Increasing Our Capacity to Receive

Pastor Jeanne Miller

 We hear from almost every ministry that this is the year for more, the year of coming into a fullness that we haven’t seen before.  However, in order to walk in the fullness and to see more we are going to have to increase our capacity to receive this fullness.  What do I mean by “increasing our capacity to receive”?  I’m going to use two areas of receiving as examples:  healing and prosperity.

 How many people have hands laid on them on Sunday and by Monday all the symptoms are back and they’ve “lost their healing”?  There’s a reason why this happens.  Their capacity to receive from the Lord is not what it needs to be.  As Brother Kenneth Copeland said recently, healing always comes when hands are laid on people because the anointing goes into them; it is not always received.  Mark 16:18, “. . . they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.”  Why then does it seem that some do not receive healing?  In verse 15 of chapter 16, Jesus said to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.  Then we must believe the gospel, verse 17.  Knowing the gospel and believing the gospel put us in a position to receive and when two people hook up and believe (one laying on hands and the other needing healing), healing will always come.

 Receiving takes knowing God and what is His will for His children, knowing what Jesus went to the cross to secure for us and knowing who we are as a Christian.  We need to know our position in Christ today.  In Ephesians 2:6 the bible says, “and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”.  What does this mean?  First of all, only royalty can sit in the presence of other royalty.  Do you see yourself as a king and a priest reigning with Jesus (Revelation 1:6 and 5:10) or someone who has got to convince God that you’re good enough to get the blessings?  Secondly, when we know who we are in Christ then we know what we have in Christ: healing, prosperity, peace, love, etc.  When we really know our position and what we have in Christ we begin to have the faith necessary to receive. 

 The bible says study to show yourself approved.  We must take this seriously if we want to walk in all the fullness of what God has planned for us.  When we are baby Christians we receive many things from God just because He is full of grace and mercy.  But there comes a time when He expects us to grow up and at that point, we must know how to receive.  It takes an intimate knowledge of God to have faith to receive from Him.    It takes study and meditation of the word on a daily basis, being in His presence and praying His will rather than our will.  All of this means that you’re maturing in the Lord.  Maturity means we are walking in love (John 15:12) and being thankful (Hebrews 13:15) to the best of our knowledge.  All of this increases our ability to receive from our Father, not only for healing but in every arena of our lives.

 For those that are believing for financial breakthroughs it means knowing God’s heart on finances.  We hear a lot these days about prosperity and God does want His children to prosper, but He wants us to prosper in all areas, not just financially.  III John 2, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”  Those that push financial prosperity over prospering in every area run the risk of causing Christians to fall into the trap that I Timothy 6:10 speaks of:  “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”  The best way I know to prosper is to be a giver--not just a tither, but a giver.  When you learn to give over and above your tithe as God speaks to you, you are increasing your capacity to receive.  God rushes to honor His children when He knows they will not be covetous or greedy but will give generously and hilariously, as the Amplified Bible says in II Corinthians 9:7, “Let each one [give] as he has made up his own mind and purposed in his heart, not reluctantly or sorrowfully or under compulsion, for God loves (He takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, and is unwilling to abandon or to do without) a cheerful (joyous, “prompt to do it”) giver [whose heart is in his giving].”  Hallelujah!

     I truly believe this is the year for more—in every area.  We will see more people healed, more people born again, more people spirit filled, more of everything.  But I know that it will take people drawing closer to the Lord in every way.  For those that do draw closer, the rewards will be great.  And why does God want to see our capacity to receive increase?  Increasing our capacity to receive means increasing our capacity to give, and that is what God is all about.
 
 

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