Tag Archives: a promise made is a promise kept

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Promises Made – Promises Kept

Uncontainable Favor

When you are fully devoted to the Lord your God, you will not be able to contain the favor that God pours out upon your life. And along the journey, at each step you take, you will enjoy God’s protection, power, provision and presence. You will have to accept that by faith now, but over time, that will be the testimony of your life as well. With God, a promise made is a promise kept.

The Journey// Focus: Joshua 23:2-5, 14

Joshua said to the Israelites, “I am now a very old man. You have seen everything the Lord your God has done for you during my lifetime. The Lord has fought for you against your enemies. I have allotted to you as your homeland all the land of the nations yet unconquered, as well as the land of those we have already conquered—from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. This land will be yours, for the Lord your God will himself drive out all the people living there now. You will take possession of their land, just as the Lord promised you….Soon I will die, going the way of everything on earth. Deep in your hearts you know that every promise of the Lord your God has come true. Not a single one has failed!”

The book of Joshua is bookended by promises made and promises kept. Which, by the way, is the story of God. He is a promise making and promise keeping God. Of course, his promises are conditioned upon our obedience. For every promise made, God gives a corresponding warning, which is the case here as well:

But just as all the good things the Lord your God has promised you have come to you, so he will bring on you all the evil things he has threatened, until the Lord your God has destroyed you from this good land he has given you. If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you. (Joshua 23:15-16)

While some may see these warnings in scripture as dark and threatening, I see them as God’s unrelenting desire to bless his people. He so longs to fulfill his promises to Israel, and to us—“Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.” (Joshua 23:14)—that he is continually clear about what will hinder his abundant goodness in our lives.

In Joshua 1, God generously makes Israel’s new leader, General Joshua, promise after promise: military victory, success as a leader, divine abundance—if he will carefully follow the law of God and step out with bold, courageous leadership. And if that weren’t enough, God adds a few more promises: his protection, power, provision and presence. The first chapter in this journal of Israel’s conquest is full of the promises of God. God is a promise maker.

And God is a promise keeper. Joshua 23 is this old leader’s testimony that God has been faithful to his covenant. Over the thirty-five years since the Lord commissioned Joshua, he has been true to his word at every turn. He has driven out all of Israel’s enemies, given them victory at every turn, and brought them into a land where the fields have already been plowed, the orchards have already been planted, the roads have already been laid, and the houses have already been built. (Joshua 24:13) Even when the challenges were great and the enemies were overwhelming, God has been with them. And now, God has indeed given them their Promised Land. He has fulfilled every one of his promises. The Lord is a covenantly faithful, promise keeping, very good God

Personally, Joshua had known God’s protection, power, provision and presence. While Joshua had accepted that by faith in chapter 1, over three decades later he could now stand before Israel and in reality say to them, “not a single promise has failed.

What was true for Joshua and the Israelites is true for you as well. When you are fully devoted to the Lord your God, you will not be able to contain the favor that God pours out upon your life. And along the journey, at each step you take, you, too, will enjoy God’s protection, power, provision and presence. You will have to accept that by faith now, but over time, that will be the testimony of your life as well.

As I think about these two bookend chapters, I realize that I have been in ministry about the same length of time that Joshua led Israel. There had been times where the challenges were so great and I felt overwhelmed, out-gunned and on the brink. There were moment when I didn’t know if I could stand up under the pressure. But guess what? I’m still standing. Why, because I’m so great? Not at all! It is all because God made some promises—and then kept each one of them.

With God, a promise made is a promise kept.

Going Deeper: Someone has counted all the divine promises in the Bible and apparently came up with around 6,000. Read a couple of them today. Those are for you. So just rejoice ahead of time that God will fulfill every single promise on your behalf.

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A Promise Made Is A Promise Kept

God’s Got All Your Concerns Covered

What’s got you concerned today? Whatever it is, there’s a promise in the Bible that covers it: “God will perfect everything that concerns you.” (Psalm 138:8) Now as you fulfill your end of the promise—pray and obey—then you can stand on the promises of God with confidence, because with him, a promise made is a promise kept.

Enduring Truth // Focus: Joshua 21:45

Not a single one of all the good promises the Lord had given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; everything he had spoken came true.

