A Vow

Well Praise the Lord! This blog post is one of those “ouch hallelujah” posts. It’s good to hear, but definitely not one of those “good feeling” ones. But if you’re like me and love the correction of the Holy Spirit in your life, then you’re gonna like this one. Ya’ll know I always tell it on myself, and I love to share the good and the not so good that I experience. Well it was the Holy Spirit not me; He’s always sharing tidbits with me. When you know better, you do better. Most of you know, especially if you follow me on FaceBook, that I am taking the Beach Body Insanity Challenge. I am on day 47, and I am doing well – seeing results. I made a vow, promise, a commitment that I was going to see this to the very end. This was a personal vow, and I have stuck with it. I get up every day and make time to work out. I dig deep, sweat and recover. It is an intense workout, but I still come back the next day for more. I come back because I made this vow to myself; that I was going to get results no matter what. I did not start this only to quit - having spent time and a good amount of money to purchase it. When we want something bad enough, we make the time for it; we stay the course no matter how hard it is. We do not care who quits; we’ve told ourselves that we are going to do it, and we put forth the time and effort to do it! We have made up our mind to go all the way, and this is what I have done with this challenge. How many of us have made a vow, promise, a commitment to God? “Lord if you bring me through victoriously, I’m going to live my life for You.” “Lord, I promise I’m going to pray every day and study Your Word too.” “Lord if you would just heal me of this infirmary, I promise to eat right and exercise.” Has anyone said anything similar like this to God? The Holy Spirit is honest and a gentlemen, but I heard it as plain as day “You go out of your way to do this challenge, but you will forego reading the Word if you are tired.” Can somebody say “Ouch Hallelujah!” He’s always sharing tidbits! I have been tired, body aching and one time my left foot was a little swollen, but I got in there and dug deep. I know I’m not the only one, but I am always honest with myself. I love the correction of the Lord in my life; as a matter of fact, I ask for it. Now when I hear something, I have to be an obedient Child of God, and be like Nike and Just do it! But if we make a vow, promise, a commitment to God – whatever it may be, we need to make good on it. One of the most important vows, commitments, promises we as Christians have made is the one when we ask Jesus to be Lord of our lives. We told God that we knew that we were sinners; that we would turn from our wicked/sinful ways, and that we would return unto them no more – a vow. We ask to be cleansed of all our unrighteousness, and He did that – God always keeps His Word! Right then we became the righteousness in God through Christ Jesus. Being the righteous means having “right standing” with God, and the only way to have right standing with God is by obeying His Word. When we spoke those words, we made a vow to live our lives for Christ. Deuteronomy 23:21 (MSG) states: When you make a vow to GOD, your God, don’t put off keeping it; GOD, your God, expects you to keep it and if you don’t you’re guilty. But if you don’t make a vow in the first place, there’s no sin. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. Keep the vow you willingly vowed to GOD, your God. You promised it, so do it. Enough said! If you are found guilty in a courthouse of this world, you go to jail. Well, if you’re found guilty in the “courthouse aka Throne of Judgment” of the Lord, you go to hell – that’s the spiritual jail without parole. When you say you’re going to do something, make a vow, and you don’t do it then it becomes a lie. Revelations 21:8 talks about different groups that will have their place in the “lake of fire”, and LIARS are amongst the group. We all have emergencies, and sometimes have to reschedule. We still complete the task without hesitation, no procrastination. We need to put even greater importance on the things of God than of this world. There are a lot of things in our lives trying to “get our attention”; whether it be a relationship, our health, our child(ren), situation in the home, making more money, working out – whatever, we should not give these things more attention or time of meditation (thinking and dwelling on) than the things of God. I have a situation going right now that I have been giving way too much time meditating on it; worrying when God told us not to worry or be anxious for ANYTHING! The devil, our adversary, is going around trying to distract us from the things of God. We cannot let him do this; we must not, and I am talking to myself first. Does God want me to work out and be healthy? Yes, 1 Corinthians 6:19 says that our bodies are temples for the Holy Spirit. You know garbage in, garbage out; good in, good out. Being healthy is a good thing; God is not trying withhold good things from us, but we need to have our priorities straight. And if we say to God, Our God, that we’re going to do something, then we should do it. We shouldn’t procrastinate, put it off for tomorrow. Let’s get about the things of God. Let’s keep our Word to Him; He has definitely kept His Word to us. Remember there's a sinner's prayer on this site. If you have back-slid or haven't tasted and seen that the Lord is Good, say this prayer. You don't have to be in a church building to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. There is a moment that will happen, and it will happen in a twinkling of an eye (as fast as you can blink), and those who have confessed Jesus as Lord and have walked according to the Word of God will be raptured up to be with Him forever and ever. Yes, it sounds too fantastical to be real, but don't take the chance that it's not and be left behind. So don't put this off. No one knows the hour or the day when this will take place, but it is for us to be ready when it's time to go. The first step is to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. If you say this prayer, contact me; let me welcome you and personally encouraged you in your new life with Jesus! Did you put your armor on today??? Be Encouraged Today!!!