Promises

There are many, many promises of God in Scripture. In each promise, God pledges that something will (or will not) be done or given or come to pass. He promises that:  

If you search for Me with all your heart, you will find Me.
When my children were young, one of the games that I would play with them was called 'hide and seek'. I would hide and then they would try to find me. The game is pretty simple and lots of fun. The whole point of this exercise was that they would eventually find me... and that was the best part!

I would never have thought to try and hide myself so thoroughly that my children could never find me. That would not have been fun at all, for the real joy was in them finding me. I don't think our Heavenly Father is much different, though His ways are way higher than my ways for sure!

He absolutely delights when we seek Him with all our heart and He loves to be found by us! He promises that we will indeed find Him when we search for Him with all our heart. If you are feeling discouraged today, hungry for God but somehow feeling that you have not yet apprehended Him, don't give up. Keep seeking. Keep knocking on the door. Keep on asking. He promises to be found by you!

“Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened. Or who is there among you, who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:7-11

 I will not withhold anything good from those with an upright heart.
God is good and every good and perfect gift comes from His hand (James 1:17). Today's promise once again reaffirms this truth. He will not withhold any good thing from those who have an upright heart. The enemy of our souls would want us to believe the opposite... That God isn't good and that He is distant and angry.

My prayer today is that each one of us would reject every lie that would try and make us believe that God isn't who the Bible says He is, so that we can align our thoughts and prayers with the truth that the Lord is good and His mercy will endure forever!

May the sense of His goodness flood your soul today and may you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is your sun and your shield. The truth is that He loves you with all of His heart and He will not withhold any good thing from you. 

"For Yahweh God is a sun and a shield. Yahweh will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly". Psalm 84:11

My love will persevere through every situation
The Greek word for love used in this passage of Scripture is the word agape which speaks of the unconditional love of God. Today's promise speaks of the tenacious heart of our Father that will simply not give up on us no matter what we go through.

God's love is relentless and consistent. His love for us does not change like shifting shadows, but will persevere through every circumstance. His love will always protect us, His love will always trust, His love will always believe the best about every situation and His love will always stay true. This is the love that God has for us.

It is not like any love that we have experienced on earth. Even the love from the best father, mother, brother, sister, friend, spouse, etc. would only be a shadow of the unconditional, everlasting love that God has for us. My prayer today is that we would have power to grasp the vastness of the immeasureable love of God.

"14 For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man; 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:14-19.

I will not let you be tested beyond what you can endure.

Jesus told us in John 16:33 that in the world we will have trouble. Sadly, bad things do happen to good people. We all experience heartache, loss and pain as a result of the fallen world we live in. But Jesus goes on to encourage us that we can be glad because He has overcome the world!

The Apostle Paul tells us that we will not be tested with any temptation or trial more than we are able to endure. There may be circumstances in our life that rage against this promise, but hold onto the promise that God's grace is sufficient in every trial. He will give you the grace to endure and He promises to provide you with a way of escape when the load gets beyond what you can deal with.

If you are in the midst of great trials and challenges in your life today, my prayer is that our God and Father would comfort you and strengthen you with the promise that you will not be tested beyond what you can endure. And I also pray that He will provide you with a way of escape for every trial that you face.

"No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." 1 Corinthians 10:13  

Cast all your worries on Me, for I really care about you. 
I have not yet met a person on this earth who has not had an anxious thought at some point or another. I think that most of us have lots of anxious thoughts to deal with. Why do we worry? Probably because we think that we will somehow change the outcome into something better by obsessing over it. 

Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:25-34 that if our Heavenly Father looks after the birds and the grass of the field, He will look after us... so take a deep breath and relax. God is looking after you.

In today's promise, the Apostle Peter encourages us to cast every care that we have upon God because He really cares for us. The Greek word for casting literally means to throw upon. God wants you to throw each one of your cares on Him so that you do not have to carry them any longer.

