Believing the Promises

  So in keeping with last week's blog post, God Said It, I Believe It, That Settles It, I found myself pondering the promises God's given us in His Word. I was in Largo, Florida visiting with our Prayer Clinic at Indian Rocks Baptist Church (where we had a tremendous turnout on Friday night of people serving on their Prayer Clinic team and several from area churches who are interested in starting Prayer Clinics in their churches). I was set to encourage the Prayer Clinic team members to keep on trusting God no matter how long it takes Him to answer our prayers.

  You see, in the Prayer Clinic ministry we are committed to pray with people until God answers their prayers. It's quite the commitment! So, not only do we pray with them at the front end of their burden, but we also pray with them in the mean time--that time we find ourselves living between claiming the promise and experiencing the fulfillment of that promise.

  In my message to the praying people in Florida, I reminded us that we can believe God because He's proven His character to us. I shared how we can make the promises work. And then, I was going to share "how to know when God's kept His promise to you." 

  I was thinking about this and wondering if the notes I'd prepared really answered this question, How can we know when God's kept His promise to us?

  The obvious answer is that we know when our prayer is answered! 

  But I sensed God wanted me to share with them something a bit more profound. I was sitting at one of a zillion lights on one of the many 5+ lane roads that take you from point A to point B in Largo, and suddenly it occurred to me that we can know God's kept His promise, the minute He gives it to us! 

  Here's how I said it, 

How to Know When God’s Kept His Promise to You

God kept His promise to you the minute He made it. 

Do you believe God is omniscient? I do! Being God, He knows all things.

Do you believe God is omnipotent? I do! Being God, He is able to do all things.

The God who knows everything about everything and the God who can do anything about anything certainly knows what promises to make when, as well as how and when they apply to our lives.

Remember Psalm 37:23? “The Lord directs this temps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” 

God doesn’t heckle you.

God doesn’t mess with you.

Instead, God challenges you to take the promises He’s given you no hold fast to them but holding tight to Him.

God Himself promises to keep His promises! 

Psalm 145:13, “The LORD is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made.” 

Joshua 21:45, “Not one of the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.” 

Lamentations 2:17a, “The Lord has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago…”

Philippians 1:6, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

And, Jeremiah 1:12, “The Lord said to me, ‘You have seen correctly, for I am watching over my word to perform it.’” 

Next time you struggle with believing the promises, try this: Pray as if God's just answered your deepest heart's cry. Rejoice over God's faithfulness and remind yourself that He is a Promise Keeper. Write your prayer so you can go back to it often and pray it again.

You will find that thanking God for His answers to your prayers actually bolsters your faith in the mean time.