Do programs like Promise Keepers really work? It really depends on your power source. All of us want to keep of promises when we make them, but can we??? Good
question. Let me tell you my personal story of trying to keep promises; you will probably get a good laugh out of it.
I was struggling with some issues in my life and wanted to be totally sold out to Jesus. I was a Bible College student and one of my professors talked about how he had written in his Bible and made a commitment to Christ. I thought what a great idea. I did the same thing. I committed these issues and gave my heart (I thought) totally to Jesus and wrote the day in my Bible, and then promptly failed to keep my promise and made a new commitment a few days later. I whited out the old one and put the new one. To make a long story short; some years later I had gone through a few bibles. I threw them away. They were so whited out and scribbled on that I was embarrassed and didn’t want anyone to see them. Now I realize everyone is different, but my experience does illustrate a point; we can’t keep a promise in our own strength.
If you try to keep a promise in your own strength, you will have to do it by willpower. You will have to white knuckle it and chances are you will eventually fail. The Apostle Paul found this out the hard way as is recorded in Romans chapters seven and eight. “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.” (Romans 7:15) He realized he was powerless to keep promises. Paul was a trail blazer. God was teaching him the meaning of the New Covenant.
In Romans eight, we see him turning from his own will
power and relying on the power of the Holy Spirit. “There
is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in
Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He
condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the
flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law
of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:1-8)
Verse 2 is the key the law of the Spirit of Life. This is really the law of the Power of the Holy Spirit functioning in you to give you victory and help you overcome and keep the
promises. I finally learned this truth. It only took me into my late forties and early fifties to understand it. Now instead of making a sincere promise and failing a few days later, I do it completely different. When I need to make a promise and
keep it, I go to the Word and find a promise or promises and stand on them, and then I mix that with the Baptism Power of the Holy Spirit. I draw this power out by speaking in tongues. It’s like priming the pump. For me, it’s the difference
between perpetual defeat and constant victory. This works every time, as long as I work it. Doing it in the flesh (willpower) sets a law of failure in motion and doing it by the Spirit sets a law of victory in motion. I’ve been on both sides
of the fence and know that didn’t work and these does. So do programs like Promise Keepers work-yes if the power source is the Holy Spirit not the flesh (willpower)? Test it out for yourself!
question. Let me tell you my personal story of trying to keep promises; you will probably get a good laugh out of it.
I was struggling with some issues in my life and wanted to be totally sold out to Jesus. I was a Bible College student and one of my professors talked about how he had written in his Bible and made a commitment to Christ. I thought what a great idea. I did the same thing. I committed these issues and gave my heart (I thought) totally to Jesus and wrote the day in my Bible, and then promptly failed to keep my promise and made a new commitment a few days later. I whited out the old one and put the new one. To make a long story short; some years later I had gone through a few bibles. I threw them away. They were so whited out and scribbled on that I was embarrassed and didn’t want anyone to see them. Now I realize everyone is different, but my experience does illustrate a point; we can’t keep a promise in our own strength.
If you try to keep a promise in your own strength, you will have to do it by willpower. You will have to white knuckle it and chances are you will eventually fail. The Apostle Paul found this out the hard way as is recorded in Romans chapters seven and eight. “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.” (Romans 7:15) He realized he was powerless to keep promises. Paul was a trail blazer. God was teaching him the meaning of the New Covenant.
In Romans eight, we see him turning from his own will
power and relying on the power of the Holy Spirit. “There
is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in
Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He
condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the
flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law
of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:1-8)
Verse 2 is the key the law of the Spirit of Life. This is really the law of the Power of the Holy Spirit functioning in you to give you victory and help you overcome and keep the
promises. I finally learned this truth. It only took me into my late forties and early fifties to understand it. Now instead of making a sincere promise and failing a few days later, I do it completely different. When I need to make a promise and
keep it, I go to the Word and find a promise or promises and stand on them, and then I mix that with the Baptism Power of the Holy Spirit. I draw this power out by speaking in tongues. It’s like priming the pump. For me, it’s the difference
between perpetual defeat and constant victory. This works every time, as long as I work it. Doing it in the flesh (willpower) sets a law of failure in motion and doing it by the Spirit sets a law of victory in motion. I’ve been on both sides
of the fence and know that didn’t work and these does. So do programs like Promise Keepers work-yes if the power source is the Holy Spirit not the flesh (willpower)? Test it out for yourself!
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