Living in God's Covenant (Part 1)

In the world today there is so much anxiety, there is so much worry and the need to meet up with the very fast dynamism of the present world. There is also the worries of what to eat and drink, how to ensure that there is a shelter over ones head, fending for the family and those who wait on you to meet their never ending needs and I can just go on with what the worries of life holds in store. But one truth that we as God's children need to keep on rediscovering in our lives is that we hold a covenant with our Father in heaven that far outweigh the responsibilities and the so many issues we have to contend with.

In order to really have an understanding of what we possess as children of God in form of what we carry with us as covenant from our heavenly Father, there is the need to have an in-depth understanding of what a covenant it, and then look into God's living word to know what God's covenants are and how we can enjoy the covenant of God. 

A covenant is defined as: "a written agreement, a common pledge," another dictionary defines it as "a legal agreement, often an agreement to give money," another definition says, "a legal agreement in which someone promises to pay a person or organization an amount of money regularly." This third definition is the one I will really like to relate with. When we consider this definition critically, we will note the word legal, that is to say a covenant is binding on the one who has made it. 

Another word within that definition that I want us to consider is the word promise. The dictionary gives the meaning of the word promise as follow: "it is a pledge, an assurance, a ground for expectation." It is also defined as, "to tell someone you will definitely do or provide something, or that something will definitely happen." And lastly, "a promise is a declaration that one will give or do something; signs for future excellence."

With all of this foundation properly laid, I will like to define covenant as "a legal agreement in which someone promises to pay a person or an organisation an amount of money regularly which is a ground for expectation and a sign for future excellence." Then moving forward in my own definition of covenant, I will like to slot in God in the place of someone, then my name (and yours as you wish) in the place of a person or organisation, and then blessing in the place of money. So we'll see what the definition looks like and be able to understand what God's covenant is. The new definition of covenant is as follows: "a legal agreement in which God promises to pay Aderinsola Obasa blessings regularly which is a ground for expectation and a sign for future excellence." 

This might appear a little funny, but this is the truth of God. The understanding of God's covenant with us should be about the realization that we have been promised by God, blessing on a regular basis which is a legal agreement that God has made with us, which is binding to Him to fulfill and so He will never fail on those covenants and thus they are a ground for expectation and a sign for excellence. 

When you are convinced within you that you have a covenant with God, then I congratulate you because your future is bright, you have every reason to be joyful that no matter what today birth forth for you, still your future is good. You have a covenant from God, binding to Him that gives you a basis for expecting an excellent future.

Moving forward, we will look at some of the covenants God made with mankind through Noah and Abraham.  

Genesis 12:1-3

The Lord had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 

I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Genesis 15: 1

After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

"Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.

Genesis 17:1-8

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."

Abram fell face down, and God said to him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be father to many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for you will father to many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."

Genesis 8:20-9:1-3

The Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as i have done.

'As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.'"

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beast of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything."

The covenant God made with all men through the sacrifice of Noah is a covenant of abundance. I choose not to use the past tense because this covenant like all other covenants of God is still active and effective and binding to God till today as long as you remain a child of God and you keep God's covenant, living in obedience to the laws and requirements of God. 

God said "Never again will He curse the ground because of man," and if this be so, as a covenant child of God the ground should yield it fruits to you. A covenant child of God is not expected to experience hard toil as the curse on the ground has been lifted for them. Again a covenant child of God has been promised a fruitful life of increase, and so you are expected to grow and increase from strength to strength and glory to glory in the fruitfulness of God. And then your feeding has been taken care of as God has given everything to you as food. This is your ground for expectation from God, a sign for future excellence for you, promised to you by God, which is a legal agreement and binding on Him to fulfill. 

The second covenant we are considering among the very many covenants we have as God's children is the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants after him. The Lord promised to bless Abraham and his descendants after him so much that they will be blessing outpouring. They will not just be blessed enough for their lives' needs, but will overflow in blessing that people around them can tape from and also be blessed. No wonder the house of Portiphar prospered under the care of Joseph and Laban learnt by divination that he was blessed because of the presence of Jacob in his life (Genesis 30:27). These people where simply living in God's covenant. They were so blessed that the world could see and speak about it. When there was so much drought in the land, Isaac planted on that same land and reaped a hundredfold of what he planted because the Lord blessed him. There was a covenant of blessing on his life that God made with his father Abraham and was binding on God to keep. 

These covenants and many more covenants of God are still effective till date and binding on God to keep. They remain a legal agreement which has formed a basis or ground for expectation and a sign for future excellence for generations long past and generations yet to come because we serve a God that never changes. In the my next blog post, we will consider the criteria the Lord has given for Him enter into covenant with man and what give us the eligibility to claim and enjoy the covenant of God. 

In order to have an in-depth study on the topic you can get the ebook "The Covenant of God" by Aderinsola Obasa by clicking the link: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/300350