Mar 30, 2010

Dear friends:

The message of the "covenant" and all its implications is one of the most neglected and little-known among Christians today, yet nothing could be more important.

In recent years, I have become more aware of God's covenant and have given it extensive study. Once you do, as Kenneth Copeland says below, "your life will never be the same again." It is true. My life will never be the same.

A covenant is a contract, but much deeper. It is God's contract with the human race, signed in His own blood. What could be more important? Yet tragically, most humans are totally ignorant about it, it is rarely taught in churches, and most people do not know how to enter into that covenant with their Creator.

Be blessed,

Jim
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Dig Into Your Covenant
Kenneth Copeland

This cup is the new covenant [ratified and established] in My blood.
– 1 Corinthians 11:25

New Covenant. It's a familiar phrase to most of us. But do we really know what it means?

If we did, every one of us would be faith giants. Instead of struggling, "trying" to believe the promises of God, we'd be like Abraham. "Strong in faith...fully persuaded that, what God has promised, he is able to perform!" (Rom. 4:20-21).

That's the kind of confidence that welled up in Abraham when God cut the covenant with him. It was an inferior covenant to ours, made with the blood of animals. Yet it transformed a doubting Abraham into the very father of faith. Why? Because, Abraham understood the significance of it.

He knew that entering into the Covenant of Blood meant you were totally and forever giving yourself away to someone else. Once you did it, nothing would ever be exclusively yours again. All that you were, all that you had or ever would have became the equal property of your covenant partner.

During the covenant ceremony in Abraham's day, the partners exchanged coats, each one giving their authority to the other. They exchanged weapons as a way of saying, "Your enemies are now my enemies. I'll fight your fights as if they were my own." They walked through the blood of slain animals, pronouncing their loyalty to one another, even to the death.

When God made covenant with him, Abraham knew there was no longer any room for doubt. God had proven how intensely He desired to be God to him. He'd given him every thing He had and bound Himself to Abraham in a relationship that could not be dissolved. Abraham comprehended the gravity of a covenant agreement. It convinced him once and for all that God's promises could be trusted. It became an anchor to his soul.

Do you want to be a faith giant like Father Abraham? Then dig into the covenant you have with God. Study it in the Word. Let the Holy Spirit show you what really happened when Jesus became the sacrifice that ratified your covenant with God. Let Him show you what it meant when He gave you His Name (John 16:23), His authority (Matt. 28:18-20), His armor and weapons (Eph. 6:10-17).

Once you realize what Jesus actually meant when He said, "This is the New Covenant established in My blood," your life will never be the same again.

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 10:1-23

WHAT LOVE . . AS ONLY GOD COULD GIVE

Donna,
Beautiful, uplifting pics!!

Donna, such beautiful pictures and promises. I love this piece on the Covenant. I will certainly dig into the covenant now and ask for Holy Spirit to highlight God's covering. Thanks so very much.

Oh, T/Sue and Cheryl Ann . . any moment now, in Heaven, we'll get to gaze on our GOD Who shed His Blood, and understand fully the Majesty of His Grace as our covering.

We will worship and adore our God and thank Him forever for His New Testament Covenant . . .

Isn't it wonderful we may even now go into the Holy of holies because of our God's Ultimate Sacrifice.

Yes, and amen!!! GOD has declared us just and victorious through the blood of Christ, yea, The LAMB of GOD Sacrificed and Supremely satisfying our GOD. HE is our GOD and THE LION OF JUDAH.

Thank you, Donna! I couldn't agree more with Jim Bramlett!!
My first pastor taught extensively on this from the book, The Bible In Light of Our Redemption. It really opened my understanding to the faithfulness of God in a covenant relationship and its full meaning. Really amazing!

For a really interesting and insightful study on the 8 Covenants of the Bible, check out this study by Arnold Fruchtenbaum. It's really, really good and very thourogh. It covers all of the Covenants from the Edenic Covenant, through the New Covenant:

You will learn that there are 2 types of Covenants, "Conditional", and "Unconditional", which ones are which, and why, and what that means for us.

The Eight Covenants of the Bible:

http://www.arielm.org/dcs/pdf/mbs021m.pdf

Enjoy!