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."

When it is a question of God's Almighty Spirit, never say "I can't." Never let the limitation of natural ability come in. If we have received the Holy Spirit, God expects the work of the Holy Spirit to be manifested in us.

The servant justified himself in everything he did and condemned his lord on every point - "Your demand is out of all proportion to what you give." Have we been slandering God by daring to worry when He has said: "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you"? Worrying means exactly what this servant implied - "I know You mean to leave me in the lurch."

The person who is lazy naturally is always captious - "I haven't had a decent chance," and the one who is lazy spiritually is captious with God. Lazy people always strike out on an independent line.

Never forget that our capacity in spiritual matters is measured by the promises of God. Is God able to fulfil His promises? Our answer depends on whether we have received the Holy Spirit.

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!

No matter what may be our requirements—guidance, spiritual refreshing, physical or temporal needs—God has given us some specific word on which to base our faith.

Then, since the promises are definite, should not our prayers be definite? Prayerfully search the Word to find the promise that will fit the case. Prove Him! Back of the word of the Lord is the person and character of God Himself: God, who cannot lie.

God honors the person who trusts Him implicitly .

It is not our worth, but Christ’ s, which has secured for us immediate access to the Throne, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken” (2 Corinthians 1:20).

With such a basis and assurance, why hesitate to claim the things the Lord has pr ovided? Can you not trust the One who made the promise?

Whatever desire the Father permits to live in the heart of one of His saints, He will grant the fulfillment ther eof. S. C HADWICK

Prove the immutable pr omises of God!

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

Often you cannot get at a difficulty so as to deal with it aright and find your way to a happy result. You pray, but have not the liberty in prayer which you desire. A definite promise is what you want. You try one and another of the inspired words, but they do not fit. You try again, and in due season a promise presents itself which seems to have been made for the occasion; it fits exactly as a well-made key fits the lock for which it was prepared. Having found the identical word of the living God you hasten to plead it at the throne of grace, saying, “O Lord, Thou hast promised this good thing unto Thy servant; be pleased to grant it!” The matter is ended: sorrow is turned to joy; prayer is heard. CHARLES H. SPURGEON

Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees And looks to God alone, Laughs at impossibilities, And cries, “It shall be done.”

Try all your keys! Never despair! God leaves no treasure-house locked against us!

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.”

When once His Word is past, When He has said, “I will,” [Hebrews 13:5] The thing will come at last; God keeps His promise still. [2 Corinthians 1:20]

The prayers of the Pentecostal era were prayed with such simple faith that they were like cashing a check. ROBERT ANDERSON

“And God said. . . . And it was so” (Genesis 1:9).

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.

Read Genesis 22. In verse 2 God said to Abraham, “Take your son, your only son—whom you love—Isaac and . . . sacrifice him.” We then see him climbing Mount Moriah with his heart heavy and yearning yet humbly obedient. He climbed with Isaac, the object of his great love, who was about to be sacrificed at the command of God—the One whom Abraham faithfully loved and served!

What a lesson this should be to us when we question God’s dealings in our lives! Rebuke all explanations that try to cast doubt on this staggering scene, for this was an object lesson for all ages! Angels also looked on in awe. Will Abraham’s faith not stand forever as a strength and a help to all God’s people? Will his trial not be a witness to the fact that unwavering faith will always prove the faithfulness of God?

The answer is a resounding—yes! And once Abraham’s faith had victoriously endured its greatest test, the Angel of the Lord—the Lord Jesus, Jehovah, and He in whom the “many promises God has made . . . are ‘Yes’ . . . [and] ‘Amen’ ” (2 Corinthians 1:20)—spoke to him and said, “Now I know that you fear God” (Genesis 22:12). The Lord said to him, in effect, “Because you have trusted me through this great trial, I will trust you, and you will forever be ‘my friend’ [Isaiah 41:8].” The Lord promised Abraham, “I will surely bless you . . . and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me” (Genesis 22:17–18).

It is true, and always will be, that “those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (Galatians 3:9).

Having a friendship with God is no small thing.

“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!

The Lord is sure to accomplish those things, O burdened heart, rest ever in His care; In quietness beneath His shadowing wings Await the answer to your longing prayer.

When you have “cast your cares,” the heart then sings, The Lord is sure to accomplish those things.

The Lord is sure to accomplish those things, O tired heart, believe and wait and pray; Peacefully, the evening chime still rings, Though cloud and rain and storm have filled the day.

Faith pierces through the mist of doubt that bars The coming night sometimes, and finds the stars.

The Lord is sure to accomplish those things, O trusting heart, the Lord to you has told; Let Faith and Hope arise, and lift their wings, To soar toward the sunrise clouds of gold; The doorways of the rosy dawn swing wide, Revealing joys the darkness of night did hide.

BESSIE PORTER

Matthew Henry said, “We can depend on God to fulfill His promise, even when all the roads leading to it are closed. ‘For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” [so be it] is spoken by us to the glory of God’ [2 Corinthians 1:20].”

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.

Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. Ye did run well; who did hinder you?

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.—For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him, Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

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.

Wherein 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.

These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness.—For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever. Amen, and Amen.

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.

I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day—Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.—All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.