Keeping Your Promises - Episode 26

In this episode, hosts Justin Olbrantz and Dr. Don Schaefer carefully detail the importance of keeping promises, both to others and to yourself. They highlight the significance of promises in building trust, character, and spiritual integrity, referencing biblical examples and personal experiences. The discussion also emphasizes how fulfilling promises can positively impact relationships, self-confidence, and one's own faith journey. The episode encourages listeners to be mindful of their commitments and underscores the spiritual power and personal growth that come from being true to one's word.

Chapters

• 1:53 Biblical Examples of Promises
• 6:06 Making Promises to Ourselves and the Impact
• 12:02 The Power of God's Promises to Redeem His People
• 13:21 The Role of Promises in Relationships
• 21:03 Personal Reflections on Promises

Transcript

Episode 26 - Keeping Your Promises

[00:00:00] Justin: Hi, everyone. This is Justin Olbrantz. And this is Don Schaefer. And you are listening to the Wise and the Wandering podcast for those who know “the Way” and for those who are led astray. And if you feel like you are in need of some spiritual wisdom, then you're in the right place. So let's dive in.

[00:00:32] Justin: So, Don, what are we going to talk about today? Well, Justin, I think we're going to talk about keeping your promises. Keeping your 

[00:00:39] Don: promises. Yes, that's going to be a fun one. Oh, it is it is because uh, a lot of times in life We get in the situation where we make promises to people but we also make promises to ourselves 

[00:00:54] Justin: Yes, and it's very important to keep Promises to both.

[00:00:57] Don: Yeah, you know, and if you make a [00:01:00] promise to your friend and you don't do it, what you do is you cast a doubt inside that friend, that friend won't expect you ever to keep a promise, you know, and that's where it's important to establish that in your life because you need to be able to whatever you promise Is something that has to happen in 

[00:01:19] Justin: your life.

[00:01:19] Justin: Okay Yeah, that's definitely true, and I think your promises are so important. The ones that we make to people, and like you were saying, the ones that we make to ourselves. 

[00:01:28] Don: Yeah. 

[00:01:28] Justin: And a lot of the times, we are going to be, , as fruitful in our life, it's probably directly compared to the amount of effort and work we're willing to put into making sure , we stay true to our word.

[00:01:43] Justin: Yeah. And staying true to your word is keeping your promises. That's right. And people are going to like you more if you keep your promises. People are going to trust you more if you keep your promises. So I guess we have a whole, I mean the Bible talks about, there's a whole history of God keeping his promise with [00:02:00] people.

[00:02:00] Justin: Abraham, with Moses, you know going into Jacob with Israel and all this creating a promise to create a nation. Abraham, a father of all nations. And I guess how important how important are promises do you think in general? Oh, 

[00:02:18] Don: man, I 

[00:02:19] Justin: think 

[00:02:19] Don: they they are a level that are very important You know, it's amazing because uh, the bible shows that a promise you make a vow or whatever You were meant to keep this vow because the promise represents who god is everything about god is his promise Promises for us.

[00:02:35] Don: You know, he, , basically created us, put us in this world and promised us many things. He promised us a great place that we're headed to, but he promised to do great things in our life. He promised us that we all were designed before the foundations of the world. Yeah. That he sat down in his great engineering room, got out his pencils and 

[00:02:56] Justin: he designed.

[00:02:56] Justin: Isn't that crazy? I just want to stop you just for a second, [00:03:00] because you said that , we're literally designed before the foundations of the world. A lot of people that don't read the Bible, they don't understand this stuff. That's what's written in the word. So we are literally, we're created before the foundations of the world.

[00:03:15] Justin: The idea of you, the idea of me was already a thought, was already a creation before the foundations of the world were even laid. That's right. So we are, we are predestined, right? So we are already thought about by God. It's actually pretty crazy when you think about out of you know in the process of Making the baby, you know, you have all of these We have all of these, uh, sperms swimming, 500 million, some count, and we are the one that beat all 500 million.