When I think of this promise, the image that comes to mind, is a backpack full of rocks that we are carrying. Every time we take a rock out of our backpack and throw it away, our load gets lighter. I think Papa God wants us to do the same thing with every care that we have. When we throw our cares on Him, we are committing the responsibility and concern for each worry into His loving hands.

Since He is much much bigger and stronger than us, He can carry our burdens much better than we can. So cast every care that you have in your own backpack onto God because He loves you and wants to carry every one of your burdens.

I will shield your life and deliver you from the wicked.
God is our protector. God is our defender and He promises to shield us and deliver us from the hand of the wicked. "You who love the Lord, hate evil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked." Psalm 27:10

No matter how great the opposition you are facing, God is greater because good fathers protect their kids. It is that simple. The world can be a very scary place to live in apart from this revelation. But when we know that our Father is the biggest, the strongest and the most loving Father in the universe, it makes all the difference in the world!

May we all be convinced of this truth on a deeper level than we have ever known before. My prayer today is that the knowledge of our Father's protecting love will bring a sense of peace and rest and security in our soul so that we will be confident that He is indeed our fortress and our shield.

1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of Yahweh, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:1-2

I will bless your life and keep watch over you always.
God instructed Moses to pray a special prayer of blessing over the Israelites every day. It is an often quoted blessing.  

'“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." Numbers 6:24-27

The Lord's heart is to bless you and watch over you in all your ways. Just like a mother hen broods over her chicks, our God watches over us with His mighty protective love. May each and every one of us be aware of His nearness today and His desire to bless us in all that we do.

My power will rest on you when you are weak. 
Today's promise comes from an encounter that Paul the Apostle had with the Lord Jesus Himself. It would be helpful if you could read the entire text found in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10. In a nutshell, Paul has this incredible third heaven experience where he sees amazing things that he is not able to share with others. Afterwards he encounters a 'thorn in his flesh', a messenger of Satan sent to harass him.

Three times he asked the Lord to take away this 'thorn in his flesh' and Jesus' response to Paul in the first part of verse 9 was... He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” After Paul heard these words from Jesus Himself, he received a new revelation of how the kingdom of God works.

In the last part of verse 9, Paul responds to Jesus by saying...  Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me. The kingdom of God is opposite to the kingdom of this world. It is the poor in spirit that will inherit the kingdom. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. The last shall be first and of course, the weak will be made strong.

My prayer today is that we would have eyes to see the kingdom of God and embrace it with all our hearts. When we are empty of our own ability to manage life, may we see that it is then that Christ's power rests on us. May we all be able to boast in our weaknesses so that the strength of our Elder Brother Jesus, might be perfected in us.

I will discipline you in love as a father who loves his children. 
When we think of being disciplined, we usually default to our own life experience of what that meant for us. If we were treated harshly as children, it would be understandable for us to fear the Lord's discipline because we might see His discipline through the same lens of our own parents. But the reality is, that God is not like any parent on earth. Matthew 5:48 says that He is the perfect father.

When our Heavenly Father disciplines us, His motivation is not anger or rejection, but complete love. Just like we would not want our little ones to be burned by putting their hands on a hot stove, neither does our Father want us to be hurt in any way. His heart for us is complete wholeness, so along the way, there will be times when He will need to correct us so that we can learn from our mistakes.

In Hebrews 12:4-12, the writer talks in more detail about the discipline of the Lord and how it is a sign that God is treating us as His sons. The end result is for our good and will lead to a harvest of righteousness. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will dismantle any fear of our Father's discipline that is based on any human form of punishment that we have received.

I will provide every good thing you need to do My will.
Our God and Father is the source of all that we need to live a godly life. He will equip us with every good thing that we need to accomplish His plans and purposes. In John 3:27, John the Baptist is speaking to his disciples and he makes this statement...  John answered, “A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven."

