Recently the Lord reminded me to not let go of the promises He’s given me. This was a great encouragement to me to anchor anew in the storm with the deep assurance of His keeping. I had been absorbed with a problem, instead I chose to renew my mind, refresh my heart, rise above difficulty and see from his perspective, treating his promises as living and present though yet to be fulfilled. Promises enable us to sing in the storm, keeping hope alive, remembering He is our faithful promise keeper. And they keep refining us as we await their fulfillment (Ps. 105:19).
What is a promise? It’s a declaration of assurance, giving grounds for expectation that a particular thing will occur, so that a claim can be set on it. With God’s promises, we can be fully persuaded that they always have His “yes” (2 Cor. 1:20), that He has the both the desire and the power to fulfill every promise. Because of this, we can lay claim to His promises with great hope. And every time we recognize and lay claim to his magnificent and precious promises, we receive His divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4) and are anchored into the reality of Christ.
His promises are not automatically fulfilled, nor are they meant to be. Instead, they are meant to be united with faith, believed, apprehended and joyfully anticipated. Even as we wait for their fulfillment, we do so knowing his faithfulness. We can live with full confidence, yet sometimes we have left our heart unguarded and have detoured from our confidence because of unbelief, sluggishness, disobedience or a hard heart. Hebrews 4 soberly warns us to diligently enter the promises, fearing lest we come short in our faith and hope. The promise remains, it’s on the table, but sometimes we haven’t picked it up, and so bypass the blessings that would be ours.
We are assured that we can actually “partake,” get to enjoy their fulfillment, if we hold fast to His promises (Heb. 3:14). God desires for us to realize this full assurance of hope and through faith and patience inherit the promises (Heb. 5:12-13). Among God’s greatest assurances to us is this truth that anchors us in the reality of His love: "There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love. There is no power above us or beneath us—no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!” (Rom. 8:38-39 TPT). The promise of this steadfast, powerful love is an assurance we can confidently live within!
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