Thoroughly Testing His Promises

Dannah Gresh: Joni Eareckson Tada says the promises of God make all the difference in your life.

Joni Eareckson Tada: God promises you life and life abundant, life joyful, life courageous and meaningful, life that’s rich with peace and power and glory to God, all because Jesus made the way.

Dannah: Welcome to the Revive Our Hearts podcast. It’s January 17, 2023. I’m Dannah Gresh, and our host is the author of Heaven Rules, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy: I've had the joy of knowing and walking with the Lord for almost six decades now. I cannot tell you how many time I’ve found the encouragement I needed and a fresh supply of grace in the promises of God. Over and over again I’ve returned to His promises to find: 

• Stability in times of stress. 
• Comfort in times of loss.
• Peace in times of doubt.
• Wisdom in times of confusion.
• And so much more.

Last fall, at our international True Woman conference, Joni Eareckson Tada beautifully modeled for us how she relies on God’s promises to get her through times of suffering. 

If you missed yesterday’s program, you’ll want to be sure and check it out at ReviveOurHearts.com or on the Revive Our Hearts app. Joni told an experience I don't think I'll ever forget. She told about a night she was experiencing intense pain, and her helper was sleeping elsewhere in the house. The volume on the monitor was turned down, so Joni wasn’t able to get her attention. She couldn't move to get herself into a more comfortable position. So she started reciting the promises of God as loudly as she could, trying to get her helper’s attention. She did this for over an hour before her helper finally arrived on the scene. All through this time, she was counseling her own soul with the Word of God. The Lord sustained her through that hour of crisis until her help heard and cam to the room and Joni was able to get comfortable and get back to sleep. I can't do that story justice, so please be sure to go back and listen to yesterday's program at ReviveOurHearts.com.

Now, let’s listen now to part two of the message Joni recorded for us to play back at True Woman '22. Here's Joni Tada.

Joni: Listen, all of heaven and hell are aware that when you are hurting badly it is no small matter to believe God’s Word. But oh does it raise the wattage on His glory! It makes His glory absolutely dazzle and shine when you live on His promises as I just described, for you are honoring what Jesus did on the cross. Our Jesus—that marvelous man—He died to provide you the grace to live on His promises.

 

So, what can I say? That night at the lake house illustrates the actual way to appropriate, to live on God’s Word. Perhaps without all the screaming, although it might be warranted at times, since God commands us to literally call out to Him for help. It’s how you get beyond merely coping or adjusting to a hard situation. It’s how you move past resigning or submitting yourself to your hardships; it’s how you go beyond accepting affliction to actually embracing it. That’s when it becomes a place of testimony.

Honestly, a flood of courage, a pouring-out of grace and blessings, can be yours in exchange for each promise that You bring before the throne of God. The Lord provides His promises so that we might bring each one to Him in exchange for the grace and blessings which they guarantee.

I’m going to repeat that. Write it down, ladies. God wants to bless you, He wants you to have His courage, so He provides His promises in order that we might bring each one of them to Him in exchange for the grace and blessings which they guarantee.

Many people, however, do not know how to make that exchange. We think we are living on Bible promises when we commit them to memory, embroider them, upload them as a screensaver, post them on Instagram, purchase them as smartphone covers, share them on Facebook. We fix them in our view, in our line of sight, as though that were enough. But that’s not exchanging them. That’s not waking up in the morning knowing you have problems ahead but deciding to actually live on His Word for the day. So God will give you a little help by placing you in valleys of affliction where all your emotional supports are kicked out from under you. When God brings suffering, it is natural to panic, it’s natural to harbor doubts, but you, you’re God’s treasured possession. 

You are a blood-bought believer; you live on a supernatural plane; and you can say to your big problems, “Okay, you think you’re going to choke all hope out of me? Well, my God is a lot bigger than you, problem! Because the Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Certainly not you! The Lord is my salvation, so Jesus, save me, deliver me, rescue me! Come to my aid! You, the Lord, are my light; it’s a promise. Jesus, shine light on this problem and help me find my way through it.” I mean, that’s the way to talk to your soul, to your pain and disappointment.

Or, let’s say you’re facing an impossible situation with your finances, your job, your health. You could say, “Jesus, You said so yourself: with man this is impossible, but with You all things are possible. I don’t see how You’re going to unravel all of this, but You do. My feelings say that You’re asking way too much of me, but obviously You think You’re not, so I’m going to trust You and not my feelings, because You promise that with You, Jesus, all things are possible.”

