Ask For Blessings And Believe That You Have Received Them

Hello, and welcome to Social Media Ministries. My name is Spencer Coffman, thank you so much for being with us today! We’ve got a great sermon in store for you, so hit that like button.

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All right, today we are talking about a topic, similar to what I just did, it’s called ‘ask’! So, you might not be receiving certain things in your life, or your blessings, simply because you have not asked.

Now, a while back, we did a sermon on asking God for the right things – you can check it out in a card here if you’re watching on YouTube, otherwise, just go to our website and search “Ask God,”

We did that years ago, it was one of our first initial sermons, but, it featured James, and he says in James 4:3: “When you ask you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”

So, if you’re asking God for, “God please, I need a new boat so I can take my kids out boating, or, so I can go out boating on the –” Okay, you’re asking for the boat, or for money to buy the boat, so that you can go out and spend on your pleasures, that’s not going to happen, but, if you say, “God, I need more.”

Why? “For some good reason, like, so I can build your kingdom, or so I can donate more,” listen. We have a lot of sermons on tithing, on giving, on being generous, on blessing others – there’s an entire playlist: “Blessed to Bless.”

So, from what we believe the Bible says, which, what we believe the Bible says, and what the Bible says is the same because we believe in the Bible. Now, hopefully, you can say the same thing:

What you believe, and what the Bible says is the same. Why? Because you know and understand the words in the Bible, so what your beliefs are, are accurate according to the scriptures.

That is the goal for all Christians, that is why we do these sermons – to help you understand and interpret the scriptures in the Bible. It’s part of our mission, it’s part of why we exist. So, in the Bible, it says you are to give a tithe to God—that’s 10 percent.

“Tithe” means “tenth”—that’s all it is; it’s just a different word. If it was in today’s English, it would say you are to give a tenth of everything you bring in, because why?

Because you believe God is blessing you with that, so as a thank you, you’re giving it back to him. In addition, you are to go above and beyond now if you follow the Old Testament, that would mean about 30 percent of your income.

If you follow Jesus in the New Testament, He raised the bar – He said to give half. If someone wants something, you give them more: One mile? Go two – that’s double. So, are you going to give away double of everything you have? It’d be pretty hard, but guess what? He’s saying, “Have faith– God will give you more.”

So, if you are asking God for more: “God, I really want to make $100,000 a year, so that I can give away $50,000 a year,” and you pray that prayer, and you sincerely mean it, guess what? I believe God will give you that.

Now, if you start making the $100,000, and you get greedy, and you get careful, and you say: “Well, I really only need to give away 10 percent, that’s only 10,000 and maybe another 20 for good measure,” or,

“Well, my 100,000 is really 60,000 after taxes, so I’ll donate six, and then above and beyond that, let’s see, I’ll donate… okay, uh, 18,000 total, that’s about 30 percent, that’s good…”

No. What did you pray for? What did you promise? Do it. God will bless you, stay faithful, and believe. It will happen.

Now, if you want, “God, I need a bigger house so I can take in more foster children,” guess what? It’s the motive behind it! When you ask with wrong motives, you’re not going to get it, so, ask God – that’s the point of this.

When you ask for something, your intentions need to be pure – you need to be asking out of the goodness of your heart. You have to ask without doubt. Believing that you have already received whatever it is you are asking for, and maybe, like, if you’re saying:

“Well, wait a minute, I only make X number a year, and I want to be making more. What are you talking about? Believe as if I’ve already received it.” Believe that you are capable, and you are worth what you’re asking for – that you are worthy of those new gifts.

If you have a child, and the child has a plastic, or a metal, uh, Tonka truck, let’s say, and they’re beating it around and driving it, and, and, and they’re going to ask you for the nicer one, that you know is a little bit more breakable, it’s a lot more expensive, and you say: “No way, I’m not getting that for you! Why? Because I know you’re going to break it!”

“But, but, Dad, I’m asking you for it! You should give it to me!” No. “But I’m, I, I believe I should have it!”

Okay, but they’re not worthy of the responsibility that comes with that increased gift. In the same way, you need to believe you’re worthy of whatever it is you’re asking for, and you need to demonstrate that – show God you can handle the increased favor in your life, the increased anointing in your life.

