"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire."- 2 Peter 1:3-4As I grew up, my family used to have a small treasure chest on our coffee table. In it was a stack of little cards, and on each card, there were promises/verses from the Bible. Sometimes before I would go to bed my parents would pray and then say, “Let's read a promise,” and I would take a card out and read it. I grew up reading and hearing these promises, but I never really understood how they worked.
I didn't get the fact that it's in God's nature to promise and that God's whole relationship with us is carried out in His promises. God gives us His promises to get through the painful circumstances of life. When we're in a crucible of pain, suddenly we learn the truth about God's promises. His commitment to us becomes what Peter talks about in 2 Peter 1:4 as “exceedingly great and precious” (NKJV). God's promises aren't great until we need them. They're not precious until they're proven. But, until we put all of our weight on them and they hold us up, we won't get it. We test them and they always prove true. God's promises become personal when we activate them by faith.
Do you want to experience more of God's promises in your life than what is just printed on little scripture cards? Then we must activate the promises of God by faith. Faith is what moves God's promises from our head to our heart. It's not enough to know something; you've got to put it into real life. For example, you can know a diet. You can list the rules and even write them out for someone else, but you're not going to lose weight unless you follow the plan yourself. You can also be familiar with a piece of music, but it's not yours until you play it. A doctor's prescription can match your need perfectly, but until you swallow it, it's not going to make any difference. Even so, God's promises can only be taken by faith. Only then will you see for yourself why they've satisfied generations of faithful men and women who've trusted God's Word.
Take care, Dive Deep, and remember whom you serve.
(Next time I will relate on a more personal level what is going on currently in my life and what I have learned in these very busy & hectic weeks.)
