Getting in Position to Receive

The message in this book came to me in what some people might consider an unorthodox way for the Lord to give someone a sermon—while I was watching playoffs for the Super Bowl! But I figure if He could use a donkey to get a message to an Old Testament prophet, He can use a pigskin to get a message to a 20th century preacher without any problem at all.

As I was watching the playoffs, I saw one of the teams' tight ends go out to get a pass, and I saw him run a pattern and work real hard to get in position. I began to think about all the effort it took for that one individual to get that touchdown pass. I began to think of all the elements that went into catching that pass, and I wrote down seven things that, to me, seemed to be involved in making that play

1)    The guy had to get on the team;

2)    develop the athletic skills and ability to be able to play the position of tight end;

3)    get in position to receive that pass on that particular field in that particular game;

4)    go far enough to win, or put forth that extra energy, or be willing to pay the price;

5)    shake everything else on the field off and get free to move;

6)    look at the play coming at him face to face; and

7)    find the one special place for him to be.

And I thought of an incident in the Bible that involved someone's using those seven points to get something from the Lord. An incident in the ministry of Jesus came to my mind. In the second chapter of Mark, we see a picture of an individual who has four friends who want the best for him, who want his life to be better, and who will go to great lengths to accomplish that and see it come to pass.

And again he entered into Capernaum, after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.

And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.

And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.

And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

Mark 2:1-5

I think that so much of the time, as individuals, we have a tendency to not really go after the things we really need from God, much less the things we just desire. Most of us will not put forth the effort to get into position where we can receive from God.

That man's friends had such a love for him and were willing to go as far as necessary to get him to the healing virtue of the Lord that they could not be stopped. They operated as a team, and they had to be mature and skilled because of what they did. They went into action. First they tried the door, but could not get inside. They did not stop there as some people would have. They were determined to go far enough to get the end result.

They were willing to pay the price of climbing on top of the roof, breaking up the roof—which probably was tile — and lifting their friend up there and then letting him down to Jesus. They could have gotten into trouble for breaking up the roof, and I am sure they probably had to go back and repair it. But they were willing to run the risk so their friend could have the blessings and the benefit.

We have a friend that sticketh closer than a brother (Prov. 18:24) also. Jesus paid the price and was determined to make it all the way to gain back what Satan had stolen—the earth and its inhabitants. Jesus raised us up to sit in heavenly places, just as those men raised up their friend. Jesus gave us a new position — to rule and reign with Him. Their job was to get the man with the palsy into position to let him down through the roof.

When they let him down, I believe he came face to face with Jesus and was in a position to receive healing. The goal of those men required great effort to achieve; it required diligence and determination. If you want the blessings of God, all that He intends for you to have, you will need to exercise all of the elements those men did. You have to get on the team, mature and develop your skills, get in the action and go far enough to get in position. Then you have to get free of entanglements to win.

Getting on the Team

The reason a lot of people have never gotten anything from God is that they have never really gotten on the team. When you come into the family of God, when you get to the place where Jesus is Lord of your life, there are certain rights and privileges that you will have simply by being "on the team," by being in the family of God. There always are certain rewards in life for just being part of the family.

My children have certain rights and privileges simply by being born in my household, although there will be other things that they will attain and gain for themselves in life. They have the right to receive food, to be protected, to be clothed, and to receive all those other regular benefits. Then there are other things that they want which are extra, things they are going to have to do whatever it takes to obtain.

There are going to be certain blessings from the Father that you are not going to get unless you are in direct harmony and fellowship with Him.

When my youngest daughter was preparing her final arrangements for her wedding, she and I were out shopping. We decided to go to this "sinful" store called Swensen's Ice Cream. We both had chocolate malts, and it was a delightful and refreshing time. My son was not with us, and we did not think to take any ice cream home. We finished our malts and did not want to leave trash in the car. As we entered the house with our empty cups and no treat for him, my son had a strange look on his face. He seemed to be thinking, "I have rights. I am your child. Don't you love me too?"

This is the attitude of many believers when they see someone else receive blessings. They may think that God loves one person more than another. This cannot be so, because the Bible says God is not a respecter of persons. (Acts 10:34.) If I asked almost any parents right now, "Which one of your children do you love the most?" immediately they would respond, "I love all my children." That is the right answer. If I asked them which one of their children brings them the most joy, they would respond that it is the one who is obedient and who fellowships with them the most.

I thought of how to reply to my son's look, and the only thing I could say was, "You were not with us when we bought the malts. It is not a matter of love; it is a matter of fellowship and of being there at the right time."

Until you are at the place of fellowship, until you are right there in His presence, you are not going to receive certain things from the Lord, although you are His child. There are people who would love to see the supernatural power of God in manifestation, but they will not go to a place where it is in operation. They are children of God, they have rights and privileges, but they are not in a position to receive.