All we have has been given to us from heaven. In James 1:17 the Bible says that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of Lights.  Whatever you need, whenever you need it, will be given to you from your Heavenly Father through the life of His Son that abides in you. We can rest in this promise. We do not have to try and live this life on our own in our own strength and resources.

I will take hold of your hand to keep you from falling.
The fear of failing is a powerful motivator to keep us from doing things that require some form of risk. If we believe that we will be rejected by God if we stumble and fall, then we may not be willing to risk at all. I love today's promise because it clearly shows that it doesn't bother the Lord in the least when we stumble and fall. The truth is that He is always ready to take us by the hand to help us get back on our feet again.

When our children were toddlers, they all had to learn to walk. The first time they tried, they would fall down. And the second time, and third time, etc. With every step that they would take, my wife and I would cheer them on and be ready to catch them if and when they would fall down. The fact that they stumbled was of no surprise to us and it was of no consequence because we knew that they would get up and try again.

I think it is the same way with the Lord. From His perspective, we are just little boys and little girls learning to walk out this life. He knows us completely and His heart is full of compassion towards us. When we stumble and fall, He is right beside us, ready to take our hand and help us continue our journey.

I give My Spirit in unlimited measure.
In John 3:34, John the Baptist is referring to Jesus when He makes this statement... For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit.  If we are united with Christ and co-heirs with Him, then everything that belongs to Jesus belongs to us, right?

The Bible says that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). It also says that God has given us His own Spirit as a deposit to guarantee our inheritance (2 Corinthians 1:22). If we no longer live, but it is Christ living in us (Galatians 2:20), then I can only assume that if God gave His Spirit in unlimited measure to Jesus, then He has given His Spirit in unlimited measure to us too.

Jesus said that nothing would be impossible to those who believe (Matthew 17:20). With this in mind, may faith rise up in our hearts today so that we would know that the Spirit that lives in us is the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11).  There is no limit to what our God and Father will do in our own lives because He has given us His Spirit without measure!

I will give you rest in green pastures and lead you to still waters.
Psalm 23 is one of my most favorite psalms. In this one chapter, King David draws from his experience of being a shepherd boy to build an analogy of the Lord's shepherding heart towards us. In John 10:11, Jesus clearly makes the connection to Psalm 23 by telling us that He is the Great Shepherd who wholeheartedly gives His life for His sheep... I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 

Everything that a shepherd does is for the benefit of the sheep. In today's promise, we read how David writes that the Lord makes him lie down in green pastures and He leads him beside still waters. In the hustle and bustle of life, we all need to find rest in green pastures. It is interesting to note that David says that the Lord makes him lie down in green pastures. Maybe there are times in our lives where the Lord will make us rest even if we don't think we need it?

May the Great Shepherd of the sheep give you the rest you need today in His rich green pastures and may He lead you to still waters to find refreshment so that you can continue your journey under His watchful care.

I am at work in your life through the desires of your heart.
I like how the Amplified Bible translates Philippians 2:13... [Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight. (AMP)

The Christian life is a life of learning how to live from our heart, not from our head. If Christ lives in us, then we have the Spirit of the living God living in us too. If Christ lives in us, we have a new heart and we can trust our new heart to guide us in all that we do. In today's promise, the Apostle Paul says that it is God Himself who is at work in us, giving us both the desire and the power to accomplish all that He has purposed for our lives.

It is amazing to think that God actually directs us by the godly heart's desires that He has already placed in our hearts. I believe the Christian life is a life where we learn to live from our hearts. May we all learn to trust the still small voice that resides within us. For it is God who is already at work in you and it gives Him great delight to see His kids living from their hearts

My plan for your future is filled with hope.
When you think of your own future, how do you feel? Are you excited to think of what is ahead or does the thought of the future cause you to be anxious? With an uncertain economy, wars and rumors of wars, etc., it is easy to feel anxious and uncertain about what lies ahead. Yet in today's promise, God says that your future is filled with hope.

