Promises

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We all lean on promises.  They fuel our hope.  Without the promises we embrace, we would be lost, void of hope and aimlessly wandering.

Consider the promise of a raise or promotion at work or the promise of a potential marriage.  These give encouragement, a path to a vision, a provider of hope.

Without promises, we would have no encouragement or anchor to give assurance of our path. 

Consider this promise of God:   “Never will I desert you, nor will I ever forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).  Who among us would consider this not a fundamental but critical promise in our lives?

Of course, the legitimacy of the promise is dependent on the integrity of the promise maker.  We lose hope if the promise we are depending does not come to fruition.   And consequently, lose trust in the one making the promise.

Consider:  “The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29) and:

“For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself” (Hebrews 6:13).

Some of His promises, like the one to Abraham (Genesis 12) are non-conditional, meaning God promises without requirement or expectation.

Others are conditional, meaning receiving the promise is dependent upon our obedience to a specific command, usually identified with the promise.

Others are to the nation of Israel, others to His church or His individual believers.  Some are to be realized in the temporal, others not until eternity.  In any event, the purposes of the promises are to provide hope, to increase our faith and develop godliness. 

“For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust” (2 Peter 1:4).

To claim a promise from God, it is critical to sort out the intended audience and the attached condition.  We can often be guilty of claiming the promise and ignoring the condition.  We cannot expect God to honor such short-sighted lawlessness.  His promises are in place in order to spur us to fulfill the command!

He is working in us to prepare us for eternity and to avoid stumbling beforehand. 

“Therefore brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you” (2 Peter 1:10-11).

Take some time and meditate on what of God’s promises you are depending?  If you can’t identify specific promises, there are hundreds, if not more.

Try these few:

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

“But many who are first will be last and the last, first” (Matthew 19:30).

“As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning.  If what you heard from the beginning abides in you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.  This is the promise which He himself made to us:  eternal life” (1 John 2:24-25).

“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Record them and the attached condition and start to incorporate them in your life.  Upon the implementation of the condition, record your action and God’s response. 

It is sure to build your hope.

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