Promises like Precious Gems

Hebrews 13,5

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise.  2 Peter 3:9

SCRIPTURE: JEREMIAH 32:16-22  “16 Now when I had delivered the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed unto the Lord, saying,17 Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:18 Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the Lord of hosts, is his name,19 Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:20 Which hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this day, and in Israel, and among other men; and hast made thee a name, as at this day;21 And hast brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror;22 And hast given them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;”

COMMENTS:  There is reported to be 5467 promises from God recorded in scripture.  I haven’t tried to count them but am confident this number is accurate.

These promises reveal God’s character and eternal purpose He has for us.  History and those promises reveal His unchanging commitment to His faithful believers.  His promises are impossible by our abilities and abilities but within His abilities.  But the condition is our obedience to His commandments in order to receive and enjoy fulfillment of His promises.

So, do these promises include and reveal to us of God’s character and capability and how have they been fulfilled to those before us and even to us?

God’s promises are irrevocable:

  1. He is absolutely trustworthy Nu 23:19 See also Tit 1:2; Heb 6:13-18
  2. He is unchanging Ps 110:4; Mal 3:6-7; Jas 1:17-18
  3. He has the power and will to fulfil his promises Isa 55:11 See also Ro 4:21
  4. He is faithful in keeping all his promises Jos 21:45; Jos 23:14-15; 1Ki 8:56; Ps 145:13; Heb 10:23
  5. His promises stem from his goodness and glory 2Pe 1:3-4
  6. God may confirm his promises with an oath Ge 22:15-18 See also Ge 26:3; Isa 45:23; Am 6:8; Am 8:7

Examples of God’s promises through covenant relationship

  1. Ge 9:8-17 with Noah With Abraham: Ge 15:9-21; Ge 17:1-22; Heb 11:8-9,17-19
  2. Ge 26:3-4 with Isaac With Jacob: Ge 28:13-15; Ge 46:2-4 With Moses and the Israelites: Ex 19:1-6; Ex 24:1-8
  3. Nu 25:10-12 with Phinehas With David: 2Sa 7:5-16 pp 1Ch 17:4-14; 1Ki 8:15,24
  4. Jer 31:31-34 with Jeremiah

The grounding of God’s promises in Christ

  1. God’s promises are fulfilled in Jesus Christ 2Co 1:18-20 See also Mt 5:17; Lk 4:16-21; Ac 2:29-31; Ac 3:21-26; Ac 7:37; Dt 18:15-18; Ac 13:23,32-34; Ac 26:6-7; Ro 1:2-3; Ro 15:8; Heb 9:15
  2. Jesus Christ brings superior promises through the new covenant Heb 8:6-8 Jesus Christ mediates a covenant of inner transformation, willing obedience, intimate relationship with God and forgiveness of sins forever. See also Eph 1:13-14; Heb 7:22; Heb 11:13,39-40; 2Pe 1:1-4
  3. Jesus Christ has the right to make promises on God’s behalf Jn 3:34-35 See also Jn 1:1-2,14; Jn 8:25-29; Heb 1:1-3

God’s promises must be received by believers

  1. They are received by faith Gal 3:22 See also Jn 1:12; Ro 4:13-16
  2. They are received by perseverance and obedience Heb 10:36 See also Ro 4:19-24; 2Co 7:1; Heb 6:12
  3. God’s promises unite believing Jews and Gentiles Eph 3:6 See also Ac 2:38-39; Ro 9:8; Gal 3:29; Gal 4:28; Eph 2:11-18; Heb 11:39-40
  4. Disaster awaits those who reject God’s promises Jos 23:12-16; Jn 3:18-20,36; 2Ti 2:11-13; Heb 6:4-12; 2Pe 3:3-10