Remember the people at the Pool of Bethesda who waited for the angel to stir the water? Whoever was in position to get in the water first got healed. He was the one who got blessed. Time and again, we have wanted the better things of life. We have wanted God to work in our lives, but we have never put ourselves in the position to receive from God.

Those guys who were playing in the Super Bowl got a certain amount of personal income simply because they were on the teams. Some of them, however, did not even play. Some of them never walked out there on the field, but the fact that they were on one of the teams entitled them to certain benefits. The team members who did not play on the field, however, did not get voted "player of the game" nor receive the praise for playing nor have the personal satisfaction of accomplishment. There is a sense of accomplishment in knowing you have done your best, given your all. There is a joy in that.

Mature and Develop Skills

A lot of people want to have all of the benefits of those who go out to actually play, yet they have not taken the time to develop the skills necessary. In traveling around the country and talking to pastors, I see that attitude. Many of them want big churches and church growth. Some of them are willing to pay the price, and some of them are not.

Someone may see a pastor whose church is growing in what seems a phenomenal way and say, "I don't understand how he is doing that. You know, he has only been pastoring a year."

That pastor might answer, "Yes, but I was in the ministry for 14 years before that. I have learned some things about God and about church growth. I have sowed some seed."

There may be others who do not want to do the study in the Word and do not want to invest time working in an already established ministry while waiting for God to move them into place as He sees their skills develop. Then they wonder why their churches do not prosper.

There is a time element involved in maturing and in developing skills, just as sharpening a knife or an axe to a fine edge so that it works better than ordinary axes. Even in rookie athletes, you can see this principle. It takes them a period of time to develop, to cultivate skills, to play in different positions until the time comes when they have matured and developed and are ready for the front-running positions.

A lot of people do not want to take that time to mature, to be considered of good enough quality to replace the quality players ahead of them. A lot of people would like to be another Kenneth Hagin, but they are not willing to pay the price he paid.

You may say, "Well, it is not required of me to pay the same price." But it is required of you to have the same knowledge and spiritual development to get to the same place. Maybe you can do it faster than he did, because of all his knowledge you now have to build on that he did not have in the beginning. Just as with athletes today, there are weight-lifting programs and so forth that build muscles faster and quicker now that was not possible 20 years ago — but you still have to build the muscles. You can't skip any of the steps to getting in the right condition, although some may be able to go through those steps faster than others.

Get in the Action

A lot of people never bother to get in the action. The quarterback can call the signals, and you can stand there at the line and never move. As a Christian, you can do the same thing and never be in a position to receive certain rewards because you don't go. A lot of people are still at the starting line. They have never moved out, never moved one peg, never made any effort whatsoever. They have developed the maturity and the skills, but they are still sitting there. That inactivity will stop them from getting in position. It is vital to have action, to be moving.

A lot of people get in the action, but when the going gets a little rough, they back up or quit. Anything you take on that is a sizable project will bring somebody to take pot shots at you. Many times it will be Christians who do not have sense enough to know they are being used of the devil. They may be coming at you from every direction. But it will not stop you or alter your direction, if you have determined to accomplish the goal God has set before you.

Go All the Way: Pay the Price

Now, if a tight end is going to get a first down or a touchdown, he is going to have to keep on going and is going to have to go far enough. A lot of people go, but I have seen people come up short, not go far enough to get the touchdown. A lot of Christians move forward in the Lord, but they do not go far enough. They are not willing to put forth the extra energy and effort it will take to get the reward.

A football player has to decide, "I am going to get that yardage, if I have to run over three people rather than two."

Well, a Christian has to decide, "I am going to get that prize of the Lord, if I have to run over three demons instead of two."

Don't go part way, go all the way. It takes that sense of trusting God and the reckless abandon in Him that says, "I am going for it whole hog. I am going to get it. I am going to get that touchdown. I am going to do what God has called me to do. I am going to be where He wants me to be, say what He wants me to say."

That is something a lot of preachers never understand. They are not willing to get up in the pulpit and say what needs to be said. They are not willing to pay the price.

There are certain ballplayers over the years that I have really admired. A fellow by the name of Jim Taylor used to play for the Green Bay Packers. I used to love to watch him play. There would be at least three guys on every play who would try to tackle that dude, but he would just keep on going.

A lot of times I think of that type of thing in spiritual warfare. You have to have the tenacity of a bulldog, you have to duck your head and keep on going. Even when it does not look right, when it seems as if you are not going to get anywhere, you have to just keep on going. Don't go part way, go far enough. Do it one step at a time. You do not have to make a touchdown every time, but you do need to make some first downs.

A lot of you think, "Just because I didn't make a touchdown this time, I didn't win." Well, bless God, make a few first downs! Keep stacking up those first downs, and eventually you are going to make the touchdown. Some of you get discouraged and disappointed, "I didn't make it the first time." So what? Make the first down and go on.