If you’re asking: “Hey, God, give me the gift of prophecy,” maybe your mind can’t handle the prophetic, because anytime you get a word, you, you go crazy.

Or, anytime you get a word, you start telling other people, and you’re boasting about it, and bragging, and, and getting up in front of your church saying: “Hey come on, Pastor, I got a – give me, give me the microphone, I gotta get two minutes because I want to be in the fame and the glory!”

No! That’s not what it’s about! How are you using what God is giving you? Make sure you’re doing it as He would want you to do – with right motives, and be worthy of it.

Mark 11:24 says “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

So if you’re asking for an increase in income, or you’re asking for gifts of the Holy Spirit, or you’re asking for wisdom, believe that you have received it. If you’re asking to understand and interpret the Bible more, but you never read your Bible, how are you going to know it more, unless you dive into it and read it?

And, if you’re asking for discernment, to be able to discern what’s going on in your life, how are you going to get that discernment, unless you spend more time in prayer? Unless you spend time fasting and praying unless you spend more time reading and understanding what God is talking to you about in the Bible?

It goes hand in hand. There’s an old saying, and it was made famous in the movie “Where The Red Fern Grows”, when a little boy wants these dogs, and his grandfather says, “Sometimes you gotta meet God halfway.”

And so then the little boy goes to work, working hard, and hard, and hard, earning his money so that he can go secretly buy these dogs. He takes a train and gets these dogs, and then his parents, of course, let them keep it. But it’s a good movie, but the point of it is, sometimes you gotta meet God halfway.

Now, that doesn’t mean you have to meet God halfway, and that he’s only going to be able to get halfway. No! It means God wants to know you are worthy of it – He already knows, but He wants you to show it. He wants you to be devoted, He wants you to put in the effort to do the work and He’ll reward you.

So, think about that next time. Sometimes you might have to to prove yourself, so to speak, you might have to meet God halfway. You might have to show Him that you’re worthy. He knows you, and He knows what you need but sometimes, you need to know it for yourself, you need to discover it for yourself.

God knows. Jeremiah 17:10, “I, the Lord, search the heart and examine the mind to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” God will reward you according to what you do and what you have done, and what you will do. He knows your heart.

So, if you have the heart saying: “I want more money so that I can go buy a bigger house, or a boat, or another car,” then no! ’Cause He knows your heart, even if you think you might, “Oh, I’ll use the car to bring people to and from places for free, I’ll use the house, and open it up to strangers, but it’ll be for Airbnb so I can make more money,” No!

He knows your motives, He knows your heart – it’s got to be pure, it’s got to be with the right intentions! You’ve got to know that! Sometimes, you might have to shift your way of thinking, you might have to start doing something, you say: “Well, I don’t feel that way,” guess what? Feeling comes later, action comes first.

You start being devoted, you start being obedient, you start doing things, and then you will feel that way. You say: “I don’t feel like giving away 10 percent of my money, let alone 30 are you nuts?”

Hey. Start being obedient, start doing it, and just watch what will happen. Dave Ramsey says, “If you can’t live on 90 percent, then you couldn’t live on 100.” 10 percent is not that much money.

He also says, “Work like it all depends on you and pray like it all depends on God.” Uh, he took that from another person, I can’t remember who it is, but the point is, you gotta do the work, and you gotta have the faith, and you also need to have the right intentions and motives.

You gotta put in the time and the effort, and guess what? If you don’t feel that way, too bad. Eventually, you will feel that way, because through action, and through repetition, and through habits, your feelings will change.

You’re a child of God, and sometimes, as children, we ask for things we don’t need, or that won’t be good for us. It might be bad for us, and, usually, if a child asks a parent for something like that, the good parent is not going to give it to them.

Why? Because it would be bad for them! Or they don’t need it – it would be excessive, or pointless, or frivolous, and God’s the same way.

God is the best parent, so, if you ask God for something, and He knows it’s going to hinder your spiritual maturity, then guess what? You’re not going to get it, even if you really want it, you won’t get it.

Let’s go to Luke 16:15. Luke 16:15 says, ’He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.”’

