Did You Make a Vow Unto the Lord? Pledges | Vows

June 4, 2014

A sister in the Lord made mention of my post on June 1^st and the word pledge. As I prepared for prayer, the word pledge again was brought to my remembrance. So I examined it further. 

Definitions:

pledge (H6162: arabown) pledge, security

from (H6148: arab) in the sense of exchange – to pledge, exchange, mortgage, engage, occupy, undertake for, be or become surety, take a pledge, give in pledge.

LEXICON: to mix, kindred, to interweave, to be surety for the life of another, to pledge one's life, to expose it to imminent danger.

WEBSTERS:
pledge: a serious promise or agreement, something that you leave with another person as a way to show that you will keep your promise.

With the definitions before me, I immediately thought of pledge as a vow, so I pursued that path.

WEBSTERS:
vow: a serous promise to do something or to behave in a certain way. A solemn promise or assertion. Specifically. one by which a person is bound to an act, service or condition.

vow (H5088: neder) a vow, anything vowed, a vowed sacrifice, votive offering; from (H5087: nadar) to vow, make a vow, vow a vow.

LEXICON: to fall out, to drop down as the grain from the winnowing instrument upon the threshing floor, a threshing floor, to promise voluntarily to do or give anything, notion of vowing from a willing and liberal mind.

vow (G2171: euche) a prayer to God, a vow, to have taken a vow, and also for consecration.

Observations:

While I thought of the word vow in many aspects, after looking at the definitions, additional revelation unfolded.

Initially when I thought of pledge/vow, I thought of words spoken and promises made. The question I pondered was, how many times have we made vows unto the Lord and have not kept them? How do we still approach God desiring His blessings, with hands extended ready to receive from Him, when we have not paid the vows that we have made to Him?

How many times have we found ourselves in trouble, trials, especially those we've created by way of sin and disobedience and we cry out to God, “God if you save me from this, I will...” And God saves us, and we ignore the vow, the pledge we made, often times going right back to what He just delivered us from.

Hmmmmmm... makes one think doesn't it? Know this, those words spoken became an oath, a vow, the moment we spoke them unto God.

The bible says that we will be held accountable for every idle word we speak.

Matthew 12:36-37

36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

What about the vow we made to “follow” Christ? How is it that we have reneged on our part to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, to become disciples (disciplined ones) of Christ.

Christ defines His disciples as those who continue in His word.

John 8:31

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

The word IF is a condition. Have we met the conditions of discipleship?

Is Christ not the Word? Have we truly continued in Him, or have we rewritten the word to suit ourselves? Christ is the pattern by which we are to follow. Have we denied ourselves, come out of the world to live separate, holy, consecrated, to be used by God? Have we surrendered our will for His will? Are we about our Father's business or our own?

To follow Christ is to do as He did. To replicate His example. To take the body of this flesh and take it to the cross.

One of the common phrases often spoken, especially in our early days after receiving salvation, is, “Yes God, use me.” But can He?

Christ clearly taught the directive for following Him in Matthew 16:24:

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Have we done that? Have we truly followed Christ? Have we paid our vow?

The lexicon under vow (H5088:neder) further defines a vow as, to drop down as the grain from the winnowing instrument upon the threshing floor

This is the process by which wheat is processed, threshed and garnered.

Isn't that the process of dying to self and offering ourselves as a living sacrifice, that we may become like Christ? Is He not the Bread of life? Should we not also become bread, the grain processed and refined, sifted to be garnered and taken into the storehouse to feed the brethren?

All of this began with the song the Lord gave me that I shared in my post on June 1. It really set me to thinking about this and how significant it is and how lightly we regard our pledges, our vows, our allegiance to God. We find it so easy to uphold our obligations to everyone and everything else accept Him.

We cannot serve two masters, it is written. Matthew 6:24

Again, the words of the song:

Dear Jesus, I pledge my allegiance to you.You gave your life for mine;
The blood you shed
Just for me, just for me

Though I can never repay youFor such a sacrifice,
I give you my life
I pledge My allegiance to you.
I pledge My allegiance to you.

Is our allegiance to the Father or to the world? Are we trying to pay a vow, have allegiances in both places. For truly we cannot. He desires a whole and willing sacrifice. The boy with the two fish and five loaves gave all he had and blessed and broken it fed a multitude.

Wasn't Christ just that? Did He not give it all for us? Has He not paid His vow? The very same that we benefit from each and every day?

I left my prayer closet and continued to ponder this...

