2. How to Receive from God

Receiving from people

Have you ever received just what you wanted as a birthday gift from a loved one who first asked what you wanted and then went out and got it for you? Of course you have. You trusted that when you were asked, that you would be getting it. You were expecting it to happen, you envisioned yourself getting the gift in your mind’s eye and on the morning of the big day there it was, just what you wanted right there in your hands! Let us analyze the process:
1.You defined what you wanted. 2.You asked for it. 3.You expected to receive it. 4.Someone got it for you.

Receiving from God

The Bible teaches us the same simple and easy four-step process to help us have our dreams come true and yet so few follow through correctly.

When it comes to asking something from God we think that it is somehow different with Him. We may think that we are asking for too much. If fact, God can supply far more than any friend or loved one can. He owns everything and can do anything. He simply brings it to you from His vast store house.

Those of us who believe that there is a God know that He can do anything, even things that seem impossible to the logical mind. “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Genesis 18:14. “With God, all things are possible.” Matthew 18:26.

It’s up to you!

God wants you to do the impossible too. Why else would the scriptures say, “If you have faith…nothing shall be impossible you.” Matthew 17:20

God created you to do impossible things or rather, what seems impossible to the logical mind. People are only average because they are not aware of this information or following through with it. This is a serious issue because without a way out of difficult circumstances, most everyone is condemned to lead lives of “quiet desperation” as Henry Thoreau put it. The key to a changed life is to change your thoughts.

Change what you think about.

We are what we think about. A well-known scripture reads,

“As he (a man) thinks in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7

Thoughts of the heart may be understood as thoughts that are habitually thought and have sunk down to the deeper level, what psychologists call the subconscious mind. These thoughts form attitudes that color our outlook on life.

Matthew 9:29
Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"

The condition of your life depends on your faith or what you believe. If you expect bad things, bad things will happen. If you expect good things the good things will.

Your thoughts create your future! Your habitual thoughts create your beliefs, attitudes and expectations, which in turn cause the results you experience in your life.  According to the scriptures, people allow things to happen because of deep-seated thoughts or expectations, thoughts of the heart. The Bible teaches that we were made in the image and likeness of God. We have God-like attributes such as His creative ability. God conceived by thinking, believing and speaking all things into existence. The simple truth is that we can do the same. A desire that is constantly thought of and imaged as already existing will eventually materialize. This is the method followed by Pastor Paul Yonggi Cho in getting his first bicycle and office table for ministry and going on to building the world’s biggest church in South Korea. Read his thought provoking book, “The Fourth Dimension.”

Nowhere has the power of a man’s thoughts been better explained than in a book written in 1907 by James Allen and called, “As a Man Thinketh.” You can download a free audio book in the mp3 format from the website http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video/Self-Development/Mind-and-Body/As-a-Man-Thinketh/15183

This book is well worth reading or listening to. It stresses the truth of the scripture in the lives of all of us. If we intend getting different results in our lives, we need to change what we are thinking. What we habitually think will become what we believe.

God's recipe to make your dreams come true.

So let’s get back now to the simple four-step process. Jesus said these profound words to His disciples,

Mark 11:24: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and you shall have it.” We are here instructed to follow the following procedure: 1.Define what you want. 2.Ask for it. 3.Expected to receive it. 4.You will have it!.

Step-1. Define what you want.

Identify what you desire to have or experience.

Jesus pretty much gives you a blank check here by saying, “whatever you desire.” You first job is to identify what you want. For most people this step will be quite easy. To help you in the process, let s break up the word whatever into the main categories that impact our lives: 1.God and spiritual life 2.Career 3.Finances 4.Relationships 5.Health

Write down your desires under each heading. Describe the situation that you want. Don’t ask for too little, God is not poor and nothing is impossible to him. He wants you to dream big!

Ephesians 3:20
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”

The scriptures elsewhere say that you need to ask according to His will. As a good Father He will obviously not give you drugs if you have an addiction problem Your desires should focus on improving the quality of your life so that you can be a blessing to others! I don't believe that God cares if you prefer a Mercedes to a beat up truck. He wants above all things that you prosper, that you live in a nice home and own quality items rather than having second best. The choices are yours, as long as your right standing with God is not compromised and you direct the overflow of your abundance to benefit others.

Step-2. Ask for it in Prayer.

