Hi everyone, it is Lara Gboyega Adedeji here again. We started a three-part series two weeks back, observing by the leadership and the teaching of the Holy Spirit on submitting to the will of God. So, the Lord has been taking us on a journey of understanding that He did not create us for ourselves, He created us for a purpose, He did not create us for fun but for function. He did not create us to pass time but to fulfil His will on the earth. And we understood by this three-part series, by looking at the first part of it; Submitting to The Plan and Purpose of God. We were able to see that the plan of God is usually a communication of His vision, that the purpose of God is always a communication of the mission, what He wants you to do. What He wants you to run with. We looked at Habakkuk chapter 2 which says: “write the vision, make it plain upon tablets that those that read it might run.” So, when you run, you are actually a man or a woman of purpose, you are on a mission.
Last week we looked at submitting to the Principles and The Process of God and we are able to see last week that the principles of God are actually the guide lines of our purpose. They are the rules of engagement, they are the rules of our lives, the things that God has set for us as boundaries for our existence on the earth. And we also understood that the process that God is asking us to submit to is a process He has made happen by the Holy Spirit. He has given us the Holy Spirit as a guarantee as a teacher to lead us in the process of our purpose and so that we can become a man or a woman of Gods purpose and we can fulfil His plan.
So, today we are looking at the last part of the five dimensions or areas we said submitting to the will of God entails. We said that submitting to the will of God requires that we number one; submit to the plan of God, two; to the purpose of God, three; to the principles of God, four; to the process of God, and lastly to the promises of God. And we are going to examine that today in this piece. We are also going to be tying it to how to submit to the will of God. So, after we consider submission to His promises, then we will look at how to submit to the will of God. Capping all these five areas together.
So, in this piece, our topic of observation majorly is submission to His promises. We want to start by looking at what are the promises of God? When we say God promised, what did He promise? What are the promises? Those are the things we will be looking at and how can we submit to it? We will start by looking at Jeremiah 29, God made a very emphatic statement in Jeremiah 29 verse 11, we are going to start from that particular verse. It says: “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
The promises of God, are God’s thoughts towards you. God’s thoughts are not like men’s thoughts; God’s thoughts are His commitments. He said I know the thoughts that I think towards you, God does not think passively, He thinks actively. He is an intentional God, and active in His thinking. Verse 11, He said “For I know”, I am persuaded, I am in full knowledge and understanding, because God is the Father of light. God does not dwell in darkness, nor does He do business in it. God leads by light, that’s why the devil is called the prince of this world, He rules in darkness. But both light and darkness are both clear before God. That’s the difference. But God does not rule in darkness. So, God made it clear to us in Jeremiah 29 verse 11, He said, John I know the thoughts that I think towards you.
He makes it personal. The promises of God are both general and personal. But particularly, it is specific. He didn’t say I know the thought that I think towards all of you. He said I know the thoughts that I think towards you. They are thoughts of good. So, God does not have any bad thought towards you. God does not have any evil thought towards you. He said they are thoughts of peace and not evil, and what is the reason why I am thinking about you? What is the reason why I am committed to you? He said because I want to give you a future, I want to deliver my plan, I want to deliver my purpose in your life, so I must think. You can cannot have my plan and my purpose delivered and accomplished in your life until I am thinking towards you.
He said I want to give you. The only way you can have a future and a hope is because I give it to you. And the singular way I give it to you is via my thinking, my thoughts. And those thoughts are Gods promises, His commitment. So, the thoughts of God, are His promises. And what does God do when He promises you? It is to the end that He gives you a future, it is to the end that He gives you a hope. Now we want to unbundle that. When God makes a promise, when He thinks a thought towards you, which He said is of peace and not of evil, embodied in that thought is every think that you need. It said He has given to us all things that pertains to life and to godliness. That is all that you need to fulfil His plan.
