Prayer and Promises

The Promise 

So My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do. 

— Isaiah 55:11, HCSB 

The Testimony 

We should educate the mind so that we can hold communion with God constantly. We must learn to glance upward in sincere desire, sending a prayer to Heaven in all places and under all circumstances. You may have that faith that will place your hand in the hand of Jesus, and by faith you may keep hold of him.

You should keep your mind filled with the precious promises of God. As Christians we do not make half enough of the promises, for God will never fail in any good thing which he has promised. We should take these promises singly, view them critically in all their richness, meditate upon them until the soul is burdened with their greatness, and delighted with their strength and power. I am so sorry that we deprive ourselves of the blessing we might have, and it is simply because we do not cherish the thought that the promises of God are for us. God has left them in this word for us, and we should dig for them as for hidden treasures. Why are we so easily satisfied with little flashes of light when there is a heaven of illumination for us? We drink at shallow streams, when there is a great fountain just above us, if we will only rise a little higher in the pathway of faith. Our natures must be raised from their earthliness, they must be kindled and purified in the upper brightness of God’s divine presence. But you must remember that only those who obey the commandments of God through his grace have a right to appropriate the promises written for the consolation of the children of God. 

We should seek to excel in the graces of the Spirit of God, in meekness, patience, goodness, love, peace, and joy… We must teach the truth as it is in Jesus. We must labor as does the husbandman, with diligence and patience, that we may be partakers of the fruits. We must do the will of God before we can receive the promise. “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” 

— Signs of the Times, April 14, 1890 

The Response 

Father God, I look to You keeping my mind filled with Your precious promises, for they are my strength and power. Cleanse my heart and raise me up from my earthliness. I claim Your promised blessings that I may be purified in the brightness of Your divine presence. I keep my hold on You that I may do Your will and excel in the graces of goodness, patience and love.