Trusting God's Promises for Our Future

Devotional

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God knows everything that will happen. God knows everything that's gonna happen in your life already. He knows the beginning and the end. This is called the omniscience of God. It means God knows everything. There is nothing that God doesn't know. Now, in a practical sense what that means is this. God is never surprised. God never goes, "Wow, I didn't see that coming." [00:01:38]

God is not limited by time, God is timeless. You see, your concept and my concept of time happens to because we're on a planet that turns around every 24 hours and goes around the Sun every 365 days. If you were on a different planet, you would have a different concept of time and if you weren't on a planet at all, you'd have a totally different concept of time because you could be timeless. [00:02:53]

God's plan for my future is good. It's not a bad plan. In fact, God has no bad plans for people. God is a good god. And because God is a good god, all of his plans are good. He doesn't have any bad plans for you. All of his plans for you are good. [00:06:10]

You have to choose God's plan for your life, it's not automatic. You see, one of the greatest gifts but it's also a hindrance to us is the freedom to choose. God didn't wanna create a bunch of puppets. He could have made us where we don't have any choice. You couldn't choose to do bad, you couldn't choose to do other things but he made us in His image which means he gave us free will and every day you make choices. [00:08:19]

God promises to be with us every step of the way. In my future, I don't know what it's gonna be like and I know I can't control it but I do know this, God will be with me every step of the way. How do I know that? Because in the Bible, one of the most repeated promises of God is this, you're not gonna be alone. I will never leave you, I will never forsake you, I will never abandon you, I'm gonna be with you, my presence will be with you. [00:13:55]

Every fear is a misunderstanding of who God is and what he's promised. If you knew what God is really like and you knew what he's really promised, you wouldn't be afraid. You wouldn't be anxious about the future, you wouldn't be worried or nervous about what's gonna happen tomorrow. Because if you really knew who God is and what he's promised to do in your life, you wouldn't be afraid. [00:17:51]

God promises to guide me when I'm confused. One thing that you can predict about your future is that you're gonna have a lot of decisions to make. You got a lot of choices and some of those choices are difficult, some of them are even confusing. Do I take this job? Do I move to this city? Should I buy this house? Should I marry this girl? There are some big life-changing decisions, and a lot of times we can be confused about them. [00:18:46]

God promises to help me when I am tempted. Not only when I'm confused but he promises to help me when I am tempted. This is the second great promise about your future. God promises to help me when I'm tempted. Now another thing that's not gonna change in your future is you're gonna have the same old temptations. Hate to tell you that, hopefully you'll get better at resisting them but you're gonna have the same temptations the rest of your life. [00:22:28]

God promises to support me in trouble. He's gonna guide me when I'm confused, he's gonna help me when I'm tempted and he's gonna support me when I'm in trouble. Now what's the difference between temptation and trouble? Oh, a big difference. Temptation is inside me, trouble is outside me. Temptation is internal, trouble is external. Temptation has to do with my character, trouble has to do with my circumstances. [00:36:22]

God promises to repay those who hurt me. And he doesn't want you repaying 'em, he doesn't want you seeking retaliation, he says no, no, let me handle this. Have you noticed that the world seems to be getting meaner? More hateful, more rude, more uncivil, more unfair. Do you ever listen to the news or watch the news and you go, man that's just not fair. [00:42:45]

God promises to reward my service and generosity. Now part of God's plan and purpose for your life is he wants you to become like Jesus Christ. Jesus is the model of perfect humanity. God wants us to grow up like Christ. He wants us to think like Christ, to feel like Christ, to love like Christ, to serve like Christ, to be giving like Christ. [00:51:30]

God promises for my future to keep me saved until heaven. He's gonna keep me saved until I get to heaven. I don't have to keep myself saved, thank God. Because if it were up to me to keep myself saved, I'm in deep deep weeds. There's no way I can save myself. God says it's not up to you. Once you put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the waters, you may wanna let go but he's not gonna let go. [01:02:54]

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