But you promised!....(usually accompanied with head hanging down and the stomping of feet as the person walks away from the messenger)...................
I've seen this scenario play out way too many times in my life. Whether they were promises made to me or promises I made to my children, this scenario is fraught with disappointment.
I do know that the best of plans can be impacted by life. The car needs repairs....you have to work unexpectedly....you don't have the money. Even when you understand the reason the promise has been broken or delayed, the intense disappointment is there.
Looking at this from the view of the one who made the promise is something we understand only after we mature. Some of the hardest messages I ever delivered was to tell my kids we couldn't do something that I'd promised we would.
Another aspect of promises are the promises we make to others if or when they do something. If you'll clean your room by noon we'll go to the park and have a picnic. I call this the if/then promise.
It's this aspect of promises made and not fulfilled that has me pondering today. Imagine you are God up in heaven watching all of us on earth and talking to the angels.......
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Jesus - I am so disappointed!
Angel - You are? Why?
Jesus - I have so much to give and so much I want to do, but it seems she just doesn't get it. I promised her and she's not doing her part.
Angel - Lord, what are you talking about.
Jesus - I told her that anything she would ask in my name believing, I would do it. John documented that three different times in his book. (disappointed sigh)
Angel - (watches the woman as she sits with a defeated look on her face)
Jesus - What really gets to me is that my power, my ability to do anything is documented and demonstrated for thousands of years and she still has no clue the power that she is capable of releasing and unleashing.
Angel - You know, sometimes I wish you'd let me go down there and shake her up a bit and tell her some things face-to-face like when you sent me to talk to Mary.
Jesus - (smiles ruefully) Nah, I know she'll get it. I believe in her. Let's watch a little longer.
Woman on earth - (starts to ponder what she knows about God)
- Led around a million or more people out of bondage in Egypt and provided them food, water and clothing and shoes that did not wear out.
- Made meal and oil last for a prophet, woman and child through a famine, one day at a time.
- Used a man who didn't believe in himself, along with 300 men, to defeat a huge army that had bullied and stolen from them for years.
- Used a little servant girls testimony to encourage an unbeliever to seek and find healing for leprosy.
- Delivered three young men who stood for righteousness in the face of an egotistical king out of the fiery furnace and changed the direction of an entire nation.
- Turned water into wine.
- Fed 5,000 with only 5 loaves of bread and two fish.
- Healed the servant of a Roman soldier without even meeting the sick man.
- Raised a young man from the dead because he had compassion on the woman who mourned her son.
- Healed the blind, the lame, the deaf.
"10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments."
Jesus - (smiles to himself as he sees the faith raising in her heart)
Angel - What are you smiling about?
Jesus - I love it when she reads my Word. Her heart starts beating a little faster and her faith reaches out and touches my heart. Now let's see what she does about all this today.
* * * * * *
Some promises require us to do our part. His promises are well documented. His promises are forever. He has not changed. It's me who needs to do my part.
Believe that God and Jesus are one; if I can't get my head around that, believe it because he demonstrated that by his works.
Ask, in Jesus name, for the things that are needed.
Love Jesus and keep his commandments.
The promise? If I will do this, great things and greater things can be done for the kingdom of God. Yes, my heart is beating a bit faster and my faith is increased.
I'm looking for someone coming down their dusty road looking for a promise to be fulfilled today!
