Not using foul language, but making an oath, making a declaration, making a vow, a covenant, a pledge, a promise, a guarantee. Making a commitment. Giving your word. Or simply saying, 'Yes.'

In Youth With A Mission (YWAM), as an organization and as individuals, it is part of our ethos to journal our spiritual lives - to write down and then remind God in prayer of the words we have received from Him. Some bases even keep a log of these 'words' from the Lord to remember them.

But what I want to ask you is: What about our words to God? Not 'the word of the Lord to Gina,' but rather, 'the word of Gina to the Lord.' Are we people of our word?

As an organization we have made many covenants, and we have written down and circulated significant ones like the Manila Covenant, the Red Sea Covenant, and the Nanning Covenant. Furthermore, as a response to Jim Stier's Adopt-A-People challenge, YWAM bases collectively have made over 800 commitments to unreached people groups. Adoption ceremonies were held, adoption certificates were signed by leaders and staff members. What about these words of ours to God? Are we continuing to be people of our word?

The Bible clearly states that to make a vow and not fulfill it is a sin.

'Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel: 'This is what the LORD commands: When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.'' (Numbers 30:1 & 2)

'If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the LORD your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the LORD your God with your own mouth.' (Deuteronomy 23:21-23)

We cannot easily dismiss this as Old Testament law by which we are no longer bound. Remember when Jesus addressed the law to not commit adultery and said that it is adultery for a man to even look with lust at a woman who is not his wife? Or when He addressed the law to not commit murder and said that to even hate your brother is murder? On this particular issue I am addressing, Jesus said:

'Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes', and your 'No', 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.' (Matthew 5:33-37)

As YWAM leaders, are we modeling that we are people of our word? Are we corporately an organization that keeps its word ('word of YWAM to the Lord')? And as individuals to each other, are we people of our word?

Concerning our YWAM corporate covenants, are these even considered in our ministry plans and goals? Do we remind staff of these promises we have made to God, and do we work towards fulfilling them? Do we keep the vows we make in partnership meetings with other organizations? Do we do what we say we will do to each other on leadership teams, to those we lead, and to our families and friends?

In one of John Maxwell's books, he lists some things to look for in potential leaders, including the willingness to take responsibility and the ability to take initiative. These sorts of leadership criteria often capture most of our focus. Also listed, though, are following through on one's commitments and having integrity, and these often get much less attention.

There are different things that cause us to stumble in our integrity and not keep our word.

One is that, on the organizational level, we don't feel personally responsible.

An individual could think, 'You know, I wasn't there at the Red Sea; I wasn't on the GLT when that covenant was made. It doesn't affect me; it is not my responsibility.' Even if one does accept a certain degree of responsibility, he or she may rationalize, 'Well, there are thousands of other YWAMers who can take care of that. I have my own stuff going on – my own vision and calling.'

In a similar fashion, regarding covenants made at the base level, an individual may say, 'Oh' that commitment. Well, the guy that had that vision left and, well, I wasn't here when the base made that decision. I didn't agree to that myself, so I'm not obligated to honor it.'

As an organization, we may also fail to hand on to each new generation a sense of honoring and embracing our unfulfilled covenants. We are weak on oral tradition, on handing down the history of our 'words to the Lord'. In our eagerness to do 'new things', we often fail to esteem the old.

Secondly, as individuals, we often stumble in our integrity and fail to keep our word for one or more of these reasons:

Ignorance - We commit hastily and don't adequately consider what we are getting into. It can then become costly to keep our word. For example, in a partnership with other organizations, I agreed to direct a certain project and deliver a product by a certain date. But then the other project team members failed to do their part. In the end it cost me several 80-hour work weeks to complete the project by myself. Will we keep our word even when it hurts – even when there is a steep price to pay?

Jesus said, 'Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'' (Luke 14:28-30)

A corollary to this is that leaders should take care to not pressure or manipulate others to hastily say 'yes' or make a vow that could cause them to stumble. It is especially hard to say 'no' to a leader, a father or mother (spiritual or natural), the ruler of the land, etc. Help others to make careful, considered commitments and then to fulfill them.

Fickleness - We 'feel led by God' to get out of the promises we have made. Can this be? God's character is not unsteady or unstable. I don't believe He is as fickle or flighty as many make Him out to be when they claim that they have gotten a word from Him' then another' then yet another, leading to sudden changes of direction and reneging on commitments. God always keeps His promises, and it is a godly characteristic in our own lives to do so.

Over-commitment - We cannot say 'yes' to everything. And saying 'yes' to some opportunities now can prevent us from saying 'yes' to future opportunities, at least until we have fulfilled or been released from our current commitments.

For example, concerning marriage, I said 'no' to a very good and handsome Christian man. This, fortunately, left me free to say 'yes' when Mark Fadely later asked. Once Mark and I said 'yes' to each other in our marriage covenant, we cannot say 'yes' to any other until we are released from that covenant - which, we agreed, is not until 'death do us part.' If one of us dies, the other could say 'yes' again.

We can over-commit any resource - time and energy, money, ability, etc. For example, if you sign a contract to buy a certain house, then suddenly find a great deal on another, you can not then say 'yes' to another house, unless you happened to have enough money to buy both. But if you don't have enough money to own two houses, you must say 'no' to the second and fulfill your commitment to buy the first. Money is not endless, so you will have to say 'no' to some future deals, no matter how amazing they are. Even Bill Gates cannot buy all the houses in the world. Eventually there is a limit for everyone.

The point seems clear enough in these examples of marriage and finances, but how about when applied to our work responsibilities? How come we so easily over-commit our time?

I will first acknowledge that there are seasons of extraordinary ability and grace to do enormous amounts of work, but then we must retreat. Our time and energy are limited. God's grace is sufficient for what HE gives us, and under that grace, His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

But saying yes and yes and yes... well, something has to give. God has given human beings some restrictions. On the most basic level we are limited by 24 hours in a day and a need for sleep and food. So besides the failure to do what you said you would, this lifestyle of never saying 'no' can lead to emotional and physical consequences that can leave you unwell and unable to do anything.

We can see this in others: 'He's such a people person. When others want things from him, he loses all his boundaries and makes himself ill.' But are we able to see it in ourselves? Steve Goode once said, 'We so over-extend ourselves, over-commit ourselves, over-engage ourselves. And we are not immune to the consequences.'

Learn to say 'no' diplomatically, and practice it! ('Thank you for asking; this is a wonderful project, but I will not be able to help you at this time.') I don't exactly want to provoke you to go around saying 'no,' but I do want to provoke you to both organizational integrity - let's be a people who keep our word – and personal integrity – be a person who keeps your word.

When we don't keep our word, not only is it sin and an offense before God, but our perceived integrity suffers. We spread ourselves too thin, and our work becomes mediocre, just enough to get by. We frustrate others and trust is lost; we embarrass ourselves and those we represent.

Solomon wrote the following: 'When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it. Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, 'My vow was a mistake.' Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands? Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.' (Ecclesiastes 5:4-7)

There are some simple things we can do to guard our integrity in this area:

1. Develop, with God and leaders, your personal and ministry priorities and stick to them.
   
2. Be disciplined towards these priorities. (Paul said, 'I press on towards the goal'')
   
3. Challenge the excuses! Get others to help you and hold you accountable to overcome your own excuses and justifications.
   
4. Take care in making vows to God or to anyone else. Before you say 'yes,' stop and evaluate: Is this my tower to build? Can I do this now? Get counsel from God and your accountability partners as a protection to you, to keep you from sin.
   
   

Jesus related: 'What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.' 'I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go. Which of the two did what his father wanted?' (Matthew 21:28-31)