[00:03:48] Justin: So if you ever think that you're, you know, just, , just to say, if you ever think that your life doesn't have any purpose, if you have no reason to be living or, you know, whatever the case is,, you beat 500 million [00:04:00] others. Oh, yeah. And that, and that's built on purpose alone. 

[00:04:04] Don: Yeah, 

[00:04:04] Justin: yeah that what was the 

[00:04:05] Don: promise you were a promise we were a promise Well blows me away justin in the same line of thought is I was watching a national geographics Show 

[00:04:15] Justin: yeah, 

[00:04:16] Don: and they were talking about A woman, a young girl, a baby girl, saying that the baby girl has every seed that's ever going to come out of her, as far as a child being born, 

[00:04:27] both: in 

[00:04:28] Don: her, the day the girl is born.

[00:04:30] Don: Yeah, that's wild. You know, so it's all there already. So you're talking about timing. 

[00:04:35] both: Yeah, right. 

[00:04:36] Don: You know, the seed and the sperm, things connecting. You know, God. Put this all together looks like a promise sounds like a promise. Oh, yeah, and he promises great things And uh the thing of it is we have such a problem with is, um, we have a hard time believing the promises You know if we could just live a life believing the promises our life would be perfect But uh, there is so much doubt cast [00:05:00] because there is so much Broken promises, you know, things happen in our life.

[00:05:04] Don: I know they're like I said in the beginning here, you know, someone that is true to their word. They promise whatever and they're always true to their word. Everything that they say to me, , it's gold. You know, they said it. I know it's going to be done because, you know, if, you know, as an employer, working for an employer and I, and having people underneath me, there are some people that I know, you know, whatever I would ask or wherever they said they would do, they would be there.

[00:05:32] Don: They would do it, whatever it needs to be. But then there are some. Who didn't do one thing, or maybe two things, or three things. Everything that they told me from that point on, there was doubt in my mind. Yeah. Whether or not they would do that. They lose credibility. Oh yeah, and God hates that man. You know, He wants us to be solid in our life.

[00:05:51] Don: And uh, our friends, our family, everything, you know, they need solid people. People that are going to be able to say, you know, this is [00:06:00] what I'm going to do. If I say that I'm going to clean my room, and , and I don't clean my room, I am. Broken a promise. And a lot of times, you know, , we've talked a little bit about how we make promises to ourself, you know, a lot of times we, we promise that we're going to start this, we're going to do this bright and early in the morning and we wake up in the morning and we're pulling the covers over our head and we're saying 

[00:06:23] Justin: the snooze button.

[00:06:24] Don: Yeah, we are killing something inside of us. We're killing our confidence in ourself, 

[00:06:29] both: you know, and 

[00:06:30] Don: if we can get ourselves to the point where, you know, You know, I'm real cautious with my promises, you know, what I'm going to do, what I'm not going to do, because once I say I'm going to do it, I promise myself I'm going to do this, you know, and then I set the standards around, you know, and I've set my goals up, put my actions together and I fulfill them.

[00:06:50] Don: Fill that promise to myself and I feel good about myself 

[00:06:54] both: a lot of 

[00:06:55] Don: times what happens when people's lives They don't feel good about themselves because they don't even keep their [00:07:00] promises to themselves, you know They say they're going to be this they're going to do this and whatever because there's an element justin.

[00:07:06] Don: Yeah Killing people, you know, it's a it's a poison inside of us, you know And the Bible talks about it as being the flesh. It's a fleshly side of us You know our minds say this is what we should do 

[00:07:20] both: Yeah, but 

[00:07:20] Don: there's a part inside of us that just doesn't want to do this, you know, and you're fighting you You're fighting this, you know, and that's where I know until we get to the point where this flesh is put under control, you know, this side of us that we don't like, we'll have a hard time keeping our promises.

[00:07:37] Don: And that's the beauty of the things of God. 

[00:07:40] both: Yeah. Because 

[00:07:41] Don: he talks about Baptism of the Holy Ghost and power, 

[00:07:45] both: you know, 

[00:07:46] Don: and I look at the power sometimes being the power to keep the promises We make to ourselves. Yeah, you know, he puts power into our life that we can do. Perseverance. Yeah, so that we can have things presented to us.