Paying Our Vow

The bible speaks clearly about the importance of keeping vows made to the Lord. Let's look at the scriptures for reference.

Deuteronomy 23: 21-23

21 When thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee.

22 But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee.

23 That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; even a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the Lord thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth.

Here is another witness in scripture.

Ecclesiastes 5:4

1 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

3 For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words.

4 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.

5 Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.

Psalm 50:14

Offer unto God thanksgiving: an pay thy vows unto the most High.

Interestingly, enough, the cross reference to this passage of scripture is Romans 12:1

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Our reasonable service...

reasonable (G3050: logikos) pertaining to speech or speaking, pertaining to the reason or logic, spiritual, pertaining to the soul, agreeable to reason, following reason, reasonable, logical.

LEX: rational, agreeable to reason, following reason, the worship which is render by reason or soul (spiritualPP, the offering which angels present to God.

from (G3056: logos) of speech, a word, uttered by a living voice, embodies a conception or idea, what someone has said, a word, the sayings of God, degree, mandate or order, of the moral precepts given by God, discourse... and more

service (G2999: latreia) service rendered for hire any service or ministration: the service of God,

So, it takes us back full circle, to the vow as it pertains to an acceptable offering.

Let's look at a vow that many of us have made:

Romans 10:9

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

We love to recite Romans 10:9, but do we really understand what we are saying. Let's look at the (a) portion of this verse. We confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus... We confess that He is Lord and sovereign ruler over our lives, the whole of our lives, every minute, detailed aspect of it.

confess (G3670: homologeo)  say the same thing as another, i.e. to agree with, assent, to concede, not to refuse, to promise, not to deny, declare, to profess

Lord (G2962: kyrios) he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord, the possessor and disposer of a thing, the owner; one who has control of the person, the master, in the state: the sovereign, prince, chief, is a title of honour expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants greet their master, this title is given to: God, the Messiah

Jesus (G2424: Iesous) Jehovah is salvation

Here we confess the Lord Jesus, we make a pledge, a vow, with our mouths. Do we know, do we really know that our lives are no longer our own? We are to surrender them to the Lord, we, the set apart ekklesia.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

We now belong to the one who saved us. He saved us for His purpose, not to live a life we choose to govern, but to choose to allow God to govern over our lives. He desires a holy and wholly sacrifice. That is what is acceptable and pleasing to God.

A life of total surrender unto Him. Total surrender warrants total obedience. How can we be used by God and won't even subject ourselves to His lordship in our lives.

All of us who confess the Lord Jesus made a vow, a pledge of allegiance to Him, to the kingdom to be about our Father's business. Have we paid our vow? Have we kept our words?

God has. He has done all He said He would. It is finished, but we must do what is required of us.

Salvation was not free. Christ paid the price, It is given to us freely, God's free gift. When we receive it, we avow to live a life conducive to salvation, and become a partner with Christ to lead others to the Father through Him.

If this has not been our demonstration, if we have failed to keep our vow, another gift that God has given to us is the ability to come before Him and repent and return to Him, be forgiven and come back into right standing with Him.

Please do not let the enemy of your soul convince you of otherwise. Remember, he got kicked out of heaven, not us, the door to the Father is open, through the Son, Jesus. He is the only way, the way of the cross. If any man preach another way, then he preach another Jesus.

Remember when Jesus shared with the disciples that He must die and Peter rose to contradict that truth, and Christ rebuked satan. Well, here it is in scripture:

Matthew 16:21-3

21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Jesus didn't rebuke Peter, He rebuked satan. Peter allowed himself to used as a potential offence (that word means stumbling block), and Christ rebuked satan.

Any one who tells you that you do not have to endure the cross, no matter how subtle it may be, is a stumbling block. Yes, we are saved by faith through grace, but grace, the divine enabling of God, will give us the strength and equipping to go to the cross.

The scriptures say repeatedly, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” That we cannot do in the flesh. The law, the commandments are spiritual. God is spirit and in order to worship Him in the manner that is pleasing to Him is in spirit and in truth. There is no good thing in this flesh, It is only by the spirit that one can please God.

Pay your vow. Deny yourself. Pick up your cross. Follow Yeshua. Destination... Calvary!

What would we not give to the One who gave it all for us?

Repent today and be restored, pay your vow to the Lord. Make Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMaschiach Lord of all! The kingdom of God in heaven is truly at hand.


God bless you!

to be continued... 

Also, here is the video of a song I remember from a little girl who sat in choir rehearsal with my mom.