Learn To Live In The Promises Of God

2nd Peter 1:1-4, “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

I cherish this passage of Scripture! The Apostle Peter reminds us that God has GIVEN UNTO US many exceedingly great PRECIOUS PROMISES, that by these promises we may become partakers of Christ's divine nature. To whom does “us” refer? We find the answer in 2nd Peter 1:1, “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:” Peter is writing his epistle to fellows believers, to those who have been made the righteousness of God through faith in the blessed Savior Jesus Christ. Any person can become a child of God by obeying the Gospel. You obey it by simply believing it! Nothing more is required to get to Heaven. Eternal life is the free gift of God (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9).

2nd Peter 1:2-3, “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:” This is why the Lord commanded everyone in John 5:39, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” We learn about the knowledge of Christ, as mentioned in 2nd Peter 1:2-3, by SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES! Romans 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The Word of God is a shining Lamp unto our feet in this dreary world of shame and sin (Psalms 119:105).

When dark clouds overshadowed my life, and my inexplicable pain of soul seemed like it would never go away, and my health afflictions became permanent (with me for the rest of my life), and I had no one as a companion (abandoned by my former wife in 2006), and churches turned me away for various reasons, and no man cared for my hurting soul—God's precious PROMISES sustained me during those difficult and treacherous times of life, and still today. This world and all that is in it will someday pass away (1st John 2:15-17), but those who obey the free grace Gospel will live forever (John 6:40). ...

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus Christ, my righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

No unsaved person, that is, anyone who is not wholly relying upon the Good News (Gospel) of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and bodily risen, has no right to claim the promises of God which pertain only to the born-again believer. The churches are filled with religious people who have never been born-again. They are trusting in Christ PLUS something else, which is no faith at all. For example: the Church of Christ trust in Christ PLUS water baptism. That is classic false religion, which cannot produce the new birth. Another example are the Roman Catholics, who trust in Christ PLUS the Seven Sacraments, which again, cannot produce the new birth by the Holy Spirit of God (John 1:12-13). Only by God's grace, through faith alone in Jesus Christ, can anyone be born-again.

I wonderfully became a child of God at age 13 in Chicago. I knew that I was a sinner. By faith, I received Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for my sins, believing that I was appealing unto a risen Savior to forgive my sins and give me eternal life, and He saved me right then and there forever! Jesus kept His promise and sealed me with His blessed indwelling Holy Spirit as proof that He did (Ephesians 1:12-15; 1st John 3:24). Being a child of God has been the greatest single joy of my miserable earthly life. Despite all of the losses, heartaches, burdens, health afflictions, betrayal by family and friends, and inexplicable loneliness of both body and soul, God's PROMISES have encouraged me each step of the way. 

I cherish God promise in Hebrews 13:5 to never leave nor forsake me, no not ever (there are 5 Greek double-negatives in this verse). In other words, God is reiterating His promise to no, not ever, it won't happen, there's no way, ever never leave us!!! I often feel alone and abandoned by God, but I am commanded to walk by faith and not by sight (2nd Corinthians 5:7). And so even when I feel like God has abandoned me by sight, I choose to walk by faith and give Him the benefit of the doubt, based upon God's PROMISE in Hebrews 13:5 to never leave me, no not ever, not ever, never forsake me, no not ever!!! That is a good God and a wise heavenly Father.

I challenge you dear friend to start becoming familiar with the promises of God. That is why I started this humble blog, to teach others about the exceedingly great promises of God in the inspired King James Bible. There are literally several THOUSANDS of promises in the Bible from God to man. See if you can find some of them, sometime in a personal Bible study. It might take you months or years to complete, but it would be a worthy effort, don't you think?

In his classic 1962 book titled “All The Promises Of God,” Dr. Herbert Lockyer (1886-1984) says that Professor Everett R. Storm concluded that the Holy Bible contains 7,487 PROMISES made by God to man. ...

The word “promise” appears more than 100 times in sacred scripture. One thousand promises are listed in “What the Bible Says about Praise and Promise.” Thousands more are listed in Samuel Clarke's two-hundred-year-old classic, “Precious Bible Promises.” Some have suggested that there may be as many as 30,000 promises contained in Scripture. Herbert Lockyer, in his volume “All the Promises of the Bible,” tells the story of Everett R. Storms, a schoolteacher in Canada, who made a detailed study of promises.

According to “Time,” Storms, of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, reckoned the figure of 30,000 to be too high (since it is roughly the number of verses making up the Bible: 31,173). During his twenty-seventh reading of the Bible, a task which took him a year and a half, Storms came up with a grand total of 8,810 promises (7,487 of them being promises made by God to humankind).

SOURCE: Knowles, Victor (1998); "Promise and Fulfillment: Believing the Promises of God"; “Leaven: A Journal Of Christian Ministry” (Volume 6, Issue 3, Article 4).

My friend, when life gets difficult, and bad things happen, and you feel like you cannot face another day, and you cannot see your hand in front of your face, and it seems that all hope is gone—CLAIM THE PROMISES OF GOD!!!