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Our desire and longing to be filled with God is only answered by receiving. A gift may be given, but it is not yours until you receive it. You must receive the blessing, gifts, power, authority, and anointing God has for you.
The dictionary says to “receive” is to come into possession of; to act as a receptacle or container to hold something; to acquire it and make it yours. How do you receive from God? Everything you receive is by faith.
II.
Faith is the connection that reaches up and receives what the grace of God freely gives, filling your empty vessel with the life of God.
What is faith? Faith is being sure of something we can’t see. Hebrews 11:1 is the official definition: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Let’s say I ask you, “How do you know that you are saved and going to heaven?” You may try to explain the steps you took to accept Christ, but you will end up saying by faith, “I just know that I know.” Faith is a certainty, a conviction, being sure, confidence, and assurance. The peace of God goes with it.
Paul gives us the picture of being “grafted” into Christ (Romans 11:24). By nature you were “wild,” but God grafted you into His cultivated tree. Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The life of the vine transforms you. “He who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:17). “Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20 NASB).
All that you receive from God is by faith. “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
“He redeemed us…so that by faith we might receive” (Galatians 3:14).
How do you receive from the Lord? The witness of the Spirit does not come to argument or reasoning, but to a surrendered heart on the grounds of redemption. Three factors are involved in receiving: your motives, your confession, and your confidence.
1. Your motives reveal your heart. “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3). Even your prayer must be for God’s glory. “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (John 14:13-14).
2. Your confession reinforces your faith. “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans 10:10). Your words have power over you and others. “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 18:21). It is the law of God that you have to ask of God in order to receive. “Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” (John 16:24).
3. Your desire for God’s will gives the confidence of faith. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15). “If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching [guidance or direction] comes from God or whether I speak on my own” (John 7:17).
Scriptures on receiving:
“A man can receive only what is given him from heaven” (John 3:27).
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
“Every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17).
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12 NASB)
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Acts 1:8).
“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16)
“For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless” (Psalm 84:11).
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it” (Psalm 81:10).
“Taste and see that the LORD is good” (Psalm 34:8).
“Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits” (Psalm 68:19 NKJV).
III.
God daily loads you with benefits. He bestows favor and honor and does not withhold blessing. Taste and see that the Lord is good.
God flows through the easiest function in life—receptivity, or receiving. You just take what God pours into you; receive it. Nothing else, just receive it.
I have found that if a person will receive, he can be saved, healed, or delivered. God answers receiving faith. It is not the fruit tree’s activity that produces fruit; it’s receptivity, receiving the life from the root. The activity of producing fruit is only the byproduct of receiving.
If you will open wide your mouth, God promises to fill it. God loves big mouth people.
Picture a big barrel on your lap and God filling it with His grace, love, goodness, and mercy. It’s the wine, cream, and honey of blessing found in Scripture. Now imagine that you are putting your arms around that barrel; open wide your mouth and tip it back for a big long drink. Drink it in! Now take another drink!
IV.
As you drink and receive, what is God pouring into you?
“God is love” (1 John 4:16). Not “God has love,” but “God is love.” The difference is, if you have a thing, it is not you. I can give you my watch, but that is not me; I am still here. The Bible does not teach that God has a thing called love that He gives you. The Bible says, “God is love.”
Love is a person—God. He is the only self-giving person in the universe. We may want to love, but wrapped up in our self, we struggle. God’s love is not something He gives you. Love is what He is. God’s agape love is sacrificial and longs for fellowship with you. That’s why God “gave His only begotten Son” to redeem you. When you love someone, you want a relationship with that person. To truly love, you must commit yourself for better or worse to the relationship. God makes that commitment to you: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5) is God’s marriage vow to you.
“Christ [is] the Power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24 AB). Note that it does not say, “Christ has the Power of God and uses it,” but “Christ is the Power of God.” Christ can empower you, because all power comes from Him. He is the source. “For there is no authority except from God [by His permission, His sanction], and those that exist do so by God’s appointment” (Romans 13:1 AB).
“Christ, who is your life” (Colossians 3:4). We speak of “having” eternal life. But Jesus did not say, “I have life and I give you some.” He says, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).
The bottom line is, “Christ is all, and is in all” (Colossians 3:11). He is the reason for your existence. You are not trying to become something or do something to please God. It’s not do, but be in Christ. When you be, God will do it through you. When you are “in Christ,” the fruit comes from “abiding in the vine.” Be in Christ and the fruit will come.
