How to Pray God’s Promises

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale on how to pray God’s promises when you feel fearful, alone, or simply want a more joyful life.

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale shares how you can pray God's promises when you feel fearful, alone, or simply want a more joyful life.

If we will but turn to God, He can help us with all our needs. He tells us this again and again in the Bible. Here are seven of the many Scriptural promises. Read each promise in a highly personal way, relating it to yourself. Concentrate on the one you most need now. Say, “I hereby accept this promise and will use it this day.”

1. When You Need Courage
…As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage… Joshua 1:5,6

We are not alone. God will never forsake us but will protect, guide and comfort us at any time, anywhere. When the going is hard and you feel insecure and maybe fearful, just repeat this wonderful promise.

2. For a More Joyful Life
… Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Matthew 16:25

This is a curious promise that runs counter to the modern materialistic conception that to have, one must get and keep. But for people who live only for themselves, life shrinks and finally withers. But for those who give generously to help other people in Christ’s name life grows ever richer. The more you give the more you receive from life.

3. Removing an Obstacle
And Jesus said unto them…for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Matthew 17:20, 21

A mustard seed is very small but you do not need a well-developed faith to move mountainous difficulties. Just a little faith will do it but it must be the real thing, the kind that comes by deep desire and earnest prayer and disciplinary dealing with yourself. Armed with this genuine faith, that which formerly seemed impossible becomes gloriously possible.

4. Victory Over Tempation
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him. James 1:12

Temptation is the urge to do or say something contrary to the will of God and the law of Christ. It often is pleasurable and the mind attempts to rationalize it, to make it seem all right. If we do not give in to evil we shall become rulers of ourselves. And He will help us gain its victory.

5. When You Need Forgiveness
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

You carry a heavy burden when sin is in your life. Many people live ineffective lives because of it. But this relief-giving promise tells us that if we freely confess to Him our wrongdoing and sincerely ask forgiveness, Jesus Christ will give new life to us.

6. When a Loved-One Is Ill
And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up… James 5:15

People, who have been given up by doctors and loved ones, have often been healed when someone has had enough faith to put them unreservedly into the hands of the Great Physician. There is tremendous power in the prayer of faith as applied in cases of illness, whether of the body or the mind.

7. God’s Greatest Promise
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

This is one of the most majestic of all Biblical promises. Jesus took upon Himself our guilt and paid with His own life for our sins. It represents God’s supreme entreaty, His profoundest appeal to us. The great promise is that if we believe in the atoning power of Christ’s death on our behalf we shall not perish when we die but have everlasting life.

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