Promises: September 27, 2013

TODAY’S WORD FOR FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2013.

PROMISES

DEFINITION: 

One's pledge to another that one will or will not do something; commit to do or give; give one's word to.

SCRIPTURE:

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

May the Lord God of your father's make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you as He has promised you. Deuteronomy 1:11

The Lord is faithful to all His promises. Psalm 145:13.

He keeps every promise forever. Psalm 146:6

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

God has given us hundreds of promises in His Word and none of them have been broken. In II Peter 1:4, Peter describes promises as "exceeding great and precious promises." When we become a believer in Jesus these promises are ours but we must claim them and act on them. In order to claim them we must be spiritually right with the Lord. We cannot be pursuing sinful ways and disobeying God's will and expect to receive these promises. God's promises usually require action on our part.

When Joshua was old and he knew his life was about over, he gave a farewell speech to the children of Israel. He said in part: "You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled: not one has failed." (Joshua 23:14)

The passages from Psalms we have listed above, affirm that God keeps His promises and keeps them forever. Take time to read each one and hide these words in your heart.

Before Jesus ascended into heaven He assured the disciples that they were not going to be left alone. Jesus promised them that He would send them a Counselor (John 14:16). In Luke 24:49 and in Acts 1:4,  Jesus tells them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of His father that He had told them about. The promise of the father that Jesus was talking about was for the disciples to expect the gift of the Holy Spirit. In the second chapter of Acts we read of the fulfillment of this promise when the Holy Spirit descended on them at Pentecost.

As parents we make promises every day but unfortunately many of these promises are not kept. It is important as parents that as we raise our children that we make sure before a promise is made that it can be honored. Many parents do not realize the positive impact that is made on a child's mind when promises are made and kept. And when promises are made and not kept the negative impact is severe over the long term. When children see that promises are made and not honored, their minds are structured so as not to take promises seriously. When they become adults their promises will be made to be broken.

The same can be said about spouses making promises to one another and adults making promises to friends and associates. When you keep promises you are considered reliable and trustworthy. When you do not keep your promises you are considered unreliable and many would call you a "flake." It is important to remember that keeping one's promises affects the attitude of the one you make a promise too.

For the most part, when you make a promise, you really know if you are going to keep it or break it. Most people that make promises and do not keep them actually break the promise when they make the promise. They make promises to get them through the situation they are in knowing that they will not fulfill what they promise.

Are you the kind of person that keeps your promises? Those that love the Lord should at all times strive to keep promises. We can remember a promise that we made to each other and to our children. We promised that we would always have dinner together as a family. We made this promise for two very important reasons. First, it gave us a regular time to read God's Word and to pray together as a family. Secondly, it gave us a daily time to communicate with one another. As parents we regarded this as a time to listen. Our children would share their events of the day, their concerns and their blessings. There were many times that this promise was hard to keep but even at a cost to us we did all we could to always keep this promise. 

Our Lord kept His promises and in so doing He set a standard for us to live by daily. We must strive to keep our promises to God and by doing this we honor and glorify our Lord.

The greatest promise God has given us is the promise that He would send His Son to be our Savior and that through Him we would receive forgiveness for all of our sins and the gift of eternal life. God has fulfilled that promise. We have accepted it, have you?

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Psalm 27:5.

For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; he will lift me up on a rock.

PRAYER:

Thank You for sending Your Son to this earth to pay the penalty for my sins. Thank You for now preparing a place for me to spend eternity with You. Thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit to be my comforter in all that I do. May my family do all we can to make promises to honor You and then to keep promises so that others will see our word is trustworthy.