Nuggets on Receiving from God

God Already Moved
Most Christians see prayer as an opportunity to “move God.” They believe He can do anything, but that He may not do anything for me. In this mentality, prayer is how to make God do something. If this is what you believe, your prayer life rests on an extremely faulty foundation.

God has already done everything He’s ever going to do! He moved once and for all in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through the atonement, God has already forgiven and healed every person who will ever be forgiven or healed. He doesn’t even have to lift His little finger now to cause a healing or salvation!

As far as God’s concerned, the sins of the entire world have already been forgiven. The Lamb’s perfect sacrifice dealt decisively with the past, present, and future sins of every believer and nonbeliever alike. This doesn’t mean that all are just “automatically” saved (or healed). All individuals must receive for themselves by faith what Jesus Christ has already provided in order to actually benefit from it. A gift given isn’t fully yours until it’s received!

As Christians, we are to instruct people to believe and receive
what God has already done for them through the atonement.

Yet God’s Word clearly proclaims, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (Col. 2:6). In the same way you appropriate and walk in forgiveness of sin, you receive healing, deliverance, prosperity, and everything else! Just as begging God to save an unsaved relative is inappropriate, then doing so for healing or anything else in the Christian life is absolutely wrong too! Christ already made full provision for the abundant life through His atonement. It’s now not up to Him to do, but you to receive what He’s done!

In our Bible schools and teaching seminars, we confidently instruct people not to “pray” for the sick, but to heal them. Jesus commanded us in Matthew 10:8 to “heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, [and] cast out devils.” There’s a huge difference between healing the sick and just praying for them!

Although this might sound foreign to you, these are just normal results when you understand and believe that God has already done His part. Jesus Christ completed everything necessary to save and heal every person.

Just as you believed and received salvation, healing comes the exact same way. It shouldn’t be any harder to receive your healing since He provided it at the same time as forgiveness for your sin.

The question isn’t, “Will God save you?” but “Will you accept
His salvation?” The gift has been given, but will you receive it?

Religion has sold us a bill of goods!
It’s taught us to always expect God to be half ticked off. It’s convinced us that we must constantly try to appease an angry God. Wrong, wrong, wrong! That’s not the way Father wants it to be. If Christians really understood this part of the model prayer, they’d quit believing that God is the one who brings bad things into our lives to teach us something. God doesn’t make people sick. He doesn’t put poverty in your life. He didn’t cause your marriage to fail because you weren’t serving Him at the time. God didn’t kill your child because you weren’t reading the Bible.

Religion teaches that garbage. It’s no wonder we aren’t getting better results in prayer! God wants His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven! This should serve as a guideline for what we expect from Him. We should pray that what’s already waiting for us in heaven would begin to manifest here in our lives on earth. Eternal life has already begun!

God wants us to be this way with Him. He desires all believers to be so familiar with His love that our approach toward Him is bold. (Heb. 4:16.) He yearns for His children to believe that all the provision they need has already been made. They just have to reach out in faith and appropriate it. “Father, thank You! I receive my healing. I take my prosperity. I love You, Father!”

You aren’t making God do something. You just know in your heart
that He’s already supplied, so you reach out and receive it.

Not many Christians approach God this way. We come before Him more like beggars than children. We should pray, “Father, I thank You that You have already provided everything I need. You never deny me anything good!” Instead, we enter His presence feeling like God doesn’t really want to move in our life. Therefore, we beg and

plead with Him to make Him move on our behalf. That attitude stinks! It’s religious bondage, not true prayer. Godis offended, and it doesn’t bless you. Tear that stuff up and start over! “Give us this day our daily bread!” Just take advantage of what He’s already done. Appropriate it!

Through faith in Christ, we transferred kingdoms. Jesus has already delivered us out of the kingdom of darkness and set us in the kingdom of light. The evil one lost his legal hold on us completely, and we now belong to our loving heavenly Father. For this we praise Him. Hallelujah!

………………………………..

It’s the same with everything else in the Christian life! God has already healed, prospered, and delivered you. Yet most people beg and plead, attempting to manipulate and control God through prayer. Their underlying attitude is “How do I make God do something He’s unwilling to do?” That’s totally wrong! 

Prayer is not trying to twist God’s arm to make Him do something.
Prayer is receiving by faith what He has already done!

My life is stable. I don’t feel like I lose everything every time I sin or fall short. I don’t think that I need to be born again, again and start the whole growth process over. This concept of “one step forward and two steps back” is totally gone. When I do fail, I just turn from it. I repent and get back on track with what God’s told me to do, knowing that I’m still who I am in Christ and infinitely more in my spirit than I’ve ever yet been able to appropriate and manifest. That’s why I actively and aggressively continue renewing my mind to His Word.

