Promises of God in Matthew 1-10

Jan 22

Written By Sarah

Prayer Meeting

My small group began a prayer meet-up every other week a few months back. It has been such a blessing to have an opportunity to know these ladies and share our walk with each other. We have seen God’s answers and his blessings in myriad ways. It was to give some direction to prayer and depth to our prayer lives that we began looking up and sharing the names of God and then the names of Jesus. It has been powerful to call upon God using these names: Provider, All-sufficient, He Who Sees, Healer, etc. And we have just begun sharing His promises to and for us. This has been rich ground to find!

I recall years ago that a pastor’s wife asked me if I had a box of all the promises of God. I had no idea what she was talking about and said so. She left me with no other comment other than to get one. I have never seen one, even to this day over 10 years later! But what I have indeed found are lists upon lists of God’s promises online.

You are likely familiar with many of God’s gifts and provisions: his Spirit, his Son, salvation. What is so amazing is that many of these things are promised to us, not just a gift to be opened, but one that He promises to us. We know what is in the box!

All these things

One of the promises that was shared in my group today was Matthew 6:33, ‘But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.’ Seek first God and His kingdom, and we will have all these things. Just before this verse, in the ‘Do not worry’ paragraphs, are listed ‘life, what to eat or drink, body, what you will wear’. When we have made Him our priority, all these things, clothing, food, drink, life, will be His priority. He will not just give the bare minimum either. When he describes the clothes we wear, he compares us to ‘Solomon in all his splendor’ and to the grass of the field. I have no idea what Solomon dressed like, but I know it was not sackcloth. It was not a simple cloak. We too can count on Him, hope in Him, to provide for us. He provides our clothing, our food and drink, our very lives. Theses are the promises. The lady who shared this promise said, ‘It is a deceptively simple way of putting God first and then all else falls into place.’ All of this is interspersed with ‘do not worry’ – worry steals the life and food and drink and this very promise from us. His kingdom adds all this to us.

Renewed strength

I shared the promise of Isaiah 40:31, ‘but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.’ I was drawn to that hope, also translated ‘wait’ and reminded that the word has a very different meaning form what we think of. At least what I think of: twiddling my thumbs. No, this word conveys an expectation. It is the same word used in the Bible in Job 3:9, waiting for light of dawn in the morning. It is the same in Job 7:, a laborer who waits for his pay. There is an active wait in these. We wait when playing hide-and-seek, knowing that someone is coming and looking for us. We actively listen and look for signs of them approaching. This waiting or hoping in the Lord that Isaiah writes about is active. We will renew our strength and soar, knowing that the next current or updraft will keep us soaring. We will have direction as we run and not grow weary. I think many of us have grown weary in our current state of covid, economic and political pressures. Yet, in this time of waiting, God is working. We are told to wait in expectation for God’s timing, his plans, his good gifts and promises to be fulfilled. But the waiting doesn’t have to weary us.

Unpack the promises

In line with the current Matthew study, I have put together a pack of 10 printable ‘posters’ to focus on some of his promises: salvation, inheritance, forgiveness, these things, answered prayers, being children of God, reward for obedience, healing, guidance by His Spirit, the Father’s care. Take time to unpack some of the promises of God in Matthew through the free pdf below.