What we call "relationship" today in our culture, the Scripture calls covenant. Back in the days when God's prophets and apostles received His Word, the modern idea of a being "in and out of a relationship" would have sounded rather strange to most people. You were either part of the tribe or you were not. You were either part of the covenant or you were not.
Now here's the key to covenant being a blessing, not a curse. It's covenant minus the control (forcing of one's personality, will, etc. onto another). Most people today cringe at the idea of over-committed relationships simply because they have been burned by a controling friend, relative, fellow student, boyfriend, girlfriend, co-worker, pastor, fellow church goer. The list goes on and on. We can all do just fine without people who take advantage (knowingly or not) of other people who happen to be softer, more friendly or complient. People have junk, it's true. Therefore it's our responsibility to be aware of and protect our boundaries - even with the closest people in our lives!
But this doesn't mean we ditch the Biblical revelation of covenant. God's idea of covenant comes as part of the greatest covenant of all - life itself! It has nothing to do with our idea of controlling relationships. It in fact is God's highest form of freedom because covenant was always within the context of warfare. You don't need covenant if you don't understand the cosmic warfare. Covenant was the greatest form of liberty a powerful royal could offer to a weaker partner. It guaranteed your life, the freedom of your movement and your property. Sounds good to me!
Fast forward to Abraham.
When God rolled up his sleeves and decided it's time for Him to move back in and claim some ownership on the planet, he sought for a man with whom he could cut a covenant. It was really the only way for the Lord to legally re-enter man's domain.
The heavens are the heavens of the LORD, but the earth He has given to the sons of men. Ps. 115:14
That wasn't just a "relationship" God initiated with Abraham, it was covenant - bloody, gory, real-life covenant. You can read about it here:
Gen. 15:7 And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.8 And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.
Today we have this very loosey-goosey, sanitized idea of "relationships", which is really an 18th century [rather modern] term somewhat reflecting the Western idea of contractual based association, with much less committment and of course with much less consequences in a case of default. Failure and the right to fail without losing your life is an important part of liberty and free societies. Totalitarian and primitive societies have very low tolerance toward faliure, which is why they never experiement and progress. The cities of refuge in the culture of the Hebrews was an incredibly sophisticated and the prototype of the modern system of allowing people to experience faliure and still get another chance in life.
So I'm not against faliure, neither is God. What is grace if not allowing someone to fail without striking them dead?
At the same time, the idea of no-committement relationships is not Biblical.
The same can be said of concepts such as "friendship" and "happiness". As someone pointed out, back in the days when the founders penned the Constitution of the United States, the pursuit of happiness was the pursit of honor, goodness and nobility. It had nothing to do with the hedonistic nature of what so many people view today as happiness.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to make this over-dramatic, pompous and self-righteous to a point where it becoms a turn off. But I don't want to feel guilty about trying to raise the bar, either.
Consider the following:
Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 NASB
I want to encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ today - you and I are fully capable of cutting the covenant of the Lord with him and with one another. It's the only way the glory of God can rest once again in the earth, which is His footstool. He's looking for a Body which is one in covenant, for him to fill with his presence, power, healing and manifest wisdom. It was always meant to be real, tangible and expressed through each and everyone who is part of the Body.
This is a different view of what "church" and "Christianity" were ment to be. A far cry from the pre-Reformation formula of "a holy man in a holy building, performing a holy ritual on a holy day of the week." This is a call to return to organic, covenantal based, Kingdom centric, Christ-like life. [Nothing wrong with live, vibrant expressions of the Body which involves "services" as we know them].
The idea of being "one spirit with the Lord" is a covenantal Hebraic concept. You can never grasp the heart of what the Scriptures mean through the mindest of the Greek thought. All Scripture was given within the context of the Hebraic worldview. Covenant has a pretty significant place in Hebraic thought. All and any relationship God has ever had with man is based on covenant. There are not kind-of-sort-of covenants. You're either in or you're not.
But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 1 Corinthians 6:17 NASB
The idea of sharing a cup and bread is a Hebraic covenantal concept.
1 Cor. 10:16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.
Let's press forward and continue to pursue the things that are real - Christ in us, the hope of glory!
"Ye shall keep my statutes...thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed" Leviticus 19:19
It's possible to have mixed seed in us - to say we believe one thing and yet at the same time another thought system to be working actively, sabotaging what we say we believe otherwise. Such is the case with Christians when we say we believe in being victorious in Christ, yet subtly we act as if we're the minority, we're losing and we're never going to rise to our best. These seeds of failure might have been sown in us by the world or even through those who profess to be teachers of the Word and had chosen to propagate failure as spiritual.
To say you are a son or a daughter of the King by definition means you are declaring a higher and better way of being than the desperate world around you. You and I are supposed to think and act as success.
When exactly do you begin to feel successful? Naturally, most people begin to "feel" successful when they actually achieve success, not while they are trying to get there.
