By: Dr. Charles Stanley

By some counts, God has issued more than 40 thousand promises in the Bible. That's a lot of promises !! But sometimes it can be difficult to determine how to properly respond to God's awesome assurances.

The first thing to keep in mind is that the Bible contains two kind of divine promises.

Limited Promises

God has made many promises to specific people living in particular circumstances for explicit purposes. These promises are definitely not “one size fits all.” If you try to “claim” these promises for yourself, you’re heading for trouble.

For example, the resurrected Jesus told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem “for the Promise of the Father” and that as they did, they would “be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:4, 5). It would be foolish for you to travel to Jerusalem and wait there to receive this promise, since Jesus already fulfilled it that first Pentecost. Today, the Spirit baptizes every believer into the body of Christ and takes up residence within at the very moment that person trusts in Christ. Jesus gave this promise to a specific group of people at a particular time for an explicit purpose; it isn’t for anyone else to “claim.”

General Promises

God has made many universal promises, applicable to all His children throughout all of history. For example, He has promised to never leave or forsake us (Heb. 13:5). He also promised many times to return for us (John 14:3). These promises pertain to all believers across all of time. Yet general promises can also be of two types.

(a) Conditional promises.

Texts like Philippians 4:19, Psalm 37:4, and others contain conditional promises; to receive the benefit offered, we have to meet some condition. Conditional promises require something of the believer.

In Philippians 4:19 the condition is that we be in Christ; the believer must be living for Him and in total submission to His will. The same holds true for “delighting” in the Lord, as stated in Psalm 37:4. Clearly a relationship comes before a request.

(b) Unconditional Promises.

Unconditional promises require nothing of the believer. The promises mentioned above in Hebrews 13:5 and John 14:3 are of this type. God will fulfill these promises because He has pledged to fulfill them. Nothing anyone does can alter His commitment or change His plans. He will keep these promises, not because of anything we do, but because of His own faithfulness.