2 Corinthians 1 verse 20, I want us to see the promise of God. 2 Corinthians 1 and we will read from verse 20. Apostle Paul writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit said; “For all the promises of God in Him, (talking about who? Jesus Christ) are yes and amen.” I want us to pause there, all the promises of who? God! Because we must understand, it will be good for some of us who have not listened to that message on understanding the trinity, I have forgotten to the particular title but there is a message that the Holy Spirit taught us on understanding the trinity and their roles. And how they are all summed in one and not divided.
Now, it said all the promises of God not the promises of Christ. God said; the Father, for I know the thoughts I have towards you, why? I love you. They are thoughts of peace and not of evil, then by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Apostle Paul wrote in this 2 Corinthians 1 verse 20, He said for all the promises of God, so we know where the promises are domiciled. They are of God the Father. All the promises of the Father concerning you, they are yes, first of all they are in Him, all the promises of God, they are in Him. Meaning you don’t have access to the promises of God until you come into Him. All the promises of God in Christ Jesus, Christ Jesus is the “Him”. So, meaning that if there is anyone that is not in Christ Jesus, the person does not have access to these promises.
The location of these promises, these good thoughts that God mentioned in Jeremiah 29 verse 11, they are in Him and they are yes. What is the meaning of yes? They are affirmative. If that English is big, yes means a positive response and agreement, a commitment. If I ask you a question for example. Are you a man? And you say yes, what does that mean? You agree, you affirm, you accept, you believe, you said the question I asked is in alignment with your person. So, the Bible says in this second Corinthians chapter one verse 20, that all the promises of God in Him are yes and amen. What does the yes mean to us? I want us to continue that verse; “And in Him, amen.”
What does amen mean? So shall it be, so be it, let it be so. So, all the promises of God are always in affirmative, in agreement, and always established in Christ Jesus. So, when we are talking about submission to the promises of God, we are starting with the understanding of where the promises are domicile. The location of the promise. Because many people will pick up the Scripture and say yes, do you know when I have been reading Psalm 91? How comes these things are still happening? Do you know how many times I have read Psalm 23? The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is your shepherd; where, and in who? The Bible says that those that are in Christ Jesus are a new creation. Behold, old things are passed away, and all things have become new. So, your new location is in Christ. If your new location is not in Christ, the promises of God cannot be Yes and Amen.
Because it is very meaningful we understand this, so that we don’t call God a liar or we will put the word of God in contempt, we contempt the word. Saying the word is not working, they said if you read and you believe, I have read and I believe and nothing happened. Where are you? Where is your location? You cannot lay claim to a promise that you have not been qualified for. There is a prequalification for the promise. The prequalification for the promise is that you are in Christ. Your location must be determined. For example, now, somebody comes and makes a promise and say; everyone in this room I am going to give you one million naira each. But I am going to give it to you at Utako park on a particular day and time. Then all the people that got to the park at Utako for that time got the one million naira.
Then you now go back to the person and look at the person in the face and say you are a liar, you said you will give me one million naira and you did not. And the person is looking at you, were you at Utako park? On this day, and at this time? Then you say no, you just said you will give me one million naira, I did not hear the part of being in Utako park. Is the person at fault or you are at fault? You are at fault because the promise Is tied to a location, to a place. So is the promise of God. This 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 20 is important for us, it is vital for us, it is the basis for our understanding. It is the basis that gives us the legitimacy the promise of God.
It said the promises of God are yes. So, when the promises of God become yes in your life, you are in Christ, you are in Him. When it becomes amen in your life you are in Him. Outside Him, the promises are not yes and they are not amen. I am sure many of us, we are familiar, we have studied, we have read, we have confessed a lot of Scriptures, how comes they are not yes and amen? Not because they word of God is not true, not because there is a problem with the promiser, the one that made the promise, it is that He has tied the promise to Him. Let’s read it again from the beginning.