This is what it sounds like to live on the promises of God, the Word of God. I’ll tell you a secret (it’s a really great one). In 1 Corinthians 10:13 (listen to this!) it says, 

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out, so that you can endure it.

Friend, God promises that every temptation—that is, every time you want to doubt, every time you feel like caving in to suffering, every time you’re tempted to think God’s not being good or you want to become discouraged—those temptations, according to 1 Corinthians 10:13, come with a way out, so that you can endure them. Exactly what is that way out (or way of escape, as some translations put it)? The way out that God gives, again, are His promises. That’s the way out God is giving you. His promises are the way to overcome the temptation to be demoralized, discouraged, doubtful of God’s goodness, fearful of the future, and the rest. 

You could paraphrase 1 Corinthians 10:13 to read, “God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted to throw in the towel when you think your suffering is beyond what you can bear, but when you’re tempted to doubt Him, He will provide a way of escape through any promise—you pick it—for it is these rock-solid assurances of grace and blessing that will cause you to endure.”

Friend, that is the Christian, that’s the biblical way to live, the righteous way to live.

I know when I am overwhelmed by pain I cling to Psalm 119:92: “If Your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.” At night in the lake house, I did not perish in my affliction, all because of God’s law, His words, His promises. They are my delight.

I have made Psalm 119:140 my motto: 

O God, Your promises have been thoroughly tested,
and Your servant loves them. 

I test them and I love them, because when you thoroughly test His Word, when you bring Bible promises to the throne in exchange for the blessings and the grace that they guarantee, you cannot help but fall in love with the Word. The law becomes your delight. But please, do not think that this exchange is easy. If it were, there would be no need for faith, right? 

People often ask how I manage my pain. Well, it is most difficult at night, such as that time up at the lake house. Honestly, what I described—waking up at one a.m.—that pretty much happens every night. So when the sharp teeth of pain sink deep into my hips and back, I begin deep breathing, slow and steady, and when I cannot get comfortable even after being repositioned, when pain threatens to consume me just as the flames threatened to consume Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in that fiery furnace in the book of Daniel, I don’t say to my pain, “Man, I hate this! I can’t stand it; it’s killing me,” or “I just can’t do this. I’m so tired of this. I can’t live like this.” 

No. I’ve trained myself never to talk that way, and you should do the same. It’s the way the devil would want you to talk. Such words are filled with worry and fear and anxiety, and fear only makes things worse. Instead, I calmly bring before God’s throne a Bible promise. It could be—let’s see—2 Corinthians 4:8: “Though we are hard pressed on all sides, we are not crushed.” That is a powerful promise, because pain can press you hard on all sides, tempting you to think that you’re about to be crushed, like the apostle Paul said about his troubles. In 2 Corinthians he said he was under great pressure, far beyond his ability to endure.

I’m sure you’ve felt that way, but God promises. He stakes His life on the fact that my pain will never damage my soul. Jesus died so that pain might never damage my soul, and that’s why I can bring that nasty pain before the throne, asking Jesus to meet me in it, to not let it crush me. So the Son of God never fails to meet me, just as He met Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in that hot furnace of fire. 

What does Jesus say to me in that agonizing place? He says, “Joni, I’m so glad you remembered 2 Corinthians 4:8. It delights me when you come to me with your pain, and Honey, it’s not going to crush you. I’m here; I’m with you; don’t worry. 

When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. (Isa. 43:2–3)

Sweetheart, I made you, and I will carry you. I will sustain you, and I will rescue you.”

Those are His exact words from Isaiah 43 and 46. Those are the words of the one who took the bullet for my sins, so why wouldn’t I trust Him in my worst pain? There’s nothing more heavenly than finding Jesus Christ in the middle of my hell. I might not get delivered from my pain, but in it I always find my Deliverer. I might not get healed, but I always find sweet fellowship with my Healer. My pain may not go away, but I have His courage, and I come out of that fiery furnace better for the experience, for I am the happy recipient of His glorious exchange.

By now I think you’re beginning to realize something, and I think you know where I am going with this, because all of these Bible promises, these thousands of precious, not-to-be-doubted assurances that help us live as we should, each one, all of them, find fulfillment in Jesus Christ. When you and I take a promise from God’s Word and bring it before the throne, God answers because of Jesus. God gives grace because of Jesus. He pours out blessing because of Jesus. Every promise is wrapped up in Him. Second Corinthians 1:20 says, 

For all the promises of God . . . are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him our “Amen” is spoken to the glory of God.

