PROPHETIC PROMISES (2)

“Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me ACCORDING to YOUR WORD” – Luke 1:38a

God’s children must to learn to activate His PROPHETIC PROMISES: “Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me ACCORDING to YOUR WORD” (Lk.1:38a). A promise is a declaration that something will or will not be done or given. To activate means to make something active or function. God’s Prophetic Promise is His Counsel, Will, Purpose, or Plan for an individual or group of people, as declared by a prophet or divine messenger; a divinely inspired prediction, instruction, or exhortation. The prophet and his people both have responsibilities. The duty of a prophet is to proclaim God’s message faithfully; and that of the people is to receive, believe, and apply it to their lives. In the case of Mary, God’s Prophetic Promise came through an Angelic Emissary. She received His Word with humility and faith. 

In the same way, as we hear His Promises, our confession should be – let it be to me according to your word. There are three reasons why people may not be able to activate God’s promises. First, is doubt or unbelief – failing to see or believe the possibility of His promises. The angel told Mary: “For with God nothing is impossible” (v.37). The king’s officer in 2 Kings 7:2 failed to believe Elisha’s prophecy and he died in his unbelief (2 Kgs.7:20). Second is, focusing on past failures. Let’s forget the former things as God will do new things (Isa. 43: 18-19). 

God’s promises must be conceived and believed, in order to be received. To conceive means to be pregnant with something. We must allow the seed of God’s Word to be rooted in us by the help of the Holy Spirit. Next, we believe by faith, confessing and claiming it: “BELIEVE in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; BELIEVE His prophets, and you shall prosper” (2 Chr. 20:20). Believing precedes receiving: “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, BELIEVE that you RECEIVE them, and you will have them” (Mk.11:24). God’s promises cannot fail. Whatever He says, He will surely do. But we have a part to play in activating them.  

Receiving and believing a word are initial steps. Prophetic Promises demand active response. How and when God fulfills them often call for perseverance on our part. Having received the promise, we must nurture and birth it; we must internalize it – it must become a part of our heart. Every word that God gives us is a piece of His heart. He is expressing His will, desires and dreams. We need to treat it as such. It is not merely a piece of knowledge about what is to come, but it is like a newly conceived child that must be nurtured from seed to a fully formed being. It is often concealed for a season until it is ready to be birthed.