The life of any great Man is guarded by what He has Vowed to do and how faithful he is to keeping this vow.
Recently, as I was recollecting some of the things I have learnt throughout the years, I recalled this testimonial email from Benny Hinn.
In academia, the foundation of what one writes should always be what others have said. You are to build on shoulders of giants. For those who know this Man of God, you know he is no dwarf when it comes to his walk with the LORD. Allow me to share with you its substance.
Baraka!
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Discover the Power of a Vow
My dear friend Paul Crouch told me about a situation a few years ago when he and Jan faced a very serious situation with the Trinity Broadcasting Network. In the midst of that looming problem, he went to a church in Southern California by himself. The building was empty as he walked in, got on his knees before God, and made a vow. That vow, according to Paul, literally saved TBN.
A Childhood Vow That Changed My Life
As he was telling me this testimony, I was reminded once again of a vow I made as a child. I grew up in Israel where vows are normal. We grew up being taught that a vow made to God is important. I don’t remember hearing anyone teach about vows from the Bible, but it was such a part of our culture that I understood how serious and vital they were.
During the mid-1960s as the situation grew tense around Jaffa, where we lived, and throughout Israel, my father decided to get our family to a safer place. Because he had been involved with the government of Israel in ways I didn’t know about until after he died, we were turned down.
Even as a child I was always religious and had a great reverence for the church. Though I wasn’t a Christian yet, I went to church every Sunday and served as an altar boy in the Greek Orthodox Church. I went to a Catholic school, as well, so we went to mass nearly every morning.
When the Israeli government told my father that we could not leave, our family was greatly disappointed. We felt defeated. My uncles had already immigrated. By then it was 1966 and the tension kept building. Then in 1967 the Six Day War erupted, and we were under even more pressure as a family.
During that time I made a decision to go by myself and pray in the Greek Orthodox Church. I was all alone as I talked to God. I said, “If You will get us out of Israel, I will give You a can of olive oil.”
I knew the church used olive oil for the lamps. Truthfully, I had no idea that vows were in the Bible. I had just heard people talking about making vows. I was very serious about what I said as I prayed and made my vow.
It was early 1968 by then, and I remember so vividly what happened. We received notice that the Israeli government had decided to allow us to immigrate. On the very same day, the Canadian Embassy also agreed to allow us into their country and guaranteed us passports. It was truly a miracle!
My mother told me to run and tell our father. I ran as hard as I could. I will never forget the sights and sounds. My father was standing in old Jaffa, right beside the house of Simon the Tanner where Peter received the vision that changed his life. My father was meeting with some people there.
“I have to talk with you,” I said excitedly, and I told him the good news.
Well, our life changed completely from that point, and in July of 1968 we moved to Canada.
“Where is the oil…?”
Not long afterward, as I lay on a bed in our new home, I heard a voice: Where is the oil you promised?
I didn’t recognize it as the Lord’s voice, but I heard the words as surely as anything. I quickly got out of bed, rushed to the store, and bought the largest container of olive oil I could get with the money I had and carried it to the Greek Orthodox Church in downtown Toronto.
I’ll never forget the look in the priest’s eyes as he watched this kid bringing in a big container of oil, setting it down, and hearing me say, “I made a vow to God. Here’s the oil.” And I walked out, leaving the poor fellow staring at me.
It was my first experience with making a vow to God, and what happened has stuck with me throughout my life.
I can look back to several very dangerous moments since then when I have made a vow. And I can tell you that if you are facing an especially large challenge, not knowing what to do, not knowing where to turn, it may be time for you to consider making a vow before God.
I can tell you that God loves vows. Throughout history, He has worked mighty miracles when people have made and fulfilled vows.
Jacob’s Vow
The first time the word vow is used in the Bible is in Genesis: "And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee" (Genesis 28:20-22).
Jacob made this vow on the way to the house of Laban. He had walked all the way from present-day Israel to present-day Iraq. He was in trouble. He had lost his home. His life was in danger. His brother had threatened to kill him.
People generally don’t make vows unless they are in trouble and they are backed into a corner.
Jacob was obviously aware that his survival was at stake. Where would he get food and water? How could he be protected from the dangers he faced?
That’s when he vowed that if God would get him where he was going and back, he would give a tenth of everything he owned.
He was protected. He served his Uncle Laban for 21 years. Then God spoke to Jacob:
And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I. And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ringstraked, speckled, and grisled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred. (Genesis 31:11-13)
God showed Jacob all that he had been given, and then came the reminder about the vow. Perhaps Jacob had forgotten about the vow he had made 21 years before, but God never forgets.
Vows and the World of Faith
There are many, many examples in Scripture of people making vows—Jephthah (Judges 11:30), Hannah (1 Samuel 1:11), David (Psalm 56:12), Solomon (Proverbs 7:14), Jonah (Jonah 2:9), and the apostle Paul (Acts 18:18).
My mother made a vow similar to Hannah’s, asking for a male child and promising me back to God. I found out that Oral Roberts’ mother made the same vow.
There is power in a vow!
I have been reminded of that each time I have made a vow. A few years ago I was in danger of losing what God had given me. It was a serious problem. I had tried to deal with the situation in every way I knew how. The lawyers kept saying we were in an impossible position. People who knew and understood the circumstances sympathized with me, but they said it could go either way. It was a frightening time.
Desperate for an answer, I went to Israel. I went to the Wailing Wall and made a vow: “God if You will spare me and deliver me, I will help children around the world.” I told God how much I was going to do, even though I had no human way of doing it. It was more money than I had.
As I turned to leave the wall, I knew with everything in me that God had heard and answered. I called the lawyer and said, “It’s over. It’s done.” He said, “What do you mean?”
“The God I serve,” I told him, “has just given me peace about this. It’s over.”
“You don’t understand,” he replied quickly.
“No,” I said firmly, “you don’t understand. You’re dealing with your world of reason, and I’m dealing with my world of faith; and the world of faith rules the world of reason.”
Within three days the lawyer called me back and said, “I’ve never seen this happen. The judge just ruled, and it’s all over!”
As a result of my vow at the Wailing Wall, God performed a miracle, and by His grace He has continued to expand the ministry He gave me.
Making a Vow
Making a vow is serious. Fulfilling your part of the vow is critical. We know that Absalom, King David’s son, made a vow and broke it (2 Samuel 15:7-8). Absalom’s life was restored as a result of the vow, but God ended up taking his life because he broke it.
God never forgets vows. We are told, “Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me” (Psalm 50:14-15).
Likewise, we are taught, “I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows, Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble” (Psalm 66:13-14).
The psalmist knew that when God’s people are in trouble, making and fulfilling a vow is the only way out. David himself made a vow because he was in trouble, and the Lord got him out of it as a result of his vow.
Whenever I have faced serious challenges and have made and fulfilled a vow, God has answered every time.
As with our flight to safety after the Six Day War, vows don’t always focus on money. It was that way with the vow that Hannah, my mother, and Oral Roberts’ mother made. Often, as with Jacob who promised to give back 10 percent of everything he was given, vows do focus on money.
All I know is that we are facing major challenges in the world today—financial and otherwise—and God is stirring me to encourage people who face difficult situations to make and fulfill a vow!
The Power of Your Vow
How about you? Are you facing impossible circumstances? It is biblical to make a vow when you are in those difficult situations.
Go to God and say, “Lord, here’s what I’m facing. I need this to be solved in my life. And here is what I’ll do.”
Make a commitment. Tell God the amount you are promising. This is not a seed. This is not an offering. There is a difference between a vow and offerings or seeds. A vow gets God’s attention in a way that a seed or offering cannot.
People make vows when they are in danger or face impossible situations. And when they make vows to God, He will listen.
Whatever you do, be sure to fulfill your vow, for God’s Word tells us, “ for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed” (Ecclesiastes 5:4).
It is my prayer as you make your vow that God will lead you out of bondage, bring you and your loved ones out of danger, and pour out blessings untold, for “yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows” (Job 22:25-27).
Make a vow as God speaks to you, then get ready to see His power unleashed in your life in an unprecedented way. Discover the power in a vow!
Timing Is Crucial
I am praying, even as I write this, that our Lord Jesus will speak to you today to make and fulfill a vow, no matter what situation you are in. I know He will move mightily in your life, even as He works through you to help this ministry continue unharmed. At the same time, fulfilling your vow will help our ministry overcome the crucial circumstances we are in right now due to the mounting expenses of worldwide crusades, television broadcasts, and mission outreaches.
And the timing is crucial for fulfilling your vow!
It is interesting that the Bible records how God honored the animal sacrifices that were made at the same time as the vow:
I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows, Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble. I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah. (Psalm 66:13-15).
For we know it is “not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6)…
Benny Hinn
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I know it blessed you. May this generation get a fresh understanding on how to walk before God and fulfil our vows... The generation that seeks the face of the God of Jacob: May we be repairers of the breach, restorers of streets to dwell in, In Jesus name,
Amen.
