GOD, PROMISES OF

Judson’s Six-Year Faith

 Dr. Judson labored diligently for six years in Burma before he baptized a convert. At the end of three years he was asked what evidence he had of ultimate success. He replied, “As much as there is a God who will fulfill all His promises.” A hundred churches and thousands of converts answered his faith.

Luther’s Fourteen Consolations

 Due to an alleged vision to a Franconian shepherd, a superstition arose during the Middle Ages that fourteen of their saints were to be regarded as the “defenders from all evils.” They were called The Fourteen of Consolation and their images were placed above church altars.

 When Frederick the Wise was bedridden with a serious illness in 1519, his intercessor Martin Luther prepared a little treatise of spiritual comfort which he called The Fourteen of Consolation. Instead of using the medieval saints’ names, Luther substituted fourteen portions from the Word of God to comfort the ruler.

 Thus, in the area of pastoral care, Luther used the promises of God in the Scriptures.

God Never Forgets Promises

 An elderly Christian was in much distress as he lay dying. “Oh, Pastor,” he said, “for years I have relied upon the promises of God, but now in the hour of death I can’t remember a single one to comfort me.” Knowing that Satan was disturbing him, the preacher said, “My brother, do you think that GOD will forget any of His promises?” A smile came over the face of the dying believer as he exclaimed joyfully. “No, no! He won’t! Praise the Lord, now I can fall asleep in Jesus and trust Him to remember them all and bring me safely to Heaven.” Peace flooded his soul, and a short time later he was ushered by the angels into the light of God’s eternal day.

—Our Daily Bread

Moody’s Favorite Verse

 Turning over a volume of valuable autographs, I came across the bold, manly signature of my old friend of many years, Dwight L. Moody. Underneath was his favorite text, which he calls up in an emergency. The text was Isaiah 1:7: “For the Lord God will help me. Therefore shall I not be confounded; therefore have I set my face like a flint; and I know that I shall not be ashamed.”

—Walter Baxendale

The Key Called Promise

 In Bunyan’s great allegory, Pilgrim’s Progress, the incident is related of how Christian decides to leave the Main Highway and follow another Path which seemed easier. But this Path leads him into the territory of Giant Despair who owns Doubting Castle.

 Eventually he is captured by Giant Despair and kept in a dungeon. He is advised to kill himself. The Giant said there was no use trying to keep on with his journey. For the time, it seemed as if Despair had really conquered Christian. But then, Hope, Christian’s companion, reminds him of previous victories. So it came about that on Saturday about midnight they began to pray, and continued in prayer until almost morning.

 Now a little before it was day, good Christian, as one half- amazed, broke out in passionate speech, “What a fool am I thus to lie in a stinking Dungeon, when I may as well be 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.” And the prison gates flew open.

Signs In Nile’s Floating Chaff

 There is an old rabbinical legend, and it runs thus: “When Joseph was Prime Minister to Pharaoh, during the period of the famine, he emptied the chaff of his granaries into the river Nile. It floated far away on the moving current, and the people on the banks at a great distance below saw it. It was only chaff, but it meant that there was corn in plenty elsewhere.”

 When they saw the floating chaff they were sure that if their strength held out, and that if they could only reach the point at which the chaff had been thrown into the river they would find plenty to nourish their life.

—Current Anecdotes

$5,000 In Bible

 Some time ago an elderly man living in New Jersey made an unusual discovery as he leafed through an old family Bible. Many years earlier, his aunt had died and left it to him. Part of her will read: “To my beloved Steven Marsh I bequeath my family Bible and all it contains, along with the residue of my estate after my funeral expenses and just and lawful debts are paid.” When everything had been settled the nephew got a few hundred dollars plus the old volume mentioned in the will.

 After the money was used up, his only support was a small pension, and for more than 30 years he lived in poverty. Then one day he cleaned out his attic in preparation for a move to his son’s home where he hoped to spend his old age. There in a trunk was the family Bible he had inherited. Opening it, he was amazed to find banknotes scattered throughout its pages. He counted over $5000 in cash. Within his reach were riches he could have been enjoying all along.

