Claiming God’s Promises

People make promises every day. A friend says, “I’ll be there.” A classmate says, “I won’t tell anyone.” Someone you meet at camp says, “Let’s stay in touch.” You tell your parents, “I’ll do the dishes before I go to bed.”

Saying we will do something is easy. Following through is much harder.

You probably remember times when a person promised you something but did not keep it. That does not feel good. You may also remember situations when you promised something and had to apologize because you forgot or got busy.

Most people try to keep their word. But we are all human. Things get in the way. We may get tired, distracted or simply reach a point where we do not feel like doing what was said.

God is different.

Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: has He said, and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good?”

The Creator of the universe is perfect at keeping promises. Joshua 21:45 shows this: “There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.”

The Bible is filled with promises from God. Throughout Scripture, He offers guidance when you need direction, peace when you feel anxious, strength when you feel weak, wisdom when you do not know what to do, and help when you face trials. He also promises blessings in many other areas of life.

They are not just for your parents. These promises are for you.

God wants you to learn those promises and take Him at His word. In Malachi 3:10, after God made a specific promise in the previous verses, He tells readers to “prove Me now herewith.” The New Living Translation puts it this way: “Try it! Put Me to the test!”

How do you actually claim one of God’s promises? There are simple steps you can follow.

Learn and Believe

We cannot claim promises we do not know. The first step is to learn what they are.

You may already have certain memory verses that are promises from God. Proverbs 3:5-6 promises direction when we trust in Him. Isaiah 26:3 promises peace of mind. I Corinthians 10:13 promises a way to escape temptation.

Other verses are familiar, but you may not have recognized them as promises. Look at James 4:8: “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” This verse is not just meant to provide comfort. It tells you something specific God will do. If you draw near to Him, He will draw near to you.

God’s promises are sprinkled throughout Scripture. There is no single book of the Bible called “promises.” That means we have to study to find them. II Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

This is an ongoing process. You do not need to know every promise all at once. As you encounter situations in life where you need help, you can seek out promises specific to what you are dealing with. The inset to this article breaks out some of these promises into several real-life categories.

Keep your eyes peeled when reading the Bible. Often promises are hidden among historical or prophetic verses. Finding them can become a fun Bible study activity, searching for them “line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little” (Isa. 28:13).

When you find a promise, write it down in a notebook, mark it in your Bible or save it somewhere you will see it again. Do not just read past it. Stop and ask: What is God saying He will do?

Take James 1:5 for example: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not; and it shall be given him.”

That is a promise. If you need wisdom about anything in your life, ask God for it. You do not have to wonder whether He is willing to help. He already said He is.

Knowing the promise helps you believe it. It helps you confidently ask God for what He has offered.

In the next verses of the same chapter, James describes the mindset we should have when claiming anything from God: “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord” (vs. 6-7).

We should not waver or feel unsure about what God says. Instead, we must believe what He says and take Him at His word.

Ask God

James said we are to “ask of God.” After learning and believing a promise, the next step is to pray about it. Go to God and talk to Him directly.

You can bring your Bible and notebook with you when you pray and read God’s own words to Him. Ask Him to do what He said. Of course, you should also use your own words, explaining why your request is important and what it means to you.

Hebrews 4:16 tells us to “come boldly unto the throne of grace.” While we should approach God with respect and humility, this verse shows we can also bring a certain boldness. We do not need to feel awkward or reluctant to ask for something God already offered.

Keep this simple: When you want a human being to keep their promise, you go and talk to them. You do not stay quiet or avoid them. The same applies to God. Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

The parallel account in Luke 11 brings this principle to life.

Jesus Christ said, “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.

“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened” (vs. 5-10, New Living Translation).

Most people would feel embarrassed to knock on someone’s door at midnight to ask for something. But Jesus revealed the mentality we need: “shameless persistence.”

God is not annoyed when we keep coming to Him. He does not want you to ask once and then give up. Instead, He wants you to pray to Him as often as you need to as you await His answer.

Philippians 4:6 adds, “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

“Supplication” includes consistent, heartfelt prayers over time. This verse also reminds us that no matter how excited we are to claim something, we should not forget to thank God for what He has already done in our lives.

Doing Our Part

Once we know and believe a promise, and we have gone to God in prayer to ask for it, there is another critical element to the process: We do our part.

Some promises include conditions. God tells us what He will do, but He also tells us what He expects from us.

Malachi 3:10 illustrates this. In the same verse God said to “prove Me now,” there is both a promised blessing and a condition: “Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in My house, and prove Me now herewith, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

There is a clear promise of financial success here. God will “pour you out a blessing.” But the condition for us is to “bring…all the tithes into the storehouse.” We need to pay our tithes. One is inseparable from the other. There are many promises like this.

Ephesians 6:1-3 is another promise with conditions: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor your father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth.”

God promises that things will go well for those who honor their parents. But notice the condition: We have to obey and honor them. We cannot ignore what God says and still expect the blessing attached to it.

Proverbs 13:20 provides another example. This verse contains both a positive and a negative promise depending on which condition we fulfill: “He that walks with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”

If the wrong people influence us, there is a promise or guarantee that we will eventually suffer serious consequences if we do not repent.

We do not want to claim that promise. But the flip side is that if we walk with wise men, we can emulate and benefit from their positive attributes.

When claiming any promise, we need to be ready to start doing whatever God says is required. If we are already doing that, we should feel even more confident that God will fulfill His part. Psalm 119 shows this connection: “O Lord: I have said that I would keep Your words. I intreated Your favor with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to Your word” (vs. 57-58).

Even verses that do not have a clear “you do X, God does Y” element carry an unspoken requirement. I John 3:22 says, “Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”

This applies to any promise—“whatsoever we ask.” If we find we are not receiving what we ask for, we may need to examine ourselves to see where improvement is needed with keeping God’s Commandments and doing what pleases Him.

Obedience does not mean we earn God’s promises, but it does position us to receive them.

Waiting Patiently

After we have believed a promise, asked God to keep it, and done our best to fulfill our part, what is next?

We wait.

Most promises from God are not fulfilled immediately. There is always patience required. James wrote, “Let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (1:4).

Sometimes we need only a little patience. In other situations, we wait for a long time, even what could feel like an eternity to us, before we see a promise’s fulfillment. Often, it is somewhere in the middle.

Abraham had to learn this. After he faithfully obeyed God during his life, God promised him: “In blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore” (Gen. 22:17).

Abraham did not see this fulfilled in his lifetime. But he trusted that God would do what He said and kept obeying Him. We see the evidence today in the modern nations filled with Abraham’s descendants. God did keep His promise.

Like Abraham, we must be willing to keep doing the right thing even if we do not immediately get what we asked for.

Waiting also means accepting that God’s will may be different from ours.

II Corinthians 12 records the apostle Paul having a “thorn in the flesh” (vs. 7), a health trial for which he “besought the Lord” three times (vs. 8). Paul’s prayers may have included claiming God’s promises of healing in the Old Testament.

Yet God’s purpose was not to provide immediate healing: “And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you: for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (vs. 9).

This does not mean God broke a promise. Eventually, at the resurrection, Paul will be healed completely of that thorn once he is changed to spirit. But Paul had to finish his ministry with that condition. That was God’s will.

When you claim a promise, God may answer right away. Or He may want you to wait. But He will never forget what He has promised.

Lamentations 3:25 says, “The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him.”

When you claim any promise, wait for God.

Receiving the Promise

At some point, God will answer.

Sometimes the answer is obvious. King David said, “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears” (Psa. 34:4). David claimed a promise of deliverance from God and he got it. He did not have to guess or wonder if God had helped him. He could see the result.

Psalm 107 speaks of people who “cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saves them out of their distresses. He sent His word, and healed them” (vs. 19-20). These are people who cried out to God and were healed. They clearly got what they asked for.

When we claim a promise, we should expect to get it. But the answer can often be more subtle. This means we should slow down and watch to see what God is doing. If we do not pay attention, we could miss small indications that God is beginning to fulfill what we asked.

When your request is fulfilled, be thankful. I Thessalonians 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” Give thanks to God for what He did, and allow what happened to strengthen your faith for the next time you claim a promise.

Also remember that God may fulfill a promise differently from how you expected. His thinking is higher and better than ours. Isaiah 55:9 says, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

If you ask for help finding employment, you may not get the cozy desk job you imagined. God may answer your prayer by giving you a job somewhere else that may involve getting your hands dirty and building more character than you would have otherwise. But He still kept His promise.

The Greatest Promise

II Peter 1:4 speaks of “exceeding great and precious promises” given to us by God. Some promises involve physical things and others involve spiritual things. Some are claimed in moments of dire need and others are long-term. Sometimes we claim promises for ourselves and at other times we can ask God to fulfill promises for our loved ones.

But there is one promise that stands above them all.

I John 2:25 says, “And this is the promise that He has promised us, even eternal life.”

Eternal life is the greatest promise God has ever made. And we will only receive that in the coming Kingdom of God. James 2:5 says, “Has not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which He has promised to them that love Him?”

You hear about the Kingdom of God every Sabbath. But most people have never heard of it. That promise is precious knowledge.

Matthew 13:44 says, “The Kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man has found, he hides, and for joy thereof goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.”

God’s promise of eternal life is one to hold on to with everything you have.

Paul wrote, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1:2). Failing to keep a promise means the promise was a lie. But God would not, and cannot, do that. God is eager to keep this promise by giving you eternal life.

With the time that remains before the Kingdom comes, use the promises God gives you now. Find them in the Bible. Believe them. Pray about them. Do your part. Wait for God. Watch how He answers. And thank Him when He does.

Each promise you claim can build your faith in the greatest promise God will ever fulfill: eternal life.