Tuesday, July 29, 2008
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Standing on the Promises
Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.
I remember singing this hymn in church as a young child. It was a fun song to sing because we got to sing "standing" over and over and we never sat down to sing it (we sat out the other hymns on those Sundays). And, I can even remember once or twice standing on my Bible while we sang just so that I was really "standing on the promises!" View the entire hymn.
Do you know how many promises there are in the Bible? It is estimated that there are over 5000! And since one of those promises is that every word will be fulfilled (Isaiah 55:11), we have cause for joy. "By the living word of God I shall prevail, standing on the promises of God."
Did you also know that all of those promises have been given to you and me for us to use? And, we desperately need what God has promised if we are ever going to make it in this world as a person of faith. Peter wrote:
"Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you — your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust. So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given" (2 Peter 1:3-5, The Message).
So, the question is: what do I need today? What do you need? Chances are pretty good that with 5000+ promises available, we will be able to find whatever it is that we need. That reminds me of another promise that says that God will provide whatever I need from his resources (Philippians 4:19). And, every time I turn around in the Bible, I seem to come across another passage that encourages me to ask or seek or knock. But that means that I have to do some looking. God will not just give me what I need even though he has provided it and made it available.
I must confess that it is difficult for me not to fill a couple of pages with promises and accompanying scripture passages for every problem that any of us may be facing right now. To do so however would rob you of the wonder of discovering God's promises for yourself and the Holy Spirit's pleasure of leading you there. There is an added blessing in the effort that I put in to finding what I need. Asking him to lead me where I need to go with a Bible in one hand and a concordance in the other is a wonderful adventure that he and I can share. I want you to experience that too! And, with more than 5000 promises to be found, I often find that I stumble across a couple of other wonderful promises in the process of searching out what I need!
Hebrews 10:23 says, "for he who promised is faithful," so anytime I find a promise, I can also trust God to bring it to pass. If he made 5000+ promises, he is 5000 times faithful! You have his word on it!
"No matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes" in Christ. And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 1:20).
Let's say that today I grab on to the promise of God that I mentioned earlier that God will supply all my needs today according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. When I claim that as a promise for me, Jesus says a big "YES. YES, God will surely do that for you." And because of Jesus, I can now say "Amen, Yes Lord, so be it." And, when it comes about, all the glory goes to God!
Wow! Thank you God! Only 4999 or so more to go!
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