Prosperity: Our covenant with God | Back to articles | Articles sitemap |
When
you are born again through Christ Jesus, the very instant
you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, you enter into a covenant
relationship with God. A covenant, in this particular case,
is an agreement, contract, promise or pledge between you
and God. God’s part of the covenant is to prosper us,
and our part of the covenant is to follow and live by His
word. We know we have a covenant with God because the bible
tells us so: “Ye are
the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God
made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed
shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.” (Acts:
3:25) We are the seed of Abraham. If we obey and live by
God’s Word he will prosper us in every area of our
lives.
Now
remember, your part of the deal must be continually and completely
fulfilled. God always keeps His Word. If you want to live
a successful Christian life you have to follow all of God’s
commandments, not just the ones you like or that fit your
lifestyle. You don’t get blessed abundantly and prosper
in all things by sinning. The Bible tells us how to fulfill
our part of the covenant: “This
book of the law (the Bible) shall not depart out of thy mouth;
but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou
mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein:
for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou
shalt have good success.” (Joshua:
1:8)
We
are not just commanded to read the Bible, but to not let
it depart from our mouth, to meditate on it day and night,
and to do the things that are instructed inside. Too many
Christians make the mistake of not taking what God has commanded
literally. “Well it says day and night, but he doesn’t
really literally mean every day and night, he just means
make sure you know what the Bible says.” These people
try to make the Bible fit their lifestyle, and shove God
to the back burner. Some people even make the grave mistake
of thinking they’ve read the bible a few times, so
they don’t need to look in it anymore. For this type
of Christian, Hebrews 5:12 applies : “For
when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that
one teach you again which be the first principles of the
oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk,
and not of strong meat.”
This is referring to the people who have been Christians long
enough that they should be teaching others, but because of
their laziness and failure to grasp the “literal” truth,
they must be taught for a second time the first simple doctrines
of Christ. We must take God’s Word for truth in its entirety.
When
you follow God’s Word to its full extent there is no
spiritual divide between you and God's blessing. What will
separate you from God however is sin. When you sin its like
you’re turning your back on God, literally. Here is
an example. Say you’re having financial trouble in
your life, and you know that you’re not following God’s
Word the way you should be. You continue to sin, but also
continue to pray for help. It’s as if God is walking
behind you with a handful of money to give you, but you keep
walking the other way saying: “sorry I don’t
have time to listen to you, I’m praying for money.” Your
sin is keeping you spiritually separated from His blessing.
In contrast to this, if you were to eliminate that sin it
would be like turning around to realize someone was there
all along to help you. Then you would be in a position to
receive.
A
covenant relationship is also a continually growing relationship.
Our degree of success in life depends on our degree of dedication
to God. This is proven in the Bible from the words of the
Apostle John under the inspiration of God: “Beloved,
I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in
health, even as thy soul prospereth.”
(3 John 1:2) Notice that he didn’t just say “I
wish above all things that thou mayest prosper.” But
he said “even as thy soul prospereth.” This shows
us that the two have a direct relationship. That we will prosper
in life and in health as our soul prospers. In other words
the more we follow God’s Word and fill our spirits, the
more we will prosper. God rewards his children, and he rewards
them well. It’s the same thing we do here on earth. We
reward those with great achievements with praise, while those
who have done great evils are rewarded with punishment.
Finally
because we have such a great covenant with the Lord we can
cast all of our cares upon him! When we obey His Word and
continually fulfill our part of the covenant we do not need
to worry about any need, anymore. Remember that Jesus said
this:
Therefore
I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye
shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body,
what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than
meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of
the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor
gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.
Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking
thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of
the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe
the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast
into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little
faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat?
or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek) for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But
seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and
all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no
thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for
the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
(Matthew 6:25-34)
Jesus
tells us to seek first the Kingdom of God, and all those
things will be added unto us! What a wonderful blessing,
praise God! Claim your covenant rights by being obedient
to God’s Word. Stand firm against sin and the schemes
of the devil. God is waiting to bless YOU!
To
accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior please
click here.
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