“I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, my God…” - Psalm 71:22 (NIV).
A promise has been described as “a declaration or assurance that one will do something or that a particular thing will happen.” Promises are common in personal relations. Children to get their better act are often promised a reward for improving in something they are lacking. When someone defaults on a promise it can be considered as worse as a betrayal. Failing to keep a promise normally results into a disappointment that can permanently ruin a relation.
Any of us can relate to that incident which created great expectations in us, only to be disappointed when someone balked on the earlier promise or started changing terms. If it was of a contractual nature one may have resorted to the courts to enforce a promise. However, in many other situations, one walks away feeling crushed. Perhaps it might have been of such weight as a marriage proposal only for the suitor to forbid at the last moment. Once bitten; twice shy! Incidents such as these certainly leave a bitter taste. “I can’t trust nobody anymore,” so one declares.
One of the characteristic that define our God is that He is a promise keeper. When Abraham and Sarah were up in years without a child, and almost giving up on having a biological child, God came down and promised, “Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him” (Genesis 21:2). Elsewhere we note, “The Lord met with Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word…God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:16-19).
Our God is a promise keeper. The scriptures are all full of promises He kept with man from His birth as long promised by Isaiah, “For unto us a Child is born” (Isaiah 9:6); to the pouring out of the Holy spirit, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams” (Acts 2:17).
If you have had a promise from God be therefore encouraged that while it may seem to take years as the birth of Christ was, He does not disappoint for it is not His nature. Rather, you should hold on to that very promise, for it is not a promise of man. May your hope be of Abraham who “was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me” (Genesis 21: 5-6).
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I thank you for the promises for my life which I hold on to, blessed with assurance that you will make them pass in your good time, this I pray in Jesus’s name
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06/05/2024 - 07/05/2024 All day“Do not confirm to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is- his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2)
Almost all cultivators are aware that if soils are used perpetually without rains but constantly under work they are deprived of all nutrients. So, though once productive, they lose all power to yield fresh crops as before. But so is our Christian life when we do not regularly feed our spirit life with the Word!
In our leading verse, the Apostle Paul is urging believers to “renew” their minds rather than make them stale, lest they end up losing all power to yield fruit. But how is this done? We renew our minds by constantly reading the Word of God, for there are always insights with God speaking to us afresh. Psalm 119:104-5 says, “I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” The Apostle Peter reminds us, “Like newborn babies hungry for milk, you should want the pure teaching that feeds your spirit. With it you can grow and be saved.” It is a beautiful illustration for any who have seen a hungry baby sucking the teats of a mother.
Renewing our minds is also by reading about the lives of people of faith who have walked before us and their created works. The Christian faith started in the first century after Jesus was crucified and resurrected from the dead. Now over two millenniums it has produced giants of faith who have shared their walk with God through inspired teachings that are a treasure to dig into. By scouring the writings of the great saints before us, listening to their recorded sermons, songs and preaching, which these days can be found on virtual medial channels like Yu tube, reading their biographies, our faith is renewed.
And then we also renew our faith through fellowship. When the Apostle Paul urges us, “not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” ( Hebrews 10:25), he is reminding us that our faith cannot grow in isolation. During the Covid pandemic lockdown one bitter issue was denying Believers opportunity to meet fellow followers of Christ to share testimonies showing the work of God in their lives.
So today, if your faith is on a low keel, or you want it to flower, one thing you can’t help doing without is “renewing” your mind. The blessings to unfold are endless.
Prayer for today:Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, what a treasure we have of your rich Word to dig into always; books around us of faith to inspire us; and believers to share our faith- may we make use of these, this I pray in Jesus’ name.
