“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God. “The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. – Deuteronomy 28:1-2,7 ESV
Warrior;
The Bible is filled with Promises. Promises that are good, and promises that are not so good. Promises if you obey God, and keep His will. Promises that if you do not obey God, do not walk with Him, do NOT humble thyself, then this other thing will happen. According to Bibleinfo.com; There are 3573 promises in the Bible. The word promise itself occurs over 50 times in the King James Version of the Bible. The Bible consists of 2 sections: the OLD PROMISE, and the NEW PROMISE. We call them TESTAMENTS. Just like when we make a will, it is our LAST WILL and TESTAMENT. The English word testament derives from a Greek term meaning “covenant.”. In Hebrew, it means “agreement,” “covenant,” or “contract. It is fair to call those, PROMISES. There are the OLD PROMISES and the NEW PROMISES. The old promises do not go away, they are supported by the New Promises. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-20)
Leader, the Bible is full of God’s promises to help us in every time of need. He is our Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. He is God the Father, and He is a good Father. A Father protects, provides, counsels, and guides his children. Hear the Word of the Lord; Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:9-11) In today’s verse is one of my favorite promises of God; God shall make our enemies who come out against us ONE WAY, to be dispersed 7 ways. In other words, He scatters those who are aligned against us. Now even though the specific promise was given to the Jews who departed Egypt for the Promised Land, we can clearly see that this promise is also to us. If you look to v1-2, it establishes this promise to those who OBEY THE VOICE OF THE LORD, being careful to obey all His commandments. The promise made to the Israelites in DT 28, are promises that a true follower of Christ today has. Hear the Word of the Lord. Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too. This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. (Romans 9:6-8) As a TRUE FOLLOWER of Jesus Christ, these promises extend to us! We are in the position of entitlement to the inheritance of every blessing for keeping the Law. Hear the Word of the Lord. “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.” (1 Corinthians 1:30) Jesus did for us what we could never do for ourselves, He became to us, for us; righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Conduit, let me leave you with 7 Promises God has made to those who are willing to respond to Christ’s ministry of reconciliation. God has promised to supply every need we have. The Bible says: “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus”. (Philippians 4:19). God has obligated Himself only to the extent of our needs. That would include food, clothing, shelter, companionship, love, and salvation thru Jesus Christ. It would not include the multiplicity of luxuries that we have come to think of as needs. God has promised that His grace is sufficient for us. (II Corinthians 12:9). He has made provision for our salvation by His grace through faith. Read Ephesians 2:8. It is through an obedient faith that we have access into the grace of God according to Romans 5:2. God has promised that His children will not be overtaken with temptation. Instead, He assures us that a way of escape will be provided. See I Corinthians 10:13. Jude wrote: “Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present your faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy” (Jude v 24). Darius, King of the Medes, said to Daniel, “Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee” (Daniel 6:16). He did deliver Daniel from the den of lions. God has promised us victory over death. He first resurrected Jesus by way of assuring our resurrection. Peter said: “This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses” (Acts 2:32). Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:3,4). Later on he adds: “but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 15:57). God has promised that all things work together for good to those who love and serve Him faithfully (Romans 8:28). It may be difficult for us to see and understand how this is accomplished at times, but God has promised it, and He will deliver. God has promised that those who believe in Jesus and are baptized for the forgiveness of sins will be saved. (Mark 16:16 and Acts 2:38). God has promised His people eternal life (John 10:27,28). Today, LIVE in obedience to Christ, to His Will, His Way and His Word- so that the promises of God will be yours!
Way of The Warrior- A Daily Devotional 