...whatever I say will be fulfilled. (Ezekiel 12:28, NIV)
Throughout time, God has made promises to his people. God does not violate his promises. One sure way to move heaven is to prayerfully invoke the promises God has made through our faith in God’s trustworthiness. Jacob invoked God’s promises when he prayed for God’s protection in returning to his previously hostile brother after years away:
9 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:
10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.
11 Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.
12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. (Gen 32:9-12)
Jacob said, “God, you told me that if I came home, everything would be well with me. You told me that you would bless me and make my seed as the sand of the sea. That blessing cannot be fulfilled if I am destroyed by my brother. Please protect me.” He invoked two of God’s blessings, and as a result, Esau’s wrath was miraculously abated.
Elijah invoked God’s promises. In his famous encounter with the priests of Baal, he prayed and reminded God that he had told Elijah to hold this demonstration: 36 And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.
37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.
38 Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. (1 Kings 18)
In other words, he was saying “Lord, you’ve told me to do this, and now I have done it. Please do what you said you were going to do, and send fire to consume this sacrifice, that your promise may be fulfilled.”
David received great promises from the Lord, and they brought him great peace despite a tumultuous life:
25 And now, O Lord God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast said.
26 And let thy name be magnified for ever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel: and let the house of thy servant David be established before thee.
27 For thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee.
28 And now, O Lord God, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:
29 Therefore now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee: for thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever. (2 Samuel 7)
You can be bold with God when he has not fulfilled his promises. Consider Moses’ attitude when he reminds God of his promise to deliver the people:
22 And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me?
23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all. (Exodus 5:22-23)
We can see that having personal promises from God are one key to miraculous responses to prayer. Promises are invoked through prayer, but they are also largely obtained through prayer.
Whether God has given you promises or not, with great skill, you can leverage promises God has made to others. On one occasion when God wanted to destroy the Israelites, Moses interceded for them by reminding God of the promises he had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel:
9 And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
11 And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people...?
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
14 And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. (Exodus 32)
Though the blessings were to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, their fulfillment required the survival of the Israelites.
God’s promises do not expire. Nehemiah invoked promises made many years earlier through Moses:
7 We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.
8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:
9 But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.
10 Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. 11 O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer. (Nehemiah 1)
Nehemiah’s people were in captivity. He said, “Lord, you promised that if we repent and turn to you, you will gather us. We have repented, so please turn the heart of the king so that we can return to our land.”
There are many promises God has made not to specific people, but to anyone who fulfills certain conditions. Your ability to leverage God’s promises in prayer is limited to your knowledge of his promises. A sustained study of the scriptures to extract promises that could be useful in prayer will significantly increase your power in invoking his promises.
Consider the abundant promises you can invoke if you have kept all of God’s commandments. If you are overwhelmed, you can remind the Lord of his promises: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” (John 14:18) If you need to witness to others, you can count on him to give you what to say:
11 And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: 12 For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say. (Luke 12)
You can remind God of his promise to provide for the righteous:
Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? or, what shall we drink? or, wherewithal shall we be clothed? But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added to unto you. (Matthew 6:31,33)
You can ask anything according to God’s will and have it done. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” (John 15:7) “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.” (John 16:3) You can invoke the promise of obtaining the Spirit:
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26)
And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him. (Acts 5:32)
You can invoke the promise of his presence:
If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. (John 12:26)
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. (John 14:21)
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:23)
Truly, as the Lord said, “blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.” (Luke 11:28)