A Promise Keeper

After many years, my parents were able to take their long dreamed of trip to Israel that they had promised to each other.  Both have said it was a life changing experience for them, to actually see with their own eyes the places they had read and studied about for so long.  To place their feet on the very same paths that Jesus may have placed His feet, to see the waters, smell the air, and touch the soil of this land long ago promised to God's people.   They kept the promise to each other to make this dream trip a reality. 

We as flawed humans can't always keep the promises we make.  

However,,,

God was and is a PROMISE KEEPER.

Deuteronomy 1:21 says "The Lord your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you.  Do not fear or be dismayed."

God's people were to step forward in confidence, to walk boldly knowing that their God, the "I AM", was going before them.   Those same promises that are repeated over and over in His Word, that we can walk boldly and claim the land He has put before us, are still true today. 

This past year has been 365 days of more uncertainty, pain, panic, stress, darkness, and fear than I have ever known.  (More on that tomorrow) It has also been a year filled with more blessings, peace, love, trust, faith, thanksgiving, and intimacy than I have ever imagined possible.  

What would I have done differently?  What could I have been doing? What should I be doing now?

One thing I am learning ---His Word says "GO UP",  "TAKE POSSESSION, "DO NOT FEAR OR BE DISMAYED" --- to lay claim to what God has promised me.  

And what actually did He promise? 

He promised 

Jeremiah 29:11

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

He promised

Matthew 11:28-29

²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

He promised

John 14:27

²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

He promised

Romans 8:37-39

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

He promised

Philipians 4:19

¹⁹ And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

He promised

Isaiah 40:29-31

²⁹ He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. ³⁰ Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; ³¹ but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

He promised.  He promised.  He promised. 

Make a list yourself - there are so many more - and be reminded and amazed at how God cares for you. 

He is the FIRST and ONLY true PROMISE KEEPER.