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God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
—Numbers 23:19
Did you know that the Bible is your covenant or contract with God? Or that through your adoption into the Kingdom of God you have been given a divine inheritance? Did you know that God desires for you to prosper and be in good health even as your soul prospers? It's all in His covenant!
A covenant is a legally binding agreement between two or more parties to solidify a commitment. In order for a covenant to be valid, all parties must not only agree to it, but they must also perform their individual duties as outlined in the covenant.
There's a fascinating story in 2 Samuel 9 that highlights the power of a covenant. King David discovers that Mephibosheth, the crippled son of Jonathan, is still alive. When David offers to restore to Mephibosheth all the land that belonged to Mephibosheth's grandfather Saul and that he would always eat at David's table, Mephibosheth says, "What would you have to do with such a dead dog's body?" He doesn't see himself as worthy of this. But David replies that he made a covenant with promises to Jonathan a long time ago, and Mephibosheth is the beneficiary, no matter how he feels about himself. And so Mephibosheth came with his little clubbed feet and sat and ate at the king's table.9>
God's Word is full of covenants for our lives. All God's benefits of the blessing, such as healing, deliverance, salvation, financial increase, wholeness, and fulfillment, are available because of covenant. If you don't understand this, you'll never be able to possess what God has promised you. We receive God's promises by the covenant, and we activate the blessing of God through our faith in the covenant.
But we need to understand that just as Mephibosheth was the beneficiary of a previous covenant, so we are recipients of the covenant between Jesus and God. We're heirs of the covenant. Our participation is to receive. We are not qualified to make a covenant with God because of our imperfections. Only the unconditional love and the blood of Jesus makes us worthy to come and partake at the King's table. What we receive from God is not because of us—we were not worthy—it is for us via God's covenant.
God says via covenant, "I loved you while you were yet a sinner. Come to me with your crippled feet, all your messed-up issues in life. I've made a covenant over you, and you can receive it."
Related Texts: Genesis 12:2–3; 17:7; Malachi 3:7–8; John 8:32; Galatians 3:29; Ephesians 3:20; Hebrews 8:6 |