God puts Himself within our reach in His promises; and when we can say to Him, “Thou saidst,” He cannot say nay—He must do as He has said. In prayer, be sure to get your feet on a promise; it will give you purchase enough to force open the gates of heaven and to take it by force! When once you can lay hold of a promise, you have a leverage with God which enables you to count upon the fulfillment of your petition. God cannot go back from His plighted word. F. B. MEYER

“God could no more disappoint faith than He could deny Himself.” A friend gives me a check which reads: “Pay to the order of C. H. Spurgeon the sum of ten pounds.” His name is good and his bank is good, but I get nothing from his kindness until I put my own name on the back of the check. It is a very simple act but the signature cannot be dispensed with. There are many nobler names than mine, but none of these can be used instead of my own. If I wrote the Queen’s name it would not avail me . . . I must affix my own name.

Even so, each one must personally accept, adopt, and endorse the promise of God by his own individual faith, or he will derive no benefit from it. If you were to write Miltonic lines in honor of the bank, or exceed Tennyson in verses in praise of the generous benefactor, it would avail nothing. The simple, self-written name is demanded, and nothing will be accepted instead of it. We must believe the promise, each one for himself, and declare that we know it to be true, or it will bring us no blessing. CHARLES H. SPURGEON

“God is always greater than His promises; He does not only fulfill His promises, He over-fulfills them” (Ephesians 3:20).

Upon Thy Word I rest Each pilgrim day; This golden staff is best For all the way. What Jesus Christ hath spoken Cannot be broken! Upon Thy Word I rest So strong, so sure! So full of comfort blest, So sweet, so pure! The charter of salvation, Faith’s broad foundation. Upon Thy Word I stand, That cannot die; Christ seals it in my hand, He cannot lie! Thy Word that faileth never, Abideth ever. FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promised.

God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him.

As the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

These words spake Jesus. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.

Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.—He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.

Messias . . . which is called Christ.—The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives.

The last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The second man is the Lord from heaven.—My Lord and my God.—Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

He received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.

Be ye . . . followers of God, as dear children.

If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.

The brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.

These things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.