I was thinking about how I (all people) should never make a promise because no human being can ever FULLY keep their promise. God is the only One who can make a promise and keep it FULLY. We say our vows on our wedding day, or make promises to our children or to whoever, but we are not able to keep all the vows or promises we make. BUT, when God makes a vow or promise, He keeps it.

I’m reminded of the account in the Bible about God and Abraham when God called Abraham into a covenant with Him. (Genesis 15) God knew Abraham was just a man, and therefore, God fulfilled both sides of the covenant showing us that although we make vows or promises to God with the right ‘intent,’ God will fulfill OUR promise or vow, as well as His own. Abraham was called by God to a purpose that would affect the whole world. And God, knowing that Abraham was just a man, a sinner like us all, a person unable to keep a promise fully, fulfilled both required sides of the covenant God was making with Abraham. Abraham finished what God gave him to do with his life on earth because God was with him all the way. Therefore,
“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going….And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. Hebrews 11:8-12

God sees our heart, the desire of our heart, and as long as our desire is Him, He turns our lack of measuring up to our commitment/vow/promise – to us experiencing who He is and how He works “all things for our good.” The reason why God is ALL IN for us is that we are ALL IN HIS SON and His Son is IN us by His Spirit – when we first made our commitment to Jesus our Savior. Just like God did with Abraham in bringing him all the way to God’s promise, He will do with us.

Jesus told His first disciples that only because of His word to them can they remain CLEAN before the Father. (John 15:3) He went on to tell them that the only way they (we) can bear ‘good’ fruit is by HIS life in us. We can do things that appear good and feel good, but without His life in us – none of it will stand up to the fire when all our works are put to the test as the end.

I’m thankful that all the LORD is after is my sincere love for Him. If I keep Jesus Christ first, there is nothing God won’t do for me that would help me keep my vow to my Savior. Jesus said to His disciples: “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now REMAIN IN MY LOVE. If you keep My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love.” John 15:9-10

He even gives us a promise: “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.” John 15:7-8

So again, I see that it’s all about Jesus my God and Savior. Nothing good lives in me apart from HIM!

Jesus was praying to His Father:
“May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You have sent me. I have given them the glory that You gave me, that they may be one as WE are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that You sent me and have loved them even as You have loved me.” John 17:21-23

Imagine that! The Creator, our heavenly Father, will lavish His love on us with just as much favor as He has for His own Son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ stands at the right hand of His Father defending those who are IN HIM by faith, faith in who HE IS according to the Scriptures. Jesus stands at the right hand of the Father as our HIGH PRIEST, with His own shed-blood covering us so we are as white as snow in the Father’s eyes. It’s ALL HIM!

We love because HE FIRST loved us. (1 John 4:19)

“And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:10

It gives me peace and joy to know that Jesus will NEVER leave me nor forsake me, for HE SAID SO, and HE KEEPS HIS PROMISES. I also KNOW, that even though all my sins are forgiven, that my disobedience will have earthly consequences.

Father God says to me:
“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as His children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all….No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it PRODUCES a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:7-8,11)  I have felt His discipline a few times, and I pray I’ll never give Him another reason!

So, God is fulfilling what He started in me (us) because of Jesus Christ, who is also called the “author and finisher of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2)

All VICTORY is in Jesus!