Tag Archives: God’s promises

GOD’S PROMISES

Christian Life, ,

‭2 Corinthians 1:20 NLT‬
[20]”For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.”

God’s promises are a declaration of intent. He tells us, in His promises, what He is going to do, and what He wants to do for us, often with the conditions that He wants us to fulfil before He plays His part.

The conditions He sets out for us to do reaffirm our connection with Him and our commitment to obey Him. He guarantees His promises by what Jesus did for us on the cross. Jesus ratified everything the Father has pledged to us by removing all barriers to our connection with Him.

‭2 Corinthians 1:18-19 NIV‬
[18] “But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” [19] For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.”

One of God’s all-encompassing promises is found in Proverbs 3:5-6.

‭‭Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT‬
[5]”Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. [6] Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

I recently experienced the amazing way in which God straightened my path in a series of incidents that happened with perfect timing and God’s guiding and intervention.

My son periodically visits me for a few days from his home city. He was able to take leave with public holidays in between, for a total of three weeks, so he chose to fly down for a six-day’ visit to me in my home city.

A few days before he came, I had a frightening incident with my gas cooker. I am forced to cook on gas because of our frequent spells of electricity cuts so, on this occasion, I was boiling water in my kettle on the gas stove.

While I was working at my sink, my little dog alerted me with furious barking, to a stream of fire burning under the cooker top. Fortunately, the fire burned against the gas tank frame and not directly onto the newspaper which protected the wall from splashing fat. I had not replaced the washer in the cooker top correctly, letting gas leak out of the side of the washer. That was a warning to me that all was not well with my cooking arrangement.

One morning, when my son was replacing the lining under my recliner, again a flame suddenly burned out of the side of the screw regulating the flow of gas. On inspection, he found that the fitting was worn and needed replacement.

I was forced to use my electric stove (which I avoid because of the high cost of electricity) while my gas tank was out of use.

During a family conversation the next day, two of my sons decided that I needed a much safer setup.

My visiting son took it upon himself, at his own expense, to provide and install a two-plate, fail-safe, gas hob with a built-in gas tank, supplied by my resident son, which did away with the ungainly outfit I was using.

God’s timing was perfect. Had the gas tank played up after my son’s visit, I would not have been blessed with the perfect setup I have now.

One of my son’s functions on a previous visit was to install a new handle and cable for raising and lowering the leg-rest on my recliner. We discovered, when we turned the recliner over, that the entire lining underneath the chair, made of black material, was rotting and disintegrating.

So, replacing the lining was his project for this year’s visit. We discussed the type and quantity of material we needed and decided on a plan of action. On our way to the car, we met up with my landlady in the garden. She mentioned a material shop nearby where we could get material and batting to do the job.

We bought what we thought we would need at that shop and, to our astonishment, my son completed the job with not even a thread left over, at the cost of R70. Another perfect mission accomplished!

The third incident in this trio of God’s “straight path” was completely unexpected. My son brought a packet of dried sausage with him which he put in my refrigerator. Every time I opened the fridge, I smelt bad meat which I blamed on the dried sausage!

On the day he left, he was straightening the cloth on top of the fridge on which I store my longlife milk. He reached to the back of the fridge and encountered a plastic packet of putrefging steak! How it got there I have no idea. However, he finally found the source of the bad smell (and the hoards of flies that kept invading my home)!

Somehow, these three incidents were entwined and, through them, the Father showed me again just how perfectly He can make our paths straight.

So, God’s promises are indeed precious because, through them we, God and I, stay in contact. God is glorified and my needs are met when I acknowledge Him in all my ways and speak a heartfelt “amen” to what He has promised.

And He gets the glory, which is what He desires, all along!

LIFE LESSONS FROM ABRAHAM – 3 Concluded

Christian Life, ,

Abraham’s third great lesson, and one that equally applies to all God’s children, is the utter reliability of God’s promises. Once again, this lesson is intimately related to faith in the integrity of God’s character. When God is determined to bless, He is not hindered by human failure. He bases all His dealings with humans on what He has promised to do.

‭Numbers‬ ‭23:19‭-‬20‬ ‭NLT‬
[19] “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? [20] Listen, I received a command to bless; God has blessed, and I cannot reverse it!”

So said Balaam when Balak, king of Moab, called him to curse the Israelites.

God began His dealings with fallen Adam by giving Him a promise, the first recorded promise in human history.

‭Genesis‬ ‭3:15‬ ‭NLT‬
[15] “And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Although it took millennia for God to fulfill that promise, all He did in and throughout the history of His chosen people was in preparation for that momentous event.

So it was with Abraham. Decades passed between the first utterance of God’s promises and the beginning of its fulfilment in the miraculous birth of Isaac. God was honing Abraham’s faith through trial and error so that he would trust God’s faithfulness and His power to deliver on his promise.

I once heard this profound statement which has steadied me through many seasons of doubt and discouragement…

“God will not answer your prayers until He has put all the structures in place to maintain that answer.”

What wisdom!

Regardless of the timespan humans live in, God will do what He is committed to do in His time, because He is painting on a bigger canvas that we can see, and His Word is a manifestation of Himself in another form.
Jesus is the ultimate assurance of the reliability of His promises. He became God’s Word in human form.

‭John‬ ‭1:14‬ ‭NLT‬
[14] So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.”

When Jesus spoke, His words were the incarnation of everything God had ever said. He became the guarantor and His words the guarantee of every promise God has ever uttered. So He could affirm to the devil himself,

‭Matthew‬ ‭4:3‭-‬4‬ ‭NLT‬
[3]”During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” [4] But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭1:19‭-‬20‬ ‭NLT‬
[19] “For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” He is the one whom Silas, Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God’s ultimate “Yes,” he always does what he says. [20] For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.”

