God's Promise: His Character

 

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." James 1:2-5 (NIV)

    The promise of God's character is direction.  Throughout the Bible you are able to discover the character of God, but you really see it in His promises fulfilled.  This promise is a road map for followers of Jesus to have their character reflect His character.  This is a promise to obtain wisdom.  

    God allows trials in your life to benefit you.  Trails are hard, but they produce endurance.  If you have endurance then you are building strong faith.  Strengthening your faith is what leads to maturity, being complete in Jesus, and finding stability in life.  It takes hardship to gain these gifts.  You find joy in hardship as you become more like Jesus because you are able to see the benefits and know that you are closer to God.

    When you are in the thick of trial or tribulation it can be very hard to imagine any benefits.  This is when you need to hold onto God's promises, His Word for encouragement, and prayer.  Pray for wisdom and God will reveal what you are looking for in His Word.  Hardship that is endured produces patience.  Patience produces character like God's character.  Producing Godly character leads you to wisdom.  This is the pattern for the maturing Christian.  Wisdom produces understanding and gratitude.

    You ask for wisdom and He will give it abundantly, but to gain wisdom means you have to live through some things to gain perspective, widening your horizons, and opening your mind to His truth.  As your wisdom grows you will find that you are less judgmental, but you will face sin head on.  You call sin sin, but not in a way where the sinner feels condemned by you.  They may get angry because they are not ready to face the truth yet.  Your job it to speak truth and guide those who accept it to find the truth.  This is wisdom being used God's way which produces confidence in life.

Proverbs 2:1-5, Matthew 5:12, 7:7, Mark 11:24, Luke 11:9, John 16:23, Acts 5:41, Romans 5:3-4, Hebrews 10:34, James 1:2-5, & 1 Peter 1:6-7, 4:13-16

God's Promise: Provision

 

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." NIV

"Don't love money; be satisfied with what you have.  For God said, I will never fail you.  I will never abandon you."  NLT

"Keep your life free from the love of money.  Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you." CSB

Hebrews 13:5

    The promise of provision is a promise of security.  You do not have to cling to anything else.  Trust God and He will provide.  He will never leave you to bare anything alone.  He will not abandon you.  However, if you choose to love money and find security in that over a relationship with God, then you will find emptiness and loss.  Money comes and goes, but God is constant.

    The love of money leads to all kinds of evil.  Loving God leads to an abundant life here and for eternity.  The love that comes from Him endures everything.  It allows contentment in your life.  Stop comparing your life to anyone else.  Your journey with God is personalized.  It shouldn't look like anyone else's journey.  If it does. then that means you have taken too much control and need to submit to God to follow Him in obedience. Contentment with your life and journey will God brings joy, simplicity, and clarity.

    A life that loves money above anything is lonely.  It is meaningless.  It is selfish ambition that leads no where.  You become greedy, but where are your relationships?  What gives you comfort when you are alone in the silence?  Who will you leave all your wealth to if you don't have anyone in your life?  Covetousness is never rewarded.

    If you want peace, fulfillment, and gratification in life then you need to lean of God.  Everything else may bring temporary happiness, but it doesn't last.  If you choose money over God, then it will cost you more than you realize or you would not do it.  Choosing God over everything else leads to a bold and courageous life.  He is able to remove all fear if trust Him.  How money affects and influences your life is a statement about your relationship with God.  

Genesis 28:15, Deuteronomy 31:6-8, Joshua 1:5, 1 Chronicles 28:20, Psalm 37:25, Matthew 6:25-34, Philippians 4:11-12, 1 Timothy 6:6-8, & Hebrews 13:5

God's Promise: Prayer

 

"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God's Peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Sar Shalom.  And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.  Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.  Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.  Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me - everything you heard from me and saw me doing.  Then the God of peace will be with you."  Philippians 4:6-9

    This is a promise that when you pray you can let go of everything that brings you anxiety and worry because you trust God to take care of it.  It is the promise that prayer will change your perspective and how you think.  It is a promise that prayer allows peace in your heart and mind.  It is all about communicating with God and trusting Him to take care of you.  

    You cannot focus on your anxiety and worry when you are allowing God to fill you with gratitude and good thoughts.  That is why Paul states focus on what is true, noble, right, pure, beautiful, moral execellence, and praiseworthy in the world.  It will replace what is scaring you about the unknown future.  Remember how God has come through for you in the past to reassure yourself that He will do it again.  This allows transcendent peace into your heart.  

