The Best Gift Not Well Received: How You Can Learn To Receive God's Love For You
Do you find it hard to receive God's love for you? Is it difficult to know if you have done enough to “earn God’s love and forgiveness”? This article is for you. It will help you open your heart more.
Sitting in my office a few years back and just working on paperwork, I was interrupted by a clear thought in my head that I was sure did not come from me. Why was I sure it did not come from me? Because I would not have said this to myself at that moment as it was completely unrelated to what I was focusing on at the moment. Plus, this communication inside myself is not the way I communicate with myself.
The message was this, “I want you to take that necklace you really like and give it to (a specific woman) in the church.”
I have had messages like this from time to time in life. I was not always amused at what I was being requested to give up. But I have learned with time to jump at the opportunity because it is a blessing to give, especially when it is The Lord asking you to give it. It can be argued until the cows come home whether this internal ‘voice’ was The Lord or not, but the earmarks make me jump to most likely it was the One True Lord, especially because what I was being asked to give up was the most expensive thing I had ever been gifted or ever owned in my life. That necklace had meaning to me since it was gifted to me by someone special, and I was grateful to have such a nice piece of jewelry that I never felt in a million years I would have had the opportunity to buy for myself in this lifetime.
Without hesitation, I got up, left my office with excitement, and prepared the necklace so that I would not forget to bring it with me to give to the woman I felt The Lord had told me to give it to. The next time I would see the new owner of this necklace would be in three weeks at a women’s conference.
I reminisced how in my past, it had been very difficult to give up certain things when I felt called to get rid of them. And I was amused at how much I had grown because, at this particular request, I felt myself immediately give up this prized possession and the excitement of gifting another woman to enjoy this beautiful necklace. It was a gift from God! What was He doing? I was curious and excited to find out.
The ‘Day of Delivery’ arrived.
I was all excited and giddy. I prayerfully kept the necklace in my bag for the day and waited to find the perfect time to give it to its new owner. The perfect time came in the hotel restaurant where guests, including this woman and myself, were having breakfast. She was at a different table with people around her. I waited patiently to see if the others would leave and she would be alone. If she was not alone, then I knew to wait for another time. Everyone cleared out except her and her husband. It was time! I got up, walked to the table, and sat down excitedly. Of course, she and her husband were surprised I sat down, well, they looked surprised anyway, and I greeted them. I then shared how I had a very special gift. I explained that this gift had significance to me and that had loved it while it was mine, and now it is hers. She was quite shocked at this declaration and gift. I let her open the box, and she gasped. She was not prepared to be given a gift like this. It seemed she did not really know what to do. Her husband, sitting next to her, just watched with interest this gift-giving event. I quickly got up after giving it as we all needed to go for the first speaking engagement.
For me, this was the end of the story, and I felt a sense of accomplishment and release by giving something in love with no strings attached and with the knowledge that I felt it was The Lord who was giving it. I did not tell this woman that information as I thought she would think I was off my rocker, and it might be even harder for her to receive the gift.
About a year passed after I gave the necklace. We had not spoken to one another about the necklace in all that time, and actually, I had so much closure after giving it that I did not even remember giving it to her. She called me up about a year later in a very emotional state. She wanted to tell me something important. This is what I believe she told me:
When she received the necklace and looked at it, she did not feel worthy of it. It made her embarrassed to have been given something so nice. She decided she would find time at a future date to give it back to me. In the meantime, she put it in the back of the glove compartment of her car for safekeeping since it was obviously a very expensive piece of jewelry. She completely forgot she had put it there after this. She had just recently gotten into her glove compartment and found the necklace again. She looked at it, and she saw again how much she loved the necklace. It was exactly what she would have wanted for herself. She had looked at necklaces like this one for many, many years wishing she could afford one. What she wanted the most was a necklace that was created to hang against one's chest even when you bend over some. Only very expensive necklaces are created in this way. This happened to be one of them. And at that moment, as she was in the car looking at this necklace, she realized that God had answered the cries of her heart and given her the necklace. She thanked me between tears and told me she would wear it now every day, even if she wore another necklace with it. And she promised to pray for me anytime I needed someone to be praying. That definitely was a nice gift back from her that I had not expected. Prayer is more precious than the necklace to me.
Now, I had NO idea she had wanted a necklace just like this one for years and years. Giving that necklace was actually a gift to ME. You see, I had doubted so many times that some of the things I heard inside my head might be from God or other sources. At least this one HAD to be from our Father in Heaven! I felt it was confirmation that I had heard perfectly in this circumstance and had obeyed well. That felt like the best gift in the world! And this woman felt the same way toward God by receiving something she really wanted for so long. God was magnified, thanked, and praised by both of us!
Do you receive gifts well? What makes you receive them well or not receive them well?
The lesson is learning how to receive well
This true story has some important lessons in it. One of those lessons is learning how to receive well. Receiving well is one of the most important lessons that anyone can learn, especially receiving well from God. To bring this lesson out into an even clearer light, I am now going to tell you another important true story, or actually, an email exchange I just had this last week. I have received full permission to share our conversation from this lady:
I have read some of the messages on your site and get emails from your site. I want to keep learning. How does a person get saved and go to Heaven? Thank you for all you share. Please keep sharing. You are appreciated.
Selena
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My response:
Hi Selena,
Based on your email address, I am surprised at your question of being saved to go to heaven. It seems you love God based on that address. I can help answer your question better if you could share with me what you know and what you are not clear on that you are not saved, or you are saved.
