The Lord had made many promises to his people throughout the Bible. While it may seem like those promises don’t really work or like they may not apply to us, that is definitely not the case. The Bible is the literal word of God, and his words are true. Because the Word of God is true, we can stand on every single promise made.

Now you may be asking yourself, “what is a promise?” Luckily, it’s pretty simple. A promise can be defined as a covenant or declaration made that will come to pass, at least when you are relating it to a promise made by God. I’m sure we have all had someone in our lives make a promise that didn’t follow through. God isn’t like that at all, in fact, we have a few great examples of promises that were already fulfilled in the scriptures by Jesus. Here are a few:

Promises Fulfilled by Jesus

• Jesus would be a descendant of Abraham

The promise was made when Abraham was told that,

“And in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 22:18).

This promise was fulfilled as the line of Abraham grew into the entire Israelite nation which eventually led to Jesus as the genealogy of Jesus shows,

“Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph… the son of Abraham” (Luke 3:23-34).

• Jesus would crush evil, but by causing pain to himself.

This promise was made as God said to the serpent:

“He shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

This promise was fulfilled by the crucifixion, which involved Jesus being killed for all sin on the cross, defeating evil.

• His oppression was promised

It was said in Isaiah 53:7 that Jesus would be “oppressed” and “afflicted”, like a “lamb that is led to the slaughter”.

This was once again fulfilled by the crucifixion, as he was as innocent as a lamb but led to his own oppression as he died on the cross.

These are just a few of the many promises fulfilled by Jesus. It is said that there are over 300 promises fulfilled by Jesus from the Old Testament, many of which seem impossible to fulfill such as a virgin birth or defeating evil.

Now, if God can fulfill that many crazy promises, he can definitely fulfill all the promises he’s made to us, and he does, it’s in his nature. Let’s find out how to live in them.

We Have to Know Them

The first step in living in the promises of God is to know them, because you cannot live in what you don’t know after all. You wouldn’t live in someone’s house if you didn’t know them, and we can’t expect to live in the promises we don’t know exist.

The way that I have come to know the promises of God is by simply reading the Bible. While that may not be the most straightforward answer, as there are so many verses and so many promises, it is the most effective. The Bible is the living word of God and there are powerful statements made in every single page. Ironically, I often find that I see some of the most powerful scriptures and promises when I’m not looking for them and I am just reading the Bible to know God more.

That leads us to a helpful tip: in order to know the promises more, we must know God more.

It’s interesting that you can almost guess someone’s reaction to something or assume what they are going to say when you know them well. I’ve found the same thing happens when you get to know God more. When we get to know God’s heart more, we eventually know what he would say, because we have a better understanding of what would align with his heart. As we pursue knowing the Lord more, we will come to know the Bible more and come to know the promises of God more.

We Have to Believe Them

Another vital step in walking and living in the promises of God is to believe them. We definitely have to know what we are believing in, but if we don’t believe them and believe in God to be faithful, then what we know will have essentially no value.

It is sometimes difficult to believe in something and someone you can’t see physically at times. We can’t see God in a physical body and most of the time, we can’t see the promises in the way that we would really want. Some promises found in scripture even sound way too good to be true. Here are a few scriptures that seem crazy but are 100% true and promised by God.

• “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16)
• “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37)
• “He will not leave you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

I believe that we have all seen or experienced times where those promises have not felt real. If we are being honest, it can be very difficult to have faith in those things that we can’t always see. However, a great way to help us to have faith is changing how we think faith really works.

Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. This means that faith gives life to what we are hoping for. It is the certainty that what we are hoping for will actually come to pass. Therefore, even though things may seem impossible, we can believe in them and have faith that they will come to pass.

Simply having faith in the promises of God, brings certainty to what we hope for and to the promises of God.

The promises of God are also certain in themselves, as we can certainly see how many promises God has already fulfilled. It is also not in God’s character at all to lie or to break his vows to his people. All that God has spoken is the truth.

We Must Receive the Promises

There is a lot that is said in the Bible about grace. In fact, it is by “grace through faith that we are saved” (Ephesians 2:8). For years, I had no clue what grace really is, and I found myself confusing grace with mercy. I’ve since learned that grace is a free gift, giving someone something that they don’t deserve. God has gifted us many things, including salvation, spiritual gifts, and the word of God. This includes all the promises of God.

Imagine trying to give someone a house, literally handing the keys over to them, and they don’t open their hand to receive the keys. I would be pretty puzzled, and I think we all would be. God’s promises are pretty similar to a house. We can find rest and security in them, but if we do not receive the house or simply choose not to live in it or to have the house, then the security and peace we can have in the house is gone.

There are two important points when receiving the house and likewise, the promises.

• In order to receive the house, we must accept it

The same thing can be said for the promises. We must accept that God has gifted us with promises and accept the faithfulness of God. He will always fulfill his promises and it is important that we accept that.

• We must also walk into the house

In order to go into the house, one must walk in the spirit and live in the promises. Galatians 5:16-17 gives us insight into this:

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other.”

Therefore, we should pursue the things of the spirit and avoid the things of the flesh, remembering the promises of God and allowing to work in our lives even greater than what we expected.

Final Thoughts

In my own experience, when I accept the Lord’s promises and I pursue the things of the spirit, everything starts to change. I start believing everything the scripture says. I begin to grow a very deep sense of hope. I can even start imagining myself as the Bible says that I am and eventually faith gives life to what I hoped for.

I invite you to join me in walking in all the promises of God and believing what the scripture says. I believe that the effect it will have on your life will be tremendous and you will say great things happen.