Dear Partners and Friends,
You are built to receive from the Lord. As a born-again believer, you are built with all the spiritual equipment needed to receive His answers, His provision, His wisdom, and His promises. Just like a television set is built to receive the television signal and a radio is built to tune in to the radio waves, you are built to receive from the Lord. For many the problem is they don’t know how to use their equipment.
Your spiritual equipment functions with spiritual forces or energy. For example, faith does not work from the head. In order for a person to receive by faith, they must deposit faith in the heart and believe from the heart that they receive. If that person attempts to receive based on facts they know in their head without a faith deposit in the heart, they are going to struggle. Faith is of the heart. Romans 10:10 informs us, “For with the heart man believes…” Faith doesn’t function in the head.
It is possible for Christians to be deceived into thinking that the head knowledge they possess is all they need to receive the promises of God. It is not true. The spiritual equipment for receiving works in the spirit- the heart.
Don’t confuse head knowledge with a renewed mind. Every believer needs a renewed mind. A renewed mind is having your thought processes governed by God’s Word in your born-again spirit. A renewed mind does not permit thoughts that are contrary to the Word of God. Our spiritual weapons work to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. (II Corinthians 10:5)
On the other hand, head knowledge is a knowing that a promise is in the Bible. It is mental assent that the Bible says God will supply our needs or heal our bodies. The mental assent has no power to receive. Faith is not released by mental assent. This may seem like something minor until you really need to receive from God.
The fact that the information is in the head does not indicate there is a deposit of spiritual substance-faith in the heart. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) Just like you deposit money in your bank account and then swipe your debit card and write checks on your account, you place a demand on the deposit of faith every day.
For example, you may know that healing is provided for you as part of the redemption in Jesus Christ. You may know the Bible says, “By whose (Jesus’) stripes ye were healed.” If sickness comes to attack your body, you pull out your debit card and try to swipe it. But because you have not deposited any scriptures on healing for months, nor have you listened to any preaching about healing, you don’t have a supply of faith stored up about receiving healing. Healing is yours! But it is transmitted into your body by faith.
As the cook in my home, I have the responsibility to provide well-rounded meals. I plan ahead to have fruits and vegetables in my house because I want my family to eat the nutrition that will supply the vitamins and minerals they need. Every believer has the responsibility to eat a healthy spiritual diet. That means you can’t just pull out the sermon that makes you shout all and never listen to anything else. I think every believer should have study notes, books or sermon series on the following subjects and consistently feed on them: Our Position in Christ, the Power in Blood of Jesus, The Power in Jesus’ Name, healing, protection from danger and Walking in Love. This is not an exhaustive list but it covers the subjects that you might not hear all of the time.
[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Website’ type=’url’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form] MAKE SPECIFIC FAITH DEPOSITS
Do you reconcile your bank account on a consistent basis? Many people don’t. They just deposit and withdraw never knowing exactly how much is in the bank. They swipe and then check the balance. If a deposit is missed or a charge goes through twice, the problem isn’t discovered until the overdrawn notices start or the card is denied. Keep a spiritual perception on your faith levels. Be responsible to know if your are nearing “empty” on your level of faith in the love God has for you. If you are facing unusual adversities in your life, you should be setting aside time to make specific faith deposits. Purposefully plant seeds of faith for things you need in your life.
Plant the Word of God about your marriage into your heart. Plant the Word about your financial provision. Deposit the promises about the salvation of your children. Make specific deposits in advance!
The Bible advises us in Proverbs 6:6 to “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise: which having no guide overseer or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.” The wisdom of the ant is demonstrated in the deposits, the gathering of provision. We have spiritual harvest and provision! The provision is in the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.Let’s store in our hearts the substance of faith so that we are always ready to receive from the Lord and quench every fiery dart of the enemy.
