[music] Dr. Charles Stanley: There
are many, many wonderful promises in the Bible. And a promise is simply a
declaration by God of His intention to graciously bestow
a gift upon us in some form or fashion. And in the Scriptures, promises
are a major part, all the way from the beginning throughout
the entire Bible you find one promise after the other. Expressions of God's love for
us; expressions of God's care for us; expressions of what God
intends to do for us, in us and through us. And expressions of the will and
purpose and plan of God, not only for our life, but for His
whole kingdom. Promise after promise after
promise. And think about this. In all these centuries that have
gone by not one single promise has been forgotten. Not a single promise He's made
has ever been broken. That's the kind of God you and I
serve. So when we think about all those
promises and think about the fact that He made them for us,
they bring Him glory but He made them for us, then they should be
a vital part of our life. Every single day of our life we
should be grateful for all the promises that God has given. And if you'll think about it,
everything you believe about Him, everything you believe
about Jesus, your whole belief system is all based on the
promises of God. He's the One who made such
promises; that if we confess our sins He's faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. That's a promise from God. And we could go through the
Scriptures. Over and over and over again
He's made promises. I will never leave you nor
forsake you. And so, if you think about your
life, not only is our belief system all about His promises,
but our life every day is lived out on the basis of the promises
of God. How very important they are. And when I think about how God
demonstrates His personal intervention in our life by
keeping these promises. And even though some of them are
conditional and some unconditional, the unconditional
promises of God are those promises He makes that nothing
can change and it will happen no matter what. Those conditional promises are
promises that He makes conditioned upon how we respond
or what we do in the process of being involved in that promise. And so when I think about how
important they are, I realize the tragedy in many people's
lives. Here are all of these promises
and it's like having this wealth, this wealth that it is
so deep and so wide it's uncountable, immeasurable. And people live right by it
every day and never stop to claim it. What a terrible sin for a child
of God to be a follower of Jesus Christ and in possession of
innumerable promises made by God and we just neglect them. We just let them lay. We complain; we moan; we groan
about what we don't have. And what's going on within us
and all the things we're going through in life, not realizing
or insensitive to the fact exactly what we need is found
right here in the Word of God. So it's so very important that
you and I understand the promises. This is our fourth message in
the series, "The Promises of God." And we're talking about today
how do you claim a promise? A promise is nothing but words
on a paper unless it is applied. And so I want to challenge you
to listen carefully. Take some notes, because you
have promises that you probably quote. Do you understand why? Do you really and truly believe
that these promises apply to you? I hope so. So I want you to turn if you
will to Hebrews chapter ten and I just want to read a couple of
verses here that just give us a word of assurance because all
through the book of Hebrews, we are assured. And these people are going
through some difficult times. And the Scripture says
concerning them in verse thirty-four of verse, of chapter
ten, "For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted
joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have
for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one." Going through great times of
loss, "Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has
a great reward." Listen to that. "For you have need of endurance,
so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive
what He has promised." If I should ask you what is your
favorite promise in the Word of God, many of you could tell me
immediately. Many of you could not, because
somehow you've just sort of neglected the idea that a
promise in the Scripture also applies to you. So I want to clarify some things
in order to help you to understand why the promises are
so very important in your life and how you personally would be
able to choose for yourself to believe what He said and claim
that promise. So let's look at what the
Scripture says. And I'm going to put a few
things on the mag screens, but the most important section in
this whole message, I'm going to put more notes on that one
because I want you to fully understand it. Now. The first question that comes
up; and in order to talk about promises fully, we to ask some
questions. And the first question is this. Are all the promises in the
Scriptures applicable for us today? What would you say? I was afraid you'd say that. No they're not. All the promises in the Bible
are not meant for us today. For example, let me ask you
ladies, do you think God would say to you, when you get to be
ninety, you going to have a baby? No, He's not. And there's not a man in here
that thinks he's going to be a father at the age of a hundred. That's a promise He made to
Abraham and to Sarah, not to us today. So there are promises that God
gave in the Scriptures to specific purposes and specific
times and specific situations and circumstances that don't
