Promise Fulfilled

By Staci Pace

Maybe I am the only one, but from time to time I find myself wondering if the many promises God has spoken over my family and me will actually come to fruition. At my lowest points, this doubt and fear has plunged me into a kind of hopelessness. Thankfully, I am surrounded by people who love me, love God and believe for me when I cannot. These wonderful, incredible people have the ability to pull me out of the depths of despair before they even know that I have been stuck there, and often so quickly that the memory is like an ignored glitch in the programming. (This is one benefit of being so involved and plugged into the local church body, and if you aren’t, I’d suggest you run to the next gathering of the body of Christ and PLUG IN!)

This week I have struggled to keep these doubtful thoughts at bay, but while considering what happened this Easter weekend so long ago, I had an epiphany. Jesus IS the promise! Now, before you put face to palm and wonder how I’ve gotten so far in ministry without knowing that, I promise I knew it already. It was just an “Aha!” moment for me. My thought was if I start every morning with that in mind, I might struggle with my doubts quite a bit less. My promise IS Jesus, and He HAS come, and He is alive in me, and He IS my reward!

Funny thing is, I don’t think I’m the only one whose had this revelation. Paul began many of his letters (Romans, Galatians, Ephesians) reminding, or in some cases, revealing the sacrifice of Christ and what it brought for those of us who believe. If we start there, how could we possibly end in a pit of despair? Take a look at what Paul wrote to the Ephesians (posted here in the Message translation) and be encouraged:

How blessed is God! And what a blessing He is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in Him. Long before He laid down earth’s foundations, He had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by His love. Long, long ago He decided to adopt us into His family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure He took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of His lavish gift-giving by the hand of His beloved Son. Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, His blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people – free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans He took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in Him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth. It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, He had His eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose He is working out in everything and everyone. It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free – signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life. Ephesians 1:3-14

So, absolutely, without doubt or reservation, EVERY PROMISE is IN Christ! And we have Him! He is fully ours and we are fully His. And we know that nothing can separate us from Him, and therefore whether the circumstances of this life reflect it, the truth stands that we have obtained the inheritance: the Christ, the Son of the living God.

But, if that is not enough to pull you from the depths, think on this: Not only do we have the promise, WE ARE THE PROMISE! Imagine the horror that Jesus lived through on the cross and think what powerful conviction and LOVE must have kept Him there unto death. Here is some encouragement offered to the Hebrews that continues to speak volumes to weary souls:

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. Hebrews 12:1-3

Notice that Christ “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross”. The Father had promised the Son something. He had promised Him a Bride. God the Father had promised Jesus US: you and me! The whole purpose of the cross was to bring US into the presence of God unblemished and holy. And we who believe are Christ’s promise fulfilled!

Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight path for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed… For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore… But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. Hebrews 12:12-13,18-19,22-24

So the next time you find yourself doubting the reality of the promises of God, the next time you find yourself straining your neck to see them around the next bend in the road, take a moment and remind yourself: I have the promise and I am the promise. 

This article was originally posted at RockSong Church.