God promises you life and life abundant, life joyful, life courageous and meaningful, life that’s rich with peace and power and glory to God, all because Jesus made the way. He is your way out. He is your way of escape. He promises that when you are tempted. Maybe at one time you were God’s enemy, but no, through Jesus Christ God is ready to lavish on you all grace and blessing as a way of showing you how much He loves His Son. Every time you live on a blood-bought promise from the Bible, it is your way of testifying to 2 Corinthians 1:20; it is your way of saying, “Amen! So be it! Thank You, Jesus! May the way I rely on Your Word bring You ever-increasing glory to our Father.”

Hear me on this: you can look deeply into the stern countenance of your worst suffering and you can enter into it unafraid. You can enter the deepest and most horrific recesses of the affliction and you can defang it of all of its terror. You can do it because the Lord Jesus has gone ahead of you into that awful place—that place of cancer, that place of stroke, of a failed marriage, that place of financial ruin, Lyme’s disease, rejection, disability, chronic pain—whatever! Jesus has gone ahead of you, and He’s entered it, and He has transfigured it to be the inner sanctum of sharing in His sweetest fellowship of suffering, that glorious place of wonderful union with Him.

The next time you go through hell, remember that Jesus has gone ahead of it and already entered it, and you can meet Him in it and not be crushed. It’s just one of His many promises you can rely on.

Nancy Wolgemuth has written an excellent book called Heaven Rules, and I love what she says about it. She says, “‘Heaven rules’ is active theology. It goes with us into our day. We pack it for the road, we keep it in our carry-on baggage, we pull it out and use it all the time.” 

That’s what I do. Daily I pull out the promises of God and I use them. They give shape and definition to not only my life in general but they give specific shape to my days. I wake up and have to choose a Bible promise to live on for the day. 

Let’s say I feel weak and in need of strength. I could choose 2 Chronicles 16: 

For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. (v. 9)

Then throughout the day I’m aware that God is working to strengthen me.

Or if I’m in physical pain, for the day I could choose Psalm 34:

 The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all. (v. 19)

Then all day long I rely on God to deliver me, reflecting on Psalm 34.

I dare not think that just because I’m saved Jesus will give me what I need for the day. It doesn’t work that way. The manna you fed on yesterday is already rotten. It’s not there to rely on. So God’s Word in your carry-on baggage, as Nancy would say, is your way of constantly, daily feeding on that Word, living on His promises. This is the Christian way to live. A promise a day keeps me from falling into a vague, ambiguous approach to life. A daily promise becomes a plumb line for my attitudes and actions. Starting every morning with a Bible promise adds such value to my day, helping me make the most of my opportunities, build character, glorify God. Everything about life must be a yes in Christ, yes and amen. All the promises that God has ever made find their fulfillment in Jesus.

You know, aging with a severe disability is not easy, and it’s getting harder every day. My bones are so thin and tired, my lungs are weak. So perhaps the most hopeful promises are in Isaiah 35. That glorious day when the lame shall leap like deer, when sorrow and sighing shall flee away, and the anointed of the Lord shall obtain joy and gladness; that day when everlasting joy is going to crown our heads; that day when He will dry every tear, when there will be no more night. Praise God, no more nights of pain! I love those hope-filled promises. 

That glorious day of Jesus Christ will be so astonishing; it’s going to be so wonderful that it will suffice for all your worst sufferings! That glorious appearing of Jesus will atone for every one of your hurts; it will suffice for all your heartaches. Jesus is going to look at you and say to all the multitudes and to the heavenly host—He’s going to put His arm around you and He’s going to say, “You see this one? See her? Let me show you how she lived on my promises. Let me push the rewind button so you can see how she kept hold of my word, even in the face of great discouragement. I tell you, here is one who trusted me.”

Then He’s going to turn to you and say, “Well done, my precious little girl. Now enter into the joy that I have prepared for you, for you are my treasured possession and you have won my heart.”

I want to hear that, don’t you? I don’t want to do anything sinful or foolish or slothful down here on earth that might minimize that moment. If anything, I want to enlarge that moment with more confidence in Christ and in God’s Word. I want to enter into the greatest possible joy that my master might have for me, and I want the same for you. Jesus is ecstasy beyond compare, and when you hold fast to God’s promises it makes a difference for all of eternity.

Second Corinthians 4:17 speaks of that enlargement of joy. “For your light and momentary affliction [if you would but trust Christ in it] is producing for you an eternal weight of glory far beyond comparison.” (NASB)

Applying God’s promises to your suffering produces, it grows, it enlarges your weight of glory in heaven; and I want you to look at Jesus and quote to Him directly from Psalm 119. “Ah, Jesus, this blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept Your precepts!”

