TOS107 Promises of God; For audio only PPN
Truth of the Spirit with Patti Brunner presents the Promises of God. The intention of identifying the promises of God is so you never run out of things to hope for in your daily life. Patti Brunner shares some of the promises given in Sacred Scripture and during appearances of Jesus and his Blessed Mother.
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The intention of identifying the promises of God is so you never run out of things to hope for in your daily life. Each and every promise is fulfilled in this life or the next in the heavenly kingdom of God if you but accept his Love and follow Him. Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life—everlasting life. Come to me when you are weary and I shall give you rest.”
Welcome to Truth of the Spirit, I am your host Patti Brunner.
In the podcast of my personal testimony at the Magnificat, I shared the fulfillment of a promise the Lord gave me of having an international ministry that was about 40 years in the making. Yet, in the midst of those 40 years, hundreds of other promises of the Lord were being fulfilled in my life–promises that God has made to you, too.
We are going to spend today looking at some of the Promises of the Lord. What are these? You might ask. The scriptures are full of God’s promises from the beginning of Creation. God also shared specific promises as He appeared to Saint Faustina in Divine Mercy, to Saint Margaret Mary in the Sacred Heart and to others.
Some promises in scripture, like the one God gave to Abraham to have as many descendants as stars in the sky, takes hundreds or thousands of years to be fulfilled. The promise to send the Holy Spirit as Jesus ascended into heaven took ten days the first time but now is fulfilled to the Church constantly. One promise givenin the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah 29:11-14 reminds us: “For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe, plans to give you a future full of hope. When you call me, when you go to pray to me, I will listen to you. When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, you will find me with you, says the Lord.”
I was failing at Lent this year and when I apologized to the Lord for the umpteenth time the first week of Lent, He told me to just reverently call out his name the next time I felt temptations getting the best of me. And it worked!
No matter what, 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it.”
And James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
The promise has been repeated often: When you seek me you will find me—when you seek me with all your heart. I will always let you find me.
God gives us promises for our children too. In the Old Testament Pentateuch, it says in Deuteronomy 31:19-20 “Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him. For that will mean life for you.”
Each person is given free will, to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Sometimes it will be a choice to find the narrow Way. Jesus says, “Seek and you shall find”. Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Yet, as you can read in scripture, the children of God’s favored ones are given an outpouring of grace because of the favor ‘accumulated’—like the ‘treasure stored up in heaven’ by good deeds. When generations act upon this grace it leaves a sort of ‘legacy’. The world today still benefits by the graces of God’s beloved martyrs. Your ‘legacy’ is His. Your children and grandchildren are His. There is such hope in that promise!
Now as we look at the Promises of the Lord, He has promised to overcome all disease and wasting away.
In Matthew 10:1, it says, “Then (Jesus) summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.”
And not just through the sacramental ordination of the priesthood does God promise this, but for all believers it is made possible; in Mark 16:17-18 “These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents (with their hands), and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
God promises to renew the youth of his people. I remember that after I was infused with the Holy Spirit, I looked noticeably younger. It was as if I got a “Holy Spirit facelift”! God’s supernatural peace had that effect on me.
Psalm 103:5 says: “Who fills your days with good things, so your youth is renewed like the eagles?” Isaiah 40 starting with verse 28 says: “28Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is God from of old, creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny. 29He gives power to the faint, abundant strength to the weak. 30Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, 31They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar on eagles’ wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.”
No matter what condition your body is when you leave this earth, God promises: “In my heavenly kingdom all are complete; no one is blind, no one is maimed, all are perfection of body and spirit as I intended them to be from the first moment of creation. He who cooperates with my grace while on earth will find eternal joy.”
When Jesus promises us the seemingly impossible he gives us tremendous hope. In Mark 11:22-24 “Jesus said to them in reply, “Have faith in God. Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen; it shall be done for him. Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours.” There has been several times in my life that I “knew that I knew” that God was going to answer a prayer a certain way and He did! I think that is the supernatural extraordinary charism of faith.
What about that faith that can move mountains? How does God fulfill his promise of that? Paul says in Romans 10: 17 “faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.” He then continues in Romans 12:3 “For by the grace given to me I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than one ought to think, but to think soberly, each according to the measure of faith that God has apportioned. “ There you have it! God has apportioned to all a measure of faith.
God’s promise of love is fulfilled time after time after time. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.”
“God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5)” God’s love as grace of the Holy Spirit that is pouring down can be compared to the water flowing over the Niagara Falls. God has promised us an opportunity to eternal life with him. We know that God’s love for us is eternal and He wants us to be able to receive his love eternally.
“God’s grace is to be poured out for any to receive it in a ten-fold measure. Lives will be changed if only the people open themselves to God. The evil one gathers his army to combat goodness. The evil one is defeated except in the hearts of coldness.
Perhaps it’s your assignment to work to warm the cold hearts. ‘Melt me, mold me, use me’– this prayer, this song should be in their hearts instead of the pain and hate that now resides in so many. Too many! But there is hope. There is a remnant of God’s love within them. And the remnant shall become a quilt that will cover the earth in love and peace.”
