Promises Bring Hope!
December 30, 2020
Have you ever had a promise that you could not wait to receive the results of a promise? I have. Did it give you hope? Have you ever made a promise to someone that you could not wait to live up to your promise? I have. Did it give them hope? Have you ever received a promise that never happened? Have you ever made a promise to someone and not done what you had promised? What are the results of having a promise fulfilled? What is the result of a broken promise? Let us take a closer look at the kinds of promises that bring hope and the kinds that destroy hope.
In my life I have had promises from my parents that were fulfilled many times. Each time a promise made was fulfilled it caused me too have hope for the next promise and hope that when the next promise came it would be fulfilled.
In my life I have had promises made and not fulfilled. The biggest one was a promise from someone that I would be married to them for the rest of our lives. My spouse decided that that promise was no longer worthy keeping. It would take a long time to figure out the whys in this situation but as a result I lost hope that I would ever marry again. I eventually did remarry and my second wife passed away 10 plus years ago after 25 years of marriage.
The promises that mean most to me however, are not from individual people but rather they are promises from God. 1 Peter 1:3-4 says, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” (ESV) God has promised me that I can partake of the divine nature and that I can escape from sin and its final consequences.
He has promised me rest in Matthew 11:28 it says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” I give Him all my burdens and He will in exchange give me rest. Sounds like a great exchange.
He promises me peace. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John 14:27 Jesus promised to give me peace. I have found all three of these to be true. Therefore, I have hope for the future.
It is important though to me to understand that God never breaks His promises. There are two reasons why God does not break His promises.
He is faithful to His Word. “if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.” (ESV) 2 Timothy 2:13 The reason He cannot break a promise is because He is faithful despite my unfaithfulness.
God cannot lie. Hebrews 6:18 says “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.” (ESV) Because of this I have hope for the future because God has promised me great things. You too can receive these same promises by knowing Jesus and accepting Him as Your Lord and Savior.
If you do not know Jesus the true source of hope does not abide in you. Learn how to get the hope you need. Learn how to know Jesus
If you have not read my previous blogs you can find them here.
You can find my book, Hope Amid Hopelessness: Our Abba Father Provides a Way Through Mental Illness here.
eBook or Audiobook versions can be found at Westbow Press or Christianbook.com at Amazon or Google
