Prayer and Promises

THE PROMISE 

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.

— Ephesians 1:3, NLT 

THE TESTIMONY 

Christ has become the medium of prayer between man and God. He has also become the medium of blessing between God and man. He has united divinity with humanity. 

God desires His obedient children to claim His blessing, and to come to Him with praise and thanksgiving. God is the Fountain of life and power... He has done for His people that which should inspire every heart with thanksgiving, and it grieves Him that so little praise is offered. 

If we would think of God as often as we have evidence of His care for us, we should keep Him ever in our thoughts, and should delight to talk of Him and to praise Him. We talk of temporal things because we have an interest in them. We talk of our friends because we love them; our joys and our sorrows are bound up with them. Yet we have infinitely greater reason to love God than to love our earthly friends, and it should be the most natural thing in the world to make Him first in all our thoughts, to talk of His goodness and tell of His power. 

The rich gifts He has bestowed upon us were not intended to absorb our thoughts and love so much that we should have nothing to give to God; they are to remind us constantly of Him, and to bind us in bonds of love and gratitude to our heavenly Benefactor. We dwell too near the lowlands of earth. Let us raise our eyes to the open door of the sanctuary above, where the light of the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ.

We must gather about the cross. Christ and Him crucified should be the theme of contemplation, of conversation, and of our most joyful emotion. We should keep in our thoughts every blessing we receive from God; and when we realize His great love, we should be willing to trust everything to the hand that was nailed to the cross from us. 

“For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in Him ye are made full.” 

— Signs of the Times, April 14, 1909  

THE RESPONSE 

Claim His blessing, come to Him with praise and thanksgiving. 

Make God first in all your thoughts, talk of His goodness and tell of His power. 

Raise your eyes to the open door of the sanctuary above, see the light of the glory of God that shines in the face of Jesus Christ. 

Keep in your thoughts every blessing you receive from God. Realize His great love and be willing to trust everything to Him.