“I Expect It Because God Promised It”
Summary: I once heard Bob Mumford ask a crowd of Christians: “Do you believe in divine healing?” Most hands went up. Then he asked: “When you pray for [healing], do you expect it?” Hmm, that’s a whole other question, and far fewer hands went up. Let’s examine this believe/expect issue and allow it to bring our faith to higher levels of receiving from God.
I was reading a devotional book. It was a good, faith-building message about receiving from the Lord. It reminded me of Bob Mumford’s “do you expect it” question mentioned above. What particularly caught my attention was the writer's statement, “I expect it because God promised it.” That is a divine truth and a major key to receiving from the Lord — whether it be physical healing, answered prayers, or any other area requiring faith.
The Bible is full of promises from God. I’ve heard estimates ranging from 3,000 to 7,000 of them. These are what the apostle Peter called God’s “very great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4). Read God’s Word, the Bible, and see what extraordinary things He has promised to those who come to Him through repentance and faith for salvation from His Son Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21).
King Solomon was praying at the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem. Reflecting back upon God’s many promises and blessings leading to that great dedication day, the king stated a principle that applied then, and still applies today — that is, not a single word of God’s promises ever fails. This absolute reliability of God to perform what He promises is seen again and again in the Scriptures. Read them and watch your faith grow to expect blessings from God. For example:
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Joshua 21:45 Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.
•Joshua 23:14b You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.
•2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise…
•Genesis 21:2 Sarah [90 years old!] became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.
•1 Chronicles 16:15 He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he made, for a thousand generations.
•Romans 4:21 …[Abraham] being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
•Hebrews 10:23 …He who promised is faithful.
If you find in the Scriptures one of God’s promises that is relevant to you and your situation, your need, your prayers, hold onto that promise as trustworthy, because “he who promised is faithful.” Since it is God’s promise, you can absolutely rely on it, as God declared through the prophet Isaiah: “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11, KJV).
The greatest promise of all is found in 1 John 2:25 — “And this is what he has promised us — eternal life.” And the One who serves as the Guarantee of that promise is Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior. Not only this supreme promise of eternal life, but also “all the promises” of God find their “Amen,” their “Yes,” their certainty, in the Son of God, as the verse below states definitively.
New King James For all the promises of God in Him [Jesus Christ] are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God.
God has made thousands of promises to us in His Word the Bible. Jesus, the crucified, resurrected, and ascended Savior, is the 100% certain Guarantee of them all. Read God’s Word … see His gracious promises to all who will believe … and expect God to fulfill them in your life, because Jesus is the “Yes and Amen” to each and every one of them.
For additional insights, I have written elsewhere on the trustworthiness of God’s promises (click the blue link).
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Check out our 2 most-read articles on the power of the Word of God:
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©2019, James H. Feeney.
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Pentecostal Sermons &
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Pastor Jim Feeney, Ph.D.