Max Lucado - Praying the Promises: Anchor Your Life to Unshakable Hope

2018 Max Lucado

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked GW are from Gods Word. Copyright 1995 Gods Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked THE MESSAGE are from The Message. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Scripture quotations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible. Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org) Scripture quotations marked NCV are from the New Century Version. 2005 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc. Scripture quotations marked NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked RSV are from Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Copyright 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked TLB are from The Living Bible. Copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked THE VOICE are from The Voice. 2012 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Some content has been adapted from previously published material in Unshakable Hope.

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For Rose and Max Wesley Bishopproof that holding onto hope is always worth it

Contents

[Abraham] didnt tiptoe around Gods promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said.

R OMANS 4:2021 T HE M ESSAGE

W hat is shaking your world? Possibly your future, your faith, your family, or your finances. Its a shaky world out there.

Could you use some unshakable hope?

If so, you are not alone. We live in a day of despair. Many people believe this world is as good as it gets, and lets face it. Its not that good.

But as people who believe Gods promises, we have an advantage. We can determine to ponder, proclaim, and pray the promises of God. We can be like Abraham, who didnt tiptoe around Gods promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong (Romans 4:20 T HE M ESSAGE ). We can choose to filter life through the promises of God.

For every problem in life, God has given us a promise. When struggles threaten, we can find hope by praying those promises.

• Im feeling fearful today. Time for me to pray Judges 6:12: The L ORD is with you... I will lay claim to the nearness of God.
• The world feels out of control. Time for a dose of Romans 8:28: All things work together for good.
• I see dark clouds on the horizon. What was it Jesus told me? Oh, now I remember: In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (John 16:33 NIV ).

After forty years of ministry, Ive discovered that nothing lifts the weary soul like the promises of God. This book contains some of my favorites. Many of them are go-to promises Ive turned to throughout the years to encourage othersand to encourage myself. We desperately need them. We do not need more opinions or hunches; we need the definitive declarations of our mighty and loving God. He governs the world according to these great and precious promises.

Lets be who we were made to be: People of the Promise. Lets keep these promises handy. Pray them out loud. Fill our lungs with air and hearts with hope and declare our belief in Gods goodness.

[God] has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature.

2 P ETER 1:4 NIV

U NSHAKABLE H OPE

T he heroes in the Bible came from all walks of life: rulers, servants, teachers, doctors. They were male, female, single, and married. Yet one common denominator united them: they built their lives on the promises of God. Because of Gods promises, Noah believed in rain before rain was a word. Because of Gods promises, Abraham left a good home for one hed never seen. Because of Gods promises, Joshua led two million people into enemy territory. Because of Gods promises, David conked a giant, Peter rose from the ashes of regret, and Paul found a grace worth dying for.

One writer went so far as to call such saints the heirs of promise (Hebrews 6:17). It is as if the promise was the family fortune, and they were smart enough to attend the reading of the will. Jacob trusted Gods promises. Joseph trusted Gods promises. Moses trusted Gods promises. Their stories were different, but the theme was the same: Gods promises were polestars in their pilgrimages of faith. They had plenty of promises from which to pick.

One student of Scripture spent a year and a half attempting to tally the number of promises God made to humanity. He came up with 7,487 promises! Gods promises are pine trees in the Rocky Mountains of Scripture: abundant, unbending, and perennial. Some of the promises are positive, the assurance of blessings. Some are negative, the guarantee of consequences. But all are binding, for not only is God a promise maker; God is a promise keeper.