Take What You've Come For

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you..” Matthew 7:7 (NLT)

by Alexandra Copeland

Matthew 9 tells us that the fame of Jesus Christ was at a fever pitch when he returned to Capernaum, which was considered to be his principal place of residence. In Verse 27, we read that two blind men followed him, and begged him to have mercy on them. Matthew 9:28-29 (NLT) says, “28 They went right into the house where he was staying, and Jesus asked them, “Do you believe I can make you see?” “Yes, Lord,” they told him, “we do.” 29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “Because of your faith, it will happen.” 30 Then their eyes were opened, and they could see!” As we read this account, it behooves us to pay very close attention to the question that Jesus Christ asked these two blind men.

Our Lord and Savior asked them if they believed that HE could make them see. This seems a very simple question, but it is very often answers to the simple questions that tell the whole story. The two responded to Jesus Christ by saying “Yes, Lord; we do.”  As we examine this record closely, a person might walk away and miss the fact that we can learn something very consequential from these two blind men. The bible tells us that they followed Jesus Christ, and went so far as to enter the house where he was staying. There can be no doubt that they followed him with an expectation to receive something.

Jesus Christ had surely received divine revelation from God and knew that the faith of these two men was strong, but even so, he demanded a confession of their faith. “Do you believe I can make you see?” He asked. They indeed had the right response, and he touched their eyes and said something absolutely amazing. He told them that because of THEIR faith, their sight would be restored. The requirement of faith is that we believe, and for many of us this has become quite the challenge.

As blessed as the two blind men were to receive their sight that wondrous day, they can’t hold a candle to the blessings that we now share as born-again, spirit-filled, spirit-led believers. We walk in the perpetual light of Christ. He said of himself in John 8:12(NLT), “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” What kind of life is Christ talking about here? In John 10:10 (NKJV), he gives us the answer. He said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

Jesus Christ gives us in John 10:10 the exact reason why he came. He came to this earth so that we, you and I, could have a more than abundant life. Most people would be satisfied with just an abundant life, but our Father deals in the exceedingly abundant. He goes over and above anything we could ever ask or think. When we ponder this a little bit, we have no other choice but to realize that God has made available to us every good thing that we could ever want or need, but here’s something else that we must grapple with; although Jesus Christ made this extraordinary life available to all of us, everyone doesn’t have it.

There must have been hundreds of people within a 10-mile radius of Jesus Christ in Capernaum, and many of them desperately needed to be healed, but all of them did not receive healing that day. These two men had something that many others did not have, and they met Jesus Christ at exactly the right time with it.   

They committed themselves to the power of Jesus Christ that day because they knew he had power to heal. They knew they had a need, and they knew that he was able to do something about it. So when they heard that he was near, they made it their business to position themselves in a place of receiving. When they found him, they took what they came to receive. He offered it freely. One can imagine that they followed behind Jesus Christ begging and stumbling along. Perhaps they even made an annoyance of themselves, but this did not deter their healing that day because they were determined to receive. They had faith in the Lord Jesus, and this is where our faith must be as well.

Jesus Christ dealt with them according their faith. Faith is how we respond to God. We must believe that He is able to heal us, believe that He is able to comfort us and give us peace, and we must believe that He loves us and will never leave us or forsake us. We have a part to play in God’s wonder working power, and it is that we believe.

It is not our power at work; it’s His. He works through us. And a good many of us find ourselves at the short end of the stick because we’ve never allowed God to work through us. We don’t see ourselves as replicas of Jesus Christ, and the reason that we don’t is because we have not taken all that we should from the well of spiritual treasures that he has made available. Love, generosity, patience, kindness, compassion, self-control, perseverance, gratitude; these are all rich and yummy goodies that are freely available to us in the spirit. We can take them, put them on, and wear them like a second skin, but so many of us don’t do this.

The same faith that it took to accept Jesus Christ as Lord, is the same faith that it takes to walk in the newness of life. The person we used to be before we became born again—that person is dead. Romans 6:4 (NKJV) says, “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” This is not a fantasy; this is our reality as believers. We need to stop working on that old buried body, trying to make it come back alive. It’s not going to. So we might as well settle into our new Kingdom digs, and enjoy all the bells and whistles of the new creation that we’ve become in Christ. Indulge yourself in the things of the spirit, this is the way to increase your faith.

Jesus Christ wants to work through your faith, and he is insisting that you take what you need from him. Take it by faith. Take the love; take the joy; take the patience; take the peace. If we’re not taking what is so freely given, then how will we learn to take the big stuff that we need. Listen, God never intended that walking by faith should be difficult. Trusting the Creator of the Universe shouldn’t be hard at all. Everything that is made was made by Him. He knows all, is everywhere present, and is all powerful. This is the God we honor and reverence, and He requires that we take Him at His Word. It’s a total surrender to God, trusting Him every step of the way.

One can imagine that these two blind men had suffered much affliction being without sight during this earlier biblical period. Times were hard for them and many others. They couldn’t have dreamed of the luxuries we enjoy today. If anyone had reason not to hope for the best, they certainly could have been in that number, but they dared to trust in the Lord to open their eyes. Pray that he opens yours. Pray that you will see his divine nature, and know that it is your nature as well, because Christ lives in you. He wants so much for you to live a more than abundant life, and if you’ll rise up in your believing and trust him, an abundant life will be yours for the taking.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.