Received By Faith

Quick recap:
We've already learned that faith is believing what God said in His Word, no matter what we observe with our natural senses.
We've also learned that faith is like a seed that grows stronger whenever we hear the Word.

God's Great and Precious Promises

2 Peter 1:2-4 "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him Who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

The Bible is full of promises for God's people. For every area of our lives - from our eternal salvation, to our physical health, to our financial prosperity - there are promises in the Word of God for us! Here is a limited list of examples of some of these promises:

(Don't let yourself skip through these verses...pay careful attention to each word, scrutinizing it as if you were about to sign a contract. Remember...whose words are most important?)

Eternal Salvation

Romans 10:13 "For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Forgiveness of Sins

1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Romans 4:7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered..."

Being Made Righteous

2 Corinthians 5:21 "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

Romans 5:19 "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

Salvation of Your Family

Acts 16:31 "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."

Health

1 Peter 2:24 "...Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness - by Whose stripes you were healed."

Matthew 817 "Who Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses."

Prosperity

Romans 8:32 "He Who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"

3 John 2 "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers."

This is just a small list of the promises that are in the Bible for us. Each promise is just as true as the promise for our salvation. This means that we have just as much right to be healed as we do to be saved. The promise of prosperity in all things is just as sure to us as the promise of eternal life! You and I can put just as much faith in our family's salvation as we do our own - because both promises are absolutely true!

There may be some people who scratch their heads when they read this...wondering why they don't see these promises in their life. But let me remind you: We walk by faith, not by sight! As we continue to learn about faith, we'll see how we can bring God's promises into manifestation in your natural life. But for now, let's settle this...is God's Word true or not?

Do you trust what the Bible says concerning your eternal salvation? What if you don't feel saved - do you still have faith in God's Word? Of course...we know that promise has nothing to do with how we feel. Did you know this is the case with every promise of God? Your experience does not make the promise true or false - It's true regardless!

God Has Already Done Everything

The first thing you need to know about receiving God's promises in Scripture is that God has already done all that He's going to do! Scroll back up and read our opening Scripture from 2 Peter. Do you notice the words "have been given"? Every one of God's great and precious promises have already been given to us...past tense.

When were they given? They were given to us at the cross! Hebrews 8:6 shows us this; "...inasmuch as He is also a Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises." Every promise that God has ever made is now a part of the covenant we have with Him. When Jesus shed His blood to bring us into this covenant, He established those promises with His own blood. They now belong to us.

This is what Jesus meant on the cross when He declared (with a loud voice), "It is finished!" Everything that needed to be done for us was done. Every condition to obtaining those promises (such as healing, peace, joy, salvation, prosperity...), was met on the cross. We now have complete and full access to everything God wants for us!

This is why the Bible clearly says, "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us" (2 Corinthians 1:20). Not only is God giving us a divine "Yes!" to every one of His promises...but it brings God glory when we receive those promises!

If God has already given these promises to us, then why are so many of us not living in them? The problem isn't on the giving side of the equation - God's already given it all to us. No my friends...whenever there's a disconnect between what the Scriptures say and what we're experiencing, the problem is in the receiving. 

The promises have all been freely given, but they must still be received.

Every Promise Is Received By Faith

Hebrews 6:12 "...but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."

Luke 18:42 "Then Jesus said to him, 'Receive your sight; your faith has made you well."

Galatians 3:14 "...that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

Remember the basic definition of faith? Faith is simply believing what God said...specifically, what He said in the pages of His Word. No matter what you see, hear, or feel - faith trust that what God said is true. But did you know that this "act of believing God" will actually receive what your believing?

Every promise of God must be received by faith.

Think of the ten lepers that came to Jesus in Luke 10. These men didn't get close to Jesus. Jesus didn't pray over them; He didn't even touch them. All Jesus did was tell them to go show themselves to the priest. According to the Mosaic law, the only reason these lepers would go to the priest was to show that their leprosy was gone. Jesus was telling these lepers to go proclaim their healing while they still had leprosy.

Taking Jesus at His word, these men started their journey believing that their healing was coming. It was these steps of faith that brought their healing from a promise to a manifestation.

Think of the woman with the issue of blood in Matthew 9. This woman heard about Jesus and what His power could do. She believed that same power would heal her disease...she believed it so much that was all she talked about. She kept telling herself, "All I'm going to do is touch the edge of His robe, and I'll be healed. He doesn't even have to acknowledge me...but I'm going to come home healed!" 

Jesus didn't touch her. He didn't speak to her. In fact, the Father didn't even reveal to Him who she was or what she was going to do. Believe it or not, we can see from Scripture that Jesus was actually surprised by the move of healing power from Him to her! I might ruffle a few religious feathers when I say this...but Jesus really didn't have a lot to do with this woman being healed!

Do you remember what Jesus said to her...after the healing came and she fell at Jesus' feet? Read His response out of Matthew 9:22, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well." It wasn't Jesus' great power that made this woman well...it was her faith. Her faith reached out and took hold of the promise. This faith activated the power to heal her.

Over and over again in the Gospels, we read about people receiving miracles by faith.

Jesus told Jairus to "only believe" and his daughter will be made whole.

He told blind Bartimaeus, "According to your faith let it be to you."

When four friends brought a paralyzed man to Him, He "saw their faith".

He told the Syro-Phoenician woman "great is your faith" - and declared that her daughter would be healed.

Every promise in the Scriptures is received by faith - by believing that it's true for you.

Let me close this post with one more example from Scripture - the Roman centurion from Luke 7. This man sent messengers to Jesus to tell Him about his very sick servant. Jesus' response was immediate, He started His journey to the man's house, intending to heal his servant. But when the centurion heard that Jesus was on the way, he sent another message to Jesus...a message that amazed Him when He heard it. 

This is what the centurion said: "Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed."

This man was convinced that just a word from Jesus was all he needed to receive his miracle. He said "If I can just get Your word on it, I'll know it'll happen!" Jesus called this "great faith." And this faith - in the word of Jesus - healed the centurion's servant.

Friend, we have God's Word written for us - with great and precious promises. Will you, like the centurion, believe that Word? Will you be willing to stretch out your faith and say, "It doesn't matter what I'm observing in the natural, I have His Word! I believe what He said!" Because if you will simply take Him at His word...that's faith. And every promise in Scripture is received by faith.