Covenant

A contract is an ink-bound agreement for function. It exists to get something done. It’s measured by performance. When the function stops, the contract stops. You sign it with a pen, and a pen can just as easily cross it out.

A Covenant is a blood-bound agreement for redemption. It doesn’t exist to get something done — it exists to bring someone back, to restore what was broken, to bind two parties together in a way that isn’t about output at all. Ink fades. Ink smudges. Ink can be revised. Blood doesn’t wash out that easily, and in Scripture, it was never meant to.

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.” But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.” Genesis 15:1-21 NIV

• Love: Covenant isn’t the destination. Love is.

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. 1 John 4:1-21 NIV

Becoming A Covenant Person:

Genesis 13 - Click Here to Read!

Genesis 14 - Click Here to Read!

Genesis 18 - Click Here to Read!

Activation:

Here’s what all of this is building to: God is not asking you to be an ink person. He’s asking you to be a covenant person, a blood person, and that has to move outward in stages.

Ask the Spirit to name the ink-bound relationship. Even now, ask: “Holy Spirit, show me one relationship where I’ve been loving by Contract instead of Covenant, where I’ve quietly attached conditions.” Let Him surface a name.

• Receive before you give. This love isn’t yours to manufacture. Ask the Holy Spirit to pour God’s love into you the way Romans 5:5 says He already has, not so you can try harder, but so you can release what’s already been deposited in you.
• For the people you love: bring to mind someone close to you who’s hurt you and hasn’t made it right. Release the offense. Place the cross between you and the offense. “Lord, I chose to forgive so and so….and now I release the offense and direct covenant love toward them right now." This is not because they’ve earned it, but because you’ve received it first.
• For strangers: expect an assignment this week. Say yes to the Lord, assign your love to those you don’t know before you encounter them. Especially those you don’t know who could be cause for irritation or even retaliation. People you’d have no natural reason to love. That’s not a coincidence. Say yes before you even know who it is.
• For those who persecute you: this is the hardest one, and Jesus names it as the very proof of whose family you belong to (Matthew 5:44–45). Bring to mind one specific person who has hurt or opposed you, and pray a blessing over them right now, by name. You cannot do this in your own strength. If you could, it wouldn’t take the Holy Spirit to produce it.

We are not an ink people.

Words of Knowledge:

• We believe God is healing people with ringing in their left ear.
• We believe the Lord is healing people with thyroid disease today.
• We believe the Lord is bringing restoration to fathers and their children today. We believe the Lord is bringing deep healing to your relationships today.

Why We Break Covenant:

1. Lack of Commitment
2. Infidelity
3. Excessive or Unresolved Conflict
4. Marrying Too Young or Inadequate Preparation
5. Financial Stress

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 NIV

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18 NIV

So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep;and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh.Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;she shall be called ‘woman,’for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Adam and his wife were both naked,and they felt no shame. Genesis 2:20-25 NIV

New Perspective Regarding Covenant Relationships:

Convenant vs Contract:
• Contract: An Ink bond agreement for Function
• Covenant: A Blood Bound agreement for Redemption

God's Covenant is a "PICTURE"

One of the themes in the book of Ephesians is the revelation “revealing of mysteries”

He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment —to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.Ephesians 1:9-10 NIV

that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 3:4-6 NIV

This is a profound mystery-but I am talking about Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:32 NIV

• Marriage isn’t just to make you happy/whole. Marriage is designed to make us Holy and complete in His Image.
• Marriage is doing for your spouse what Christ does for the church. For the one’s we love, even for our enemies! It’s personal sacrifice for the making of another in the image of God!

God's Covenant Requires "POWER"

• No amount of self-will or self-help can give you the power you need to love another person the way God loves you!

13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2: 14-15 NIV

15 Be very careful, then, how you live —not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.Ephesians 5:15-20 NIV

• Forgiveness is love in its most costly form. It does not ignore the offense; it absorbs the debt. Because Christ absorbed our debt on the cross, biblical love demands that we drop our weapons of bitterness, surrender our right to revenge, and extend the exact same grace we have received. ~ from book Un-Offendable by Brant Hansen

God's Covenant Requires "PRACTICE"

18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1John 4:18 NIV

• Marriage is standing with your spouse against the enemy who is trying to steal their God given Identity!

What This Means for You:

If you’re single today: Marriage isn’t the trophy of a well lived life and singleness isn’t designed to be a waiting room, but it can be a “becoming” room. This isn’t about who you’ll end up with someday. It’s about who you’re becoming right now. What’s being formed in you today is what you’ll bring into every relationship later, friendships, family, and yes, as you desire, marriage. Don’t waste this season waiting. Let God build something in you now.

