Our God is a Covenant God - Part 3

God planned to bring us into a relationship as His covenant people!

He designed two different covenants.

1. The Old Covenant established with Israel on Mount Sinai
2. The New Covenant established on Calvary and fulfilled on the day of Pentecost.

Each one of these covenant fulfilled a specific purpose in God's plan. So did God make a mistake in establishing the Old Covenant? NO! It was absolutely indispensable for working out His purposes.

If you read Galations 4:22-26,31, here Paul compared the Old Covenant to Ishmael, which was dependent upon the flesh and the will of man and the New Covenant he compared to Isaac, which was based upon faith and the quickening power of the Holy Spirit.

The Old Covenant God established with Israel was totally dependent upon man's obedience to the Law. He revealed the Law and His commandments through Moses, then He told Israel, 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.' (Jeremiah 7:23)

But you know, it was impossible for man in his sinful state to keep the Law and obey all of the commandments God had given him. Even before Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the tablets, the people had created a golden calf and were worhipping it!

Israel disobeyed and the covenant with God was broken! Through their disobedience 'they limited the Holy One of Israel '(Psalms 78:41).

Why would God establish a covenant that was totally insufficient for freeing them from the bondage of sin???

God's purpose for establishing the law under the Old Covenant was to convince man of the awfulness of sin...it's misery...it's bondage into slavery! The Law was given to reveal to man his total inability to save himself and his need for a Saviour! (Galatians 3:19-20).

You see the Old Covenant was only in preparation.....a foreshadowing of the New Covenant which God would establish as an everlasting covenant, which would not be broken!!!

to be continued.....

Our God is a Covenant God - Part 2

What I've learnt
To have a clear understanding of this powerful covenant, I need to understand fully the type of covenant God has made with us and what it means to enter into a covenant.

A step back in history
It has been interesting going back in history to understand the significance of entering into a blood covenant.
The rites of blood covenanting was and is still being practised in some parts of the world. In Syria for example, when two men enter this covenant, their relatives and neighbours are called to witness the sealing of this blood-covenant relationship, write down their declarations regarding the covenant in duplicate......one paper for each of them. This declaration is signed by both of the men and several witnesses.
One of the men entering into the covenant takes a sharp lancet and opens the vein in the other's arm. Into this opening, he inserts a quill through which he sucks the blood of his friend. The blade is then carefully wiped on one of the covenant papers. The other friend does exactly the same thing.
The two friends take an oath before all witnesses: 'We are brothers in a covenant made before God;who deceiveth the other,him will God deceive.' Each blood stained covenant record is folded and placed in a small case, about an inch square, that is worn around the neck or bound upon the arm as a token of their covenant relationship.
Now in the Bible days,blood covenanting was also practiced between two families or two tribes. A family that was weak in a particular area and strong in a another, would enter into a blood covenant with a family that possessed strengths they lacked. Terms of conditions were discussed, covenant representatives were chosen and a site was chosen where the families could witness the sealing of the covenant.
The covenant cut was made down the spine of the animal selected as the blood sacrifice. The two halves were set opposite each other, creating a walkway of blood between the two halves.
The two representatives,in full view of the two families, took off their coats and exchanged them. Their coats represented their authority and stood for who they were. With this exchange of coats each rep. was saying, 'Iam giving you all that I am and my authority.' then, each representative took off his weapon belt and they exchanged weapons. As each one did this he was saying, 'Iam giving you my strength. Your enemies are mine. I will stand with you, even unto death.'
Then each rep. walked through the path of blood twice and stopping in the middle together and saying out loud 'Even as this animal has died, I will stand with you even in the midst of death.'

The Tie Between Covenant Friends Is stronger Than That of Natural Birth.
Following this swearing or taking an oath to keep the terms of the covenant, the covenant cut was made in the wrist of each rep. The two wrists were joined with a cord so their blood would be mingled. Their arms were raised so all could see the blood running down their arms. Then they would make promises to one another.
At this point of the ceremony, each family took on the other's name saying....'Your family is now my family. Your ways are my ways. My strengths are your strengths.'
After the covenant has been sealed with blood, the families share a meal together. They shared bread and wine.
This type of blood-covenant relationship was deeper and meant more than being born of the same mother! It was to last for eight generations.
This was the type of covenant that bound David and Jonathan together....1 Samuel 18:1-4 and 1 Samuel 20:13-17).

