Don’t misunderstand…. I’m as fond of promises as the next person. We Christians, especially those of the Pentecostal persuasion, love to look through scripture to find ‘promises’. We are typically able to quote a number of these readily because we are standing on some of them to manifest in our lives. There is absolutely nothing wrong, to my thinking, of doing this however, it is important to see what comes after the comma. Because… I’ve seen few promises that don’t come with a responsibility we have in order to receive the promise.
According to scripture, the promises of God are yes and amen (a double positive) but if we don’t follow through and keep our end of the covenant, why should we expect the blessing anyway? The one theme that keeps emerging throughout is God’s promise to be our God, if…. Example: 2 Chronicles 7:14 we are told that when we pray and seek Him He will hear and heal our land. The point is that God’s response is based on what we do.
Another area is finances. Suppose we are praying for and standing on promises related to a financial blessing. Is there anything that we’re suppose to be doing? Of course. However there is an age old argument as to tithing that probably won’t get resolved until the end of time. To reinforce tithing thinking there are scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments that support this. The most famous scripture is found in Malachi (3:8-12) in which we are warned against robbing God of the tithe but we are also promised a tremendous blessing when we fulfill our responsibility. Luke (6:38) reinforces this and we are again promised.
Throughout scripture we find promises that God has provided for us. However, it is also important to read the scriptures before and after the promise to see what our responsibilities are. In every case, the responsibility is related to what is promised. It is always critical to read whatever comes after the comma…..
