The Bible is very clear that it is not what you start that makes the difference; it’s what you finish. Jesus taught parables about people who started poorly, but later stepped up to finish the way God intended. Throughout the Bible there are warnings against the tendency to grow weary and give up before we receive.

In the parable of the sheep and the goats, the sheep were those who had favor with God. The left was considered the good side. This parable indicates they did not depend on luck. They were not necessarily those who had it all working (Matt 25:33). But there are other subtle messages tucked into the original language. The word for “right,” as in right hand, is actually a word that means to receive. Those who obtain favor from God are the ones who received. They trusted God for that which superceded the natural laws. But they also took possession; they walked it out until the end!

Receiving is not a reward that we get because we endured hardship. Receiving is the fruit of accepting and realizing the promise of God. The quality of life God has promised only brings value to us if we receive it. God’s goodness is only released when we receive. The world doesn’t see God’s loving kindness until we receive. God wants you to receive your miracle. In fact, He wants it worse than you want it! The entire world awaits the children of God to stand up and manifest who God really is, by living in His promises!

Since the promises are the inheritance that Jesus lived and died to give us, He is not glorified in our inability to receive. He is only glorified when we receive. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He takes no pleasure in His children reaping the corrupt fruit of a failed life. He takes pleasure in those who look to Jesus and boldly declare Him as their righteousness, their qualification, and their source of life!

No matter how many times you fall, it is the will of God that you get up, reconnect to Jesus, and reclaim your promise (1 John 1:7-9). The righteous man falls seven times and gets up again (Prov 25:16). The proof of being righteous is revealed in the man who can’t stay down, just as much as it is in the man who does not fall.

As simple as this may sound, there are only two major parts in the process of receiving, starting and finishing! It is essential that you understand the process so you do not grow weary and give up. Many people disqualify themselves from the promises. They erroneously think the journey from starting to finishing is some type of test, and the promise does not become theirs until they finish. The message of faith says, “The promise is mine today. Jesus makes it mine. My faith is proof that I own it!” Understanding the journey gives rise to patience. And as the writer of Hebrews points out… through faith and patience inherit the promises (Heb 6:12, NKJV).

The journey to your miracle starts with inspiration. The Greek word for inspiration literally means, “in Spirit.” It was recognized that the immaterial motivation, the unseen hand, the spark to a greater quality of life was the breath of the Spirit of God, breathed into the mind of mankind! The spark that lights in your soul, no matter how briefly, the thought that floats through your mind that says, “healing is yours,” or, “You can succeed,” or, “There is a way through this,” is the inspiration of God! God is a God of hope. His voice always inspires hope!

The parable of the sower and the seed, addresses the various things that occur after inspiration. Because we understand the mind, it is easy to grasp the technical aspect of what Jesus explained in the conceptual terminology of parables.

Eighty-eight percent of the mind’s function is subconscious. Only twelve percent is conscious. When a thought or inspiration comes to the mind, the majority of what will move us forward or stop us in our tracks occurs at an other than conscious level. This means that in every situation, we are acting primarily on the beliefs of the heart.

There is a function of the mind called the critical consciousness. This  is  where  thoughts and inspirations go for evaluation before we consciously have time to think. This part of the mind is some combination of conscious mind and heart. It takes our thoughts and ideas, and compares them to all of our past experiences to determine if we will discard or act on them.

This is actually when we determine if the inspiration is believable. If the idea looks like a place where we have experienced pain or failure the mind rejects it. If, compared to our past failures it seems like too much of a reach, we reject it! Interestingly, if it is an unknown, something we have never done, it is viewed as pain and will be rejected, because our basic makeup is designed to avoid pain and pursue pleasure.

The question then begs to be asked, “How do we ever break out of our life patterns to rise above our past?” Simple, we have about twelve hours after receiving a new thought, to write it on our heart or lose it. If we don’t do something with the inspiration from God in that period of time, the answer to our prayer may float right out of our consciousness with no real awareness that God was speaking!

In Mark 4: 24-25 Jesus encouraged us to develop what we hear, by thought, consideration, and meditation. It is through these tools that we break free of the limits of our mind. This is the difference between the spiritual mind and the carnal mind. The carnal mind evaluates every promise based on our ability, as determined by past experiences. The spiritual mind persuades itself to embrace God’s perspective.

Mark 4: 25 explains that a failure to renew our minds and write the truth on our heart results in getting more of what we’ve had! Changing the way we think and believe is the only way to avoid repeating the past!

We must treat inspiration as more precious than gold. That brief second of believing “we can,” is the voice of God attempting to lead us out of the old and into the new! If we let it slip, we lose that opportunity and fall back into our old way of thinking and living.

Because we fail to understand the law of cultivation, we think God has failed us. We think that “spark of inspiration” was the miracle. No, it is the door to the miracle. It is up to us to walk through the door.

I do not know the accuracy of the following statement, nor can I verify the different people I have heard make this statement. However, I think it must be said: Many of the people who have healing ministries have stated that the majority, over 90% of the people who are healed in their meetings do not maintain their healing.

The unbelieving critic would use this as evidence to say healing was not real, others would attack the character of the minister.  The carnal believer would develop mystical concepts about healing or fighting the devil. The intellectual mystic would write a book on the secrets to keeping your healing. And the legalist would tell you all the reasons you lost your healing through disqualification.

