All covenant relationships, no matter the level of commitment, must be founded and established in agreement.
The surest sign of covenant is the willingness to agree with someone with a heart posture of humility even when you have differing opinions. Finding ways to come together is the heartbeat of covenant. Covenant is unity not just agreement.
Determining your role and submission in the covenant is vital to knowing how to navigate the spirit, soul and body of covenant.
are you the wife in the covenant and need to submit to your husband when you don’t agree?
are you the student submitting to the teacher God gave you to train you up?
are you the daughter or son, in covenant with God, submitting under his supreme authority in your life?
are you in a business covenant that will require you to submit to a others in partnership?
are you in a ministry covenant that requires you submitting to others in that covenant?
Knowing how to submit in covenant relationships is important. Submission, unity and agreement are the essential components of covenant, because it involves the coming together and meeting of wills, hearts and minds for eternal purposes. Covenant agrees to stay together-not separate.
LEVELS OF PARTNERSHIP AND COMMITMENT IN COVENANT
I believe there are many different levels of covenant relationships, so we must seek the Lord for the wisdom to steward them effectively. The covenant of marriage is the one most talked about but it only gives us one aspect of God’s purpose of covenant. One thing God has shown me about covenant is that is requires a greater level of focus. As we get focused, it should lead us to ask a lot of questions and carefully consider the investment we are about to make.
Define your covenant relationships:
marriage
personal
ministry
business
discern the level of commitment and involvement required in the covenant and God’s purpose in the covenant.
Get clarity from the Lord about your role and responsibility in the covenant.
Take time to have a discussion about the covenant with them so there are no misunderstandings which could cause a breach make plans for regular communication-because it is key to healthy covenants being established and stewarded
OATH: An oath is a promise. … An oath is a solemn promise, sometimes made in front of a witness, or a vow in a court of law that you will tell the absolute truth. No matter what the circumstances are, swearing an oath is serious business.
“So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord call David’s enemies to account.” And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.” 1 Samuel 20:16-17
The deepest level of covenant involves a meshing of hearts and souls, where you love them as yourself and where promises, vows and oaths are made.
This type of covenant is no joke because it involves a meshing of the heart and soul on a whole other level. I’m not so sure many people are willing to invest in this type of covenant relationship because it is so very costly.
David and Jonathan had a covenant relationship like this. Their commitment and love for one another involved oaths and great sacrifice.
…”May the Lord call David’s enemies to account.“
As you read this passage of scripture you quickly understand the depth of that oath. Their covenant went beyond their earthly DNA. Their pact involved the eternal plans of God and that superseded any loyalty Jonathan had to his father-King Saul.
Jonathan made sure that David knew the level of his commitment to him and asked the same of David-remember covenants are a partnership.
When Jonathan cut that covenant with David, he put David’s interest and life above his very own-even over his loyalty to his father and he expected the same loyalty in return. So we see that sacrifice and righteousness is at the heart of covenant. Saul’s desire to kill David was unjust but Jonathan did what was just in God’s eyes and made a promise to David to value his life over his own.
When we come into this understanding of covenant we come into knowing God on a whole new level. It takes us deeper in our love for him and for his people. Because God is the one who establishes covenant in our lives, we must value it and model after his commitment to humanity. Jesus came and sacrificed his life to establish a brand new covenant for us at the cross. This new covenant ratified with his blood shows us how committed God is to us and the lengths at which he demonstrated his great love for us.
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13
I know this isn’t an exhausted look into covenant but I pray it causes you to look at the importance of it. I pray that as you look at the whole counsel of scripture you get a better understanding of covenant in your life. Let’s end with another glimpse of what relational covenant means to Jesus.
“While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Matthew 12:46-50
At the center of covenant is the understanding of family, and not just the earthly DNA of family we all think about-but the spiritual one. Jesus came to re-establish the true concept of family because he values what family represents.
As you move into greater inspection of your covenant relationships, keep the definition of family according to Jesus, at the forefront of your decisions.
Love in Christ-
Dana
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