My favorite Bible translation of this verse comes from the NIV Bible... For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (NIV)

I find it very reassuring to know that God has a plan for my future that is filled with hope. I don't have to dread what's coming because my Heavenly Dad already has a plan for me. And of course we know that the ultimate hope is living in the light of God's love forever!

May the reality of today's promise fill you with peace. May you know that while the future may be uncertain to you, it is not to God. He has a father's heart toward you and has determined to fill your future with hope. Does this mean that there will be no bumps in the road? Certainly not.

But we do know that all things will ultimately work together for our good as Paul declared in Romans 8:28... We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. 

I have given you a new heart and put My own Spirit in you. 
This passage of Scripture is pointing to the day when people would no longer have to live a life separate from God. They would no longer have to try and figure out what the Lord desired from a distance because God promised to give them a new heart and put His own Spirit within them.

Of course this promise was fulfilled when Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, came into the world and made a way for each one of us to receive the free gift of salvation. Because of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, we no longer have to live with a cold heart of stone because He has given us a new heart. Because of the New Covenant, we no longer are separated from God because He has given us the most precious gift He could give...the gift of Himself.

God has given each one of us a new heart and He has put His own Spirit within us as a deposit to guarantee our inheritance. There is no greater gift that He could give. May we be aware of the abiding presence of God that lives in us today and have a heart of thanksgiving to God for giving us the precious gift of a new heart and His own Spirit!

Since you are in Christ, I have made you an heir of all My promises.
Every one of the promises that God made to Abraham now belongs to us because we belong to Jesus Christ and are now heirs according to the promise. Just think of that for a moment. You are an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus (Romans 8:17). Every promise that God made to Abraham is part of your own spiritual inheritance!

When God said to Abraham that He would be the father of many nations, and a blessing to many (Genesis 12), you were part of that promise.  The New Living Translation says Galatians 3:29 this way... And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.

May our God and Father give each one of us a revelation today about what it means to be an heir in His amazing kingdom. ...An heir of God and a co-heir with our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ. There is no higher call, there is no greater destiny, than to be part of the eternal family of the living God.

I sent the Spirit of My Son into your heart so you could call Me Father.
The greatest gift that the Father could give us was the Spirit of His Son, the Spirit of Sonship. Each one who is born again, carries within their being the very life and nature of Jesus Christ Himself. Galatians 4:7 goes on to say... So you are no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

The Spirit of the Son that lives within us continually calls out 'Abba Father!'. Abba is an Aramaic word for 'father' that little children would call out to their dads in New Testament times. It would be like us saying 'papa' or 'daddy' in the English language. Because we carry within our very being the Spirit of the Son, our spirit man continually cries out 'Papa' to God, whether we are aware of this cry in our heart or not.

I believe it delights our Heavenly Father when we cry out 'Abba!' to Him, for that is the very reason why God has given us the Spirit of His Son... so that He could be a Father to us (2 Corinthians 6:18). My prayer today is that we would all be aware of the cry that resonates deep in our heart today as we join with the Spirit of the Son that lives within us that calls out 'Abba Father!'.

I have given you eternal life because you have believed in Jesus Christ.
John 3:16 is one of the most quoted, most loved Bible verses in the New Testament. This Scripture has been used by evangelists over the years to invite many people to come to Christ. The foundation of this much loved verse is and always will be, the love of the Father. For God (the Father) so loved the world...

It was the great love of our Heavenly Father that caused Him to give up His most treasured possession, the life of His Son, so that we too could share in Jesus' eternal life. What a glorious promise! We were loved so much by God, that He gave up all that He loved in order to gain our love!

May we never take the wonder of John 3:16 for granted, but may we continue to revel in the amazing love our God and Father has for us every day in our lives. Thank you Father for loving us so much, that you sent your only begotten Son to the world in order to purchase our redemption!

