And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. – Hebrews 11:6

Since there is a lapse of time between when we sow and reap, it is easy to lose the connection between our actions and the results of those actions. There is a direct connection between the two; however, we are often blind to that connection. In addition to the time factor, there is also a noise factor that contributes to the disconnect.

The noise factor is the amount of other actions that you are taking that are not in alignment. Instead of corresponding action, our actions are sometimes in direct contradiction to what we want or just not supportive. This noise factor makes it more difficult to see the clear connection between our actions and the results that we are getting.

Since these two factors, lapse of time and noise, are at work in our lives; we must have diligence to re-establish our awareness of the connection. We know that God always tells the truth, so, we are rewarded for diligently seeking Him. Thus, if you are not seeing these rewards, make sure that you are being diligent in your pursuit of God and His Word.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. – John 10:10

We know from the Bible that God’s intentions are to bring us the fullness of life. If we are not receiving the fullness of life, then, we know that the problem is on our side. One of the ways for us to re-connect to the blessings that God has for us is to re-connect to the Old Testament. We know that Jesus is a fulfillment of the Law; thus, it is helpful for us to understand the benefits of following that Law.

Since we are righteous through Jesus, we have access to those blessings even if we don’t live sin-free. First, you must confess and repent of those sins. Then, we must receive God’s promises. We are to put God into remembrance of His promises for you. Promises of His good plan for your life, plans to prosper you and not to harm you.

I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified. – Isaiah 43:25,26

To make sure that we are following God’s laws and repenting when we don’t takes diligence. Don’t let time and noise deceive you into giving up on living God’s best.

Edwin Louis Cole’s classic book Maximized Manhood, identifies sins that kept Israel from reaching the Promised Land. If you have been born again and are connected in covenant to God through the tithe, these sins maybe the reason that you are not experiencing The Blessing in your life. So, what are the sins? They are identified in 1 Corinthians 10:

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.

Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.” We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.

These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

The sins identified in this passage are the following:

1. Lust
2. Idolatry
3. Fornication
4. Tempting Christ
5. Murmuring

If you need to understand what these sins are, please consider buying Dr. Cole’s book and read it. It will probably be enlightening for you to learn what these sins really mean especially lust (desire to get) versus love (desire to give), and idolatry (which can be as obvious as worshipping other gods or as subtle as creating a fantasy in your mind to satisfy yourself). If you have committed any of these sins, repent and follow the formula in 1 John 1:9 to remove it from your life:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.