Immune to Fear Week 4预览

 God’s Promises are Reliable 

  “Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.” (Joshua 21:45) 

Faith is a personal issue. Somebody may have proven himself or herself up to now, but the future holds only personal assurances. We trust certain people because we know them personally. If we thought these people would change, we would not trust them. We read in the Bible who God is, and we may have proven Him for ourselves in our own lives, yet for the future, we still must trust Him. 

No faith is needed to believe two plus two make four, but life is a degree more complicated than basic math. Circumstances change like the ocean. The vast variables of all things affect their outcome. However, God is all-wise and all-powerful, so much so, that we have to leave things to Him to sort out because ultimately, He holds the future. We may not understand all that He is doing, but we look to Him in trust, and that is something God takes into account. He made the world that way. There is no doubt that God can do anything, but He does not work apart from those who believe. Prayer and faith will enable Him to do what He could not do otherwise because He is sovereign and just. You see, He designed prayer and faith to go hand in hand— this is His planned providence. 

It is human nature to depend on people’s promises until we are disillusioned. Tricksters and conmen depend on this innate trust in people who give us their word. We should be able to trust the Almighty God! Not only has He given us His Word, but a hundred generations have also proven Him to be reliable! “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). 

He has given us all the same reason for relying on Him—expressed declarations of what He will do for us. Somebody went through the whole Bible and found a total of 7,874 promises that God had made to us. That glittering array of promises covers our understanding of God and what we can expect of Him. The scope of 7,874 promises should be wide enough for all the circumstances in our lives in need of God’s help. Many of God’s promises come in the form of a covenant. God does a lot for us without us needing to ask Him. 

“Your Father in heaven…makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). 

God is good and good to all. Millions give Him no credit, though they are quick to blame Him when things go wrong. The processes of nature seem unchangeable and regular. To this day, nobody has shown that God has no part in this. He keeps His promises to “the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth” (Genesis 9:10). “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). 

Jesus took it farther and included the flowers, saying, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Matthew 6:28–29). 

However, God has other good things. The promise is, “Seek and you will find” (Matthew 7:7), for they are obtainable only by direct application. Actually, they are promised, and most of them are listed in Scripture— “No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11). When we come to the end of natural provision, Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive” (John 16:24). “Everyone who asks receives…If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him” (Matthew 7:8, 11). 

If we ask for good, He will not send evil—ever! “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). 

The exercise of faith in prayer is paramount! The bird in the nest must learn to fly and gather what is available. Having to ask is an excellent reminder to us of our dependency on God, and prayer is designed to bring us to seek Him. It gives birth to a spirit of childlikeness, causing us to look to our heavenly Father at all times. It is fellowship—family fellowship with our Father. And Glory to God! He has proven Himself to be a good Father Who’s promises never fail! 

Source: (Faith: The Link with God's Power. Chapter 9. Faith and the Promises.)