Even more than we could have hoped for....conclusion

Just as Abigail received more than she could have hoped for, from king David, we, too, have received from God countless blessings.
Here are our focus verses:

 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (II Peter 1:3-4)

Wow! I love that! "Great and precious promises." I've heard some sermons and workshops that say there are many thousands of promises found in the Bible. Peter calls them "great and precious" because of the One Who made them...... we all know that a promise is only as good as the person who makes it. We are all humans down here, and may have the best of intentions -- but circumstances may come up and I may let you down. But when God makes a promise, you know it's real.

Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.  (Hebrews 6:17-19a)

Have we ever made a promise and then realized that there were circumstances beyond our control? We just couldn't come through on the promise? God is all powerful, and He will never, ever fail to fulfill what he has promised to us.

Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. (Romans 4:20-21)

David's Psalm 89 quotes the words of our Father God:

I will not violate my covenant  or alter what my lips have uttered. (Psalm 89:34)

A promise from God is sure and secure! He has promised to love us and to be with us:

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:20b)

He has promised to provide for us on earth and provide us an eternal home:

My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?3 (John 14:2)

He promised to return for us:

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (John 14:3)

There's not much in this world that we can count on. But we can count on our Lord.

Notice in verse four, Peter says we are partakers of the divine nature? Well, as Christians, we are born again; we say we are a new creation. The Bible says we are children of God. Because of our relationship with Him, we also have the privilege (and responsibility) of growing more like Him, and of enjoying His protection:

I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,    my God, in whom I trust.” (Psalm 91:2)

A refuge is where we are sheltered from danger or trouble. Peter also says we are protected from corruption -- a life without our Savior is full of corruption, and the only way to clean it up is to surrender to the One Who created us.

Lastly, we are also protected from condemnation. If we have not been saved, if we do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, we are condemned to die. Our eternity will be spent separated from God, in the lake of fire. BUT if we are saved, we can rest in the fact that we are protected from that condemnation! Jesus promised that:

 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life." (John 5:24)

Because we are protected from eternal condemnation, we can live an abundant, victorious life with Christ. This protection is a result of God's amazing mercy. If you are reading with us today and have never been saved, you can be today! The gift of salvation is free, and is secured by Jesus Christ's work at Calvary. If you will turn to Him today and accept salvation, you can be delivered from condemnation..... please look at the upper right-hand side of this study blog and click on the tab "What must I do to be saved?"

It used to be that a person's word stood for something. People used words like honor and integrity carefully, not casually. And they paid a great deal more attention to keeping their word, and honoring their promises. Many people today will betray us intentionally.
But others will fail us unintentionally. Promises are made and then broken unintentionally.
We can trust peacefully in the promises of God -- He never fails us. His promises are great and they are precious. And we must admit as we read them in the Bible, that they are far more than we could have hoped for!