apply to us today. Most of the promises that God
has given will apply to us, but many, many, many promises do
not. For example, when God said to
Joshua, "Here's what I want You to do. I want to tell you how we're
going to conquer Jericho." You march around the walls seven
times. Seventh day you march around it
seven times in the seventh day. Then you blow the trumpet. Then you shout and I promise you
I will pull the walls down. Well, can I claim that promise
today? No, we can't claim that promise. He didn't make that promise to
us. So you can go all through the
Old Testament, God made promises to His servants and to the
people. Many promises, for example, He
made to the nation of Israel. He said, I'm going to give you
the land of Canaan. And what did He call it? The Promised Land. We still talk about it and
people always ask me, When are you going to the Promised Land
again? When are you going to Israel
again? So it's a promise to them. Listen, it is still their land
no matter who does what. God didn't make that a
conditional promise, it was an unconditional promise. And so there are conditional
promises that are based on something we do. Unconditional promises are those
promises that God makes, nothing can change it. Many promises in the Old
Testament that don't apply to us, but there are multitudes of
them that do. And so when somebody says,
"Well, can we claim any promise we want?" Not necessarily. And so what we have to ask is
this, and that is what are these promises that we can claim? How can we claim them and how
can we know that God is going to do exactly what He said He would
do? So let me just say this. Now listen carefully. This is very important. While many of those promises
were not made to us, they were made to those to whom He spoke
for us. That is, if you go back and look
how God worked in Abraham's life or Joshua's life or Joseph's
life or David's life or Daniel's life, you see the principles by
which God operated, what He did. Now while He didn't make those
promises to us, He made them to them for us and for every
generation that followed because we see how God works among men
and women in those days. He still works in the same ways,
in different ways for us today. So on the one hand He will do
something equal to that, but He didn't make that promise to us,
He made it to them. And we learn how God fulfills
the needs and desires of our heart as we see how God worked
in their lives. For example, one of the most
teachable of all the lessons in the Scripture is when God deals
with Joseph. How, listen, how many lessons we
learn in the life of Joseph. What He promised Joseph, he
promised to Joseph. When I read what He did in
Joseph's life, I get great blessing and great encouragement
out of that. He made the promise to him,
watch this, but He also made the promises for us. Did you get that? He made promises to them, but
they're also promises for us that we learn from them. A second thing that's so very
important and that's this. To answer the question, Who has
a right to claim a promise from God anyway? Well, what would you say? Would you say everybody has a
right to claim a promise from God? What's that? Now you're listening carefully,
right? No. No they absolutely cannot. Only believers can claim a
promise from God with one exception. The unbeliever, the person who
is unsaved, who desires to be saved, can claim this promise. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, believe in your heart that God raised Him
from the dead, you will be saved. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
would not perish but have everlasting life. So God has made promises that
apply to everyone. The unbeliever can claim only
the promise to be saved. Following that, they can claim
others. But for the unbeliever, he can't
pray for, Oh God, I need this; I need that; please supply my need
here. Has no right, because not a
child of God. He's outside; he's outside the
family of God. Somebody says, Well, but didn't
He create all of us? Yes, and when you rebel against
God, you refuse to acknowledge His Son as your Savior, you're
out of the family, you do not have the right. You do not have the privilege to
call for the promises of God that He has made to His
children. And therefore once a person
trusts Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, then they come
under the canopy of the family of God and they have the right
to claim promises. So, first of all, the unbeliever
cannot. So when somebody says, Well, who
has the right? The children of God have the
right to do it. Now watch this. Every promise that God made
applicable to His children in His time, His purpose and His
plans, they fit us. Except here's something you have
to remember, that even a child of God can get in a position
where the promises of God won't work. And if you turn to the
fifty-ninth chapter of Isaiah, which I turn to once in a while;
when He says, for example, "Behold the Lord's hand is not
short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it
cannot hear. But your iniquities," that is,
your sin has separated you, "between you and your God, and
your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not
hear." When a person is living in
disobedience to God, they forfeit their right to claim the
promises of God, except this one. That is, if they're willing
genuinely to come to God and say, as He says, If we confess
our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So when I get my life cleaned
up, then I fall under the canopy of God willing to do what? To fulfill His promises in my
life. And so obedience is very, very