So what is a covenant?
The Greek word for covenant means 'a contract; a will.' Our covenant with God is the 'title deed' to our inheritance. It is a contract....a legal binding agreement...between us and God.

Our God is a Covenant God - Part 1

I am reading a book called 'God's Covenant Annointing-The Title Deed Of Your Inheritance' by Morris Cerullo. Heavy stuff but powerful!!!I know my tiny mind sometimes cannot comprehend the mysteries of God. I've had to go back over chapters - read it s-l-o-w then move on!!!
I'm hoping that each day (when I have time to get on the computer), I will reflect on my journey through this book.
Cerullo says...'The majority of Christians today have not taken possession of the 'Title Deed' of their inheritance. It has been bought and paid for. It belongs to them as legal heirs in the Kingdom of God. But, because of a lack of knowledge, they have not taken hold of it and are living as spiritual 'paupers', when God has planned for them to be priests and kings!

Not knowing their legal rights in the covenant they have entered into with God, through Christ, when Satan tries to afflict their bodies, rob them of their finances, and attack their families; they sit back with their hands folded in defeat, thinking there is nothing they can do.

Not knowing or understanding the full significance of the blood covenant they have entered into with Christ, many Christians are living their lives in a weakened condition.'
Hosea 4:6 says 'my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.'

Desperate Prayer

Only the passionate and the inspired dare to become carriers of God's fire. Tommy Tenney

MIRACULOUS MULTIPLICATION

I was blessed by this reading this morning-thought I'd share it.


"This is the Season for MIRACULOUS MULTIPLICATION"
As the situation on Wall Street recently developed, many Americans became nervous about their finances and their future. The foundations of financial security are now shaking.
The kingdom of this world functions with a system of mathematics that is based on the equations of natural addition and multiplication. This system draws its data from what can only be seen and understood. God's Kingdom invades what is known and violates the rules of natural addition and multiplication with "miraculous multiplication."

Miraculous Multiplication Changes Remote Places
One of the most profound narratives in the Word is the feeding of the 5,000 people. In Mark 6, Jesus takes what amounts to a kid's lunch and turns it into a miraculous feast for a crowd many believe was in excess of 20,000 people (when you take in account the women and children who were also present that day).
"Jesus saw the huge crowd as He stepped from the boat, and He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So He began teaching them many things. Late in the afternoon His disciples came to Him and said, 'This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.'" Mark 6:34-36

These people had been following Jesus for hours and made no provision for an extended outing. Have you noticed that our greatest needs sometimes surface in the most remote and resourceless places? That was what happened in Mark 6. There were no backpacks filled with camping supplies or stores nearby from which to buy food. People had been following Jesus across the countryside. The place was remote and the need was overwhelming.
The disciples saw the need of this immense crowd of people and provided their own solution. They said to Jesus, "Send the crowds away..." In other words, "We are tired and hungry and our patience is thin; make this problem go away." But Jesus invited the disciples to participate in a miracle that He was about to set in motion.

Miraculous Multiplication Begins With What We Have Now
In verse 37, "Jesus said, 'You feed them.' 'With what?' they asked. 'We'd have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!'"
This is natural addition and multiplication speaking. "With what?" is a phrase that is spoken when we take a look at our remote place and our lack of visible resources and assume that the source and supply for our miracle is only what we can see.

Then Jesus asks a question in verse 38, "'How much bread do you have?' He asked. Go and find out.' They came back and reported, 'We have five loaves of bread and two fish.'"
Do you have a remote and resourceless place in your life? Has your retirement fund taken a dive? Is your marriage in a challenging season? Are the partners in your ministry diminishing? Are you unsure about the next step in your life? Maybe you find yourself in a remote place and the little resource you have seems ridiculous to meet your current need.

