Do you
really believe that?
And
we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those
who are the called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
Such a great scripture to teach,
preach or quote. But does it really hold
truth for you personally? According to
the bible, God holds the final cards.
God’s word is truth regardless to what your reality may be saying. It is hard for us to really believe that
scripture when we are dealing with something that is completely contrary to
what we know God has provided for us. When
something is hurting our heart, draining or strength or messing with our
provision, that scripture can sound like a bribe from God or preachers to stay
in the faith. But God does not bribe us,
He promises us.
PROMISES,
PROMISES!
We love promises! They are
sometimes easy to make, especially to people we love, but not always easy to
keep. Sometimes we make promises because we really want to do something for
someone we care about. We may promise because we really want to be there for
someone, or we may even want to impress someone. Unfortunately, things can happen. Reality can kick in and our timing may be
off, our provision may run dry or our intention to impress may be short lived. Our
promises can end up…. broken.
Then there is God! He definitely loves us, but is not
emotionally moved to make promises to us. He is not trying to impress us, He is
never short on provision, and He holds timing!
So when He makes a promise, it is because He has a plan in mind, He has
an end in mind and He has every intention and provision to keep them. His
promises are not changed based on a reality, His promises are made based on
truth.
YOUR PART IN
PROMISE FULFILLMENT!
Funny thing about the promises
God makes. He connects the outcome to us. He makes a
promise to us, but in order for it to be fulfilled, it requires our obedience
to Him, and our cooperation.
HEBREWS
6:9-14
But,
beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that
accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to
forget your work and labor of love which you have shown
toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one
of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end,
that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and
patience inherit the promises. For when God made a promise to Abraham,
because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying,
"Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply
you." And so, after he had patiently endured, he
obtained the promise.
God made a promise to Abraham.
He could swear by no one greater, so He swore by Himself. We are used to reading that part of the scripture,
but right before that it talks about what God desires and thinks of us. Abraham is only the example of His thoughts
and what He will do. Let’s look at the first
part of this scripture in Hebrews 6.
But,
beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that
accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to
forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in
that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one
of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end,
that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and
patience inherit the promises.
There are certain things that
accompany serving God… promises! God is
not unjust to forget your work and labor of love. He won’t forget what you do for others in His
name. He sees the times you serve, when
you reach out and pray for those around you, sometimes without obvious
gratitude from those you have helped. He sees the late nights and the early
mornings. He even sees the times you may have had to
bite your tongue to honor Him! He sees
it all! Then scripture says there is a desire
“that each one of you show the same diligence to the full
assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate
those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” That means continuing to follow and serve God even when it
does not look like things are working out.
That is where our cooperation is needed to see the promises come to pass.
Not giving up, not letting go, and not allowing
discouragement to cause us to doubt God and what He has promised. That is what Abraham
did. He continued to trust God would work it out, even when his own actions
slowed the process. At the end of it
all, Abraham received.
And
we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those
who are the called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
HE IS
WORKING IT OUT!
I will never act like I know all
that God is doing in my life. I will
never act like I understand the trials that I have to face even when I am calling
on Him, serving Him. But I do know based
on His word, He is working all things out for my good and His glory. God sees us
as we serve Him. He knows the things we
are praying about even as we serve Him and He is not unjust to forget it. But since God works things out for us in this
world, He still follows the boundaries of this world. Everyone does not get thousands of dollars
that show up in their bank account unexpectedly! There would be an
investigation and you would have a lot of problems with the bank as well as the
IRS! God uses this world’s system to
LEGALLY bless us. So it may not happen in
day one, but He is working it out! Some
things may not look like there is a good outcome- that is just how we see it
from where we stand. But we have a promise. He HAS to work it out for us! Just be diligent in being called according to
His purpose, working for Him.
As we wait to see how God is
working things out for us, don’t forget that you are not the only child God has
and loves! Many times we think if God
works something out for us, it means or looks like someone else paying for what
they did to us. That should never be our
heart. Our heart should seek how God
will bless those that have used us, talked about us or given us hell! He desires to draw others to Himself even AS
He works things out for us. So be
encouraged. It may seem like it is taking a long, time. You may have NO clue how God is working things
out, but just know that He is… because He Promised!
