Promises, Promises When are They Fulfilled? July 8, 2024

Estimated number of promises in the Bible range from 1000 to 7000. I don't know if anyone has actually counted them. I expect the monks of old did not. I have never even heard there were promises until I was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Of course if you read through your Bible or hear it quoted from the pulpit, you would have ran across promises or oath's or pledges of God's provision, maybe not even recognizing them as such.

A promissory note - Websters 1828 definition:  "Contains a promise or binding declaration of something to be done or forborne. In law, a promissory note is a writing which contains a promise of the payment of money or the delivery of property to another, at or before a time specified, in consideration of value received by the promise maker. It is a legal document."

God's Word promises are good for eternity and do not have an expiration date as Jesus stated in Matthew 24:35 "Heaven and earth will pass

away, but My words will by no means pass away." So God lives outside of our time boundary yet He operates within it for His purposes. And His Word's are eternal, never passing away, not being temporal.

Here is something we need to understand more of and that is His Words belong to the Kingdom of God and are available to those who are a part of that Kingdom.

Listen to this quote and see if you know who said it. “The Bible is the Word of God: supernatural in origin, eternal in duration, inexpressible in valor, infinite in scope, regenerative in power, infallible in authority, universal in interest, personal in application, inspired in totality. Read it through, write it down, pray it in, work it out, and then pass it on. Truly it is the Word of God. It brings into man the personality of God; it changes the man until he becomes the epistle of God. It transforms his mind, changes his character, takes him on from grace to grace, and gives him an inheritance in the Spirit. God comes in, dwells in, walks in, talks through, and sups with him.”― Smith Wigglesworth. Now do yourself a favor and go over this and think about these descriptions of God's Word and then begin to operate with the understanding of God's Spirit within you!

2 Peter 1:1-4 "To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness, (Websters 2 - the perfection or holiness of his nature; exact rectitude; faithfulness) of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 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, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the Divine nature, (Divine purpose) having (already escaped) the corruption that is in the world through lust. (desire, craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden)"

One thing which can deter the Word from having effect is unbelief in what you've read. Sometimes the enemy is willing to wait until after you read and begin to think about the scripture before starting the onslaught of unbelief. You can and should take authority over this spiritual poison, fighting your way to belief and obtaining from God what you need. Determining to stay with your conclusion that the Word and it's fulfillment belong to you and committing to seeing it through are essential to the process. Devils want you to give up before this begins, but not you! You've decided to stick it out, and that means, fast, pray, agree with someone, whatever fits, in order to be victorious!

Last week we discussed George Muller's 5 prevailing prayer points so you do have background for obtaining the promises. The enemy wants you to think it's impossible for this faith excursion to work. It fights as a New York lawyer might, totally disregarding the Law and decency to block what God is doing. Take heart, before we existed, the Fathers of our faith operated with a lot less knowledge than we have. They prevailed and obtained a good testimony! We have the same like precious faith from the same Author who will see us through to our testimony.

I believe we have need of more understanding when it comes to receiving by faith. There is far too much stuff being left on the shelves of Heaven's warehouse collecting dust, and not nearly enough people of God shopping through the pages of scripture trying to find a promise to stand on. When is the last time we got really excited about a Word of our Father we found and went to Him, yelling and screaming with delight at what we were about to ask Him for, being confident He would supply? This is basic operations of the Kingdom to which we belong! This is what is expected. 'God is the rewarder of them who diligently seek Him.' (Hebrews 11:6)

Oh, did I not mention that the promises are sometimes conditional? Not conditional because God is mean, no, no, no. He's the one who set the table before us in the presence of our enemies. He anoints our head with oil and our cup runs over! He said, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." (on the Earth) Is your cup full? Have you had enough goodness yet? Then get with it. The promises are for the believing and taking, as they already belong to us. That promissory note is signed in the blood of Jesus! You can take it to the bank and receive what it says!

Is the Heavenly store full and are there different departments?

Glad you asked, scripture has answered. 2 Kings 4:1-7 "A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.”

2 So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”

3 Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. 4 And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.”

5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. 6 Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. 7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.” Debt Department..

