Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Can We Stand On The Promises Of God?

Sometimes there can be a disconnection between what you think God said He would do and what you actually see happening in your lifeHow important is it to stand on the promises of God.? Can we trust that God keeps His promises? When Christians suffer does it mean God does not always keep His promises? Have you ever heard the phrase "timing is everything? God's time is not always our time, but His promises are sure. 

Take, for example, the marvelous prophetic promise in Ezekiel 47.  This promise begins with these words: “Then, he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east . . .”  And the promise ends with these words, “And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food.  Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary.  Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”
Who, in Ezekiel’s day, would possibly have guessed that God would keep that promise through the life and death and resurrection of His son Jesus?  “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month.  The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22: 1, 2). 
Not one of Ezekiel’s original hearers or readers would have imagined the full extent to which God would go in keeping that promise.  If anything, it seems that God UNDER-promises and OVER-delivers! 
It is somewhat easy for us, living more than 2500 years after Ezekiel, to get a sense of the scope of God’s fulfillment of His promises that even Ezekiel himself couldn’t imagine.  After all, we have perspectives on the history of redemption that Ezekiel did not have.
But sometimes I wonder if we don’t “think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think.”  I know that I am inclined to think that I now have a full and complete understanding of how God is going to keep His promises.  But do I?  Or am I going to be as surprised as I suspect Ezekiel will be when we both finally see what the Lord does?
The principle seems clear – God always does even more marvelously wonderful things than His people can even imagine!  He never does less.  He always does more!
If that is the principle, how then should we read the other promises in the New Testament (including those in Revelation 22)?
God's Covenant with Abram
15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue[a] childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son[b] shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Aren’t you glad to know that the Lord can read your mind?  Perhaps not, depending upon what’s on your mind.  Though Abram had not voiced his concern to the Lord, God knew the fear that was in His friends’ heart.  Every moment of every day contained the desire to have a son; yet Abram and Sarai remained childless.

As I write this, the Spirit has brought to my mind a phrase from scripture.  It contains the words – “swear by no greater.”  Searching through the Bible, I found it in Hebrews 6, with this subtitle over it - “God’s Promises Bring Hope.”

The Certainty of God's Promise
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself,14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham,[a] having patiently waited, obtained the promise. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Russell Kelso Carter's most famous hymn, Standing on the Promises.

Although Carter was a professed Christian most of his life, it wasn't until a crisis with his natural heart that he began to understand the reality and power of Bible promises. At age 30, his health was in critical condition and the physicians could do no more for him. Carter turned to God for help and healing.

He knelt and made a promise that healing or no, his life was finally and forever, fully consecrated to the service of the Lord. It was from that moment that the written Word of God became alive to Carter. He began to stand upon the promises of healing, determining to believe no matter what his physical condition, no matter how he felt. Over the course of the next several months his strength returned, and his heart was completely healed! Carter lived another healthy 49 years.

The hymn Carter had written several years before his healing miracle became more than words and music to him. Standing on the Promises became an integral part of his life.

Standing On the Promises

by Russell Kelso Carter 1886

Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
Through eternal ages let His praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain:
Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I'm standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain

Standing on the promises I now can see
Perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me;
Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain

Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
Bound to Him eternally by love's strong cord,
Overcoming daily with the Spirit's sword,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain

Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
Listening every moment to the Spirit's call
Resting in my Savior as my all in all,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promised.” (Hebrews 10:23) 


See you next blog,
Ted

No comments:

Post a Comment

Depend Fully On Jesus

 https://info.truthforlife.org/private-worship-1?ecid=ACsprvts0k5VftayoMvIszLlZmJur8gvo_lfsYjM0mXix61w9WSYAQ_QiPX9R46CaoW8LXho-uf3&utm_c...