Psalm 50:14-15, “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.” 

Notice the three key words here: offer, pay, call.  “Offer unto God thanksgiving.”  Many times, we rush right into the throne room of God with our requests and fail to pause and praise Him and thank Him for His goodness, His faithfulness, His provision, and His kindness towards us.  We have so much to be thankful for and a lot to praise Him for every day.

 We are to “pay thy vows unto the most High:” The idea is to keep our promises.  To follow through with what we’ve promised to do.  Have we paid our tithes? Have we done what we said we would do in our relationships with others? 

Then God says, “call upon me in the day of trouble:” Troubles, trials, and problems, are all a part of life.  No one is exempt from them, not even believers. But when they come, we are to cry out to God in faith and He says He will deliver us. When He does, we are to give praise and glory to Him and let others know that it was our God who proved faithful once again. 

I read the story of a plumber in Chicago who had his truck stolen while he went into a building.  He called the police to report his stolen truck and was told if the truck wasn’t found within an hour, he could forget about it.  The plumber gathered some Christian friends together and they cried out to the Lord about the matter.  Two days later, the plumber received a phone call.  A voice said, “come get your truck”.  He drove to an address and found his truck with checks and paperwork from customers still in the cab.

Don’t panic when troubles come your way.  Rather, check to see if you’ve been consistent in thanksgiving, fulfilling your promises, and faithful in prayer.  Psalm 91:14-16 says, “Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him.  With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.” These verses are full of God’s faithful promises. 

Three key words to remember as we develop our prayer life: OFFER, PAY, CALL.  Just do it, and watch God work on your behalf.

The Pastor’s Pocket

Pastor Bruce Freeman

 

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