God forbid that you and I should waste our salvation by wandering our way aimlessly into the future, like, “Okay, so I’m saved; whatever.” Don’t go through life with a vague, ambiguous approach to problems. Do not diminish your eternal estate with a mediocrity that relegates God’s promises to nothing more than a slogan on a T-shirt. Life’s too short for that. Cosmic stakes are too high. The blood of Jesus is certainly too precious. 

One day your faith isn’t going to matter. Your chance to believe will be over. The opportunity your suffering will have provided you will be a thing of the past, and in a flash you’ll be with Christ, standing before your Savior, surrounded by the angelic hosts, pressing in line with the great possession of saved, streaming through gates of pearl, an infinite cavalcade from earth’s wide bounds and oceans’ farthest coasts—all of us, in one joyous parade, countless generations, lifting our crowns before God and shouting, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God Almighty reigns! Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory!”

I want to work toward that day, strive toward that moment. I want to be able to look at my Savior and quote to Him Psalm 119: “Jesus, Your promises have been thoroughly tested, and your servant loves them” (v. 140).

Aim high, friend. Aim high in life. Enlarge your soul’s capacity for greatness in the kingdom by living on God’s Word, living on His promises now. Join me in that, would you? Tomorrow wake up weak and needy, relying on a promise of God and saying, “I cannot do this hard thing in front of me, but I can do all things through You, Jesus Christ, as You strengthen me.”

Right there is a good promise to get started on tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. Be the one who thoroughly tests His promises, and come to love them as you love your Lord. It is your pathway to genuine joy and more intimate friendship with the Savior. That is a promise. God bless you, and thanks for listening.

Nancy: What an encouraging and gently challenging message from Joni Eareckson Tada, speaking by video to the audience at True Woman '22, last fall in Indianapolis.

I love that concept from Psalm 119, verse 140: 

Your promises have been thoroughly tested, 
and Your servant loves them.” 

Couldn't you just tell how true that was of Joni? She has tested and tried the promises of God and found them reliable. And, she loves the promises of God. How about you? Have you thoroughly tested the promises of God? So much so that you come to love them? We can't possibly overstate the importance of the promises of God.

In fact, that pastor Charles Spurgeon once said, “God has given no pledge which He will not redeem. He has encouraged no hope which He will not fulfill. . . . Everything else will fail, but His Word never will.” I love that! (Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith by C. H. Spurgeon)

You might think, If I had been in Joni's place that night, I’m not sure how many promises of God I could have actually recited. That’s okay. I’m going to let you know about a couple of resources that will help you in that very area. 

The first is a booklet I wrote titled 50 Promises to Live By. I can't actually say I wrote it, because they are all promises from God's Word. It contains fifty promises from Scripture that are particularly meaningful in my own spiritual journey over many years. There is space where you can journal your thoughts and responses to those promises in the booklet itself. If you'd like to order that booklet, 50 Promises to Live By, or a packeted of those booklets to share with others who may be needing the promises of God, you can find information about how to get those in the transcript of this program at ReviveOurHearts.com

And then the second resource is the set of fifty-two Savor and Share Scripture Cards we’ve been telling you about this month. They are Scriptures for you to savor and then to share with others who need to be encouraged by God's promises. This set is about the size of a deck of playing cards, and each card is uniquely and beautifully designed, with a different Bible verse or passage on it. I know it is going to be a great encouragement to you in your walk and ability to encourage others in the year ahead.

Dannah: Yeah, this month, the Scripture cards are our way of saying "thanks" to you for your donation of any amount in support of Revive Our Hearts. To give, just contact us at ReviveOurHearts.com. Click where you see the word “Donate.” Or you can always call us at 1-800-569-5959 and ask about the Scripture cards when you do. 

Nancy: And Dannah, let me just take a moment to say, “Thank you so much for your giving. It’s humbling and encouraging and exciting to us to see how God provides for the ongoing needs of Revive Our Hearts through friends like you. And how He is using you to spread encouragement from God's Word to women all around the world. We appreciate your support so, so much.

Dannah: That’s right, we really do. I hope you’ll be back with us tomorrow, because we’re going to be reminded of the all-important fact that all human life is precious to God. Including babies in the womb and grandmas and grandpas with dementia. With Sanctity of Human Life Sunday coming up this weekend, we’re going to spend a few days focusing on the value of human life at every stage of development. 

Please be back tomorrow for Revive Our Hearts.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. Encouraging you to thoroughly test the promises of God and find freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

All Scripture is taken from the NIV unless otherwise noted.

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