By Steven J. Hogan
~ A Saturday Morning Post #146 ~
I have a friend who is a food scientist, which means he understands nutrition, what’s good for the body – the proteins, carbs, fats, vitamins and minerals that we need to stay healthy. But how do we keep our soul healthy? We need the truth of God’s word, and one particular and important aspect of His truth are His promises. Let me share some thoughts about these promises, followed up by many of my personal favorites.
1. God’s promises are all true, for God tells the truth, and He does not lie.
2. God’s promises are based on His word and character and, therefore, will never fail.
3. God’s promises are essential, for you cannot truly and fully live for God without them.
4. God’s promises are about your future, your time here on earth, and / or in heaven.
5. God’s promises are forward looking, and keep you from living in the past.
6. God’s promises tell you what God will do for you, not what you will do for Him.
7. God’s promises motivate you to persevere, to press on to the end.
8. God’s promises spiritually energize you to keep going for God.
9. God’s promises, though spiritual in nature, can also physically energize you.
10. God’s promises give hope, not worldly hope, but a godly hope.
11. God’s promises speak of how you will be eternally rewarded for your earthly service.
12. God’s promises are all about experiencing His grace in the future.
13. God’s promises encourage you today because they give you hope for tomorrow.
14. God’s promises will help you understand His purpose for your life.
15. God’s promises are a means to living a holy and God-pleasing life.
16. God’s promises are activated by faith, by believing what God is saying.
17. God’s promises must be personalized, for they speak of what God wants for your life.
18. God’s promises are either conditional or unconditional.
19. God’s promises give you confidence and assurance about your future.
20. God’s promises help you to live rightly today for you know you have a God-blessed tomorrow.
21. God’s promises are needed during stormy times, for they are forecasting a sunny future.
22. God’s promises are often prophetic, predicting His plans for both the church and the world.
23. God’s promises are precious, magnificent, incredible and wonderful.
24. God’s promises speak of how God will show you His great love in the future.
25. God’s promises should be shared with other Christians.
Here are a number of my favorite promises:
* 2 Chronicles 15:7 – “As for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.”
* Job 23:10 – “God knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”
* Psalm 23:6 – “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
* Psalm 27:1 – “The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid?”
* Psalm 32:8 – “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.”
* Psalm 37:4 – “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
* Psalm 46:10 – “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations.”
* Psalm 55:22 – “Cast your cares upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.”
* Psalm 84:11 – “The Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless.”
* Psalm 91:14-16 – “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With a long life I will satisfy him and let him see My salvation.”
* Psalm 119:1 – “How blessed is he whose way is blameless, who walks in the law of the Lord.”
* Psalm 119:50 – “My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.”
* Psalm 136 – “His lovingkindness is everlasting.”
* Proverbs 2:3-5 – “If you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom…”
* Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
* Proverbs 8:17 – “I love those who love me, and those who seek Me find Me.”
* Isaiah 26:3 – “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You.”
* Isaiah 40:31 – “Those who wait on the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”
* Isaiah 41:10 – “Do not fear for I am with you; do not be anxious for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”
* Lamentations 3:22-23 – “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
* Matthew 5:5 – “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
* Matthew 5:8 – “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
* Matthew 5:11-12 – “Blessed are you when people insult and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great.”
* Matthew 6:33 – “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
* Matthew 11:28-29 – “Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
* Matthew 24:31 – “He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to another.”
* Matthew 28:19-20 – “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
* Mark 1:17 – “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
* Luke 12:32 – “Do not be afraid little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.”
* John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
* John 5:24 – “He who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
* John 8:12 – “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
* John 11:25-26 – “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if He dies; and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.”
* John 14:3 – “I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”
* John 14:13-14 – “I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in My name, and I will do it.”
* John 15:5 – “He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit.”
* Romans 8:28 – “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.”
* Romans 8:32 – “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?”
* 1 Corinthians 1:8-9 – “He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful…”
* 1 Corinthians 10:13 – “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 15:51-52 – “We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”
* 2 Corinthians 2:14 – “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ Jesus, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him.”
* 2 Corinthians 4:16-17 – “Though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.”
* 2 Corinthians 9:8 – “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, you will have an abundancefor every good deed.”
* 2 Corinthians 12:9 – “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”
* Galatians 5:16 – “Walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.”
* Galatians 6:9 – “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.”
* Ephesians 2:10 – “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
* Ephesians 3:20-21 – “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
* Ephesians 6:2 – “Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.”
* Philippians 2:9-11 – “God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
* Philippians 3:21 – “… the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”
* Philippians 4:19 – “My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
* Colossians 3:23-24 – “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance.”
* 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 –“The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.”
* 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 – “May the God of peace sanctify you entirely; may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you and He will bring it to pass.”
* 2 Timothy 4:18 – “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”
* Titus 2:10-11 – “If we died with Him, we will also live with Him. If we endure, we will also reign with Him.”
* James 4:10 – “God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
* Hebrews 10:37 – “For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay.”
* Hebrews 13:5 – “I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you.”
* 1 Peter 5:10 – “After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”
* 2 Peter 1:4 – “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.”
* 1 John 1:7 – “If we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.”
* Jude 24-25 – “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
* Revelation 3:5 – “The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and His angels.”
* Revelation 5:10 – “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
* Revelation 21:3-4 – “God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death, there will no longer be any mourning, or crying or pain; the first things have passed away.”
* Revelation 21:7 – “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be His God and he will be My son.”
* Revelation 22:7 – “Behold, I am coming soon.”
All these promises, and many more besides, are wonderful and needed gifts from God. Don’t miss out on the blessing, the grace, hope, peace, strength and encouragement they bring to your soul, your life, and your future. I want to remind you of what Elizabeth said to Mary for, in principle, it applies to us: “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her” (Luke 1:45). And remember these words that describe some of the saints of old: “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were exiles and strangers on earth” (Hebrews 11:13). Sometime in the future, as Joshua said to the Jews, you will be able to say to others, “You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.” Joshua 23:14
The closer we get to Christ’s coming, the more difficult it will be, and the more you will see that you need these promises, and cannot live without them. Through God’s promises, you will experience His amazing grace, and a special closeness with Him, until that time when, for the first time, you will see His face. “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” Job 19:25-27
P.S. I love God’s promises, and I trust that you will learn to love them and see and experience their supreme and eternal worth. Here is a previous post that I believe will help you learn more about the value of these precious truths from God’s word – “Promises from a Loving Father to His Children.”