p. 2 | OUR FATHER'S PROMISES by J. Louisa Ireland

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 9, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 28.

OUR FATHER'S PROMISES.

By J. Louisa Ireland

"A PROMISE," says Webster, is a "declaration which gives the person to whom it is made a right to expect or claim the performance or forbearance of the act." The promises of God are given to us that we might claim the performance of them at His hand. We have a right to expect Him to fulfil them, because for this very purpose He gave them to us. We did not ask God to make us these promises; they have been given unsolicited, freely, of His own accord. He saw our need, and desired to supply us abundantly; yet He would not force upon us that which we might not want. So in promises God tells what He is willing and anxious to do for us, and then leaves it with us to receive or reject His free gifts. If we desire to have that which He desires to give, we have but to come into His presence, present the promise, and receive the substance.

It would be an utter impossibility for one of them to fail in any particular, for Jesus is the surety of every promise. "All the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him amen." We can fail through doubt and unbelief to appropriate the promises; but God's words are truth, and are as sure as the recurrence of day and night. "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth; it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

"Exceeding great and precious promises" are given unto us, that we "might be partakers of the divine nature," and thus escape "the corruption that is in the world through lust." To all who have need, to those who realize that they are lacking, to the weak, the faulty, the erring, the words of promise are addressed, "My God shall supply all your need," so the numerous promises are made to meet the needs as varying circumstances make them known. So full and so complete are they, that the individual who takes from God the fulfilment of them will escape the corruption that is in the world. Through these promises the needy ones will be enabled to stand faultless before the throne of God, "not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing."

We are all by nature sinners. We know we do wrong, even when desiring and striving to do right. This failure to meet our conceptions of right causes us to loathe ourselves; and the consciousness of our sinful condition becomes a heavy load upon our hearts. In this helpless

state we feel like saying, "There is no use in trying; I can not do right;" yet we hardly consent to give up entirely. In such an hour we long for help, and, turning to God's Word, we find a precious message for us in this our time of need: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Are we worthy of forgiveness?—No. Have we any right to expect God to forgive?—Yes; this promise is our right, our claim upon Him. He gave it to us because He wants to forgive and cleanse us. But if we as sinners will not accept the forgiveness held out to us in this promise, then how can God reach us with forgiveness and cleansing? But taking Him at His word, confessing our sins, He does forgive, and the load of guilt is removed.

In gratitude to Him we are now more desirous than ever before of doing right. We remember how hard we tried, and how miserably we failed. Must we repeat over and over that experience of trying and failing? What are God's words and promises for this occasion? "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." A sinner can not change himself, no matter how hard he may try. God's promise to the sinner is—

"I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them." "I will also save you from all your un-cleanness." "Sin shall not have dominion over you;" "for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made" you "free from the law of sin and death."

Could a promise of deliverance be more full than this? Can God fail to keep His word when we come to Him claiming that which these promises hold out to us? Will He fail as we rest in full assurance upon these words?—No; by no means. He will save to the uttermost. Salvation is of God. We can not save ourselves. We can only let Him accomplish in us that which He has promised.

Then considering God's promises to us of strength and endurance when we are clothed with utter weakness; the promises of peace and rest for us in the midst of strife and commotion; the promises of quietness and confidence when disturbances abound on every hand; the words of courage when all is discouraging; the triumphant promises of victory for us in the face of seeming defeat,—considering these, who can refuse to bow in the presence of Him who would do for us "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think," and pray: "Lord, be it unto me according to Thy word; do with me as seemeth good in Thy sight; make me a praise to the glory of Thy grace, for great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints."

J. LOUISA IRELAND.