Are You
Ready To Receive Your Promise?
Today's message is about us being ready to receive
from God those things which He has promised us.
God has promised us many things in His Word. Also,
many of us have prophetic promises that were spoken over our lives of what God
desires to do. We want to receive our promise or healing. We KNOW that God will
do it. But for some reason or another, many are not completely ready to receive
their promise at this moment, right now.
For example, many people who are believing God for
physical healing are delayed from receiving because they haven't been ready to
make the necessary changes in their lifestyle and nutritional habits. They may
have to be willing to give up certain addictions that contribute to illness.
Many people are miraculously healed, but then the sickness returns if they have
not maintained their healing (i.e., if they go back to old bad nutritional and
lifestyle habits, or allow doubt and unbelief to come in).
Many are in need of emotional healing. Complete
healing comes when they are ready to forgive, ready to let go of their past,
and ready to refuse to no longer be a victim.
Healing comes when they are ready to give their
pain to the Lord. Healing comes when they refuse to no longer believe the
devil's lies that they are unlovable and unworthy. They have to be willing to
refuse to no longer wallow in a spirit of rejection.
Some need deliverance from sexual addictions, but
have to get to the place where they are totally ready to forsake it. Then God
can bring about healing and freedom.
For some, God has promised to bless them
financially, and He put business ideas into their spirit. But fear and
uncertainty keep them from venturing out and entering into God's promise. “What
if I fail?” is the thought that plagues the mind.
For others, the Lord wants to bring healthy
relationships that are God-ordained into their life. They want to receive but
are having a struggle. There is a battle with feelings of fear, possible
rejection, possible betrayal, and issues of trust and opening up to others.
Perhaps painful experiences in relationships from the past, such as divorce,
abuse, abandonment, disappointments, etc. causes one to be closed or have a
very difficult time receiving.
Fear blocks faith from operating. Fear closes the
door to receiving. Some are delayed from receiving their healing or promise
because they have been a captive to the pain of their past, and living with a
victim mentality for so long.
In John 5:5-9, Jesus came by the pool of Bethesda
and found a lame man who had suffered with an infirmity for 38 years. Jesus
said to him, “Do you want to be made whole?” Rather than the man instantly
saying “yes”, he gave Jesus the reasons why he hadn't been healed in the past.
And the man was also stuck in the mode of blaming others for his condition.
When the man decided to take responsibility for his own life and stop blaming
others and making excuses, then he was able to receive his healing.
Often times we do the same thing as this man. Often
times we justify our actions by blaming others or blaming our past for our
problems. Even though others may HAVE done us harm and we were victims, God
doesn't want us to remain in a victim mentality for the rest of our lives.
Pastor Paula White often says, “A victim says: ‘I
cannot get out unless you let me out’”. That's too much power to give to a
mortal man or woman.
Another reason why some are blocked from receiving
their healing is because they are looking more to man to be healed, than to
Jesus. Man can't do much for you. Man is only the vessel, the instrument, in
which the healing power of God flows through. Only Jesus can heal. The focus
must be on Him.
What is keeping you from receiving God's promises
right now? Fear? Doubt? Past hurts? Unforgiveness? Bitterness? Unresolved past
issues? Blaming others? Not ready to let go of something that is blocking you
from receiving? Focusing too much on your past? Your past doesn't have to
dictate your present or future. God is doing a new thing. Now it springs forth.
Another thing that keeps us from being totally
ready to receive is because we are familiar with the old, as unhappy as it may
be. It's predictable and we know what to expect. The new is uncertain. We have
not traveled on the path of new before. There are so many “what ifs?”.
Also, many times feelings of unworthiness get in
the way of us receiving. “I am unworthy to receive ______ because ______.”
Those unworthiness thoughts are not of God. The author of those thoughts is the
devil (whose character is that of lying, deceiving, undermining, cheating,
killing, robbing and destroying). Unworthiness thoughts remain when we view
ourselves lower than how the Lord sees us. We need to come up higher and see
ourselves the way God does. We are royal heirs and heiresses of God.
Feelings of shame also block us from receiving what
God has promised. Whether feelings of shame are the result of something we did
in the past, or a result of dishonor and disgrace brought upon us by the
actions of someone else—we must give it over to the Lord and receive His
cleansing and grace. Believe what God's written Word says and receive it for
your life.
If prophetic words were spoken over you and it bore
witness with your spirit and is in agreement with the Bible, then trust God to
perform His Word. If God spoke some rhema words into your spirit of things He's
promised He's going to do in your life, then believe God to bring it to pass.
When I say “rhema words”, I'm talking about when the Lord speaks to you a
fresh, “right now”, word directly through Scriptures that seem to be
highlighted and grab your attention.
Your part to acquiring God's promises for your life
is to cooperate with God by doing whatever He tells you to do and by opening up
your heart to receive.
May we prepare our hearts to receive all God has
for us. May we make whatever changes God tells us to make, so that we are ready
to receive.
It's time to cross over into our promised land and
receive what we've been believing God for. May we not let fear, doubt and other
issues get in the way of receiving our promise. May we be ready to receive.
Amen.
It is God's will that no one should perish (end up in hell), but that ALL should come to repentance.
For God so loved this world that He gave His only begotton Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
God did not send His Son into this world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him would be saved.
The thief (Satan the devil) comes only for to kill, steal and destroy. But Jesus has come to give us life, and life more abundantly, until it overflows.
I urge you to come to the Cross today and receive Jesus as your Savior and Lord. He will wash away all your sins and make you as clean and white as fresh snow.
Just pray this prayer and mean it with your heart:
Dear Lord Jesus (if you are not able to call him Lord yet, then just say "Jesus")
I receive You as my Savior and Lord. I give my life over to You. I believe that You died and rose again, and that if I call on the Name of the Lord I shall be saved.
I accept you into my heart right now, and confess that You are Lord and have risen from the dead and forever live to make intercession for me.
Thank You for washing my heart pure and clean and making me whole, and for giving me peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Thank You that now I am a new creature in Christ Jesus. The old has gone and the new has come.
And there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh (carnality and sin), but walk after the Spirit. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
If you prayed this prayer, I believe you got born again and are now heaven bound and will be with the Lord forever and have eternal life. Your sins are now forgiven. You are accepted in the Beloved.
I would encourage you to find a good Bible based local church to help you grow in your faith, to learn the Word of God, to praise and worship Him, and to have fellowship with the saints.
Serving Christ is the best decision you will ever make.
God bless you!!!
