Promises are the seedbed for miracles to occur. It is the language of God that guides our thinking and response. He loves promises, inheritance, favor and fullness. He gives His word so that the outcome may be guaranteed. This will free us up to enjoy the process of how we get there! Promises are the agenda of God to teach us fullness. There can be no experience of fullness without primary purpose being fulfilled. The ultimate goal of God is to make us in His image (Genesis 1:26–27). All other purposes are subservient to this one unchangeable desire in His heart.
Promises are designed to enable us to travel with joy and peace in believing. A promise will release us from all negativity. It gives us an agreed outcome so that we do not live under the tyranny of our circumstances. Promises enable us to explore our favor in the situation. If promise guarantees the outcome then favor endorses the process. We have an assurance of reaching our destination. How we get there is the relational issue between a loving, generous God and us.
Promises are designed to enable us to receive under pressure. They are the engine room that keeps us moving forward regardless of oppositional forces. They empower us to abide in His nature. They remove worry and anxiety as a possibility for living and enable us to live in His gracious, good news.
Promises will develop our trust into faith. A promise is the key of focus that enables us to become fixed on what God is doing rather than what the problem is saying. Every situation has a voice that communicates something to us from the world around us. A promise is the voice from Heaven, which if we focus on it, will drown out every other sound. Proclamation is the loudest vocal sound, because at it’s very center is the exuberance of joy. When we have a promise we gain huge confidence in speaking it aloud joyfully in our circumstances. We rejoice and give thanks! The sound of exuberant praises gives us enthusiasm and energy in the Spirit.
It is important that we are not slow to learn the lesson of faith with patience. It is the only way to continuously inherit in all the levels of life in Christ (Hebrews 6:12). Faith can only go to its required height when it is combined with patience. We live in a result driven world of instant gratification. Sadly, this has permeated the Body of Christ. We encounter the world system in the church rather than the Kingdom of Heaven. Life in Christ comes to us from an altogether different domain. Some situations can be changed immediately with a word of authority. Others change gradually through patient endurance. Both are required to enable us to become Christlike.
It is the combination of faith and patience that provides us with an irresistible guarantee that will release provision at the required time. When we wait on the Lord, the world cannot push us around with its timetable. Impatience is always our undoing. We allow ourselves to be pressured by people and events. Patience is not just a place we live in when tribulation occurs. It is the habitation of God in which we live, move and have our being.
Impatience gives the enemy power to disrupt our circumstances. We can be easily beaten from within if we lack the stamina to endure. Living from Heaven to earth does not allow for frustration. If it does not exist in Heaven in Jesus, it cannot have life in us! We can bind what does not exist in Heaven (i.e. frustration), and loose what Heaven enjoys (patience).
Patience is calm endurance; an uncomplaining nature; diligent application, and tireless stamina. God does not grow weary. We live in Him learning to persist in His nature above the circumstances of life. We do not merely persevere in our circumstances. That is the consequence of faithfulness. Our primary purpose is to become like Jesus. In this regard, learning to persist in the fruit of the Spirit is the important key in our development.
We can exult in the affliction, ordeal, trouble, hardships, pain or adversity because they all develop proven character and Jesus (Romans 5:1–4). The trial is the key to growth. Patience is the key to faith.
–An Excerpt from Keys to Brilliant Focus
All month long Keys to Brilliant Focus and the entire Wisdom Series are available at a discounted price! Each of the journals in The Wisdom Series contain 52 short, thought-provoking quotes, phrases for busy people who still want to make time to explore their relationship with the Father and new territories in the Kingdom!
