Monday, June 8, 2009

Activate by Faith

Activate by Faith

The Weekly Walk

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
- 2 Peter 1:3-4

I grew up going to my grandma's house. She used to have a small ceramic loaf of bread on the center of the kitchen table. In it was a stack of little cards, and on the cards were promises from the Bible. Sometimes before my grandpa would pray for the meal he'd say, “Let's read a promise,” and he'd take a card out and read it. I grew up hearing these promises, but I never really understood how they worked.

I didn't get the fact that it's in God's nature to promise and that God's whole relationship with us is carried out in His promises. God gives us His promises to get through the painful circumstances of life. I didn't understand it—until I went through it, and then my perspective completely changed.

Has that been your experience too? When we're in a crucible of pain, suddenly we learn the truth about God's promises. His commitment to us becomes what Peter talks about in 2 Peter 1:4 as “exceedingly great and precious” (NKJV). God's promises aren't great until we need them. They're not precious until they're proven. Until we put all of our weight on them and they hold us up, we don't get it. But test them and they'll always prove true. God's promises become personal when we activate them by faith.

Do you want to experience more of God's promises in your life? Do you want to get the promise off the little card on the breakfast table and into your life? Then you must activate the promises of God by faith. Faith is what moves God's promises from your head to your heart. It's not enough to know something; you've got to put it into real life.

You can know a diet. You can list the rules and even write them out for someone else, but you're not going to lose weight unless you follow the plan yourself. You can be familiar with a piece of music, but it's not yours until you play it. A doctor's prescription can match your need perfectly, but until you swallow it, it's not going to make any difference.

You've got to take God's promises by faith. Only then will you see for yourself why they've satisfied generations of faithful men and women who've trusted God's Word.


This was a devotional from James MacDonald, in a day when "faith" is so misunderstood, I thought that this was a great example of true faith. For more great resources and downloadable teachings, check out https://www.walkintheword.com/index.aspx



No comments: