WHAT IS A PROMISE?

Faithful to His Promise- Part 2

Christians have heard that God is faithful to His promises. But what is a promise?

A promise is “a declaration that one will do or refrain from doing something specified.” The word “promise” means “to set forth.” God sets forth what He will do throughout scripture. He told Abraham, “…I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8).

God is a God of promise and we are a people of promise. That is our DNA. We are not like everyone else because we have a prophetic birth, we are a prophetic people and a prophetic movement.

God speaks a word and things move and take shape. Ezekiel spoke God’s word and bones came together. We too are shaped by prophetic promise and this gives us direction. His word shapes and creates movement. We are a movement of a particular DNA and we live with prophetic promise.

We must be careful about taking on Saul’s armor. Let us avoid shaping ourselves after others who seem to be getting results we long for. The Church is a demonstration of the multi-faceted wisdom of God and we move along the road of the grand story to God’s fulfillment of His prophetic intention. However, as players on the field we have a particular DNA.

How do we really know God is faithful? First and foremost, God is true to His promise because you can’t separate His promise from God himself. Here is a personal example. In 1965 God gave me a promise… “I formed you and called you. You are mine. You will experience trials…but I am with you and will bring fruitfulness.” That word shaped me, gave me direction, created movement. Promises are not passively received but actively laid hold of. I took certain steps as a result.

Newfrontiers is also an example of God’s faithfulness as we are a movement of prophetic promise. John Groves, one of our leaders in England, gave a prophecy years ago of seeing a herd of elephants running toward an impenetrable jungle and making a path where none previously existed. “There are no well-worn paths. Together you can accomplish more than you could ever accomplish alone.” This word led to the coming together of a family of churches. Terry Virgo changed of name of his gathered churches from “Coastlands” to “Newfrontiers”.

Throughout the years we been shaped and given direction as God spoke promises to us. Promises are a call to action, direction and movement. They shape us.

God calls things that are not as though they were. We become what he calls us. We are people of promise and we travel on the road to lay hold of His promise.

For example, He calls us a “new creation” when we were the “old creation.” He calls us righteous and we are no longer unrighteous. He calls Peter (a reed shaking in the wind) “a rock.” He calls Abram (a 99 year old with one son, Ishmael) “Abraham, father of multitudes.” He calls Gideon (who is hiding his work) a “mighty warrior” and Jeremiah (a youth) a “prophet to the nations”. The Pharisee Saul becomes an apostle to the Gentiles. A people who were “not a people” are now a people through God’s spoken promise.

Promise is what we become and what we are. As part of God’s people, you are a prophetic person.