Thank you for writing, and I look forward to hearing from you again.
Blessings,
Katrina
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Katrina,
I do love the Lord, but I want to love Him more. I do believe Jesus is God the Son. I believe He came in the flesh, died on the cross for our sins, and that He rose again. I believe He is with God the Father. I believe in God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Because of health issues including breathing issues I cannot be baptized. I don't get out much because this disability and health issues. I never really have had peace. I ask the Lord to increase my faith. I talk to the Lord every day throughout the day. I talk to Him about everything. I ask Him to help me when I'm sick or scared. I ask Him to forgive me when I know I have done wrong. There are some things I want to stop doing. I have even asked Him to help me with a title for a story I'm about to complete and publish. I talk to the Lord all the time but I'm not good at understanding what He is telling me. I want to follow the Lord and live for Him.
Blessing,
Selena
Second note was received the same day-
I grew up Jewish but we didn't really celebrate things. I don't remember when I started believing in Jesus. Someone online told me about Him and I just believed. I'm the only one in my family that believes in Jesus.
Selena
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Note to you, the reader of this post, I have received messages like this for years and years and had conversations similar to this. Not always, but usually, I find the culprit of why a person is not able to receive what God has already given them.
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Hi Selena,
I have read all of your emails here and possibly see a thread of what might be hindering you. The way you write sounds like maybe you don’t believe that your belief in Christ and His sacrifice is enough for you to really believe that God has already forgiven you. And since somehow it might be that you believe you are not worthy that this belief alone is making you not take what is already given. You will know that you have taken the free gift of redemption FULLY IF you forgive yourself. You see- if you do not forgive yourself then you are saying that you reject the gift. The gift of The Blood was given to set you free! The only thing stopping you from feeling this and seeing this is you.
Let me give you an example. Let’s say I am holding a gift for you in my hands. Now let’s say I am holding my hand out to give it to you. If you decide to go into fear that you are unworthy and you don’t deserve the gift then you either won’t take it from my hand or you will take it AND take guilt into your hand with it. Can you truly FEEL free when you take a gift with guilt?
If you don’t take the gift, then you have rejected part of my heart that wanted to give you the gift. It was not given to prove you are worthy. It was given just because I love you. Worthiness had nothing to do with my gift-giving.
If you take my gift but feel guilty as well, then you don’t WHOLEHEARTEDLY receive the gift. How could you? Because the guilt that goes with a gift does not feel good! It taints the whole experience of receiving the gift. In order for you to truly fully receive that gift from me from your whole heart, you need to see that I love you so much that I want you to hold a piece of my heart, or hold a remembrance of my love, through the gift I have given. I want you to receive MY LOVE in the gift not decide to take on guilt. I want you to be happy and free to give and receive love. You can only do that IF you receive the gift-giver’s heart of love AND you have a full open heart that will accept that the gift just means you are being loved. THAT is the freedom God is trying to extend to you!
Forgiveness is the Key
The only way I have found a way to receive fully is by forgiving myself and forgiving all others as God forgives it all so that I can keep an open heart to receive and rejoice. Rejoicing is one indication that you have received it properly.
So how does one do that on a practical level in everyday living?
Here are some steps to consider:
Go ahead and ask for forgiveness and help for where you are falling down on loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. But don’t stay at this step. Go to the next step…
Tell God that you accept His gift of The Blood and stripes of His Son that says you are forgiven, set free, healed in all ways and on all levels, redeemed, and now in His peace!
Now say, “I agree with You, Lord, and change my mind about myself. I change my mind to think as You think and put down my own thinking. You think I am forgiven so therefore, I forgive myself and all others.” If you like to say out loud what you have been forgiven for and what you forgive yourself for, go ahead!
Make sure to forgive anyone else you were holding bad feelings towards. Plead The Blood for them too! This is the strongest act of the love of God going through you! Pleading The Blood for others is the heart of God! It will cleanse you and bring a flowing of the love of God to you and to others.
By the way, even if you have residual feelings left that seem to not move about your guilt or other people’s guilt, don’t worry, the more you do what I am sharing here over and over, these feelings will clear out as you go along. Just make up your mind that you mean it, and things will start to shift emotionally.
Praise God and Thank Him for the gifts! When someone gives you a gift, they can tell you receive it and love the gift and its giver if you are excited and say thank you! God loves a cheerful giver AND receiver!
Do these words help you? Would you mind if I use your emails and my responses in a blog post to help others? There are soooo many people struggling with this same issue!
I have a website that gives tools like the one I just gave you to get breakthroughs in your walk with God. I truly suggest going to www.OwnedByLove.com and signing up for the free newsletters. You will receive a free ebook I wrote called From Fear To Faith. I wrote it to help with situations like those you are describing. I want you and the world to know how to take the freedom that is already yours!
Let me know how you are doing!
Your Sister in The Lord,
Katrina
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Katrina,
Thank you for responding. What you said was very helpful. I never realized I didn't forgive myself. Certain sites and people made it sound like there was more. I did steps 1 through 5. I may have to do step 4 more than once. I want to forgive and try to forgive even though some have done some harmful things. I clicked on that site and signed up for the newsletter. Thank you.
You can use my emails and your responses. If it will help someone else I am glad.
Your Sister in The Lord.
Selena
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How about you? Are you a good receiver of God’s gifts to you?
May the tools in this post set you free to enjoy receiving from The Best Gift Giver Ever!
Katrina Loves
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