The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 1:20, “For all the Promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us,” NKJV. For many of us who are in a season of waiting or a season of warfare this Scripture begins to not ring true. You find yourself in what feels like a season of no, and you are asking yourself how you arrived at this place where the promises of the Sovereign God are no. On the 4th of November I sat up thinking the same thing: how is it that I took a thousand steps backwards, how am I further away from the promises of God then when I started, how did I fail, where did I go wrong? I asked myself these questions and the Holy Spirit ministered to me in a way that only God can speak to us, through His Word.

The Book of Genesis, chapter 12 introduces us to a man named Abram, and the promise that God made to him and his wife Sarai. Ss we continue to read their story we see a story of faith, but also one of failure, we see a story of a man who journeys with God, trusting and believing God for provision, for direction and for prosperity, but we also see how one promise that seemed to be illusive, that felt like it was out of reach, and Abraham and Sarah doing what we as human beings know how to do, which is to lean on our own understanding. They made a plan when it seemed the promise was delayed. But ultimately we see God make His promise manifested in their lives and in their bloodline.

In the end God rewards Abraham for his sacrifice, for his trust in Him, and for his willingness to sacrifice that very blessing at His [God’s] command. This is what the Holy Spirit ministered to me: that on this journey of faith, and trusting and learning to trust, like Abraham and Sarah, when they leaned on their own understanding and received Ishmael, their journey of faith is not a perfect one. It’s not a straight path to the fulfilment of God’s promise, but rather one with highs and lows, gains and losses and sometimes having to watch what we build and established in our own strength be destroyed because it was not of God. I have a promise from the Lord, my own personal promise that God made me, but in the years that passed, in my attempt to take steps towards the promise the Lord spoke over me, I woke up one day and found that I had taken steps backwards and found myself struggling with trust in the Lord.

And like Abraham I was on a journey of faith, and I would mess up along the way, but the promises of God remain yes, the cross of Calvary was my guarantee that yes came in the form of Jesus Christ, a covenant of yes, sealed on Calvary’s cross more than two thousand years ago. So even when I fail, God’s promises are still yes and in Him amen, and that is how I want to encourage you, as the Holy Spirit and God’s Word has.

Remember this, the Word of God remains true then and now, and the promises of God are all YES.