Your Promise (The Word) (4)
BIBLE READING: HABAKKUK 2:3; GALATIANS 3:26,29
Someone asked me a very interesting question during the week. She said she believes the Word in the Old Testament is for the Israelites and she does not see those promises manifesting in her own life today. Of course I knew the problem had to do with her studying the Word and as we discussed, she realised some things she had been interpreting wrongly and understood why I keep saying over and over again, studying, meditating and OBEYING THE WORD OF GOD IS KEY TO SEEING THE PROMISES MANIFEST IN OUR LIVES. You cannot be lazy about studying the Word, there is no short cut to studying the Word, you just have to do it and obey it.
Every promise in the Word is for His children and as I have said, some of them come with conditions and until we obey those conditions, we will not see the full manifestation of those promises in our lives. Even salvation comes with a part for us to play, we have to accept the free gift of salvation, so in everything, we have a part to play.
The Word of God says. “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.” Galatians 3:26,29 NLT I do not think the Bible can be any clearer in telling us, all the promises God gave to the children of Israel now belong to us and as we look at the promises, it is important for us to also study the conditions God gave them. We all like to confess the promises but we forget to look at why these promises manifested in the lives of people like David and did not manifest in the lives of people like king Ahab. They were all descendants of Abraham but not every one of them ended well.
God told Abraham to leave his country, relatives, his father’s house and go to a place He was going to show him. God said to him in Genesis 12:2-3 (AMPC) “And I will make you a great nation. And I will bless you (with abundant increase of favors) and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing (dispersing good to others). And I will bless those who bless you (who confer prosperity or happiness upon you) and curse him who curses you or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed (and by you they will bless themselves).”What a promise and because I am one of his heirs, this promise applies to my descendants and I. Now remember, we said God feels rejected when we doubt His Word and it is a sin to doubt His Word. When we believe His Word, we prove we believe Him and have faith in Him. Abraham believed God and obeyed Him and God rewarded him for it. Our promises from God come to pass when we trust Him and follow His instructions. Paul records in Galatians 3:6, “Thus Abraham believed in and adhered to and trusted in and relied on God, and it was reckoned and placed to his account and credited as righteousness (as conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought and action).”If Abraham did not leave his father’s house, we would not be his heirs today. It took him trusting this Unknown God with his future and obeying His instructions to the letter.
Are you obeying the conditions attached to the promise you are holding on to? Is your spirit telling you what to do but your flesh is saying “NO”? Instructions from God are not always comfortable, most of the time, His instructions take us away from the comfortable and the familiar to places unknown and unfamiliar. For example, telling us to forgive someone whom we feel does not deserve our forgiveness. Lending a helping hand to someone who never lent us a helping hand in the past or walking away from an unholy relationship we find very pleasurable, all these are unfamiliar zones because we are used to being ruled by our flesh and feelings.
Search yourself and see what you are doing wrong. Repent and do what the Holy Spirit is telling you to do. And if you have done everything and you are still waiting for the manifestation of the Word of God, then do not fret. Our father Abraham waited for many years for the fulfilment of his promise as well, so just hold on to the Word that says “For the vision is yet for an appointed time and it hastens to the end (fulfilment); it will not deceive or disappoint. Though it tarries, wait (earnestly) for it, because it will surely come, it will not be behindhand on its appointed day.” Habakkuk 2:3 AMPC
UNDER GRACE UNDER MERCY