The truth is, all too often the recipient fails to understand the difference between the inspiration and the manifestation. They didn’t understand the journey. Most people have limited their definition of the miraculous as an instantaneous event that forever changes their circumstance. However, miracles are simply the application of higher laws. The results are sometimes instant but more times than not it is a process. The key to your miracle, whether instantaneous or through a process, is to be able to walk it out, from inspiration to completion, from start to finish!

There are nine Greek words for “sin.” The most commonly used word means, “to miss the mark.” Instead of viewing sin as that thing which offends God, and causes us to miss the mark of His approval, we must accept a more New Covenant concept. Sin is that which interrupts our journey from starting to finishing! Sin is that thing that causes us to miss the mark of the abundant life and the promises of God!

One of the nine Greek words for sin means, “to hear amiss.” When we change the qualification for God’s promise to anything other than the finished work of Jesus we have heard incorrectly. When we make the promise hard or difficult we have heard amiss. Hearing amiss occurs when we receive inspiration, but in the process of finishing let it slip from us!

God is always speaking… and He is always speaking hope. He is always trying to lead us to his promises. But like the person in the parable, we often lose that moment of inspiration before we benefit.

The word devil means accuser or slanderer. Rather than focusing on the person of the devil, we need to focus on the devilish process of slander and accusation. Any thought that steals your inspiration by means of slander, accusation or personal attack should be viewed as wicked as if the devil himself were talking to you. After all, all thoughts of disqualification were introduced into the world by him, the father of all lies.

Any thought that would steal the inspiration that God’s promise is yours, is tantamount to the devil eating the seeds before they ever intermingle with your heart. (Mark 4:14-16). This is the person who hears and lets go of the promise without taking one step to write it on their heart. Their sense of self is so low; they can’t even entertain the possibility of the promise.

I want to share some insight for starting and finishing, so you can finish the journey to your miracle! When inspiration comes, respond. When a thought of hope comes,begin to entertain it. If you are in church, at work, driving, or doing something you do not want to stop, take a moment and write it. By writing it, you influence your mind. As soon as you get to a place where you can; read it, ponder it, meditate on it. Do anything you can to make hope come alive.

When possible it is best to stop what you are doing & consider the inspiration. Lose yourself in thought and imagination. See it being real, experience the emotion of it being real. Do anything you can to take ownership. Faith is the substance that is the proof of ownership. Until it feels like it is yours, it isn’t. At this stage it is merely an intangible possibility.

We know the world we see was created in the mind of God from that which is invisible. We know that we too can turn the invisible into the visible as we hold it in our mind and experience it as reality.

When we receive inspiration, we have about twelve hours to “use it or lose it.” Immediately, every creative thought passes through the Critical consciousness and is compared to our sense of self to determine its plausibility. It could be lost in a second or in a matter of hours, but one thing for sure, if it is not being incorporated into our sense of being within 12 hours, it’s lost.

Thank God we know how to write the truth on our heart. Just as lust must be conceived to become sin, desire must be conceived to become a miracle. Conception takes place when we use our god-like capacities to create a new sense of reality and ownership. Faith is the substance, the material proof of things one confidently expects, and the evidence of those things although they are as of yet unseen (Heb 11:1).

Nothing can take shape until there is clear thought. Create as clear of a mental picture of your miracle as you can. See yourself living the promise. See yourself well, active, and playing with your kids. If you have been told you are going to die, see yourself watching your children graduate. See yourself playing with your grandchildren. See the end that you desire, and enjoy!

Don’t try to figure out the process of how it’s going to happen. Don’t preconceive any part of the process. Just see the end! The process will emerge. Too often we decide a process and when it doesn’t happen that way, we resist God’s process.

The remainder of the parable of the sower and the seed has to do with obstacles that arise. The obstacles are never from God. The Apostle James warns us, Let no man say when he is tempted, tried or scrutinized that is it from God (James 1:13). The moment you begin to wonder if your trial is from God you will begin to lose footing. You will slip into religious legalism and depart from the realm of faith. You will stop being a sheep and become a goat. You move from the right hand to the left.

This part of the process is where desire rules our results! We all desire the same things. Jesus said we should pray and expect to receive the things we desire. He said that God knows we need these things and as long as God is first He can give us these things without us having to stop our life to pursue them (Matt 6:33).

We have the idea that having desire is somehow wrong. Jesus said that God wants to give us our desires. If we don’t believe that God wants to fulfill our desires, we will seek them in a destructive manner. He said we must be committed to receiving them in the way of righteousness, the way that will not destroy others or us. When we pursue them in this manner God can add them to our lives.

Jesus said it like this, Therefore  I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours (Mark 11:24, NIV). Desire is a sufficient starting place. Desire however, can lead to feelings of lack, which always take us to destructive manipulative behavior. Or desire can take us to feelings of completeness. We feel safe and complete when we know that all things are ours freely in Him. Completeness is the product of knowing and feeling the love of God!

Desire will always give birth to temptation or faith. The degree of desire we have will determine what we will go through to receive something. Keeping desire alive makes all obstacles seem meaningless. Desire makes time stand still. Desire is the miraculous calling for faith!

Desire stays alive through the process of incubation. Conception is when we use the tools of thought, meditation, confession and worship to make something become real and believable. Incubation is when we use those same tools to keep desire and positive anticipation strong!

When inspiration comes, incubate it. Through every day of the journey keep desire strong.

As the end you desire becomes more real than anything else you will experience it in this tangible realm.