He Believed in the Divine Promises of God
By Michelle Kidwell

If we allow ourselves to think on the promises of God, we realize just how blessed we are. He promises us he will help us if we come to him when we have a decision to make, Proverbs 3:5-6 says this.

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

I've faced decisions in my life that were tough, and I have discovered that the results are better when I seek the Lord for the answers. Right now I am facing a decision about whether it is time for me to move on or to attend the same small church I have been attending.

I will not make any rash decisions, instead I am finding that the Lord is guiding me through and helping me to determine what is right and what is wrong. Even when we make simple decisions it is important to turn to the Lord.

Everyday decisions can turn disastrous if we do them for the wrong reasons, and when that happens we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Proverbs 16:9: 9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.

Martin Luther made a decision that forever altered Christianity, but God was in these changes. He looked toward the Promises of God, and saw that the established church was not going by what the Word taught.

God did not promise that pay offs to priests would get you into Heaven, but that Christ's blood was the key to heaven.

In the third volume of the Sermons of Martin Luther on page 401 he quotes from the Bible, and then brings out the point that it is not the church that can promise eternal life, it is not a belief in a certain religion but in Christ himself:

"Verily verily, I say unto you, He that believeth hath eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that cometh down out of heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.

I am the living bread that came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: yea and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world."

In these words the soul finds a well prepared table, at which it satisfies all hunger; for it knows for a certainty that he who speaks these words cannot lie. Therefore the soul falls upon the Word, clings to it, trusts in it, and also builds its dwelling-place in the strength of this well-prepared table.

This is the feast for which the heavenly Father’s oxen and fatlings were killed and invited us all to it.

When Martin Luther nailed his ninety five theses on the church door, he knew that the Lord had not promised that he would not have come away without retribution from the world, but Luther went by faith anyway. He nailed what the Lord had placed upon his heart on that church door.

It was daring, even dangerous, and he did pay for what he did, but that did not stop him.

Luther Wrote hymns on the promises of God, on the Promises of Christ, one such hymn was Jesus Refuge of the Weary. The song goes as follows:

Jesus, Refuge of the weary, Blest Redeemer, whom we love, Fountain in life's desert dreary, Savior from the world above, Oh, how oft Thine eyes, offended, Gaze upon the sinner's fall! Yet, upon the cross extended, Thou didst bear the pain of all.

Just like Luther we are faced with decisions of standing up to those who do not believe in the Promises of God. We may not have to face what Luther faced when he was brave enough to nail the ninety five theses on that church door.

Even today we decide whether or not we are going to believe in the Promises of God. For me, not believing is not an option. The Lord can not lie, and if he promises something, he will come through with that promise.

He promised us he would send his Son to die for us. What an awesome promise we can find in the words of John 3:16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son… What a promise we have been given.