Promises For Our Life

By Norma Guevarra

normaguevarra@yahoo.com

What promises have you proclaimed over your life? We go through life with expectations and promises from heritage, money, relationships, and the things we own, or the things we do, or people that we love, or people we don’t even know that well. Are they famous or rich? These types of things always seem to make a difference in some people’s lives. They always seem to bring it up in their conversations, and if they know someone famous or if they have money, it always seems to come up. To these people, “THINGS” make them who they are. Things are not bad as long as you don’t base your whole well-being on them. If a person doesn’t have money, the best job, or fame, they sometimes think that they are not very important or they are losers or maybe not as good as someone else. A childhood abuse can affect who we are. People claim these things for their self worth. These things are their PROMISES!!! What they live by. They program their mind to accept this for their life.

“THINGS” give people security and comfort. Money can give you courage, comfort, and security. With it, you can have it all. You can even buy the world’s kind of love. But does it give you all you really need? Is it real? Does it last? Look at the rich and famous people – a lot of money and fame – these things cannot give them what they really need. Many of them are the most miserable people you would ever know. How about in your own life?  Is there someone who promised to love you and care for you, only to break their promise? The hurt cuts deep. What is needed to fill the void? What is needed to heal the hurt? We need to make a choice. Do we want the promises we get from the world or the promises from God?

When trouble hits your life: What is the situation telling you? Or what does God say? Remember you can’t always control what happens to you but you do have control on how you respond to it; even if you can’t see the answer or figure out a solution. What comes out of your spirit the minute there is a crisis or someone hurts you?

“But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. He is their strength in the time of trouble” (Psa. 37:39).  The situation is telling you, “it is over, and there is no way out.” God is telling you that He is your strength in the time of trouble. “You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance” (Psa. 32:7) It comes down to one thing, do you believe Him or not? Pray the promises – His word does not come back void. Reprogram your mind so that God’s promises will be the first thing that comes out of your mouth when something goes wrong in your life. When you reprogram your mind you do it by reading His Word daily.  It isn’t denial, the problem is still there, but what you are doing is choosing to speak God’s Promise over the situation, and learning to really believe it.

“The Lord also will be refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble” (Psa. 9:9). What about when we are waiting for a promise and money can’t buy it. What does God say?  “For you have need of patience, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise” (Heb. 10:36).

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Knowing this, that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2-4).

When you’re hopeless, “Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you that hope in the Lord” (Psa. 31:24). Remember, He gives us what we need not always what we want. The waiting time is our teaching time. Ask God what He is trying to teach you during this time.

What about LOVE? You need to feel loved. Money and fame can’t buy it for you. What does God say? “For God so LOVED the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). We all know the verse. But God I want to feel loved today, right now. How much are you loving Him? Who are you loving? Believe me, this is the truth – He will love you more than you can ever imagine. “He will love you, and bless you, and multiply you: He will also bless the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of the land, your grain, and your new wine, and your oil, the increase of your cattle, and the offspring of your flock, in the land which He swore unto your fathers to give you” (Deut. 7:13).  In other words, He will take care of you. He does that NOW…..TODAY, not just in Jesus’ days – He does it today. Some times it takes longer than we think it should. But do you really trust Him or is it just talk.

Pour His word into your spirit and spend the time with Him, as much time as you spend worrying over things and situations. Remember Satan wants us to focus on the problem so we will not focus on the Word of God. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Call on Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you” (Jeremiah 29:11-12) {this is my favorite verse}.

How do we make these promises from God real to us?

1. We have to the make a choice: Our strongest motivation will be the person with whom we walk and talk to. Staying close to the Lord through constant communication, we receive a continual supply of strength, peace and wisdom to walk victoriously through a war zone.

2. Faith: When we renew our minds with His word, and seek Him, we learn to trust and walk in faith. Christ came to set the captives free. Satan wants to make us captive. We must walk with Christ step-by-step for the sake of protection, power, and a resulting unparalleled passion in our lives.

Read Ephesians 6:10-18: “Last of all, I want to remind you that your strength must come from the Lord’s mighty power within you” (Eph. 6:10, Living Bible translation). How does it get put into your spirit and your mind? Again I say, talk to Him about everything and re-program your mind with His word. “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand safe against all strategies and tricks of Satan. For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against persons without bodies – the evil rulers of the unseen world, those mighty satanic beings and great evil princes of darkness who rule this world and against huge numbers of wicked spirits in the spirit world” (Eph. 6:11-12).

3. Put our focus on God’s solution, not on the problem that comes from the evil one.  And remember, not all problems or trials come from Satan. A lot of the time the problem comes from us. Because we are not obedient! We do what we want to do, even when we know we shouldn’t. We ride the fence. One hand with God and the other hand doing exactly what He has asked us NOT TO DO. Peace is the fruit of an obedient life. Solution is being in God’s Word, and believing it. Pray God’s Word. Satan runs from God’s Word, so…….learn it and use it against him. You have the authority in the name of Jesus. You are not the bottom you are the top. Our heavenly Father is far greater than any man or woman…Know that He is always with you. Pray protection over yourself, your family, and your home. You have the authority to pray out any evil spirit that has come into your home in the name of Jesus. Then ask the Holy Spirit to fill your house and, of course, to fill your heart.

The last thing God wants for His children is a spirit of fear regarding the enemy. So, can you live without the promises of God?

“So, what is the difference with living according to the promises of the world and/or my own way of thinking, and not giving any value to the promises from God?,” one might ask?  This difference can be best illustrated in the story of Grandma’s Gift of the Beautiful Radio System:

Grandma received a gift of a beautiful radio system. It had everything; it was the best and newest that you could buy.

Every day she listened to her favorite radio station with all the music she liked. Of course it was always on AM. That was all she knew about; only because no one had told her of all the other features. One day her grandson came in and asked her, “Grandma, how do you like the surround sound? Have you recorded any of your favorite programs?” She looked at him and said, “What do you mean?” He then began to tell her about all the features of the system: The surround sound, FM stereo, the recording system and many other features. He wrote it down so she wouldn’t forget. She was blown away. She just didn’t know. When she listened to her music with the surround sound, she couldn’t believe the beauty of it all.

This is the way we sometimes live without a personal relationship with the Lord. We miss all the good stuff. Stuff like peace, hope, wisdom, love, direction, forgiveness and much more. He fills the void. He has given us instructions in His Word for a life with many gifts. This is what we were created for. As my good friend Eric says, “The problem today is that Jesus is more real to people as a past figure of history than as a present reality.” The Bible is not just a book; it is His Word full of promises for our life, and it is real – He is REAL, yesterday, today and forever. The Bible says that God’s Word doesn’t come back to Him void (Isa. 55:11). Can you believe it?  But how many people do you know that their words are empty? God’s words are true. If you believe God’s Word, apply it. Your life will change!

In the crisis, He will give you peace. He will become your friend. In the middle of a problem, He will give you direction.

At a critical moment of your life, He will step in and will give peace so you can think; He will protect your heart and give you wisdom. He supplies all your needs, maybe not all of our wants, but He knows what we need and when we need it. And remember, you might not always understand what He is doing, or why it is taking so long, but that’s when we TRUST HIM, after all, He is God and is waiting with opened arms for you. Believe me, if you let Him lead you daily, you will look back on your life and say to yourself, “Now I know what He was trying to teach me…!”

You become the person that He created you to be! Get out of AM thinking and let Him take you all the way. You don’t have a clue what He can do for you and those you have been praying for.

Jesus said, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23).

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