“Since we have God’s promises, dear friends, let us cleanse and keep ourselves from everything that contaminates our body and spirit, growing in holiness out of reverence and gratitude to God.” (pp of 2Cor.7:1)
”God has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may become more like Jesus and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” (pp of 2 Pet.1:4)
Patient Father, the “farther up and further in” I go into the Gospel, the more you challenge and change the way I think about everything—including your promises and what we’re to do with them as your children. I used to feel a bit of control and pressure, with regard to your promises. Control: If I claimed your promises with enough vigor and faith, I could impact you and your actions in my world. Stress: What if my “claiming” wasn’t good enough; or what if I “claimed well” and got your Plan C, G, or Z, rather than your Plan A? But, BIG Hallelujah, your promises claim us; we don’t claim them.
As these Scriptures show us, your promises are primarily about you changing us, not us programming you. So, the illusion of control and the stress of “getting it right” are off. By your promises we increasingly “share in your divine nature”—that is, we become more like Jesus.
All of your promises direct our gaze away from us to Jesus who is the ultimate “Yes!” to every promise you’ve ever made (2 Cor. 1:20). So, the fulfillment of your promises depends on Jesus’ grace, not our grit. If we’re going to “name and claim” anything from your Word, we “claim” Jesus as our “righteousness, holiness, and redemption”—our Savior and Bridegroom, our Lord and our life (1Cor.1:30, Phil.1:21). So VERY VERY Amen.