Week 2 – Day 11
Dear Friend,
Living in the United States in the 21st Century the term “covenant” seems outdated and is reserved for marriage ceremonies, but the word “covenant” is a powerful force that drives our relationship with God. You see, in Biblical times, tribes needed each other to survive. While one group were strong warriors, other people had the supply of natural resources to keep those warriors alive. These tribes would “cut covenant”, meaning that what they possessed would now belong to the other and vice versa, which if broken could result in the complete destruction of their entire people. These tribes then became unconquerable to their enemies! They shared strengths, which made up for any weakness in the tribe. You are in a covenant with God. It may take time to understand all that means, but the easiest way to explain it is that you are now invincible with God because His power makes up for any insufficiency on your side.
God is a “covenant-keeping” Father! He made a covenant with you when you accepted His salvation. Nothing will deter God from keeping all of the promises that He made. No matter what comes against you, this truth is universal and can be depended upon. Add to covenant the word “Father” and His investment explodes exponentially. Not only does He have the right, promise and ability to be there for you, but He has the powerful love that drives a parent, as well.
Now learning to believe these truths is another thing completely.
We are 21st Century beings, we watch people step out of covenant all the time. People take each other to court over business deals, end marriages after a matter of months and even abandon their own decision to serve God because it “doesn’t work”. Yet in the midst of all of this free-for-all promises, God never changes. The moment a person turns around and repents, He is standing there arms wide open showering all His promises, seeming to defend and protect them once more. The truth is, His protection and defense never stopped, the person actually walked away from the promises and made the decision to have the benefits stay untouched—but the promises continued to be fulfilled with or without them utilizing them.
Have you ever heard a story of an heiress running away from her family and their wealth? Did the wealth stop being hers? Did it fail to exist because she was living in poverty? God’s Word will be invincible, whether or not you accept it. It will still be affecting change all over the world and setting people free, whether or not you believe it can work for you. Why? The reason is simple, it is called “covenant”.
When God says, “I will” He must bring it to pass or He would cease to be God. There is none greater than Him so He actually says that He swears by Himself. Yet the whole covenant is based on an unequal love for you (not on your love for Him). He actually just wants to give you everything that Jesus bought and paid for you to have on that cross.
As you begin to read about God’s love and promises for you, settle this fact once and for all: He loves you and His promises cannot be untrue or He ceases to be God! That is an amazing truth that you can count on forever. God is God and He is on your side. The most powerful entity in the entire universe that created you is intensely focused on your good and success, just because He chose it completely apart from your works. You did not have to do anything to earn it! WOW!
Meditate on that today! God is YOUR covenant-keeping Father!
Love,
Jen
Meditation:
Ephesians 2:8-9 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)
8 For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved ([a]delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God;
9 Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law’s demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.]
Journal:
What promises have you found within God’s covenant that are game-changers for the way you will approach life from now on? When you begin to consider that His promises are essential to His being God, the fear of failing slips away. How can you change your relationship with God from “trying not to let Him down” to a covenant relationship with your Father who delights in you?
