Let’s Test God

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “The power of words”

Our Bible verse for today: “Test me in this way,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” Malachi 3:10 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Let’s test God”

Have you ever tested God? I mean, have you ever challenged Him to keep a promise and then stood back to wait and see if He would do it? In Malachi chapter three the prophet was teaching an important lesson on the principle of stewardship. Through Malachi God told the people to be faithful tithers by bringing the first 10% of their income and giving it back to Him to help finance His kingdom-building work. And if they did that, God in turn would bless their socks off. Perhaps that would include financial blessings, but more likely and more often the blessings will be spiritual and they will come in multiple ways.

Essentially God was saying “You will be better off living on 90% with My blessing than you will be with 100% without my blessing.” He then urged them to test Him and see if He would be faithful to the promise He was making to them. If they obeyed God in this manner, over the long-term they would find that the promise was indeed true and God would bless their faithfulness in multiple ways.

The promises of God are always true and it is always okay for us to claim the promises He has made to us. We can even do that in prayer. Although the figure varies depending on how “promise” is defined, most estimates conclude there are between 7000-8000 promises from God to mankind in the Bible. And every one of them are true. Over-and-over again in the Bible we find the people of God claiming the promises of God and moving forward in faith that God would keep His promises.

I own a little book called “The Bible Promise Book.” It contains over 1000 promises from God organized by category. So, if I want to read some promises from God about protection, or provision, or peace, I turn to that section and there are 8, 10, 12 Bible passages pertaining to that promise from God. I once went through that little book and put a checkmark next to each promise that had already been fulfilled in my life. At other times I have prayed a promise back to God and asked Him to fulfill it in my life.

The promises of God are powerful and if the proper conditions are met, they will always come true. It’s perfectly fine to pray the promises back to God in prayer and then wait for Him to fulfill them in your life.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

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