The Word of God provides the solid ground on which we can take our steps of faith. (Ephesians 2:20) The Bible is full of promises that are intended to help us guard and defend this precious deposit entrusted to us (2 Timothy 1:14). The more we apply these promises to our everyday battles, the more our faith will be strengthened.

In Luke 1:45 Elizabeth greets pregnant Mary with these prophetic words: “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” Can you imagine how difficult it must have been for a 12-year-old girl to believe and accept these miraculous promises? What if Mary had succumbed to the inevitable ridicule, slander, and hate leveled at her by the unbelieving world and had refused the Holy calling to carry our Lord and Savior? But, Praise God, she didn’t. Instead, Mary was able to see her circumstances from the realm of faith and repeat God’s promises to her cousin (Luke 1:46-55).

Mary knew, just as the angel told her, that “no word from God will ever fail” (Luke 1:37). She stood on His word and lived out her calling according to it. To walk by faith, it’s not enough to believe that God’s word and promises are true, we must act on our belief and stand on the Truth. When what we believe overflows into how we live then our faith is made complete and is counted to us as righteousness (James 2:22).

Erick Bouwmeester