A certain Bible scholar has pointed out that God has made over 6,000 promises to us in the Bible. Some of those promises are universal in nature—all believers anytime and anywhere who are walking in obedience to his commands can claim them. Other promises are quite specific to certain people at certain times, and the Holy Spirit reveals them to us through prayer and the study of God’s Word in response to situations that arise in our lives.

Whether God’s promises are universal or personal, what we are taught over and over again in the Bible, including this verse in Joshua, is that God is a promise maker, and more importantly, God is a promise keeper. The fact is, God has never broken a promise—not even one! I can’t say that about me, and you probably can’t say that about you, but we can say that with complete certainty about God. With him, a promise made is a promise kept.

When I was a little kid in Sunday School, we would often sing a song about God’s promises that went something like this:

Every promise in the Book is mine
Every chapter, every verse, every line.
I am standing on his Word Divine,
Every promise in the Book is mine!

Over 6,000 promises—and he will bring every single one of them to pass. A few of those promises are for you. Which one are you “standing” on, as the little song goes?

  • That he will heal all of your diseases? (Psalm 103:3)
  • That he will supply all of your needs? (Philippians 4:19)
  • That he will never leave you or forsake you? (Hebrews 13:5)
  • That he will forgive all your sins? (1 John 1:9)
  • That he will give you Divine wisdom for your lack of human understanding? (James 1:5)
  • That he will turn all of your circumstances to your good and for his glory? (Romans 8:28)

What is your area of concern? There is a promise that covers it, so look it up in God’s Word. Fulfill your end of the promise—that’s the big caveat here—and then rest in God’s proven character. What is your end? Pray and obey. Do that, and you can stand on the promises, because with him, a promise made is a promise kept.

Yes, you can expect that “God will perfect everything that concerns you.” (Psalm 138:8)

Thrive: Are you “standing” on a specific promise? Are you praying, asking God to fulfill it? Are you offering him a life of obedience in your attitude and actions? If not, why not? Don’t leave any of those 6,000 promises on the table. Your Father wants to fulfill them in your life.

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A Promise Made Is A Promise Kept

Joshua 21:1-24:33

A Promise Made Is A Promise Kept

Not a single one of all the good promises the Lord had given to the family of Israel
was left unfulfilled; everything he had spoken came true.
Joshua 21:45

Go Deep: A certain Bible scholar has pointed out that God has made over 6,000 promises to us in the Bible.  Some of those promises are universal in nature—all believers anytime and anywhere who are walking in obedience to his commands can claim them.  Other promises are quite specific to certain people at certain times, and the Holy Spirit reveals them to us through prayer and the study of God’s Word in response to situations that arise in our lives.

Whether God’s promises are universal or personal, what we are taught over and over again in the Bible, including this verse in Joshua, is that God is a promise maker, and more importantly, God is a promise keeper.  The fact is, God has never broken a promise—not even one!  I can’t say that about me, and you probably can’t say that about you, but we can say that with complete certainty about God.  With him, a promise made is a promise kept.

When I was a little kid in Sunday School, we would often sing a song about God’s promises that went something like this:

Every promise in the Book is mine
Every chapter, every verse, every line.
I am standing on his Word Divine,
Every promise in the Book is mine!

Over 6,000 promises—and he will bring every single one of them to pass.  A few of those promises are for you.  Which one are you “standing” on, as the little song goes?

That he will forgive all your sins? (Psalm 103:3)

That he will supply all of your needs? (Philippians 4:19)

That he will never leave you or forsake you? (Hebrews 13:5)

That he will give you Divine wisdom for your lack of human understanding? (James 1:5)

That he will turn all of your circumstances to your good and for his glory? (Romans 8:28)

What is your area of concern?  There is a promise that covers it, so look it up in God’s Word.  Fulfill your end of the promise—that’s the big caveat here—and then rest in God’s proven character.  With him a promise made is a promise kept, so you can expect that “God will perfect everything that concerns you.” (Psalm 138:8, NKJV)

Just Saying… Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor and theologian who was martyred by the Nazis toward the end of World War II, said, “God does not give us everything we want, but He does fulfill His promises…leading us along the best and straightest paths to Himself.”