Particular promises of God in Christ

  1. The gift of the Holy Spirit Lk 24:49; Ac 1:4; Ac 2:33; Eph 1:13
  2. The fulness of life and eternal life 2Ti 1:1; Heb 12:26-28; Jas 1:12; Jas 2:5; 1Jn 2:25
  3. Resurrection Jn 5:29; Jn 11:25-26; 1Co 15:48-57; 2Co 4:14; 1Th 4:16
  4. The forgiveness of sins 1Jn 1:9
  5. The presence of God Ex 3:12; Ex 33:14; Jos 1:9; Isa 58:9; Mt 28:20; Heb 13:5
  6. The peace of God 1Ch 22:9; Ps 85:8; Isa 9:6-7; Ro 5:1; Php 4:4-9
  7. Joy in God Ps 16:11; Ps 132:16; Jn 16:20-24
  8. The knowledge of God Jer 31:33-34; Jn 17:25-26; 1Jn 5:20

As we study His promises to patriarchs like Noah and Abraham, to prophets like Daniel and Jeremiah and Isaiah, to kings like David, to women like Esther and Jesus’ mother Mary, to Christ’s disciples like Peter and John, to followers like Paul, we discover what they all had in common.  It was not beauty or strength or intelligence or popularity or even youth.  What they all had in common was a close relationship with God and commitment to follow His commands and instructions both in times of tragedy and poverty as well as in times of peace and prosperity.  The all were firm in their obedience even when doing so was unpopular or even life threatening.  Many faced risks of certain death like Daniel’s lion den or Esther’s hangman’s rope or David’s goliath, or Peter’s crucifixion or Paul’s beatings, or … The list goes on.

His promises give us hope of eternal life with an eternal body and home He is preparing for us.  His promises give us hope of a light of relief at the end of the tunnel of life.  His promises give us encouragement that He is with us guiding and strengthening and encouraging and instructing us all the time.  His promises tell us He will return and bind satan and his demons and administer justice on them and all who followed him.  His promises give us confidence He will never leave or forsake us.  His promises are His love for us will never fail or grow weak or weary.  His promises encourage us to pray and that He answers our prayers.  The list of benefits of His promises goes on…… 

What God asks in return for His redemption and forgiveness and fulfillment of all His promises is obedience.  Our obedience begins when we accept Christ as our Savior and Redeemer and Lord.    Obedience continues when we connect with Him regularly in prayer and bible study and connecting with other believers, when we invite the Holy Spirit into our lives and follow His council.  Obedience continues when we turn from sinful past and from satan’s temptations.  Obedience continues when we seek His help when temptation begins to be felt.

Obedience is not easy and has not been 100% achieved by any human other than Christ. God knows that and tells us to strive for perfection but also to seek His forgiveness when we fail to obey and sin.  He tells us to be perfect as He is perfect.  But perfect is how He sees us when we allow His redemptive blood to cover us.  No, I am not talking about physical covering us with blood, but spiritual covering of our sins and imperfect souls with His blood.  By doing so, we become perfect in His eyes and the actual transformation of our souls to become more like Him each day begins to progress.  His Holy Spirit is constantly with us to facilitate that progress and alert us when we begin to go off course due to satan’s temptations and distractions. 

Each day we should ask ourselves, “Am I more like Christ’s example today than I was yesterday?” “Is that progress even more noticeable when I compare myself a year ago to today?”  “Are you closer to Christ this year than last year?”  There have been many years I could not say that, but I believe I am closer to Christ this year than last year.  So, what is different for me?  Simply spending more time with Him in prayer and devotion and spending time in open meditation to the Holy Spirit.  This journal also helps maintain this discipline.  I pray you are drawing closer to Him too.  He so desires and deserves our attention and obedience and OUR LOVE.   We so don’t deserve His. 

“Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You” (Jeremiah 32:17). 

God never made a promise that was too good to be true.  D. L. Moody

If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 184 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.

You may also access my facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily.  My facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/

My hope and prayer is, they will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.

 

Published by donsdevotions

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Don McDaniel - Who am I? Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever. Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me. I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private. However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool. Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry. He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 . I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine. I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward. Don & Arlene McDaniel In His Service, Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951 If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ ) You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.

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