John 6:63-68 (NASB)

⁶³“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

⁶⁴“But there are some of you who do not believe ” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him.

⁶⁵And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

⁶⁶As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.

⁶⁷So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?”

⁶⁸Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.

Warning! There are lots of voices clamoring to be heard today, and they give out messages that conflict with one another. Sorting through them to find the truth can be complicated because many of these speakers claim to have messages from the Lord. Comparing their words to Scripture is the best way to test the authenticity of their speech.

Why use the Bible? The first reason is that the Lord took great care to be sure that Scripture was recorded accurately—the Holy Spirit directed the hearts and minds of the biblical writers. (2 Peter 1:21) Second, because “All Scripture is . . . profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). God’s Word is the main source for His truth. He will never send a messenger with words that contradict the Bible or add new doctrine to it.

Our Father cares deeply for us. He is interested in everything about us and wants to be intimately involved in all areas of our life. He speaks words of love, affirmation, guidance, and discipline to us. He patiently corrects our thinking and steadily urges us toward obedience. Because the Lord wants us to know Him personally, He takes the time and makes the effort to reveal Himself to us individually. Through His Word and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, He tells us what He loves, what He hates, His priorities for building His kingdom, and His will for us.

Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). Does this describe you?

(devotional from In Touch Ministries)

You might be surprised, but God has made you many promises.  But they’re promises that you have to claim in order to receive. Yes, God has in fact made hundreds of promises in His Word to those who profess to be Christians.

But many of these promises are conditional or limited. This means that you and I may have to meet certain conditions or do our part before God can act on our behalf. “If you do this,” God says, “I’ll do this.” Our response determines His actions.

When you read in your Bible and you see the words “gift” or “given,” or the words “then” or “if,” you need to back up. If you see these, you know you may have a promise that you can biblically claim…scripture that you can appropriate for your life.

As Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:7-8:

But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, ‘When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.’

A lot of folks don’t know the promises of God and don’t know the blessing and inheritance that is available to them. And if they do, they may misuse a promise.

A good way to navigate the promises of God is to think of a 3-legged stool. You have to know about the promise – that is one leg of the stool. You have to understand the promise – that is another leg of the stool. And then you have to biblically and accurately claim the promise – that’s the third leg of the stool.

A good template to see if you can biblically claim one of God’s promises revolves around four key words: Understand, Ask, Claim, and Act.

1. Understand the context of the verse. Understand what was going on in the verses before and after the verse with a promise. What was the situation, the setting, the timing, what was happening? Ask the basic questions – who, what, when, where why?

2. Ask the critical questions. Ask if the promise is conditional or unconditional? Is the promise limited or unlimited? Is there an “if, then” stated? Is the promise for someone specific in the Bible? Ask the critical questions.

3. Claim the promise. When you claim a promise, you exercise your faith. By faith, stand on the promise of God and believe in Him.

4. Act on the promise. You believe, then you act. You proceed in faith and move ahead.

Understand, Ask, Claim, Act. Remember to use this template to discern when God has made a promise to you and how you are able to receive it.

The great news is that God keeps His word. Throughout the Bible, without exception, God keeps each and every promise ever made. That should give us great confidence to exercise our faith in God’s promises and lead a life of new blessings and transformation.

(from Christianity.com)