Tag Archive | Promise

Acts 1 – Wait for the promise

Sep7

Good morning y’all.  Welcome back from our break 🙂 . Today we begin our study on the book of Acts. We will be studying Acts 1 – 5 this week.

I’m blogging through the bible a chapter a day with Good morning girls. You can check us out at www.goodmorninggirls.org.

Courtney from GMG has done an intro into the book of Acts and our study for this week. Click here to read the intro.

Back to our study for today 🙂

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Verse 4 caught my attention.  Especially the phrase “wait for the promise”.

“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said,“you have heard from Me;” (NKJV)

Most times there is usually a waiting period from the time God gives a promise, to the time the promise is fulfilled. Some of us are impatient, we want instant results (***covering my eyes**** I’m one of them).  Sometimes God answers instantly and other times He wants to teach us patience.  Abraham waited 25yrs for the promise to be fulfilled. Scripture says he hoped against hope. Physically it was impossible for Abraham and Sarah to have a child but Abraham still believed and had faith in the One who promised. He knew God was faithful to bring to pass that which He has said.

God is not a man that He should lie, if He has said it, then He surely will do it (Num 23:19).
Habakkuk 2:3 says:
“For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry” (NKJV).

The disciples were told to wait for the promise and wait they did. God didn’t let them down, He came through on His promise as we will see in chapter 2 tomorrow.

What has God promised you? Friends hold onto it, even if it feels highly impossible to you. With man it might be impossible, but with God all things are possible (Luke 1:37).  Psalm 27:14 says:
“Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!” (NKJV)

When God gives a promise, it’s not in our place to question when the promise will be fulfilled.  Ours is to believe it will surely be fulfilled at the right time. The disciples in verse 6 asked Jesus about the timing of the prophecy. Jesus responds to them in verse 7 by saying, it’s not their business to know the timing – that’s God’s business!!!.

“6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority”. (NKJV)

The key thing is to make sure we believe the prophecy and do what God asks us to do while waiting for the fulfillment of the promise.

What they needed to concern themselves with, was doing God’s business and for that they needed empowerment which came in the form of the Holy Spirit. Part of the work of the Holy Spirit is to empower us be witnesses for Jesus to the world around us. Of our own might, we won’t be able to do this. Verse 8 says:

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me[a] in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (NKJV)

The disciples had a decision to make regards replacing Judas. They didn’t take it lightly but consulted God before making the decision.

” And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.” And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles” (24 -26 NKJV).

They included God in their plan. Are we including God in our plans no matter how trivial the plan maybe? Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to trust in the Lord and lean not on our own understanding, in all our ways acknowledge Him and He will direct our paths. The disciples chose not to lean on their understanding, so they prayed and asked God to help them choose. After praying they put their faith into action – they applied their faith.  It’s definitely good to pray but we also have to get up and act on our faith. James 2:20 tells us faith without works is dead.

Prayer:
Dear Lord we thank you for today and for the opportunity to learn at your feet. We ask for the grace to wait patiently on you and not loose hope. Give us the grace to be obedient, doing what you have asked of us while we wait for the promise to be fulfilled. Help us to trust you more Lord and we ask for a fresh release of your spirit over our lives. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name we prayed. Amen.

Thanks for joining today. Tomorrow we will be studying chapter 2. Pls feel free to share your thots on the chapter

Have a blessed day 🙂

***With God all things are possible***

Genesis 15

Oct12

Good morning y’all. Happy sunday!!!
Today we in chapter 15 of Genesis. I thank God for bringing us this far :).
In this chapter we see God reassuring Abram of his promises to him. Abram demonstrated faith in God and it was counted to him as righteousness.

Be blessed 🙂

God’s promises to Abram seemed impossible, it seemed too high to reach. Even Abram had doubts about it. He told God in v 2-3 :
But Abram replied, “O Sovereign lord , what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.” (Genesis 15:2-3 NLT)

God being the patient and loving father that he is, reassured Abram that he will bring his promise to pass. Notice God didnt tell Abram when the promise will be fulfilled. It’s not for us to know when or how, our job is to believe and trust God CAN and WILL do what He has promised. After the reassurance came, Abram believed and Lord was pleased with him.
And Abram believed the lord , and the lord counted him as righteous because of his faith. (Genesis 15:6 NLT)

Friends whatever promise God has made, no matter how long it has tarried for or how bad the situation is right now, pls dont give up. Let’s keep believing and trusting God. If we feel our faith is shaking, let’s go back to God and ask him for reassurance. If he did it for Abram, He can do it for us too. Be encouraged today. It’s not over until God says it’s over 🙂 God has the final say! Not the doctors, lawyers, teachers….It is God who gets to decide what happens and how our story will end! Right now for me, that is a comforting and wonderful thought to know that God is the one in charge of my future and destiny. (Doing my dance 🙂 )

As i continued my study on the passage, the word ‘Obedience’ dropped into my heart. I felt God was telling me obedience is key to enjoying His blessings. Isaiah 1:19 says if you are willing and obedient.  For some of us the reason why the promise or blessing is delayed is not because God can’t do it but because he is waiting on us to obey the instructions he has given us. In v9 of this chapter, God gave Abram instructions and in v10 it says and Abram obeyed the Lord.
Then the Lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a dove, and a young pigeon.”  Abram obeyed the Lord….. (Genesis 15:9-10a CEVUS06)
Further down the chapter we see what is obedience earned him. God revealed things to come to him even until four generations and God also made a covenant with him.

Friends what is God asking of us, it’s time to be obedient and do as he requires so we don’t miss out on the best that he has in store for us. I believe strongly that if God has asked us to do something, He always supplies the grace to do it. God doesn’t expect us to do it alone, that’s why he gave us His Holy spirit to help. Ask for help today.

Prayer:
Dear Lord we thank you once more for today. You are a good and kind God and we praise your Holy name. Today we ask for the HolySpirit help to trust and believe you more. For as many of us that are feeling shaky, I ask oh Lord that you will reassure us of your promises. Holyspirit we also ask for the grace to obey. Thank you Lord, we worship you for you are a great God, you are the same yesterday today and forever. In Jesus Name. Amen

Thanks for joining today.

Have a blessed Sunday and remember it’s not over until God says it’s over! Keep fighting until your victory is won 🙂

***With God all things are possible***