Holding Onto The Promises Of God

Hey there!
Welcome to my favorite segment on the blog.
Our #OnlineBibleStudy!
I can hear you say that it’s your favorite segment too.
Oh yes? 🙂

Today’s Bible Study was done on sunday(if you follow our blog facebook page, you’d have seen this already)
Can I just say that I love how God makes me dig into His Word through things that happen to me?
Seriously, go through each of the Bible Studies done here and you’ll notice that God always brings the Word out through some stuff or the other. So please don’t get weary in whatever you are going through. If you’ll stick with the lessons, your spirit will grow as God feeds it.(this is just an aside)

So the point was made in last week’s study that physically finance was “brouhahing” me.
Well, guess what?
I found out that I had been loosing the small change I had on me in my house mysteriously.
And then it happened on sunday again.
And I just broke down.
The cash I lost was to be for tfare to church and for feeding for this week.
I was terribly sad.
And for the first time in a long time I didn’t feel like going to church.
Infact, I cried.
Like “Lord, you know what’s up with me, why would you be letting someone come in here to pick my little change?”
I picked myself up and went to Church and during worship, I was just crying.
I truly wanted to place God above everything in my life but somehow, the words of the songs became prayers in my lips.
And all this in the midst of stupid thoughts in my mind(satan is sneaky with these thoughts I tell you)
After Church, I didn’t want to go home the same way so I went to a quiet place in Church and reached for the truth above every thought in my mind and so now, let’s get into what helped me in this situation(and also help others in it too) shall we?
I turned to Romans 4 because I knew that this was definitely an attack on my faith and God just took up the teaching from there…

Romans 4:16-18
“So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing. Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!”

I got rhema from the above words but when I got to “FOR GOD HAD SAID TO HIM”, I paused there…
For God had said to Abraham…
What has God said to you?
What has God said to us?
Either the spoken word personally or from the written word?
What promises has He made to us?
What has He said to you but right now, it’s looking like it wasn’t real?
In this instance(on sunday), it was my finances.
I can’t write it all here but I know what promises God has made to me. I know what He said when He stripped me bare.
His promises were still ringing in my head on sunday but I was like “Lord, why is it seeming like nothing is happening? Why is stuff still so trying for me? So much so that my loosing just a little cash is enough to drive me to tears?
But the scriptures say that “For God had said to Abraham…” and Abraham believed God.
We did the blessings of God last week and Abraham’s blessings were wrapped in there too.
But it really took a while for God’s promises upon Abraham to come to light.
Enough time for Abraham’s faith to wax stronger and stronger through the wait.
Romans 4:19-21
“And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb. Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.”

See what Abraham did?
He held onto the promises of God so strongly even when it didn’t look like anything good was happening.
Now we keep crying sometimes, “Lord why are you taking so long?
Don’t you see the tears in my eyes?
Don’t you see my pain at this present time?
Well, didn’t God see that Abraham’s body was getting dead?
Didn’t He see that Sarah’s womb was getting shut down?
Did He shut His eyes to all those physical facts?
No.
He moved in spite of the physical
facts.

So how can we hold onto God’s promises and never waver like Abraham did?
How do I get so strong in faith that my lack of finances thereof doesn’t bother me anymore?
How can you hold onto God’s promises even when it seems like time is running out?

First of all, we must recognize that this is a warafre.
It’s a battle and it’s all in your mind.
I have written about the battlefield of the mind before here.
See, satan doesn’t like it very much when we are gliding in top shop faith.
So what does he do?
he brings forth imaginations and thoughts that do not align with God’s Word and places them in our minds.
And if you aren’t cognizant of his trick, you keep getting beat up.
Where?
In your mind!
So your mind tortures you with thoughts like, “you see, the Word isn’t real after all.
I’m still home, looking for a job for years.
I’m still single and alone despite the fact that I love for God.
God is definitely not taking care of me like He has promised to do.My life is in shambles still…”
And on and on it goes.
Once satan gets a hold of your mind, he continues to make the doubts start rolling in.
I had a choice to stay at home and not go to Church on sunday.
I had a choice to go to Church and just cry.
And I had a choice to get into the Word and stand on the truth.
And guess which one I picked?
I made sure I didn’t leave Church till I got some truth in me to counter every silly thought in my head and we should all choose rightly too.
2Corinthians 10:3-5 makes it clear what we should do with these thoughts…
“We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.”

