Standing On The Promises Series

REF NO: 023

COLUMNIST: Rudolf Nii Yemoh Mensah, Prelate, Oasis Potterlight Chapel International

PASSAGE: Matthew 21:22, "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."

BACKGROUND: God promises does not fail. His faithfulness is forever more. Delays are not denials. Keep on trusting and believing in Him.

STANDING ON THE PROMISES

Russell Kelso Carter (1849-1928) was a star athlete of a military academy and a top student. It was at the age of fifteen during a prayer meeting at the Pennsylvania Military Academy that he committed his life to the Lord.

He became an instructor at the academy in 1869 and an athletics coach. Later, Carter allied himself with the Methodists and the holiness movement, becoming an ordained Methodist minister. His history, both personal and theological, passed through some deep and disturbing waters as he searched for balance in his belief.

However, it wasn’t until Carter faced his mortality that he came to understand exactly what it meant to rest on God’s promises. Diagnosed with a critical heart condition by age 30, Carter was facing imminent death.

Christiansen goes on to say that from that moment on the Scripture took on new life for Carter and he began to lean on the promises that he found in the Bible.

Eventually, God rewarded his uncompromising belief and faith by healing him. Over the next several months, his strength returned, and his heart was completely healed. Carter lived, with a healthy heart, for another 49 years.

In 1886 he composed the favourite hymn "Standing On The Promises" The hymn he wrote became more than words and music to him. Standing on the Promises became an integral part of his life.

When we know God’s promise to us, we will never be afraid of what will happen in our life. Most of the time, trusting Him is more effective than trusting ourselves more. Sometimes, He puts us in a situation where we will have to decide to step out of our comfort zone and take the risk with Him.

Although Carter was a professed Christian most of his life, it wasn’t until a crisis with his natural heart that he began to understand the reality and power of Bible promises. He began to stand upon the promises of healing, determining to believe no matter what his physical condition, no matter how he felt.

Which of the promises of God are you holding on to? According to Bible research, there are about 7,487 promises from God to mankind in the Bible. Which of these promises have you held on to?

And to Hebrews 10:23: Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. And to Galatians 3:29: Since you are in Christ, I have made you an heir of all My promises.

The good God has given us His great and precious promises to give us hope, joy, peace, wisdom and strength for whatever we are facing in our day.

It is heartbreaking to know that so many Christians out there are DESPERATE for certain breakthroughs, miracles and special favours like that type of Carter in their lives, but they honestly just don’t know. Many Christians today are frantic about God's intervention in their circumstances.

They don’t know what God has promised them. They don’t know where to find a promise in the Bible. They feel doubtful if some promises are even for THEM.

Today's passage gives us one of these promises. Jesus boldly made an unrepentant promise to His disciples that they will have whatever they prayed about in His name if only they will believe it in their hearts. They can have whatever they asked but the only condition is the matter of belief.

The Hebrew word 'emunah' is understood in English to mean “faith” or “belief”. It describes much more than just believing a statement about God. It reveals a life of full reliance upon Him. The word belief in Greek is pistis, which means confidence or trust.

That means it takes total belief, faith, confidence and trust in God to activate and access the promises of God to us from His Holy Scriptures.

Russel Carter was only able to attract the promise of God's healing power when he became resolute to the promises of healing he found in the Bible and started demonstrating constant belief, faith, confidence and trust in God for healing no matter what.

Are you still believing and trusting Jesus for marital, financial, promotional or business breakthroughs? Are you believing Him to defy the doctor's report and receive healing and fruits of the womb?

Do you have faith in enough to keep trusting Him for that miracle or favour even though the situation looks so impossible in the human sense? God can turn your life around and give you a better end as you continue to repose your strong faith and confidence in Him. There is nothing God cannot do!