Promises To God

For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. (2 Corinthians 1:20)


I spent years making promises to God. I would promise to read my Bible more, to pray more, and to witness more. I'd promise to sin less. My life was filled with promise after promise which I would always end up breaking. Consequently, I constantly felt like God must be disappointed with me. I just couldn't seem to get it right, no matter how hard I tried.

If I had only understood then what the Bible says about the subject, I could have saved myself a lot of stress and strain. We're never told in Scripture to promise anything to God. In fact, the Bible is full of promises that God has made to us. That's the part of grace that people find so hard to accept - it's one sided. He gives and we get. He promises and we believe. We have nothing to offer in return nor is there anything He wants or needs from us. Our only role is to believe Him.

Paul said that the promises of God are all "Yes!" in Jesus Christ. That means He is the embodiment of God's promises. What's our part? Again, Paul says it is simply to say "Amen!" That's a word which, in the southern lingo of my roots, means "ain't it the truth!" The bottom line is that there's never a need for us to promise anything. It is to the glory of God that we simply rest in the finished work of Christ and know that in Him God's promises to us have all been fulfilled.

Whatever God has promised us, we have it in Christ. We are "children of the promise" (Romans 9:8) and as "heirs of the promise" (Hebrews 6:17) we can relax and know we don't have to do anything to gain God's blessings in our lives. Everything He has ever promised to do on our behalf has been accomplished and given to us in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)

When God got ready to enter into covenant with Abraham, Abe went to work to prepare for the ratification ceremony. (See Genesis 15) He prepared the sacrificial animals by filleting them and laying the halves on two sides with a bloody path down the middle. Normally, when two people entered into covenant together they would walk arm in arm down that bloody pathway together. In so doing, they were promising that they would each keep their part of the covenant, even if it meant shedding their last drop of blood to do it.

But when the time came for the covenant to be ratified with Abraham, God caused him to fall into a deep sleep and God walked alone down the bloody pathway. What did that mean? It meant that there was no need for Abe to make any promises. The only thing he would have ended up doing was breaking them anyway. So God walked the path alone, and in so doing, proved that He would keep the terms of the covenant for both He and Abraham. The only thing Abe had to do was believe it. When it was all said and done, Abraham did believe it and "it was counted to him for righteousness." (Romans 4:3)

That's all we have to do too. Just believe God. Legalism insists that we "do our part" by making promises to Him about how we'll do better and try harder, but grace tells us that He has done it all. We don't have to promise anything. In fact, when we do we are insinuating that the finished work of the cross wasn't enough to seal the deal (ratify the covenant) and it was. So let's rest in what He has done and give a loud and hearty "Amen!" to Jesus. That and that alone is what brings the highest glory to God.

In Savannah, GA For A Family Emergency - 10/7 Update

Wednesday, 10/7
My Aunt, Elizabeth McVey, is getting better. She is still in Intensive Care, but we hope that won't be for long. They did put the tube in her trachea and now attach the respirator on it only at night while she sleeps. The goal is to wean her off the respirator completely and then wean her off the trach tube over the next week. She is alert now and interacting as much as possible. She can't talk, but sometimes wants to write notes to us. I've kidded her that she "writes in tongues" and I don't have the gift of interpretation. She seems in good spirits, at least as much as anybody could be in her situation.

Our plan is to go to Atlanta at the end of the week. We fly out on Sunday for our GW International Leadership meeting in Canada next week. I canceled a ministry trip I had last weekend, but can't cancel this one. We'll have about 60 people coming in from six countries. I would appreciate your prayers that my aunt will continue to improve while we're gone.

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Saturday 10/4
I'm still in Savannah with my Aunt, who is still in Intensive Care. At this point, her biggest problem is her physical weakness. She has been on a respirator for days and doesn't have the strength to breathe on her own. She will wake up when she is roused up and she understands what's being said to her, but sleeps most of the time otherwise. Today they will put a tube in her trachea in hopes that it will make it easier for her to breathe on her own. They will be able to connect oxygen to the tube if/when she needs it but they'll attempt to have her breathe more and more on her own. We would appreciate your prayers that she will gain physical strength. Tomorrow is her birthday. What a lousy way to spend your birthday. Thanks again to those who are praying with us.


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Wednesday night - 10/1:
Thanks to those who have expressed that you've prayed for my Aunt. I had to return to Savannah today because they have learned that her lung has had blood clots and one dislodged, apparently causing a heart attack. She'll have a heart cath tomorrow morning (Thursday)which will show the cause and extent of damage to her heart. I realize some who are new to my blog may wonder why the personal info, but from the beginning I've indicated that I would use this blog for both public and personal blogging. Close friends and family members read this to stay abreast of what's going on in our personal lives. Others have expressed their interest too. So I post the highs and lows here. This is a trying time for our family and we appreciate the concern and prayers of those who have responded.

