For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. Hebrews 10:36
The Bible is full of promises, literally from cover to cover. In the beginning, God made a promise concerning the Seed of woman (Jesus) who would one day crush the serpent’s head. Then, when you get to the last few verses of the Revelation, you find once again the promise of the coming Messiah. This time, however, He will not be coming as a baby, but as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!
There is no doubt that God is able to keep His promises and, because Jesus has already finished His mission on earth, all of God’s promises are “yes” through Him. With all of that being said, it should just be a simple matter to receive every promise of God in the Bible, right? Let’s look a bit closer at our verse for today and see exactly what the Lord is telling us about receiving promises.
First, there is something you will need in order to receive the promises of God: you need endurance. To endure is more than just waiting for it to happen just because you have no choice but to wait. This is more like remaining cheerful and hopeful as you patiently wait for God to do what He said He would do. It is God’s will that you remain full of peace and joy while you wait. If you find that your peace and/or joy are dependent on the fulfillment of the promise, that is an indication that some priorities need tweaking!
Next, to receive the promises of God, you must first do the will of God. It seems that everyone wants all of the good things they read about in the Bible, but they usually overlook a little two letter word: if. The fulfillment of God’s promises comes after you have done the will of God. Do what God says to do and He will do what He said he would do!
A good way to illustrate this principle is to consider the word picture the Lord gives us in His Word; it’s like farming. If you want to reap a harvest, there are some things that you must do. Number one, you have to be patient — if you are not willing to wait until the right time for the harvest you will never have anything to harvest. Next, while you are waiting for harvest time, you must be doing everything it takes for there to be a harvest when the time comes.
If you do not properly prepare the soil for the seeds, they will die or be eaten before they even have a chance to begin to grow, much less bear fruit. If you have prepared the soil but never plant any seeds then you still have no harvest when the time comes. If you plant the seeds but do not continue to take care of what was planted and be sure it gets what it needs but is protected from that which could destroy it, then, alas, you will still end up without a harvest (or at least not to the degree that you should have).
Finally, one thing is left once you have patiently endured and been faithful to do God’s will — receive it! Receive the good things God has for you. Don’t doubt it or listen to reasons why you can’t be blessed. God said it, that settles it; you just receive it, in Jesus’ name!