2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 20. “For all the promises of God in Him, are yes, and in Him are amen to the glory of God through us.” All the promise, is it some of the promises? No! all the promise? There is no promise of God, no thoughts of God that God has not tied to Christ. So, to have the promise, you must have Christ. Meaning that Gods promise is in the affirmative, yes and it is valid. It does not expire. Once you find yourself in Christ, that promise would be found there. It does not expire. Don’t say if only I had gotten into Christ two years ago, no! if you get into Christ today, the promise is still there. It does not expire, don’t say no people that gave their lives to Christ during the time of arch Bishop Benson Idahosa, they are the ones that enjoyed God, no the promise of God is still available. It is still real, it’s still on the affirmative, it’s still valid but it is located in Christ; it does not expire.
Gods promises are claimable by faith. Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life, no one approaches the Father, no one comes to the Father except through Me. If you cannot come to the Father except through Him, how can you get the promise of the Father outside of Him. I am the way to the promise, I am the truth of the promise, I am the life of the promise. No one can obtain the promise except through me. Gods promises are claimable by faith, processed by obedience and withdrawn on the counter of the Spirit of Christ. This statement I will unbundle it, but I also want you to write it down. Gods promises are claimable by faith, processed by obedience and withdrawn on the counter of the Spirit of Christ Jesus. What does that mean?
Romans chapter 8 verse 28. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” We read this verse yesterday up till 30. This Romans chapter 8. It says; We know beyond any reasonable doubt that all things work together for good. Please when we are reading Scriptures, we should understand the conditions that lie in them. You don’t just claim Scriptures; you are claiming and the Scriptures is saying I am not claiming you because you are not in Christ. There is a prerequisite to you claiming me. We know that all things work together for good to those who love God. That’s the first condition. Those who love God. Who are those that love God? Those that believe that Jesus is the son of God. That God sent Jesus in the flesh and He died and He was buried and He resurrected on the third day. They are those that love God, they are those that believe in the testimony of God.
When we talk about faith, we understand by Scriptures that faith is actually believing God. Bible says those that come to God must actually believe that He is. He is everything that He said He is. He told Moses, tell the children of Israel I Am that I Am sent you. Anything God said He is, He is. He is not a man that He would lie nor the son man that He will repent. There is no variation with God, God does not lower His standard today and raise it up tomorrow. No! He is consistent, steadfast, faithful. So, when you love God, the yardstick that God will use in measuring love is faith, you believe that He is and He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. So, Romans chapter 8 verse 28 that we are reading says that we know that all things work together, all things agree, all things harmonize, all things come into alignment for those that love God.
Why? Because all things that God has taught concerning them, they have claimed it by faith, they believe. And for those who are the called, they are the called. So, you will see that this verse actually ties up submitting to the will of God. They are the called, He called them to a purpose. And they have submitted to His principles and His process. Yesterday we were taught in the evening Bible school about the benefits. What is the advantage we have submitting to the will of God? And the vessel of utterance started telling us the things that we the things that we enjoy, we will please God. They are the called. God called them and they answered, so there is obedience.
They are the called! According to His purpose not their purpose. So, His promises are tied to His purpose. So, if you are not in His purpose, all things talk about His promises; they cannot work together for your good outside His purpose. It is in His purpose that all things work together for your good. So, the promises are the provision of Gods vision and mission. When God makes provision for His vision and mission that He has called you to, then He gives you His promises. So, Gods promises are claimable by faith. You must believe. If you don’t believe in Christ Jesus, you don’t even qualify. You must process it by obedience and it is withdrawn on the counter of the Spirit of Christ. Because Gods promises are spiritually communicated. They are spiritually given and received. 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 4, Gods promises are spiritually communicated. It said I will give you a future and a hope. Do you collect it with your physical hands? No! It is spiritually communicated.
