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 that 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" (John 8:36).
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.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers