What is a covenant? You don't hear much spoken about covenants today. We have contracts. We understand that contracts are binding for a specified period of time. As in a 36 month auto lease or a 30 year mortgage loan. When we sign our name on that dotted line, we are essentially giving our word that we will continue to fulfill our part of the contract by paying a certain amount monthly until the balance is paid in full. A covenant is like a contract, yet it is more than a contract. It is perpetually binding. It is permanent. The only way out is through death. That is why marriage is referred to as a covenant, not a contract. It is supposed to be permanent- "till death do us part."
In the Bible, when someone cut a covenant with someone else, they brought an animal, usually a ram or goat and they would kill it by cutting it in two. Next they would face their covenant partner and walk toward each other between the two pieces of the animal, passing each other in the center. Both people were obligated now to protect and provide for one another and their families.
In this chapter, Israel willfully broke their covenant with God when they melted down their gold to create a molten calf to idolize. It is interesting how God spoke to Moses telling him His intentions. God always needs a man to speak in order for Him to perform what He wants to in our lives. That's why it's so important to not only know the Word, but to speak it in faith because it gives Him permission to move on our behalf!
Knowing that God was a covenant cutting and keeping God, Moses entreated God to remember the covenant He made long ago with Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. He quoted God's own Words back to Him and it tells us that God changed His mind.
We are blessed today to be partners in a New Covenant with God. Not binding through the blood of bulls and goats but with the blood of the Spotless Lamb, Jesus. We are simply beneficiaries of this new covenant. We get to enjoy all the benefits without having to work to keep it! Jesus, our representative, has already fulfilled all the conditions on our behalf. Our covenant blessings are guaranteed because His obedience is perfect and His work is perfectly finished! We can simply rest in Jesus' finished work at the cross and receive all He provided by faith.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Saturday, January 11, 2014
January 11 ~ Genesis 37-45 ~
The story of the life of Joseph is such an amazing example of God's love and grace in the darkest of times. How horrible when your own family plots to kill you and eventually sells you as a slave. It was no coincidence that the man who bought Joseph happened to be Potiphar, Pharaoh's second in command. Even in slavery, Joseph was blessed. Genesis 39:2,3 "But the Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. Now his master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand."
Just when things were looking okay for Joseph, he finds himself in prison and by no fault of his own. But even in the darkest place, God was still with Joseph. Genesis 39:21 "But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer." In the darkest time in his life, God made a way for Joseph as he correctly interpreted Pharaoh's dream by the leading and instruction of the Holy Spirit. He found favor in Pharaoh's eyes, but it was because he first had favor with God. When God exalts you, He does so above and beyond what you could think or imagine!
When Joseph's brothers return to Egypt in need of food during the famine, Joseph tests his older brothers a bit. As he heard them speaking to one another, he realized that they had remorse for what they had done to him many years before. Imagine the shock to Joseph's brothers when he told them who he was. Years and years of guilt and grief washed away because of the goodness of God. How relieved they must have been to find their beloved brother not only alive, but thriving under the protection and promotion of the Lord. How awesome is God to place Joseph in the exact place and time to be able to restore his own people during a time of lack?! He ALWAYS has a plan to help us in our time of need!
God can always take a situation meant for evil and not only restore, but bless for His good above and beyond what we could ask or think. We serve a mighty God Whose hand is MORE than able to lift you up out of any pit and place you right where He wants you to be, blessed, healthy and whole in every area of your life. No matter what kind of situation you may be in today, don't give up. Keep speaking your victory in faith, because God has a plan for you and it is one of VICTORY!!!
Just when things were looking okay for Joseph, he finds himself in prison and by no fault of his own. But even in the darkest place, God was still with Joseph. Genesis 39:21 "But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer." In the darkest time in his life, God made a way for Joseph as he correctly interpreted Pharaoh's dream by the leading and instruction of the Holy Spirit. He found favor in Pharaoh's eyes, but it was because he first had favor with God. When God exalts you, He does so above and beyond what you could think or imagine!
When Joseph's brothers return to Egypt in need of food during the famine, Joseph tests his older brothers a bit. As he heard them speaking to one another, he realized that they had remorse for what they had done to him many years before. Imagine the shock to Joseph's brothers when he told them who he was. Years and years of guilt and grief washed away because of the goodness of God. How relieved they must have been to find their beloved brother not only alive, but thriving under the protection and promotion of the Lord. How awesome is God to place Joseph in the exact place and time to be able to restore his own people during a time of lack?! He ALWAYS has a plan to help us in our time of need!
God can always take a situation meant for evil and not only restore, but bless for His good above and beyond what we could ask or think. We serve a mighty God Whose hand is MORE than able to lift you up out of any pit and place you right where He wants you to be, blessed, healthy and whole in every area of your life. No matter what kind of situation you may be in today, don't give up. Keep speaking your victory in faith, because God has a plan for you and it is one of VICTORY!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)