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Our Covenant with God-Part I: The Foundation of Your Life in God

Covenant: An agreement or mutual undertaking between two or more parties, each binding himself to fulfill obligations.

The covenant that God has entered into with every born again believer is the foundation of our lives in God. It is the basis by which we come to know God, understand His ways and nature, receive from Him and walk in His will for us. I don't believe it's an overstatement to say that everything in our walk with God stems from the covenant agreement between God and the child of God. There is nothing more important nor more exciting to me in my life as a Christian than my covenant with God. It is the basis upon which all that I say and do and expect from God rests-it is my blessed assurance! And it should be so for every believer.

A Contract, You Say?

As the definition above states, a covenant is an agreement between two or more parties, each binding himself to fulfill obligations. Our covenant with God involves an agreement between God and the child of God. More than that, it is a contract between God and His people, laid out in the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, binding God to us and binding us to God. Hallelujah! Simply put: our covenant with God is the Word of God.

When you go to the Word of God, you should not look at it as a mere book, instead you should view it as God's contractual obligation, His commitment, to you. It's a powerful agreement born out of God's love for man and His desire to bless, protect, prosper, save and deliver mankind ultimately producing eternal life.

The thought that our covenant with God is a contract gives it validity and should produce a confident knowing in every believer that God has made a contract with you that He cannot break. Cannot break? Yes, cannot break. You see God, Himself, upholds every promise of God in the Word of God. In bible days, when someone entered into a covenant with another, the penalty for breaking that covenant, or breaching that contract, was death. It was very serious. Marriages and other covenant ceremonies were not mocked and taken lightly as they are in today's society. The entering into that covenant required the shedding of blood and the breaking of that covenant was rewarded by death. Think about how low the divorce rate would be today if we went back to those standards!

The same intensity represented in that time was the same seriousness and intensity that God had in mind when He entered into covenant with you and me.

For when God made promise [or covenant) to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself. Hebrews 6:13

God put Himself on the line to ensure that this covenant will be upheld for all eternity, and swore by himself, so that we could rest in knowing that we have a valid contract with Almighty God. After all, God's not planning on dying anytime soon.

It Takes Two

Just as it takes two willing, committed parties to make a successful marriage relationship, so likewise it takes two, God and you, to make the covenant of God work in your life. A covenant is an agreement between two or more parties, each binding himself to fulfill obligations. Just as we enter into our covenant with God, by being born again, expecting for God to fulfill His promises and perform His Word in our lives, we must also enter in being mindful of our part and obligations in the covenant agreement. Remember, it's a contract that we've entered into and each party has to fulfill its obligations in order for the contract to stand and remain valid. The good news is that we have the easy part!

In order to benefit from our covenant with God, we have the responsibility of obeying God's Word and keeping His commandments. That's all. When we do our part under the covenant, then God comes in and takes care of everything else -- your sin, your pain, your sickness and disease, your broken heart, your debt, your fears-everything! And all He is asking for in return is obedience. Why? Because He knows that the only way He'll be free to bless you, as He desires to do, is if you have met the conditions under the contract.

One of the greatest representations of our covenant with God is summed up in a portion of Scripture found in Deuteronomy 28, verses 1 through 14. Here we find the blessing of the Lord in full detail, but only if we meet the conditions: And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, [that's our part] that the Lord thy God will . . . [that's God's part]. (Deuteronomy 28:1) There is the pattern laid out for us: if we will, He will; if we will not, He cannot. Plain and simple, huh?

This exact pattern is what was laid out with the first man and woman that walked the face of the earth, Adam and Eve. God was committed to blessing them, lavishly I might add, and meeting their every need and desire. They were blessed. Their part was simply to abstain from eating from the tree of good and evil. One simple commandment. However, when they failed to fulfill their obligations under the agreement or covenant, God was hindered from fulfilling His commitment to them under the agreement. And notice what their end was:

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Genesis 2:16, 17

Did you notice the result of the breaking of covenant there? Death. And although Adam and Eve did not die physically at that moment, they died spiritually and were separated from God--from His covenant, His blessings, His protection, and His life. When you are cut off from the promises of God and separated from God through sin and disobedience, that is deathly existence.

Why? Because without God, you can do nothing. (John 15:5). Also Scripture teaches that those who are strangers from the covenants of promise are hopeless (Ephesians 2: 12) To not do your part in the covenant that we have with God is to open yourself up to a hopeless, empty, deathly existence. We must do our part!

Eternal in Scope

Of course God does not desert us when we sin and miss it, if He did then nobody could benefit from the covenant of God. That's why we have a Savior, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Hallelujah! However, our hearts should be set on obeying every command and pleasing the Father at all times. If you miss it, quickly repent and get right back on track. Living a life of obedience and repentance in this manner will ensure that you get the most out of your covenant with God, which is the foundation of our life in God. You cannot get anything from God outside of your covenant with God, except it comes by God's grace and mercy. But I'm referring to being able to go boldly to God in your time of need or desire and have confidence that you will receive whatever it is that you have been promised in the covenant. Those privileges are only afforded to those who are in covenant with God. Our covenant with God represents our password into the limitless blessings of God.

God has made a covenant available to anyone who wills to enter into it and receive what He has made available through the Word, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Enter in today to something eternal that will never end or fade away; God's Word is eternal and will never end or pass away (Mark 13:31).

Go to the Word of God with new eyes today seeing it as God's commitment to you and your foundation to a life of all that God has to offer. Meditate on the covenant promises and hear the Voice of the Covenant:

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people (Hebrews 8:10).

Scriptures for further study and meditation:
Hebrews 10:16
Psalm 119:89
Judges 2: 1
II Chronicles 6:14
Deuteronomy 7:9
Psalm 111:5