Hosanna Restoration Church

(Acts 8:17)

Receiving is such a big part of everything that God does, and yet many people still think that God is a taker. They think He wants to take away their fun, or their time, or their money. The truth is that God wants to give us life.

He wants to give us a life that provides a place to deposit our worries and our pain. He wants to give us a life that provides a target for all of our cares. Oh, yes, there is one thing He does want us to give Him.

He wants us to give Him our lives full of worry, pain, trials, and some good times as well. In exchange He will take all the things that hinder and hurt us and replace them with things that encourage and lift us. Oh yes, and the good times we thought we had. He wants to make things so much better that even those will look like bad times in comparison.

Now I realize that this idea is hard for a lot people to swallow. But then lots of people have a hard time swallowing pills too, even when they are good for them. But you see, life without God is a sick life. As soon as a person realizes they are ill, they should do what ever they need to in order to get well. That is why people take medical treatments, and that is why when we realize that we need to be healed spiritually that we need to receive everything that God has for us. When we are first saved and forever.

When the Apostles heard that there were new believers in Samaria they sent the strongest medicine right away because they understood that the new believers would need all the help they could get. Just like many today hear the good news of the gospel but wonder if it could really all be true, these believers had the same questions. The apostles wanted to be sure they would have every advantage they could get so they could walk in all that God had planned for them.

The apostles knew that the Holy Spirit was the only one who could lead them into all truth. He is the still the only one who can. God sends Him to all who will receive Him. Just like we receive Christ by faith, we must receive the power of God in the same way. He will then help us to cast our cares upon God. He will help us to believe that God really does care even when everything and everyone around us may be saying otherwise. He is the one who can help us to actually believe the great plans God has for us. Without Him, we just have religion and we keep struggling along trying to figure out what God wants and if it is even worth it to make the effort to get to know Him.

The truth is, there is no time that could be better spent than in the effort to know God and His will for our lives. So keep on receiving the Holy Spirit.