Prerequisites for Fulfillment of Promises

UV 2780/10000 Prerequisites for Promise Fulfillment
For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise
Hebrews 10 v 36
This uni-verse lays down the conditions for the promises of the Lord to be fulfilled. Salvation itself is a promise. We receive the promise of salvation as well as every other promise concerning our present lives, too and need to wait with hope, faith and patience. Faith means that we should endure through times of testing and suffering. Patience has the dimension that we should persevere through much hardship. While waiting for the fulfilment of promises of the Lord, we need to do the will of God. The patriarchs of Israel who first received the promises of the Lord displayed this kind of patience, hope, obedience to the expressed will of God and perseverance through much suffering. As a runner holds a baton or a messenger hold firm to his despatch without dropping these even once, we need to hold the promise of the Lord before us at all times, through thick and thin, highs and lows till we see its fulfilment.
The Lord is like an artist who etches the edges and contours of our character and life with the help of the suffering and pain we undergo in this life. Patience in matters of faith has many aspects: the patience to wait for a long period of time, the patient hope that a phase of suffering will end, the patience to keep persevering to attain the goals we have set in obedience to the revealed will of the Lord. During the period of waiting, we need to cast aside all doubts, all fears, all burdens that weigh our conscience and our minds down. We need to be joyful and thankful as if the Lord has already fulfilled His promises to us.
When we examine the lives of our models from scripture, we find that Abraham received his promise of a son after long years of patient and faithful waiting. During this period, he held onto his hope and continued to be obedient and faithful to the Lord. Moses but for his occasional flashes of temper held onto the promise that the Lord would lead Israel into the promised land. Jesus Himself despised His suffering on this planet and His extreme suffering, pain, shame and loneliness on the cross in order to receive the crown of highest glory from the Father and to sit at His right hand forever. The preconditions then to fulfilment of a promise of the Lord as seen from these historic lives are: a spirit of positivity, an attitude of faithfulness and obedience to the details of the will of God as revealed to them directly or indirectly, patience, perseverance, confidence that the Lord is able to perform that which He has promised. All these prerequisites are based on an understanding of the character and power of the Lord God.

Prateep V Philip