Graceful Truth

THE "I WILL" OF GOD

January 08, 2020

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God is bound by nothing less nor more than His character. There are things that He does not have to do, but He chooses to do because He is a good, faithful, merciful, and righteous God.

7,000 PROMISES

Thousands of times in the Scripture, God initiates conversations with men and women and gives them promises. Sometimes these are conditional (“I will do this IF you will do this”), and some are unconditional (“I will do this”).

One of the greatest illustrations is God’s initial promise to Abram, later to be called Abraham, found in Genesis 12:1-3. Notice the details and you will notice much about God Himself.

  1. God initiated the promise. And the Lord said to Abram (vs. 1). Abram had no clue that this was on the horizon. It was fully and totally God’s desire and implementation.
  2. God commanded a step of faith from Abram. Go forth from your country, relatives, and father’s house to the land I will show you (vs. 1). The condition of this promise was FAITH. It demanded dependency by Abram upon God. Abram would become one of the greatest illustrations of faith for “Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him” (vs. 4)
  3. God made iron-clad promises to Abram, if he would step out in faith. (vs. 2-3)
  • I will show you (where you are to go)
  • I will make you a great nation
  • I will bless you and make your name great
  • You shall be a blessing
  • I will bless those who bless you
  • The one who curses you I will curse
  • In you all the families of the earth will be blessed

FULL FAITH, FULL FAITHFULNESS

Abram responded in faith, illustrated by his obedience to get up and go out, leaving all. And God has responded for over 3,000 years in faithfulness, continuing to fulfill His part of the promise. In fact, one of the greatest modern illustrations of God’s faithfulness was the return of Israel to the land in 1948 which God had promised Abraham and His people. God has not and will not ever forget His promises to Abraham. He has blessed the world through Abraham’s seed—most clearly through Abraham’s greatest descendant, Jesus Christ.

NEVER CHANGING

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is still initiating activity with us; still calling us to believe Him and respond in obedient faith; and still fulfilling His promises.

We have the privilege of being the recipients of thousands of promises already given to us by God in the Scripture, if we will just believe. Notice a very small, but incredibly profound sample:

  • “He who believes in me will have everlasting life” (John 3:16)
  • “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
  • “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:8)
  • “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passes all comprehension shall mount guard over your hearts in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7)
  • My God shall supply all your needs through His riches in glory through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:13)
  • God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28)

There are over 7,000 of these promises in Scripture to us! This is God’s operating system with man. He gives us a faith directive and promises the results. And, He is always faithful.

He is saying, “I WILL” to you today, if you will listen to Him through His word and follow Him in obedience, trusting in His promises. One of the greatest tragedies at the end of our lives will be to realize how much more we could have experienced of God if we had believed and obeyed our “I WILL” God.

 



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