When I use to play football, one of the things we used to do in practice when we got physically tired was to play "brother-in-law." That means, one of us would say to another, "I'll hit you real easy, if you will hit me real easy." We would just go through the motions, in other words. We were not really going to work at the game. When it came time to block, we would just kind of lean into the other one. We were not willing at that time to pay the price.

The coach wanted to cure us, so he caught me and another fellow "brother-in-lawing" one day and made us take off our helmets and kiss one another. Yuch! Man that was tough. Besides that, he was ugly! I mean, it was a bad scene anyway you looked at it! We knew that it would take going at the game in a rough way to develop and mature, and yet we didn't do it. Therefore, we placed ourselves in a position to lose simply because we did not do what we knew to do.

The Bible says,

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

James 4:17

If Christians ever understand that God wants to bless us, that it is His desire, then they will do what is necessary to keep going long enough to get in position to receive those blessings and rewards.

I began to want all of the benefits of playing football, so I began to really try, and I attained to some level of success and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Get Free

The next thing I noticed watching the Super Bowl was that when the tight end went out to receive that pass, he had to get free.

I have seen people so bound up in the affairs of life, so bottled up in things rather than being where they ought to be, that they could not get in position to receive from God. I have seen people get tied up with their jobs and never come to church. I have seen people bound up with habits so their faith was blocked to receive from God. I have seen people so hung up on smoking, for example, that it brought such condemnation to them they felt they could not receive the Holy Spirit.

When a football player goes out to receive that pass, he has to shake everything off and get out there in the open. He has to get free.

You ask, "How do we get free?"

Just like the tight end, you have to fight to get free. You have to fight the faith fight. "By faith, I'm free of that; by faith, I will do this, and so forth." If you let your past keep you bound up so that you cannot move forward, you will never get in position to receive. If you think, "Well, I have always been this way, I guess I always will," you will never change.

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Allow the Spirit of God to set you free so that you can move on out and get into a position to receive the blessings that God wants you to have, the ultimate of what He would have you do.

You have to get free, free of all the binding forces that come against you. Habits, the past, fears, doubts: shake them all off and get free of them.

Get Into Position

Then, another thing I noticed, was that when the tight end got free of entanglements, he got into position to receive. Think about Moses for a minute. Think of it from the natural standpoint.

Moses had certain rights and privileges because he was the adopted son of Pharaoh. He was in position for certain rewards, certain benefits, certain blessings in life. No doubt, he was God's man of the hour, the deliverer, a type and shadow of Christ Who was to come.

Physically, he was to lead the Israelites out of bondage just as Jesus leads all who will follow Him out of bondage.

But Moses moved too quick. He got off to the side and out of position. The minute he got out of position, it cost him — and the people he was to lead—forty years. He had to spend forty years on the sidelines. That is a pretty good-sized penalty!

Even though he was penalized, he was still on the team and still God's key player. After the forty years of maturing and developing, God moved him back onto the field. Moses came face to face with the Coach in the burning bush.

Some young Christians get to thinking they can go out and set the world on fire immediately. And, like my grandfather used to say, "A little wild fire is better than no fire at all." I mean, it is awful hard to burn an old, wet blanket. I would rather have people in the church who need to be tamed down and put on the bench for a while now and then than people who are just sitting there, wondering where to go or what to do.

Let the Spirit of God set a fire inside you, then look for that position and start moving toward it. Do whatever it takes to get in position to receive from God.

So what is the right position? Well, when that ballplayer got free of the rest of the players and got into position to receive that pass, he turned to face the ball. He caught some over his shoulder; he caught a few looking back, but he did the best when he faced the quarterback. He was then in a position to solidly receive.

Look at the Play Face to Face

Most people are trying to receive looking back over their shoulders, on the run, rather than in a face-to-face experience with God, You will find that you can hang onto the things of God so much better when you turn face to face, and look at Him, and say, "I want it." Then you can hold your arms out in the open and receive what He wants to give you.

One of the best ways to get into position is to come face to face with Jesus. That experience has a way of dispelling the powers of darkness and putting you into a position to receive like you never have been in before. I can see all through the Word of God where different people paid the price to get into position. Most people get themselves into the wrong position.

There are two ways of looking at something: you can walk out there in the middle of the street, in the traffic, and get yourself in a position to get killed. Spiritually speaking, a lot of Christians have gotten themselves into some stupid position and the devil has taken advantage of it to literally kill them or to kill their Christian growth or testimony. They have not known how to believe God to get themselves out of that position.

When you see you are out of position, you need to turn around.

