The Power of the Promise

Get ready! God is going to do a new thing in your life. Shall you not know it? It will supersede anything He has done in the past. He is going to make a way in your wilderness and rivers in your desert.

The scripture says that the glory of the latter days shall be greater than the glory of the former days (Haggai 2:9). I believe that means what God did for your parents or grandparents, was good, but what God is getting ready to do through you will be much greater. The promotion you were so thrilled with ten years ago, the restoration that took place with one of your children five years ago, the revival in your life twelve years ago, are nothing compared with what God is about to do in and through you now.

The Apostle Paul said that in the ages to come we would see the immeasurable, limitless, surpassing greatness of God's favor (Ephesians 1:18-20, Amplified). This is the day in which you are living. I want you to get your hopes up, enlarge your vision. What God has for you in your future is greater than anything that's happened in your past!

Will you stop a moment and remember the poor in Jerusalem that they may have enough to eat, medicines, a clean place to stay? Your offerings of prayers are powerful and can transform lives.

God can accomplish great things through your powerful prayers. If He has directed you to help in the work He gave this ministry, you can give a gift here.

The people He will bring across your path and with whom He will give you favor, the opportunities, the gifts you will discover on the inside. You will look back one day in amazement as to where God has taken you, and the people around you will be amazed as well.

The Old Testament God said to the critics and naysayers, "I will do a work in your day that you would not even believe if I told you." God was saying to the unbelievers, "Even if I spelled it out and wrote down all the incredible things I am going to do for My people, all the doors I am going to open, all the blessings I am going to release, even if I explained it plainly and in great detail." You might still say, "No way! That's impossible; it's never going to happen."

While in junior high, I bagged groceries from 7 to 11, waxed floors on Friday and Saturday nights, and picked tobacco in the hot, blistering sun. If some of the people with whom I grew up could have known what God was going to do in my life, they would have said, "No way! It's impossible." They would never have believed that I would be living a life that honors God; that I would have the favor and blessings of God on my life. They might have said, "You've got to be kidding."

That's precisely what people have said about you: "No way! There's no way he's going to serve the Lord…she's going to serve the Lord." But you are. They would have said, "I know him. There is no way in this world that he is going to be a preacher; he's going to be a man of God; he's going to be a prophet to the nations." But God says, "I know the plan I have for you to give you a future and a hope." He's planned your days for good and not evil. He's going to amaze you.

If some of the people who looked down on you and made you feel inferior, who tried to intimidate you, could see you now—strong, confident, a leader, excelling in your profession, they would think, "That couldn't be the same person I knew in high school or college." They would ask, "What in the world happened?" Here's what happened: You came into agreement with God and His Word. He released His favor in amazing ways in your life. He gave you the oil of joy for the spirit of heaviness; a commanded blessing; an Aaronic anointing.

You may be around people right now who are really skilled at telling you what you can't do, and what you're not. They are quick to remind you of all your impossibilities. Don't let them talk you out of your dreams and inheritance.

God determines your destiny—not them. If you will stay in faith, one day they will stand in amazement at where God has taken you. They will ask, "Is that the same young man I went to school with, or the same young lady who is now running the company? Is that the same one who struggled with addictions now delivering people? You mean to tell me he's not only totally free, but he's helping others get free? Is that the same family that was living in a little trailer? Now they are blessed and prosperous and are blessing a multitude through their words and their lives?"

Where God is going to take you will amaze your critics and naysayers. They say, "No, no, that's just too good to be true." Refuse to let their unbelief keep you from believing in God's promises. Come into agreement with God. When you believe, all things are possible.

Paul prayed in Ephesians 1:18: "The eyes of our heart would be enlightened—flooded with light—so that we can understand the wonderful future God has in store for us." Some of you think you've reached your limits. God has been good to you—you're happy and blessed. But no, get ready, there's more. God is about to release His unprecedented favor. Your relatives, co-workers, friends, and even your own inner man may try to talk you out of it.

