How to receive the promise of God
Have you discovered that receiving an answer to prayer is not always instantaneous? In fact, most of the time, the answer to prayer does not come immediately. Well actually, technically speaking, the moment we pray in line with God’s will, He answers with a resounding ‘yes!’ At that moment, divine forces are set in motion to bring what we’ve prayed for into manifestation. But for a whole variety of reasons, there can be delays and so the answer to most prayers are not instantaneous. God is not the One who delays the answer; He wants us to have what He’s promised even more than we do. If we maintain our posture of faith, and stay attentive to what He wants to say to us, He will lead us to where the delay is minimized and the answer manifest.
How can we stay on the right track to ensure that we receive what God has promised? Hebrews 10:35-36 gives us some guidelines:
Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. (36) For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise Heb 10:35-36 NKJV
There are three things we’re exhorted to do in these two verses if we want to receive God’s promise:
- Don’t cast away your confidence
- Learn to be patient
- Do the will of God
Let’s look at them one at a time. Firstly, if we want to receive the promise of God then we must not throw away our confidence. The word translated ‘confidence’ in the original Greek means ‘outspokenness’ or ‘boldness of speech’. So this scripture is saying ‘Don’t cast away your outspokenness and boldness of speech’. One of the first things the enemy will try to do in order to stop the promise of God manifesting is stop you speaking in line with the Word. The devil understands that deliverance comes to us through the words of our mouths (Rom 10:10).
So be outspoken in your declaration of God’s Word concerning what He’s promised you. If you’re believing for healing, then talk like you’re healed and be outspoken about it. ‘But what will people think if they see me talk like that and see that I’m still sick?’ Don’t worry about what others think; you’re not being outspoken for their sake, you’re being outspoken for your sake. You’re being outspoken because the bible says don’t cast away your outspokenness.
Remember though, this boldness of speech is not just a false sense of bravado. It’s not self confidence or confidence in your abilities; it’s a confidence in God’s faithfulness and the integrity of His Word. Put your confidence in Him and what He’s promised you and not in yourself. What if you don’t feel confident about His promise to you? Then spend time meditating the Word until you can see it coming to pass in your imagination and then be outspoken about it.
Secondly, if we want to receive the promise of God we must learn to be patient. This doesn’t mean that we need to hang on for dear life, white knuckling it until we get through the storm. The word translated ‘patience’ or ‘endurance’ used in Heb 10:36 means ‘active resistance to defeat’. In other words, when it says ‘you have need of endurance’ we can also say ‘you have need of active resistance to defeat’. When the enemy is attacking our life, we’re not supposed to endure it in the sense that we put on our seatbelts and hope we get through. No, we’re supposed to actively resist defeat.
How do we do that? Well, let’s say there’s pain in your body and you’ve prayed for healing. Don’t just silently endure the pain. Be outspoken about the healing because it belongs to you. Be active in resisting the symptoms in your body. Speak to your body: ‘Body! You’re free of all sickness, disease and pain! Jesus has healed you.’ Speak to the pain: ‘Pain. I resist you! You have no right to be on my body because my body is healed. Pain, get off my body now!’ This is boldness of speech and active resistance to defeat.
Finally, if we want to receive the promise of God then we must do the will of God. The last part of Heb 10:36 says ‘after you have done the will of God you will receive the promise’. This means you do whatever God shows you to do – not just in the area you’re believing God to change. Too many believers become one dimensional when they’re believing God for something important in their life – they allow that one thing to dominate their thinking and they abandon all other responsibilities. They display an attitude of ‘I’m not doing anything else until I get this prayer answered’. This is not good. This scripture exhorts us to do the will of God and then we’ll receive the promise. In other words, if there are responsibilities you have, or there are things the Lord has already spoken to you about, then it’s important that you fulfil them.
If you’re praying for healing and the Lord talks to you about forgiving someone then do the will of God and forgive them. If you’re praying for wisdom and He tells you to bless someone with a gift then do it. Don’t make the mistake that a lot of believers make where they pick and choose what they’ll listen to the Lord about. Many times what God is telling you to do is directly linked to what you have asked for in prayer but its connection is not completely clear.
The following audio file goes into greater detail on how to receive God’s promise. It’s a free download so help yourself.
How to Receive the promise of God
Recorded at Transformers Christian Church