"The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." (2 Pteter 3:9)

There are 750 promises in the New Testament, listed on the Assembly of God web page.

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 2 Cor. 3:17 THE ABUNDANT OVERFLOWING PROMISES OF GOD "For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are yes; wherefore also by Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us." (1 Cor. 1:20) What is a promise of God? How many promises of God are there? Are all the promises of God for us today? What are the conditions of the promises? What are the purposes of the promises? How do we rely on the promises? 1. What is a promise of God? A promise is an announcement, it is an undertaking to do or give something. It is a gift favorably granted and not a guarantee secured by bargaining (from Vines). An agreement to do something or not to do something. Websters 2. How many promises of God are there? There are thousands of promises in the Bible and as we come to believe them, they will become real in our life. Anything that God said that He was going to do is a promise. 3. Are all the promises of God for us today? God is the same yesterday, today and forever. (Heb. 13:8) For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are yes. (2 Cor. 1:20) We are blessed with every spiritual blessing, in the heavenly places in Christ. (Eph. 1:3) No good thing does He withhold to those who walk uprightly. (Ps. 84:11) 'O fear the Lord, you His saints; for to those who fear Him, there is no want. The young . lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing." (Ps. 34:9,10) The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. (Ps. 23:1) He who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not with Him freely give us all things. (Rom. 8:32) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 6:23) Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God." (1 Cor. 2:12) All things belong to you and you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God (1 Cor. 3:21-23) All things are for your sakes, that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. (2 Cor. 4:15) Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father." (John 14:12) The ability for us to do anything is because of the work of the Spirit of God. As we believe and are moved by the word of God we can have faith in the promises of God to accomplish His purposes. The Holy Spirit will teach us all things . (Jn. 14:26; 1 Jn.2:27) Some would say that in the Old Testament, there were many things that are not for us today. But Heb. 13:8 shows that God does not change. God had a plan from the beginning of time to send His son to die for us. The Old Testament was looking forward to that promise of salvation and the New Testament is looking back at what Christ has O fear the Lord, you His saints; for to those who fear Him, there is no want. done. The God that parted the Red Sea can do that again. The God that healed the sick when Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness can and wants to do that again. Jesus healed the sick and Paul by the power of the Spirit healed the sick and we are told that greater works than Jesus' will we do because of the work of the Holy Spirit. What Jesus said at a time in the past He is continuing to say today. The promises are not phased out for some reason. They are still as good today as they were when He first made them known. We can count on God to fulfill what He says to us. "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever." (Isa. 40:8) God is watching over His word to preform it. (Jer. 1:12) "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, "Eph. 1:3 4.What are the conditions of the promises? There are two things that need to be looked at when considering promises. One is what does the promise say and two, we should consider the whole Bible when we look at a promise. The Bible promises that God will answer all our prayers in John 15:7 We also must consider that if we don't treat our wife right our prayers will be hindered. 1 Pt. 3:7 We should read the Bible to see what are the conditions of the promises. If they are not real in our life we should ask God to show us what is not right. He will show us. James 1:5 The promises are effective as we are in Christ. 2 Cor. 1:20 What does it mean to be in Christ? To be in Christ, is to be united to His purpose and in communion with Him. To be in Christ is to be a person of prayer. To not trust in our own ability but to look to God for help and to listen to His voice. We can do nothing of ourselves but only as we rely on the Father through Jesus. The promises are not given ^to us because of our works, but by our obedience and belief in Him. All things are given to us freely and as we believe we are able to receive them freely. 5. What are the purposes of the promises? "Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." 2 Peter 1:3,4; God's glory and excellence has granted to us His divine promises, and by these promises we are able to grow into a mature Christian. The purpose of the promises are to grow us up and allow us to take the divine nature and allow us to escape the corruption that is in the world by lust. The purpose of God is that we live according to the leading of the Spirit of God. The world is run on lust to acquire things. God's kingdom is based on giving to others, which is love. Sometimes Christians take the purposes of the world and use Biblical principles to gain things for their lust. In reaction to this, some people throw the baby out with the bath water. Don't reject the promises of God because someone misused them for their own lustful gain. Use the promises of God in obedience of the leading of the Holy Spirit for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Have faith in God. God has more for us than we can imagine. Eph. 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the he heavenly places in Christ, We are blessed with every Spiritual blessing. Where? In the heavenly places. The Spiritual blessings are ours in Christ. How are we in Christ? We are in Christ when we live for the purpose of Christ and not for our own purpose. We are in Christ when we walk in the Spirit and not in our own efforts. The spiritual blessings come as we yield to the will of Christ. John 15:7 If you abide in Me and I in you, you shall ask what you will and it will be done for you. The key to this verse and passage is to abide. To live and be guided by the purpose of Christ and not rely on ourselves. 2 Cor. 1:20 For as many as may be the promises of God in Him they are yes. To be in Jesus we must at least have the same purpose at heart, to not be in disobedience of what He wants. 6. How do we rely on the promises? To walk in the Spirit and not our efforts takes prayer and faith. "As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in Him." Col. 2:6 We received Him by prayer and faith and so we should walk by prayer and faith. The promises are there for those that want them and look for them in prayer and faith. To believe in them is the key point and to believe comes from meditation. Belief comes as our mind is cleansed from doubt by the Word of God. To believe and have faith in the promise from God we need to be in the Spirit and not just coast through life As we meditate on the word and pray to God daily our spirit will grow and faith and belief will become part of us and we will be able to use the promises of God according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. If we pray for something and it does not become real in our*life what went wrong? Does not God hear us today? Are the promises just a lot of hot air? Is the Bible just a collection of good sayings that will make us feel good but is not to be taken literally? No a thousands times no. If God has not answered our prayer, then we must look to see if we are fulfilling the condition of the promise. We should also pray in faith that God will answer. If we believe in what God has said, then we will be willing to continue in prayer until the answer comes. Spiritual battles are won and lost by prayer. We don't see all the elements to this but through Christ and prayer the victory is won. "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." (2 Pt. 3:9) Salvation is the first promise, it is what all else is based on, and if we seek God diligently He will give us other promises as well. "In hope against hope he believed, in order that he might become a father of many nations, . . . And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform." Rom 4:18-21 What did Abraham do here? He had hope that God would fulfill His promise and give him a son. There was no hope but Abraham's belief was in God's reliability. He grew strong in faith as (Amplified) he gave glory to God. When you give glory to God you are relying on Him You are not taking credit for what you have in life but realize that all that you have comes from the Master. God is the one who gives the ability to make wealth (Deut. 8:18) and He is the one who gives us all good things. (James 1:17) When we are giving glory to God we are not looking at ourselves or relying on ourselves but to God. That is the key. Giving glory to God puts our mind on what God will do and not what we will do or can't do. We shouldn't consider the circumstances of our life, but consider God. Jesus is the answer to our life as we look to Him. His promises are true. Jesus will keep His word to us as we rely on Him. Jesus is watching over His word to perform it. (Jer 1:12) Elisha was promised a double portion that his mentor Elijah had. Elijah had performed six miracles by the hand of God. And Elisha was promised twelve. At Elisha's death he had only performed eleven and someone may say, "ah ha God did not fulfill his promise to Elisha." But God was not through yet. And we see that in 2 Kings 13:21 that a dead man was brought back to life when he was thrown on top of the bones of Elisha. We should never doubt God. His purposes are beyond our understanding and He has our best interests at heart. In fact His purposes and concern for us is more sure and better thought out than what we have for ourselves. Water from the Rock Bible Studies - - -Scott McCrae Home | Back to Top

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