Do You Believe God’s Promises To You?
“So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17
What exactly is faith? We use the word often. Jesus talked about faith frequently. But what is faith? The book of Hebrews says that faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas, reflecting on this verse, said that “faith is believing in things we cannot see, while hope is believing in things that have not yet happened.”
One simple definition of faith is “to believe that God will fulfill his promises to us.” The Bible is full of promises. One estimate puts the number at over 3000. In the Bible, God makes many promises to us. For example, Jesus has promised to be with us until the end of the age. He promised to be present where two or three are gathering in his name. God has promised never to leave us or forsake us.
Sometimes we overlook God’s promises. The 23rd Psalm, for example, contains at least twelve promises. God promises to: be our Shepherd, provide for our needs, make us lie down in green pastures, lead us beside still waters, restore our souls, lead us in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake, walk with us through the valley of the shadow of death, prepare a table for us in the presence of our enemies, anoint our heads with oil, make our cups overflow, make goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives, and enable us to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
How do those promises become real for us? We appropriate them by faith. That is, we have to believe them and trust them for our lives and situations. One way to do this is to meditate on God’s promises. To meditate means to reflect over a period of time. When we reflect on the promises of God over time, the Spirit brings them alive in our hearts. We discern how they apply to our life situations. They become a source of strength in us. We “hear” them in our hearts, and our faith is built up.
Let me challenge you to reflect on God’s promises. One way to do so is to take them one at a time. Find a promise that seems relevant to your life. Then spend the next few days reflecting on the promise. How might it apply to you? What would it mean for your circumstance? How might your attitudes and actions be different if you truly believed this promise? Our lives are determined by what we believe. Why not spend some time developing your faith in the promises of God?