A common mistake most believers of Christ make is to cling to the promise verses in the Bible without properly interpreting it.
For example, my favorite verse for the January 1st of every year (until 2 or 3 years ago) was a part of Haggai 2:19, which says "From this day on I will bless you."
It is just like a TV news channel (that lacks ethics) twisting the statement of a person by broadcasting only a specific part of what they said.
In the case of interpreting the Bible, we tend to play the role of that news channel even without our knowledge!
Ok, coming back to Haggai 2:19, I don't exactly remember where I came across the verse first, but I'm pretty sure I didn't read it in Bible. It must have been in some TV program (probably titled as New year blessing prayer) conducted by famous Televangelists.
On hearing the verse, I thought I can claim this promise only once in my life, and God will bless me all through my life. My view was that I have such a strong faith in God, that I claim His promise to Him only once in my life.
And for me, blessings were all about physical protection (for myself and loved ones), good health and success in what I do.
However, God looks at blessings in a totally different way! Check out the post about How the 12 disciples misunderstood Jesus's mission at first to know more!
The funny part is, despite believing I need to claim Haggai 2:19 only once in my life, I was ignorantly claiming the verse on 1st January of every year, for a few years.
The right thing I should have done after hearing (or reading) the verse is to have asked the following basic questions:
Who spoke that promise verse?
To whom was it addressed?
What was the situation when the promise verse was spoken?
What God wants me to learn from it?
Usually the answer to all these questions can be found just by reading a few verses above and/or below the verse in question. Since Haggai has just 2 chapters, I read it almost entirely to find the answers.
Ok, now let's break the ice (at a high level) for Haggai 2:19!
The answer to the first question is God spoke through Haggai (a prophet).
The answer to the second question is it was addressed to the people of Israel.
The answer to the third question is God spoke to them when they responded in obedience to an instruction from God (through Haggai), directing them to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem, which was in demolished state by then.
And here comes the answer to the fourth and the most important question! What God wants me to learn from it?
As of now, I can understand God wants me to learn obedience from meditating that verse. However, my belief is that if I meditate even more, I can learn even more.
Merely claiming Haggai 2:19 in your prayer, and strongly believing that God will bless from this day will be of little use.
I said "little use" because God might still bless a beginner in Christ to honor their faith out of His grace, but that's not God's intention definitely in the long run.
The reason is God ultimately wants them to grow in Him and learn obedience.
So, whenever you read a promise verse in the Bible, it is essential to ask the 4 questions above. The 4th question is the most critical one, and its answer heavily depends on the first 3 questions.
If you don't understand what God intends to teach you from what you read in the Bible, I'd suggest you to read a commentary.
I usually read and meditate only a few verses (not just promise verses alone) everyday, and refer to the commentary in the Enduring Word website just in case if I don't understand.