Everything with God comes through receiving

Did you ever notice that everything in the Kingdom of God works by receiving?

The fact is, you cannot give anything to God, or even to others, that you have not first received yourself.

Our growing in God is more like learning how to get water from a faucet to a vast ocean…

The ocean is all the fullness that fills God…and the faucet is our heart.

Before I go on, this post continues where I left off last time so, if you haven’t already done so, it will make more sense if you read that one first.

I realized this wonderful fact about having a successful journey with God one day.

Everything comes by receiving.

It begins when we become a child of God by receiving Christ.

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12 NIV)

And we are to receive the Kingdom of God like a little child (Mark 1o:15).

In this light, one thing that has always amazed me over the years is how much time we leaders spend drilling our doctrines into people’s heads, teaching principles, right ways behave and believe as a Christian–and there’s nothing wrong with that per se…

But, tragically, we spend very little time teaching them how to receive?

When was the last time you went to a Bible study that was solely about learning how to open your heart to God? See what I mean?

Yet, there’s nothing more wonderful than when a fully open heart encounters the unfathomable love of God.

For I have found that spiritual maturity cannot be measured by much you know, but by how much you love–how much you have grown in your capacity to receive God’s love and then love others with His love.

For knowledge makes us proud and divisive, but love builds us up together in Christ (1 Cor.8:1; Eph.4:16).

What I’m talking about is like trying to get wet by standing in front of Niagara Falls.

What would be your part in this scenario?

Right, your part has to do with proximity and placement. The water flows…your job is to get in the way.

You see, we’ve been taught that we should love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and love others the same. So, we go about trying to actually do this.

So, how’s that working for you?

But notice what John says about loving God…

“We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

So, is not obedience to the great commandment the fruit of His love?

We obey God because we love Him… (John 14:21)…and we love Him because we’ve first been loved by Him.

And when our affections are more drawn to the “things” of this world, doesn’t it only show that we haven’t yet received the captivating love of the Father? (1 John 2:15)

We’re still religious orphans.

And if you’re already hooked up to the power grid of Heaven, your job is to increase your capacity to receive more of that power.

What you need to do is be able to receive more of what you already have by faith.

But what do so many Christians do?

In their sincere desire to please God, they will try to move heaven and earth to love more, to be more holy, to study more diligently… “I need to do more for God…”

NO!!!!

PLEASE STOP!

GET OFF THAT HAMSTER WHEEL RIGHT NOW!  🙂

Beloved, you cannot strive to deserve love, earn His power, or become holy and righteous. That is a self-righteousness black hole.

The only striving we’re to be doing is entering into His rest (Heb.4:11)

God seems to think He already made you holy and righteous (1 Cor.3:17; 2 Cor.5:21; 1 Pet.2:9).  It’s yours if you can receive it.

Righteousness and holiness is not a behavior; it’s your spiritual DNA in Christ.

God told us to abide in His love (John 15:9), not try to generate love for Him. Abide means to “stay where you’ve been put.”

So why are you trying to create something you already have fully available to you?

We must learn how to receive more, not do more. Our doing is only good after our receiving. For we cannot be God’s child until we receive Him; we cannot love until we learn how to love with God’s love.

Again, you are learning how to get water from a faucet to a vast ocean…this ocean is everything that fills God, which already fills you (Col.2:9-10 AMP)…and the faucet is your heart.

So, how do you walk in greater power? You grow in your capacity to freely receive it as a gift, and then you demonstrate it through His love when you freely give it away to others.

“Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matt.10:8)

Beloved, this is how the Kingdom of God works.

I will talk about dealing with the “disconnect” next time.

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