FAITH: The Hand That Receives From God

by Pastor Mitch Horton

Our heavenly Father longs to minister to us and meet our needs! Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Because of Adam’s (the first man) sin, our fellowship with God was broken and Satan was enabled to hinder God’s provisions from coming into our lives. Jesus came to restore our fellowship with God, to break Satan’s power over us, and to make a way for God’s provisions to be received by us! See Romans 5:12-17.

According to Ephesians 1:3, we are already blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. That means that all we have need of in every area of life has already been made available to us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ! Provision to meet every need has been made, and now we must understand how to receive what God has already provided!

Faith is the hand that receives what God has provided for us in Christ! In speaking of God’s promise to Abraham, notice that Romans 4:16 says, “Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace…” That is, the promise is received by faith that it might come through God’s grace. Grace is received through faith. Abraham received the promise of a child in his old age by faith. All he needed to do was to believe what God had spoken to him. His believing what God said brought God’s provision into his life.

Grace includes all that God provided for us in Christ Jesus. The acronym, God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense, clearly describes what grace gives. Salvation, healing, and provision for all of life are included in grace. And grace is received by faith. Faith simply believes that right now (not at some point in the future) God is meeting my need and honoring His Word in my life! Faith enables us to overcome every obstacle that life brings our way! See 1John 5:4.

The good news is that since God uses the “pipeline” of faith to meet our needs, He has also already given us all the faith that we need! It’s not a matter of getting more faith; it’s a matter of using what we already have!

Romans 12:3 reads, “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” We all have a measure of faith, and that measure is all we need to receive every provision from the hand of God. Notice that Ephesians 2:8-9 reads, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Notice that the grace is the gift of God, and the faith is the gift of God too!

I have heard so many people say, “Well I know I could receive from God if I just had more faith.” And I try to get them to see that it’s not a matter of having more faith, but it’s a matter of using what we have! We were born with all the muscles in our bodies that we need. But it’s evident that some of us have developed our muscles more than others. All of us have the capacity to develop our muscles to move heavy objects, but not all of us take the time to do it! And in the same way, we all have the faith we need; we just need to begin to exercise it!

Jesus made an interesting statement in Luke 17:5. The Message translation is most striking: “The apostles came up and said to the master, ‘Give us more faith.’ And the master said, ‘you don’t need more faith. There is no more or less in faith. If you have a bare kernel of faith, say the size of a poppy seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, Go jump in the lake, and it would do it.’”

Just think, faith the size of a poppy seed is all you need to cause a mountain to “jump in the lake!” Faith is an awesome force in the human spirit! A little goes a long way! As the hair product commercial years ago said, “a little dab will do ya!”

Stop thinking that you don’t have the faith that you need to receive from the Lord. You’ve been given all the faith you need. Faith is the hand that reaches up and receives from the Lord. And since we receive all from God on the lines of faith, He’s been so good to provide the faith that receiving from Him requires! Start saying, “I have a measure of faith in me. I have all the faith that I need to receive from the Lord.”

In next month’s issue, we’ll talk about how to release the faith that God has given you. When you learn how to use the faith that your Father has given you, you won’t be afraid of any circumstance that life brings. You’ll be bold and confident knowing that “all things are possible to him who believes.”