God yearns for His people to be blessed. He longs to pour out His power on them. He desires to see them healed and prosperous and miraculously victorious in every area of life.

That's what He wanted for the nation of Israel thousands of years ago. He told them if they would obey His voice and keep His commandments, He would set them on high above all the nations of the earth and bless them in every way (Deut. 28). God told the Israelites that as long as they obeyed what He said, no enemy could stand before them.

Yearning to Bless You
"The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works" (Ps. 145:8-9).

God is gracious. He is disposed to show favors. It's just His nature to bless people.

My granddad was that way. He just loved to do good things for his grandchildren. If we wanted money, he would give us some. He taught us how to drive...then let us take his pickup to town. He just did whatever we wanted to do. We loved it.

If you don't already think of God in that light - start! That's how He is!

He is also "full of compassion." The word "compassion" is not just a passive word like pity. It's an active word. It is a force that stirs one to action. One definition of compassion is eager yearning.

Isn't that wonderful? God is eagerly yearning to do you good! In fact, the Bible says that God spends all of His moments looking for someone to bless. He is not satisfied unless He can do someone good.

The devil has tried to convince most of us that God's desire to do good doesn't include us. He's tried to tell us God is so mad at us for the things we've done wrong that we could never expect Him to bless us.

But that's a lie! The Word says God is "slow to anger." (Believe me, if God was quick tempered, none of us would be here!) He is good to all. What does all mean? It means everybody - you, me and anyone else who has ever taken a breath on this earth. God's tender mercies are over all His works!

Open the Door
"Great! But where is it?" you ask. "How can I get God's mercy and grace flowing in my life?"

Give Him an opening!

You see, God isn't like the devil. He won't force His way into your life. Some people say, for instance, "Well, we just don't believe in that healing stuff at our church." I can assure you, those people don't need to worry. They won't ever be bothered with it. God won't come in and make them get healed. That's not His way.

He waits for you to open the door to Him. How do you open that door? You'll find a clue in Romans 5:2. It says, "...we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand..." Faith gives us access into His wonderful grace.

That's what happened to me the day I was born again. I read Matthew 6:26 and faith came into my heart. I didn't know anything about the new birth, yet when I told God if He could do anything with my life He could have it, I opened the door just a crack and God's mercy flooded into my heart and changed it forever.

God works the same way in every other area of life. When we believe Him and begin to speak in faith about His blessings, we gain access to them.

Most people don't understand that, so they're puzzled about things they see. They'll say, "If healing is for us, why did sweet Sister So-and-So die with cancer?"

Faith Opens the Door
You don't get healed because you're sweet! You get healed because you've opened the door to the grace of healing by faith. Faith opens that door! From the new birth to healing to prosperity - it's faith that gives you access to every aspect of God's grace. You can't get around that principle. It's just the way God works.

When people came to Jesus and asked, "... What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent" (John 6:28-29).

All through the Old Testament, every mighty exploit that was done, every time the mercy of God flooded into a situation, every time a miracle was performed, somebody had to have faith. Someone had to believe God enough to act on His Word and open the door.

The same thing is true today. However wide you open that door of faith is how much of God's mercy and goodness will flow into your life. He'll fill up every inch you'll give Him. I'm telling you, He's ready. He is eagerly yearning to bless you. So don't think you're just waiting on God. God is waiting on you.

Excerpt permission granted by
Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc.
aka:  Kenneth Copeland Ministries