“This is my comfort in my affliction,
that your promise gives me life.”
Psalm 119:50
During the past few months I have been focusing a lot on prayer. Really wanting to strengthen that part of my spiritual life and to better understand prayer’s intricacies. And finding comfort in the knowledge that the Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God when we “do not know what to pray for as we ought” (Romans 8:26-27) – and comfort in the implication that Paul wrote those words because he struggled with that too.
Today, this contemplation has brought my attention to God’s promises. With this prayer-focus, I am working my way through E. M. Bounds’ books on prayer, and I read these words this morning:
“Prayer is based on the purpose and promise of God. Prayer is submission to God. Prayer has no sigh of disloyalty to God’s will. It may cry out against the bitterness and the dread weight of an hour of unutterable anguish: “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39). But it is surcharged with the sweetest and promptest submission. “Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).
“But prayer in its usual uniform and deep current is conscious conformity to God’s will, based upon the direct promise of God’s Word, and under the illumination and application of the Holy Spirit. Nothing is surer than that the Word of God is the sure foundation of prayer. We pray just as we believe God’s Word. Prayer is based directly and specifically upon God’s revealed promises in Christ Jesus….Prayer makes the promises as the seed in the nourishing soil. Promises, like the rain, are general. Prayer embodies, precipitates, and locates them for personal use. Prayer goes by faith into the great orchard of God’s ‘exceeding great and precious promises,’ and with hand and heart picks the ripest and richest fruit.”
Reading this compelled me to finally begin what I have considered doing many times. To list out promises. Those I know I can grab hold of in any situation. Those that I know are in accordance with the will of the God to whom I pray.
So I’m listing them out for you – because they certainly are not my promises alone. They apply to each person who chooses Christ. The list, of course, is not exhaustive. It’s just the beginning, and I know God will highlight more I can add to my list. Just as He will highlight more you can add to yours. But I hope that in whatever you’re facing, there will be a promise here that specifically resonates with you. Because our God is just that faithful and weaves details together to meet all of our needs.
My list of promises (as of 4/28/18):
My God will never leave or forsake me. (Deuteronomy 31:6; Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5; Psalm 9:10; Deuteronomy 33:12)
He will not forget me. (Isaiah 49:15-16)
His love for me is steadfast and His covenant of peace will never be removed. (Isaiah 54:10)
When I confess my sins, He is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse me. (1 John 1:9)
I will never perish. (John 3:16; 10:28)
No one can snatch me from His hand. (John 10:29)
Jesus calls me by name. He knows me and I will know His voice because I am His. (John 10:3-4, 14, 27)
God my Father is the giver of all good gifts and will withhold no truly good thing. (James 1:17; Psalm 84:11)
He is light and in Him is no darkness. (1 John 1:5)
He gives strength for each day. (Deuteronomy 33:25)
He hears my cry and rides through the heavens to my help. (Deuteronomy 33:26; Psalm 18:6-19)
He acts for those who wait for Him. (Isaiah 64:4)
He gives to me all that pertains to life and godliness through my knowledge of Him. (1 Peter 1:3)
Jesus will never cast me out. (John 6:37)
God has chosen me. (Ephesians 1:4-6)
He will draw near to me. (James 4:8)
He counts my tears. (Psalm 56:8)
He will fulfill His purposes for me. (Psalm 57:2; 138:8)
His mercies are new every morning. (Lamentations 3:22-23)
His faithfulness is everlasting. (Jeremiah 31:3; 32:38-41)
I am sealed with His Spirit. (Ephesians 1:13-14)
His love has been poured into my heart. (Romans 5:5)
He will complete His work in me. (Philippians 1:6)
He will present me blameless before His throne with great joy. (Jude 24)
He knows my needs and will meet them. (Matthew 6:32-33; Philippians 4:19)
He will seek out the lost and strayed. (Ezekiel 34:16)
He strengthens the weak. (Ezekiel 34:16)
He binds up my wounds. (Ezekiel 34:16; Isaiah 61:1)
He turns affliction into breathtaking beauty. (Isaiah 54:11-12)
I will see His face. (Revelation 22:4)
The day is coming when all tears, sadness, pain, sickness, and death will be no more and God will be our everlasting, undimming light. (Revelation 21:4; 22:5; Isaiah 60:19-20)
He fills me with what I need when my life is poured out for Him. (Isaiah 58:10-11)
He restores a hundredfold. (Joel 2:25-27; Mark 10:29-30)
He gives the treasures of darkness and breaks chains. (Isaiah 45:3; Psalm 107:14)
He fills the longing soul with good things. (Psalm 107:9)
He goes before me and is my rear guard. (Isaiah 45:2; 52:12)
He gives words as I need them. (Luke 12:12)
Jesus is my defender. (Zechariah 3:1-4; Romans 8:34)
The Father Himself loves me. (John 16:27)
He is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that I could ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20)
Jesus came that I might have life abundant. (John 10:10)
My God leads me. (Isaiah 30:21; Psalm 31:3)
He equips me. (Hebrews 13:20-21)
His steadfast love holds me up when I’m slipping. (Psalm 94:18)
God is for me. (Psalm 56:9; Romans 8:31-34)
In Pleasant Places 
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