2 Peter 1 verse 4, “By which have been given to us, exceeding grace and precious promises. What has been given to us? Exceeding great and precious promises. That through this you may be partakers of the divine nature. Haven escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” I want us to examine that verse properly. “By which has been given to us.” So, Gods promises are given, they are spiritually communicated. “Exceeding great and precious promises, that through these promises you may become partakers of the divine nature.” What makes us partakers of the divine nature? The divine nature is the future and the hope that God was talking about in Jeremiah 29. To give you a future. Your future is in divine nature. To give you a future. Do you have hope for now, or hope for tomorrow? Hope is about the future, hope is futuristic. You don’t hope for something you are already doing today.
Whatever you want to do in the future, maybe in the next one hour, or maybe in the next one day, or one week or one month or one year or ten years, you can hope for it. That’s why Gods says I will give you a future and a hope. You will have something to hope for, something to long for. So he said this exceedingly great and precious promises are the things that qualifies us to become partakers of the divine nature. So, divine nature, the nature of God, the things that God makes available, the things that God makes ready. The Bible says I have not seen, ears have not heard, it has not yet entered into the hearts of men what God has made available, made ready for those that love Him. They are the divine nature; these are the things we should be partakers of. Things that eyes have not seen, things that ears have not heard, they are all wrapped in the promises of God, communicated in the Spirit. So, through the promises of God we become partakers of the divine nature.
That same 2 Peter 3 verse 9. “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some count slackness; but He is long suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” Now what is the promise that God is talking about? The promise here is singular not plural. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, not His promises. It is His promises that are yes and amen, the one we read in that 2 Corinthians. But in 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 9, the Lord is not slack concerning His promise. His promise of Christ. But He is long suffering towards us. He is waiting. He is suffering long. Meaning that if you have not yet received Jesus as your personal Lord and savior, you are cursing God to be longsuffering. He is waiting, He is enduring your disobedience. Waiting for you to come to terms with His promise, why? Because He is not willing that anyone should perish. So, God is so key, God is not changing His mind, you may say some people say we all serve the same God, after all we all call on God, we all believe the same God. No!
God is not slack concerning His promise. God is not reducing His standard; God is not changing His mind about the rout through which His promise is to be released and Communicated-Christ. But He is waiting on the world to receive Him. God is faithful, He is not slow concerning His promises. He is not slow, let us believe that. God is committed to His promises. Gods promises is His commitment. I want us see that Romans 8 verse 32. We are taking time to go through all these Scriptures because they are important to build our faith. Submission to the promises of God requires faith. It is only claimable by faith. If you don’t believe it, it can’t be yes and amen for you.
Romans 8:32. “He who did not spare His Own Son, but delivered Him for us all, how shall He not with Him” (with Him, not outside Him, not leaving Him aside.) How some people believe that they can still access God without Christ, how some people are still told lies about approaching God and speaking to God Christ, they are all lies from the pit of hell. I want us to see this Romans 8 verse 32 properly. “He who did not spare His Own Son; but delivered Him for us all, how shall He not with Him, not without Him, with Him. Also freely gives us all things.”
So, the all things that He freely gives to us is with Him. You can’t have the promises of God without Christ. God blessed me, this blessing is the blessing of God, and you don’t have Christ, it is not. The Bibles says the blessings of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow. Without that blessing is not what God has freely given you. You may have gotten it through another means. But what God freely gives to us is with Christ. His promises are with Christ, His promises with Him are yes and amen. So, God is committed to His promises in Christ. That’s why Jesus made a bold statement, He said whatever you ask My Father in My name He will do it. He won’t be thinking; should I do it for him or not, who are you? Lord I have come in Christ Jesus, who is Christ? No!
The Bible says He gave Him a name that is above every other name, that at the mention of the name of Jesus, every knee bows and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father. And Jesus said; whatever you ask the Father in my name, in me, He will do it. God will do it, He will respond. It will be affirmative. There would be an agreement, because I am one with the Father. The Father is in me, and I in the Father. Do we understand it? This is the basis of our faith. This is how our faith is communicated. You have no doubt in your heart, no iota of doubt that the promises of God are yes concerning you. They are valid, they are affirmative concerning you. Why? Because you are coming in Christ Jesus. You know you are in Christ, there is no shadow of doubt there.