important. And secondly, not only must
there be obedience, but there must be trust. He says in James, that first
chapter, which we often quote; and we quote it more often than
we live it, I'm afraid sometimes. He says, "If any of you lack
wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and
upbraideth not or does not reproach them, and it will be
given to him. But he must ask in faith without
any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the
sea, driven by the winds and tossed by the winds." That is the unbeliever does not
have a right or the authority to claim a promise from God. When a believer is living in
disobedience, not trusting God, we forfeit our right to claim
the promises of God because God under no condition will
contribute to my disobedience. If God blesses me and fulfills
His promise and honors me when I'm living in disobedience, He's
contributing to my sin and my disobedience and He's not going
to do that. And sometimes we forget the fact
when it comes to our relationship to Him, there are
two very important stages. There's more than two but the
most important two. First of all, we trust Him as
our Savior and we receive the forgiveness of our sins and
become eternally secure as His children. We are brought into fellowship
with Him. We're in the family of God. That's just the beginning. That's the first step. And oftentimes believers stop
right there. The second step is
sanctification. Once I become a child of God,
then God begins His process of what? Well, think about it this way. When you were saved, the next
day after you got saved, you found yourself having to deal
with attitudes; having to deal with habits in your life and
things that did not fit. But what happened is when you
trusted Jesus as your Savior, the Holy Spirit came into your
life and then He began to identify things that no longer
fit you from the moment you trusted Jesus as your Savior,
doesn't fit any more. Sanctification is that
continuing, ongoing process that God through His Spirit works in
your life and my life to show us things that don't fit, point out
the things that need to be removed in order that you and I
can live a holy life. When that's going on and we're
trusting God, we are in a position then to claim the
promises of God. We're in a position at that
point to understand more carefully and truthfully what
God is really and truly doing in our life. So we say, Well, can an
unbeliever claim a promise? How to be saved. Can an unbeliever claim other
promises? Not really. Can a believer claim all the
promises of God? Those that fit the times in
which they live; those that fit those promises that God intended
for those of us who are His children in whatever season of
life and whatever time period that we're living in. Now, if you take the Psalms
alone and read the promises that God has made you, just in the
Psalms alone, it's overwhelming. And you put the Psalms and the
Proverbs both together. When it comes to living out your
daily life, that's a treasure. And I think many believers do
not realize what a treasure we have just in those two books in
the Bible. Then of course, why should we
expect God to promise us anything? Well, first of all, because He
loves us. And He loves us absolutely and
unconditionally. And when you think about how
to measure His love, there's no way. He, listen, He promises
guidance. He promises direction. He promises to provide our
needs. He promises to protect us. And on and on and on we go with
the promises of God. Why? Because He's, listen, He reveals
Himself to us in those promises. He says, I will never leave you
nor forsake you. Nobody else in the world can
promise you that. He says, I will teach you in the
way which you should go. I will guide you with My eye
upon you. Only God has an eye for every
single person. And we could just go through the
Scriptures thinking about all the promises God has made. And many of God's children are
living in, listen, they're living in "promise poverty." Did you get that? "Promise poverty," that is the
promises are there and they don't claim them. The promises are there and they
don't believe them. The promise is there and they go
in need. The promise is there and they
doubt God and complain why things aren't going their way. Look at the promises of God. The Bible is full of them, and
they're there for you and me because we are His children. And so, when we say Well, what
can I do to deserve them? Not one thing. God made it possible for us to
live this awesome life in relationship to Him and to have
our needs fulfilled and have our desires. He says, listen, if you delight
yourself in Me, I'll give you the desires of your heart. Nobody can promise you that but
God. And the truth is, as you go
through the promises, you can't even begin to name the promises
that you and I could possibly do anything about except depend
upon God to supply them. Think about this. When you've lived a while and
you've been a Christian for a while, it becomes less and less
and less and less and less and less reasonable for people to
choose to be disobedient to God who loves them absolutely
unconditionally. Who wants the best; who has the
power to provide the best; who's promised the best. Why would you want to be
disobedient to that kind of God? Why would you want to be so
foolish as to think that you're wiser than God is? Why would you want to live your
life absolutely apart from His will and His way, thinking
you're going to get by with it? All you have to do is to look
around and realize there's no such thing as escaping the
penalty of sin, no such thing. The only thing that deals with
sin adequately is the cross. And when a person who's trusted
Jesus Christ as their personal Savior lives in sin, listen, I'm
telling you, the chastising, disciplining hand of a loving
Father is going to be there. He's not going to let you get by
with it. If He did, He'd be contributing
to sin. So this awesome God, who's given
us all these promises and He has all the power necessary to
provide every single one of them in your life. Why would you want to choose to
be so foolish, to be disobedient to Him? But that's the way the world
thinks. Wise people do not. Now, how can we be sure that God
will keep His promises? Because, listen, He says He
will. And God, the Bible says, cannot
lie. It's against His nature to lie. So therefore, by His very
character God will not and cannot because He doesn't
change. If God is perfect, He's always
perfect. If He's truthful, He's always
truthful. If He's powerful, He's always
powerful. If He's holy, He's always holy. He doesn't change. Therefore, when it comes to the
promises of God and the things that He has promised us in His
Word, can we be sure? Yes, we can be sure. I love this verse in First
Kings chapter eight, verse fifty-six. I love this statement. Solomon's benediction, "When
Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and
supplication to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of
the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread out
toward heaven." Now once in a while somebody
says, Well, you don't have to kneel. No, you don't. But the holier God is to your
mind and heart, the more desire you're going to want to kneel. So, "Kneeling on his knees with
his hands spread toward heaven. And he stood and blessed all the
assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 'Blessed be the
Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all
that He promised; watch this not one word has failed of all His
good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant.'" Not one word. Listen. None of those failed. They haven't failed unto this
day. Listen. The reason God's promises cannot
fail because it is His nature. God cannot fail. We have this treasure. Do you understand that? That you have this awesome
treasure. Well, it's deposited in the Word
of God. And we claim it out of the Book. And as we've said before, if you
don't apply it, it's meaningless. Not, he says, not one has
failed. And so the Scripture says He
cannot lie. And therefore why should I
believe in the promises of God? Because of the character of God,
that He's absolutely truthful and all powerful. Because of His ability, He can
do anything, all things at any time and all times. There's not a single situation
that you can even begin to think about that God doesn't have a
solution for; or any question that He doesn't have an answer
for; any situation He cannot help you in and through no
matter what. Now think about this. We should train our children
very early in life to trust God and to read His Word and to
build the foundation of their life upon the Word of God. And not only that, no matter
what our age may be, we should continually be meditating upon
the Word of God. This is our sense of direction. This is our compass. This is how we're to live. When people say, Well, I wish
things were better in my life. I can tell you how to get
better. Well, how is that? Get in the Word of God; start
meditating upon the Word of God and obeying Him and things have
to get better. That's who He is. That's what He's provided for
us. So, how can we be sure? Because of what He's promised
and because of His power. Then, here is a big question,
and this is where I want us to spend a little time. When does a biblical promise
become mine to claim? When does a biblical promise
become mine to claim? There are all kind of promises
in the Word of God, but when can I personally claim it? You hear people talk about, I'm
standing on the Word. The Word of God is the
foundation of your life. Tell me something more important
in your life than the Word of God. Where is wisdom? Where is knowledge? Where is understanding? Where is power? Where is the awesome presence of
God? Where do we discover that? It's in His Word. And so the question comes is
this. When can you and I, when can we
claim a promise and say, God, here's what You said. I'm claiming that and I'm going
to watch and see what happens. So there are a number of points
under this one. I want you to jot them down
because remember, I've said it three times already. Listen. Believing a promise and not
applying the promise is meaningless. Let me ask you a question. To whom do the promises of God
belong? Oh, my goodness gracious me. To whom do the promises of God
belong? Say that again. Well, that's pretty good, but. I heard one person say "me." Thank you, sir. That's good. And I appreciate that. The promises of God belong to
the people of God. So let me ask you a question. Are you a child of God? Say amen. So that means the promises of
God belong to you, amen? Do you realize how rich you are? Five of you do. You see, we take it for granted. You know, you can--I won't name
these people who are multi-billionaires, this, that
and the other. They boast of their riches. You know what? They are poverty stricken
compared to us. If they don't have Jesus,
they're living in poverty, because all of their money's not
going to get them to heaven. You know what? I'd rather boast of Jesus for
the simple reason He will never end. He will never disappoint me. I'll never have a need He
doesn't supply. And they can lose all
of that quickly. We let the world influence us. That's not wealth. Proof is how much is a dollar
worth today plus what it was twenty years ago? Let me ask you this. How much is a promise of God
worth versus twenty years ago? I'll tell you what. I'll tell you how it's
worth more. You know why? Because the longer you live and
the more dedicated you are and the holier your life, the more
valuable the promises of God are. So it increases. There's something awesome about
the promises of God. That's why you can't neglect
them. So we're talking about these
promises, how do we claim them? So, are you listening? When the promise fits a personal
need in my life. When the promise fits a personal
need God has promised to fulfill. He's promised to give you
direction. For example, look in back in
Psalm thirty-two, verse eight. "I will instruct you and teach
you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My
eye upon you." Nobody can promise you that but
God. So, here's the issue. When can I claim a promise? I can claim a promise when a
personal need that I have is promised me in the Word of God. And He says if I have this need
for instruction and guidance and direction in making a decision,
I have the promise. Can I claim God's promise to me
to give me direction? Yes, because it is a specific
promise given to us in the Word of God, specific promise by
Him to meet a personal need in our life. And all of us have those
personal needs. And, for example, when the,
secondly, when the context of the Scripture allows it. That is, you can't just pluck a
Scripture out of the Bible and say, "Oh, I'm going to
claim this." But what's the context of it? Well, let's take one, a good
example of that would be First John chapter five verse
fourteen, fifteen. Look at that for a moment. You--I'm trying to pick out
these that you're most familiar with. He says, in verse fourteen,
"This is the confidence," and watch this. This is a promise from God,
"This is the confidence which we have in Him, that, if we ask
anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us,
we know that we have the petition that we desire." Well, listen. That is a promise of God that in
it's context, the context is what? That I come to Him and I have a
petition. And so I'm asking for direction
about this and he says if it's His will. If we ask those things,
"According to His will, He hears us. And if He hears us," watch. We don't have to guess, "We know
that we have the petition that we desired of Him." Now, the Bible's full of those
kind of promises. You could go through the Psalms,
especially, and go back to Psalm thirty-seven for a moment. And this is also a familiar one. And look at the promises here. He says in verse four, "Delight
yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of
your heart." You say, Well can you just pluck
that out? You don't have to pluck it out. Listen to what He says, "If you
delight yourself in the eyes of the Lord." Which means that He's first in
your life; that He's the most important One in your life; that
you're--that the desire of your heart is to please Him; to live
obediently before Him; to walk before Him in a godly fashion. When you do that, He says, "He
will give you the desires of your heart." You say, Well, but suppose I ask
something that's not of Him? If you're delighting in the
Lord, you're not going to do that. So you can say, "Well, that's
certainly in context." And then we could just go
through passage after passage after passage in the Psalms,
for example. Listen to this. He says, "The righteous cry, and
the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the
brokenhearted, saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of all of them." Can I claim that? Yes. Why? Because that's the love of God
in expression. That's a promise of God that
whatever situation, circumstance you and I are in, when we get in
those difficult times in life, He's simply saying, I'm going to
help you through them. Look at the twenty-third Psalm,
"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want." Is that a promise? Absolutely. So, when the promise is so
crystal clear as it is in these, and when the Scriptures are
there that allow it, I can claim that. There's something else is very
important and that's this when fulfilling His promise honors
Him. If I ask God for something that
is not right for me, first of all, He's not going to do it. And I'm asking for something
selfishly, it doesn't honor Him. I can't claim that. And so, if it's something that
honors God, we have a right to believe that He's going to
answer that petition. He's going to fulfill that
promise. So let me ask you this. What do you find yourself asking
for most in life? And when you come to those times
when you're really in need and you're asking God to provide
that need, do you ask Him to provide that need and go to the
Word and ask Him to speak to your heart in His Word? Because here's what happens. There's something about reading
the Word of God, feasting your eyes upon the truth itself, and
letting your eyes take it into your mind, in your heart, in
your spirit. And it's one thing just to hear
it; and this is why I say to you, don't come to church with
no Bible and no notepad. Come to church with the Word of
God. There's something about you
reading it; you seeing it for yourself. When I read it, if I have
something on my heart I'm troubled about and I'm asking
God to give me some direction, I'm going to the Word and I want
to read it for myself. God, here's what you said. And if it fits who I am in
Christ; if it fits, for example, what His Word says; and if it