………………….

Most teaching on prayer today centers on how to request and receive something from God. It’s all about getting your prayers answered, and if you’re really spiritual, how to receive answers for other people too (intercession). Although it’s appropriate to ask for your needs to be met (John 16:24), this should only be a very small part of your prayer life. If it’s your primary focus, then it’s also one of the main reasons why your prayers aren’t very effective. Asking and receiving is one purpose of prayer, but it’s definitely not the purpose of prayer. God wants to meet your needs but seeking to receive something from Him shouldn’t dominate your prayer life!

…………………

Faith is a powerful force, but you must believe in order to reap its benefits. Faith is governed by law. (Rom. 3:27.)

Just like the natural realm, the spirit realm operates
according to God’s divinely instituted order.

Ignorance asks, “Why didn’t God help this person? Why did He let them die?”

Healing, deliverance, prosperity, and salvation don’t “just happen.”
Spiritual laws must be obeyed in order to receive the desired results.             

…………………….

Many people just don’t understand that Jesus laid down spiritual laws. They say, “Well, if God loved me, He would just heal me.” No, it doesn’t work that way. You receive according to your faith!

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34)

The Lord Himself lamented over His beloved people. He wanted to bless, minister to, and comfort them, but they wouldn’t receive it. In His own hometown of Nazareth, unbelief kept Jesus from doing more. (Mark 6:5,6.)

You must cooperate with God’s spiritual laws governing faith in order to receive.

………………..

Believe you receive when you pray, and you shall (future tense) have what you prayed for. Believe that you have received God’s answer the instant you pray, and you shall (future tense) see the visible manifestation of it.

Most people don’t have a clue what’s going on in prayer! They pray, ask, and then passively wait. When something—anything—works out, they think, God must have answered my prayer. If what they asked for doesn’t happen, then “He must have said ‘No.’” That’s simply not true!

You have a larger degree of control than you realize over how long it takes between “amen” and “there it is.” The amount of time before manifestation could be one second, one hour, one day, one week, or longer. However, the very moment you pray and believe, God moves and releases His power. Instantly, like the fig tree, it’s done! Apart from a hindrance inside or outside of yourself, you should be able to see an immediate manifestation when you use God’s power correctly.

Speak directly to the problem. God has already done everything about healing that He’s ever going to do. Don’t just pray for someone who’s sick and then passively wait for something to happen. Take control and make them manifest healing! You may say, “You can’t do that!” Yes, you can! That’s how we’re praying, and good things are happening. It’s up to you when your healing manifests!

As a basic rule, God answers prayer instantly. Regardless of what you see manifest or not immediately, believe that you received when you prayed. As you speak to your mountain, you cooperate with an important spiritual law and expedite the manifestation of your answer.

………………..

The spiritual world is the parent force. (Col. 1:16; Heb. 11:3.) It created everything you see and will still be in existence long after this physical world is gone. (2 Cor. 4:18.) It’s not wrong to acknowledge that there are things beyond what your five natural senses can detect.

There are spiritual entities—angels, demons, and the Holy Spirit—right where you are! There’s a reality within you—your spirit—that you can’t come into contact with through your five senses. You just have to believe God’s Word, which says, “When you pray, you receive.” If you start feeling in your body or looking in the mirror to see, “Well, did it happen?” you’ll miss it. Your healing comes in the spiritual world.

How does it get from the supernatural to the natural? By somebody believing!

Declare by faith, “Even though I can’t see it, I know God’s Word says when I pray, believe that I receive the answer right now, and then it will (future tense) manifest. (Mark 11:24.) So I believe God did it. In the spirit realm there’s tremendous activity and power being released. The virtue of God is flowing through me right now. I haven’t seen it yet, but I know it’s there.” Then, make your answer manifest by putting these laws into motion. Start speaking to things and commanding them to work

Keep Praying Until Manifestation!
Once I know my faith is quickened and I truly believe it’s already done in the spirit realm, I take that faith and speak to whatever needs to be spoken to: my body, my finances, demons, etc.

Then I use praise to still the enemy. Drawing on everything God’s ever shown me, I keep blasting the devil and my situation until I see results. It’s not unbelief for me to continue praying this way about something. I believed God did it the very instant I asked. I received His answer when I prayed, but I’m not willing to let it stay there in the spirit realm. I make it manifest in the physical world where I need it!

When I minister healing to someone, I’ll pray for them two, three, four, or more times. I don’t care! I’m willing to pray for them until I rub all the hair off of their head! However, I’m not going back to God and saying, “Father, it didn’t work the first time. Let it work now, please!” No! I believe it happened because God is faithful. He gave, but something’s wrong with our receiver. So I work on it.

