One thing I have learned about the many promises of God is that they are not automatic. If you are a Christian, it does not mean that what God promises you is yours. Oh, in theory, yes, but in practical, everyday, live-it-out Christianity, the promises of God are to be apprehended by His people. Why is this? Why does God not just dump the full benefits of walking in Him on our heads so that we immediately walk in all His goodness and strength?
The reason is simple. God dwells in our hearts by faith. In His wisdom, He has thus ordained that the promises of God are to be obtained by the same faith, and each promise is like a step on a stairway to having the fullness of God dwell in our hearts. God wants us to GROW in faith, for it is only as our faith becomes strong that we can stand and not be moved by this world. It is only by faith that we can overcome the wicked one. This is what God meant when he said through Paul to grow from faith...to faith.
"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."
Hebrews 11:13
Hebrews 11 is one of the greatest chapters in all the Bible. It is the faith chapter. In it, God gives us examples down thru history of those that pleased God....by faith! What is amazing about them and the faith they had in God, was that they had no Bible to lean on, and the promises were known to be for a far off time, ans that in their lives, they would not see the benefits. Yet they still clung to the promises God has...clung to them! How it puts me to shame for the walk in my life, ignoring the promises, or finding other things to infatuate me rather than doing what these saints of old did, for in their walks, by embracing the promises by faith, they pleased God.
Is that not the ultimate purpose of our lives on earth, to learn how to please our master? Was this not the walk Jesus showed us, always doing that which was pleasing to the Father? Let us therefore learn from these old saints and the faith they had to hold onto the promises of God. Saints, the promises were to US! We are the beneficiaries of the promises that the saints of old only dreamed of. And how was it they pleased God so? What set them apart?
1. "...having seen them..." Beloved, the first thing we must do is see them, to make ourselves aware of the mighty things our God has indeed promised us. We will not find them out watching TV, or shopping at the mall, or reading a romance novel. They are hidden in His word, and if we are to ever make true progress in God, partaking in the divine nature, the first thing we must do is set our affections on things above.
2. ....were persuaded of them..." How important is it to not just see the promises, for as we have seen, what good does it do us to see them if we do not figure out how to walk in them? We must be persuaded of them. We must set our hearts before God and seach them out in plain sight of our Father so that we can see the tremendous need for the promises of God. How often we get satisfied with our walks, and yet come short of the glory of God! We must, by our need, and our hunger to please God, be persuaded that our God, who cannot lie, has given us these amazing promises to walk out...in this life.
3. "and embraced them..." Now it must become personal. It does us no good to simply believe. We are told that the devils believe! We must believe for us! We must grab hold of the promises of God with the full realization, that as a son of God, walking in the promises of God is our birthright. Let us draw near unto the Father, and embrace the promises as ours, because of the tremendous need for them in our hearts, in our walks.
4. "...and confessed that..." This last point is so critical to our everyday walk. The saints of old could only confess one thing, that they were strangers and pilgrims in this life. Oh, how we need to learn this secret again! But unlike them, who simply saw the promises afar off on the horizon, we, brothers and sisters, are the heirs of those precious promises. How much do we need to learn, that you can see them, be persuaded of them, embraced them, and yet if, at this last step you falter, all will be in vain. We must confess them as ours... There is but one way to advance in the kingdom. Everything must be appropriated by faith. From our initial forgiveness and acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord, to overcoming the wicked one in the end, and everything in between, until it becomes MY promise, personally given to me by God Himself, it lies dormant still.
"and the overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony."
Revelation 19
As we begin unfolding the promises of God, finding out the amazing things He has told us that we simply, up till now, have been ignorant of, let us not forget to follow through with our search for His nature imprinted on our souls. Let us boldly declare that all that he has is OURS- our birthright, and it is God's please to give it to those who will believe for them.
His Promises are MY promises because I am His child.
They are deserved, not because of my actions, but because of my birthright.
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