Yep, capture those rebellious thoughts.
How?
Put on some of God’s mighty weapons.
What weapons?
Ephesians 6:10-17
“A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. … Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

And it says what?
The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
The Word of faith isn’t different from the Word of God.
Remember Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
You can’t stay in faith if you don’t stay in the Word of God.
That’s your anchor.
That’s how you cast rebellious thoughts down!
I tweeted on sunday that we should make the Word a priority in our lives.
Store up and zip it all in!
Even if you have to check it again when you go through stuff, so far as you had it in you before, the Holy Spirit will bring it to your remembrance.
Don’t just wake up and go to work.
No, fellowship with God and get some armour on.
When silly thoughts hit me on sunday, I knew it was time to feed my Spirit and get some Word in.
The promises we are holding onto is contained in the Word too.
If we don’t know the Word, we lose hold on the promise.

After finding those armor in Ephesians, another kind of armor relating to God’s promises was flashing through my mind.
Psalm 91:4
“He will cover you with his feathers.He will shelter you with his wings.His faithful promises are your armor and protection.”

Why does His faithful promises have to be our armor and protection?
What do we have to guard against?
Of course against the wiles of satan.
God’s promises strengthen us, keep us in Him and keep us going.
So if you don’t hold on tight to the promises, prepare to be tossed whichever way.
And how do we hold onto the promises?
Remember Abraham.
By faith!
Not wavering.
Not considering the physical or whatever might be.
People may think that you are crazy to not factor in the physical but we’d rather be crazy in the Word right?
Imagine buildings and people falling all around you and you keep saying “Though a thousand fall at your side,though ten thousand are dying around you,these evils will not touch you.”
Imagine people lamenting about the economy and you keep saying “Oh, the joys of those who do notfollow the advice of the wicked,or stand around with sinners,or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the lord,meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank,bearing fruit each season.Their leaves never wither,and they prosper in all they do.(psalm 1:1-3)”
Of course they will think that you are crazy but that’s what our Father Abraham did.
And of course Romans 4 says those things Abraham did by faith were written for our benefit too.
So your knees are getting weak with holding onto God’s promises?
Straighten them with the Word.
Get the armor on and let it stay on.
Those silly thoughts that don’t align with the Word? Cast them down.
Maybe you wanna cry, cry but speak the Word while you cry.
Cry all you want and tell God you are still believing His promises to you, that are still holding on to His Word.
Yes, the situation is so overwhelming right now but no, I am not giving up on you.
Your promises will come to pass no matter how long it takes.
They will manifest physically and everyone who hears of it will praise you on my behalf.

Prayer: Lord you are my Father, you are my king, you are my God, you are my shield.
Nothing in this world, or above the world or under the world can compare to you.
I love you Lord and you know this too. You see my heart.
I trust you to come through for me.
Today I am declaring that your faithful promises are my armor and shield.
Your Word is my sword.
Your precepts are what guides me.
What you have said to me is what I believe.
Give me grace to hold on to your promises for as long as it takes.
Thank you Lord Jesus.
This I pray, in Jesus mighty name, amen.

And just as a bonus Word, I found this passage. It always sweetens my heart anytime it comes to mind…
Isaiah 45:19
“I publicly proclaim bold promises.I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner.I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me if I could not be found.I, the lord, speak only what is true and declare only what is right.”

This our Father doesn’t say and not do.
So let our hearts be at rest.
What He says He will do, that He will do.

Don’t forget to get the Word in you.
It’s your anchor, it’s your weapon to win that battle in your mind.

And as usual, I want to hear from you.
Anything at all that struck you as you studied along(I’m assuming you got into the Word for yourself?)
And I’m interested in getting any scripture that helped you through times when your faith was tried.
Do share with us in the comment section below.

Till our next #OnlineBibleStudy,
Much Love,
Frances.

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