Swear Less † Pray More

“I cross my heart and hope to die. Stick a needle in my eye.” Does this bring back memories? It wasn’t until I wrote this phrase out that I realized how sadistic it sounds, especially when I was a little child.

However, little or old, all of us have sworn at least one time in our lives. It may have been to convince someone we were telling the truth. Or maybe a promise to perform some act.

Some of us may have even sworn to God.

Maybe in a weak moment, a moment we think something isn’t going to work out, we make a promise to God.

It goes a little like this… “God, if you ______, I promise I will be nice to the grumpy bus driver every day” or “God, if you _____, I promise to never forget to pray again.”

They may be silly, or they may be more serious. However, how many times have you made a promise to God hoping He would answer some other prayer?

God wants us to make one specific promise, to love Him with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might.

Our relationship with God shouldn’t be about us. Yes, you heard me. When we make the promise to love Him, we are making a selfless commitment to follow God.

God makes promises throughout the Bible and does not fail to deliver. One of these promises was to the Isralites who were enslaved by the Egyptians.

Read Exodus 6:6.

God promised he would make the Israelites free again. In case you don’t know the story, read over Exodus. For a quick summary, the God plagued the Egyptians and then Pharaoh let the Israelites leave Egypt. Even after Pharaoh let the people go, he then changed his mind and started chasing after them. God then parted so the Israelites could pass.

God fulfilled His promise and many others through the Bible, but how many times do we fulfill our promise?

Maybe you haven’t made this promise yet, or maybe you haven’t followed through like you should have. At this time, I would like you to speak to God and ask what promise He would like you to live by. We may falter, but He will always keep us strong.

Featured image: (FlawlessNobody/ Deviantart)