An old-time Pentecostal preacher put it this way: "One thing about it, you have to get under the spout where the glory comes out." Buckets of blessings are pouring out of Heaven, but you have to get under the bucket to receive any of them. Right? It is not just a matter of whether God is pouring out blessings, it is a matter of whether you are in a position to receive them.

The Spirit of God is being poured out in this land today in a tremendous way, yet there are churches that are dead and dry and do not know what is happening. Why? They are not in a position to receive from God.

Going to a university or a Bible school can put you into position to receive — if that is where God wants you. But then you have to do the other things—mature, develop, do what has to be done to win the prize. It is not enough just to get on the team. Your whole attitude is what tells the tale about whether you make it or not. I have seen a lot of people who did real well in the Lord's work who did not go to a place of formal training!

We need to turn face to face if we are going to receive from God in great confidence and fullness and then hang on to what we have received.

Finding Your Own Position

The last thing involved in this "Super Bowl message" is finding your own position. Find out where God wants you. Preachers or other leaders of the Church cannot dictate to you and try to tell you where your place is — only God can do that. We can tell you to search for it and tell you the steps to go through while you are searching. We can tell you to be determined, to be diligent, but only you and the Lord know your place.

The reason many of you receive blessings is because you made quality decisions to find that place and put yourselves in it, no matter what it took. When you are at the right place at the right time, right things happen. If you think God is not working on some kind of schedule and program, you had better think again! He has an ultimate goal to reach to finish the game, but He wants each one of His people in position. We are team members, and God wants each of us positioned right. I am glad that I have found my place. I am glad that you can find your place.

Many of us are in the Body, but we need to grow into the positions where God wants us. The growing process is a natural, normal thing, if you just let God do it. The Apostle Paul did that. He started out as a teacher; later, he referred to himself as a prophet, and still later as an apostle. He grew and changed positions in the Body.

I began in a helps ministry, then I was a teacher, then a pastor. I have changed positions; but, in each position, I was placed to receive God's blessings because, at that time, I was where He wanted me.

So you have to get on the team, then you have to go and work. You have to accomplish the goal. It takes discipline, it takes skill, it takes development. For the higher blessings, the higher gifts, it takes all these things.

You have much reward just by being in the family, or on the team, of God. It is your rightful inheritance. But if you want the satisfaction of the higher rewards, the crown of the winner, you have to work for it.

You say, "You mean that we are supposed to work, to earn something from God?" Yes, I certainly do, and, no, your work will not get you into Heaven. It might get someone else in, however. The grace of God is what will get me, and you, into Heaven. But my working, being diligent, being faithful, developing my skills, getting in the action, going far enough to win, getting free of entanglements could determine whether somebody else makes it or not. My being in a position to give them the good news could mean the difference between someone receiving Jesus as Lord or going to Hell.

You see, winning the game is not dependent on one person or two persons, it depends on everyone in the Body being willing and obedient to do their part, to move forth and say, "Yes, Lord, you asked me to do that, and I am willing and obedient to do it." It depends on people not saying, "Well, someone else can do that job better than I can."

You do not need to talk yourself out of the plan of God. You need to be in a position to receive. Receive today!

Buddy Harrison is a man walking after love with an apostolic vision for what God is doing today. He moves in the gifts of the Spirit with sensitivity and understanding. He is Founder and President of Faith Christian Fellowship International Church, Inc. and Harrison House, Inc. in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He has authored several books.

As a small boy, Buddy was healed of paralyzing polio. More than 25 years ago he answered the call of God on his life. He is gifted vocally and began his ministry in music and the office of helps. He became Office Manager for Kenneth E. Hagin Ministries and for several years pioneered many areas as Administrator/ Office Manager.

In November, 1977, the Lord instructed Buddy to start a family church, a Bible teaching center and a world outreach in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He has obeyed the Spirit of God whatever the cost. Through his obedience, Faith Christian Fellowship was born with 165 people in January, 1978. Now there are more than 373 FCF churches worldwide.

Buddy and his wife, Pat, are known around the world for their anointed teachings from the Word of God, and for their ability to communicate principles from the Word with a New Testament love. Buddy attributes any success he has to obeying the Spirit of God and living the Word.

While in Israel the Lord spoke to him to serve as Pastor to pastors and ministers. His goal is to aid ministers in the spiritual and in the natural. Ministers around the world have received blessings through Buddy's apostolic ministry since he obeyed the vision given in Israel. Under his direction, FCF has grown to become a lighthouse for other Word and Faith churches. Today over 1,250 ministers are affiliated/ associated or licensed/ordained through FCF.

Are you receiving from God all that you need or desire?

You Can!

In Getting in Position to Receive, Buddy Harrison shares principles that can help you get into a position that will cause the blessings of God to flow abundantly.

Be Determined!

Determine in your own life, as you read this book, that you will do the Word and stick to it until you achieve the end result.

“When you are in the right place at the right time right things happen!”

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