So, the things of this world that we want, that we strive for: success, power, influence, that’s all detestable in God’s sight. A bigger house, a better car, “I want to drive a Lincoln all the time, I want to drive a Porsche, I want to have a Maserati, I need a convertible, I want a Ducati, I want a Rolex watch,” all of this, detestable in God’s sight.

What matters to God? What’s in your heart? What are you doing? Well, a $50 watch and a $5,000 watch, guess what? They both keep time. So, maybe instead of spending that extra money on that watch that you just have to have, maybe you should be putting that money somewhere else.

Now, I’m not saying you can’t have nice things, I’m all for it. We need to live a good life, and an enjoyable life, and God wants to bless us. We have a sermon about that – God wants you to be rich! He wants you to have wealth, He wants you to have influence, He wants you to have money because then you can use it to build His kingdom.

So, can you not have a nice watch? If you buy a $300 pair of shoes, instead of the $100 pair of shoes, are you sinning because you should have given that extra 200 to charity?

No! He’s saying steward your wealth wisely, and use it accordingly, your heart has to be in the right place. Now, if you’re always spending above and beyond then that’s not good.

Live within your means, modestly. Yes, you can have nice things, but then give more, and help others be built up. Be the rising tide that raises all ships, and ask God for more so that you may use it to build His kingdom.

There’s a joke, or, or a story, really, about a person who dies and goes to Heaven, and, and I believe I’ve told this before, but it’s good and it, it advocates the point that you need to continually ask God for blessings.

He goes to Heaven and as he’s getting a tour of Heaven, there’s this room and the, the tour guide says, “This is my favorite, but it’s also the sad, it’s one of the most sad rooms in Heaven,” and the guy’s like, “What are you talking about? How can there be sadness in Heaven?”

“Come on in,” and it’s just shelves and shelves and shelves of beautifully wrapped boxes—presents upon presents upon presents. There are labels, sections, and everything is categorized. They’re walking through, and “wow—oh, hey, this is my neighbor, this is my mother, this is my—whoa, look at all these.” And he says, “What is this place?”

“This is the Hall of Unopened Gifts.” “Okay, well, I can see that.” “These are all the gifts that God had for His people, that He wanted to give them, but they didn’t ask.”

And at that moment, the person taking the tour realizes, “Wow, this is kind of sad,” and the tour guide says, “This is yours,” and there are boxes and boxes and boxes. “Those are the gifts you would have received had you simply asked God for more.”

Ask God for more. Now, what am I saying? How do you know what those gifts are? You don’t, so just ask, “God, give me more gifts of the Spirit. God bless me, bless me indeed, bless me abundantly, Lord, like the Prayer of Jabez – two lines in the Bible: “Bless me indeed.” Boom, done, God blessed him. There’s a book, “The Prayer of Jabez,” read it.

God wants to bless you with more, all you need to do is ask Him. Don’t limit Him, don’t say, “God, bless me with more money,” and then all your life, you’re praying for money, and you never get it. No! Just ask him to bless, you let God decide how!

Show yourself worthy and approved, a workman, not ashamed, boldly proclaiming the Gospel, and the truth – standing on the foundation of the Bible, showing God your heart, that you believe what He’s telling you, and that you will follow what He wants you to do. That you will be obedient no matter what other people say.

They say, “You’re foolish, giving away all your money! You’re foolish!” “Hey, I’m not giving away all my money, I’m giving it away in accordance with the Bible.” “The Bible doesn’t apply anymore!” “What are you, nuts? That’s the Old Testament, you know what Old Testament means? It means Old Covenant, you don’t have to follow that!” “Oh really? Yes, we do!”

Follow the old and the new! “Well, well, some of those laws don’t apply anymore.” They still apply, they, they just have been, we’ve been redeemed, or set free, and you say,

“Well, wait a minute, Spencer, you gave a sermon on food, and you said we could eat whatever we want, that means it doesn’t apply anymore!” We’ve been redeemed, it was a redemptive plan all along. “Okay? Well, then we don’t have to give 10 percent anymore!”

Yes, you do, because Jesus continued that into the New Testament. “Okay, well, what about lying? What about cheating, what about committing adultery and murder?” Guess what? It continued in – those Old Testament Commandments still come into the New Covenant.