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Monday 9/29:
I wrote the post below a few days ago. My Aunt improved and Melanie and I returned home. After we came back, she declined again and is back in Intensive Care on a respirator. The doctors are saying she is improving though. We are waiting now to see if the improvement continues before making a decision about whether to go back to Savannah immediately.
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Melanie and I are in Savannah, Georgia to be with my Aunt, who had an accident that required emergency surgery. She was walking for exercise, stumbled over a root growing out of the sidewalk, and fell to the ground. She fell face first and broke her nose and her neck. While it was a horrible accident, we are very thankful that the surgery was a success and she will fully recover. We thank God that there was no paralysis. The situation could have been much worse.

Her husband (my Dad's brother) died exactly 100 days after my dad died a few years ago. They never had children, and she has no family here in town. We would appreciate your prayers for our Father to make clear how to best move forward as she leaves the hospital and recovers. She's a strong and godly woman who we love much and want to see the best scenario unfold for her.

Our Father's Love

What a great picture of how God can use our lives regardless of our limitations or how long we are in this world. The parents also give us a great example of agape love.

Home From Melbourne

I arrived home on Thursday after a 26 hour trip, worn out but thankful for a wonderful time in Australia. I still haven't adapted back to Eastern Standard Time yet. For the past two days I've become very sleepy in the afternoon and woke up early in the mornings. Since it's a weekend, it's not a problem. Hopefully by Monday, I'll be back on track with the change in time.

I don't know when I've enjoyed being with people anymore than I enjoyed the two pastors there who hosted the conference. Silas Issa and Robert Albano were gracious hosts and their congregations were so responsive that they nearly "preached me to death." I also enjoyed the time with my friend, David Billings, who traveled with me and shared his own grace walk story both in public and one on one while we were there.

I was struck by how diverse the ethnic culture is in Melbourne. There are Christians in both of the churches we attended from all over the world. Apart from the conference, one highlight for me was to share an authentic Lebanese meal in the home of a dear Lebanese couple. I'd never eaten Lebanese food but am determined now to find a restaurant here who serves that food. Another highlight was when Rob took Dave and me to see kangaroos in a national park area. I climbed the fence and got as close to them as I dared.

The people in Australia were very friendly, both inside and outside the church. Plans are to return there in 2010, when we hope to speak at conferences in a number of cities around the country.

Thanks to each of you who prayed for the meetings there.

Report From Melbourne

Wednesday Afternoon, 5:00

Last night I spoke on the subject of our freedom from religious rules and the freedom to live godly lives because of the outflow of the Christ who indwells us. The church was packed and the response was good.

Today we went to what is the equivalent of a national park where we saw kangaroo. I took pictures from a distance, wanting to get closer, but afraid that the kangaroos might charge us. They aren't typically known to be aggressive, but can be if they become afraid. Having never seen a kangaroo and not knowing where their "fear level" may be and considering I'm not confident that I could outrun a kangaroo, my great wisdom advised me to keep my distance :) Would you want to try to outrun this bad boy?

Tonight I'll speak on the love of God and then tomorrow our flight leaves for the long journey home. It has been awesome to be here. I've been invited back for the "Uncensored Grace Conference" in 2010 and am already looking forward to it.

Update From Australia

Melbourne, Monday night, 12:30

Today was a busy day. I spoke this morning at a conference for pastors and leaders and then tonight at the Uncensored Grace Conference. Our hosts are Pastor Silas Issa of the International Baptist Church and Pastor Robert Albano of the City Wide Christian Church. It is a great testimony to the unifying grace of God that an independent, fundamentalist, Baptist church and an Assembly of God church can unite together for a conference like this. Both pastors are grounded in grace and are leading their churches forward in admirable ways. It is a joy to be with these men and their churches.

On Sunday morning I spoke at one church and David Billings at the other. Below is a short segment of Dave speaking at City Wide Christian Church with Pastor Robert Albano.

Thanks for praying!

Arrived In Australia

Sunday morning,5:45

We arrived in Melbourne yesterday morning, tired but excited to be here. My travel time from door to door was 25 hours with 19 of that being in the air. When we arrived our host pastors (Silas and Rob) took us to a nice breakfast at the top of a downtown hotel so that we could see the city. Melbourne is a beautiful town Afterward we came to the hotel where I took a wonderful nap for a couple of hours.

We had dinner with these two pastors and their wives last night before coming back to the hotel for a great night's sleep. I woke up at 4:30 this morning,which is typical for me even at home.(It's 14 hours later here than Eastern Standard Time at home.) I'm rested and ready to speak. I'll be at one church this morning and Dave Billings will be speaking at another. We've both been very encouraged by the enthusiasm of these two pastors and look forward to the ministry time here.

Check back here often and I'll try to post blogs as time permits. Please pray for the "Uncensored Grace" conference here. The hosts have been told that people are flying in from a number of places across Australia and even from outside the country. Pray that many will be set free during these meetings.