Romans chapter four verse 21, “And being fully convinced, that what He had promised, He was also able to perform.” These are Scriptures that gives us confidence in God. That God is committed to His promise. And being fully convinced, that what He had promised, He was able to perform it. Hebrews chapter 6 verse 10. We can’t talk about the promises of God without faith being built in hearts to understand that God is not a man that He will lie, but the protocol that He has set for the promise to be fulfilled in our lives, we must not be ignorant of it. He said to Hosea, my people perish, my people are destroyed, my people are swallowed up because they lack knowledge.
Hebrews 6 verse 10, “For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love, which you have shown towards His name. in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister.” It said; “your work and labor of love.” They were asking Jesus; how can we do the works of God; He said this is the work of God, believe in the one He has sent. That’s the work. So, when you do the work, the work is faith. The work that God requires that you and I do is faith. Believe! If you do the work, see what that Scripture says in He brews chapter 6, for God is not unjust to forget your work. He won’t forget it. You can’t communicate your faith to God and God will forget it. And God will ignore it. No He won’t. But there must be your work. You must communicate your work and your labor of love. The promise of God is summed up in this Scripture, 1 John chapter 2 verse 25, Bible says all Scriptures have been given, all not some.
But how can we receive all Scriptures? This is the access, 1 John 2 verse 25. And this is the promise that He has promised us, remember it said God is not slack concerning His promise as some people count slackness, “and this is the promise that He has promised us; eternal life.” John chapter 3 verse 16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.”
This is the promise that He has promised us, any other promise is in this promise. All the promises that makes us partakers of the divine nature is in this promise-eternal life. And the Bible says this life is in His Son. So, this is Scriptures interpreting Scriptures, there is no promise in God that is not in Christ. There is no promise of God that is not established in Christ. There is no promise of God that is not fulfilled in Christ. This is the promise that He has promised us. Eternal life. The Bible says; the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the grace of the one that have eternal life, it said the first Adam brought dead, but the last Adam Christ Jesus brought life. He is a life giving Spirit. He gives life, He gives grace. This is the promise, eternal life. If you have that life, He said I have given you all things that pertains to life and godliness.
How and when did He give us? He gave us in Christ. He gave us when He gave us access to eternal life. What did Jesus come to give to us? Eternal life. I am the head and not the tail, I am above only and not below, every promise of God for our redemption, for our restoration and our reign in life is in Christ. The promises of God concerning redemption; in Christ, the promises of God concerning restoration; in Christ, the promises of God concerning our reign; it said He has made us kings and priest unto our God that we might reign. It’s in Christ. So, in Christ alone, the promises of God are fulfilled. In Christ alone, the promises of God are yes and amen. In Christ alone is the will of God done.
Hebrews chapter 6 verse 18; “And by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.” I want us to go back to verse 17, Thus God determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise, the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an ought.”
God determining to show to the heirs of promise. Who are the heirs of promise? You and I, we are the heirs of God, we are the ones that are qualified for the promise, we are the ones that God has handed down the promises to. How did we become the heirs of the promise? In Christ. And it says by these two immutable things, the oat and His counsel, God cannot lie. It is not when you get to heaven that you have eternal life. Once you have gotten into Christ, you have eternal life. Because the life is in Christ. What is eternal life? The life of God. That’s what Adam lost in the garden.
What brought curse is not just when God said Adam you are cursed, you will start tilling the ground, that’s not what brought curse on Adam. When Adam died Spiritually, he became cursed. That’s why the Bible says we have been delivered from the curse of the law, why? Because we are in Christ. That’s why I don’t believe that a born again Christian, a believer, one that has received Jesus as Lord and savior is cursed. You can’t be cursed; you have been redeemed. Somebody said something and looked at you somehow and you believe that that thing has happened, why? It’s because you claimed it by faith. That one old woman will say something to you and it would happen.
