POSSESSING THE PROMISES
2 Peter 1:4: “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.”
More than ever, I am convinced God is seeking to awaken the church to its total responsibility to actively appropriate ALL the promises of God. If we confess we believe in God and His Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, what evidence of His saving power do we display to the needy world around us? There is no question as to the greatness of the corruption, deception, turmoil, and pain that surrounds us in the lives of our fellow countrymen. Even our own Christian families struggle with life-threatening diseases and trials.
Has not God given to us EXCEEDING GREAT AND PRECIOUS promises that by these promises we are able to escape the corruption that is in this world? Not only through immoral lusts, but also the corruption of spiritual attacks, e.g. fears, oppressions, depression, inferiorities, poverty, sickness, and diseases.
God has given us many amazing promises. The Bible is full of them. How sad it is that although we say we believe in the God of miracles, we miserably fail to demonstrate His miraculous power in our daily lives. Every promise of God remains static and ineffective until we act upon it by appropriating faith.
As parents we owe it to our children to teach them how to appropriate the promises of God. Every promise of God has a miraculous element to it. Every promise of God has a spiritual element to it. Every promise of God has to be appropriated, acquired, acted on, claimed, believed in, and fought for.
Passive believism is intellectual, mental assent that believes the promises, but does not fight for them in order to possess them. We may sing about them, such as “Standing on the Promises,” but singing alone, without active faith is static and dormant. We may even preach about them and yet still do nothing to appropriate them. It takes effort and the will to fight for the land of the promises.
And this is where God’s people hesitate. People may say, “Hasn’t Jesus fought the great battle for us at the cross? Indeed He has. Amen and Amen. But this does not exempt us from the warfare. We have to fight to take the ground Jesus fought Satan over in order to experience full salvation.
The devil does not want us to inherit all the promises Jesus won for us. He fights us all the way, and in every way, to deceive and cheat us out of our inheritance of all God’s amazing promises. But he has no authority to defeat us and we can push him back. We can overcome him by the blood of the Lamb.
Revelation 12:11 says: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
Are you a “possessing the promises” man?
Be encouraged.
Colin Campbell
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