Why Won’t God’s Promises Work For Me?

Many of us Christians will come to the Bible and pick out scriptures that we can use as a means to win the battles in our lives – and this can be a good thing. Many of us will quote the scriptures and declare their power – and yet we are defeated. We have done all we know to do, but God’s promises don’t work.

This is the problem. We do all that WE can do and then we get discouraged. We begin to doubt that there is any power in the Words of the Bible or whether God can or will step in the gap to help us. We begin to think that maybe – if God actually cares about us – He has His favorites and that He actually chooses who He will bless.

When WE are the voice behind the scriptures there IS NO POWER and we WILL be defeated!

When we think that quoting passages of the Bible will turn the words into an aggressive, magical tool to fight the devil with, then we WILL be defeated.

When we decide how we will interpret the Bible and how to use it for our own personal gain, then we WILL be defeated.

When will we get the victory using God’s Word? When we humble ourselves before God and accept the Word as HIS spoken word for us, THEN we will have our victory.

The ONLY way that we can speak to those mountains and see the victories in our lives is to HAVE FAITH and believe that God has spoken these words to us and for us. Then we, too, can speak them and get the victories over the trials in our lives. Why? Because deep in our hearts we believe the truth that’s in them; they are God’s Words and not our words.

“Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.” … Matthew 21:21

God gave us the Bible to be our manual of instructions for our lives. The Old Testament is filled with the history of God and mankind, the instructions for our lives and the reports of those who obeyed and what happened to those who disobeyed. And it leads right up to Jesus our King, who would be the sacrificed lamb for our sins so that we could once again be united with our Father. The New Testament is just that – a new testament or promise between God and us, established by Jesus on the cross so that we could live the way He expects us to live; the way He has made possible through His Word.

The mountains in our lives are those trials and tribulations that come against us. The Bible gives us instruction about how to live and how to overcome these trials. There is NO trial that we have to endure that has not been covered by Jesus on the cross. He has given us the ability to overcome them all, and there are scriptures to support them all, even if we don’t think there are.

Jesus brought us back into the presence of God by taking our sins away and making us clean before our Father. But Jesus also gave us the right to claim the promises in the Bible AND He gave us the ability to overcome all disease and sickness. He’s written out all the instructions for a Godly life, for finding a mate, investing money, staying healthy, raising children, dealing with our neighbors, spreading love, joy and happiness, and for our retirement.

If we knew God’s Will for our lives from the second we were born, we would likely not find ourselves in most of the situations that have come against us because we would know how to deal with them from the onset – and how to prevent them. But most of us have found ourselves in the situations before we understood God’s Will for our lives. Yet, we can still be over comers.

Faith gives us the victory. How do we get faith so His promises will come to pass in our lives?

1. We need to know God so we can truly love Him – “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.” … Mark 12:30

2. We need to study His Word so it becomes the directive for our lives – “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. … 2 Timothy 2:15

3. We need to believe God’s Word totally and not second guess His authority or purpose. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” … Proverbs 3:5.

4. We need to love and respect other people with the same love and respect that we have for ourselves and that Jesus has for us. When we pray this way, we won’t be asking for personal riches or fame; we’ll be praying for others with the same love and compassion that Jesus has. “…Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” … Matthew 19:19.

We need to pray for their needs like we pray for our own. We can’t lift ourselves up above anyone. “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” … James 5:16

5. We need to realize that God’s Word is the same for everyone, and as Paul says in Acts 10:34, God is not a respecter of persons. Whoever will accept God’s Word and believe will see it come to pass. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” … John 15:7

Yet, God DOES bless His children just as we bless our children and give them special treats or rewards for their hard work. These blessings are above the basic promises of the Bible because God, in His compassion and love for us, also loves to bless us.

“Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.” … Psalm 68:19

God’s promises ARE true and they DO work when we have faith and believe that God gave them to us so that we can have the victory over ALL of our problems in life.

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” …….… … John 16:33

All we need to do is have faith and trust God that His Word is true, and then we will see that God’s promises DO work!

“And Jesus said unto them, ‘If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.’” … Matthew 17:20

*If you want to learn how to develop your faith and how to apply it to the situations in your life, there is a book that this author wrote last year called, Let Faith Arise!. This is a devotional book comprising many messages on faith that the Lord gave to me during my nasty battle with cancer last year. Through faith in God and in His Word, I beat an aggressive deadly cancer that was about to claim my life. God’s Word IS true. His promises ARE real.