fits His will; and if it honors Him. And, listen, if it's consistent
with His immediate will for my life, which is one of those
conditions. If it's consistent with His
immediate will, I have a right to ask Him for it. As we said, for example, let's
say that you have a real need financially. And in thirty days your house is
gone or sixty days or whatever it might be, if you don't get
some help. Do you have a right as a child
of God to claim a promise from God that He will meet your need
at that point? Yes, you do! Yes, you do! Watch this carefully now. But suppose God doesn't give you
what you ask for, for that house at that moment. You say, God didn't answer my
prayer. Mark this down; I've had this to
happen to me many times in life. When I didn't get what I thought
I wanted, God always has given me something better than I asked
for. That's who He is. So somebody says, Well, He
didn't answer my petition. Let me--would you rather have
what He gave you or what you were asking for? He always fulfills His promise,
but it's conditioned upon something which we'll come to in
a moment. But what I want you to see is
when you--when it comes to His promises, it has to be
consistent with His will for your life. So let me ask you this. Do you want something that's not
His will? Raise your hand. Right. If you ask Him for something
that's not His will for your life, you're asking for
something that He is not going to contribute to. Now watch this. You can weasel your way around
and manipulate the circumstances and do things that probably are
not right or not legal or whatever it might be and get it
only to realize that you've built your own trap. You're drinking your own poison
that you devised. But when you and I are walking
in the will of God, we have the right to claim the promises of
God because we don't want what's not His will. And I think most of you look
like you're old enough to have tried it and have already
learned that it doesn't work. It's obedience to Him that makes
it work. And so, if I'm asking for
something that fits His will for my life; and for example, all of
us have prayed for things we thought, Oh, Lord, you know I
know better than that. Or, after you've prayed for it a
couple of weeks or so, God shows you, That's not My will. Then the next question is, God,
what is Your will? Will He show you? Yes! Did He not say, Ask and it shall
be given you. You're seeking knowledge and
wisdom. In other words, you're looking
for direction in order to obey Him. Right? Therefore, He's obligated to a
child of God to answer that petition. And He's a promising God. And then of course, when
fulfilling His promise to me is encouraging to others. I can ask Him and claim that
promise when I know that what I'm asking for, for Him to
answer that's encouraging to others. For example, how many letters
have we gotten from people who we prayed for and they've gotten
a job? And God's blessed you in the
past week or He's--we want to tell other people what God is
doing in our life, not bragging, but saying, Here's who God is. This was my need. This was my desire. This is what I desperately
needed in life and here's what God's done. When I'm asking something that
will bring Him honor; when I'm asking something that will
encourage someone else when God answers that petition, I have a
right to claim that promise. Now, watch this next one. I have a right to claim a
promise when I am walking in the will of God. When I'm walking in the will of
God. You say, Well, I don't know
whether I am or not. Yes, you do. When somebody says, Well, I
don't know whether I am or not. Well, yes, yes, you do. In other words, if you get real
honest, you know whether you're being disobedient to God or not. You know whether you're in His
will or not. You know what's over here in
this--in your life that's covered up, camouflaged and
you've got a little bit of this over here and you're obedient to
God where it's convenient. And over here where you got
something that you want that God doesn't want. You know whether you are or not. You can't cover that up. Watch this. When you are walking in
obedience to the will of God, you have the right, the
privilege to claim the promises of God in your life. Because if you're walking in His
will, you don't want something that's not His will. So I repeat that for the simple
reason that people come up and say, Well, I asked God for so
and so and He didn't do it. Well, what did you ask for? Most of the time, not all of the
time, when they tell me what they're asking for that He
didn't answer, I can tell them why. Because if you'd have gotten
that, look what would have happened. Or suppose thus and so. So if you're walking in His
will, that is the best-- Think about this. How foolish is it to get out of
the will of God? Because here's what you do. Watch this. Here's God reaching down to
answer your petition. And when you get out of God's
will, here's what happens... God's willing, but you're not in
a position to receive it. Or I could put it this way. When you say, God, here's what
I want. He can't give you something
that's not His will. I'd say it again and again and
again, the will of God is the plan of God. In this particular situation,
listen, there's not a situation in your life that God isn't
interested in, not a single one. There's not a need He's not
interested in. There's nothing He cannot
provide for your life. But we have to decide am I
willing to do it God's way in God's timing? And if I am, God has made me a
promise He cannot fail to keep. When do I have a right? I have a right to claim it when,