[00:07:59] Don: We can say, you know, this is [00:08:00] good I promise myself that I am going to institute this in my life. I'm gonna act this way. I'm gonna be Be there for whatever the circumstance might be, you know, and I am just going to do this, but I need power because my fleshly side is weak. You know, it wants an easy chair.

[00:08:16] Don: It's got a lazy boy sitting in the corner waiting for me. Yeah, for sure. You know, and that's where in the morning, a lot of times you just want to cover your head up and not even get up. But I promise myself, I put on my jogging shoes. I promised myself. I promised myself. But the one time or the two times I did that.

[00:08:32] Don: Don't do that. I kill a promise to myself, you know, and then all of a sudden I feel guilty and pretty soon it all falls apart. And a lot of us find that's where we have to be good at keeping our promises and understanding the power that's behind a promise. 

[00:08:50] Justin: Definitely a very powerful word. I think you said so much there and I I like that dynamic that you were breaking down about how each time that we Fail a promise [00:09:00] to ourselves.

[00:09:00] Justin: It's chipping away at our confidence And it really is because we subconsciously Alter our minds and our perceptions and stuff like that our mind when we start to think about Oh, I was let down. I was let down here. I was let down here But when it's ourselves You When we are letting ourselves down, it's different because we only can blame ourselves.

[00:09:22] Justin: When we can point the blame to other people, it's easier to do that. And there is a bitterness, there is a, there is a, , there's a barrier that can, that can be created, right? That, you know. Exists, but it's it's a little different with ourselves because we have no one else to but ourselves to blame, 

[00:09:38] both: right?

[00:09:38] Justin: And then like you were saying it erodes away at our confidence and then eventually we don't want to make any promises with ourselves We don't want to make any promises with anybody We don't think we're capable of doing anything because we realize that we just keep falling in this self perpetuated cycle Can't keep our promises right can't keep the promises.

[00:09:56] Don: Yeah, 

[00:09:57] Justin: so You know, when I was growing up, [00:10:00] um,, , I just remember, like, when my mom or my dad would say something to me, , I would just always want them to follow through on their word. And when they wouldn't, if my mom would go and she would say, I'm going to take you here, I'm going to do this for you, and she wouldn't do it.

[00:10:17] Don: Yeah. 

[00:10:17] Justin: It would really, um, it would really hurt me. It would really, uh, , , it would cause some indifference, but there would be some trust issues there because like I was saying before, it does kind of hurt the credibility. And, if there is a promise out there for you, then If it's truly for you and it's truly for your life.

[00:10:40] Don: Yeah, 

[00:10:41] Justin: I think god is going to help you get there, 

[00:10:43] Don: right? 

[00:10:43] Justin: You know a lot of people they have needs and they have Wants and stuff like that But when you really start to have a relationship with god and you see the promise that he has on your life I think you can start to see What was promised to you?

[00:10:58] Justin: What is you know part of? [00:11:00] The will his will god's will for you to have right and what might just be your own Selfish want or need yeah, and I think as that relationship grows and he keeps his promise Because you start to see what the promise is you start to see. Okay. ? This is what faith looks like.

[00:11:18] Justin: This is what favor looks like. Okay. I see that. This is what obedience looks like when I do What he's asking me to do I gain favor. It looks like things start working out in my life. I start seeing the signs I start seeing the stars aligned. However, you want to look at it You start seeing how promises actually work because then even if people were not faithful to you before You can go To a God you can go to something that's always faithful to you, right?

[00:11:45] Justin: You know, there's somewhere where your promises are always upheld, you know where there's you know There's somebody where your promises are always kept. Yeah, and somebody that cannot let you down Yeah, because people can let you down and I think people will let [00:12:00]you down right but god's not going to let you down 

[00:12:02] Don: Yeah, yeah, you brought a couple things to light here just which is good because um, first of all like you're talking about god It's interesting with god because if you get into the word You And you know, in the Bible and stuff, you know, the gospel means good news, but, uh, the Bible itself is all about promises.