I delivered you from darkness into the kingdom of My beloved Son.
Each one of us were once held captive by the power of darkness before we were set free by the power of Christ and brought into His kingdom. For all who have said 'yes' to Jesus, our old life is now in the past tense and our new life in Christ is our present reality... Whether we feel like it is or not.

May the Holy Spirit give us revelation today to know that we have already been translated into the kingdom of our Elder Brother. The power of darkness has no more hold on us because of our royal position in Christ. We now live in an upside down kingdom, where the last will be first, the weak will be strong, and the poor will inherit the riches of our Father's kingdom.

I pray that every believer will echo the prayer that Paul prayed in Ephesians that our God and Father would give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation to know Him better. May the eyes of our hearts would be opened so that we could really see the hope of His calling and our glorious inheritance in the saints!

I chose you to be adopted into My family before creation.

It pleased the Father to choose us before the foundation of the world. In love, He saw the day when we would say yes to the free gift of His Son's life for our life and become born into His amazing family. Before He even spoke the world into existence, He saw us!

And our adoption is not like any human adoption, for God has given us His own Spirit as a deposit to guarantee our inheritance. We are not servants in His house, but actual sons and daughters, joint heirs with our Elder Brother Jesus, seated in Christ in heavenly places.

What an amazing promise! Every other promise and precept rests on God's eternal plan to make us part of His family. As Ephesians 1:4 says, we are holy and without blame before Him in love all because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. What Jesus did on our behalf has secured our place forever as God's kids!  

I created you in My own image with My special blessing.
God created us in His own image. Think about that for a moment. We were created to reflect the image of God Himself! I wonder what the angels thought when they first saw Adam and Eve? What a glorious privilege to be made in the image of the One who knit us together in our mother's womb!

May we never take this blessing for granted. May we always be in awe of the fact that we were created to look just like God. When Jesus came to the earth 2,000 years ago, He sealed the deal by making a way for us to be conformed into His image (Romans 8:29) inside and out so that He could be the firstborn of many brothers and sisters.

My prayer today is that we would live in the light of our Father's original blessing to be fruitful, to multiply and to have dominion throughout the whole earth with the knowledge that we were created to look just like our Heavenly Father.

The intentions of My heart will remain steadfast forever.
In today's promise, we are reminded that God is steadfast in what He has purposed. The New Living Translation Bible says Psalm 33:11 this way... But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever; his intentions can never be shaken.

When God determines to do something, His plans will stand firm forever. He is not fickle or temperamental and He will not be swayed by public opinion or the winds of change. He has fixed His eyes upon us and has purposed in His heart to love us with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3). ...And He won't change His mind!

What our Heavenly Father started in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 1, He will see to completion at the end of the book of Revelation. No force in heaven or on earth will be able to prevent His purposes from being fulfilled. We can rest in God's plan for our lives for the intentions of His heart will remain steadfast forever! 


I am full of mercy and grace and I overflow with love. 
As we continue our daily journey of reflecting on some of the promises of God in 2016, may we always be reminded of how He sees us. The Lord is full of mercy and grace and He overflows with love towards us. Everything that He does is motivated by His eternal, unending kindness.

May the Holy Spirit give us a deeper revelation of the character and nature of God this new year and may He dismantle any misconceptions of our Heavenly Dad that cause us to see Him as distant and angry. 
Our God and Father is good. He is full of mercy and grace. He continually showers His love upon us. And His love will never ever end. May the revelation of the love of God continue to rush like a mighty river into your heart today.

I am the Lord your God and I never change.

It is important for us to be reminded of this simple truth...  The Lord our God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Every promise that He has made is secure and will last forever. Since we live in a world that is constantly changing, the promise of our Father's rock-solid commitment to us is very reassuring.

He will never leave us or let us down. He loves us with all His heart and each one of His promises that is true today will be true in a million years from now. I pray that this truth will bring a deeper level of comfort and security to each one of our lives. May we look forward to all of the ways that our Father will show Himself faithful to us.