Covenant with God Part 2
Covenants which have not been destroyed will hinder us
from attaining our blessings. There are cultural covenants which were spoken
and established over in our childhood, and which must be broken so that we can
walk in the divine covenant of grace, where the precious blood of Jesus Christ
speaks for the believers’ lives.
Nature hates a vacuum. Our lives must be attached to the
glorious covenants of God or those of the dark evil world. We can never be in-between.
Nature is influenced by covenants. Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) are agreements
(covenants) made by nations to run and govern the world policies. Every country
and government is led and controlled by established agreements.
People make agreements consciously while others engage
the same unconsciously. These covenants eventually affect our overall way of
life. Our great grand-parents may know of generational covenants made upon us
which are unconsciously affecting our ways of life to a greater degree. These
covenants claim over our lives and need to be broken for us to enjoy God’s
blessings fully.
We are renewing our commitments to the Lord so that we
can walk in excellence. We have to walk in God’s victory against covenantal
demonic spirits which tend to control people and hinder them from being
productive. We are the children who represent Christ down here on earth. We
must claim the power over circumstances as bonafide
children of God. When trials come we need to overcome them as children of God.
We are not the pioneers of covenants. God has been
from the beginning a covenant maker and a covenant keeper. Thus we learn much
from the covenants that God made with His people.
1. Noahic Covenant
Genesis 9:9
And as for Me,
behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you
The world was in wickedness and God became angry with
the people.
Genesis 6:6
And the LORD
was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart
Noah remained righteous amidst all the evil in his
time. He revered God and got into a covenant with him since he stood out and
was an exceptional person before the
Lord. We thus learn that when we stand out in righteousness like Noah, God will
establish a covenant with us and when destruction befalls mankind, we shall be
spared.
Noah was a man who had found grace before God and this
kept him from corruption hence spared from destruction. We too can make a
choice to live in righteousness amidst an evil generation, like Noah, and be
spared of judgment, or opt to get destroyed in sin.
2. Abrahamic Covenant
Genesis 12:1-3
Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your
country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will
show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name
great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I
will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall
be blessed.
The above scripture teaches us factors God
considered while making His covenant
with Abraham which are equally a lesson for us today.
- Separation: In order to renew your covenant with God, you need to ask God about your acquaintances. Will the people surrounding you hinder you from attaining the blessings of God? The need for separation is necessary so that God can take the first place. We need to separate ourselves even from our local environment and positions of residence.
- Obedience is key when it comes to establishing a covenant with God. We need to take stock of our acquaintances since we cannot enjoy the blessings of the covenants with God since they will be sucking the blessings of God upon our lives. Abraham had to obey and separated himself from these people and thus his blessings stretched to our generation.
- Alignment: We need not align ourselves with the wrong people and wrong places. These will drain our spirit and anointing. Every wrong character should be checked out of our lives so that we can be able to enjoy the Lord’s blessings unhindered. It is necessary for believers to align themselves with the Lord by abiding in Him.
- Believe: We need to believe in our God. Abraham believed what the Lord said
and he was rewarded.
Genesis 15:1-6
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward." But Abram said, "Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" Then Abram said, "Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!" And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir." Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. - Clarify: Clarify with God on what you are committing yourself with. Abraham
went to the Lord for clarification. He wanted to get a clear picture of the
facts regarding God’s covenant.
Acts 7:1-44 distinctly elaborates on this issue.
Everyone desires an assurance from our partners and spouses. We make marriage covenants and we need to stand and abide by them through assurance to our partners and children. We must learn to tell others how we love them in order for covenants to hold water.
Exodus 19:4-6
You have seen what I did
to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to
Myself. 'Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant,
then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth
is Mine. 'And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These
are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."
Children of the
covenant will never forget what the Lord has done to them. If we are to walk
with the Lord, we need to obey even before He speaks.
What
commitments are we making before our God? Hannah made a commitment before the
Lord. When we commit ourselves before the Lord, we make the covenant binding.
Whatever we ask for before the Lord, God honors since He respects commitments.
We too have an obligation to fulfil.
4. Davidic Covenant
2 Samuel 7:12
"When your days are
fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you,
who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
This scripture
implies the setting up of the Kingdom of God through the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We are also able to learn and glean from this covenant too.
- Attitude: David’s covenant with God teaches us that David had a positive
attitude into building for God and thus God made a house for David through
Jesus Christ.
We need to commit and have a positive attitude to allow God rule over our lives. When we submit, He is able to give us more. - Thankfulness: Covenant people are always thankful.
The Bible tells us about the establishment of a new covenant. We need to know the benefits of this new covenant established through the blood of Jesus Christ to all believers.
But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech -- unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah - "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD."But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.
In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
The Benefits of the New Covenant
a. The new covenant has made us children of God.
Romans 8:16
The Spirit Himself bears
witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
John 1:12
But as many as received
Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe
in His name.
We should
refuse anything which is contrary to the Word of God. We should never allow
people to oppress us. Let us remind every voice that we are children of God.
b. Heirs:
The new covenant has made us heirs with Christ and thus we are able to enjoy birthright blessings and benefits.
Romans 8:17
...and if children, then
heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him,
that we may also be glorified together.
Galatians 3:29
And if you are Christ's,
then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
We deserve this
inheritance as stated by James.
Listen, my beloved brethren: has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
c. We are a chosen Generation
1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
d. Bride of Christ
2 Corinthians 11:2
For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
e. Body of Christ
1 Corinthians 12:12
For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
Amen.
-- Pastor Mary Mugo.
11/04/14 Sunday service sermon, Teaching Transformation Ministry.
Pastor Mary Mugo is the Senior Pastor at Teaching Transformation Ministry. We are located along the Thika-Ruai Flyover Junction (at the Thika Rd./ Bypass intersection), Next to Eastgate Restaurant.
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Blessings.