Promises – We all have made them and sadly, at times, have failed to keep them. But what about the promises that God makes to us? These promises are different because when God gives us a promise, He always keeps it. I really like what A. W. Pink said about the promises of God: “But why should we not place implicit confidence in God and rely upon His word of promise? Is anything too hard for the Lord? Has His word of promise ever failed? Then let us not entertain any unbelieving suspicions of His future care of us. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not so His promises.”1
A. W. Pink’s very comforting words should be a source of great encouragement to our hearts and cause us to always trust God that He will, not only keep His promises, but in many cases provide us with even more blessings than His promise requires.
The Bible is just full of amazing promises to His children. Below I would like to just share three of them that I pray will encourage you in your walk with Jesus.
God promises to supply all of our needs.
(Philippians 4:19) tells us: “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” When you live for the Lord, you can rest in the knowledge that whatever your needs are God will meet them. God knows we have many needs and He delights to meet them. Sometimes His timing may not be what we think it should be but in the long run His timing is always best. If God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, (Psalm 50:10) as well as being in possession of unlimited resources, we need not worry about God supplying our daily bread!
God promises that He will never leave you nor forsake you
We read in (Deuteronomy 31:6): “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Here we see that Joshua was to cross over the Jordan River with the people of Israel and take possession of the land promised by God, as well as destroy the nations before him. While humanly speaking fear could have gripped Joshua, with such a daunting task before him, but he instead looked with the eyes of faith and trusted God’s promise. My friends even when things seem difficult we can trust in God’s promises. And not only will God do what He promises, we can praise Him for never leaving us and always being by our side.
God promises to forgive us our sins when we confess them
(1 John 1:9) says: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” I believe that the Bible speaks of two types of forgiveness. The first is called judicial forgiveness. This happens at the moment we accept Jesus into our hearts. This is a one-time forgiveness that leads to salvation and a right standing with God.
In this verse we see a second type of forgiveness which I like to call familial forgiveness which occurs whenever we, as members of the family of God, sin. Here, we need to confess our sins to receive forgiveness as a child in the family of God. If we continue to sin as a believer, and not confess and repent, often God will have to chastise us to help us understand that our sins, while not causing us to lose our salvation, can temporarily break fellowship with Him, cause us to lose our joy, and even cause our prayers to go unanswered. But, thankfully when we do confess our sins God purifies us and restores what unconfessed sin can rob us of. Not only that but we no longer have to feel guilt when we disobey God if we truly confess and repent. What a wonderful promise to be fully restored and in right standing with God.
God’s promises are like nuggets of gold sprinkled throughout the Bible. As you read the Scriptures, and find one, write it down and rejoice, for through faith and trust in Jesus, you can be sure that our heavenly Father will honor His Word and keep His promise!
1 A.W. Pink – But why should we not place implicit confidence…
The Apologist: God’s Promises & Real Faith: More Than Spiritual Fine Print
I appreciate how this article takes us by the hand and walks us through three core promises of God:
He will supply all our needs.
He will never leave nor forsake us.
He will forgive our sins when we confess.
Those aren’t motivational slogans; they are covenant language from a God who doesn’t stutter and doesn’t default on His word.
But if we’re honest, this is exactly where a lot of believers quietly struggle: If God’s promises are so sure, why does my life feel so uncertain? That tension is where “real faith that works” either shows up or falls apart.
Let me build on the article’s encouragement with a few reflections.
1. Promises are rooted in God’s character, not in my mood.
One of the strengths of the original piece is that it refuses to treat God’s promises like spiritual coupons we redeem when we’re in a jam. The reminder from A. W. Pink and Spurgeon is dead on: the promises are only as strong as the Promiser.
When Paul writes, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19), he doesn’t ground that promise in our performance, our positivity, or our level of “manifested faith.” He grounds it in God’s riches in glory in Christ.
Real faith starts here:
Not “Can I hold on to this promise hard enough?”
But “Can God fail His own character?”
If the answer to that second question is no, then the believer’s job is not to improve the quality of their wishful thinking, but to rest in the reliability of God and obey Him in the middle of uncertainty.
2. “All your need” is not the same as “all you want”
The article rightly notes that God promises to supply our needs, not our wish list. That distinction is more than a footnote; it keeps us from slipping into a baptized version of the prosperity gospel.
Philippians 4:19 was written by a man who knew hunger, cold, prison cells, and betrayal. From Paul’s perspective, “need” includes:
The strength to endure, not just the cash to escape;
The grace to remain faithful, not just the opportunity to be comfortable;
The ability to honor Christ in want or in plenty.
If my definition of “need” is “everything required to avoid discomfort,” then I’m not asking for New Testament Christianity; I’m asking for a spiritualized version of the American dream.
