Daily Devotion 11 December 2025

St Johns Evangelist United Church
Dec 11, 2025
2 min read

Lord God, you are God , and your words are true. And you have promised these things to me, your servant … Lord God, You have said so. 2 Samuel 7: 28, 29

READING: 2 Samuel 7: 25-29

King David had been promised by God that his family and his kingdom would continue always before God (2 Samuel 7:16). David’s prayer boldly asked God to fulfil that promise. This wasn’t a passive prayer that said, “Well, God, just do whatever You want to do.” Nor was it an arrogant prayer saying, “God, let me tell You what to do.” This was a bold prayer saying, “God, here is Your promise – now I trust You to fulfil it.”

David said, “so I, Your servant, am brave enough to pray this prayer to You” (v27b) – he could only pray like this because he was claiming God’s promise.

God sends promises on purpose to be used. If we have a R100 note, it is a promise for a certain amount of money, and so we take it and use it.

This kind of prayer appropriates God’s promise. Appropriate means to acquire or lay claim to. Just because God promised doesn’t mean that we automatically possess. Through a believing prayer like David’s, we lay claim to God promises. If we don’t appropriate in faith, God’s promise is left unclaimed.

We may appropriate:

· His promise for forgiveness: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

· His promise for peace: Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27)

· His promise for guidance: I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. (Psalm 32:8)

· His promise for growth: He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

· His promise for help: Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

“You are God, and Your words are true” (v25): this was David’s foundation of faith. He knew that God can be trusted.