Everything we could ever need for life and complete devotion to God has already been deposited in us by his divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing him who has called us by name and invited us to come to him through a glorious manifestation of his goodness. 2 Peter 1:3
Last time we looked at how we rediscover and realign ourselves to God’s promises when the waiting gets long. First we looked dwelling on His loving commitment to keep fulfilling in us all that He promises. Second, we talked about keeping our agreement with God’s promises active and practical rather letting them fade into the theoretical and abstract.
One final way we can keep refreshing God’s promises in our lives and realign ourselves to them:
3) Declare our partnership with God. Declaration allows us to affirm our passion and re-calibrate our thinking to align with His. Once we know the specific promise God wants to bring into our daily reality, we can be quick to declare our agreement and commitment to partnering with Him to see that promise become reality.
It works like this: “Jesus has given me everything that pertains to life and godliness to become all that He promises.” AND “Because I have this promise from Jesus, I will see the promise fulfilled.” This isn’t presumption. We have Jesus’ promise and what we’re doing is aligning our mind, will, and emotions with that promise.
The promises of God really are gifts. They are gifts God gives us because we are in relationship with Him. Not so much as a reward as it is something that rubs off on us when we are in His presence.
When God promises something to us, He is creating a space for us to step into His intentions. Our job is to cooperate with what He wants to do, not to be responsible for making it happen ourselves (like Abraham did, having a son with Hagar instead of waiting for God’s promised son through Sarah – Gen 16).
This is not “name it, claim it” thinking. It’s about intentionally aligning our lives and our thoughts and our expectations with the truth God has spoken about us and our future. It’s saying, “I’m all in, Lord!”
That way, any time that elapses between Jesus making a promise and fulfilling that promise just turns out to be a time period in fellowship of the One who called us (“He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” – 1 Thes 5:24). And so through God’s promises, life becomes about the journey, not merely the outcome.