We are made partakers of the Divine nature through the promises; then we have to "manipulate" the Divine nature in our human nature by habits, and the first habit to form is the habit of realizing the provision God has made.

"Oh, I can't afford it," we say - one of the worst lies is tucked up in that phrase. It is ungovernably bad taste to talk about money in the natural domain, and so it is spiritually, and yet we talk as if our Heavenly Father had cut us off with a shilling! We think it a sign of real modesty to say at the end of a day - "Oh, well, I have just got through, but it has been a severe tussle." And all the Almighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus! And He will tax the last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us if we will obey Him.

What does it matter if external circumstances are hard? Why should they not be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we banish God's riches from our own lives and hinder others from entering into His provision. No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity, because it obliterates God and puts self-interest upon the throne. It opens our mouths to spit out murmurings and our lives become craving spiritual sponges, there is nothing lovely or generous about them.

When God is beginning to be satisfied with us He will impoverish everything in the nature of fictitious wealth, until we learn that all our fresh springs are in Him. If the majesty and grace and power of God are not being manifested in us (not to our consciousness), God holds us responsible. "God is able to make all grace abound," then learn to lavish the grace of God on others. Be stamped with God's nature, and His blessing will come through you all the time.

Besides the literal ground still unoccupied for Christ, there is before us the unclaimed and unwalked territory of God’s promises. What did God say to Joshua? “I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised.” Then He set the boundaries of the Land of Promise—all theirs on one condition: they must march across its length and breadth, measuring it off with their own feet.

Yet they never marched across more than one-third of the land, and as a consequence, they never possessed more than that one-third. They possessed only what they measured off and no more.

In 2 Peter 1:4 we read, “He has given us his very great and precious promises.” The land of God’s promises is open before us, and it is His will for us to possess it. We must measure off the territory with the feet of obedient faith and faithful obedience, thereby claiming and appropriating it as our own.

How many of us have ever taken possession of the promises of God in the name of Christ? The land of His promises is a magnificent territory for faith to claim by marching across its length and breadth, but faith has yet to do it.

Let us enter into and claim our total inheritance. Let us lift our eyes to the north, south, east, and west and hear God say, “All the land that you see I will give to you” (Genesis 13:15). ARTHUR TAPPAN PIERSON

Wherever the tribe of Judah set their feet would be theirs, and wherever the tribe of Benjamin set their feet would be theirs, and so on. Each tribe would receive their inheritance by setting foot upon it. Don’t you imagine that as each tribe set foot upon a given territory, they instantly and instinctively felt, “This is ours”? An elderly man who had a wonderful testimony of grace was once asked, “Daniel, how is it that you exhibit such peace and joy in your faith?” “Oh, sir!” he replied. “I just fall flat on God’s ‘very great and precious promises,’ and I have all that is in them. Glory! Glory!” One who falls flat on God’s promises knows that all the riches abiding in them are his. Faith Papers

The Marquis of Salisbury, an English statesman and diplomat, upon being criticized for his colonial policies, replied, “Gentlemen, get larger maps.”

This is one of the most blessed aspects of genuine prayer . Often we ask for things that God has not specifically promised. Therefore we are not sure if our petitions are in line with His purpose, until we have persevered for some time in prayer . Yet on some occasions, and this was one in the life of David, we are fully persuaded that what we are asking is in accordance with God’s will. We feel led to select and plead a promise from the pages of Scripture, having been specially impressed that it contains a message for us.

At these times, we may say with confident faith, “Do as you promised.” Hardly any stance could be more completely beautiful, strong, or safe than that of putting your finger on a promise of God’s divine Word and then claiming it. Doing so requires no anguish, struggle, or wrestling but simply presenting the check and asking for cash. It is as simple as producing the promise and claiming its fulfillment. Nor will there be any doubt or cloudiness about the request. If all requests were this definitive, there would be much more interest in prayer . It is much better to claim a few specific things than to make twenty vague requests. F. B. MEYER

Every promise of Scripture is a letter from God, which we may plead before Him with this reasonable request: “Do as you promised.” Our Creator will never cheat those of us of His creation who depend upon His truth. And even more, our heavenly Father will never break His word to His own child.

“Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope” (Psalm 119:49). This is a very common plea and is a double argument, for it is “your word.” Will You not keep it? Why have You spoken it, if You will not make it good? “You have given me hope.” Will You now disappoint the hope that You Yourself have brought forth within me? CHARLES H. SPURGEON

“Being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:21).

It is the everlasting faithfulness of God that makes a Bible promise “very great and precious” (2 Peter 1:4). Human promises are often worthless, and many broken promises have left broken hearts. But since the creation of the world, God has never broken a single promise to one of His trusting children.

Oh, how sad it is for a poor Christian to stand at the very door of a promise during a dark night of affliction, being afraid to turn the knob and thereby come boldly into the shelter as a child entering his Father’s house! GURNAL

Every promise of God’s is built on four pillars. The first two are His justice and holiness, which will never allow Him to deceive us. The third is His grace or goodness, which will not allow Him to forget. And the fourth is His truth, which will not allow Him to change, which enables Him to accomplish what He has promised. SELECTED

When a shipbuilder erects a boat, does he do so only to keep it on the scaffolding? No, he builds it to sail the seas and to weather the storms. In fact, if he does not think of strong winds and hurricanes as he builds it, he is a poor shipbuilder.

In the same way, when God made you a believer, He meant to test you. And when He gave you promises and asked you to trust them, He made His promises suitable for times of storms and high seas. Do you believe that some of His promises are counterfeit, similar to a life vest that looks good in the store but is of no use in the sea?

We have all seen swords that are beautiful but are useless in war, or shoes made for decoration but not for walking. Yet God’s shoes are made of iron and brass, and we can walk all the way to heaven in them, without ever wearing them out. And we could swim the Atlantic a thousand times in His life vest, with no fear of ever sinking. His Word of promise is meant to be tried and tested.

There is nothing Christ dislikes more than for His people to publicly profess Him and then not use Him. He loves for us to make use of Him, for His covenant blessings are not simply meant to be looked at but should be appropriated. Our Lord Jesus has been given to us for our present use. Are you making use of Him as you should?

O beloved, I plead with you not to treat God’s promises as something to be displayed in a museum but to use them as everyday sources of comfort. And whenever you have a time of need, trust the Lord. CHARLES H. SPURGEON

Go to the depths of God’s promise, And claim whatsoever you will; The blessing of God will not fail you, His Word He will surely fulfill.

How can God say no to something He has promised?

Our Saviour Jesus Christ, . . . hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

I am the resurrection, and the life.

Because I live, ye shall live also.

We are made partakers of Christ.

Partakers of the Holy Ghost.

Partakers of the divine nature.

The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

Who liveth for ever and ever.

The blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality.

Unto the King eternal, immortal, . . . be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.—Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these we might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, that he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

Now we see through a glass. darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.—Christ . . . shall change our vile body . . . that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.—As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear. So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word.

Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.

Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.

The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.

Thy faithfulness is unto all generations.

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: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus.

Exceeding great and precious promises.