[00:12:18] Don: It's interesting how God took Israel back in the Old Testament and he told them, if you do this and you follow me and all this stuff, I will bless you and I will do everything great in your life. You're going to multiply. Everything's going to be good. 

[00:12:33] both: But 

[00:12:33] Don: if you do not, if you do not, you are going to have the same curses that the heathens did, that the Egyptians did, all this sort of thing.

[00:12:41] Don: God was true to His promise, you know, and they had a choice. Either they trusted in God and believed in God, or they did not. They didn't believe the promise, but God was true to His promise. You know, He allowed, and that's the same thing in our lives. You know, the Bible tells us if we allow our life to be in His hands, He promises a [00:13:00] peace, you know, , comfort in our life, you know, that we are, you know, we can have, uh, uh, an ease in living life and have an understanding and a hope of a future, all this stuff.

[00:13:10] Don: But if we do not. Yeah. You know, he talks about the hell side. He says, you know, you're gonna have misery. You're gonna have pain You can have a lot of different things, you know, god is faithful to his promises. That's for myself I'm saying to myself, you know, I better Find out what god is really wanting in my life and then you brought in relationships You know and this I think 

[00:13:31] Justin: everything is based on relations.

[00:13:32] Justin: It 

[00:13:33] Don: is it is, you know I know and you brought in your your childhood and this is a little bit of a parenting class here , you know With parents, you need to realize how powerful your promises really are, and with your child. If you promise this and promise that, you need to carry it through. I know even disciplining, I always tell parents to be able to put a list of things in the book.

[00:13:56] Don: Punishment that's involved with it and you need to promise that that punishment's [00:14:00] going to be there If they don't clean up their room and they're grounded from their phone for a day That is a promise now to not ground them from their phone to for a day no matter what the excuse is Yeah is a break of a promise, but, but to have a parent that you can trust is going to be true to their word.

[00:14:18] Don: That is comforting. That is security in a home. And broken promises, there's no security because you never know what you're going to deal with 

[00:14:26] Justin: tomorrow. You hit it right on the head. Security. And I think that's once we know, once we know that somebody is true to their word, because your word is so important.

[00:14:34] Justin: I mean, your word is based on your credibility. It's based on how people perceive you. It's based on, I guess, the, the, the relation that you have to people, because if somebody is good at keeping their promises, they don't want to be close to somebody who's not, they don't relate well, see what I'm saying?

[00:14:54] Justin: Everything is in relation to somebody else. It's a relationship. So [00:15:00] in this sense, promises are key. Right. There's, like you were saying, there's power in promises. Yes. And I think that when you are promising things to people, You're also promising something to yourself.

[00:15:15] Justin: You're promising that you are going to, , make a commitment. You're promising that you're going to put in the work. You're promising that you're going to put in the effort, 

[00:15:28] both: right? 

[00:15:28] Justin: You're going to create those actions. You're going to do what is necessary. 

[00:15:33] both: A 

[00:15:33] Justin: lot of the times we've talked about this on a podcast episode, well, being honest with yourself.

[00:15:39] Justin: When you're making a promise with somebody. 

[00:15:41] both: Yeah. You 

[00:15:41] Justin: gotta be completely transparent, honest with yourself. Yeah. Because it's easy to say, oh, I promised to do this. I, you know, I, I'm promised to do that, just to get it out of the way. That's right. But to really know, like I was saying, you have to be, there's commitments that go along with that.

[00:15:54] Justin: Yeah. There's, you know, changes, actions, the work is required. Yeah. So it's really. [00:16:00] Important to understand that if you really truly value your word you truly value the power of the word and you know how much of a Importance of a role it plays right in our parenting in our relationships with our spouses 

[00:16:14] both: In 

[00:16:14] Justin: our relationships with our friends neighbors Then you understand how How important it is to make sure that you always keep your promise and deliver on your word.

[00:16:24] Justin: Right. Because we talk about this as a Christian podcast. We talk about having Christ in our lives as the one who creates, um, the one who sets examples, the one who sets patterns in our lives. That's right. And if he's always staying true to his word and his promises, we need to be doing the same thing.