Listen! God has put His promises in you. If you will keep believing, not only will God bring it to pass, He will do more than you could ever ask or think. Abraham and Sarah didn't allow other people to talk them out of the promise God gave them—even though it looked impossible in the natural. Twenty years after the promise was given, when Sarah was 90 years old, she looked at little Isaac and marveled: "Who would have thought an old woman like me could give birth to this beautiful baby?" In your future, there will come some "who would have thought" moments. Who would have thought I would have my best years after 60—or 50—or 40? Who would have thought a little abused Jewish boy—rejected, alone, with a speech impediment and stomach ulcer—would become a prophet to the nations?

What would have happened to me had I not believed I would see the goodness of God? Believe that God has amazing things in your future. Believe that you can rise higher and become all God created you to be.

Incredible power is released when you and I believe. Even though it looks impossible and we don't see a way, we can say, "Father, I want to thank you for the immeasurable, limitless, surpassing greatness of your power. I know it's at work in my life right now." When we activate our faith like that, it allows God to do amazing things.

Everything with your name on it is coming in—that business is coming in—that health with your name on it is coming in—that wayward child is coming in—that dream is coming in—that baby with your name on it is coming in. When the soil of your heart is fertile, when there is expectancy inside you, when you hear that promise, you will rise up in faith and declare to your mountain just how big your God is.

Carolyn knew my testimony, and she believed God for a son—for an Isaac for me. The Lord gave us that mighty man of God. She named him Michael David II. I cut the cord and dedicated him with tears running down my face. Since I had no middle name, I had to go to the judge to get my name changed. Now I tell people I'm named after my son.

I am asking you to activate your faith today. I can give you 8,000 reasons from the most powerful promises in God's Word. You are a believer, not a doubter; let the seed take root. God is about to release a new level of His favor in your life. God is going to give you the desires of your heart. Those promises you've been standing on for years are about to come to fulfillment. You are about to see a breakthrough in the life of your child, finances, relationships, health. Increase and promotion you've never dreamed of are in your future.

When my car with all my earthly possessions was stolen in South Philadelphia in 1966, God said to me "Your eyes have not seen, your ears have not heard, it's not even entered into your spirit the things I have prepared for you, but I will reveal them to you by my Holy Spirit." Even though I had to walk through the snow with only $3.25 in my pocket on Christmas day, I chose to believe God.

This special blessing is not going to happen in an ordinary—not in the way you have planned. It's going to happen in an extraordinary way so that you will know it's the hand of God. When you know what God's Word says and that Word is bubbling in your spirit, you just need to get into agreement with the Word of God. Faith will be released when you believe.

God put it in my spirit at 11 when He appeared to me that He would use me to touch the nation of Israel and the nations of the world. At the time, I couldn't talk to one person without lowering my head, but I allowed the promise of God to take root. I kept that in my spirit. When my father cursed me as I left to join the Army, I kept that promise in my spirit. When my best friend, whose dog tag number was one different than mine, was killed and I helped bury him, I kept that promise in my spirit. When I was robbed, I kept that promise in my spirit. As I am standing here looking at you, I'm living that dream God put in my spirit at 11. What would have become of me had I not believed? There is something worse than dope pushers; it's doubt-pushers. You have no idea where God is going to take you.

The transforming touch of God is on your life today—the power of the Word. One Word from God can change your life forever. Take the limits off God today. It's your own thinking and mine that keeps us from receiving God's best. My prayer is that your heart is being flooded with faith so you can receive the amazing thing God has in your future. Get ready for increase—for new doors to open. Proverbs 13:21 is for you: "Trouble chases sinners; but blessings chase the righteous." You are being chased by God's blessings, by His goodness and mercy, His favor. Divine connections are coming your way. When you live a life that honors God, He will amaze you with His goodness. God will give you favor with people as you've never dreamed. He will take you places your critics never believed possible. God will restore impossible situations. He is going to bring back to life dead dreams and give you the desires of your heart if you receive it."

God can accomplish great things through your powerful prayers; please pray that God would touch the hearts of each Jerusalem Prayer Team member to give an offering today.

If He has directed you to help in the work He gave this ministry, you can give a gift here.

May God's unbounded favor rest upon you today.

**********

Dr. Michael D. Evans is the #1 New York Times bestselling author, and author of Jimmy Carter: The Liberal Left and World Chaos and Atomic Iran.