Miraculous multiplication begins with what we have now. There were thousands of hungry people in this remote place. The disciples went out to see how much food they had to work with. They came back with only two fish the size of sardines and five loaves of bread the size of muffins. This was all the disciples could find among all these people!

Verse 39-44, "Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward Heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, He kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed from those loaves!"

Miraculous Multiplication Brings Shouts of Astonishment and Joy
If you do the math on how many groups of 50 and 100 there were within all these people, it's not unrealistic to conclude that it would take several hours to distribute this miraculous meal. Can you imagine the cheers of excitement as the miracle begins to sink in? This was not a single moment of miraculous multiplication; it went on and on.

When we begin to live in the environment of miraculous multiplication, we will hear what must have echoed across the fields that day: shouts of astonishment and joy at what God was doing.
There is coming a season when these sounds of joy will be heard in those who do not yet know the love of God. God will miraculously multiply provision within His Church and then move into the streets where supernatural evangelism will take place.
Can you imagine what would happen in our cities if miracles of miraculous multiplication began to take place in the town square? God's goodness is our best advertisement for His Kingdom. The Word tells us that it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance.

Miraculous Multiplication is Waiting in Heaven...Look Up!
There are two postures we can choose when we find ourselves in remote and resourceless places:
1. WE CAN CHOOSE TO LOOK DOWN. Jesus told the disciples to feed the people. Like the disciples we can look down at the kid's lunch in our hands and ask, "With what?" and only see our lack in comparison with the impossible need before our eyes.

2. WE CAN CHOOSE TO LOOK UP. Jesus modeled a different posture - He looked up. In Mark Chapter 6, Jesus took the lunch, held it up to Heaven, blessed it and then began to give it away. Jesus reached up and away from that remote and resourceless place and touched Heaven.

Our provision is not what we hold in our hands. Our provision is not what the current situation on Wall Street reveals. Our provision is waiting in Heaven to be laid hold of and pulled back into our lives. Everything we are and everything we need exists in and around God's Throne.
If we believe our provision is only here amidst the current signs of doom and disaster, then we will reach towards that limited resource. God is asking us to take our finances, our broken bodies and our failed relationships and raise them towards Heaven and choose to bless them. The blessing of a raised need connects that need with the glory of God.

His glory is what transforms the little we have into an overflowing abundance. Once our need has touched the hem of Heaven's garment, we then pull down that transformed need back to earth with the glory of Heaven upon it. While the kid's lunch is still in our hands, not yielded to God, it can only remain a lunch and not a miraculous feast.
We need God for miracles in remote places that seem like dead ends. The Church can live in fear like the world, or she can raise what she has to Heaven and bless it - expecting our loving Father to send the little we have back to earth - transformed by the glory of God and ready for a supernatural transformation.

Today, take the need you have, no matter how small your resource may be, and raise it to Heaven and choose to bless what you have. Ask God to touch your need as it is raised to His Throne. Then bring your need back into your remote and resourceless place and begin to give it away. Heaven's touch on what you have is never to possess, but to release. What you give away will begin to multiply into a new and on-going provision.
Each time you sense fear trying to raise itself up, say this in the face of that fear:
"I have raised this circumstance to Heaven and God has touched my need. I am pulling down from Heaven a miraculous multiplication of what I have. I am expecting a miracle in a place that the world says is impossible. I am believing that with God all things are possible - even turning a kid's lunch into a feast of miraculous multiplication."

Written by:
Garris ElkinsLiving Waters ChurchEmail: info@livingwatersmedford.org
About Garris: Garris Elkins serves as Lead Pastor of the Living Waters Church in Medford, Oregon. His ministry, both nationally and internationally, is to strengthen and encourage the Church through teaching and prophetic ministry. Prior to coming to Oregon, Garris was based in Berlin, Germany, where he helped nurture and develop Eastern European church leaders. Garris has been married to his wife, Jan, for 34 years and they have two grown children.

Published in:
The ElijahList & ElijahRain magazine http://www.elijahlist.com/