How to receive from God
2 Corinthians 1:20
There are a lot of questions that come to people’s minds when it comes to receiving from the Lord. Some people would rather not believe that God still meets needs so they don’t have to exercise any faith to receive what they need from the Lord.
If the truth be known, too many times believers operate on the hope method. I hope God hears my prayer. I hope God comes through for me. I hope God isn’t late. I hope, I hope, I hope!
Let me share with you this morning. There’s more to receiving from God than just hoping. For too long with lived in the land of hope and it’s time that we leave the territory and start possessing the promises of God.
Our text this morning says that “all His promises are in Him yea, and in Him amen.” Do you know what that means?
It means if you need a promise of God applied to your life, you don’t have to beg God, you don’t have to manipulate Him, you don’t have to bargain with Him, when it comes to the promises of God, He’s already given you the answer, and the answer is YES!
He doesn’t stop there with just a “yes”, He goes on and says “amen.”
Now we’re so use to the word Amen, that it’s lost it’s meaning. The word “amen” means “yes, so be it.” So not only when you ask, will He meet your need, does God say yes, He says so be it, too! Someone say, “Praise the Lord.”
The question becomes now, how do you get to the place where you know how to receive from God? I know God has already said yes, I know God’s already said, so be it, but know how do I receive what God said I could have?
That’s what I want us to look at this morning, how to receive from God.
First, if you want to receive from God, you must operate in the realm of Praise and Thanksgiving.
The fastest way to get God’s attention is to become a person of praise and thanksgiving, a person of Worship.
I think a lot of believers have worship all wrong. Most believers think that they’ve had a good worship service if the feel good. When we that mentality, that tells me we’re still focused on us, and not God.
What we need to do, is not worship until we feel good, we need to worship until God feels good!
I love some of the old hymns in our song book, so I don’t want you to misunderstand what I’m about to say, but if you look at many of the songs, the focus is on what God has done for you, not about how great and glorious God is.
I liked what the Overseer of Texas shared with us during Prayer Conference, He said one day He was in his office just worshiping the Lord, thanking Him for everything that he could think of. He said he thanked God for the cats and the dogs, but He said God stopped him right in His tracks and the Holy Spirit said this to him, “I don’t want you to praise me for what I’ve done, but for Who I Am.” “If you praise me for the things I’ve done, if I don’t do things for you, you will be disappointed in Me, but if you’ll praise me for who I am, you’ll never be disappointed”
It’s all right to be thankful for what God has done in your life, but that comes under the realm of thanksgiving, but the very essence of our praise and worship should always be on whom He is!
Do you know who He is this morning? You can’t praise Him like He needs to be praised if you don’t know Him. You can’t worship Him like He deserves to be Worshiped, if you don’t know Him.
There’s a difference in knowing about Him and knowing Him. The demons know about Him, and tremble. There’s people dying and going to hell every day that know about Him.
I don’t know about you, but I want to know Him. That’s why I can’t worship Him half-heartedly.
That’s why I’ve got to shout His praise, that’s why I’ve got to clap my hands, that’s why I’ve got to stand in His presence, because anything other than my the best praise I can give is an affront to God. (Touch someone and say, I’ve got to praise Him.)
The reason some people never seem to win any battles, they’re always defeated, is because they haven’t learned how to worship Him.
Whenever Israel would go into battle, the worshipers would go first. They knew that praise and worship got God involved in the situation.
They knew what Paul knew when he wrote in Romans 8:31, “If God be for us, who can be against us.”
That’s why when you’re facing a battle, when you’re in the midst of the storm, if you’ll learn to praise Him no matter what it looks like, no matter what the devil says, no matter what it’s like in the midst of your situation. Once you’ve learned to praise Him no matter what, you’ve guaranteed that God will be on the scene in your life.
It goes back to praising Him because of who He is, not what’s happening all around you.
The next key to receiving from God is you receive from Him with Faith and the Word.
James 1 says this…
“2My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. 5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8A double minded man is unstable in all his ways ”
The writer of Hebrews tells us that without faith it’s impossible to please God. Our next key to receiving the promises of God is standing on His word in Faith.
Everyone this morning that’s under the sound of my voice that’s saved, has a measure of faith.
Romans 12:3 tells us that God has dealt everyone a measure of faith. (Touch someone on the shoulder and tell them that you’re part of that group)
If your breathing, saved and on your way to heaven, you have faith. Now the size of your faith is determined by how you exercised it.
If you never try to trust God, if you never depend on Him, your faith is small and weak. Do you know how your faith grows?
By daring to trust God. Every time you dare to take God at His word, every time you dare to trust Him. When God comes through, you’re building your faith.
You also build faith by staying in the Word of God
Romans 10:17 “17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
It is the Word of God that the Holy Spirit uses to quicken a response of faith to the word we heard. That’s why you need to be here on Sunday mornings, you’re building your faith. That’s why you need to be here on Sunday night, you’re building your faith. That’s why you should be here on Wednesday’s to build your faith. That’s why you turn loose of a dollar ever so often and pick up one of the tapes from our services, so you can build your faith.
If you don’t build your faith, you won’t have anything to hold onto when the floor drops out from underneath you. Faith and the Word goes hand in hand. The Bible is just another book to you if you don’t have faith to believe it.
The enemy can’t stand people of faith. People of faith, see God do great things. People of faith aren’t controlled by the external because they trust in the Eternal one.
You need to understand something, faith is not based on feelings. Faith is built on the fact that the Word of God is true and every jot and tittle will come to pass.
Faith based on feelings will fail you, but faith based on the word, will make you an over comer.
I’m telling you this because what the enemy will try to do is block your faith. One of the ways he tries to block your faith is by challenging what God said.
In the garden of Eden, satan came to Eve and asked her how’s she’s enjoying the garden. Have you tried all the fruit, have you ate off of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told Adam and Eve they would die if they ate off that tree, but look what satan said, you shall not die.
In essence, satan was telling Eve, God didn’t say that or God didn’t mean that.
Satan started off in the garden of Eden, and he’s been using that line ever since. He’ll try to tell you, God didn’t say that.
He’ll tell you “God didn’t mean that for you”
He’ll tell you “God won’t do that for you”
Satan will always attack the very core of your faith and it’s about time that we understand, that Satan is out to deceive us, discourage us, and lie to us, and the moment we give an inch to him, he begins to win the game.
When God says “yes” to His promises, faith answers back with yes, I receive.
Finally, you will receive from God because of your persistence.
It’s called importunity. Importunity means this, persistence in making a case or demand. It’s not giving up until God gives you the answer.
Luke 11:5-10
5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? 7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. 8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. 9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
So many times we give up right before the answer came. Don’t let silence from heaven lead you to believe that God didn’t hear or God didn’t care.
Sometimes God waits and sees how badly we want what we’re petitioning for.
Let me let you in on a big key with God, God honors those who pursue Him.
So how do you receive from God?
You open the door with thanksgiving in your heart, you will enter His courts with praise and worship, you enter in the throne room by faith, and you receive because you held on to what the bible says and you wasn’t going to let go until you received.
In a nutshell, pour yourself out to God, and He will honor it and lift you up.