If you’re dating or engaged: ask yourself honestly: is what we’re building headed toward the God’s design, leaving, cleaving, becoming one or is it headed somewhere else, and we’re just calling it something nicer? The weight of what you’re considering is real. Take the time to consider it.

If you’re divorced or you’re healing from a broken marriage:
hear this clearly: if your covenant broke, that doesn’t erase what covenant is, or what it means for your future. It means something outside of God’s design broke it, not that you’re unworthy of it. God’s original design does not exist to condemn you. It’s not a measuring stick to make you feel like a failure. It’s a picture of what was always possible and it’s also a picture of the same God who ran toward broken things throughout the whole Bible, not
away from them.

Words of Knowledge:

• We believe God wants to heal someone with a torn or cut earlobe that has gotten infected and is causing a lot of pain.
• We believe the Lord wants to heal someone who has an injured foot today. The injury causes a lot of pain when you put any pressure on it.
• We believe the Lord is healing people of angina today.
• We believe the Lord wants to heal people who suffer from chronic migraines.
• We believe the Lord wants to heal someone with chronic fatigue and thyroid disease.
• We believe the Lord wants to heal people suffering with random nose bleeds.

God meant for us to be in covenant relationship.

Relationships with others flow from the identity of who I believe I am.

If we have been changed in our core beliefs of who I am as a man or woman of God then how I relate to others keeps me from covenant relationships.

Deconstruction

• Removal of Man from the home.
• Feminism
• Media Driven
  
  

Our understanding of manhood, womanhood, marriage, and family changed also.

Prepare for The Roles:

Truth: The following lies creates Toxic Masculinity and Femininity
Every one of these ideologies ensnares your soul inside strongholds.

Biblical masculinity

• Toxic:The Loner: Thinks it is a sign of strength to be independent from family, community, and others.
• As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. Proverbs 27:17 NKJV
• Biblical : The Interdependent Man: Life is intertwined with family, brotherhood, counsel, and community.
• Toxic: The Womanizer: Thinks sexual conquest and being desired by women is the mark of a man.
• Rejoice with the wife of your youth. Proverbs 5:18 NKJV
• Biblical: The Faithful Husband: Enjoying wife of his youth. expressed in covenant faithfulness, sexual self-control,
• Toxic: The Career-Driven Man: Thinks career, money, status, and achievement define success.
• But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith. 1 Timothy 5:8 NKJV
• Biblical: The Provider: Career serves his family; spiritual leadership; foundtion for his children to build on.
• Toxic: The Emotionally Detached Man: Sees vulnerability as weakness, and suppressed emotions as strength.
• Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love. 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 NKJV
• Biblical: The Emotional Healthy Man: Understand emotions are great indicators and terrible masters; loves others without anything in return.
• Toxic: The Warrior/Conqueror: A man is measured by physical dominance, aggression, and toughness.
• He who rules his spirit [is better] than he who takes a city. Proverbs 16:32 NKJV
• Biblical: The Self-Controlled Man: Spirit filled Man, Meekness-Protecting others from himself; Fruit of the spirit.
• Toxic: The Broken-Family Hero: Divorce, alcoholism, or absentee fatherhood does not diminish his heroic status.
• Children’s children are the crown of old men, And the glory of children is their father. Proverbs 17:6 NKJV
• Biblical: The Faithful Father: Godly identity; Spiritual strength; Generational faith; Wisdom
• Toxic: The Self-Centered Man: Achievement, pleasure, possession, experiences, and self-fulfillment dominate his life.
• A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children. Proverbs 13:22 NKJV
• Biblical: The selfless man: Puts others before himself; o Leverages his resources for those around him; Thankful; Empowering; Forgiving
• Toxic: The Incapable Husband: The immature, incompetent, out of touch member of the family.
• Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:25-27 NKJV
• Biblical: The Sacrificial Leader: Love her first; Love her unconditionally; Protects her; Provides for her; Leads her spiritually.

