How to Increase Your Receiving from God Percentages
How I Went from Discouraged to Super Encouraged Doing This One Thing
Continually receiving from God is how God designed us to live. How to do that is often the challenge. In the following paragraphs, I want to share with you an insight from the book of James on how to receive more of what God wants to give.
The other day I was reading James 1. The tone of Jame’s letter is corrective and as one who shoots it straight, he doesn’t always use the most encouraging language.
Sometimes we need clear, strong, loving correction, and that is what James gives us.
So when I read James 1:6–8, I was a little discouraged until I did one thing and it made me super encouraged. With this one simple shift, my entire perspective changed.
Let’s read those 3 verses, then I’ll tell you what changed it from negative to a big, big positive.
“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
Why I Was at First Discouraged
As a student of the Bible, I know God has designed us so that we live from Him and for Him. Jesus is the vine, we are the branches and the only way we bear godly fruit is by staying connected to Him, receiving from Him, and then allowing His life to flow out of us to others. (John 15:5, Luke 6:38)
One of the most important lessons God wants us to learn is how to receive His love, life, and promises. This takes us from living purely from our natural abilities and resources into His abilities and resources.
It’s impossible to live the abundant life without receiving from God.
So when James says that when we ask God for something (in this case wisdom), we need to do it with no doubting. If we doubt, then we shouldn’t suppose we will receive ANYTHING from God because we are like a wave of the sea being tossed around. We are double-minded and unstable in all our ways.
Stable faith seems to be a key to receiving from God.
I don’t know about you, but even after believing in Jesus for decades, I still have areas of my life where I battle doubt. Especially when I ask God for something that seems really hard or impossible from a human perspective.
I know in my head that God can do anything and I know He does miracles every day all over the world. But when I ask Him for things I need, and it takes a while, doubts can creep in.
Not always. Sometimes I handle the wait better than others. But it’s not uncommon for a strong feeling of doubt to pound on my thought life.
According to this passage, when I don’t stop those doubts and deal with them in the spiritual dimension, I’m unstable. I am being blown around by the winds of visible circumstances and my up and down feelings.
This leads to spiritual sea sickness. James said, if I let this happen, I won’t receive ANYTHING from the Lord.
THAT IS WHY I WAS DISCOURAGED
I doubt sometimes, and that can block me from receiving what God wants to give me.
As amazing as it sounds, unbelief even block Jesus from giving people what they wanted and needed. Mark 6 tells us when he went home to Nazareth, though He had been doing miracles in many places, here He could not.
Mark 6:5 “And he could do no mighty work (miracles) there except that he had laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.(6) And he marveled at their unbelief.”
This is how powerful unbelief is.
It was His will to do miracles there, but this verse says “he could do no mighty work there”.God in the flesh COULD NOT give people the wonderful things He wanted to because of their unbelief.
I didn’t want to be one of those people who is so unstable that I can’t receive what God wants to give me.
What flipped it for me?
It all changed in my soul when I flipped James’ corrective words to the positive.
If I ask with unstable faith I won’t receive anything from God.
However,
If I ask in faith, then I can receive EVERYTHING I need based on God’s promises.
I do not have to be a doubter. In Jesus, I am a believer.
God wouldn’t ask me to do something I cannot do with His help. I don’t have to be a doubter. With His help, I can be a stable believer and receiver.
Jesus would not expect me to never have a doubtful thought. He knows all of us have trouble with believing God.
He was always encouraging people “do not be afraid, just believe.” Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus Himself is both the Author and the Perfecter or Finisher of our faith.
Jesus has all the faith we’ll ever need; we just need to keep our eyes locked on Him, even in the storms of life and we will have enough.
If I keep my eyes locked on Jesus,and hold on to His words, then I can have stable, single-minded faith that can receive EVERYTHING I need from my Heavenly Father. Jesus told us not to fear because our Heavenly Father loves to give us His kingdom. (Luke 12:32)
I do not have to be a seasick doubter. In Christ, I have a new nature. Jesus actually lives in me now (Galatians 2:20). I now have a” believe God” nature.
I only get doubtful, double-minded, and unstable when I look at the wrong things. When I look to God, then my faith grows strong.
Remember, as long as Peter stayed focused on Jesus, He did the impossible. It was only when he shifted focus, looking at the storm rather than Jesus, that he sunk.
Focus Makes the Difference
Focus on Jesus = strong faith, receiving faith.
Focus on the storms = doubt and unstable faith.
I know, in my humanity, that it is easy for me to doubt God and believe the enemy’s lies. But.as a believer in Jesus, I have the Holy Spirit in me and He will help me believe.
According to this passage and several others, when I ask God in faith, according to His will, then I can know He is going to give me what I need at the right time in the right way.
What turned my discouragement to encouragement?
I just flipped what James was warning us about to “With Jesus’ help, I can respond in a way that keeps the pipeline of faith open. I can be stable, single-minded and receive EVERYTHING God promises.”
You can too!
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