Jesus changed, or raised the bar on them, making them more difficult – no longer was it You can’t murder someone, it was, You can’t even think about murdering someone, because you’re committing it in your heart! You can’t even look at someone lustfully, because you’re committing adultery in your heart.

He made it hard, or, it was always hard, He made it harder. He raised the bar, He set a new standard, He elevated us, He said, “You are capable of more. I want you to follow, completely, 100 percent devoted to God.” You guys are like, 50 percent devoted, do you trust Him with everything?

You get sick, and you call on doctors, and you call on medical people, and you go to psychics to find lost things, or, or “Why is this happening?” and you, you seek out palm readers to look at your fortune!

Where is your faith? It should be in God, and God alone, to see you through anything and everything that this world throws at you because we are in the world, not of the world, so make sure you have strong faith, and you continue to ask God and show Him that you are ready to receive what He will bless you with.

You’re only going to receive things that are good for you because He’s not going to give you stuff you’re not ready for, or that would be bad for you. Let’s go to Matthew 7:9-11, 7:9-11,

“Which of you if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give gifts to those who ask Him?”

You know how to give a good gift, you know your child and what they like, and you know what gift they would like, and really be happy with.

Same as your spouse – you know what would make them happy, and so, if you choose to give them something else, that’s evil, and sometimes you could do that, you, even though we are not perfect, we are not good, we are not evil – we try to be good and we need God to strive to be better, and we need to be good, but God is good.

The essence of it, and so if we know how to give a good gift that someone will be pleased or happy with, or that will mean a lot to them, how much more does God know us? How much better does He know us? How much better will He give good gifts to us if we ask? You need to ask.

Therefore, ask for things that, number one, you know that will be good for you. What will be good for you? Ask for gifts of the Spirit, ask for things that will benefit you and others around you. Ask with good motives, ask for things that will help your spiritual development, and all the things of this world will follow.

Let’s go to Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find, knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks, finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Now, it doesn’t say, “For some of you who ask you, will receive.” It says for everyone. Everyone – that means all of you! Start asking God for things that you need, and that will benefit your spiritual development, that will make you more like Christ, so that you can make it as on Earth as it is in Heaven – building His kingdom, and everything else will follow.

Why? Because all of the things of this world can be used in this world. It’s like in a video game, you’re getting through certain levels, and then you need, like, “Oh, I need this magic key to unlock this door!” How do you get this key? You have to do something, or you need to do whatever. You get the key and you can unlock the door.

In this world, we might need tools, like what? Money, for example, okay, if I need more money to build a million dollar, uh, housing unit to house people from human trafficking, and if that’s the goal, not so that I can buy a mansion, then God is going to give that tool so that that can be done because it’s building His kingdom here on Earth, as it would be in Heaven.

So, use the tools of this world, but remember, that you are not of this world. You are in this world, so, operate in the world like you would in a video game, but you don’t belong in that video game, just like you don’t belong in this world.

We belong in Heaven, and we are here for a short time: 70, 80, 100 years. You need to do everything you can to advance to the highest level possible, and beat the bad guys, and build the kingdom, and just build it on Earth as it is in Heaven.

So you gotta know what it’s like in Heaven, how do you do that? Read more of your Bible, ask for gifts of the Spirit, become more advanced and developed, so that you know what it would be like on Earth as if it was Heaven.

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, thank You so much for this message. I ask that these people watching and listening, that they would start to ask You more, that they would know what they need to ask You for, that they would ask You for the hard things, for the things they’ve stopped asking for.

For those things that they may not want to ask for, those things that could be hard, like help them give up certain things in their lives, or help them move on, or for new relationships, or old relationships, or the hard conversations to be had, for different things, whatever it may be, God, help them to know and understand what it is that they need to ask You for.

And also, inspire them to ask, just for asking, like for more blessings, generically, not to limit You, God, that they would ask for abundance.

Give them bold dreams and big dreams, but not fantasies, but dreams and steps to achieve them, for plans, for visions from You, and for those dreams that are Your dreams given to them, that are just like all those unopened gifts, that they would see and realize and ask for and work toward. Give them that motivation, the desire, and that inspiration.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

If you have any questions, feel free to post them below. In addition, I hope that you like this video, and that you are inspired to ask God for more than you could possibly imagine, and that He will bless you – believe that, have a great week, and God bless.