| December 2006 Rhema
Word... COVENANT PRAYER
LESSON - PAGE 4
And
so it was that in chapter 10, in a battle in
which the grandest miracle of the old testament
would be played out by the sun's standing still,
a coalition of 5 kings came to attack Gibeon,
"because it has made peace.with the children
of Israel." (It seems that the attraction of
enmity against any of Israel's allies is as old
as history.) What was God's response?
Did
He say "Serves you right! You got yourselves
in this mess because you didn't consult Me. Now
you'll get what you deserve"? No. Verse 8
says that the Lord assured Joshua that He, the
Lord, would fight the battle for Israel, and
deliver the enemy into their hands. The Lord
effectively said, "You're responding
appropriately to an obligation bound by a
covenant sworn to by My name, so I will honor
that covenant and here's what I'll do."
What
a gracious God we serve! He honors our covenant.
He never forgets its terms. He doesn't just
expect us to keep our end of the bargain, He not
only helps us to keep our end of the bargain, He
actually goes to bat for us and keeps the
covenant for us. Focus on this from Joshua's
experience.
_________________________
THE
COVENANT IN TITHING
_________________________
God
not only is party to a covenant ("It takes
three to get married") but He honors the
covenant with and for you. Now let's look at
another facet of covenants. God has some
covenants in place and invites you to receive the
blessings and benefits of the covenant.
There
are several such covenants. Let's look at one,
Malachi 3:10-11. We have a part to play in all
covenants and in this one, it is to bring our
tithes into God's storehouse. A storehouse in
those days housed grain. The application is that
your storehouse is where you receive your
spiritual nourishment, just as grain - a source
of physical nourishment - was kept in granaries
or storehouses. That's the term used in the
account of Joseph's storing up grain during the
seven years of plenty. So our part in this
covenant in Malachi is to faithfully bring in our
tithe to God's storehouse.
What
shall we receive in return?
Page Five
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