[00:16:43] Don: Right. Yeah. That's good. That what you're all saying there. And you mentioned relationship. See, that deals with ships. 

[00:16:49] both: You 

[00:16:49] Don: know, and, and like, you know, the way life is, you know, um, a ship will never sink as long as the water is kept on the outside. But as soon as there's a leak in the ship, [00:17:00] then the ship can sink.

[00:17:01] Don: See, a lot of times our promises are the same thing. You know, sometimes And they say, loose lips sink ships. There you go, that too, that too, as well. You know, and that's where a lot of times what we find in life is our promises poke holes in the ship. 

[00:17:17] Justin: You know, and if we want to 

[00:17:18] Don: We want to have a good relationship.

[00:17:20] Don: We want to keep the water on the outside. We want to keep that which is going to sink that relationship on the outside. Yeah, that's good. Our promises and things are what keeps us floating. Keeps the relationship. On top the water rather than allowing it to sink and so many times 

[00:17:36] Justin: buoyancy 

[00:17:37] Don: It keeps us buoyant.

[00:17:38] Don: That is right floating and floating in life And so many times people feel like their ship is sitting on the bottom 

[00:17:44] both: Yeah, 

[00:17:44] Don: but the amazing thing the way we are structured 

[00:17:48] both: we 

[00:17:48] Don: can change You know god has given us a room and an opportunity to change, you know I know I live in a world right now with 10, 000 excuses.

[00:17:59] Don: People make [00:18:00] contracts, they make commitments, but they have wonderful excuses of breaking everything, you know, and this here is not right. And in a person's life, builds your character. It builds your character. It actually destroys your character when you don't keep your promises. You know, when you say you're going to be this and you're going to work on that and do what you say you're going to do and you don't do it, it not only destroys your situation in relationship, it destroys you as an individual.

[00:18:29] both: You 

[00:18:29] Don: know, it kills your confidence in yourself, 

[00:18:33] both: you know, 

[00:18:33] Don: and I, I know myself, I'm cautious on what I promise to do, but I try to carry it through. . I try to eliminate excuses. I know I worked for a company that, , for injuries. 

[00:18:46] both: Yeah, 

[00:18:46] Don: the, the, the model was there's no excuse because people would get injured and they'd come in and they'd have all these excuses.

[00:18:53] Don: Well, upper management says, I'm We don't want to listen to excuses. You know, we want you to make sure that you don't [00:19:00] get yourself injured. 

[00:19:01] Justin: That's a manufacturing plant, right? That's 

[00:19:03] Don: a manufacturing plant. And I got jackets and all kinds of prizes for how many hours they worked without any injuries. But people were cautious.

[00:19:11] Don: They looked at things differently, you know, and, , and a lot of times in life, we just sit there and rely, you know, it doesn't matter. I've got a lot of excuses. You know, it doesn't matter. If I'm a young person, it doesn't matter if I do my homework or it doesn't matter this or that. The dog ate it. I've got many excuses of things.

[00:19:27] Don: You know, but in reality, you're only hurting yourself. And, , so God has designed us and wants us to keep promises. It's interesting, and I don't know the names. But it was in a Bible. There was one battle of some sort, and this one commander said, The person, whoever greets me, I'm going to, I don't know what it was, he was going to sacrifice.

[00:19:50] Don: And he comes back home, and his daughter comes out to greet him. And he made a vow. 

[00:19:59] Justin: Yeah, [00:20:00] and you know, 

[00:20:00] Don: and it just it tears me up. That's not 

[00:20:02] Justin: good. 

[00:20:03] Don: No, I mean it ended up, you know She was sacrificed. It was serious. This is serious. It's in the bible I don't know the chapter and verse on this but you know But they took they took vows and stuff very serious back then In today's day and age.

[00:20:18] Don: We don't take them so much. There is so much lies and Deceit and all the stuff going on and even commitments. I mean I see professional You Athletes signing contracts and I laugh. I said, what does this contract mean? Is this a promise? Is this a promise? Right? I mean next year they're they're playing for another team, 

[00:20:39] Justin: right?