The Bible is all about having a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Ask by simply going to God boldly and requesting to receive the situation or item you desire. You only need to ask Him once. He gives it to you right away but it is still in spiritual form or substance. Say, you have asked for a car. Be specific as to what made, model and color you want. This will enable you to see the desired item in your mind’s eye.

James 4:2 “You do not have because you do not ask God”

What you can see and experience in your mind’s eye gives what you desire substance.”If you are requesting a relationship, describe the looks and attributes of a person that you desire to have a relationship with. Now be careful, make sure this is what you really want because you will have to live with what you get.

Step-3. Believe you have received it.

Many “believers” ask and ask but somehow never receive.

Note that the scripture reads, “believe you have received it.” The words are in the past tense, in other words Jesus is saying you must believe that it has already happened. This means that in another realm, other than the one where we can see, hear and touch, the situation or item already exists as yours. The situation or item already has substance, but not in the form that can be perceived by the senses.

Right here is where most people will give up by thinking, “How can I get myself to believe that I have something when I don’t?” The Bible teaches that your desire takes on substance in the world of the spirit, or starts becoming a reality when you believe that it is doing so. You have it, but it is in spiritual form! Doubting will bring you nothing. When you keep thinking that you don’t have something you will not get it.

James 1:6-8
“But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.”

I like a quote that I read recently, “The poorest of all men is not the man without any money but the man without belief and faith.”

You see, there are a seen reality and an unseen one, a reality that cannot be seen or touched. Once this is understood and accepted, it makes the believing process much easier. From the following verse, we learn that all that we can see was created from something that is not visible.

Hebrews 11:3 “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”

Our heart or spirit believes to be true that which we contemplate. The more we think about and feel that we have the desired end result, the more our spirits we will believe it to be true and the quicker it will manifest or materialize. Conversely, the more we think about, speak about and feel about what we don’t have, or how hard life is etc., the more our present situation will be perpetuated. Because every thought that you have is coupled with a corresponding feeling, you need to spend time giving attention to and focusing on thinking and feeling that you already have the desired end result. 

Mark 11:23 

"I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.” 

Doubt is again connected to deep seated thoughts, or thoughts of the heart. Continually seeing the desired end result in your mind’s eye and confessing that you already have it, will gradually unseat the doubt and replace it with faith or belief and expectation!

Step-4. You will have it!

This is the final and perhaps the most important step. Just allow what you desire and have asked for to come to you. By asking for it and seeing it your mind’s eye as yours, it has already taken on substance.

Every time you contemplate see the desired end result, it takes on substance or faith.
Hebrews 11:1

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen..”

The more you envision the desired end result, the more substance it takes on and the quicker it will materialize and the sooner you will have it.

This is a serious business. If you seriously want to change your life, you have to set aside time to do this.

Be sure not to think of reasons why it is not likely to happen. Don’t be double-minded. This will simply put a damper on the process. Endure until you have it!

When doubt comes, deals with it quickly and effectively by asking yourself the question “Is there anyone on the planet who has the item or situation I desire and have asked for?” There are sure to be thousands if not millions. Then ask, “Why should I not have the same thing?” Remember God is no respecter of persons. What he will do for another, He will also do for you.” He has no favorites.

God did not intend for us to struggle in life. I am not talking here about suffering for His Name's sake or when persecution comes to remove a promise of God from your heart as Jesus explains in the parable of the sower. He has given us these simple steps to receive an abundance of all we desire so that we can have lives that are blessed in every way and so that we can give to help others. Don’t struggle to get money, serve it or chase after it. Instead just allow it to come to you.

Psalm 23:6 “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life…” 

Deuteronomy 28:2 "All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God…”

A Testimony: 
Having gone through a stage of great lack in my life when developer clients stopped paying the many thousands of dollars they owed me and for work that my design office  had been working on for months, I asked the Lord for me to experience His abundance in my life. I started gradually moving my thoughts from the anger and lack that I was experiencing to thinking about God’s riches and abundance.

I downloaded and created images from the internet that symbolized abundance and looked at them continually. Week after week I saw God’s abundance pouring into my life with the eyes of my spirit. Things got worse before they got better. The one developer who owed me the money suddenly died. The other one had lost most of what he had and could not honor his promissory note.

Eventually the land owner of the project on which we were working and who had not even been my direct client or owed me the money, stepped up and started paying me everything that others owed me! 
Psalm 20: 4, 5 
May he give you what you desire and make your plans succeed. Then you will shout for joy over your victory and celebrate your triumph by praising our God. May the Lord answer all your requests.”