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The power of God’s promises

Title page of the Pocket Prayer Book

Today's Devotional

For by these [God’s glory and excellence] He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises. 2 Peter 1:4 NASB.

Worthy indeed of all acceptation, of our warmest and most affectionate gratitude, of our highest confidence and joy [are these promises]! For they are the words of God, the greatest and the best of beings: his gracious words; the dictates of his infinite and undeserved goodness and love; words that speak the greatness of his mercy, and display all the perfections of his nature in the most amiable light. Their truth is ratified by the blood of the ever lasting covenant, rendering all the divine promises to us yea and amen; God himself bearing witness by signs and wonders. They are offered to us with freeness the most unbounded: so that whosoever will may come and partake of them. They will make us truly wise, holy, and spiritually minded: they will support us under the severest trials; and inspire us with the noblest magnanimity and elevation of soul: and, in a word, unite us to God, and make us partakers of his likeness and glory.

About the author and the source

To judge by the number that were printed, prayer books were popular in the nineteenth century. The Pocket Prayer Book, issued by the Philanthropic Society, had reached its twelfth edition by 1844. It offered a six-week cycle of meditations with morning and evening prayers. Here is an excerpt from Monday’s meditation for the fourth week.

Pocket Prayer Book, edited by Rebecca Wilkinson. 1844.

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