The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. Genesis 2:18 NKJV

Biblical Femininity:

• Toxic: The Independent Women: Depending on a man is weakness, she can make it on her own.
• I will make him a helper comparable to him. Genesis 2:18 NKJV
• Biblical: The Interdependent Woman: Trusting; Asks for help; Accepts protection and provision; She is help for her husband.
• Toxic: The Career-Driven Woman: Career, achievement, and financial independence are the mark of a wise woman.
• The wise women builds her houseProverbs 14:1 NKJV
• She is like the merchant ships, she brings her food from afar. She also rises while it is yet net, And provides food for her household, and a portion for her maidservants.Proverbs 14:1 NKJV
• Biblical: The Home Building Woman: Builder of heritage; Primary educator of future generations; Manager of all household affairs; Builder of household prosperity along side her husband .
• Toxic: The Sexually Liberated Woman: Sex outside of marriage believed to make her powerful, and free.
• Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. Proverbs 31:10 NKJV
• Biblical: The Virtuous Woman: A godly woman walks in: purity, self-control, faithfulness; realizes she is a treasure to be given to only one man (her husband)
• Toxic: The Self-Serving Women: Indifferent, exploitative, controlling, and demanding.
• She watches over the ways of her household Proverbs 31:27 NKJV
• When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. 2 Timothy 1:5 NKJV
• Biblical: The Wife, Mother, sister or daughter Who nurtures those under her care: Attentive to others needs; Encouraging; Sacrificial; Generous; Life -giving.
• Toxic: The Competitive Woman: Her worth is attached to her ability to match or outperform men in traditional men roles.
• She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. Proverbs 31:26
• Biblical: The Supportive Woman: She strengthens and complements those around her with complimentary gifting and ability.
• Toxic: The Woman Who Fixes the Man: She believes men are immature, irresponsible, or emotionally deficient and you have to fix them.
• And let the wife see that she respects her husbands Ephesians 5:33 NKJV
• Biblical: The Woman Honors Godly Leadership: finds a godly man to follow (unequally yoked); choses to follow her husband with Godly honor.
• Toxic: The Woman Who Doesn't Need a Man: You can be apart of my life as long as you fit my story, and where I want to be.
• Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body Ephesians 5:22-23
• Biblical: The Wife Who Embraces Covenant Mariage: Recognize your husband as the head of the house; Submit to his leadership (direction of your life and household); Give your husband respect and reverence; Trust him; Be teachable by him (seek his advise); Honor him (behind his back and to his face); Come along side to help with his mission.

Words of Knowledge:

• We believe God wants to heal people who are suffering from intestinal issues.
• We believe the Lord wants to heal someone who fell recently and is having lingering pain in theirbody.
• We believe there is a lady here today that has been crying out for healing of her endocrine system. We believe the Lord is beginning that healing today, and you are going to begin to feel better and see dramatic changes to your bloodwork.

God isn’t a Contract God, He is a Covenant God! He calls us to be a Covenant people!

God through the death and resurrection of Christ proves his COVENANT LOVE to all of us.

• Noahtic "Covenant with Noah" - Rainbow in the Clouds

God holds the World together!

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Genesis 9:12-15 NIV

This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:3-4 NIV

2. Mosaic "Covenant with Moses"

God exposes our need for more than the Law. The Law was designed to show men how much they needed relationship with God, instead of rule following. Men enter into a true Covenant relationship of the Heart with the Living God.

Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith Galatians 3:24 NIV

3. Davidic "Covenant with David"

God installs Righteous Representation and an Eternal Kingdom. God’s promised rule of righteousness-administrated by a leader “authority figure” that is 1000 percent trust worthy is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus.

And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. 2 Samuel 7:16 NIV

4. The Abrahamic "Covenant with Abraham"

The Abrahamic Covenant is God choosing man and then Christ fulfilling the Father’s love!

God established the Blueprint for the future and bound himself to humanity.

When you place your faith in Christ you become an Heir to the Original Promise. You become Royalty in the Kingdom, members of God’s very own Family.

If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29 NIV

What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2 The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. Galatians 4:1-7 NIV

5. The New Covenant

What we were powerless to do on our own – Christ did FOR US!

Jesus took your bankrupt ledger to the cross, closed the old account of sin and death, and credited His perfect, unblemished righteousness to your name forever.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in
which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:1-7 NIV

This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you. Luke 22:20 NIV

The New Covenant doesn't demand your performance; it demands your reception!

Look at the majesty of God’s Covenants!

• In Noah’s he holds the World together!
• In Moses’s he exposes our Need for more than the Law.
• In David’s he installs Righteous Representation and an Eternal Kingdom.
• In Abraham’s he established the Blueprint for the future and bound himself to humanity.
• THEN Jesus spilled His own blood…to buy you and me back the enemy of our soul and broken world in the New Covenant.

Words of Knowledge:

• We believe the Lord wants to heal someone with an injury to their hand. We believe this is related to a train or train yard.
• We believe the Lord wants to heal someone of a lingering sinus infection.
• We believe the Lord wants to heal someone of a pituitary gland disorder.