God’s promise to supply my needs means this: nothing will be withheld from me that is truly necessary to glorify Him and finish the work He has given me to do. That is both comforting and humbling.
3. “Never leave you nor forsake you” is a battle promise.
The article cites Deuteronomy 31:6, where God tells His people He will never leave or forsake them. That word shows up again in Hebrews 13:5, applied to believers under the New Covenant.
But notice the context:
In Deuteronomy, this is not a hammock verse; it’s a battlefield verse. God is not promising Israel a quiet retirement; He is promising His presence as they obey Him in dangerous obedience.
So when a believer clings to “He will never leave me nor forsake me”, that promise isn’t a guarantee that the road will be gentle. It is the guarantee that the presence of Christ will not evaporate in our darkest obedience.
Real faith doesn’t just quote that verse; it acts on it. It forgives when it would be easier to retaliate. It obeys when it would be cheaper to compromise. It walks into the unknown with the steady suspicion that Christ is already there.
4. Forgiveness: judicial and relational
The article’s treatment of 1 John 1:9 helpfully distinguishes between God’s once-for-all forgiveness and the ongoing cleansing that restores fellowship.
At the cross, the believer’s guilt is dealt with judicially. We are declared righteous in Christ. That doesn’t fluctuate every time we stumble.
In daily life, sin still disrupts fellowship. We grieve the Spirit. We dull our ears. We cloud the joy of our communion.
Confession, then, is not begging a reluctant Judge to reconsider the verdict. It is agreeing with a loving Father that He was right about our sin all along. We were wrong to coddle it.
Real faith doesn’t treat 1 John 1:9 like a spiritual reset button we slam so we can hurry back to business as usual. Real faith sees confession as alignment:
“Lord, I am done defending myself. I agree with You. Cleanse me, and change me.”
That’s not cheap grace; that’s costly honesty.
5. Promises are not a substitute for obedience.
The contrast between root and fruit:
Paul focuses on the root of salvation: by grace, through faith (Ephesians 2:8–10).
James focuses on the fruit of salvation: faith that works, acts, obeys, and serves.
The same pattern applies to God’s promises.
Misused, the promises become spiritual excuses:
“God will provide, so I don’t need to plan, work, or live wisely.”
“God will never leave me, so I can live on autopilot and He’ll just clean it up.”
“God always forgives, so it doesn’t really matter if I take sin seriously.”
Used rightly, the promises become fuel for obedience. Because God will provide, I can obey even when obedience looks financially risky.
Because He will never forsake me, I can stand where the culture is hostile and still refuse to retreat.
Because He forgives and restores, I don’t have to pretend I’m better than I am; I can drag my sin into the light and keep walking.
Real faith doesn’t just recite promises; it acts as though they are true.
6. What about when it feels like God isn’t keeping His promises?
This is where the skeptics and the wounded both speak up.
Someone says:
“I prayed. I trusted. The bottom still dropped out. Where was the promise then?”
At that point, my answer cannot be sentimental. It has to be biblical and brutally honest.
God never promised a life without suffering.
He promised His presence, His purpose, and ultimately His glory in and through suffering.
Many promises are conditioned.
Some are tied to obedience, repentance, or perseverance. We are not saved by works, but we can certainly sabotage the experience of God’s blessings by stubborn disobedience.
Some promises are fulfilled on a longer timeline than we like.
Abraham waited decades. The church has waited centuries. Our impatience does not equal God’s failure.
None of God’s promises contradict His holiness or wisdom.
When we twist a promise into a blank check for our desires, we’re not discovering new depth; we’re misquoting God.
In other words, when our experience seems to collide with God’s promises, the options are not:
“God failed,” or
“I just didn’t have enough generic, undefined ‘faith.’”
A better starting point is:
“God is truthful. My understanding, my expectations, or my timing may be off. Show me, Lord, where I have mis-heard or mis-applied what You actually said.”
That’s not a dodge; that’s humility.
Conclusion: Bank on His promises by living like they’re true.
The original article ends with a beautiful picture: God’s promises as golden nuggets scattered throughout Scripture. That image works, as long as we remember that those nuggets are not meant to be admired in a display case.
They are meant to be spent in real life.
…When you don’t know how the bill gets paid, but you still refuse to cut moral corners because you trust “My God shall supply all your need.”
…When you walk into another lonely room and still whisper, “You said You would never leave me nor forsake me, so I will act like I am not alone.”
…When you confess the same sin for the hundredth time and, instead of giving up, you cling to “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” and you get up and keep fighting.
Real faith doesn’t just like posts about God’s promises.
Real faith obeys in the dark on the assumption that God means what He says.
If His promises are as solid as this article reminds us they are, then the only sane response is what James already told us:
“Show me.”
Not to prove our worth to God, but to prove, in our own bones,
that we really do believe Him.
(thanks Curt)