Tag: Promises

Make Promise to God and Fulfill Them

So, the LORD makes promises to me. I accept those promises and expect that He will follow through on them. And as the great and merciful God He is, He does.

“13And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring…15Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’” – Genesis 28:13 & 15 (ESV)

Above you can see the promise of God to Jacob that was revealed in a dream. The key thing I am seeing is that the LORD promised something to Jacob and as He says in the last sentence, “I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”. The LORD makes promises to us and we expect that He will fulfill them.

“20Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.’” – Genesis 28:20-22 (ESV)

But, what about us. Do we reciprocate to Him with promises of our own? Jacob did. I did accept the gift of salvation from Christ. I did promise to go wherever He would have me go and do whatever He would have me do.

It is not just about making the promises. It is about fulfilling them. I know that I can and will count on God to fulfill His promises (even if I am frustrated by the timing of His fulfillment). I know that He promised me eternal life in heaven and that I would not ever thirst for Him. I know that those promises are being fulfilled, because I do not thirst for Him as He is with me always. But, am I fulfilling the promises I have made to Him.

I sit here in the mornings studying the Word of God and doing my best to learn from Him and take that learning into the world with me. I write about my learning in obedience to Him. I feel as though I am fulfilling my promises to the LORD, but am I?

I know I should not be selfish and look for the LORD to give me something in return for the work, but the work is exhausting if I am being transparent with my thoughts. I don’t pretend that all is rosy and wonderful, as I do struggle daily. I recently stated to my wife, asking, “when am I going to acknowledged”.

And, that is the deal. I did not promise to the LORD to get something out of it. I promised to the LORD to give something to Him. There is nothing for me in this world. I am here to do the work and receive the reward later. I promised to do the work. I did not say, “yea God, I’ll do it, but only if you do this”. There is no quid pro quo in this world with the LORD. He made a promise to me and will fulfill that promise. I am to do the same.

What promises have been made to or from you? Is there an expectation of fulfillment in those promises? What if you looked at the promises from God as those that will be fulfilled and you then reciprocated with promises that will be fulfilled of your own?

Honor Marriage

I certainly did not expect to read up on marriage this morning and especially in the realm of sex and marriage.

“4Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” – Hebrews 13:4 (ESV)

Lori and I have been married for over 27 years. I love her dearly and only want to please her. Has our marriage been all sunshine and rainbows, that would be a resounding NO. There have been some really difficult times to deal with in our household and our relationship, as I expected and know is the same for all marriages. But, we made a promise to each other and to God, in front of a good number of witnesses that we would be in it for the long haul, and through the good and the bad. We are devoted to one another and to the sanctity of our marriage and that promise made years ago.

I believe that our relationship has lasted as long as it has and will continue to last is due to promises made. Not just the one made for our marriage, but the promise made to follow God in our marriage. The promise made to God in our individual life. The promise God made of salvation. All of these and many more are the reasons for our relationship success.

As I have mentioned before, my study of God’s Word is just following the topic led to from the concordance. I am currently in a study of the word “honor” and allow God to lead my learning for the day on that topic. This morning I was led to Hebrews 13 and the passage titled “Sacrifices Pleasing to God”. The verse above is where the word “honor” is, and I am led this morning to dive into this verse.

The title of the passage in Hebrews is a window into where I am going this morning. One of the things that are challenging with promises, is the keeping of them. There are sacrifices that may be required. And sometimes those sacrifices may not be easy to make.

I want to be clear here. I am not a proponent of sexual promiscuity. I will not promote the societal way of thinking that multiple partners is okay. What I will say is that it is clear in God’s Word that the promise of marriage is one that includes devotion to one another in the bedroom as well as everywhere else.

In reference to verse 4 above, it is the promise of sexual dedication to one another where there is sacrifice. I know, there is sacrifice in being dedicated sexually to your spouse? Yes, especially when you think of the openness of today’s societal thinking. It is acceptable in today’s world to see sex as a carnal instinct and that devotion to one other person as counter to that instinct. Well, it may be acceptable in this world, but it is not acceptable in God’s world. A promise was made and in order to uphold that promise, there needs to be sacrifice in this world.

Marriage is to be honored by all. Those outside of the relationship should hold marriage in high regard and pay the honor that is due to those in that relationship. Those who are married should honor the marriage with their sacrifice to give up those things of the societal world and devote to one another. All should sacrifice to ensure that they are doing those things that are pleasing to God as those promises are to be kept most of all.

What promises were made in your marriage? Are you still looking for ways to have it all without sacrifice? What if you took your marriage and honored it as you would honor your relationship with God?