Unclaimed Funds Build Building

 The magnificent 19th-century 10-story bank building, known as the “Society of Savings,” located in Cleveland, Ohio, was built from unclaimed funds of people.

 Much of this money was deposited by poor people who died. The directors of the bank, after waiting for years for these depositors to claim that which was theirs, turned the money over to the building of this beautiful bank building.

 The unclaimed promises in God’s Word are sufficient, and over to build spiritual edifices in life.

Lifetime Rail Pass Goes Unused

 We learned that when Crowfoot, the great chief of the Blackfoot confederacy in southern Alberta, gave the Canadian Pacific Railway permission to cross the Blackfoot land from Medicine Hat to Calgary, he was given in return a lifetime pass. Crowfoot put it in a leather case and carried it around his neck for the rest of his life. There is no record, however, that he availed himself of the right to travel anywhere on the CPR trains.

 God’s promises are not for decoration.

—Prairie Overcomer

Napoleon: “Thank You, Captain”

 When Napoleon’s horse ran away and a lowly soldier caught him, Napoleon said, “Thank you, Captain.” The man at once packed his belongings, moved to the officers’ quarters, and went to mess with them. The emperor had called him captain, and he was therefore an officer.

 We are all miserable sinners, but when we receive Jesus Christ, He calls us sons of God (John 1:12). Let us then promptly pack our belongings and move into the higher life to which He has appointed us!

—Gospel Herald

Alexander Honors Big Request

 An indigent philosopher at the court of Alexander sought relief at the hand of that sovereign, and received an order on his treasurer for any sum he should ask. He immediately demanded ten thousand pounds. The treasurer demurred at the extravagant amount; but Alexander replied, “Let the money be instantly paid. I am delighted with this philosopher’s way of thinking. He has done me a singular honor. By the largeness of his request, he shows the high idea he has conceived of my wealth and munificence.” God is honored in like manner.

—Foster

His Life On Undrunk Water

 A poor criminal stood before an Eastern monarch, trembling for his life. A moment later his head was to be severed from his body. He asked for a drink of water. They brought it, but his hand trembled so that he could not drink. The king cried to him, “Do not be so alarmed; your life is safe till you drink that water.”

 In an instant the glass was shivered on the pavement and the water untasted, and looking boldly up to the king, the condemned man claimed the royal word. The monarch smiled bitterly, and said, “You have fairly won your life: I cannot break my word even to you. You are saved.”

—Selected

Pension For Life—And Starving

 An aged Indian, half naked and famished, wandered into one of our Western settlements, begging for food to keep him from starving. While eagerly devouring the bread bestowed by the hand of charity, a bright colored ribbon, from which was suspended a small dirty pouch, was seen around his neck. On being questioned, he said it was a charm given him in his younger days; and opening it, displayed a faded, greasy paper, which he handed to the investigator for inspection. It proved to be a regular discharge from the Federal Army, entitling him to a pension for life and signed by General Washington Himself.

—C. Perrin

Wills Should Be Written

 A man in England wrote his will on an empty eggshell! It read, “To Mag. Everything I possess. J. B.” It was probated. Wills have been written on leather, old pictures, shells, cloth, pieces of furniture, stone and glass. One man had his will tattooed on his back! The important thing is that the will be WRITTEN, and duly witnessed. So is God’s Word in the Bible.

—Christian Victory

Legislator Promising Too Much

 George Jelinek, newly-elected member of the Kansas House of Representatives, distributed handbills during the campaign which promised: “I will work for you.”

 “One farmer,” says the new representative, “told me he voted for me and now he needed some help putting up alfalfa. By jiminy, I did it. But I’m going to have to watch what I say.”

—Associated Press

Epigram On God (Promises of)

•     I believe the promises of God enough to venture an eternity on them.

—G. Campbell Morgan

•     If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me: “He ever liveth to make intercession.”

—Robert Murray McCheyne

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