What about the exceeding great precious promises of God? How much do you believe them? You believe the eying of the old woman more than the promises of God. No wonder your life is at the trajectory of the old woman. Gods promises are claimable by faith, processed by obedience, and withdrawn on the counter of the Spirit. That’s how we receive it. Jesus said I will not leave you as orphans, how be it, I am going, but the one that the Father will send, I pray the Father He will send the comforter, the Holy Spirit, He will lead you into all truth. He will give you of what is mine and He will show it to you. Because He knows that’s how we can withdraw everything He has died to give to us. That’s the only means we can withdraw it via the Holy Spirit-on the counter of the Holy Spirit.
The same Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead, will quicken our mortal bodies. In James 1 verse 17, the Bible says that every good and perfect gift comes God, so every promise of God is a good and perfect gift. And He has summed it up in the best gift that He has given Mankind-Christ Jesus. Your children are in Christ, your marriage is in Christ, your progress, your excellence, your success is in Christ, they are all in Him. So, you into Him and reach out for what is yours. The Holy Spirit, Gods promise; I want us to see 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 5, because it is important we see this one.
“Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, this life that we are living, the one that has prepared us for it is God. Who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” A guarantee of what? The life that you are living. The life He has called you to, not the one that you are living. But the one that God has prepared, predestined, foreknew, predestined that you should live, the Holy Spirit is the guarantee that you should live that life. So, every time there is a derailment of that life, you can come back to God in the Spirit and say God this is the life you have prepared for me, what I am seeing is not looking like the prototype, Lord there need to be a change. And on the platform of the Spirit you can withdraw that life back. Do we understand what the Lord is communicating to us?
So, in summary, how can we submit to the entire will of God- The plan, the purpose, the principles, process and the promises of God? Until you believe nothing changes. Because it’s your faith that gives God the permission in your space. God created the heavens and the earth, and by His Word He set boundary on the earth. So, God Himself needs a legitimate right. Because you will ask, why is it that God cannot force human race to choose Him. God created man and by principle He created man with a choice and He subject Himself to that principle; that until they choose me I can’t force it on them. So, until you believe God, those that come to God must believe. What do you believe? What is going on in your faith system? What has been communicated to your heart? What are you hearing? What are you confessing?
What is going on in your heart? Until you believe, nothing changes. When you were five-year-old and somebody told you that the way you are going it looks as if you will not make it. And that word you have carried it from five years old and believed it until when you are 35, there is something wrong with your faith. What happens to all that God said in the Scripture concerning you? The only way you submit to God plan is by faith. Believe! The only way you submit to Gods purpose is believe. The only way you can submit to the principles and the processes and the promises of God is for you to believe. Until we believe nothing changes. The Bibles says in Hebrew 11 that by faith the elders obtained a good testimony.
By faith the women received their dead back to life, there was a woman that encountered Jesus, and she had an issue with her child, Jesus said to her I have not come to you, I came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And the woman looked at Jesus and said even dogs feed from the crumbs that fall from the table. Meaning there is still a portion in you for me. There is still something you have that I can benefit from. And Jesus said I have never seen such a faith. The woman communicated her faith. What do you communicate? Because what we use to show God that we believe is our communication. We must be able to communicate our faith to God.
2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 9, we will close with this “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent to be well pleasing to Him.” We make it our aim, we make it our goal, whether we are present consciously or unconsciously, whether people are looking to be well pleasing to Him. How do we please Him? By faith! Every time we do that we are in submission to the will of God. I want you to say Lord let your will be done, everything you have scripted concerning me, let it come to pass. Lord I believe everything, all your plans, all your purposes, all your principles, the process that you have earmarked for me, let it be unto me according to your word.