[00:20:40] Justin: How does that work? 

[00:20:41] Don: You know and in relationships between a husband and wife You know, you say, I do. It is a promise for better or for worse. Okay, how bad is worse? You know, it seems like that people always find something that is worse, worse enough that they can, they can separate themselves. But this is a contract.

[00:20:57] Justin: Yeah, 

[00:20:58] Don: you know, 

[00:20:58] Justin: and I often think that, [00:21:00] you know, but I wanted to say something is that Not too long. Actually, I don't even know if I've told you this, Don, but not too long after my wife Karina and I got together. 

[00:21:09] Don: Yeah, 

[00:21:10] Justin: it was maybe a year into it or so.

[00:21:12] Justin: I got her a promise ring. 

[00:21:15] Don: Oh, yeah. 

[00:21:15] Justin: Yeah, and didn't tell me that. I got her a promise ring that I, my promise was that I was going to get her an engagement ring. That's the idea of the promise ring. Wow. It's a, it's a preface to the other ring. It's a ring for a ring. 

[00:21:29] Don: Yeah. 

[00:21:30] Justin: And then I waited.

[00:21:32] Justin: around five years or so to actually propose. 

[00:21:36] Don: Oh yeah. 

[00:21:36] Justin: So, I just wanted to highlight this. I just want to point this out because the power that goes into that promise, the power is in delivering on the promise. But the power is not in saying the promise. Right. Power isn't following through on the promise.

[00:21:53] Justin: So when I actually proposed and I actually Gave her the engagement ring. That was [00:22:00] me delivering on my promise. Now. It took me way too long to do it And when I realized now, um , if I would have been thinking clearly into it, if I would have been fully transparent and honest with myself, I wouldn't have waited so long to make the promise or to deliver, I wouldn't have waited so long, or I would have waited longer to To give a promise ring because five years is a long time to keep somebody waiting for it creates 

[00:22:31] Don: doubt 

[00:22:32] Justin: Yeah, and i'm not just trying to say this to speak on my own testimony and it's you know a little embarrassing as well, but to also uh Speak to others out there.

[00:22:41] Justin: You know, if you're waiting, if you've made a promise and you're waiting, the power is in you delivering the promise, not you telling somebody that you've promised to do something. So I would encourage anybody to deliver on that promise because there is power in that. You get that power, and that power works [00:23:00] in unimaginable ways sometimes in your life.

[00:23:03] Justin: Because had I held out, had I just kept going, Holding off on a marriage, right? I wouldn't know how wonderful a marriage is 

[00:23:10] both: Yeah, I 

[00:23:10] Justin: wouldn't know how wonderful a wife is because I just kept holding out on the promise So it's just important to keep that promise if you say you're gonna do it. Don't wait to do it.

[00:23:21] Justin: That's right Yeah, because the beauty of what you 

[00:23:23] Don: did was right there and you waited five years. Yeah Thanks for reminding me That's interesting, you know, I guess Back in my day, which goes back a little bit further. Yeah, I never heard a promise rings. You know, that's 

[00:23:37] Justin: a newer concept. Yeah, 

[00:23:38] Don: usually it was an engagement ring and then you got married, you know, so but yeah, that's uh, Yeah, I'm happy to hear that you fulfilled your promise there, but I know I know for myself, this is the way I look at things, and the way I actually talk to people a lot of times, see, I believe that the Bible is full of promises.

[00:23:57] both: And 

[00:23:57] Don: I know there's a line that they used to sing, you know, every [00:24:00] promise of the book is mine, every chapter, every verse, every line. See, I believe that if there's promises in the book, I'm trying to get every promise that's possible to get in that 

[00:24:09] Justin: book. Yeah, I was just thinking, you know, there's so many promises in that book.

[00:24:13] Justin: book. Why are you not reading about these promises if you're not? 

[00:24:16] Don: Yeah, and holding God to his word. You know, I mean, he's one that cannot lie. The Bible talks about that. You cannot lie. He made the promises. You know, it's time we as a people hold God to his word as far as keeping his promises in our life.

