Posted on by intentional4christ

Promises…Promises

Have you ever heard the phrase, “God of Abraham?” Have you ever sang this phrase in a song or used it in a prayer? If your answer was yes to any of those three questions, then you, my friend, have fulfilled an everlasting promise God made to Abraham. In Genesis 7:17, God said to Abraham:

I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. NLT

And guess what? Every time we say “God of Abraham,” we are affirming God’s everlasting promise to be a God to Abraham always. Even thousands of years after Abraham has been dead, the promise still remains. For this to happen, Abraham had to fulfill his part of the covenant, which was circumcision of each male in his household and lineage.

Do you know that God has made the same promise to you? By faith, we share in the inheritance of Abraham and have become part of his household. And as members of Abraham’s household, this is what God says of us:

Listen to me, descendants of Jacob, all you who remain in Israel. I have cared for you since you were born. Yes, I carried you before you were born. I will be your God throughout your lifetime— until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.

Isaiah 46:3-4 NLT

God promises to be our God throughout our lifetime just as he promised Abraham. We too, just like Abraham have a part to play: circumcision. Unlike Abraham though, this circumcision is not one of the foreskin but of the heart (Jeremiah 4:4, Romans 2:29). Circumcision of the heart is a metaphor for changing your heart and this can only be achieved by the help of God’s spirit.

…true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.

Romans 2:29 NLT

God’s spirit changes us to be conformed to the image and likeness of God (2 Cor 3:18)- if we let Him. For Abraham, a big part of circumcision was about obedience and it is same for us. Though our daily obedience to God, and the Spirit’s leading and nudging our hearts are changed. We are transformed into the image of Christ and can fully enjoy God’s promise to be our God throughout our lifetime.

Such reassuring words: to have God be our portion for a lifetime- and even forever! This week, I leave you with a scripture to remind you of God’s everlasting promise to you:

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 73:26 NIV

Yours Truly.

Posted on by intentional4christ

You’ll understand why….later!

When God promised the Israelites the promised land, He also promised to drive their enemies from among them. However, many times as I read through the book of Joshua I noticed that the bible said the Israelites were not able to drive out all their enemies and in some cases lives among thee enemies or forced them into hard labor. Despite this fact, the book of Joshua concluded with the verse:

Not a single one of all the good promises the LORD had given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; everything he had spoken came true.

Joshua 21:45 NLT

Well  that sounds very contradictory! If God fulfilled every promise then why weren’t all their enemies destroyed? Well after a whole generation this made sense. In the book of Judges, we see why:

…he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience…

Judges 3:2 NIV

To the doubtful person, God had not kept his promise. However, because God has the bird’s eye view of our lives and certainly did of the Israelites. He left a few nations among them to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who would come later who had no experience in battle. God knew the Israelites would need to be prepared for battles later on in their history so He left nations in their promised land who would eventually give them this experience.

When life seems like it is not going the way you want or God’s promises seem unfulfilled, do not look to the bigness of your problem but to the bigness of your God. And know that His plans are always for your good, though you may not understand them today, he is making you battle ready for your tomorrow.

Yours Truly