On Valentines Day 1988 I found out that my husband and I were going to have a baby. Right away we told all of our family and friends and began planning for the arrival of our child.
Of course at only 6 weeks I was not even showing yet but I started imagining what it would be like to hold this person. I began to picture what he or she would look like and the events to come.
Day by day the child started taking shape in my heart long before there were any outward signs that a human being was being formed in my body. The moment I felt the first flutter of life I really got excited and began to speak and sing to our child. (While I had a captive audience.)
It didn’t matter that no one else could see him, I knew I was going to have a baby!
I became fluent in baby talk. Every place I went I was absorbed in conversations centered around pregnancy and children. And almost immediately my husband and I started making purchases in anticipation. (I even practiced changing diapers on dolls. What can I say? Our dog wouldn’t stand still long enough.)
But we were expecting- and praise God in late October we received a son, 8 lbs.15oz.
You might say well, that’s usually how they arrive. The child is conceived and eventually birthed. That is the normal process when you’re expecting a baby.
Then why is it so hard for us to believe to receive things from God? It happens the same way. We read the Bible, conceive the promises in our minds and by faith the seed is planted in our hearts (like a womb), there it starts to grow as we prepare to birth the promise
By faith, we can expect to receive even when we don’t see it. “We walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Cor. 5:7
When a woman tells me she is going to have a baby I don’t usually look at her stomach, shake my head and begin to mock her, “You’re not having a baby!! That’s ridiculous, I don’t see anything happening here. You should give up on that idea!”
We can get to a place where we can expect to receive and even plan for the event.
And we are not just speaking about women. Here is a man who expected to receive something …. and did.
“Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms.
And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.” Acts 3:1-10
(Notice that Peter did not even say a prayer. He just stated a fact, that it’s in the name of Jesus that we can expect to receive.)
….“Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Acts 3:12-16
What are you in need of? Search the scriptures and find that, “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” James 1:17
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things unseen.” Heb. 11:1
“By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Heb 11: 3
Contact Brenda Groves at: bkgroves1996@yahoo.com