    Prayer with petition allows you to have thanksgiving for all God does in your life.  Focusing on what you are thankful for changes your heart and mental perspective on situations.  It will allow the peace from the Holy Spirit to guard your mind.  Prayer allows you to take what you learn from God to apply it to life.  This will accumulate in results of God's peace protecting and blessing you.  Even if nothing in your circumstances change it doesn't mean you can't be thankful for God and what He gives you.

    Prayer brings peace into your heart and mind.  No one can take that away from you unless you allow it.  God will sustain His righteous family.  Nothing you give to God is too much of a burden.  He will take it gladly and allow you to see what He can do with it as a gift of love.  The Holy Spirit will guide your plans so that they will prosper and serve a purpose and not be meaningless.  He has everything under control.  He is the order in your life.  You only have to pray, petition, and obey to reap the blessings of peace.

Psalm 55:22, Proverbs 16:3, Matthew 6:25, Luke 12:22, John 14:27, Romans 5:1, 15:33, 16:20, 1 Corinthians 14:33, 2 Corinthians 13:11, Philippians 3:17, 4:6-9, Colossians 3:15, 1 Thessalonians 5:22-23, Hebrew 13:20-21, & 1 Peter 5:6-7

God's Promise: Sufficient Grace

 

"Each time he said, My grace is all you need.  My power works best in weakness.  So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ.  For when I am weak, then I am strong."  NLT 

"But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.  Therefore, I will gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me.  So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecution, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ.  For when I am weak, then I am strong."  CSB

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

    The promise of grace is a promise of sustaining you.  It all comes down to your perspective on who God is, what grace is, who you are, and the situation.  If you align yourself with God, then you will start seeing His grace in situations that could destroy you.  The more you invest into the relationship you have with God the more you understand and appreciate all He does: hardship produces endurance that produces character that produces hope.  It takes pressure to be refined and change.

    Suffering is not pleasant.  It is not easy.  It will bring the worst out in you, but that can be good.  It reveals truths to you about you.  That is a gift.  It will open your eyes to how much you really need God or it will cause you to slam the door of opportunity in His face.  It is better for you to see the opportunity to learn and grow in Jesus, than shut yourself off from any good that could come from something bad.  Shutting the door only makes it worse for you in the long run even if it makes it easier for you now.

    It is when you accept your weaknesses and flaws and give them to God humbly do you grow and change.  It is when you can see God use what you hated about yourself to bring about something that seemed impossible to you.  Moses was not a natural leader, but he lead a nation because he submitted his weakness to God and God gave him grace to fulfill his purpose.  God will do the same for you.  It is when you can accept this gift of grace that you are able to find joy within your suffering.

    Sufficient grace is unearned favor and strength given to you by God.  It completes you in the areas you are lacking.  It sustains and strengthens you to get through any and every trial.  It is when you abandon the ideology that you can do it all on your own that true spiritual strength arrives as you depend on God to get you through whatever is trying to break you.  It takes faith and experience to really understand and accept this promise from God.  If you are a Christian, then this should encourage you.

Romans 5:3, 2 Corinthians 7:4, 11:30, 12:9-10, 13:4, & 1 Peter 4:14

God's Promise: New Life

 

"This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.  The old life is gone; a new life has begun." NLT

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." ESV

 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come" The old has gone, the new is here!"  NIV

 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." NKJV

2 Corinthians 5:17

    This promise is that when you become a Christian your past is removed from God's memory.  Any sin you committed is gone.  Now you have a fresh start.  You are like a new born baby able to start over.  In your journey, you will not be perfect.  God knows that, but repent to maintain your righteousness.  Sin should affect you differently.  You should not be okay living in your sin.  You were given innocence and through this new perspective you will see things differently.

    Salvation starts here.  You do what you can to get closer to God and let all the past go.  When you get to heaven it will be easier.  Nothing that is hard, holds you back, or evil will be present there.  You may not be able to envision it perfectly since your entire world has been influenced to some degree by sin and evil.  That is okay.  Lean into God.  He has the vision for you.

    The promise of a new life is having a life joined with Jesus.  You start walking your life in faith.  You become bold and strong in His name.  You align yourself with the victor and it empowers you to do good, share love, and be like Jesus in this world.  You will no longer fit in the world.  