You are a vessel that holds Christ. The container does not matter, but the treasure inside does. It is “Christ in you” that will accomplish His purposes and you will be what you were meant to be. God flows through your receptivity; just open up and receive it.
Jesus is all you will ever need to have abundant life. He is all you will ever need to be made into the image of God. He is all you will ever need to do the work of God. Jesus is the end of everything and at the same time He is the means to that end. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35 NKJV). Bread is meant to satisfy your hunger for things. Water is meant to quench your thirst, your passions. Jesus is the fountain, the source of life that flows like a river from the throne of God to be all that you will ever need.
He is the Light that gives guidance, direction, and purpose. He said, “I am the way,” but He is also what we find at the end of the way, “the truth, and the life.” The only way to have a relationship with God is the same avenue of forgiveness for sins and the only street for salvation, Jesus Christ.
The Bible calls Jesus our Savior, but He is also our Salvation—He saves us too. Psalm 27:1 says, “The LORD is my salvation.” God gives us life, but this life is in His Son. Jesus is the life God gives us. From one viewpoint, it looks like God is giving us things—wisdom, righteousness, holiness, redemption. But in reality God is giving us Himself so we can have all we need. Christ Jesus “has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).
God does not give us things; He gives us Himself in Jesus. “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3). He is all you will ever need, for all things consummate in Him (Ephesians 1:10).
God’s intention is not to take you to heaven, or improve your lot on earth, or make you a better person. His purpose is to replace everything about you with Christ so that the relationship is everything.
As Christ is a picture, “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15), so are we. As Christ reflected “the nature of God,” so “man is made in God’s image and reflects God’s glory” (1 Corinthians 11:7 NLT). Just as Jesus displayed the true character of God and revealed His glory. We are to be Jesus to our world. “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9 NASB).
Your testimony comes from experiencing “the steadfast love [of the Lord who] is better than life” (Psalm 63:3). He is better than anything the world can offer. This is the cry of Psalm 73:25-26: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Nothing in this world can completely satisfy you, not even God’s gifts of health, wealth, and prosperity. Only God can. “You are my Lord; I have no good besides You” (Psalm 16:2 NASB). The essence of your relationship with God is about loving Him and enjoying Him.
Paul understood this principle of relationship when he boasted, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:7-8).
The relationship made him bold in his witness for Christ. As the first missionary Paul said, “Woe is me if I preach not the gospel!” What can you do to Paul? Take his title. Take his church. Stone him. Beat him. Imprison him. Kill him. What was Paul’s motivation? “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain. For Christ’s love compels us that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them.”
When we understand how much God loves us, Christ’s love will compel us too. The relationship motivates! Out of the relationship Paul could become fearless, facing the storms at sea, the threatening sword of Rome, the howling mobs, the bribe-swayed judges, the false brethren. The relationship was everything.
Paul affirmed this in 2 Timothy 2:4, “No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.” Hardships and discipline were a part of soldiering. The delight of his life was to follow the Captain of his salvation and to be with Him in the fellowship of his sufferings. The praise of men, the comfort of life, and wealth had no motivation for his service. Paul had a testimony—Christ’s love compels me! The relationship motivated him.
To experience Jesus, Paul knew he had to commit his whole life and person to Christ. “Believing in Christ” means making Him your environment, your passion, letting go of things and emotional attachments.
The Scripture states that Mary, Paul, and David found the eternal passionate purpose of God. Jesus said of Mary that she found the “one thing most needful,” His presence. Paul said, “This one thing I do...I press toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” What calling? “That I may know him.” David said, “One thing I ask of the Lord...to dwell…to behold…to enquire” of the Lord. David knew that “the upright will dwell in Your presence.”
The pleasure, glory, and satisfaction of the relationship fulfilled their lives, and God was pleased. You have the relationship with God. But it’s faith and receiving that brings you into His presence. Has Christ become your all in all?
Remember that God is the giver and you are the receiver. “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised” (Hebrews 10:35-36).
Receive the Lord in His fullness. If you will open wide your mouth, the promise is that God will fill it (Psalm 81:10). Your part is to receive.
Picture that barrel again on your lap. God has filled it with His grace, love, goodness, mercy, and power. Put your arms around it and tip it back, and open wide your mouth for a big long drink. Drink in His blessings! Receive it. Take it. Let it spill all over you and on you.
