The moment we receive a prophetic word, aka promise from God, is the very moment we have an opportunity to begin stewarding that prophetic word. Stewarding a prophetic word is the process from receiving a word to the fulfillment of that word. It’s that easy to write and say but it is not so easy to actually do.
God makes it very clear in his inspired written word that he requires us to partner with him and community in order to move from promise spoken to promise fulfilled. Let’s take a look at an example in scripture to illustrate. I’m going to use Abraham because, after all, he is called “the father of our faith” (Romans 4:16-17).
Abraham
Here is the record of the first encounter Abram had with God. This encounter alone contains several promises from God to Abram:
Promise Spoken
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 12:1-3
Let’s make a list of the 7 promises:
- I will show you (the land).
- I will make of you a great nation.
- I will bless you.
- I will make your name great.
- I will bless those who bless you.
- Him who dishonors you I will curse (yikes).
- In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
In order to briefly illustrate Abram’s stewardship of this word from God, I will only use the first promise as an example:
- I will show you (the land).
Abram’s stewardship of this word required a partnership with God. In other words, Abram needed to do something before he would see the land God promised to show him. This is unmistakingly clear if we take into account what God said:
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house…”
Genesis 12:1
Abram was required to “Go” before he would see the land. Abram’s stewardship required him to “go” from somewhere. In order for God to be able to “show” Abram the land promised, Abram was required to leave the physical, geographical place where he was living. Otherwise, how would God “show” Abram a new land?
Did Abram partner with God? Did Abram do his part? Yes! Abram fulfilled what God required of him. It is written:
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him…
Genesis 12:4
Promise Fulfilled
It’s important to note that though Abram obeyed immediately, it at least took several months to get to the place where God showed him the land. Though it’s not the focus of this blog post to develop this point, I still want to say that obedience is a key to seeing our promises from God fulfilled and obedience requires partnership with God. Abram was obedient to the word of the Lord to him personally. This unlocked fulfillment for Abram, as we see in this same paragraph of Genesis.
When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.”
Genesis 12:6-7
For Abram, stewarding this first promise from God meant he had to do something, in this case, move his family from one geographical location to another. It was after, not before, he moved some 400 miles away by foot that God showed him the promised land.
Since God’s inspired word calls Abraham “the father of us all” in terms of faith (Romans 4:16), it follows that our faith in God should look similar to Abram’s faith in God. Abram has given us an example to follow when it comes to stewarding promises from God. In the most simplest terms, stewarding a promise from God means to obey what he said. But, what God is saying to you is going to look different than what he specifically said to Abram, or me, or your pastor, boss, mom, dad, etc.
What is God saying to you? Be a good steward of his word to you. His word will never contradict good, healthy morality, but it will be specific to you. That’s how you get your breakthru. Steward what he is telling you.