We don’t have to wait until we’re perfect or doing everything right for God to help us. Even on our bad days, we can pray and God will hear us and help us because He is a God of mercy, grace and favor, and He does things for us that we don’t deserve.
The world teaches us that we need to earn everything we get and we get what we deserve. A religious attitude makes us believe we have to do good works to deserve God’s blessings and approval. But we can never earn or deserve God’s love. And He’s not asking us to. Romans 2:4 says, “…Are you…ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repent (to change your mind and inner man to accept God’s will)?” (AMP).
God just loves us – unconditionally and constantly. And He wants to be good to us. But for us to experience this love, we have to learn to receive it from Him.
The Bible talks a lot about receiving from God. We can receive His forgiveness of our sin, His mercy for our failures, His grace to empower us to do what we can’t do on our own, His undeserved favor, His power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us…and on and on. And He freely offers it, if we will just receive it. So we need to live in a receiving mode and ask Him to pour it on us!
The word receive means “to act as a receptacle and take in what’s being offered.” It’s relaxed and like, “Now I’m free to enjoy my life.” It’s not about striving to get something from God. The word get actually means “to obtain by struggle and effort.” And if everything in your life is a struggle and effort, you’re in “getting mode,” not receiving mode.
It’s so important for us to understand this because we can never be good enough to earn or deserve God’s love and forgiveness. And if we don’t have faith in God, trusting what He says He wants to do for us, we will be beggars rather than believers. You know what I’m talking about. It’s like praying for forgiveness but still living with the guilt of our sin.
In Luke 18:17 (AMP), Jesus says, “Truly I say to you, whoever does not accept and receive and welcome the kingdom of God like a little child [does] shall not in any way enter it [at all].” Think about this. Let’s say a child misbehaves and their parent disciplines them. The child apologizes so their parent says they can go outside and play. Does the child refuse to go outside, saying, “No, I can’t go play. I’ve been too bad…”? No! The child believes they are forgiven and goes to play. We need to be more childlike when it comes to receiving from God.
When you pray, take time to receive. For example, when you pray for forgiveness, tell God, “Thank You for forgiving me. I receive Your forgiveness!” Don’t just go on and on about your problems. Ask God to help you and meet your needs, then receive it. Remember: God offers His love freely. All you have to do is ask and receive.
© Copyright 2013 admin, All rights Reserved. Written For: Joyce Meyer