The dictionary says to “receive” is to come into possession of; to act as a receptacle or container to hold something; to acquire it and make it yours. How do you receive from God? Everything you receive is by faith.
II.
Faith is the connection that reaches up and receives what the grace of God freely gives, filling your empty vessel with the life of God.
What is faith? Faith is being sure of something we can’t see. Hebrews 11:1 is the official definition: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Let’s say I ask you, “How do you know that you are saved and going to heaven?” You may try to explain the steps you took to accept Christ, but you will end up saying by faith, “I just know that I know.” Faith is a certainty, a conviction, being sure, confidence, and assurance. The peace of God goes with it.
Paul gives us the picture of being “grafted” into Christ (Romans 11:24). By nature you were “wild,” but God grafted you into His cultivated tree. Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The life of the vine transforms you. “He who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:17). “Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20 NASB).
All that you receive from God is by faith. “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
“He redeemed us…so that by faith we might receive” (Galatians 3:14).
How do you receive from the Lord? The witness of the Spirit does not come to argument or reasoning, but to a surrendered heart on the grounds of redemption. Three factors are involved in receiving: your motives, your confession, and your confidence.
1. Your motives reveal your heart. “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3). Even your prayer must be for God’s glory. “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (John 14:13-14).
2. Your confession reinforces your faith. “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans 10:10). Your words have power over you and others. “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 18:21). It is the law of God that you have to ask of God in order to receive. “Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” (John 16:24).
3. Your desire for God’s will gives the confidence of faith. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15). “If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching [guidance or direction] comes from God or whether I speak on my own” (John 7:17).
Scriptures on receiving:
“A man can receive only what is given him from heaven” (John 3:27).
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
“Every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17).
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12 NASB)
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Acts 1:8).
“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16)
“For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless” (Psalm 84:11).
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it” (Psalm 81:10).
“Taste and see that the LORD is good” (Psalm 34:8).
“Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits” (Psalm 68:19 NKJV).
III.
God daily loads you with benefits. He bestows favor and honor and does not withhold blessing. Taste and see that the Lord is good.
God flows through the easiest function in life—receptivity, or receiving. You just take what God pours into you; receive it. Nothing else, just receive it.
I have found that if a person will receive, he can be saved, healed, or delivered. God answers receiving faith. It is not the fruit tree’s activity that produces fruit; it’s receptivity, receiving the life from the root. The activity of producing fruit is only the byproduct of receiving.
If you will open wide your mouth, God promises to fill it. God loves big mouth people.
Picture a big barrel on your lap and God filling it with His grace, love, goodness, and mercy. It’s the wine, cream, and honey of blessing found in Scripture. Now imagine that you are putting your arms around that barrel; open wide your mouth and tip it back for a big long drink. Drink it in! Now take another drink!
IV.
As you drink and receive, what is God pouring into you?
“God is love” (1 John 4:16). Not “God has love,” but “God is love.” The difference is, if you have a thing, it is not you. I can give you my watch, but that is not me; I am still here. The Bible does not teach that God has a thing called love that He gives you. The Bible says, “God is love.”
Love is a person—God. He is the only self-giving person in the universe. We may want to love, but wrapped up in our self, we struggle. God’s love is not something He gives you. Love is what He is. God’s agape love is sacrificial and longs for fellowship with you. That’s why God “gave His only begotten Son” to redeem you. When you love someone, you want a relationship with that person. To truly love, you must commit yourself for better or worse to the relationship. God makes that commitment to you: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5) is God’s marriage vow to you.
“Christ [is] the Power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24 AB). Note that it does not say, “Christ has the Power of God and uses it,” but “Christ is the Power of God.” Christ can empower you, because all power comes from Him. He is the source. “For there is no authority except from God [by His permission, His sanction], and those that exist do so by God’s appointment” (Romans 13:1 AB).
“Christ, who is your life” (Colossians 3:4). We speak of “having” eternal life. But Jesus did not say, “I have life and I give you some.” He says, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).
The bottom line is, “Christ is all, and is in all” (Colossians 3:11). He is the reason for your existence. You are not trying to become something or do something to please God. It’s not do, but be in Christ. When you be, God will do it through you. When you are “in Christ,” the fruit comes from “abiding in the vine.” Be in Christ and the fruit will come.
