"No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. 17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved."
Matthew9:16-17

A lot of times we ask God for things, which are not forthcoming. There is no response and we feel he has forsaken us. You play by the rules,live a holy life but still the blessings are not pouring down. I know I have asked God for many things over the years which I have not gotten even up till now.
Some years back I had this really great idea but there was no money to pursue it. I prayed,fasted but there was no answer. At a point I wondered;why will God give me such a good brain to think up wonderful ideas but no finance-he must be really wicked?
When I finally received the Holyspirit and I came across this passage,I got a clear message from God for the first time. You cannot wield the full power and authority of God when you are still putting on your 'old garments' or having an 'old' mentality. You see, we have a Father who sees deep into our future. He knows about your present state,knows your tomorrow and even many years away. God will not give you something that you are not spiritually mature enough to handle because it will destroy you.
When you are in Christ all things become new,but it is a process of transformation. Keyword there is process!
We begin to undergo changes in various aspects of our lives,some of which might take years-depending on how we open ourselves to God. The sad thing is we always try to put the cart before the horse, but God loves us too much than to allow us go down that road,so he simply holds back and waits for the horse to return to its rightful position.
God will not pour his resources into an old vessel or someone still living with the 'old' mentality,neither will he pour his blessing into a vessel that is leaking or broken. The blessings of God are so powerful and need to be contained in an equally powerful container/vessel or else it can destroy that vessel. Pride,selfishness,vanity,anger,laziness,impatience,backbiting,etc, are some of the 'little' things that weaken a vessel. They seem so little we tend to ignore them but they are the major things that delay a lot of people's blessings; so we feel we are ready but God knows you are not ready.
God will not give a pastor who has anger his full power and authority because one day out of anger he will just call fire on the congregation(joor o). Same way he will not bless someone with pride because the person will just go and isolate himself in VGC and forget the people God requires him to help.
The prodigal son forced the hands of his father,but was overwhelmed by the riches given to him and it nearly destroyed him. Do not force the hands of God,stick to your training and become a vessel unto honor.
Finally,ask yourself this; where do your treasures lie? Is it your career? Is it your ambition? Is it your appearance? Is it the things of God? Is it all about you? Which thoughts dominate your mind? When you answer this questions, I believe you will be a step closer to that blessing you have been waiting for. Remain blessed and happy new month!

AH! First to comment
I have made it today.
Do you know God's purpose On earth 4 you?...
Ecclesiastics 12:13 & 14 summarises it all.

you are right

you are right,some times when we pray God answer us by saying yes,no or wait.

Congratulations to RINE o....

What about the unbelievers who makes big plans and it comes to reality with speed

@ op, God bless you.

with ur post, matt 6:33 "But seek ye first d kingdom of God, and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" readily comes to my mind.


until you are ready, you cannot be wealthy.

The uselessness of prayer once again demonstrated by the christians themselves.

"That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."
Matthew5:45

God is a just ruler,and as we see from the scripture above,he causes the same opportunities to fall on everyone. A poor believer has the same chance as a poor unbeliever,and same goes for the rich. Through prayers and faith,favor could be obtained though.
The problem here is, a lot of christians are over reliant on praying and fasting,neglecting a very core part of success;hardwork and resilience.
Having a father who can do miracles,tends to spoil us sometimes.

Another thing is as christians there are somethings,we will hesitate to do on the road to success but an unbeliever would jump on it and hence hasten his promotion. Fraud,sharp practices,office politics,etc. Do not engage in such but don't be a 'mumu' and let opportunity pass you too!
Example: I remember when I wanted a post of Financial secretary,and there was someone there already. So I sat down and wrote all the reasons why she should not be there including the fact that we were in debts,the accounts where not balancing,the dues collected were not adequately accounted for....and I presented it to the house. She got impeached that night,I nominated myself for the post and entered unchallenged. I reclaimed the dues which were missing,and raised money for the association. The point is do not sit down and wait for God to do a miracle to change your situation all the time;be wise as a serpent but harmless as a dove.

Docii001: Congratulations to RINE o....

a million thanks bro

Docii001: "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."
Matthew5:45

God is a just ruler,and as we see from the scripture above,he causes the same opportunities to fall on everyone. A poor believer has the same chance as a poor unbeliever,and same goes for the rich. Through prayers and faith,favor could be obtained though.
The problem here is, a lot of christians are over reliant on praying and fasting,neglecting a very core part of success;hardwork and resilience.
Having a father who can do miracles,tends to spoil us sometimes.

