Life is constantly changing, seemingly at a rapid pace. What may have been in style just a few months ago is suddenly obsolescent. People are fickle. Emotions run hot and cold. Promises are easily broken.
It is wonderful to know that in a world that is constantly changing – God always remains the same. We can count on Him, we can count on His Word, and we can count on His promises.
Joshua 21: 45, “All of the good promises that the Lord had given Israel came true.” Amen! God had set apart a group of people to teach them His ways. Much of the Old Testament is made up of God guiding and teaching these unruly people how to become “godly”. All the promises that God had previously promised were realized at the end of the Book of Joshua. He made covenants and promises with His people and this verse declares that ALL of the GOOD promises came true! Not a few promises but all the promises.
Fast forward to the New Testament, there are many good promises God has made as well as a new Covenant. All of these good promises of God were made possible and came true through Jesus Christ.
When Jesus conquered death on the cross – He made it possible for us to have HIS spirit live inside of us when we became a Christian. (“Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17). This means we are a brand-new species of being.
We fail sometimes to see these promises because we limit ourselves to our flesh only. If there is a struggle to see the promises of God in your life, I would suggest that perhaps your flesh is in control and not your spirit. The Bible tells us that our flesh is an enemy to our Spirit. (Romans 8:7). Therefore, we are applauded to “walk by our spirit and not by our flesh”. (Galatians 5:16).
For instance, as a Christian, we always have access to love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance (Galatians 5:22-23). Yet, many times our flesh is quite the contrary.
We have amazing promises that Jesus has already fulfilled. God has given us everything we need in our Spirit. Our faith will appropriate what Jesus has done. Are we realizing God’s good promises or are we limiting our faith to what we only see in our flesh?
The goal of the Christian is not to try to get more of Jesus in our life or trying to “make” our flesh behave, but rather learning how to “walk by our Spirit”.
As a result, we too can declare and see “all of the good promises of God”.
Rhonda L. Smart ([email protected])
