Working The Word (Walking Away From Addiction Into The Sweet Arms of Jesus) Fulfill Your Vows

By: Hanny Lynn Stearns

Fish N Loaves Ministries, Inc.

“Multiplying God’s Word Around The Globe”

 August 24, 2016

Fulfill Your Vows

Psalm 65:1

Praise is awaiting You, O God, in Zion;
And to You the vow shall be performed.

ERV

God in Zion, we praise you
    and give you what we promised. 

It isn’t often that I refer to another version anymore. Most of the time I work from the King James Version and then look up the words to see what they mean when I don’t know. If we really wanted to get technical we can look in the original Greek and Hebrew, but I won’t take you there today. LOL!

What does it mean to fulfill our vows to the Lord? Well, to start with, when we have a relationship with the Lord, we should be making commitments to Him and we should be keeping or honoring those commitments. In this devotional, I am called to use the word of God so that you can learn how to make God’s word work for you. That’s why it is called, “Working The Word” – Walking Away From Addiction Into The Sweet Arms of Jesus. When we “work the word” it works in our lives to perform what the Lord sent it to do. His word never fails.

When I got serious in my walk with the Lord, I agreed to surrender my eating to Him. For me, eating had become a major problem in my life. I was helpless on my own to control it. Like any other addiction, my eating became out of control and it was messing with my mind and destroying my body. I was desperate for help.

When I came to Florida in 2007, the Lord showed me the food plan that He had provided for me while I was still in Michigan years earlier but never followed. He wanted me to follow that plan. I agreed to do it, not realizing at the time how tough it would be on my flesh. But I am glad I did. One day I made a commitment to the Lord out loud and said to Him, “Lord, I am committing to weigh xxx pounds and no more for the rest of my life.” He was pleased with that “vow.” It is important for us to make vows to the Lord and keep them. When we are led, like I was that day, we need to make a promise to Him and then we need to keep it. I admit I have not always done this, but with His help I will get to that place of perfection that He wants me to be at.

How did I work this word in my life? The real question would be more like, “How did God work that commitment out in my life through His word?” Whenever I would start to slip off of the path and my food plan, (like today) He would be right there reminding me with this and similar verses that I needed to keep my promise. Just today I was contemplating having a sandwich and it would have not met the requirements of my food plan. I ate some fruit – though healthy, was not included in my allowance for the day. I obviously needed this reminder to pull me back on the path. When I have missed it I ask for His forgiveness and get back to doing things the right way. He is so forgiving and good. But I must take this seriously. It is not a game.

So what happened today? I walked over to my little box of scripture cards and randomly pulled out a card. And you guessed it – this is the one I picked. It works like this for me every single day around here. When I open multiple Bibles and pull out scripture memory cards, He is always showing me exactly what I need to see for that day. I stand constantly amazed and in awe of how God makes His word work in my life.

Lately more than ever I have been learning a lot about faith in His word coming by hearing. I have learned that when we speak His word out loud in faith over our lives, Jesus, the High Priest of our confession goes to work to bring it to pass in our lives. Glory to God! So I have to not only read His word, I need to say His word out loud. It builds my faith and I can rest confidently knowing that no matter how things may look on a given day, His word will come to pass in my life. That alone is shoutin ground saints.

  

Some people go to meetings where they say at every meeting, “Hi, my name is Joe Smith and I am an alcoholic.” Friends, that is detrimental to our walk with Christ. We are saying that we are still trapped in addiction. And what we say comes to pass. But once we become born again Christians, the old man has died and the new man has come. The Lord Himself is living in us and because of that, what He says in His word, as long as we will take it by faith, it will come to pass in our lives.

As a former addict, we have to put the flesh under every day. Remember, the flesh did not get born again. I may remind you of this again and again, but it bears repeating. Paul knew about the struggle between the spirit man and the desires of the flesh. Look at this…

Romans 13:14

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

What this verse is telling us is that we must choose to put on the behavior of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says that we have the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ. This means that we truly can think like Him and act like Him. Jesus Himself had to crucify the flesh. Paul had to. I have to and you must also if you want to live a fully devoted life for the Lord. It’s that simple. Caving in to cravings and letting ourselves live out of control is acting like the devil and we don’t want to do that, do we saints?

Paul went through a tremendous amount of suffering in the flesh to carry out the will of the Lord in order to be used in a mighty way to preach the gospel to a lost and desperate world. He had to put his own desires under control and allow his spirit man to be the dominating factor in his life. That is exactly what we as Christians need to do. On the way to Jerusalem, Paul was bound and did not know what he was facing except that he would be bound by the authorities there. But he didn’t let it move him…

Acts 20:24

But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

There has to come a time when we all make a decision that we are not going to be lukewarm Christians trying to live in some sort of comfort zone holding on to a “binkie” while calling ourselves Christians. We have to make our promises to God and then we need to keep them. He isn’t looking for a bunch of praise songs and hands waving in the air combined with a boat load of emotional tears when we are not really willing to surrender our wills to His.

He is looking for total surrender. The good news is, He helps us in our weakness. He never leaves us. He can make His word come to pass in our lives when we work His word the way we should. Will you print the verses that seem to encourage you the most to stand strong on His word so it can work in your life and keep you from the lusts of the flesh? God’s word will work for you if you will work it. The choice is yours!