Command 8 : Keep Your Word | Day 53 Keep Your Word to God! If we dont keep our promises to God, how can we expect to keep our word to people? When men face extreme physical danger or find themselves in desperate situations, they often will make vows. This scenario is what produced the expression foxhole conversions. Soldiers in the foxholes who expected to die cried out, God, if you save me, Ill serve you for the rest of my life. God saved them, but they soon forgot their promises. “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools ...” (Ecclesiastes 5:4). This warning about keeping vows made a great impact on me as a teenager. I memorized the full warning: “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?” (Ecclesiastes 5:4-6). During my life I have made several vows. Through them God has directed and blessed my life. However, He has also held me accountable to keep them. In high school, I listened to a fervent soul-winner explain the importance of witnessing for Christ. I vowed that I would talk to an average of three people a day about the Lord. I did this during high school but later became so busy as the director of a youth ministry that I neglected this commitment. One day, the Lord released me from my official youth ministry responsibilities and reminded me about the vow. In order to catch up, I began going down to the city of Chicago each night looking for groups or gangs of young people to tell about the Lord. What I learned through those encounters became an important foundation to the Basic Seminar.1 The average of three people a day has now been fulfilled for the rest of my life! God gives great rewards to those who make promises to Him and are faithful to fulfill them. Some people question the wisdom of making a vow to God, yet David was a man after Gods own heart and he made vows. “My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him” (Psalm 22:25). There is a father who has raised outstanding children that I have been observing for quite some time. When I asked him to explain his secret, he identified two reasons for their success. First, he has encouraged his sons and daughters to make Biblical vows, and second, they have been involved as a family in Christian ministry. What vows have you made to the Lord? Have you kept each of them? If not, now is the time to determine what is required and begin taking steps to fulfill your vows. Through Christ our Lord, Bill Gothard -- 1. Learn more about the Basic Seminar. “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil” (Matthew 5:37). Online Resources for Command 8 » Make sure your Daily Success e-mails always go straight to your inbox by adding [email protected] to your address book. You are receiving this e-mail because you are enrolled in Daily Success, a ministry of the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP). E-mail addresses are never sold or given out to third parties. You may unsubscribe at any time. Copyright © 2005–2013, Institute in Basic Life Principles. All Rights Reserved. The Institute in Basic Life Principles is located at 707 West Ogden Ave., Hinsdale, IL 60521. Institute in Basic Life Priciples, Box One, Oak Brook, Illinois 60522, United States You may unsubscribe or change your contact details at any time. Powered by:
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 11:34:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015