Just Take It
So often we beg and plea for things that are promised us by God. Is God a liar? No. Do we have to trust and do something else? No. Stop striving, start receiving in rest. It's that simple. Just take it... It's yours, take it. After all the Father delights to show us and bestow upon us every good thing. "Just take it." We fight so hard to obtain it, to earn it, to make it. But God has already provided everything we need. He says His sheep hear His voice, and yet we beg God to speak to us, we think thoughts like this "Well, I don't think that He's going to speak to me today..." Yet God does not lie. What is required to receive from God? Mark 11:23 says
"for verily I say to you, that whoever may say to this mount, Be taken up, and be cast into the sea, and may not doubt in his heart, but may believe that the things that he saith do come to pass, it shall be to him whatever he may say." (YLT)
Don't doubt, believe that you've already received it - whatever it is - and you will have it. God doesn't put the cookies on the top shelf. He puts them on the floor for the humble to take and receive freely. His word says "For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen" (2 Corinthians 1:20) Yes, surely, not maybe. Amen, affirmatively, not "possibly". All of God's promises are guaranteed for the children of God. All that is required is to ask in faith, trusting God with all your heart, and then just receive it. The Father loves to give us good things, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Matthew 7:11) Jesus isn't wanting us to pray hard enough, be good enough, give enough money to produce the answer to our prayers... just believe, obey Him, and receive it.
When we make it hard, we have trouble receiving. When we say "I couldn't receive it, I'm not worthy." or "I can't, I'm no super-Christian." or "I don't know enough Bible, I don't pray enough to receive from God." that's when we fail to receive. Now, "whensoever ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any one; that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your trespasses." (Mark 11:25, 26) Before we can receive with full openness, we need to forgive everyone who has wrong us. And settle any dispute we have with anyone, if at all possible. Jesus resounded this in Matthew chapter 5 when He said "Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering." (Matt. 5:23, 24)
God wants to give you healing, He wants to pour our prosperity, and He longs to give us insight and revelations, He delights when we hear His voice... He just is waiting. Waiting for His children to stop saying they aren't good enough, to stop saying they haven't attained it, and just say "yes, Father, I receive. I'll take it. You've purchased it with your blood, and have made available everything pertaining to life and godliness... So I take it right now." Our loving Father said "Be ye holy; for I am holy." He wasn't saying strive to become or attain holiness. He wasn't saying "pray or study until to all the sudden you become good enough." He spoke words of creation. Jesus said "I have sanctified thee through my word..." We aren't waiting to become holy some day; by His word that we have received we have already become holy in Christ Jesus. His blood has made the things of the Kingdom of God easy for us. 1 John 5:14, 15 says "This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him."
So then we ask, is it God's will to heal me? Is it God's will for me to hear His voice? Look at John 10 where Jesus says that His sheep do hear His voice. So that's settled. Isaiah 53:5 says that by His stripes we are healed. There is not question when looking at the Bible as to what God's will is concerning healing or hearing His voice... but faith is required for both; but how can someone have faith for something if they don't even know if it's God's will for them to have it? You simply can't believe God will give you something without knowing that He wants to give it to you. There are numerous scriptures that tell us of God's healing for the body like in Psalm 103, or where James said that the prayer of faith will heal the sick. How many scriptures say that it's God's will for you to be sick? None. Since it is God's will for all to be well, then what is stopping blessings in your life? Perhaps it's the fact that you simply weren't sure it was His will for you, or maybe it is that you haven’t forgiven someone that's stopping healing or hearing God in your life.
God wants us to have life more abundantly (John 10:10), and He wants us to trust Him and obey Him, and then watch as He turns out lives into something more beautiful than anything we could have imagined! God wants what is best for you, believe Him!
It has been made freely available for us, just take it.
August 4, 2006, updated March 15, 2007
Read the unexpected sequel to this message: Expect the Impossible!
