God’s great desire is to bless His children. Not only is the Bible God’s love letter to man, but it is a wonderful book of promises. Sprinkled throughout both the Old and New Testament are a myriad of promises for the believer in Christ.
Some of these promises are unconditional. For example, in (Hebrews 13:5) God says: “…I will never leave you nor forsake you.” For the true believer, even though he may sin and disappoint God, God will always be there to love and support him. Sadly, sometimes a believer may temporarily walk away from serving the Lord but a true believer will always return to Jesus and He is always there to take you back; for we read in (Jeremiah 3:14): “Return, O backsliding children, says the Lord; for I am married to you.”
However, there are other promises that are conditional. For these promises we must meet a prior condition before God will fulfill the promise in our lives. Below are three examples of this type of promise:
(James 4:7) says: “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” So often I hear people quoting just the second half of this verse saying if you resist the devil he will flee from you. But there is a prior condition that says we first have to be in submission to God. Without being in submission to God you can try to resist the devil but in these cases you will be doing it in your own strength; and with little success. When we submit to God, Jesus will then go to bat for us and Satan will have to flee. The order of the promise is critical. Submission must come before resistance. When we do this the devil is no match for us.
(John 8:31-32) says: “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’” Again, believers sometimes quote just the last part of these verses, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Just knowing biblical truth is no guarantee that you will be able to experience this awesome freedom in Christ. We first must be abiding in the word and in Christ to unleash this incredible freedom He offers us. But just what does abiding in My word mean? It doesn’t mean we have to be perfect but it does mean we need to be Christ-centered and spirit-filled. When we abide in the word, not only will we know biblical truth but we will experience biblical freedom – and there is nothing more liberating than this.
Finally, (Isaiah 26:3) tells us: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” Perfect peace is something everyone wants but few obtain. This promise of securing true peace is only available to those Christians who are totally focused on Christ. If we are in submission to Christ and abiding in Christ then our hearts and minds will be Christ-centered and God promises to flood us with wonderful and long-lasting peace. But if we are setting our minds on worldly things then peace will only be fleeting.
As in all of these conditional promises if we meet the conditions we can expect God to answer in a powerful way. God is always true to His word. I guarantee you God will never let you down on any promise He has made in His word!