Promise: September 20, 2010

Today's Word for Monday September 20, 2010

PROMISE

DEFINITION

A declaration that something will or will not be done; indication of future excellence or achievement; something promised.

SCRIPTURE

"Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?" Numbers 23:19b

"For the promise is to you and your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." Acts 2:39

"And this is the promise that He has promised us -- eternal life." I John 2:25

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

God made two very significant promises to Noah and to Abraham that affect us today. Through out the Bible God has made promises and when God makes a promise it is never broken.
In Genesis 9:12-15 it reads: And GOD said, "this is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, and for perpetual generations; I set My rainbow in the cloud and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth -- that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh."
And in Genesis 12: 2-3 it reads: "I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; I will bless those that bless you; I will curse those that curse you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
In both of these passages God made a promise that He has kept.
In His promise to Noah He said He would send a rainbow after a storm to remind us that He would never destroy the earth with a flood.

God kept His promise to Abraham by making him a great nation [Israel] and by making his name great.

But the greatest promise ever made was the promise made by God to send His only Son to this earth to pay for the sins of each one of us living on this earth. And all we have to do is to first ask God for forgiveness for our sins and then accept Jesus into our heart and start a personal relationship with Him.

In life today so many people make promises that are not kept. Parents promise certain things to children and then do not follow through. Spouses make promises, families make promises, neighbors make promises, politicians make promises and most of them today are not honored.

God set the standard with Noah and Abraham and as Christians, God expects nothing less from us. Each of us should take the time now and think about the promises we have made and not kept and do all we can to honor those promises. But most important, from this day on we need to commit to make promises that we are sure we can honor. Relationships are put in jeopardy when promises are not kept. Marriage vows that were made saying that we are to love and honor and to be faithful as long as we both shall live are not taken seriously today. It is time to right the wrongs and honor your promises.

LEARNING

Our memory verse for this week is found in 1 John 4:10.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

PRAYER

Give me strength today to remember promises that I have made and help me to be faithful to keep them. Thank You Lord, that I can know that You are faithful to keep all Your promises and that through the Lord Jesus Christ I have the promise of eternal life with You. Give me the leadership in my family to show by example the importance of honoring promises.