You want to see more of the Heavenly store? Ok, go to 1 Chronicles 29:28 "So he, (David) died in a good old age, full of days and riches and honor; and Solomon his son reigned in his place." Inheritance Department.

Nehemiah 9:25 "And they took strong cities and a rich land, And possessed houses full of all goods, Cisterns already dug, vineyards, olive groves, And fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and grew fat, And delighted themselves in Your great goodness." This was(is) the  Home and Garden Department.

Psalm 86:15 "But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth."  Spiritual Development Department.

Mark 6:42-44  "So they all ate and were filled. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish. 44 Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men."  Red Lobster- all you can eat- Fish Dinner Department.

Luke 5:4-8  …"Jesus said, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was (so full) it was breaking. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”  Abundant Harvest Department.

Evidently the Lord deals in fullness. The Kingdom of God on Earth would have to be full of everything necessary for life in the physical world. 

Psalm 24:1 "The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein." I believe Adam's 'How to Live on Earth' seminar was cut short, hence the struggle. Who knew there would be cars and planes, and oil to power them, giant buildings and ocean liners, space ships, food enough for billions of people! If you need something just ask God and He will inspire you! The knowledge of computers wasn't laid up for the unrighteous, but for us! God's people in Israel are still inventing unimaginable devices for medical usage and all manner of applications. Ever heard of the Iron Dome Missile Defense System? It has saved many lives since 2011.

Fullness in the spiritual realm

We also see the fullness in the spiritual realm as Psalm 86:15 states. "But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious,Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth." He also shares His spiritual gifts with His saints!

1 Samuel 16:13 "Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward." (Filled with the Holy Spirit)

Isaiah 61:3 "To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;"

Acts 2:3-4 "On the day of Pentecost, there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."

Psalm 23:5 "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over." 

So the prophecy of John the Baptist was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." 3-4 years after the Word was given

Sweet fulfillment

God your Heavenly Father is interested in your fulfillment. Each of us has a God given destiny. Jeremiah 29:11 "For 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."

Along the way to your destiny are destinations. We don't just arrive at 4 years of age and start doing the works of God. The best way to fulfillment is walking with God, His way, which is in His Word, by the Holy Spirit, day by day. Let's take a look at what His Word says about receiving fulfillment of His promises.

1 Corinthians 13:11 "When I was a child, I spoke, understood, and thought and acted like a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things."  We cannot give our mental ascent to the promise and expect it to come to pass. We must do things through the God channel, our heart. You see if we stop at "I suppose it's possible" then we might be there awhile. A long while.

Romans10:9 says to believe the promise in your heart, and confess with your mouth what you believe. To come to a place of faith one must meditate on the promise until you see it inside. Once you know it's there begin speaking your faith regarding the scriptures and what you need or want. When you hear yourself speaking truth without first thinking about it, you got it. God didn't make it too hard. People left practical things out of their sermons which could have brought you to the finish line. It's ok. As long as you know the truth now and don't give up you can win! Yes and amen will always be the truth of God's Word. Anytime there is a step of faith taken an equal step of transformation must accompany it. That was required in Jesus days, why wouldn't it be so today? Fulfillment of a promise takes place when there is genuine God kind of faith released from our mouths, by the pathway of the heart. You were created to do this, and so it will work for you.

When I was a child, milk was $1.00 per gallon, Gas was $.24. If you went to the Grocery store today and tried to pay $1.00 for a gallon of milk and $.24 for a gallon of gas, people might wonder what's the matter with you? Man, you've got to get with the times! Milk was that cheap back in 1957, but it's 2024, 67 years later. You've got some catching up to do!

Yesterday's understanding of God's faith working through us might not be the same version as today's understanding. We believe we have progressed and are able to see things more clearly now than ever, a sure sign of maturity. I'll tell you what, if you put effort into learning exactly how to follow God by the faith route, study, meditate, spend time in the supernatural Word of the living God, it will transform you and your situations. The Holy Spirit will help you grow and prosper and be in health. Life as a believer won't be so frustrating and God's fulfillment through His promises will be yours!