In difficult periods of life, each person needs some kind of support that can support him, which will allow him to relate to hardships and difficulties. For Christians, God's promises often become such support. In this article we will consider what they are.
God's Promises in the Bible
These are promises made by the Lord to people and recorded in the Bible. There are about 7000 of them and they all belong to different spheres of human life - both material and spiritual. It is worth saying that unbelievers do not have access to God's promises, because their fulfillment implies a constant life in Christ, that is, regular prayer - fellowship with God, reading the Bible, attending church (however, this already depends on the specific current in Christianity). If a Christian attends church on major holidays, and has never opened the Bible in his life, then his chances of fulfilling the promises of the Lord are greatly reduced. And this is quite logical: in order to receive the promised, it is necessary to do something for this, to change something in your spiritual life.
Scripture says that God never breaks his promises. In fact, the promises speak of the Lord's inherent constancy, truthfulness, fidelity. God is not a man; he is not peculiar to lie.
Unconditional Promises
It is worth saying that there are two types of promises, unconditional - those that will be fulfilled regardless of how a particular person behaves, and conditional - those that are entirely dependent on his behavior in the world.
Unconditional promises include those that depend solely on the actions of the Lord himself, for example, his promise not to exterminate the planet’s population with water, given to him after the Flood. It is also a promise that the lineage of David will last until the end of the centuries - it is from this lineage that Jesus Christ came. Some promises also apply to Christ - the promise to send the Holy Spirit to the earth after his ascension, the promise that Jesus will judge the living and the dead during the Last Judgment. The latter has not yet been completed.
Conditional promises
This also includes all the other promises of the Lord given to all mankind or to specific people. These promises are a kind of beacon for believers, to which they go through the darkness of life. God promised all people deliverance from fear, communion with the Holy Spirit, forgiveness - but, of course, only if we follow his path after him. Especially if we believe that Christ pulled out the sting of Death, thereby making it powerless - one should not allow the fear of death to prevail over the faith in God and his promises given to us all.
Unconditional Faith in Promises
Despite the fact that the whole Bible is built on the promises of God, in Hebrew, the original language of the text, there is not even the word “promise” itself. It is understood that if God said that he would do something in the future, proclaim a certain idea, then he would certainly implement it, even if the word "promise" as such did not sound. This happens in the Old Testament, and the New Testament inherits the same idea. In these promises the blessing of the Lord is manifested, which must certainly be trusted.
Promise List
So, in fact, the Bible contains a huge number of God's promises, but among them there are several most significant and important. In order for an unprepared person to select them from a common text, he will have to try.
God promises every person and his whole family salvation from sin. He will answer his prayer if it is delivered with true faith and forgiveness to others. The Lord promises believers health or healing from disease, material wealth, protection in any difficult situation, help in cases of demonic temptations. God will give wisdom and peace in the soul to those who ask him about it.
Most Important Promises
Despite the attractiveness of these promises, they are not the most important of the entire list of Bible promises. Basically, they relate to the earthly life of a person, which for a Christian should not be a priority, because after it he hopes to gain a kingdom of heaven. So, the most important promise is the promise of eternal life, in which there will be no death, no sorrow, no illness, no pain - nothing that darkens the earthly life of man. In addition, the promise of the return of Jesus Christ to earth, the so-called Second Coming, which Christians await at the same time as hope and fear, is of great importance. God also promises that all the dead will be resurrected during the Last Judgment, and those who did good will be endowed with eternal life, and those who committed evil will be doomed to eternal condemnation and torment.
All of the above applies equally to both adults and children. There are no special promises of God for children. But it is especially important for them to honor their father and mother, to obey them implicitly. It pleases the Lord God, because the Lord is our heavenly Father.
Psalm Promises
In addition, it is worth paying attention to those divine promises that relate to the daily life of man. So, in one of the psalms, probably written by Moses shortly after the salvation of the Israelites from the army of the Egyptian pharaoh, it is said: “Because He loved Me, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he has known My name. He will call to me, and I will hear him; with him I am in sorrow; I will deliver him, and I will glorify him, by the longitude of days I will saturate him and show him My salvation ”(Psalm 90: 14-16).
It can be divided into parts. “I will deliver him” is the phrase that we inevitably lose if we rely only on ourselves. It is unreasonable, much more correct to turn to him for salvation, hoping only for one’s own strength, looking away from the Lord, both in everyday affairs and in a much more important and broad sense.
“I will protect him” - in the English translation of the Bible this phrase sounds a little differently - “I will lift him to the top”. Being at a height, a person becomes protected from enemies living in the valley, and every believer can hope for protection from the Lord. The guarantee of this is Jesus Christ, whom God sacrificed for the salvation of all people.
“With him I am in sorrow” - reading about the life of biblical heroes, such as, for example, David or Joseph, we see how many hardships and troubles they suffered before they received a reward from God. In fact, the stronger the faith, the more difficult the tests that a person has to endure in order to prove its truth. We should not complain to the Lord when various trials fall upon us. We must remember that this is a test of strength. In the end, without experience, anxiety and suffering, we could hardly appreciate the joy of bright moments. Moreover, with the help of tests, God divides us from mortal earthly life, turning our eyes to eternal life.
“I will glorify him” - as we recall from the history of Moses, he could very well remain in the palace of the pharaoh and become a famous military leader. But what is earthly glory compared to that which he gained by following the Lord? Many great ascetics perished, not having received the slightest approval from the people, but God glorified his children.
“I will saturate him with the longitude of days” - at first glance it seems that this is the promise of a long earthly life, but in reality it is also about eternal life. God promises that there will be no end to this life, but it is worth remembering that in fact eternal life begins from the moment when a person sincerely begins to believe in the Lord and opens his heart to him.
“I will show him My salvation” - God can save absolutely any person, regardless of his misconduct and behavior. He can use any person as a tool in order to save others. Remember that on each of the listed God's promises from the Bible for every day there is a stamp of your name, as if all these lines were written just for you. It is worth trusting and following God so that the promise is fulfilled in full. God can do truly impossible things.
God's promises
We can receive from God everything that is promised to us in one form or another - you just have to ask him about it. His promises to Christians should be the absolute truth, but one should not try to manipulate them in prayers and ask for certain blessings in a childish way in exchange for correct behavior. People should sincerely love the Lord and try not to upset him with their unrighteous behavior, otherwise the relationship between them and God will turn into a contract of sale.
Love for people
God loves people, he is ready to give them what was promised and inscribed on the pages of the Holy Scriptures, you just need to ask about it. He never offers anything else or more than he can give. But he can reward people with many: the joy of communicating with Him, the joy of Eternal life, which is actually possible on earth.