listen, the Spirit of God within me confirms that. Now watch this. Every single believer is indwelt
by the Holy Spirit. His responsibility, first of all
was to bring us to a realization that we were lost. His responsibility was to help
us understand what salvation was about. His responsibility is to help us
to understand who God is. His responsibility is to enable
us to live out what God has chosen for us. He has many responsibilities. Listen, one of His
responsibilities is to do what? Is to reveal the truth, to show
us the truth. And what happens is this. There, when you and I are
seeking the mind of God about something and we know that He
wants to do exactly what He said, then what happens? Our spirit, for example, I think
about it in this light. When I'm asking God about
something and I don't have His will, for me it's like static. You know you cut on the
television or cut on the radio, all you get is static. Well, in other words, there's
nothing good about static. Tschhhh. There's nothing good about that. I know in my spirit when I'm
getting static and the truth is, you do too. Amen? In other words, the Spirit of
God within you gives you that sense of quietness and you
sense, and He'll help you to sense, This is the Father's
will. I'm going to do that. Listen. That's the reason you and I can
make requests and walk away confident. And I would say one last thing. Not only does the Holy Spirit do
that, but He gives us a sense of peace. I know that I have a right to
stand on this request when there is peace in my heart about what
I'm asking for. And how do I know whether it's
right or not? Well, is it what the Word of God
supplies? Is it what the Word of God
allows? Does it fit? Watch this. Does it fit who you are as a
child of God? Now, when claiming a promise,
what's expected of us? We expect God to do all these
things. There are three very brief
answers. Now, watch this. When I'm claiming a promise from
God that's crystal clear, got a Scripture for it, I have three
responsibilities. Number one, obedience, number
one. Secondly, faith, that is, I must
believe Him. And thirdly, patience, I must
wait for Him. You know that He's going to do
what He promised. You've got to believe that He
will. You must be patient to wait for
it. And oftentimes people pray,
they're praying in the will of God. They're praying the right thing. God's hearing their prayers. Then they make a terrible
mistake, I gotta have it now. Or I've got to have it by next
week. And you see, watch this. He who created time is in
control of time. And He who created time, created
His will and purpose and plan for your life. God knows future, past, present
and everything in between. He knows exactly when this ought
to happen in your life; and He knows exactly how it's going to
happen. And, listen, and He oftentimes
tests us with time, that we will trust Him. And watch this. If I step ahead of Him, it says,
I don't trust You. Ohhh, yes, I do trust You. No-no-no-no. If I trust Him, I will trust His
timing better than my timing, because His timing like
everything else about Almighty God is perfect. Many people get lined up for
God's blessing and then what do they do? They've got to have it now
instead of in God's timing. And what does it do? It just fouls up the whole
issue. I would just say this to you. Do you realize how blessed you
are? That, do you realize, that this
book, sixty-six books that make up the Word of God and all these
pages and all these promises after promise after promise
after promise, and it belongs to every single one of us who's
a child of God. Why would you want to substitute
anything for this? It's better than a compass,
spiritually or any other way. It's better than another
counselor. No one can counsel you like
this. There's no one who can supply
your need like the Word of God. This awesome God who loves you,
who has the best plan that a sovereign, perfect God who loves
you unconditionally could ever devise. That's His plan for you. And He says if you will obey Me
and trust Me and be patient with Me, I will give you the best
that I have to offer. And Father, how grateful we are
for Your patience with us, just takes us a while to learn, Lord. Thank You for being patient with
us. And I pray for many today who
will hear and listen to this message, who are going through
difficulty and hardship and loss and need, don't know where to
turn; wonder if You really and truly love them. I pray that You'll encourage
their heart today. Yes, You love them. Yes, You know their need. Yes, You're willing to meet that
need. Yes, in Your time and in Your
way. And Father, I pray the Holy
Spirit will make each one of us freshly aware of what a treasure
we have and freshly aware of how much You love us in every way. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, if you've never trusted
Jesus as your Savior, do you realize what you're doing? You're trying to live in this
crazy, mixed up world without the greatest Helper you could
possibly have. The wisest thing you can do is
to ask the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins, tell
Him that you admit your sinfulness; you have rebelled
against Him. You ask Him to forgive you on
the basis of what He did at the cross when He shed His blood at
Calvary. You ask Him to forgive you
because He promised to do it, not because you deserve it. And surrender your life to Him. Then let Him take
over your life. Let Him give guidance and
direction for your life. And all of a sudden,
everything will change. And that's my prayer for you. male announcer: If you've
been blessed by today's program, please visit us at intouch.org.