The assurance of Jesus’ authority and power to deliver on God’s promises has two major results for God’s people.

  1. Prayer becomes, in the New Covenant, not, “Please do… ” but “Thank you that you have done…” because prayer is the “amen” we speak to God’s promises already fulfilled in Christ.
  2. God’s promises are all directed towards one purpose.

‭2 Peter‬ ‭1:3‭-‬4‬ ‭NLT‬
[3] “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. [4] And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”

God’s goal, in all His dealings with us, is to restore the likeness of Jesus in us. So, He is working towards that goal in everything we experience in life.

‭Romans‬ ‭8:28‭-‬29‬ ‭NLT‬
[28]”And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. [29] For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

How then, do we appropriate God’s promises to fulfill His purpose? We have the example and pattern in the lives of God’s ancient people.

‭Hebrews‬ ‭6:12‬ ‭NIV‬
[12]” We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”

So, Abraham’s faith, and the faith of all who follow in his footsteps, comes full circle. Promises… faith… fulfilment… greater faith…intimacy with God… indestructible faith.

Here is a final, practical note that helps us to handle our difficult situations, big or small, so that we stay in line with God’s greater purposes.

A while back, while I was reading the story of Paul and the great storm he was in on his way to Rome, the Holy Spirit showed me a vital detail in the story. While the sailors were desperately trying to save the ship and their lives by lightening the ship, where was Paul? He was down in the hold. What was he doing? Praying!
An angel from God gave him a promise that changed the course of events.

‭Acts of the Apostles‬ ‭27:18‭-‬26‬ ‭NLT‬
[18] “The next day, as gale-force winds continued to batter the ship, the crew began throwing the cargo overboard. [19] The following day they even took some of the ship’s gear and threw it overboard. [20] The terrible storm raged for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone. [21] No one had eaten for a long time. Finally, Paul called the crew together and said, “Men, you should have listened to me in the first place and not left Crete. You would have avoided all this damage and loss. [22] But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down. [23] For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me, [24] and he said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Caesar! What’s more, God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with you.’ [25] So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said. [26] But we will be shipwrecked on an island.”

Out of Paul’s experience came a life lesson for me. The Holy Spirit clearly said to me, “Don’t ask for a miracle; ask for a word.” God promised Paul that no one on board the ship would be lost. It was this promise that gave Paul the authority to stop some of the sailors from trying to escape in a lifeboat. God rescued everyone on board the ship because He was faithful to His word to Paul.

Prayer for a miracle in a crisis is open-ended. It might or might not happen, but God’s word is secure. What He says He will do.

There may be many more lessons to learn from Abraham’s walk with God but these three, well learned, will equip us for a confident life in God.

How Much Faith Do You Need?

Christian Life, , , ,

HOW MUCH FAITH DO YOU NEED?

“The apostles came up and said to the Master, ‘Give us more faith.’ But the Master said, ‘You don’t need more faith. There is no ‘more’ or ‘less’ in faith. If you have a bare kernel of faith, say the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it would do it.'” Luke 17:5, 6 (The Message).

Faith ‘fitness’, like physical fitness, only comes with exercise. Some of us who are not fitness freaks, would love to be physically fit without the effort! It seems that the disciples wanted to be faith-full without the practice that it takes to increase faith.

But what is faith? Can we have faith in different measures? According to Jesus, yes. He classified faith by words like no faith, little faith and great faith but, at the same time, even the tiniest bit of faith produced results.

Faith is the confidence in the trustworthiness of another. People can have faith in each other to do what they said they would do or to be what they said they would be. The value of faith lies in the faithfulness of the one who promised. Likewise, the value of our faith in God lies is His willingness and ability to fulfil His promises. Faith is also the energy that is released when we put our confidence in the God who promised.

It is understandable, then, that it is not so much the measure of faith we have but the reliability of the one who promised, that is at stake. Faith no greater than a ‘mustard’ seed, the size of a grain of pepper shaken from a pepper pot, will get a response from God because He will never let Himself down. His reputation of faithfulness is at stake in the mix, therefore He cannot deny Himself.

Confidence in the faithfulness of God grows, not by God’s miraculously adding to it but by our personal experience of Him. This is true of the trust that grows between people. It is not something that automatically happens when two people meet and become friends, for example. As they spend time together and interact with each other, they learn to know one another and to trust one another. That trust is either betrayed or vindicated by their behaviour.

In the same way, the strength of our trust in God grows as we test and prove the trustworthiness of His promises until we are so confident of His faithfulness to His word that we would never doubt Him for a moment.

But there is another aspect to this ‘faith’ thing that we tend to forget. God is faithful to His own nature as well as to His promises. We have a tendency to want to hold Him to what we want Him to do rather than what He said He would do in the context of His nature and His will. He is gracious, compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness but He is also wise and all-knowing. He sees the end from the beginning and knows where every situation is going.

We tend to use faith as a way of trying to get what we want by holding God to His word, often out of context. The devil tried this one on Jesus, only to be soundly rebuked. He tried to get Jesus to manipulate God by suggesting He jump off the parapet of the temple so God would send His angels to catch Him! That was not faith; it was foolishness.

We need to move from trusting God for things as though faith were some magic way of getting our wants fulfilled, to trusting God, period, when it’s too dark to see the way ahead. It’s saying, ‘Not my will but yours be done,’ when all of me is screaming to get out of where I am. It’s nestling in the arms of the Father in the midst of the storm knowing that I can trust Him because He is there, He is good and He is in charge.