Today's Devotional

October 1, 2002

Subject:  The Promises of God

Romans 4:20-21 - "He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform."

I personally think that the most difficult problem that we have as believers is identifying the promises of God.  Sure there are lots of things that God promises in the bible, but what about in my everyday life?  Has He promised me that I will be healed of this disease?  Has he promised me that I will have the big house on the hill?  Has He promised me a successful marriage?  All of these are the types of questions that we face every day that if we knew that God promised it, then we could attempt to live in faith.  So how do we find out about these promises?  I think the answer is to live in light of the promises that you do know and god will make the rest plain.

Abraham knew that he would be the father of many nations because God told him so.  Abraham then lived in the light of that knowledge.  When God told Abraham to leave and go to a place that I will show you later, Abraham lived according to the command that he was given, trusting that God would do what He promised, which was to tell him later where to go.  One thing we can do to ensure that we are able to receive His "every day" promises is to live in light of His scriptural promises.

God may not have promised me a new Mercedes, but we know that He has promised that if we "seek Him first, all things will be added."  God may not have told me which job to take, but we know that "if we acknowledge Him in all our way, He will direct our paths."  Those are sure promises that give us an opportunity to grow our faith.  If we begin making our decisions based on His word and His promises, then we move His "scriptural" promises into "everyday" promises.  See that's the difference between faith in God through Christ and the new-age system of "thinking your way to heal, wealth and success."  It all has to do with the object of your belief.  If we believe the promises of the word of God, then our faith is in in Him.  If we believe because "we think we can" (positive-thinking) then our faith is in ourselves.  What a pity!

So then the problem really isn't identifying the promises of God for our everyday lives, but instead, living in light of those that we do in fact already know.  Let's do that. 

Carlen