Welcome to this week’s blog. This week I want to look deeper into the promises of the everlasting covenant, God’s promises to Abraham and Sarah and all of their descendants (you and I) in the Book of Genesis 17:19.
Then God said: No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. – Genesis 17:19 (NKJ).
Even people of great faith such as Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 17:22-27, still have doubts of God’s plans for their life and His promises. But we still must model after both Abraham and Sarah, who continued to focus on God’s commitment to fulfill His promises in their life, while they relentlessly prayed.
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. – Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJ).
How can any of us doubt God’s promise of eternal life with Him? It’s easy in our lives to turn away from God and not trust or believe in Him when life is filled with so much pain and suffering. When we find ourselves in the middle of a storm, and we have prayed with great zeal, but then no answers or new directions are revealed to us. It is patience we lack when we don’t see the answers to our prayers. When we go through persecution from others, we long to be set free. Why does it feel like God isn’t concerned in immediately saving us from our foes? Why does it seem like God is slow to answer our pleas for help during these times? The biblical answer is, He is waiting for us to repent and turn to Him.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. – 2 Peter 3:9 (NKJ).
Many ask why God would choose not to save His children from life’s trials and tribulations. Unbelievers argue that if God truly loves His children, and He is always by our side, then shouldn’t we be immune to such pain and suffering or hardship? Contrary to popular belief, God’s plan isn’t about waving His magic wand to set us free from this world’s pain and suffering.
God allows us to go through the eye of our storms, knowing full well we are not strong enough go it alone, that is without Him. He uses our weaknesses to reveal to us His boundless strength. No soldier was ever strong enough to fight the battle alone or without his weaponry or full body armor. God is our full body armor against this broken world. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. – Philippians 4:13 (NKJ).
He knows that if we could go it alone, then who of us would ever need Him in our life? The master’s plan is perfect. He made us weak in the flesh, so that we would turn to Him for strength. This is why His promise is to never leave us or forsake us. He knows our weaknesses. His promise is to always be by our side. He promises to protect us from evil doers, the snakes and scorpions in this life.
Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. – Isiah 41:10 (NKJ).
The timeline from Genesis to today, God’s promises still sustain His descendants. He is our Holy Father, our Creator, who knows our future and the plans He set in motion long before He knit us in our mother’s womb. He designed each of us for a very specific purpose in this life, His purpose. His plans for our lives are good and always full of hope. As long as we trust and believe He has our future in His hands, a better future than any of us can imagine, and we surrender our old self to Him, is exactly why we can have endless hope in Him.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. – Psalm 32:8 (NKJ).
This doesn’t mean that those who trust in the Lord, who pray and find hope in His promises will be spared pain and suffering or hardship in their lives, but just the opposite. Pain, suffering and hardship doesn’t vanish from our lives as God’s children, but His promises are always with us; therefore, troubles become easier to endure. God promises to see us through all of life’s joyful and painful moments. God’s promise is to give us a glorious conclusion, eternal life with Him, as we seek His courage and strength to go through the hills and the valleys of this life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. – John 3:16 (NKJ).
By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. – 2 Peter 1:4 (NKJ).
And all of God’s children say “Amen!” – For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. – 2 Corinthians 1:20 (NKJ).
Blessings until next week,
Debra M. Pauli Unstoppable Believer
Scripture Quoted From: Holy Bible – New King James Version (NKJ)
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