Walking In His Promises 
2 Corinthians 7

• I have a confession to make I didn’t make it past verse 1!
• One word stopped me in my tracks
• The word “promises”

3 steps to walk in God's Promises:
Step #1 Know God’s promises. Read the Word of God daily—every chance you get. 
“Let it be the soundtrack of your life”  When I gave my life to Christ, I read the Word of God every day, taking notes and underlining passages, and I even listened to the Bible at work and any moment that i had the chance to do so.  You can’t trust the promises unless you know them and make them the foundation of your life.
“Small Acts of seemingly insignificant discipline eventually reap magnificent results”
Do you know what God has promised his children?
Definition of A Promise: a declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing or that a particular thing will happen. assurance , pledge, vow, guarantee, oath, bond, commitment, covenant. 
“I can't walk in something that I do not know”
Did you know:

• That his promises can bring light to your path? “Your word is a lamp to my feet, a light for my path” Psalm 119
• That when you're tired, weary, and burdened,Jesus promises you Rest “come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.  Matthew 11:28
• That when you think it's Impossible, Jesus says “With man this is impossible but with God all things are possible” Matthew 19:26
• That when you lose focus on your priority “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you”
• There is a blessing attached in meditating Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
• Matthew 4:4 but he answered “it is written Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Here’s what I am saying: when I know I’m on a different playing field when I know my chess pieces are looking aggressive when I know I am confident
John 15:7 “if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you” 
“Let his words become the soundtrack of your life”
​
Step #2 Trust God’s promises. Proverbs 3:5-6 says Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways submit to him   and he will make your paths straight.”

1. What does that kind of trust look like?  Trust is a heart decision, a willful surrender of all your heart.  Half-hearted marriages never work and no husband has ever gotten anywhere by saying, “I love you, honey, with most of my heart.”  No, wives want it all, and so does God. The greatest threat to trusting God is our own understanding—how we see things or how we’ve experienced life before.  Once “our” mind starts to process and determine our steps, we get distracted, taking exits and wandering down detours.

Trust is a step-by-step process of submission, following the straightest path to the destination God has determined for us.  We would never take the longest route suggested by our GPS; we always prefer the shortest route with the least amount of travel time. And yet, we often find ourselves exhausted when we scrap the straightest paths to satisfy our disoriented desires.
Instead, trust God’s promises to take you where you need to go.

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8

The lord is your strength and your shield TRUST IN HIM Psalm 28:7
It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man Psalm 118:8
Man says show me and I will trust you.   God says trust me and I will show you Psalm 126:6
What is stopping you from trusting in God?

• What someone did to you?
• A traumatic event
• The loss of a loved one
• Your current situation

Step #3 Rest in God’s promises.
Resting in God’s promises is the next step in trusting God’s promises. The opposite of rest is worry. Jesus makes it very clear in Matthew 6:25-34 not to worry about food, drink, our bodies, our clothes, our shelter, or anything else in life.  He said that since God takes such good care of the flowers in the fields, why wouldn’t he also take care of the people he created and loves?
Worry does not add a single hour to our lives.  In fact, it subtracts hours from our lives.
Quote about worry - “Worrying is using your imagination to create something you don't want”

Let's look at a Bible story about worry: Martha & Mary
Luke 10:38-41

• Mary sat at the Lords feet listening to what he had to say
• Do you let things distract you, worry you, and make you upset?
  
  

When information about God’s promises enters our minds, we hear it and understand it. However, we must then apply the truths of those promises to our hearts.  We must keep at bay or on hold the notion of wanting to process our needs over and over in our minds to figure out our own solutions.
Once we trust, we can relax, take a breath, and truly say, “God’s got this.” It’s a freeing admission of God’s love and strength.
God’s promises still stand! Great is his faithfulness, you're still in his hands. This is our confidence that he will never fail you! ​

'with the result that the Law has become our tutor and our disciplinarian to guide us to Christ, so that we may be justified [that is, declared free of the guilt of sin and its penalty, and placed in right standing with God] by faith. ‘  Galatians 3:24

What is the true solution to the problem called sin?

'For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God; not as a result of [your] works [nor your attempts to keep the Law], so that no one will [be able to] boast or take credit in any way [for his salvation]. For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us]. ‘  Ephesians 2:8-10

It is that simple, by grace through faith we are saved if works are added then the equation is wrong and the solution is not found.

When the answer to the problem of sin is discovered we know it because fellowship with God is restored.

'And because you [really] are [His] sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave (bond-servant), but a son; and if a son, then also an heir through [the gracious act of] God [through Christ]. ‘  Galatians 4:6-7

Back to the Garden

Knowledge of God without a relationship with God produces nothing but dead works.  
We are not called to pick from the tree of knowledge of good and evil but to walk in the Garden and pick from the tree of life.

We must return to innocence, wipe the board clean, like Paul count all our knowledge as dung. 

'But more than that, I count everything as loss compared to the priceless privilege and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord [and of growing more deeply and thoroughly acquainted with Him—a joy unequaled]. For His sake I have lost everything, and I consider it all garbage, so that I may gain Christ, ‘  Philippians 3:8

We need to take off our old filthy rags and put on new garments.  

'For all of you who were baptized into Christ [into a spiritual union with the Christ, the Anointed] have clothed yourselves with Christ [that is, you have taken on His characteristics and values]. There is [now no distinction in regard to salvation] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you [who believe] are all one in Christ Jesus [no one can claim a spiritual superiority]. 'Galatians 3:27-28

Who would want to put on old dirty clothes when they have been given new clean ones?  
'Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years. ‘Galatians 4:8-10

Our ultimate desire as parents should be to see our children mature well where they can find success in life.  As spiritual parents, our ultimate desire should be to see Christ formed in those we lead.  

'Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives. ‘Galatians 4:19

We desire our spiritual children to produce the fruit of the Spirit and not works of the flesh.  Ishmael was the result of Abraham not trusting God and producing a child of the flesh.  Isaac was the result of waiting on the promise of God and he was born supernaturally.

'The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife. The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise. These two women serve as an illustration of God’s two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them. And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery to the law. But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother. ‘Galatians 4:22-26

We can only walk with God who is a Spirit by the Spirit, which is not possible naturally only supernaturally.

Let us repent and drive out our Ishmael's and choose from henceforth to only produce Isaac's.

“Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman.’ Galatians 4:30-31

The Charge:  
If you are not enjoying fellowship with God, wipe the board clean, and accept the simple truth, that through grace by faith you are saved, and repent of any works you have added to the equation.