Taking Possession of the Promise

At a glance

Relevant Scripture

“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”

Mark 11:24 KJV

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Chapter 14 of the LibriVox recording of According to Promise, streamed directly from the Internet Archive (public domain, CC0).

UECF.NET summary

Spurgeon distinguishes sharply between merely agreeing that a promise is true and actually taking possession of it. Many believers, he observes, can recite God's promises accurately and even defend them in argument, yet never move from correct belief about a promise to active reliance on it in their own circumstances. The chapter treats this gap as the difference between admiring a title deed and actually living on the land it describes.

Taking possession, in Spurgeon's presentation, is neither passive waiting nor presumptuous demanding. It involves specific prayer that names the promise being claimed, a settled expectation that God will act consistent with His word, and a corresponding change in behavior that reflects genuine confidence rather than mere hope. Mark 11:24's call to believe that one has received, even while still praying, captures this active, expectant posture.

The chapter closes by urging readers not to leave promises as pleasant theological furniture but to put weight on them the way a person puts weight on a bridge they actually intend to cross. A promise not yet acted upon, however sincerely believed in the abstract, remains in an important sense still unclaimed — and Spurgeon's appeal is for readers to move from admiring their inheritance to actually living within it.

Main theological themes

• The difference between intellectual agreement with a promise and active possession of it through prayer and expectation
• Mark 11:24's pattern of believing one has received even while the answer is still awaited
• Faith that changes present behavior, not merely private conviction that remains untested

Key ideas

• Correct belief about a promise and active reliance on it are not automatically the same thing.
• Taking possession involves specific prayer naming the promise, not vague general hope.
• Genuine faith in a promise will, in some way, alter present behavior, not remain purely internal.
• An unclaimed promise, however sincerely believed, functions much like an unopened inheritance.

Important concepts

• Taking possession — Spurgeon's image for moving from intellectual agreement with a promise to active, expectant reliance on it in prayer and life.
• Believing that ye receive — Mark 11:24's pattern of confident expectation exercised even before the answer is visibly in hand.

Related Bible references

• Hebrews 10:35–36
• Hebrews 11:1
• Numbers 13:30
• Joshua 1:3

Practical Christian application

• Choose one promise you have believed in theory but never actively claimed, and bring it to God in specific prayer this week.
• Let a genuine promise change one concrete decision or habit, not remain only a private conviction.
• Practice praying as though already trusting the answer, in the pattern of Mark 11:24.

Questions for study