When you receive a natural promise from a natural source - be it your spouse, a friend or the company where you work - what do you do? You get excited. The natural part of you gets excited in your mind and your emotions. You anticipate that promise and you can’t wait for it to come to pass!
When you have a promise that comes from God Himself, backed by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, what do you do? You get excited, too.
But this time, it’s more than the natural part of you that gets excited. It’s more than the natural part of you that begins to expect, to anticipate, to hope, to look for it coming. Your inner man – your spirit – receives by faith and rejoices at what God is going to do!
Jeremiah 1:11-12 is promise for us all about God’s promises: “Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I said, I see a branch or shoot of an almond tree [the emblem of alertness and activity, blossoming in late winter]. Then said the Lord to me, You have seen well, for I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it” (AMPC).
God watches over His Word to perform it – to bring it to pass. The New Living Translation says verse 12 this way: “And the LORD said, ‘That’s right, and it means that I am watching, and I will certainly carry out all my plans.’”
If you watched the last week of the BVOV television broadcast that showed segments from the 2024 SWBC in Fort Worth (continuing this week!), or you attended or watched the convention online, then you most likely released your faith for something – finances, breakthrough, answers, healing, hope, mental health, peace, joy, happiness, your marriage, your children, your friendships, restoration, redemption, deliverance…whatever was pressing on you that needed to change and be made new. It’s that thing you prayed for, prepared for, believed for and thanked God for. Perhaps you had a list of things you were believing for – and the corresponding verses you were standing on. And you’re still standing in faith. Praise God! It’s coming!
For whatever it is that you’ve believed and released your faith to receive, Jeremiah 1:11-12 is the perfect scripture for you to stand on now. God is watching over His Word – the Word you’ve been speaking, confessing and declaring by faith – to perform it. That means He’s ready to accomplish it. Because God Accomplishes All His Plans for You.
Be Aware of the Thief
Now, there’s no doubt that when you immerse yourself in the Word of God, like people do when they attend or watch the broadcasts, the enemy will always try to steal the seed of the Word you heard. He’s a thief, and he’ll always try to steal the ground you’ve taken. But whatever you received, it’s God’s will that you keep it and that you walk in it.
Mark 4:14-15 teaches us, “The farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others. The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away.”
Satan is the thief, and he comes at once! John 10:10 tells us the nature of the thief and the nature of God: “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” God wants your seed to grow and flourish. God Accomplishes All His Plans for You.
The Truth Still Supersedes the Facts
What is it for which you’ve believed? Where do you need breakthrough? It’s the will of God that you walk in all that God’s Word provides.
If you were believing for your healing, and you were standing on Psalm 103:1-5, keep standing. “Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul; and all that is [deepest] within me, bless His holy name! Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits – Who forgives [every one of] all your iniquities, Who heals [each one of] all your diseases, Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy; Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle’s [strong, overcoming, soaring]!” (AMPC).
The enemy would love nothing more than for you to grow discouraged and quit confessing the truth – the truth that supersedes the facts of your condition.
If you were believing for financial breakthrough, then keep standing. God has called you to prosper – spirit, soul and body. “Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit” (3 John 2). God keeps His Word. What’s more, God Accomplishes All His Plans for You.
Stop the Thief
Many times, when the devil comes to steal the Word – the Word that God is watching over to accomplish in our lives – we forget to resist him. We fail to stop him. But Ephesians 4:28 (AMPC) tells us to “let the thief steal no more”! And James 4:7 tell us, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
It’s up to us to stay in resistance mode, and resisting requires faith. It requires doing what the Word says, to fight the one who comes to steal the Word that we’ve received. Ephesians 6:10-13 tells us, “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armour so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armour so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.”
Stand in God’s armour all the time. This is how we keep the door closed to the enemy, both when he attacks, and when we’ve experienced a breakthrough. This is how we keep the door open to God as God Accomplishes All His Plans for You.
Hold Fast to the Word
When we receive a breakthrough in our finances or healing in our body, when we’ve stood in faith for something and the Word is working on our behalf, there is still work to do. First Thessalonians 5:21 (AMPC) tells us to “hold fast.” To hold fast means to continue to believe in or adhere to something.
What is it that you have received? Hold fast to it! Continue to feed daily on the Word of God. Continue to speak your confessions you’ve written out, based on the Word. Continue to believe. Continue to declare that you receive.
What Jesus said still stands: “Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4, AMPC). Our spirits need bread every day. Our faith needs bread every day. So, we’re to hold fast to words of life, words of prosperity, words of hope, peace and joy. Feeding daily on the Word of God keeps us spiritually strong.
We hold fast to sound words of teaching: “Hold fast and follow the pattern of wholesome and sound teaching which you have heard from me, in [all] the faith and love which are [for us] in Christ Jesus. Guard and keep [with the greatest care] the precious and excellently adapted [Truth] which has been entrusted [to you], by the [help of the] Holy Spirit Who makes His home in us” (2 Timothy 1:13-14, AMPC).
We are to hold fast to our confession of faith: “So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish and confess and our acknowledgement of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word” (Hebrews 10:23, AMPC).
When we fight the good fight of faith, we hold fast with our words in line with His Word (1 Timothy 6:12-14). We trust and believe Jeremiah 1:11-12 – that God watches over his Word to perform it. To accomplish it. To bring it to pass. Because God Accomplishes All His Plans for You.
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