Stay on the Side of the Promised Blessing.
The Bible has thousands of promises God has made to us. Both the Old and New Testaments are filled with God’s precious promises. In this Blog, we’ll review the Definition of God’s Promise, Conditional and Unconditional Promises, Examples of God’s Promises, God’s Heavenly Perspective on Promises, and God is Reliable and Trustworthy.
Biblical Definition of God’s Promise.
Is a Bible Promise from God different from the promises we make today? Here is a Biblical definition of God’s Promise: During your lifetime, it is guaranteed that God will bless you. It can be, but is not limited to healing, prosperity, wisdom, marriage, guidance, etc.
Definition: A confident surety and/or decree from God to you or a particular group of people that He will move in your life or provide for you in a way that shows His love and commitment to you/the people. This promise is often based on God’s goodness, His divine assignment for your life, and His guaranteed covenant right to bless you. See II Corinthians 1:22, Hebrews 9:11, and II Peter 3:4 to 13. (Your Divine Assignment in Prayer, 2024)
God said because there is no one greater that I can swear to, I’ll swear to myself that in Blessing, I will bless you…”
For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. I Corinthians 1:20 KJV
But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. Hebrews 8:6 KJV
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. 17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. Hebrews 6:13 to 18 [bold and underline added for emphasis]
Two Immutable Things.
God used two immutable things to confirm what He said when He made the promise to Abraham that in blessing, He would bless and multiply him. These two things are:
1. His Promise: When God makes a promise it can’t be changed or altered.
2. His Oath: God confirmed the promise He made to Abraham with an oath because an oath is more formal, strong like a decree or declaration. It’s a term like what they use in the courts of our legal system. God could not swear by anyone else higher than Him, so He swore by Himself.
Are God’s Promises Conditional?
First of all what do we mean by “conditional and unconditional” when it comes to the promises of God? It’s really quite simple. Conditional promises are based on us meeting certain conditions, requirements, and/or specifications as outlined in the focus passage of Scripture. Unconditional means it’s open to anyone. You don’t have to meet any special qualifications or follow any set of rules or instructions with unconditional promises.
Noted below are examples of conditional and unconditional promises of God from the Old and New Testaments.
Conditional Promise:
Example 1: Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38 NIV
This verse has a condition attached. In this case, the condition is “to give.” That verse says that the measure you use will be measured back to you. Someone might say, “God, you told me to give to the hungry because when I do, I’m doing that to obey You. And You said give and it will be given back to me. But I hardly see anything coming back.” Could it be that the person is giving small incremental amounts like a dollar for example, when he has hundreds of dollars left over? The condition is not just “giving,” but giving in a manner that you want given back to you.
Example 2: ”Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened Matthew 7:7, 8 NKJV
As you’ll see from verses 7 and 8 directly above, no one is excluded from this promised blessing so it could be viewed as an unconditional promise. The flip side of these verses is meeting the requirements of the “condition” of: “Ask, Seek, and Knock.”
Example 3: 1 “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:
3 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
4 “Blessed shall be the [a]fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
5 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6 “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
8 “The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
9 “The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. Deuteronomy 28:1 to 9 KJV
Unconditional Promise Examples:
Example 1: That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Matthew 5:45 KJV
In Matthew 5:45, it shows that God sends rain on both the good and the bad. Here are two cross-reference Bible verses to back up this thought: Job 25:3 and Acts 14:17.
Example 2: He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. Psalm 33:5 KJV
God’s goodness is not just over a few people. The whole earth is filled with the goodness of the Lord. See Psalm 145:9.
Example 3: 2 I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron.
3 I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
4 For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me. Isaiah 45:2 to 4 NIV
In Isaiah 45:2 to 4, we can see that God is blessing this group of people because He wants them to know that He is the Lord. He bestows honor upon them because He chose to do so. I don’t see any action needed on their part.
God’s Heavenly Perspective.
In my years of seeking and learning about God, I have found out that there are things that mean a lot to Him. I’ll only focus on three things right here.
1. Our Motives. Why are we doing what we do? Are we obeying God because we love Him and His people or is there a different motive?
2. Integrity and Honesty. God wants to raise up an army of Believers He can trust to do what is right, just because it’s the right thing to do. When people see our good works they will glorify God in heaven.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matthew 5:16 KJV
3. Bearing Fruit. Are we doing something with the future in mind on how our actions will affect others? The things we say and do have a spirit behind them. Our actions are either blessing or hurting someone. If we sincerely do something with the love of Christ in mind, our actions will bear fruit and reflect the goodness of God and His heavenly Kingdom.
Listing these three thoughts above are truly significant because it can mean the difference between our prayers being answered or not. Let’s look at James 4:2, 3 below…
2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. James 4:2, 3 KJV
God is Reliable and Trustworthy.
God is Honest. God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Numbers 23:19 KJV
His Word shall not return back to Him void. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isaiah 55:11
God’s Word is truth. As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven;
He is a shield to all who trust in Him. Psalm 18:30 KJV
He’s Our Rock, Fortress, and Deliverer. See Psalm 18:2
The Blood of Jesus causes us to win. We are overcomers by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of our testimony. Jesus’ blood protects us and defends us from enemy forces. See Revelation 12:11.
God is faithful. See Deuteronomy 7:9 and Jeremiah 31:3b.
What He speaks happens. He spoke and said let there be light. See Genesis 1:3.
Always remember that God’s Word is truth. When He makes a promise to us whether it’s from the Bible or directly to through an impression in your spirit or your sensing that He has responded to your prayers by confirming it through a worship song, a poem, or whatever manner He chooses. God is infallible and His promises are undeniable when we accept them, trust Him, and then obey whatever He tells us to do.
Hold fast to the promises of God!
Blessings,
Tanda
#GodKeepsPromises #GodWillDoWhatHeSaid #GodKeepsOnBlessing #HisPromisesAreTrustworthy #DeuteronomyBlessings
Reference and Attribution:
Thompson, T. (2024). Definition of God's Promise. Published by Tanda Thompson 2024. Retrieved from: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Divine-Assignment-Prayer-Book/dp/B0DCNKFW84
Osanyinbi, S. (2025). Stock Imaged used for Cover of this Blog. Obtained on 3/16/2025. Retrieved from: Photo by Sesan Osanyinbi: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-shot-of-a-bible-on-gray-textile-11937373/
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