Success to a businessman or a business woman means closing the deal. For a doctor, it means a patient sent home healthy after being treated for a life-threatening disease. For a student, it means a diploma received at graduation. To this world, the evidence of success is the realized promise, not the promise itself.
Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded John as a prophet. Matthew 14:5
One of the reasons Satan hates it when governmental prophets are recognized
by those God sends them to, is because God's voice takes a tangible
position in the earth realm. Without the prophet, God's authority is
largely based on the Mosaic premise of the sovereignty of Scriptures.
Prophets take it a step further. They penetrate the barrier of human
affairs alienating us from the reality of the Kingdom and introduce
God's position on relevant moral issues.
Acts 28:5 However he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm.
Have you ever run into a situation where Satan succeeds in gaining access to you through a circumstance? Whether it's an accident, a wrong being done against you, slanderous campaign or a flat out robbery, we are not immune to Satan's attacks.
What can be really discouraging is that many of these things can happen to us while we're trying to serve others and do good. The apostle Paul was meaning good when a viper bit him and held fast to his hand. Joseph meant well while Potiphar's wife launched a campaign to discredit him. David meant well when he played for Saul and yet the schizophrenic king started throwing his spear against him.
"No one was able to answer Him a word..." Matthew 22:46
One of the things that has amazed me through the years as a preacher is how many people approach me with questions they expect me to have the answer for. For some people this might be flattering. To me it's about responsibility. Who am I to give someone advice about this or that? What makes me think I can give someone the competent counsel they need, based on the Bible? Thus, I really need to rely on the Lord's ability in and through me when it comes to helping others with their questions.
The Lord began to use me to preach the Word and lead a church at a very young age. I was trying to be of help to everyone who came to me. Many times it was hard, because people approached me with questions that were above my pay-grade. Thankfully, I found something very liberating early on into my ministry development. It's the power of saying "I don't know".
Not only we find ourselves humbled by Jesus when he asks us a question (see Mat. 22:46), but we must be humble before Him when others approach us with their difficult questions.
Posted by: Laurie Skipper
[All scriptures quoted from NASB unless otherwise noted.]
For some time now, I have not been able to get away from studying the book of Esther.
I have gone back to it time and time again. One of the things the
Holy Spirit has highlighted to me in this passage of scripture is the
working of the anti-Christ spirit - how
it worked then and now.
Anti-Semitic Spirit at Work
From the events recorded for us in Esther, we know that Haman hated Mordecai. Haman's
hatred seethed each time he would pass Mordecai and Mordecai would not
bow to him as everyone else did. Haman also knew why Mordecai would not
bow to him, which caused him to hate not only Mordecai but his people -
the Jews. Esther 3:6 tells us:
by George Bakalov For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ.
And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.2
Corinthians 1:20 (New International Version)
In poker, after a tense period of betting rounds, there comes a moment
when you have to flip all cards and see who has the best hand. Your hand
determines your future!
In real life we as Christians are given the privilege to approach the
'game' of life with Jesus Christ on our side. Unlike poker, once you
enter into a healthy, meaningful relationship with the living God,
chance has nothing to do with the kind of hand you hold. Your hand is
the sum total of what you choose to believe, think, apply and be in
life.
Jesus said that the road that leads to life is full of trouble. Did you know that?
But the narrow gate and the road that lead to life are full of trouble. Only a few people find the narrow gate. Matt. 7:14 (GWORD)
The word used for 'trouble' here traditionally is translated “narrow”. A deeper study tells us that there are more meanings to it: “to crowd (literally or figuratively): — afflict, narrow, throng, suffer tribulation, trouble.”
Whichever way you look into it, the full meaning of the word doesn't convey a very pleasant picture.
What we call "relationship" today in our culture, the Scripture calls covenant. Back in the days when God's prophets and apostles received His Word, the modern idea of a being "in and out of a relationship" would have sounded rather strange to most people. You were either part of the tribe or you were not. You were either part of the covenant or you were not. 
"
Acts 28:5 However he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm.
Have you ever run into a situation where Satan succeeds in gaining access to you through a circumstance? Whether it's an accident, a wrong being done against you, slanderous campaign or a flat out robbery, we are not immune to Satan's attacks.
What can be really discouraging is that many of these things can happen to us while we're trying to serve others and do good. The apostle Paul was meaning good when a viper bit him and held fast to his hand. Joseph meant well while Potiphar's wife launched a campaign to discredit him. David meant well when he played for Saul and yet the schizophrenic king started throwing his spear against him.
One of the things that has amazed me through the years as a preacher is how many people approach me with questions they expect me to have the answer for. For some people this might be flattering. To me it's about responsibility. Who am I to give someone advice about this or that? What makes me think I can give someone the competent counsel they need, based on the Bible? Thus, I really need to rely on the Lord's ability in and through me when it comes to helping others with their questions.
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