Working The Word (Walking Away From Addiction Into The Sweet Arms of Jesus) Fulfill Your Vows Hanny's Personal Journal & Bible Study

By: Hanny Lynn Stearns

Fish N Loaves Ministries, Inc.

“Multiplying God’s Word Around The Globe”

 This is a review of a prior personal journal I did last year in May. The Lord has brought me a long way since this writing. I want to share it with you. Anyone who has struggled with food addiction, or any other addiction will certainly be able to relate. Please enjoy this personal view into my life as the Lord brought me up to a higher place - glory to His name forever! 

Much about fulfilling my vows and not complaining that I cannot eat sweets. God has a better plan, see Jeremiah 29:11-12 and Jeremiah 31:3. Also see Numbers 11 and Matthew 5:6 along with Jonah 2:9. 

Never forget what God has done for you Hanny. He loves you so much and wants nothing but good for you. In turn, your love for Him should be so rich and powerful that you ALWAYS delight to do His will and count it all joy to fulfill your vows. Last night you could have gone to bed hungry – it would have been better than eating too much. There is no fear! God is not trying to starve you – He wants to bless you and use you to help others. While people laugh at church about all their overeating, God wants to use you to help them see that this is not good.

But I will sacrifice to You
With the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay what I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord. Jonah 2:9

Jonah 2:9 New Living Translation (NLT)

But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.”

Jonah 2:9 The Message (MSG)

At the Bottom of the Sea

Then Jonah prayed to his God from the belly of the fish.

He prayed:

“In trouble, deep trouble, I prayed to God.
    He answered me.
From the belly of the grave I cried, ‘Help!’
    You heard my cry.
You threw me into ocean’s depths,
    into a watery grave,
With ocean waves, ocean breakers
    crashing over me.
I said, ‘I’ve been thrown away,
    thrown out, out of your sight.
I’ll never again lay eyes
    on your Holy Temple.’
Ocean gripped me by the throat.
    The ancient Abyss grabbed me and held tight.
My head was all tangled in seaweed
    at the bottom of the sea where the mountains take root.
I was as far down as a body can go,
    and the gates were slamming shut behind me forever—
Yet you pulled me up from that grave alive,
    O God, my God!
When my life was slipping away,
    I remembered God,
And my prayer got through to you,
    made it all the way to your Holy Temple.
Those who worship hollow gods, god-frauds,
    walk away from their only true love.
But I’m worshiping you, God,
    calling out in thanksgiving!
And I’ll do what I promised I’d do!
    Salvation belongs to God!”

2 Corinthians 9:6 The Message (MSG)

^6-7 Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.

God wants me to give up these things – from my old life willingly and cheerfully. Anything less is meaningless to Him!!!!!

1 Peter 2:9-10 The Message (MSG)

But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.

How can my heart be so hard after all You have done for me Lord?????????

I never realized how much I am like the Israelites of so long ago. What God wrote in the Bible about them is certainly applicable to me today. More than I ever knew. After all God had done for them – the mighty signs and wonders, taking care of their every need, and still they were ungrateful! They whined and complained like three year old’s – "wa wa wa, I want, I want, I want, gimme, gimme, gimme"….with no thought or regard to His feelings! Disgusting!

The Lord has done so many things for me and still I have behaved like a spoiled brat! I repent Lord! I know that You have already given me the victory! I know that You always cause me to triumph in Christ Jesus my Lord! I know that I am more than a conqueror in Christ and that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength! Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God! Hallelujah! I no longer live but it is Christ Who lives in me – the hope of glory! Praise God! Your praise shall continually be upon my lips and I delight to obey Your commands! Thanks be to God my Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Zechariah 1:3 (NKJV) A Call To Repentance!

Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Return to Me,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts.

Isaiah 2:3 (NKJV)

Many people shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Psalm 47:1 (NKJV)

Praise to God, the Ruler of the Earth

47 Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!
Shout to God with the voice of triumph!

2 Chronicles 20:15 (NKJV)

And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 

2 Chronicles 20:17 (NKJV)

You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”

Today’s Reading: 1 Samuel 12 – Samuel’s Address at Saul’s Coronation

What happened?

Samuel announces that he heard the voice of the people requesting a king.

He presents Saul as their new king.

He asks them if he has ever transgressed before them to which they could only reply no because Samuel was faithful and walked with God since his childhood.

It is possible to stay faithful to God – this is not an unreachable goal!

Next, Samuel reminds the people of what God had done for them in bringing them out of Egypt! What a short memory they seemed to have – can you relate church?

Samuel also reminds them of why they went into the hands of the enemy – because of their ‘forgetfulness’.

Then Samuel tells them about how the people cried out in their distress at the hand of the enemy; and what does the Lord do? He delivers them! Is that not a merciful God!?! The people sinned, God gives them over to the enemy and rightly so, then they boo-hoo in the misery they experience and here comes God, the one they rejected to their rescue! What a great God we serve!

Then Samuel reminds them that they say Nahash, king of the Ammonites and they wanted a king to rule over them, when all the while the Lord God Almighty, Creator of all that is seen and unseen was their King.

Samuel tells them that here is what you asked for. He warns them to serve and obey the Lord so that the king and the people would continue to follow the Lord their God.

He further advises them that if they did not obey the Lord’s voice, His hand would be against them. No one can ever say that God is not fair. He gives promises of blessing for faithfulness and warnings of punishment for disobedience. He made it crystal clear to them what the deal was. Blessings or curses – you choose!

Samuel reminds them that their wickedness is great. He called to God to send thunder and rain as a sign of their wickedness in asking for an earthly king…. and He delivered the request. The people were greatly afraid of God and Samuel. Here’s the ‘kicker’ here.

Next, the people asked Samuel to pray to HIS God that they may not die. What we see here is that after all God had done for them they still did not see God as their personal God. He was something to fear and dread, not someone to love. They did not know Him because their hearts were hard. Is God your God? Do you love Him?

Samuel tells the people not to fear and serve the Lord, not going after empty things that cannot profit or deliver. Like idols!

Samuel reminds the people that God will not forsake His people and he reminds them that it pleased the Lord to make them His chosen people. See 1 Peter 2:9-10

Samuel advised them that he was committed to praying for them and teach them the good and right way. That is what a faithful follower of the Lord does. They teach others to follow after the Lord with all their heart – teaching them the good and right way.

He finishes up with a promise and a warning:

Serve God with all your heart and don’t forget the great things He has done for you!

If you don’t, you and your king will be swept away.

It doesn’t get any clearer than this. God, through Jesus Christ has made us His very own special chosen people. He loves us with the deepest and truest form of love and wants to do great things for us. He assures us that every battle we face He will fight for us if we will only turn to Him for help and not the world. He alone is our God and King and His love for us is special and deep and true! No man can compare to our God!

Because He is righteous and just, He must allow the consequences for disobedience.

One must NEVER forget what God has done for them in the past and what He can do in the present, and that He is already in our future! Don’t be like the people we read about in the Bible and go about life with a short memory. God is not a fair weather friend only. He wants our hearts even when the storm billows roll. In the good times and in the challenging times, He is still our God, our defense, our strong tower. He will never let us down. Make it a point to continually remember where He brought you from and with a shout of triumph know by faith that He will take you from glory to glory until we see Him face to face!