What are God’s Promises in the Bible?

God’s promises are spread throughout the scripture. There is a promise for every situation in our life. We only need to spend more time meditating on His Word and praying to see and realize that His promises are powerful and wonderful.

It’s heartbreaking and disappointing whenever a close friend or a loved one promises us something and doesn’t follow through. It’s a good thing that God is not like us when it comes to promises. God’s promises are always a “yes” (2 Corinthians 1:20) in Christ. Are you needing some encouragement and refreshing today? Let’s read through some of His assurances in the Bible to understand better how much God cares for us. 

What are God’s Promises?

We can find God’s promises right from the beginning of the scriptures to the end, from Genesis to Revelation. They are of different kinds and purposes. They can be a promise of provision, protection, or healing. But perhaps, we can best categorize them as conditional and unconditional. 

God’s promises can be unconditional when He says that He would do them no matter what. It means He doesn’t require anything from us or the people or person He has promised it. An example of this would be His promise not to send a devastating flood again to wipe out the entire world (Genesis 9:11).

God’s promises are conditional when He requires our cooperation for Him to fulfill them. One example of this would be His promise of salvation. In Romans 10:9, God promises to save us from sin if we genuinely believe and declare Jesus to be both our Lord and Savior. 

God is a promise-making and promise-keeping God, but He also wants our obedience. He knows His plans for us, and that is to prosper us, give us hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). But He also wants us to obey Him and follow His commands to live the life He set out for us. 

Where Can We Read About God’s Promises?

God’s promises are spread throughout the entire scripture. He made these promises and sealed them with the highest authority, which is Him. It says in Hebrews 6:13 that when God made a promise to Abraham, He swore by Himself because there is no one greater by whom He could take an oath. 

Here are some of God’s promises that we could find in the Old and New Testaments and the Gospels. 

God’s promises in the Old Testament

Isaiah 41:10 – God tells us not to worry and promises that He will be with us, strengthen us, and support us. 

Joshua 1:9 – God commands us to take courage and be strong because He promises to be with us wherever we go. He made this promise to Joshua before they entered the promised land. He stayed true to His promise because the Israelites defeated their enemy and claimed the land God had given to them. 

Psalm 1:6 – God tells us that He watches over us and protects those who follow Him. 

Isaiah 58:11 – God promises to guide us, give us strength, and refresh us when we are weary.

Proverbs 3:5-6 – God tells us to trust in Him completely and not depend on our wisdom. He promises to keep us on the right path if we submit to His commands. 

God’s promises in the New Testament

James 4:8 – God promises to draw near to us if we come near to Him. We just have to be willing to make ourselves pure, turn away from the ways of the world, and follow Him. 

1 Corinthians 15:58 – God tells us to fully commit to our work of the Lord in this verse. He promises us that our efforts will not be in vain and are not wasted in His eyes. 

James 1:5 – God promises to give us wisdom when we need it if we ask Him for it. God is generous and enjoys giving us what we need by His will. 

1 John 1:9 – God promises to forgive us if we confess our sins to Him. He promises to make us clean from all the mistakes and wrong things we did when we repent. 

Romans 8:28 – This verse is God’s promise that everything works together for those who love God because this is His plan. 

God’s promises in the Gospels

We can also find God’s promises through the Gospels (also known as the four canonical gospels): Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These are the books in the Bible that account or narrate the life of Jesus here on earth. A lot of these promises or verses are His own words while teaching His disciples. 

Matthew 11:28 – Jesus encourages those weary to come to Him, and He will give them His rest. It is the kind of comfort and peace that nothing and no one in this world can provide. Only in Him will we be able to experience this.  

Matthew 28:20 – Jesus tells us in this verse to keep His commands, and He promises to be with us until the end of time. 

Mark 10:29–31 – Jesus tells us in these verses that following Him would mean sacrificing a lot, even our relationships. But He also promises that these sacrifices are not in vain and that there is a greater reward waiting for us if we choose to obey Him. 

Luke 11:9-10 – The Lord tells us that for the people who ask from Him will receive, whoever seeks Him shall find Him, and He will open the door for those who knock. It is just as what James 4:8 tells us that He will come near to us if we draw near to Him and follow His will. 

John 16:33 – Jesus says that we will have trials and troubles in this world, but we have to be brave. He promises that He has already overcome and defeated this world, so we can rely on Him. 

How Many God’s Promises Can We Find in the Bible?

In his book “All the Promises of the Bible,” Herbert Locklear mentions he has discovered 7,147 God’s promises in the scriptures. Looking at that number gives us an idea of how much the Lord cares for us and that He continuously wants to assure us throughout the scripture that He only wants what’s best for us. His promises sometimes would also come with warnings because God doesn’t want us to go astray. His conditional agreements with us are not because He is a tyrant God, but because He doesn’t want us to be destroyed by sin again if we choose to follow the desires of our flesh.

What are God’s Promises in the Scriptures? 

In every situation, we can find God’s promises corresponding to it, and here are some verses where we can find encouragement and assurance. 

God’s promises about His goodness

Psalm 100:5 – This verse gives us the assurance that God’s love and goodness endure forever and His faithfulness continues to every generation. He is the same loving and good God in the past, today, and in the days to come.

