Promises, Promises And Why God Makes Them

Imagine God promises you something, anything. Let's say... hair. He promises you hair because  you are going bald and you’ve refused to eat for two days because of this. So he says, “Behold, my balding child!” In His earth-quaking voice, “I am going to give you hair, and fill up those bald spots! In fact, I’m going to give you a full head of hair; hair that’ll make Jon Snow weep!” 

What do you think will happen?

Well, there’s a likelihood that those adorable tufts of hair may not sprout instantaneously. 

In my experience, when God gives me a promise, everything, and I mean EVERYTHING goes way south. It looks like the exact opposite of what He said, no sign of His promise. Nothing. It’s a dry, dry desert.

I believe He gives us promises because He knows we’ll need it down the line. We’ll need it to encourage ourselves, to stand firm in the capability of His power, and anticipate the splendor of His creative work.

If He tells you He’ll supply all your needs, at some point, you may not feel supplied at all. If He promises you hair, you may become Varys before you become Better-than-Jon Snow(enough with the GOT references, Ike). Bottom line, you may become completely bald before you get a chance to toss those locks in the wind.

At that point of complete baldness, you may not have what you want, but you have something pulsating with an inherent potential of God’s power— a promise! He sees the future and He knows things are going to go very South. He expects us to grab that promise, stare at it, speak it, shout it, write it, mutter it, imbibe it, own that promise until we are breathing and living in its reality.

God once gave me a promise and it did not look like it for a long time. Just like David or Abraham or Joseph, each of these guys waited at least 10 years before the promise was realized. Abraham waited until he was 99! David waited, running around in the mountains and the desert for years, trying to escape Saul, even AFTER David had been anointed king by Samuel; Joseph was sold as a slave, and he went to jail before all those stars bowed to him.

These 3 men had a promise each. There is a promise. Then there’s the wait or the trail. You must hold on. You must. Otherwise, what are you gonna do?

Why should you hold on? Because when the trial is over and you have won... there will be Isaac. There will be no Saul, and your greatness will exceed those before and after you, as was with David; never lost a battle, never lost his city, arguably the most respected king in history. When you wait out the promise, the stars will surely bow and so will the moon and the sun.  

This is what happens to those who wait for my God.

2016 in Two Words: Plot Twist

If I could summarize 2016 in two words, it’ll be — Plot twist. I think I was done with it by May. The twists kept coming and I kept winging it like a pro. You can only wing it for so long, for ~365 days. At some point, you're bound to get a sprain (which I did). All this, clearly could have been duly avoided if I had done the most important thing at the beginning of the year:

Asked God for a personal, specific word for the year.

It would have made it much easier. Instead, I looked for words as the twists came. They worked, as always, but it was tasking.

For sure, this can't be the case in the coming year. 2017 must be renowned as the year we heard, we followed and we triumphed!

If you don't have a word yet—and I don't mean the general word announced at church on NYE, I mean your own exclusive, intimate instruction and reassurance from our heavenly Papa, please sit with Him this last few days of the year and get it.  It's important because when the plot twists come, then you can smack ‘em in the face with that irrefutable promise from your Father *smirk* Also when you have a specific word from God, you are able to mutter it beneath your breath or scream it out when things look the exact opposite of the promise; great way to look crazy, which I personally prefer.

2016 wasn't all twisty. It was full of so many blessed opportunities, travel, love, you (yes, you PGI reader), fun posts, new friends, old friends. One amazing thing I did this year though was teach my mum how to blog…on FaceTime! Lol! It was the funnest and funniest thing ever. It made me appreciate her so much. I couldn’t be impatient because I know how patient she was with me as a baby learning to walk, learning to eat, learning to pronounce! So with patience, I'd say, "No, mum. That's not your password." I guess now, we all know where I got my password-recall situation from. 

I'm grateful for the twists. The brought me to a place of serenity and clarity; so much that I don't pray to avoid the twists but I pray to be focused on Christ and to hold on to whatever he has told me about 2017. Do you have your word yet?

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