You are a vessel that holds Christ. The container does not matter, but the treasure inside does. It is “Christ in you” that will accomplish His purposes and you will be what you were meant to be. God flows through your receptivity; just open up and receive it.
Jesus is all you will ever need to have abundant life. He is all you will ever need to be made into the image of God. He is all you will ever need to do the work of God. Jesus is the end of everything and at the same time He is the means to that end. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35 NKJV). Bread is meant to satisfy your hunger for things. Water is meant to quench your thirst, your passions. Jesus is the fountain, the source of life that flows like a river from the throne of God to be all that you will ever need.
He is the Light that gives guidance, direction, and purpose. He said, “I am the way,” but He is also what we find at the end of the way, “the truth, and the life.” The only way to have a relationship with God is the same avenue of forgiveness for sins and the only street for salvation, Jesus Christ.
The Bible calls Jesus our Savior, but He is also our Salvation—He saves us too. Psalm 27:1 says, “The LORD is my salvation.” God gives us life, but this life is in His Son. Jesus is the life God gives us. From one viewpoint, it looks like God is giving us things—wisdom, righteousness, holiness, redemption. But in reality God is giving us Himself so we can have all we need. Christ Jesus “has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).
God does not give us things; He gives us Himself in Jesus. “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3). He is all you will ever need, for all things consummate in Him (Ephesians 1:10).
God’s intention is not to take you to heaven, or improve your lot on earth, or make you a better person. His purpose is to replace everything about you with Christ so that the relationship is everything.
As Christ is a picture, “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15), so are we. As Christ reflected “the nature of God,” so “man is made in God’s image and reflects God’s glory” (1 Corinthians 11:7 NLT). Just as Jesus displayed the true character of God and revealed His glory. We are to be Jesus to our world. “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9 NASB).
Your testimony comes from experiencing “the steadfast love [of the Lord who] is better than life” (Psalm 63:3). He is better than anything the world can offer. This is the cry of Psalm 73:25-26: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Nothing in this world can completely satisfy you, not even God’s gifts of health, wealth, and prosperity. Only God can. “You are my Lord; I have no good besides You” (Psalm 16:2 NASB). The essence of your relationship with God is about loving Him and enjoying Him.
Paul understood this principle of relationship when he boasted, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:7-8).
The relationship made him bold in his witness for Christ. As the first missionary Paul said, “Woe is me if I preach not the gospel!” What can you do to Paul? Take his title. Take his church. Stone him. Beat him. Imprison him. Kill him. What was Paul’s motivation? “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain. For Christ’s love compels us that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them.”
When we understand how much God loves us, Christ’s love will compel us too. The relationship motivates! Out of the relationship Paul could become fearless, facing the storms at sea, the threatening sword of Rome, the howling mobs, the bribe-swayed judges, the false brethren. The relationship was everything.
Paul affirmed this in 2 Timothy 2:4, “No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.” Hardships and discipline were a part of soldiering. The delight of his life was to follow the Captain of his salvation and to be with Him in the fellowship of his sufferings. The praise of men, the comfort of life, and wealth had no motivation for his service. Paul had a testimony—Christ’s love compels me! The relationship motivated him.
To experience Jesus, Paul knew he had to commit his whole life and person to Christ. “Believing in Christ” means making Him your environment, your passion, letting go of things and emotional attachments.
The Scripture states that Mary, Paul, and David found the eternal passionate purpose of God. Jesus said of Mary that she found the “one thing most needful,” His presence. Paul said, “This one thing I do...I press toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” What calling? “That I may know him.” David said, “One thing I ask of the Lord...to dwell…to behold…to enquire” of the Lord. David knew that “the upright will dwell in Your presence.”
The pleasure, glory, and satisfaction of the relationship fulfilled their lives, and God was pleased. You have the relationship with God. But it’s faith and receiving that brings you into His presence. Has Christ become your all in all?
Remember that God is the giver and you are the receiver. “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised” (Hebrews 10:35-36).
Receive the Lord in His fullness. If you will open wide your mouth, the promise is that God will fill it (Psalm 81:10). Your part is to receive.
Picture that barrel again on your lap. God has filled it with His grace, love, goodness, mercy, and power. Put your arms around it and tip it back, and open wide your mouth for a big long drink. Drink in His blessings! Receive it. Take it. Let it spill all over you and on you.