Today, we begin a new topic: using God’s promises in times of temptation and sin. Temptation is an inevitable reality especially for Christians who have been redeemed from the dominion of sin and Satan. “…Satan fumes with rage at having lost his citizens. Like Pharaoh of Egypt, he will not sit idly by and watch his slaves walk away from his dominion. He therefore sets out with his vast and dark army in hot pursuit of us (Ex. 14:5-8)” (p. 93). “He tirelessly tempts us to sin, setting traps for our feet, lures for our hearts, sirens for our ears, and enticements for our eyes…” (p. 93). He is much stronger than we can ever be. But thankfully, we have the promises of God to help us in times of temptation and sin and preserve us through them all. But the authors first deal with three things about temptation we must understand.
Read MoreToday, let’s briefly consider God’s promise of wise and tender correction by our affliction. The authors say, “The Lord also promises to use our afflictions for our eternal good. This is because we undergo trials not as enemies of God, but as children of God through our saving relationship with Christ. To those without Christ, trials are but foretastes of the coming judgment, but to [us] who are in Christ, trials are mediated by God’s eternal grace and love. The Lord has promised our correction and spiritual benefits through our affliction. Keeping this in mind will help us face our troubles with the view of how we can profit from them rather than how long we have to suffer” (p. 80).
Read MoreWe are continuing with using God’s promises in affliction. Today, let us be encouraged by God’s promise of protection against ruin. When we considered the promise of God’s presence in our affliction, we mentioned Isa. 43:1-3. “Of Isaiah 43:2, Leigh says: ‘Fire and water are two merciless enemies, yet the fire shall not burn, nor the waters overflow them, as God has promised…. They must not pass by these, by the fire and by the water, but through the fire, and through the water.’ While God keeps us from some trials, He may deem it better for us to face others” (pp. 78-79).
Read MoreWe are reflecting on using God’s promises in affliction. There are two different kinds of promises concerning our affliction. The first is God’s promise of protection from affliction: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield…” (Gen. 15:1); “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him” (Prov. 30:5). (As you might have noticed, God’s promise to Abram doesn’t necessarily apply to us. But the Proverbs passage gives the same promise to all those who take refuge in God.) God also promises, “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore” (Ps. 125:2); “The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life” (Ps. 121.7). (Here, “all evil” cannot mean every affliction and painful experience. If you recall, we talked about the necessity of affliction for our Christian life yesterday. So then, “all evil” has to be understood from the perspective of eternity, not temporality: “all evil” is not necessarily the painful things we experience in this life but the final result of eternal destruction. God will not allow His people to experience that kind of evil. So, Jesus taught us to pray, “Deliver us from evil.”)
Read MoreFrom today, we are going to talk about “using God’s promises in affliction.” Afflictions are unavoidable in this fallen world. This is all the more so for Christians because we are strangers and aliens in this world: the world is prone to hate us (John 15:18) and persecute us on account of Jesus Christ (Matt. 5:11). As the authors say, “Suffering is to be expected, not only as part of our human experience [in this fallen world], but also as part of our Christian pilgrimage heavenward. Our suffering, whether as a direct result of our faith and defense of the cause of Christ, or something we bear as part of the fallen world, should not surprise us. However, because we are Christians, and therefore heirs of the promises of God, our trials and afflictions have a different purpose [than a mere punishment of our sins]—the sanctify us within the grand scheme of god’s redemption of our souls” (p. 74).
Read MoreToday, we will be reminded that the promises of God also provide the rules for our prayers. How so? “Things absolutely promised should be absolutely asked for, with the great assurance that we will indeed, in the Lord’s wise time and way, receive the thing He has pledged” (p. 68). What are some of these absolute promises of God? The promise to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask (Luke 11:13); not to allow temptations beyond our ability to bear and to provide a way escape (1 Cor. 10:13); to give us wisdom when we ask (James 1:5) (pp. 68-69). We can pray with absolute confidence that God will fulfill these absolute promises. Even so, we must pray “in the faith of submission” concerning the time and manner of His answers.
Read MoreToday, as we continue our reflection on applying God’s promises by praying, we want to talk about using the promises as the ground of our prayer. I hope we can all agree that God doesn’t owe us anything. If anything, we are the ones who owe God everything—from our lives and talents to our devotion and service. If we can pray for anything, it is only because God was good enough to give us His gracious promises. So, “to pray in faith is to go as far as the promise goes” (p. 66). So, John says, “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15).
Read MoreThe last right use of God’s promises is to pray them. “Praying the promises is the most important element in the right use of the promises” (p. 65). Why? “As distant and out of reach as the promises of God may seem to us in [trying times], a mighty means of comfort is still available to us. That means is prayer. Even when everything seems to have failed and the very bottom of life seems to have fallen out, if we but cry out to God in prayer, even if we merely utter groans before the throne of God (Ps. 22:11-15), it will be enough” (p. 65).
Read MoreThe third way of “applying the promises means eyeing them as Elijah’s servant eyed the sea in search of a rain cloud and waiting patiently for their fulfillment” (p. 62). Why is this important? “Because things do not materialize as expected and fulfillment is so long in coming people accuse God of lying and give up on waiting” (p. 62). How tragic that is! “The Lord has set a date and time for the fruition of His promises, but that is His timing, not ours. We must look to Him as the all-wise God and wait on Him with submission and contentment, for His timing is perfect; He is never late but is always on time” (p. 64). Should it surprise us that we have to wait for the fulfillment of God’s promises? “[P]romises are not made and fulfilled at the same time, no more than sowing and reaping are on the same day’” (p. 64).
Read MoreWe are talking about three ways of applying the promises of God. Yesterday, we talked about “leaning on” the promises of God. Today, we want to talk about “resorting to” the promises of God. “It means always keeping some specific promise on hand” (p. 61). Why is this good? “We may not know when the waters will rise around us, but if we are prepared, we can make our escape to higher ground. We may not know when pain will lay us low, but if we have medicine on hand, we can often quickly find relief…. Applying the promises means keeping those [promises] that pertain to various trials ‘at the ready’ so that, come what may, we have recourse to divine support and comfort” (p. 61). Here are some suggestions:
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