Psalm 145:9 – It tells us that God is good to everyone and shows compassion and mercy to all His creation. He is a God who truly cares for us.  

God’s promises of providing for us

Matthew 6:31-33 – Jesus tells us not to worry about food or clothes because our Father in heaven already knows our needs. He teaches us to seek Him first, His kingdom, and His holiness, and the provision, blessings, and favor will just follow. God wants our hearts focused on Him and not on the things we can gain from Him. 

Psalm 34:10 – The scripture tells us that lions can go hungry and become weak, but those who go after the Lord, obey and seek Him, will not lack any good thing. 

God’s promises of being with us always

Isaiah 43:2 –  God promises that when trials and troubles come, they will not overwhelm nor hurt us because He will be with us.

Deuteronomy 31:8 – God tells us not to lose courage nor be afraid, for He has already gone before us. He promises not to fail us, nor will He abandon us. 

God’s promises of answering our prayers

Mark 11:24 – Jesus tells us that when we pray and ask God for something, we should believe we have received it, and He will give us what we asked for (by His will). 

Psalm 37:4 – The scripture tells us that when we take delight and seek happiness in the Lord, He will give us our heart’s desires. Just like what Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, let us seek God first so that our hearts are prepared to receive His blessings. 

God’s promises of redemption and no condemnation

Romans 8:1 – God promises that when we become followers of Christ, there will be no condemnation. It assures us that God can shut down the feelings of guilt and shame in our lives because Jesus had already bought us with a price by His finished work on the cross (John 3:16). 

Ephesians 1:7 – Here is another promise of God that we have been set free through the blood of Christ and that our sins are forgiven. It is all because of the grace of God that we can enjoy this gift. 

God’s promises of fighting for us

Exodus 14:14 – God promises to fight for us, and we don’t have to do anything but trust Him and be still. 

Romans 8:31 – God assures us that when we trust and hold on to Him, no one can be against us. We only need to trust in His divine strength (Ephesians 6:10).

God’s promises of His grace

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 – Here is God’s encouragement that we need not feel defeated even with weaknesses and limitations because His grace is enough. He will display His power in our weak moments, and others will see Him move in our lives. 

Hebrews 4:16 – This is a verse of assurance that we can confidently approach God’s throne and find grace and mercy when we need it. He will not turn us away when we ask Him for help. 

God’s promises about salvation

The greatest of all God’s promises and blessings is His gift of salvation.

John 3:16 – Christ conquered sin and death for us. He suffered and died on our behalf because He loves us so much. Because of this, we can now take hold of God’s promise of eternal life when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. 

John 8:36 – This affirms the previous verse that if Jesus has already set us free from sin, we are no longer slaves to it. We have the power to say no to sin (Titus 2:12) because of what Christ did for us and by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Why Should We Trust God’s Promises?

Any person can make a promise. Whether they will fulfill, will be totally up to that person. So what makes God’s promises different from our promises as men?

In Isaiah 55:11, God says in His Word that each word He says will not go back to Him empty and that He will fulfill what He desires and achieve His purpose why He sent it. Why should we believe this? Numbers 23:19 tells us that God is not man, not like us, that He should lie. He doesn’t change His mind. He follows through with His words by acting on them and fulfills His promises.

God is not fickle-minded like us. He is not indecisive. As Isaiah 55:8-9 says, His ways and thoughts are higher and better than ours. He doesn’t think and act the way we do. That’s why we can trust in our promise-keeping God.

It says in Joshua 21:45 that God fulfilled every single promise that He made to the Israelites; not even one failed. The good news is, that He is still the same God who can and will keep His promises to us as long as we anchor ourselves to Him. 

For Whom Are God’s Promises?

Who can take hold and claim God’s promises? Are they only for a specific group of people?

God’s promises are for me

Gods’ promises are for everyone, including you and me. 2 Peter 1:4-5 tells us that God has given us valuable and unique assurances so that we can turn away from worldly desires and be holy just as He is holy. We only need to put our faith in Christ and obey Him. 

God’s promises are for His people

As the Bible says in John 3:16, everyone who believes in Jesus Christ shall receive the gift of eternal life. It also says in Ephesians 1:5 that once we genuinely believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are adopted into God’s family. 

God’s only pre-requisite for us is to believe in Him, seek Him, and obey Him. In other words, have an intimate relationship with Him. We cannot trust the promise of someone whom we do not know. It is hard to put our faith in God if we do not know and understand His character and ways. Once we have that kind of intimacy with Him, we would finally know why He wants us to obey first so we can fully enjoy His promises.

How Can We Apply God’s Promises in our Lives?

We can start applying God’s promises in our lives by praying, obeying His Word, and surrendering to Him. As it says in Proverbs 3:5-6, we have to trust God with all our hearts and not rely on our wisdom. We also have to submit all our ways to Him, so He can make the path of our lives straight. It may be easier said than done; that’s why it requires great faith, which we can only acquire by spending time reading the Word of God (Romans 10:17). 

In Summary

God’s promises are powerful, valuable, and wonderful. We only need to seek Him first, delight in Him and know Him to claim His promises in whatever situation and need we face. What need are you facing right now? Whatever that may be, here is another promise that God has for you in 1 Peter 5:7: entrust to God all your worries for He cares a lot for you.