I love reading about the promises of God. I love claiming them. I love dwelling in the beauty and glory of them.

I’ve spent countless hours rejoicing in the wonder of 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.”

It’s beauty and grace still wrecks me.

But, then I noticed a little word that we usually don’t give any credit to; ‘for’ otherwise translated as ‘because of’.

In the context of this verse, God is sharing His heart for all the goodness that He wants to lavish upon His people, but it comes with a lengthy command (Build houses, plant gardens, take wives, bear sons and daughters, seek the peace of the city…. it goes on!). And it hit me (hard, as an uncomfortable revelation often does) that the good and great promises that God  is declaring are reliant upon the obedience of the people.

*selah*

In Deuteronomy 30, God declares that, when His children return to Him and obey Him, He will freely lavish upon them all the good promises that He has for them.

This principle of actively receiving the promises is repeated over and over again throughout Scripture.

2 Peter 1:4 says that God has exceedingly great and precious promises that are ours by the power of the Holy Spirit and because of Jesus’ redeeming work on the cross (enabling us to partake of the divine nature). But, even once we have received Jesus as King of our hearts and lives and are surrendered to the Holy Spirit and the will of God, our lives must be characterised by relentless obedience.

While nothing we do can ever change who He is (He will always love us; He will always be victorious and relentlessly kind), in order that we might abide in Him (and He in us) we must be obedient to His commands (John 15:10).

In light of this, I want to remind us of a few of the promises of God, along with our part in receiving them and dwelling in them.

Be blessed, and live in the promises that He has for you.

*The promises of God, and how to abide in them*

– His presence
We need to seek Him with our whole heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)

– His love
We need to not fear (1 John 5:18)
We need to keep His commands. (John 15:10)

– His strength
We need to wait upon Him (Isaiah 40:31)

– His victory
We need to be still and let Him (Exodus 14:14)

– His healing
We need to humble ourselves, seek Him and pray (2 Chronicles 7:14)

– His joy
We need to choose to be joyful (James 1:2)

– His peace
We must cast our cares upon Him and pursue peace (1 Peter 5:7; 3:11)

➡️”Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8 ⬅️