Creflo Dollar — How to Respond to the Promise?
We have spent a lot of time talking about, you know, the grace of God and how grace has made things available for our lives. We've talked about that, you know, we apprehend and appropriate these things by faith, and thank God for all that. I wanna give you a roadmap to all the things we've been talkin' about. I wanna give you roadmap on how to respond to the promises of God.
Now, I gotta tell you somethin'. You have to be careful because over the years, and especially when we started teachin' on grace, I would kinda stay away from it a little bit because I couldn't reconcile the difference between respondin' to the Word and works of the flesh.
I would always, because of just, you know, my background and teachin' and understandin', that I thought, "Well, you don't wanna say that, because then people'll get back into workin' to try to do somethin'." And it's been in your heart, just like it's always been in mine, "Yeah, but, you know, what's my responsibility towards these things?"
And as I was just goin' through my thinkin' over this today, I just heard the Holy Spirit real loud. He said to me, he said, "This is a response to my promise. It's not a work of the flesh tryin' to get the promises, to get me to do what I've already done, but people got to learn how to respond to it."
And so if the promise of healing has already been given, how do I respond to it? If the promise of deliverance has already been made available, how do I respond to the promise of deliverance? If the promises of prosperity have already been made available, how do I respond to it? If he has made available everything that pertains to life and godliness, how do I respond to it?
Now, immediately, say, "Yeah, but would we do it by faith?" Well, break that down. Give me some stuff that I can practically operate in my life. Show me how to practically respond. So tonight is just not me saying, you know, "By faith." 'Cause that kinda puts you in the same spot again. "Okay, we receive these promises by faith. Yeah, I hear that. But how do I practically by faith respond to the promises that Jesus has made available to me?"
And so I thought, well, instead of having you do the work, that I would just put together some steps for you to help you to respond, 15 responses. How do I respond to the promise? The promise has already been given. By grace, everything we'll ever need in life has already been made available. How do I respond? How many of you are ready to respond? All right, so, let's just start off right away. I don't really wanna waste any time.
1 Samuel chapter 30:8, I would like to use this as a text. This is when David had some pretty bad things that happened, and he said: "And David enquired at the Lord," at 1 Samuel chapter 30:8. "And David enquired of the Lord, saying, 'Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them?' And he answered him, 'Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.'"
I believe the promises of God that it's okay to pursue. I said, "I believe it's okay to pursue the promises of God." I believe that's a way to respond. I mean, to pursue the promise. I mean, if there's a promise in the Word of God, and you heard about it, I don't want you to get to the place where you say, "Well, you know, I just supposed to just sit here and let it happen."
Folks, I don't believe things just happen. I believe you have to pursue. I believe in pursuing, that's you way of responding. I'm not saying you have to make it happen. You know you can't do that. I'm saying that Jesus has already made it happen. Now, how do you respond to what Jesus has already done? All right, number one, locate the promise that you are believing for in the Word.
So here's the first thing. The promises have been given to us. Jesus has already done things on our behalf. What is the first thing you need to do? When you look at the issues in your life, the first thing you do is go to the Word and get the promise that covers your situation. Locate the Word that covers your situation. Baby need a new pair of shoes? You need some baby-need-a-pair-of-shoes Scriptures, amen? Locate the promise that covers your situation.
Look at Proverbs 4:22, and this is an action Word, Proverbs 4:22. I'm literally saying the Bible is full of promises, and knowing that's not good enough. You've got to respond by gathering in the promises or the seed that covers your situation. Now, think about it. That means when somethin' happens in your life, here's your first response. "Let me go get the Word that covers this."
You have an insurance policy, amen? You have coverage over anything that's gonna happen in your life. Go get the Word that covers it. And I mean, get it and write it down. Get the Word and write it down. Verse 22: "For they," the Word, he's referrin' to the Word. "For they are life unto those that," what? "Find them, and they're health to all their flesh." So the Word is life to those that find them.
Well, what's the opposite of that, for those who don't find 'em? You follow what I'm sayin'? That sounds like a response to me. That sounds like a pursuit to me, that the Word is life to those that find them. So go and find the Word that covers your situation. Go find the Word. And I mean literally. Go find it. Get it a little card. Write that Word down. Maybe wanna write the whole Scripture out, and that's your response. You are now saying, "I have the Word on it."
Whatever the issue is, "I have the Word on it." Whatever the thing that happened in your life or in your finances or in relationships, "I have the Word of God that covers that situation." Do you know the enormous amount of fear that you will keep out of your life if you just get the Word on a situation that covers your life? And I told you before. You've got Siri and Alexa and you still got concordances. You can go find the Word that covers the situation.