The God Who Keeps His Promises - Your Nightly Prayer - December 1st
The God Who Keeps His Promises
Your Nightly Prayer
by Clarence Haynes Jr.
TONIGHT’S SCRIPTURE
“For no word from God will ever fail.” - Luke 1:37
SOMETHING TO PONDER
Everyone loves the idea of a promise. Someone tells you they are going to do something for you, and the promise is the guarantee that they will do it. Growing up, when someone made a promise, we would seal it with a pinky swear. The pinky swear took the seriousness of fulfilling that promise to a whole new level. You did not want to break the pinky swear.
Thankfully, for God’s promises, we can rely on something far more reliable, which is his word. Over time, God has consistently made promises, and he has fulfilled them. There used to be a bumper sticker that said, God said it, I believe it, that settles it. While I appreciate the bumper sticker, what it should say is God said it, and that settles it. It does not matter whether you believe what God has said. It is going to happen.
The Promise of Messiah
The entire Christmas story and the birth of Jesus rely on the trustworthiness of God’s word. After the fall of Adam and Eve, when sin entered the world, God made his very first promise about a Messiah who would come.
"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” - Genesis 3:15
I don’t believe Adam and Eve knew God’s plan at that moment, but God knew his promise was to bring forth a Messiah who would deal with the sin problem that Adam and Eve had just created.
The Certainty and Uncertainty of God’s Promise
With God’s promises, there is one thing we know for certain and one thing we don’t. The only certainty is that God’s promise will come to pass. The uncertainty is that you just don’t know when. Thinking about the birth of Jesus, it fits perfectly into that narrative. After making this promise, God fulfilled it 4,000 years later. Surely during this time, there were many who probably thought this Messiah would never come. If we had been alive at that time, we might have thought the same thing. However, there were many who believed the promise of God, even though they were not alive to see it fulfilled.
That’s why in the moments of uncertainty, meaning you don’t know when God will do it, focus on his certainty, knowing that he will do it. At the right time and in the right season, God will bring his word to pass. This is what Luke reminds us of when he says that no word from God will ever fail. That should give you hope and confidence that God is in control and that what he has said he will do.
Remember the Promise this Christmas
In this Christmas season, as you remember the birth of our Savior, think about it knowing that Jesus’ coming is God’s fulfillment of his promise in action. It may have taken longer than expected and happened in a way people did not expect, but it happened because God said it would, and no word from God has ever failed.
YOUR NIGHTLY PRAYER
Lord,
Thank you for making promises, but thank you even more for keeping them. As I think about Christmas and the birth of Jesus, let it always be a reminder to keep your word. Lord, for the things I need and am praying for, let my confidence be in what you have said and not what I see. The things around me may change, but your promises don’t. Let your peace guard my heart, knowing that you are faithful to your word.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
THREE THINGS TO MEDITATE UPON
1. The promises of God are yes (they will happen) and amen (so be it).
2. Unless God puts a specific timeframe on his promise, you must wait for it, knowing he will fulfill it.
3. God’s fulfillment of his promise is not limited to your lifetime. If you live to see it fulfilled, fantastic, but if you don’t, that does not cancel his promise. God will always do what he has said he will do.
Reflect on tonight’s prayer and share how God met you there. Join the Your Nightly Prayer discussion on the Crosswalk Forum.
Photo Credit: CanvaPro/GettyImages/Konstanttin
He is the author of The Pursuit of Purpose, which helps readers understand how God leads them into his will, and the author of The Pursuit of Victory: How To Conquer Your Greatest Challenges and Win In Your Christian Life. Clarence is also committed to helping 10,000 people learn how to study the Bible and has released his first course, Bible Study Basics, to achieve that goal. To learn more about his ministry and resources, please visit clarencehaynes.com.
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