Hello Dear Reader,
I am pleased that you are here again to fellowship. In case you are new here, we welcome you and wish that you enjoy this ride with us. As you know, we are experiencing severe turbulent times in the world with the COVID-19 pandemic. There is so much uncertainty about what the latter part of this year or even the future will be but we only keep holding unto hope and faith. We recently finished the 7 days of prayers against the pandemic. Yes, the instruction was for us to pray for 7 days. After the 7 days, we have been expecting speedy answers, supernatural healing, reduction in the number of cases, etc but it seems like our prayers was a scam and nothing is happening. Then we keep singing the song “Covenant keeping God, there is no one like you” and I ask myself is He really the Covenant keeping God? If He is then what happened to the covenant of long life in Genesis 6. What happened to the covenant never to destroy the world in Genesis 8-9, what happened, what happened and what happened. So is He who we really say He is? This among others is the reason why we have decided to to talk more about the COVENANT with God this month of April. To begin this topic, our focus today will be on STAYING IN THE COVENANT. I pray that by the end of this lock down season, we all will come out strong to the Glory of God.
What is a Covenant?
From a Legal Perspective, a covenant is an agreement to do or not to do a particular thing. It is a pact or a binding agreement between two or more parties. Sometimes, the word covenant is used to refer to a clause in an agreement. From a biblical perspective, a covenant is an agreement between God and his people, in which God makes promises to his people and, usually, requires certain conduct from them. In the Old Testament, God made agreements with Noah, Abraham, and Moses. To Noah, He promised that He would never again destroy the Earth with a flood. He promised Abraham that He would become the ancestor of a great nation, provided Abraham went to the place God showed him and sealed the covenant by circumcision of all the males of the nation. To Moses, God said that the Israelites would reach the Promised Land but must obey the Mosaic law. In the New Testament, God promised salvation to those who believe in Jesus. So we can literally say Christianity revolves around Covenants.
How do I enter into a Covenant with God.
Entering into a covenant is very easy. In legal contracts, 2 parties agree to do something. For there to be a binding contract, there must be offer, acceptance and most times a consideration. The person who offers the contract (the offeror) expects you to accept and sometimes gives you something in exchange for your acceptance to show how serious he is. The moment there is acceptance, the contract becomes binding. A breach of contract occurs where one party performs his part and the other party does not perform his part. This most often forms a ground for litigation in court especially when the breach of Contract can be proved. This is the same in our relationship with God. In order to get into a covenant with God, God has made the offer by giving us His son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins so that anyone who believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). He made the offer and gave consideration by sending his son to die on the cross so we can see how serious He is in bringing us to Himself. He is just waiting for us to accept so there can be a binding contract. The offer clause states thus “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, i will come in and dwell with Him and He with me” Revelations 3:20. In order for you to accept, you just have to say yes and how do you say yes? “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.“ Romans 10:9.
How do I stay in the Covenant.
Staying in the covenant is all about keeping your own part of the deal so as to avoid a possible law suit for breach of contract. Its funny how most times when we get into covenants (contracts) in everyday life, we always strive to make sure that we don’t break the covenant because we don’t want to disappoint the other person but when we make a covenant with God, its very easy to break it. Is it because we can see human contracting parties but cannot see God? However, there are some contracts we enter here on earth that binds us even though we don’t see the offeror. For example when driving, we obey traffic laws. A police man is not always there to check that we obey the laws but because we are citizens of that country, we are bound by the laws of the country so whether someone is watching or not, we try to be on the right part in order not to get into accidents which will cause us more. Sometimes though there are CCTV Cameras planted in strategic areas on the road but we do not even see them. Its just when we have broken the laws that we see the CCTV cameras.
Most times, we take advantage of the fact that God is a merciful God and even when we break the contact, we are confident that God will forgive us so we take our chances with Him. After all, we sing the song “covenant keeping God there is no one like you” and we are indeed convinced that He is the Covenant keeping God. Even though He is a faithful God, we cannot take advantage of His faithfulness to mess around. You cannot be married and decide to cheat on your husband because you know he will never cheat on you. But when you eventually cheat, you loss your spouse’s trust and He cannot trust you again or sometimes, he may even restrict some of the benefits you receive from him. From the moment we accept Jesus, we get into a covenant and are bound by every clause in this covenant therefore we cannot try to cheat Him because He is faithful. The clauses are written in a book called the Bible. Some of these covenant terms for your reference are found in Genesis 6, Genesis 12-17, Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 28, Psalms 91, Luke 22 and many others.
Therefore in order for you to stay in the Covenant, you have to maintain a covenant walk with God especially in this season of uncertainty in the world because of the COVID 19 pandemic. The best way to do this is:
- Constant meditation on the word of God (Terms of the contract written in the bible).
- Look at the benefits of keeping your part of the contract (for example Deuteronomy 28:1-14)
- Remember that the benefits may be withdrawn and you will be sued for breach of contract eventually. That is when you go against God, all the benefits will be withdrawn from you and plagues will come on you.
- Maintain accountability (Tell others about this contract so that you are constantly reminded of the need to fulfill your part.
Having said all these, I urge you to join us in this deep study on this topic so that you do not fall out of the covenant and live in misery. For a start, i will leave you with an assignment. Please read the following scriptures and share in the comment section what you think the covenant of Long life is and how you can stay in that covenant through out the COVID 19 pandemic: Psalms 91, Psalms 139, Deuteronomy 5:33, Exodus 23:25-26, 1st Peter 3:10.
Until we meet again, stay tuned.