even think of releasing. We hurt ourselves and those around us, allowing boils to fester in almost every area of our lives.

Rather than looking for a way to remove these blind spots, we deny we have a problem.

If you realize you have a tendency toward stubborn resistance, be grateful, because it’s not easy for people to see their need to change in this area.

Stubborn resistance is by its very nature stubbornly resistant to change. So don’t expect to overcome it in a moment or a day. It will take time and work.

Open-mindedness is a valuable assessment tool, but it’s worthless unless it’s followed up with a willingness to act. A person with willingness goes beyond good intentions. There’s no “try” or “want to” for the willing.

The willing actually get things done. Willingness moves beyond desire to doing whatever it takes to make things different. Willingness lead to real change.

2. Selfishness
We live in a world that encourages my-way thinking.

We’re bombarded with ads that tell us to “have it your way” and “you deserve a break today.”

“Go out there and get what you deserve no matter what it does to others.”

“Buy this luxury product because you deserve it.”

“You’re entitled to be happy, so if you’re not getting what makes you happy, you’re entitled to find it elsewhere.”

And even if in our hearts we know our thoughts and actions are wrong, we rationalize so that we can continue to indulge.

Self-centered people want from others what is “due” to them. They’ve staked out their territory, and they expect everyone to honor their boundaries and their rules.

In short, they are stuck in an immature way of thinking. Mature adults learn that their adolescent, selfish sense of entitlement hinders their ability to achieve all that God has in mind for them. They broaden their viewpoint from self-absorption to include the needs of others.

Humility eliminates the self-centered arrogance that results in entitlement. Humility doesn’t climb over others. It reaches out to connect with others, appreciating them for who they are, not for what they can do for you.

A humble person doesn’t use everything within himself to further his own cause, but rather he desires to use whatever strength or position he has to help others and meet their needs.

3.Bitterness
Are you angry about something in your life?
Has someone hurt you, and you feel you have every right to remain angry and bitter?

Have you done something so awful you cannot forgive yourself?

What I’m addressing here are not the petty little resentments that momentarily upset us from day to day but instead betrayals and deep hurts. The kind that has you believing that anyone who went through such an experience would feel the same way.

If you’re carrying around anything like this, it’s as dangerous as radioactive material. And it can eat away at who you are at the deepest levels of your being.

Without exception we are to forgive, no matter how strongly we feel that the severity of the offense justifies our continued resentment. Often we look for any possible loophole to withhold forgiveness, but there is none. We must forgive.

When the hurt is deep, forgiveness can seem too much to ask. Some are unwilling to forgive because they believe the abusers deserve the worst.

Or they think forgiving lets the perpetrators off scot-free and seems to allow them to think that their despicable act was justifiable.

I’ve been the victim of offenses I thought were so great, no one could ask me to forgive them. I was astounded at the depth of pain, and could not believe I had to forgive these people. Anyone could see I was entitled to any amount of anger, rage, resentment, or bitterness.

But I knew in my heart the longer I held onto the resentment, the more it would hurt me. The forgiveness was not instantaneous; it took time.

Forgiveness is a process rather than an event. One of the most beautiful promises in Scripture is found in these words of Jesus, inviting us to a higher way of living than the world offers: