What promise am I given?

When we bow our heads and bend our knees in prayer to the God of all creation, we participate in an impossibly privileged activity. To be able to meet with the one whom the Old Testament saints feared even to name, let alone look upon (lest they be consumed by his glory and die), should be a cause for great humility and no small amount of trembling. The Christian holds an astonishing status before God. On any day, at any time of the day, we may approach God to speak with him personally. We are to approach him as his own children—without fear and with confidence, but always in an attitude of reverent awe and deep respect.

Very often, however, it seems we forget that it is a privilege to come before our Father God—a privilege that Jesus won for us by his sacrifice on the cross. Too often Christians exhibit a bawdy familiarity that verges on contempt. Our regular presence in the throne room can cause us to develop a tendency towards carelessness and presumption, and our humble caution turns into disrespect. We may begin to make demands instead of bring requests. The more passionate and desperate our prayers are, the greater the temptation is for us to make demands of God. This is why we need to do the hard work of understanding the promises God has made in Scripture, as we shape our prayers around them.

Of all the private prayers we bring in conversation to our Father God, perhaps none are as deep, heartfelt or desperate as our prayers for healing and restoration—whether physical or spiritual—for ourselves and others. We often offer up such prayers in the midst of deep sorrow, grief, frustration or anxiety, and they are usually washed with tears. We bare our naked hearts and deepest desires to God and beg for his intervention to bless, restore and transform. It is our privilege as his children to be able to do this—to come to our loving Father and seek his comfort and aid and to claim the promises he has made available to us.

These privileges, however, do not extend to claiming promises God has not made or to neglecting commands and precepts that he has set in place. We must never forget that God owes us nothing. He is no-one’s debtor. What privileges we have come to us as gifts. They are not a reward; they do not come to us based on our particular merits. They are ours because of his grace alone. When we enter God’s presence, we do so with nothing in our hands and with no claim on him. We are the ones who owe him the debt—not the other way around. We lean only on the holiness and righteousness of his character—that he is the God who makes promises and does not lie. Keep reading