II Corinthians 1:20

“Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promise to her!” Luke 1:45

The Lord is sure to accomplish those things A loving heart has waited long to see; Those words will be fulfilled to which she clings, Because her God has promised faithfully; And, knowing Him, she ne’er can doubt His Word; He speaks and it is done. The mighty Lord!

Sometimes Christians go for a good while in trouble, not realizing that riches are laid up for them in a familiar promise.

When Christian and Hopeful strayed out of the path upon forbidden ground and found themselves locked up in Doubting Castle by Giant Despair for their carelessness, there they lay for days, until one night they began to pray. “Now a little before it was day, Good Christian, as one half-amazed, broke out in passionate speech: ‘What a fool!’ quoth he, ‘am I, thus to lie in this horrible dungeon, when I may as well walk at liberty. I have a key in my bosom called PROMISE, that will, I am persuaded, open any lock in Doubting Castle.’ Then said Hopeful, ‘That’s good news good brother; pluck it out of thy bosom and try.’ Then Christian pulled it out of his bosom, and began to try the dungeon door, whose bolts gave back, and the door flew open with ease, and Christian and Hopeful came out.” “PILGRIM’S PROGRESS” BY JOHN BUNYAN

God is not a man that he should lie; neither the Son of man that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?—The Lord sware and will not repent.

God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.—Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another. Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

It is sometimes difficult to realiz e that the promises of God are to be taken at their face value. Too often they are regarded as a part of the general spiritual instruc tion of the Word, but not to be appropriated for our own need.

We fail to r ealize because we do not appr opriate!

Praying through something might be defined as follows: “Praying your way into full faith; coming to the point of assurance, while still praying, that your prayer has been accepted and heard; and in advance of the event, with confident anticipation, actually becoming aware of having received what you ask.”

Let us remember that no earthly circumstances can hinder the fulfillment of God’s Word. We must look steadfastly at His immutable Word and not at the uncertainty of this ever-changing world. God desires for us to believe His Word without other evidence, and then He is ready to do for us “according to [our] faith.”

In this chapter, Abraham pleaded with God for the lives of others. A friend of God’s can do exactly that. But perhaps you see Abraham’s level of faith and his friendship with God as something far beyond your own possibilities. Do not be discouraged, however, for Abraham grew in his faith not by giant leaps but step by step. And we can do the same.

The person whose faith has been severely tested yet who has come through the battle victoriously is the person to whom even greater tests will come. The finest jewels are those that are the most carefully cut and polished, and the most precious metals are put through the hottest fires. You can be sure Abraham would never have been called the Father of Faith had he not been tested to the utmost.

Jesus told the parable of the talents recorded in Matthew 25 as a warning that it is possible for us to misjudge our capacity. This parable has not to do with natural gifts, but with the Pentecostal gift of the Holy Ghost.

We must not measure our spiritual capacity by education or by intellect; our capacity in spiritual things is measured by the promises of God. If we get less than God wants us to have, before long we will slander Him as the servant slandered his master: "You expect more than You give me power to do; You demand too much of me, I cannot stand true to You where I am placed."

Amen: the Lord God . . . say so too.—He who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth (Heb. The Amen) and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth (The Amen).

When God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.