Because God is always good, His conditional promises are not about withholding something from us but rather about creating a position of sustained blessing for us. It does no good for God to bless us if we cannot persevere in the blessing. As a good Father, God is more interested in a life of blessing than simply a few encounters that bless. Conditions propel us into a position of sustained blessing. Conditions require alignment with a heavenly thought, value, or action.
Promises
Christine Caine
God has not forgotten you, nor has he gone back on any one of his promises to you. You may have experienced unanticipated detours, unwarranted attacks, unpredictable delays, unrealistic expectations, unexpected failures, unnecessary interruptions, unfathomable heartache or undeniable opposition —but that does not mean the purpose of God will not come to pass in your life. All of the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ Jesus.
Dawna De Silva
Waiting on the Lord’s promises can be difficult, but mastering our immediate desires will allow us to step out from under man’s timing to prepare for God’s. The goal for any believer is to stay in step with what the Lord is doing and not to move ahead or behind this pace.
Kris Vallotton
Isaac was not born through immaculate conception. Abraham and Sarah had to participate in the union of marriage in order to have Isaac. In one respect, they created an Ishmael by trying to make the prophetic word come to pass, yet they still had to co-labor with God to see His promise become a reality. We need to realize that God seldom does things all by Himself. He often requires us to be involved with Him to see our destinies fulfilled. The key here is to allow the Holy Spirit to show us what part He wants us to play and what part God has reserved for Himself. Otherwise, we will create Ishmaels who will persecute our Isaacs!
Samuel Logan Brengle
Many people say they are fighting the devil, who do not know what fighting the devil means. It is a fight of faith, in which the soul takes hold of the promise of God, and holds on to it, and believes it, and declares it to be true in spite of all the devil’s lies, in spite of all circumstances and feelings to the contrary, and in which it obeys God, whether God seems to be fulfilling the promise or not. When a soul gets to the point where he will do this, and will hold fast the profession of his faith without wavering, he will soon get out of the fogs and mists and twilight of doubt and uncertainty into the broad day of perfect assurance.
Bill Johnson
While Eastern meditation tries to get people to empty their minds, biblical meditation focuses on our filling our minds—and our mouths—with the truth. Joshua 1:8 says, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” One of the definitions for the Hebrew word “meditate” is “to mutter.” Meditating involves repeating the words God has said out loud. As Joshua was told, this regular repetition of what God had said is the key to our ability to do the Word.
J Vernon McGee
In the Old Testament…God is the owner of the vineyard. Here He is the Keeper, the Farmer, the One who takes care of the vineyard. Jesus is the genuine Vine, and the Father takes care of Him… In the Old Testament, it is prophesied that the Lord Jesus would grow up before Him as a tender plant and as a root out of the dry ground. Think how often the Father intervened to save Jesus from the devil who wished to slay Him. The Father is the One who cared for the Vine, and He will care for the branches, too.