We can only truly know God through the covenant of His Word.
The Passion translations says it like this:
"Truth's shining light guides me in my choices and decisions; the revelation of your word makes my pathway clear. To live my life by your righteous rules has been my holy and lifelong commitment."
His name is Faithful and True. He is the Committed One, who sticks closer than any brother ever would. His covenant was not only clearly demonstrated at the cross but is also clearly spelled out in His Word as well.
John 3:16-17 "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
It's Time to Shift
God needs no further proving of his love and covenant with us, although he explains it clearly in his Word. I believe, that it is we, the people of God, that needs to SHIFT.
Shift into a proper, biblical perspective, concerning our responsibility in our covenant with God.
Shift into reading his Word daily so as to make the right choices and decisions concerning our lives and destinies.
Shift into trusting and believing in his ability to perform those promises in our lives.
Shift into standing firm on those promises and contending for their manifestation, no matter what.
Shift into action by declaring them out loud in prayer.
Shift into a proper heart posture towards God and in honoring and obeying his Word.
Our Covenant with God requires a great response on our part. It requires us to shift into new ways of pursuing God in prayer and through the reading of his Word. It further requires an alignment and agreement with His Word. It requires a new heart posturing and obedience in relationship to what His word reveals to us. Ever heard-my word is my bond? Covenants are powerful because of their bonds. The bible says it like this:
Isaiah 55:8-11 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,”declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.
John 17:17-"Sanctify them in your truth; Your Word is truth."
Bonding- a joining together and a fastening together. Its an agreement with legal force
Contract- a written or spoken agreement; it is a legally binding agreement, that recognizes and governs the rights and duties of the parties to the agreement. A contract is legally enforceable because it meets the requirements and approval of the law.
As it relates to God's Word his covenant is sure and secured through the blood of Jesus. Jesus wrote a new covenant, when he laid down his life and was resurrected and seated on high.
Hebrews 9:15 Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
Christ Equips Us Through His Covenant
Hebrews 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with every good thing to do His will. And may He accomplish in us what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
SEEING GOD'S COVENANT AS LEGALLY BINDING
Not all contracts are covenants but they are legally similar. Once we see things from this perspective, we must begin to operate and think differently. God will keep up his end of the covenant agreement to work on your behalf, but we must do our part of the agreement too. We have duties and responsibilities in the contract. Lets look at an example of God working for us.
Psalm 121-I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip-he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
WORK THE WORD
This is a Psalm we all need to get very familiar with. The Lord is highlighting this as very important this year along with Psalm 91 as a promise to remember and declare out over ourselves and those we love. Our duty? Believe in it and declare it out. The next time you feel uncovered, unsure or unsafe, please return to this covenant truth in His Word. We enact his will when we pray. He is our very present help and our refuge and shelter-all found in his Word as promises. The source of your hardship may be hell or even of your own making, but God is there to help you regardless-as you stand on his Word in prayer.
What is your proper and biblical response this week to such an amazing covenant? Respond to your belief in him by laying down your life too. Lay it down in obedience and in sacrifice. Do this daily. Remember- covenant is not just what you receive from the agreement but your responsibility to be just as committed.
Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
God displayed his commitment and love for you when he laid down his life in such a demonstrative way and that sacrifice demands a response of obedience to the covenant you agreed to.
OBEDIENCE TO HIS COVENANT
Trusting in him and obeying what He tells us in his Word is a response. Trust is not a passive thing. It involves us meditating on his promises and praying according to his will. It involves us laying down our will according to his will and drinking our cup of destiny.
"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." Luke 22:42
He is sovereign in our lives and we must remember to yield to his sovereignty-yield to his will and to the commands in his Word. When we faithfully obey the commands in his Word, we can be sure that we are faithful to do his will. DO is an action word.
Remember that covenant is a two way street-it's a partnership and agreement that requires actions on both parties in the agreement.
IT'S OUR DUTY AND RESPONSIBILITY TO KNOW WHAT HIS WILL IS
Absolutely no doubt in my mind that God has kept his covenant with me, but it is also my responsibility to keep mine with him. We have no excuse in this information generation to not know the covenant of the bible. We have more study tools and resources at our fingertips to understand the Word of God for ourselves, now more than ever. It is our duty to read, study, and search out how this incredible covenant applies to our lives. We must stop relying on the pastor or anyone else we look to spiritually to tell us what our covenant promises are. The more I minister and meet with people the more I realize how illiterate the Body of Christ is in the Word of God. People wander through life calling themselves partners in a covenant they've never read. Some people even quit on Jesus because of disappointments or disillusionment to a covenant they've never taken the time to read or understand. Our covenant with God is a legally binding contract in the spirit. It involves us knowing the law of God (His Word) and Jesus himself-the ratifier of the covenant. It involves us partnering in it, in a real way, to see the kingdom of God come on earth- as it is in heaven.
READ YOUR COVENANT - YOUR CONTRACT
Let me ask you this. Would you buy a house without reading the contract? Would you sign for a loan without reading the contract? Would you enter a business partnership without reading the contract? No you wouldn't. Reading the contract, people of God, is our way of knowing our legal rights to our inheritance in Christ- its our way of knowing who God is to us. It is a wonderful loving contract, written in the blood of Jesus, but it requires responses from us. God desires to restore us to son-ship and inheritance; he wants to get things to us, but he will also ask that we deal with all the ways that it is being blocked legally in the spirit. He requires us knowing what is our responsibility and consulting our co-heir and partner-Jesus the Advocate. Holy Spirit is our guide and witness to understanding the contract. He is a faithful witness- both in the heavenly courts and in understanding and remembering what the contract says so we enact our rights in prayer.
God can't deny himself- he is Faithful and True-both to you and to his Word, but you have a responsibility to bring it to earth by enacting your beliefs and legal rights in the contract. No doubt that the tension between heaven and earth to see the manifestations are real, but as you continue to war for the promises to manifest they eventually will-they must. The bible doesn't promise it will be an easy fight though, but your contract, written in red, in the spirit, is legally binding and you must remember to think this way. Even when you have to remind your adversary the devil, of that written contract. The spirit realms operates through contracts and agreements-that's the way they gain access to legally hit us. But we have mighty weapons to hit back-and they are found in The written Word of God. Jesus said in the wilderness to Satan- IT IS WRITTEN- we too must know what is written so we can fight back. Remember we war and wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, rulers of darkness etc... Ephesians 6. Fighting is necessary and a command not a suggestion. "Fight the good fight of faith" the Apostle Paul said. The whole bible speaks of warring for your inheritance. The promised land was not won by talking, but by warring against the enemies of God for what God said was their's for the taking.
So don’t quit on him today dear one. Don’t give up on what He said to you and declared would be so in your life. You may need to backtrack and fulfill your part first by being informed about what's in the contract- but that's just part of it. Just don’t give up on believing in him, loving him or trusting him. Don't give up the fight because you are assured to win. Keep going, keep studying and activating his commands-especially when you don’t understand THE WAY he’s bringing it to pass in your life.
You can still trust him when you don’t understand him. There is still a great mystery in journeying with God in covenant, but we must remain faithful even when we don’t understand. So my prayer for you today, is that you would have a willingness to stay committed in prayer, study and in warring to see your promises fulfilled.
Ephesians 1:18-19 I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe....
with much love,