Stop Acting Like a Pauper: Six Ways to Receive From God

Sermon outline

Believers already have scriptural ways to receive from God, and a right to the good life, so stop living like paupers: ask, agree, speak the Word, desire, and resist the devil.

1. 1. Use the name of Jesus

   Jesus said whatever you ask, or demand, in His name, He will do. His name carries inherent power to reject something or attract something. Using healing as the example, you can command pain by name to leave your body.

   “Jesus gave us the right to use the name, his name, to reject something or to attract something.”

   • John 14:13-14

2. 2. The laying on of hands

   Believers carry the nature, power and anointing of God, and laying on hands is a point of contact that transfers that power. Sometimes people weep or fall under the power and sometimes nothing visible happens, but a lack of manifestation does not mean nothing was transmitted.

   “The laying on of hands is just a point of contact, and it's a transmission of the ability of God from one person to the other.”

   • Mark 16:18

3. 3. Calling for the elders

   James tells the sick to call the elders to pray and anoint them with oil. He teaches that this is for those who are young in the faith or so pressed that they cannot see a way out, and need someone else's faith.

   “This scripture is for people that are battling along.”

   • James 5:14-15

4. 4. Ask the Father in Jesus' name

   We ask everyone except God, or leave Him at the end of the list, yet Jesus gives an open invitation to ask so that our joy may be full. It costs nothing but a few words, God never laughs at a prayer, and you should have confidence in your own prayers.

   Illustration: Adults testify of a small child running to a grandparent, praying a simple prayer, and the person being healed. If God listens to a child, He will listen to you.

   “You have a blood-bought right to be heard by God.”

   • John 16:23-24

5. 5. The prayer of agreement

   When two or three agree in Jesus' name it multiplies power, which is why the devil works to cause disagreement. Even your 'amen' in your seat is agreement. He adds that believers are not lucky but blessed, empowered to prosper, and have a blood-bought right to the good life, as Israel left Egypt with silver and gold, none sick among them, and manna from heaven.

   Illustration: A couple received a miracle on the Wednesday after something he said almost as a joke. A believer once told him she wished her dog would die, and by the end of the day it had been bitten by a snake: a picture of the power of words.

   “When you agree together, it amplifies your prayer.”

   • Matthew 18:19-20
   • Deuteronomy 32:30
   • Proverbs 10:22
   • 2 Chronicles 20:20
   • John 10:10
   • Genesis 32:26
   • Exodus 12:35-36
   • Psalm 105:37
   • Deuteronomy 8:4
   • Exodus 16:31

6. 6. Take the Word as a fact

   Read the Word and accept it as true for you. Prosperity follows the prospering of your soul, so renew your mind and cast down every thought that says you will always be poor.

   “I'm designed for the good life.”

   • 3 John 2
   • Romans 12:2
   • 2 Corinthians 10:5

7. The principle of desire

   You have been made a king, so stop acting, speaking and thinking like a pauper. Jesus became poor so that we could be rich, and God does not make junk, so stop cursing yourself. Make a demand on the Word, ask God to help you imagine, and do not leave Him out of any situation, including legal battles.

   Illustration: On a Gloria Copeland tape he heard of an unbelieving Australian man, dying of cancer in three places, who was healed when Kenneth Copeland called out his three conditions as a word of knowledge; he was saved and his marriage restored. He also contrasts young men cheering rugby on TV with Christians who are shy to shout for the Word.

   “So now that you're a king, stop acting like a pauper.”

   • Mark 5:28
   • Mark 11:23
   • Ephesians 3:20
   • Revelation 1:6
   • 2 Corinthians 8:9
   • Psalm 139:14
   • Genesis 1:27
   • Genesis 1:31

8. Resist the devil and he will flee

   The devil will still come knocking, but God has given you the authority to resist him out of your body, finances, business, home and marriage. The devil has no right on your property, and when you rebuke him he runs in haste.

   Illustration: While meditating, the Lord told him to draw a tall stick man beside a small devil, to show that when you rebuke him he has to flee.

   “He doesn't say pastors rebuke the devil. He said you.”

   • James 4:7