Another thing is as christians there are somethings,we will hesitate to do on the road to success but an unbeliever would jump on it and hence hasten his promotion. Fraud,sharp practices,office politics,etc. Do not engage in such but don't be a 'mumu' and let opportunity pass you too!
Example: I remember when I wanted a post of Financial secretary,and there was someone there already. So I sat down and wrote all the reasons why she should not be there including the fact that we were in debts,the accounts where not balancing,the dues collected were not adequately accounted for....and I presented it to the house. She got impeached that night,I nominated myself for the post and entered unchallenged. I reclaimed the dues which were missing,and raised money for the association. The point is do not sit down and wait for God to do a miracle to change your situation all the time;be wise as a serpent but harmless as a dove.

Nobody is saying dat d unbelievers wouldnt get blessed, infact d bible recognises dis fact and tells us not to be envious of d success of the wicked. There are certain principles like sowing and reaping, giving, commitment and dedication to one's work dat wld bring abt success irrespective of who performs it i.e either a believer or an unbeliever
This is so because our God is fair and just as you rightly said.
However, we should realise dat God is ominipresent and dis unbelievers are enjoying the general presence of God which ensures everyone gets according to what he/she deserves, but as believers, we move above this general presence and enjoy the manifest presence of God due to His Spirit dwelling in us. It is dis presence dat enables us operate in d supernatural. It is dis manifest presence dat enables us witness the blessings of God which maketh rich and adds no sorrow.
We should note dat even with this manifest presence of God, we should still obey d basic principles of seed time and harvest, being deligent in our work etc cos only den can God's blessings come to us. afterall, God Himself said "For I would bless d works of your hands" if ur not engaged in anything, wetin God go come bless na? Dont be lazy, cos faith without works is dead.

blackchukky: What about the unbelievers who makes big plans and it comes to reality with speed

My above post as well as dat of Docii001 should answer ur question.

Quotes from above posts:
"Through prayers and faith,favor could be obtained though."
"everyone gets according to what he/she deserves"

It all sounds enticing but does it ring true in reality? By praying and having faith God will bless you? That "favor could be obtained" from God? What a sad joke religion plays on the innocent and naive.

Here is an old news story about the atrocities committed by priests. Please take a couple minutes to read it. Note especially the last paragraph about the nun. She dedicated her life to God to be a nun and probably prayed her guts out asking God for help. Assaulted by a priest she tragically ends up dead. A life destroyed and wasted. Where was God for the nun in her greatest time of need?

"The uselessness of prayer once again demonstrated by the christians themselves." This quote from a previous post above may be truer than you think.

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Philip Willan in Rome
The Guardian, Tuesday 20 March 2001 20.20 EST


Catholic priests abusing nuns for sex

Roman Catholic priests and bishops in several parts of the world have been exploiting their religious authority to obtain sexual favours from nuns, in some cases resorting to rape and subsequently obliging the victims to seek an abortion, it was claimed yesterday.

Report of widespread sexual abuses were compiled by two senior nuns between 1994 and 1998 and passed to the Vatican, the Rome daily La Repubblica and the Italian Roman Catholic news agency Adista said.

Abuses were documented in 23 countries, many of them in Africa, but also in Ireland, Italy, the US, the Philippines and Brazil, they said.

"The superior of a religious community in one country was contacted by priests who asked her to make the nuns available for sexual services," she wrote.

On the superior's refusal, the priests said they would otherwise have to go to the village to look for women, exposing themselves to the risk of Aids."

The reports, one of which is said to have been delivered three years ago to Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, head of the Vatican department responsible for religious orders, say young female candidates for religious life are sometimes obliged to have sex with a priest to obtain the necessary certificates.

Nuns who became pregnant were forced to leave their religious congregation, the reports say, while the priests responsible were simply sent away for a brief period.

In one community 29 nuns are reported to have become pregnant after sexual relations with priests, but when the mother superior raised the problem with her archbishop she was removed from her post. One priest is said to have induced a nun he had impregnated to have an abortion and when she died during the operation he celebrated her funeral mass.