| December 2006 Rhema
Word... COVENANT PRAYER
LESSON - PAGE 6
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GOD'S
COVENANT BLESSINGS ARE UNCONDITIONAL
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In
Amos 9:13 we have the beautiful picture of
prosperity that is painted for God's covenant
people. "When the plowman shall overtake the
reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows
seed" describes blessings so great that Amos
compares them to land producing so quickly and so
richly that it is difficult to finish one cycle
before the next cycle begins. But if you will
read the previous chapters, you'll note a stark
picture of judgment and gloom. A list of sins
identifies the cause of their judgment.
(Similarly, Deut. 28 lists 3 times as many curses
for disobedience as blessings for obedience.)
Nevertheless,
the Lord ends the book with a promise of
restoration. In fact, one line from the very last
verse is of interest to us today, because God
promised "I will plant them in their land,
and no longer shall they be pulled up from the
land I have given them." That is still true
today, as Israel will never be displaced from the
land that God gave to Abraham's descendants.
This
covenant gives us our final definition. The
covenants that God enters into or offers anyone
are covenants that He keeps without any
conditional response on our part. The blessings
in Amos 9 reverses the Israelites fortunes in
Amos' day. When God made this covenant with
Abraham, the possession of the land was part of
the promise. But the fulfillment of the covenant
didn't rest on the Israelites' earning it by
fulfilling certain conditions. The fulfillment
was based on the unconditional blessing of God.
That immediately begs an explanation for the
judgments and curses that Israel endured and
suffered.
Those
came, not from God, but from the enemy. Israel
had stepped out of the covenant promise and
therefore protection, and so they became fair
game for the enemy. One result was that the
Israelites were taken into captivity. But even
that length of captivity was redemptive as you
will learn in the next course (Spiritual
Warfare). When we sin, we invite impediments to
the fulfillment of a covenant promise. The
blessings still linger. They're there. But they
can't reach us because we give the enemy
permission to erect walls to keep the blessings
out.
But
a gracious God "remembers" (this is a
human term, as God never forgets) and looks for
ways in which to fulfill His covenant promises.
God never forgets. And His promises are
unconditional. That's quite a thought to meditate
on. When you are faithful in the covenants that
we just did some activations on, you don't have
to ask God to fulfill His end of the bargain. He
will! (However, asking Him to fulfill His end of
the bargain is a prayer that He delights in and
welcomes. He loves to hear from His children any
time.)
Our
last point then - God keeps covenants not because
of what we do, but because His blessings are
unconditional.
Now
get ready to enter into covenant. Do you remember
what Moses went through in the wilderness with
the Lord with regard to answering the call to go
to Pharaoh? He dragged his feet and gave excuses.
God promised Moses that if he would do his part,
He would be with him, and that Aaron would be
Moses' spokesperson and those came about. In this
and many other circumstances, God made the
overture. He took the first step. That's true of
most covenants. But we can also covenant with the
Lord. And when you do, He will grant you the
blessings that you ask for. So covenant with the
Lord. Jabez did so, as did Hannah and Jacob. Now
you're ready for your covenant exercise.
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There
are a few activiations during this lesson that
you do with your prayer partner and your online
classmate to solidify this lesson. There is more
to this lesson, but I sense that this is all you
can digest for now. To learn how to make this and
other aspects of prayer help you bring days of
heaven on the earth, feel free to send an email
to pb@acts1614.org with the title
"sign me up!" to be enrolled for the
1st quarter. Again, the cost is free, as EquipNow
Ministries from California is making it available
to you via this site.
If
you are tired of being sick and tired and need to
be refreshed, consider this free online course. I
promise, it will change your prayer life and the
lives of those around you.
Get
ready for a BIG change in 2007!
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