[00:24:33] Don: You're not catching him in that one. No, I don't think we will. Because I think we are the obstacle. You know, we are the obstacle because we don't believe in the promises. You know, I got all that guy would do. I would love to see, you know, uh, the power of God working in individuals that could trust and believe in Him.

[00:24:50] Don: And a lot of times, you know, we struggle with that. But it is important for us to realize that We do need to keep our promises. 

[00:24:59] Justin: Yeah, [00:25:00] it is so important because if we don't keep our promises, then we really stand on nothing. 

[00:25:05] Don: Yeah. 

[00:25:05] Justin: Um, , you know, , we did an episode last week.

[00:25:08] Justin: On beliefs and how important beliefs are and how they shape us. And our beliefs are important, but then our promises come to our word. Our beliefs create our identity, our personality. Yeah. Right. But the promises is based on the word, right? And your word has to be truth.

[00:25:27] Justin: Yeah. Your word has to be concrete. Your word has to be consistent because otherwise You're not consistent, right? If your word's not consistent If you don't if you know that you do this every time every time somebody asks you to do this you do this every time You tell somebody you're gonna do this you do this then, you know who you are 

[00:25:45] Don: Yeah, 

[00:25:46] Justin: you know who you are Like I was saying that's subconsciously when you're breaking promises with other people you're kind of breaking promises with yourself, too Because then you're you're losing again.

[00:25:55] Justin: You're losing that confidence. 

[00:25:57] Don: You're 

[00:25:57] Justin: It just sets you back. It sets you back [00:26:00] because now you have to try so hard to get ahead. Every time you keep breaking promises. Every time you're not true to yourself and to your word. 

[00:26:09] both: Yeah, 

[00:26:09] Justin: you're you're going to think Lower of yourself, you know, you're gonna feel unworthy.

[00:26:14] Justin: You're gonna feel unloved You're gonna feel like you're not accepted and that's exactly where the adversary Gets in there, right and he puts you into these Spells of rejection. Yeah, and you go through these frequent spells of rejection Sometimes I think they happen at the same times like coordinated attacks at the same times of each month You know, it almost seems like things just happen in cycles, right?

[00:26:38] Justin: And if you can get yourself to a firm believer of the truth and only wanting to be true to your word to people, then you won't fall into the traps of lies and the traps that the adversary is trying to catch you into lies and rejection. 

[00:26:55] Don: This is good. This is gold, Justin. It really is. Because, you know, just the [00:27:00]promise itself, that element is gold.

[00:27:02] Don: You know, to realize that there's Big promises. I know one I've had the opportunity , of officiating funerals I've done that a few times and and one of the areas i'd like to bring up where jesus says I go to prepare a Place for you And I and I believe that with all my heart that god has got a place for each and every one of us It is a promise he's made and uh, we just need to believe in that And get ourselves in relationship with him and he's already , he's got the um, the house He's got the honeymoon all planned for us.

[00:27:36] Don: He's got everything the bible talks about a marriage supper You know, he's got a he's got big things in store. He's making a promise He didn't give me a promise ring, , but, uh,, but he's made me a promise, you know, and, , I'm, I'm going to hold him to that, you know, and I'm going to get engaged with him. And someday there's going to be a marriage that's going to be made in heaven.

[00:27:58] Don: And all of us are going to be [00:28:00] a part of that. And all of us are going to have a place with him and what he's promised. to prepare for us. And that is the hope of every believer. And it's so important that we realize in our life that we have to understand the principle of keeping promises and how valuable they are for each and every one of us.

[00:28:20] Don: Because it is a principle that a lot of times people don't realize that they need in their life. Yeah. Promises made, promises kept. That's right. We make promises so we can see a change in our life And believe that god can operate in an individual that is willing to keep their promises 

[00:28:42] Justin: Well, I think that wraps it up for today.

[00:28:46] Justin: Another good one, Justin. I think so too, Don. Hey, we're glad you guys found your way here today, and we hope you can join us again next week for another good word. Until then, stay blessed. Bye the best. See you [00:29:00] guys.