Already Given

Already Given

Make every effort to respond to God’s promises. 2 Peter 1:5

IMAGINE A PARENT GIVING A CHILD a wonderfully wrapped gift. The child gets excited, thinks about what is inside, and anticipates the joy of opening it. But before long, the child wonders if it’s really true and starts asking if there’s anything beneath the wrapping—again and again. Day after day, the child asks for something already given, and the parent has to keep pointing back to the promise. In fact, the parent has to remind the child that this gift has been available from the moment it was presented. Still, the child waits, hopes, and asks that it be true—even when it already is.

That’s how many of us approach the promises of God, especially those related to the divine power he has given us for living a godly, supernaturally enabled, transformational life. We ask for wisdom, even though he has already given us the mind of Christ. We ask for greater love, even though he has filled us with the Spirit of love. All of the fruits of the Holy Spirit are ours, yet we strain for them, plead for them, and resist entering into them. We spend much of our prayer time asking for things that have already been promised, already been given, and are already available for the taking. We simply need to learn how to respond.

Responding to God’s promises means entering into them. Some of them may be for one day down the road, but most are for now. Savor them, turn them over in your mind, believe they are true. Imagine what it’s like to exercise them, then go out and exercise them. Yes, you’ll stumble along the way—every child learning a new thing is clumsy with it at first—but it makes no sense to give up on a promise from God. He has given us a new nature, a clean slate, transformed ways of seeing and thinking, life-giving relationships, extraordinary promises for prayer and faith, and his presence within us. Asking for those things only prolongs the wait. Instead, believe and receive. Step out in faith. Live the new life you’ve been promised.

Every promise God has ever made finds its fulfillment in Jesus.