Receiving from God 8
Scripture Reading - Ephesians 5:18-20 KJV
18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
In today’s lesson we will continue to explore the subject of “Receiving from God”. “Receiving from God” is special and holy; however, it is not as hard or mysterious as some would lead us to believe. In a previous lesson we talked about receiving from God when we pray. We mentioned that it is an instantaneous transaction that occurs right when you pray. In another lesson we mentioned that a key to “receiving from God” is your belief in God’s Word. You acknowledge God’s Word as truth by simply believing in what God said, then on purpose “believing you received God’s Word (which is His Will and His Way)” into your heart. We must be sure to acknowledge that “we believe we received” God’s Word into our heart because it goes into the heart (your spirit) first, then it comes out of your mouth to affect this natural realm. Since the natural realm operates on a much slower speed we must be patience until we physically see the promise of God come to pass in the physical realm of our lives. We also spoke in one lesson about “receiving from God” through the ear-gate which basically means you have natural ears and spiritual ears that both should be selective on what they are hearing. As Christians, we are either hearing what is good and right unto the glory of God or we are hearing idle or evil things that could hurt us and others. We previously mentioned that receiving from God through the ministry of Jesus requires focus on exactly what you want from God and approaching God’s Will as being your will too. This basically means trusting God as your healer, provision, mental stability and foundation for all things pertaining to life and godliness. We also mentioned “receiving from God” in the dispensation of the New Testament is based upon “receiving Jesus Christ” in your life. This first step allows you to “receive” from God spiritually and your spiritual reception of the Life of God will positively alter (enhance) the mental and physical aspects of your life for the better. In a prior lesson we spoke on “receiving from God” through the eye gates because in certain cases what you continuously behold you will eventually become. All Christians can “easily receive through their eye gates” if they are looking for God in His Holy Word (The Holy Bible) or seeing God’s Love in action. We have spoken on “receiving from God” through praying in an unknown tongue. This gift to God’s Children is really awesome because it allows you to pray the perfect will of God without knowing exactly what you are saying. Praying in an unknown tongue has a direct link to your reborn spirit to make “receiving from God” unlimited. Amen! In this lesson we will examine “receiving from God” through “spiritual songs”. Today’s reference verses shows us several things. In verse 18 we notice we can “be filled with the Spirit”. Therefore we (ihlcc) note that to be filled with anything you must be able to “receive” the thing you desire to be full of. Therefore all the time you are filling up on God you are essentially “receiving from God”you are building strength in your inner man. Right? What that means is if you drink too much water you will overflow to place where you can’t “receive” any more water because the physical body can only retain so much fluid. However, with your spirit man it is a different matter altogether because if your spirit man is full of God’s Spirit rather than stop and overflow it will expand and grow. Yes, the more spiritual nourishment you “receive from God” the larger and weightier your spirit man becomes. The stronger your inner man becomes the easier it is for him/her to overcome sin, the flesh and the devil including his kingdom of darkness. Therefore know in the following verse (verse 19) that singing psalms, hymns, spiritual songs by making melody in your heart is ordained of God. This practice of singing unto The Lord is definitely one certain way to “receive from God”. We (ihlcc) want you to notice that singing is typically a joyous expression of words. We previously discussed that putting God’s Word into your heart (your inner man) by speaking puts God into your spirit. We “receive from God’s Word” exactly what the word we “receive” states. Thus, singing unto The Lord puts God’s Spirit of joy and peace to words for a more open and powerful expression. Thus, with singing we get the best of two things combined into one (unity). Amen! Yes, we still have the powerful word of God being spoken out loud which feeds us eternally but along with God’s Word we have the all-powerful Spirit of God propelling the Word of God forth in song to break every chain, release any captive or just minister peace and happiness to all the listeners. Yes, singing spiritual good songs brings God on the scene in a greater measure because we have known from God’s Word and personal experiences that singing unto the Lord pleases God. Singing a godly song (one that glorifies the person and goodness of God) invites God into whatever you are doing at that time. Have you ever noticed that a song can linger in your heart when you are not even thinking about it that is your inner man requesting permission to sing (expression). Yes, singing songs can help you remember all that God’s has already done for you and a song can remind you of how good God really is. Singing has a strong place in the Throne Room of God such that there could be singing all the time. Since singing is necessary and desired in the Kingdom of God how much more should we be plugged into singing unto the Lord with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Yes, whatever good thing you express through your lips also goes into your heart and adding rhythm with a positive spirit to the words brings life and peace. Some would even mention that singing unto The Lord Jesus and Father God feeds them and because they two are in you your heart is growing too while it “receives” the song you are singing. We (ihlcc) will confess that singing a godly song blesses us immensely so much so that we often repeat the song several times in our mind by letting it freely come out of our mouth. Know that when you openly sing unto God you are repeating what is already good and right before God. God ordained music is one sure way to “receive from God” and in your reception you can sometimes sense God’s overwhelming and always warming Presence. So please take full advantage of this method of “receiving from God” because doing this not only helps you to “receive more from God” but it likewise is a proven way for God to “receive” from you too. We sing unto God because we love Him so much and we listen to godly songs because they help us to feel good, look good, be good and act good when we are filled with God’s Spirit as recorded in verse 18. Yes, we do all this with a heart of thanksgiving and praise in the Awesome Name of Jesus releasing more of God into our heart and mind through the avenue of our lips by way of singing. We must speak and sing God’s Will out of our heart loudly or softly with sounds of joy and peace to “receive from God” whatever we are singing at that time. Please remember we sing because we are happy and we “receive” whatever we sing unto the glory, honor and praise of God. This is why he that plants God’s Seed (His Word) into their heart is the first partaker of the fruit once developed. It is no accident that words spoken are seeds sown and songs sang are watered seeds sown coming together as a package because The Word and The Spirit agree. If you have God coming from you in a greater measure of song it is no doubt that you will “receive from God” in a greater measure too. Yes, sing all spiritual songs and make all holy melodies unto the lifting up of our Wonderful Loving Father in the Holy Name of Jesus and “receive from God as He receives from you”. Amen!