    You probably will not fit in with religious people either.  Your faith is more than a set of rules.  It is how you live your life.  Find people that walk in faith and they will become the church with you.  They will be your support system within the religious world.  The closer you get with God the more lonely the world becomes.  However, your relationship with God fills you in ways that the world never could.  You can be alone and not lonely because you always have Jesus.

    The fundamental truth that you have this promise is that your identity is found in Jesus.  Your heart changes to hurt over what is evil and desire what is good and right.  You judge evil, but you do not judge people.  You allow the Holy Spirit to teach you to love like Jesus.  It does not happen at once, but He does change your heart as you give everything the world has control over to Jesus.  You change as you spend time in God's Word an prayer.  Do not judge people in the church for not being where you are or people in the world for not understanding.  You focus on Jesus and the path God created for you.  Let God handle everything else.

Isaiah 43:18-19, 65:17, Romans 8:9, 16:7, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 5:6, 6:15, Ephesians 2:15, & Revelations 21:5

God's Promise: Fellowship

 

"God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." NLT

"God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." ESV

1 Corinthians 1:9

    The promise of fellowship is a promise of faithfulness.  No matter who you are, God is faithful to His Name and His Word.  God's faithfulness is where you find security and rest.  His character does not change.  He is steadfast.  His love never stumbles, gets bored, or stops.  He teaches you how to be faithful and have fellowship.  He gives you the strength to endure and find the way out of temptation.

    This promise is an invitation or partnership with God.  His invitation is a divine call to be a part of His family, united with other believers, and to become strong in faith.  It takes your Christian walk to the next level.  You need to lean on other Christians to be strong, but your partnership with Jesus.  If you accept this promise, then you are on a journey to becoming the person you were created to be.

    Fellowship with Jesus is a holy unity.  It is like a marriage.  You have to be committed and work to maintain the partnership.  It is an honor to be partners with God, not just a body serving a purpose.  You are not a slave or servant,  You are valued, loved, and empowered with Spiritual Gifts to enable the relationship to work and grow.  In a healthy marriage you flourish.  In fellowship with God you flourish in a supernatural way.

    Fellowship gives you since of belonging.  It also is a responsibility.  It means you take on the needs, concerns, and issues of other people in your church to support and pray for each other.  It means that you pick up the cross and follow Jesus.  It means you fight the good fight out of love.  You face it and don't run because of what Jesus did for you.  He did not abandon you, so you do not abandon your faith journey with Him.  

Isaiah 49:7, John 15:4, 17:21, 1 Corinthians 1:8-9, 10:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:24, 2 Thessalonians 3:3, Hebrews 10:23, & 1 John 1:3, 4:13

God's Promise: Righteousness

 

"If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.  Romans 10:9-10 

    The promise of righteousness is the promise that you will be made right with God if you believe and do not hide your faith.  God is not ashamed of you when you are at your worst.  He is perfection, so why would you be ashamed of Him.  He declared that if you don't acknowledge Him in life, then He will not acknowledge you on judgment day.  

    It is simple be proud of your relationship with God and you will reap all the benefits.  Fear is something that could silence you, but that is why the commandment do not fear is so important.  It takes practice.  You will die one day because everyone does.  The question is are you willing to die for your faith?  Jesus died for you.  You should never need to die for your relationship with God, but if put to the test would you?  

    It was Jesus' death and resurrection that allows you to be righteous.  It is your faith and relationship with God that gives you that righteousness.  Do not hide it.  Salvation is what makes it where you are sealed in righteousness by the Holy Spirit.  Be proud and tell the world how Jesus changed your life.  Give those who are lost in their sin the opportunity to find righteousness even if it threatens your safety.  Trust God to protect you physically or at least your soul.

    Righteousness is lived out by how you love.  Do you love like Jesus which is sacrificial?  Or do you love like the world where it is all about what benefits you and makes you happier?  Loving like Jesus is a journey.  As long as you are growing in your relationship and learning how to love like him, then you are living out the gift of righteousness.  There is no righteousness without salvation.

    Your salvation justifies you.  Give other people the opportunity to choose for themselves to be justified or stay slaves to their sin.  Salvation is sincere and based on faith.  Your actions and words should support that, but it is personal.  You deal with your issues while telling the world how God rescued you spiritually and redeemed your soul.  That is your testimony.  That is the beginning of your faith story.  Getting baptized and telling your testimony to people is the first steps of obedience after salvation.

Matthew 10:32-33, Luke 12:8-9, Acts 8:37, & Romans 10:9-10