Then he said, “About this time next year you shall embrace a son.” 2 Kings 4:16

Our Bibles are full of promises.  According to Bibleinfo.com there are 3573 promises!  That’s a lot of promises!  When we read God’s Word each day we can discover these promises, underline them, pray about them, and claim them for our own.  That’s what the first “P” of the TEA CUPP is all about: Claiming God’s Promises.

But I have to tell you a story, a story about me claiming a promise that was for someone else, one that is probably not included in the 3573 Bible promises that are for everyone. 

When our second child was born, God put the desire in my heart for more children while I was still in the hospital holding our new born baby boy!  But this was a problem because my husband and I had talked about only having two children.  I wasn’t a prayer warrior then, but before our son turned one, I was reading a One Year Bible and learning how to pray.  Six years later I was still reading the One Year Bible when I came across this story of the Shunammite woman.

Though she doesn’t have a name, this lady lived in the town of Shunem.  She was a notable woman who was able to provide food and lodging for the prophet Elisha.  Every time Elisha came to town he would stay with her.  So Elisha wanted to bless the Shunammite woman and her husband in a special way. 

Now you must understand, I’d been reading my One Year Bible every day for six years.  I had read this story several times before. But this year a particular verse jumped out at me.  When Elisha told the Shunammite woman, “About this time next year you shall embrace a son.”  I underlined the verse and claimed it as a promise for me.  And guess what, exactly nine months later God gave us our son Kevin Jon.  All praise be to God!

In the following years when I was reading my Bible, I would come to that promise and wonder if I could claim it again, wish I could claim it again, not sure if it would be greedy to claim the Shunammite’s promise more than once…but eventually I did claim it, over and over, and finally, after 11-1/2 years,  God gave us another son.  I’m sure the Shunammite mom had no idea someone would be borrowing her promise thousands of years later!

Today’s TEA CUPP: God’s Word is packed with promises for us to discover and claim…promises of peace and perfection and provision, promises of hope and help and heaven.  As you read your Bible today, look for God’s promises, underline them, put a letter “P” next to them, and claim them for your own.  Tell Jesus, “I claim this promise!” Here are a few to get you started…

In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. John 14:2 (NKJV)

And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  John 14:13 (NKJV)

And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  John 10:28 (NKJV)

p.s.  And next week, our Kevin Jon, who is now 19 years old, leaves on his second international mission trip, this time to the Philippines.  And so I claim this promise for Kevin and his team…

For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways. Psalm 91:11 (NKJV)

Scripture from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson