We speak many things casually in our culture: “I’ll pay you back next week.” “I’ll always love you.” “I’ll be there on Sunday at 10 a.m. for sure.” We fail to recognize that our words have power—and are witnessed by both God and the enemy. In this provocative series, deliverance expert Taiwo Ayeni examines the power of vows in a believer’s life.
The Vow of Salvation
The first vow a believer enters into is the vow of salvation. You must first receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior before any other divine vows can become operational in your life. Without repentance, you cannot enjoy the benefits that follow fulfillment of these vows. The moment you receive Him, the first vow and its benefits come into operation. Now, you have the power backing you up to be called a son of God: “For as many as received him to them gave he the power to be called the sons of God” (John 1:12). At the same time, you are automatically transformed into “…a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Once this takes place, the journey toward the operation of other vows begins. The vow of salvation carries along with it various benefits, such as protection, provision, and progress. You have been moved from the place of death to life, failure to success, sickness to health, barrenness to fruitfulness; hence, your righteousness is not of your own making, it is of the Lord: “…and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 54:17).
From the moment you accept Jesus, you begin to bask in the glory of God. All things begin to work together for you. This, however, is just the beginning of the race, because you must “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). While the glory of God surrounds you, the hordes of hell have marked you, waiting for the right moment to attack. This is the reason why you must carefully follow up with other vows that will establish you in your life as a child of God.
The Vow of Praise
As the vow of salvation is fulfilled, a child of God will do well to flow into the next vow that God supernaturally ordained. This is the vow of praise. The vow of praise incorporates thanksgiving, worship, and adoration. Many Christians do not understand that this is a vow that must be performed. Psalm 65:1 confirms this: “Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed.” The joy that follows salvation is expressed in praise. Indeed, you can discern the authenticity of a man’s salvation through his expression of praise. He must give thanks. He must declare what the Lord has done. As he does, he begins to draw water with joy out of the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12:3).
You don’t need a deep revelation to know that when the vow of praise is fulfilled, it opens the door to miracles or breakthrough. There are many who have testified to the move of God coming through praise. Why is this so? It is because God inhabits the praise of His people, and where God is, there must be blessings. No demon can resist His presence. In His presence there are pleasures for evermore (Psalm 16:11). Furthermore, we are responsible to fulfill this vow made on our behalf by the Lord: “This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord.” (Psalm 102:18). No other Scripture explains it better.
As a witness your constant cry should be: “Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord: This gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter” (Psalm 118:19-20). If it is mandatory to enter the gate, then you must have the keys that open the gate, and that is why the Holy Spirit reveals the key to us in Psalm 100:4 and commands us to: “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise…” In response to this revelation, the Psalmist declared: “My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him” (Psalm 22:25). It is a commandment for the people of God to praise Him.
Fulfillment of this vow is on a daily basis. In keeping with his commitment to praise God, David reveals to us how he keeps this vow in Psalm 119:164: “Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgment.” Isn’t this incredible? David, however, wasn’t satisfied with this level of praise and increased it in Psalm 34:1: “I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” This was a man who understood the importance of praise as a vow and as a weapon of war.
Next month, Pastor Ayeni explores three other vows that believers must fulfill to be firmly established in their walk with Jesus Christ.
Taiwo Ayeni is president of Rehoboth Bible Ministries, Inc., in Grand Prairie, where he lives with his wife Abidemi and their son and daughter. You may contact him at rehobothbministries.org.
