According to the standard of God, receiving from Him is not a big deal but maintaining what you received is. For as long as you are in His presence and doing what you are supposed (obey His word) then, receiving your blessing, healing, deliverance and the salvation of your souls is not a big deal.
Sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame and the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well? “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me. ”Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. [John 5:1-7]
The scripture teaches us about the invalid man who had stayed at the pool of Bethesda for thirty eight years yet he hadn’t been healed of his sickness. Upon encountering Jesus, he showed Him his genuine willingness and faith hence he was healed instantaneously; he picked up his mat instantly and began to walk. In this case, the long procedure of stirring the water so as to bring about healing was reduced to a Word by Jesus Christ. This is a clear sign that receiving from God is not a big deal. However, when many come to God they are only mindful of receiving and neglect the most important aspect which is, maintenance. Remember the words of Jesus in the book of John 15:7, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.”
This scripture clearly indicates that receiving from God is not a big deal but maintenance is. That is, when we receive from God it all happens in instant but the maintenance of that which you have received is but for a lifetime. For instance, you may receive blessing, prosperity, healing and deliverance in an instant but it is your responsibility to maintain it till the end of time because if not, you will lose that blessing and return to poverty, lack and sickness. God blesses you not for a moment but that you may live with that blessing forever. Therefore you must change your mentality as of now forward, when you are thinking about God stop being concerned more about receiving and put more focus on maintenance. But remember, it will not take human strength or wisdom to maintain that blessing because what is received from God can only be maintained through Him and nothing else. Remember what Jesus said to the invalid when He met him at the temple, “… “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you… [John 5:14] In this case, Jesus was not more interested in the fact that the man had been healed but His main concern was the maintenance of the good health he had received. He cautioned him to be careful of how he would live his life because if not he was likely lose the good health he had received from God. This was a sure sign that, what is born of God can only be maintained through Him. That is, if by any means you deviate from God and His word then, you are more likely to lose that which you received from Him. It’s like fish and water – when you take fish out of water it dies; its existence depends entirely on the sufficiency of the water. In the same way, your marriage, healing, breakthrough, deliverance or the salvation of your soul that you received from God can only be maintained through Him. Once you eliminate God and His word from your life then you will fail to maintain that which you received; without God, whatever you received from Him will cease to exist. Therefore, as a Christian you are being called to be mindful of maintenance because receiving from God is not a big deal!
