Believe and Receive

If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established. Isaiah 7:9 NKJV Let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. James 1:6-7 NKJV “Believe” is a powerful, active word. It’s a word that establishes our trust and moves us to a place of commitment and action. To believe in God is to say that we completely entrust ourselves to His keeping. “Believe” is a two sided coin, on one side is “trust” on the other side is “commitment.” The result of our believing is our receiving. Believers become receivers, that is God’s way. Abraham did not believe God because he was justified, but Abraham was justified because He believed God (Romans 4:3). Joy and peace come to us in believing (Romans 15:13). When Jesus spoke to Martha before He raised Lazarus from the dead, Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" Jesus said that believing is seeing, and not the other way around. When we speak what we believe we will speak with conviction, clarity, and confidence. In 2 Corinthians 4:13 we read, “I have believed, and therefore have I spoken.” That should be true of each of us. Too often we hear people speaking what they doubt rather than what they believe. In Psalm 81 God says that if you open your mouth wide, He will fill it with the finest of wheat and with honey out of the rock. We must first open our mouths (by believing) before we can receive God’s wheat and honey that will feed our spirits (picture a young bird in the nest crying out for food). You cannot doubt the Word of God and receive the nourishment He wants to give. Although reading, discussing, and studying the Word of God can be good things, our spiritual life and vitality comes to us by believing the Word of God and receiving it with a yielded, trusting heart. Doubt draws us away from the heart of God, belief draws us near; doubt struggles, belief overcomes; doubt holds back, belief surrenders; doubt says, “I’m not sure,” belief says, “I know and am persuaded.”; doubt lives in the shadows, belief steps into the light; doubt blocks the flow, belief brings the overflow; doubt holds us back, belief moves us forward; doubt makes us shaky, belief puts us on solid ground; doubt leaves us as spiritual paupers, belief brings us into our spiritual riches in Christ. ~meet me in the meadow