Faith receives.
“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you 
will have them.” Mark 11:24.
Not only must we believe the word of God, we must receive it. Imagine your friend wanting to pay the bill after a nice dinner. You tell him, “No, no. I’ve got it.”, and you pay for dinner. You just declined to receive his gift of a wonderful meal. Or imagine your parents wanting to give you a brand new Mercedes, and you say, “No thanks. I’ll keep my old clunker.” You just declined to receive their gift of a beautiful car. You know your friend is able to pay for dinner, but you don’t receive it. You know your parents are able to give you that Mercedes, but you don’t receive it. It is the same with us and God. We know He is able to do all things, anything He wants, but a lot of us don’t receive His gifts. He wants to bless us, His children, with His good gifts!
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” I Corinthians 2:12-14.
There are some doctrines that teach when you ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart and you accept and receive Him as Lord and Saviour of your life, you receive the Holy Spirit. There are other doctrines that teach that the Holy Spirit comes upon you in a separate instance. These doctrinal differences, in regard to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, may appear to be inconsequential. What does have consequence is what the LORD Jesus said. “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” Luke 11:9-10,13.
Have you ever heard ‘It doesn’t hurt to ask?’ That statement certainly applies in this situation. If you have never asked the Father specifically for the Holy Spirit, do so now! How do you expect to receive anything if you don’t ask for it? “You do not have because you do not ask.” James 4:2. Remember, you asked Jesus to be Lord of your life; therefore, ask Him to baptize you with the Holy Spirit! “John answered, saying to all, ‘I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.’” Luke 3:16.
Let go of your doctrine, your religiosity! “Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ.” Ephesians 4:13-15.
Let go of your tradition! “He answered and said to them, ‘Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men — the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.’ He said to them, ‘All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.’, ‘making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.’” Mark 7:6-9, 13.
Let go of your pride, of your need to be right! Humble yourself before God. “Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD.” Proverbs 16:5. “The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” Ecclesiastes 7:8. “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:6-7. “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4. “Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee…For we walk by faith, not by sight.” II Corinthians 5:5, 7.
“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” I John 5:14-15. It is the will of the Father for all of His children to be baptized with the Holy Spirit! Jesus said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” He also said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
You may ask, “How do I receive the good gifts of the Father? How do I receive the Holy Spirit? How do I receive healing, wisdom, knowledge, prosperity, etc.?” It is so simple, it seems impossible. We receive by faith. Think of it. How did you get saved? You heard about Jesus, you believed what you heard, you asked Jesus to be Lord of your life, and you received Him as Lord of your life. You believed, you asked, and you received! The way we received our salvation is exactly how we receive our gifts from the Father, by faith.
A father opens his hand to his son. In his hand is a silver dollar, a fifty-cent piece, a quarter, a dime, a nickel, and a penny. The son asks, “Can I have the silver dollar?” The father says, “Yes.” The son excitedly takes the silver dollar and proceeds to jump for joy and thank his father for the gift he has received. He then runs off and tells everyone about what his father has given him. The only thing is, the son left the fifty-cent piece, quarter, dime, nickel, and penny in his father’s hand. He didn’t take (receive) the other gifts his father has for him. It is the same with many Christians. They receive their salvation, but they leave (do not receive) their healing, their prosperity, their authority, and all of the other gifts of the Spirit. Guess what? The Father still has gifts in His hand and His hand is open to those who will receive (take) those gifts. You can still receive ALL of His gifts! All you need to do is believe, ask, and receive. Glory to God!
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” Luke 11:9-13.
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” John 15:7. Get into the Word so that the Word gets into you! Believe what the Word says about you, a child of the Most High. Speak in faith! Receive what you ask for by faith!
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotes are from The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
