Abraham stood listening to the Lord. In Genesis chapter 12, God told him that if he would obey Him, He would make him a great nation, bless him, and make his name great. The Lord promised this by declaring that He would bless him, bless those that stood with him, and curse those that opposed him. As we get into this blog, we want to know that the promises of God are available for us to stand in. We can be assured that what God calls for He has the power to produce. The challenge for us is to stand in all that He said and all that He gives us to inherit all that He has for us.
(1) The Promises are Yours
In 2 Cor. 1:20, the Bible says, “All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” We have been given all the promises in the word to fulfill the calling and the plans that God has called for our lives. Our victory is connected to what we possess. 2 Peter 1:3-4 states that according to His divine power, God has given us exceedingly great and precious promises. We, as believers, must look at the Bible as a book of victory and promises that are made available to us through the victory of the cross and the power of the resurrection. We lack no good thing through our relationship and adoption of the Father.
(2) God Spoke Your Victory
Jeremiah 29:11 states, “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Concerning the promise that God gave to Abraham, Romans 4:17 states, “(as it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations’) in the presence of Him whom he believed-God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;” We are given two things to stand on when it comes to the promises of God. 1) God has thoughts and plans for you that are good and not evil. His thoughts are for a future and a hope. This tells you that in Christ, God and all of heaven are on your side with power to back up all the thoughts of God towards you for your success. This is always to the glory of His great grace. 2) We find that in Abraham God made a declaration that He calls those things that are not as though they were. This is what gives us the hope we possess to stand. God is no respecter of persons, and if He declared His purpose for Abraham finished even before it started, (and He must give all the grace needed for it to be fulfilled), then He will apply and supply the same to you and I to bring about His will. The word is written for our admonition, and we are the recipients of all the promises that are ours in Christ. If God did it for Abraham, then according to His word, He must also do it for us.
(3) Our Stand
For any of the promises of God to work in our lives, we must stand in the faith that belongs to us, and our confession must be one of faith in the promises that God has given to us. In vs 18 of Romans 4, the Bible says about Abraham, “who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken.” In verse 20, it says, “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.” Abraham stood in faith with the confession over himself that God had given him. And as he became a participant in the faith and began to praise God in advance, his very body was transformed so he could inherit the promise.
(4) Our Possessions
For the ability to take the stand that we need to take in order to receive the promises given to us, we need to know what strengths have been released to us in order to hold firm until we have received the promise. In 1 Cor. 1:4-5, Paul writes, “I thank God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge.” And in verse 7, “so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1-2 states, “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand.” 2 Peter 1:2-3 says, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.” The saying “knowledge is power” is true as it pertains to our victory in the promises of God. Paul said that the church lacked nothing in the knowledge or understanding of the will and purpose of God. All the grace that is needed to fulfill the will and purpose is available to us to stand firm in. Here in 1 Peter, we see the Apostle Peter tells us that our full access to the promises and the divine nature of Christ is directly connected to our knowledge of His glory and virtue. In this, we can receive all that God has for us and escape the power of the devil’s kingdom.
As Christians, we must know the promises that belong to us. With this, we must choose to stand fast clothed in the knowledge of all that He is. This allows our confession to have strength and maturity as we hold fast our faith and confession in order, like Abraham, to see the promises fulfilled in us. God has given all grace to us to see His victory for us become His victory in us. So, stand strong and stand fast as you stand in the promises of God.
Blessings,
Pastor Giovannetti