Many times God’s promises have a required responsibility on our part to receive the benefit of the promise. It is in this way that we cooperate with grace, we cooperate with God and thus activate our freewill in the situation.
The promise to forgive our sins is needed by us all. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we acknowledge our sins, (God) is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.” If we refuse to repent or even acknowledge our sins, God’s promise is not broken. All we have to do is change our mind and ask to be forgiven and we are. Whenever you call upon the Name of the Lord, the Lord is with you to bring joy into any situation.
Here are a few of my favorite promises from Sacred Scripture:
John 8:31-32 “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 14:26 “The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name–he will teach you everything and remind you of all that (I) told you.”
God has certainly fulfilled these promises to me. The proof is the Truth of the Spirit podcasts. We are so blessed to have the Word and the Holy Spirit!
Another favorite is the promises in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 “To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another varieties of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.”
Until the Lord started fulfilling these promises in my life I didn’t even understand how wonderful they were or how they could be used to build up the Body of Christ.
Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Can you imagine the riches of the glory of Christ?
Certainly ‘I cannot tell it all’ for the Bible is full of God’s promises. Some scholars make note that almost every verse provides a promise of some sort or another. That is not my goal today but in searching Sacred Scriptures for the Promises of God we have discovered a ‘mother lode’ of treasure.
Speaking of mothers, The Lord’s mother repeats her son’s promises to the people to remind them lest they lose heart when difficult times arise.
When Mary the Mother of God appeared to St. Bridget of Sweden, the Blessed Mother offered her own suffering as an opportunity to receive benefits from praying just Hail Marys in honor of each of the Blessed Virgin’s Seven Sorrows.
The Blessed Virgin Mary shared this about her promises:
1) “I will grant peace to their families.”
2) “They will be enlightened about the divine Mysteries.”
3) “I will console them in their pains and I will accompany them in their work.”
4) “I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of My divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.”
–Doesn’t that sound like a mother calling her son’s will just ‘adorable’!–
5) “I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.”
6) “I will visibly help them at the moment of their death — they will see the face of their Mother.”
7) “I have obtained this grace from My divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to My tears and sorrows will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness, since all their sins will be forgiven and My Son will be their eternal consolation and joy.”
Often when the Blessed Mother has appeared she encourages us to join her in praying the rosary for the needs of the world. Although she often gives warnings she also promises that our prayers can alleviate or cancel the impending destruction.
You see, Jesus promised Mary these things, so these promises are true!
Jesus, too, has appeared to people from time to time to share promises to encourage us to make changes and to pray. As I shared with you in Truth of the Spirit’s first Healing the Family episode on Trust: “St. Faustina wrote in her diary these words from Jesus about his Divine Mercy, Jesus said: “Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in My mercy, with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul… Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity.” That’s paragraph 1602 from her diary.”
Jesus made a specific promise about Divine Mercy Sunday—which happens the Sunday after Easter—Jesus said: “I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened.” (Diary, paragraph 699)
Hearing this promise gives us the understanding of why St. John Paul II installed the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. It’s a day that these promises can be fulfilled!
When I visited Niagara Falls I was told by a tour guide that floodgates were installed upriver to limit the flow in the night hours because the river was causing erosion at the falls. Jesus is promising to allow the full flow of grace to erode our stony hearts and change them! It’s like a tsunami of grace that will leave nothing untouched if we don’t run away with our sins intact but reach out for the life preserver of the confessional and approach the fount of Divine Mercy in a state of grace receiving Holy Communion.
Jesus promised us, sharing to St. Faustina about venerating the image of Divine Mercy and praying the Chaplet:
- “The prayer most pleasing to Me is prayer for the conversion for sinners. Know, my daughter, that this prayer is always heard and answered.” (Diary, 1397)
- “At three o’clock, implore My mercy, especially for sinners; and, if only for a brief moment, immerse yourself in My Passion, particularly in My abandonment at the moment of agony…I will refuse nothing to the soul that makes a request of Me in virtue of My Passion.” (Diary, 1320; also, cf. Diary, 1572)
There you go, isn’t that a wonderful promise?
Jesus gives these promises to you and to me.
(Hebrews 4:16) “So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.”
(1 Corinthians 2:9-10) “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him, this God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”
(2 Corinthians 1:20) “For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him; therefore, the Amen from us also goes through him to God for glory.”
The intention of identifying the promises of God is so you never run out of things to hope for in your daily life. Each and every promise is fulfilled in this life or the next in the heavenly kingdom of God if you but accept his Love and follow Him. Remember, Jesus has promised, “As you seek me you will find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
You’ve been listening to Truth of the Spirit; I’m your host Patti Brunner.
We invite you to check out some of the other episodes; there is so much more that the Lord has promised to you. And then comGe back for more, with the Holy Spirit there’s always more!
Amen.