If the devil withstands one dose of the Holy Spirit, I’ll shoot him again! Just like Jesus did with the blind man of Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26), I pray until I see the answer manifest!

God Always Answers
God’s Word declares the exact opposite! “For everyone that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.” Luke 11:10

If you take Luke 11:10 to mean just what it says, then if you ask, you’ll receive. God doesn’t say no. This isn’t something that passed away a long time ago. It’s not just available for some “super-saints.” Everyone who asks receives!

Experience carries more weight in most people’s lives than the Word of God. If you can grasp what I’m about to share with you, it’ll totally transform the way you relate to God!

You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. (James 4:3)

Of course, you must ask according to God’s Word. If something isn’t part of Christ’s atonement, then God hasn’t provided it for you. That’s why if you ask for someone else’s spouse, God won’t give them to you.

In His atonement, the Lord provided all kinds of good things: joy, peace, restored relationships, healing, prosperity, and much, much more. These are the things you should ask for!

Did You Receive?
The problem is you think you can perceive what God does or doesn’t do with your five senses. If you can’t see, taste, hear, smell, or feel it, then that’s “proof” God didn’t do it. The answer to this dilemma lies in understanding the existence of the spiritual realm.

God is a Spirit. (John 4:24.) When He moves, He moves in the spiritual world. The very moment you asked for something, God commanded, and it was given. Although it was a done deal in the spirit, whether or not you see it manifest in the physical realm depends much more on if you knew how to receive it than if God answered your prayer. That’s an oversimplification because sometimes there are other people involved, but it mainly comes down to your receiving in the natural realm what God has already given you in the spirit.

God answers every prayer that’s according to His Word. However, we don’t always see it manifest because we didn’t know how to receive. It’s not because God didn’t answer!

“Are you saying it’s my fault?” Yes, I am. Some people become very upset with me and think, “You’re condemning me!” No, I’m not. I’m just letting you know that if somebody missed it, it wasn’t God!

Knowing that God is always faithful blesses me! He’s not choosing to heal this one and leave another sick, prosper that one and ignore someone else, or give joy to that one and not another. This thought that “God just wanted to bless that person and make this other one miserable” isn’t true. God’s not like that! In His faithfulness, the Lord has a perfect plan for each and every one of us that includes health, prosperity, joy, blessing, peace, and happiness. It’s just that not everybody receives from Him. This isn’t because God’s not faithful to give, but rather that not everyone knows how to receive. It’s really that simple!

You Can Receive From God!
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17

When you hear teaching from God’s Word concerning healing, deliverance, prosperity, or anything else Jesus provided in the atonement, your faith is strengthened to receive. Once you know you’ve already got it (in the spiritual realm), manifestation (in the physical realm) comes swiftly. As your knowledge and understanding of something increases from the Word, you can release your faith and see it manifest more quickly. When ministering healing, you need to realize that the person you’re praying for plays a large role in whether or not they receive.

You can’t take responsibility for them, but you can be a positive part of the process. Even Jesus couldn’t override someone else’s unbelief. (Mark 6:5,6.)

SUMMARY
Faith works by knowledge of the Word. God has already healed every person. When you ask and believe, the power is instantly released. If you don’t see it manifest, it’s not God who hasn’t given. Either you haven’t yet received, or there’s a demonic obstacle preventing the manifestation. God is faithful! Believe it and never move off of it!

God’s Word is absolutely true; it never fluctuates or varies. Never compromise on the truth of God’s unwavering faithfulness. If you don’t see something come to pass, it’s not God’s fault. It’s your fault! I’m not trying to condemn you, but to bless, inform, and instruct you. If God’s faithfulness is in question, then all of us are in trouble!                            

I believe God has done it whether I can see it or not, and it’s up to me to manifest it.

Some people think, Well, when you did that, then God moved. No! God moved two thousand years ago in the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son. He instantly answered my prayer thirty minutes earlier, and His power had already been working. We just hadn’t directed it right. We hadn’t yet spoken to the mountain!

Adopt This Attitude
You let doctors do procedures, treatments, and operations to you that last hours, days, and weeks and cost hundreds and thousands of dollars, but if you ask God for healing and it doesn’t happen by the time you hit the floor at the altar, then He failed?

You may not be Jesus, but you’re the best He has to work through at the moment! Your perseverance in prayer could mean the difference between someone receiving their miracle or not. It might take you a while, but I encourage you to adopt this attitude: “If I can move the devil an inch, I can move him a mile—an inch at a time if I have to!”

You can receive from God!