Being in Covenant With God — and some Q&A

I was approached with some questions, which arose after a discussion on being in Covenant with God, and what it means in daily life.

In The Kingdom, there are Promises, there are Vows and there are Covenants.

Promises are the offerings of The LORD to a person, they are usually given at the point of the first encounter, at the point of the first visitation from The LORD as we see with Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3,

“Now The LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family, And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.””

The unsealing of the promise is largely dependent on the person saying Yes to The LORD.

There are Vows.

Vows are initiated by men. Men come before The LORD like Hannah did and make a vow of commitment to The LORD and when they fulfill the deeds and agreements stated in the vow, the promise goes into effect.

Then there are Covenants.

Covenants are extremely weighty. Abraham though being given a promise in Genesis 12, and had walked extensively with God, eventually came into a covenant with God in Genesis 15 and you will see verse 18 makes it so clear.

“After these things the word of The LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I AM your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!” And behold, the word of The LORD came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”
Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
And he believed in The LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
Then He said to him, “I AM The LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”
And he said, “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?” So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.
Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.
On the same day The LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates — the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites,the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”” Genesis 15:1-21 emphasis added to v18.

Covenants are borne out of Obedience and Sacrifice.

In Genesis 12, Abraham received the promise, and obeyed, walking in the path of the promise. In Genesis 13, Lot was separated from him, but Abraham stuck with God and The LORD emphasized the promise.

In Genesis 14, Abraham went to battle to free Lot; and here is the big difference, he came back and gave his sacrificial tithe to Melchizedek; and Melchizedek blessed him and called him — possessor of heaven and earth.

Then Genesis 15, The LORD came and established the covenant with Abraham, again the element of sacrifice was revealed.

So, Abraham’s obedience was sufficient to give him the promise of the land — but his sacrifice of submission to The LORD was what brought him into the covenant.

The Promise, is what God gives you for obeying and fulfilling a set and measured task.

The Covenant means you authorize The LORD to rule over you, so there is a seal of GOD upon a man who says he belongs to The LORD

Abraham receiving The Promise of The LORD and sacrificing that promise back to The LORD is what establishes the covenant – the seal of ownership and authority of The LORD.

This is what Abraham did when he fought the kings within the land to free Lot; and also, when he was willing to sacrifice Isaac his son back to The LORD.

One can obey a set of instructions and receive the promise; but not many submit the promise back to the authority of The LORD.

This is very Key.

When Abraham received the promise, it also covered his seed.

Questions and Answers

So, regrading the questions raised:

Q1) You said I was under covenant with The LORD at the time of this event. Is it possible that The LORD would do that, (enter into a covenant relationship with me), without my involvement in establishing that covenant?

There can be a covenant established and running by someone in your genealogy you don’t know about. Four hundred years later, Balaam could not curse Israel; no enchantment could come on them.

Q2) What does one need to do to enter into a covenant relationship with The LORD?

Answered already: Obedience and sacrifice

Q3) One can “walk away” from The LORD and break the covenant. What other things break the covenant with The LORD?

Yes. Rebellion and intentionally/ willfully submitting to the devil can break the covenant, and give the enemy right to come in. Much later, The LORD spoke about how the children of Israel had covenants with death and hell. (Isaiah 28:15,18)

Q4) Is it possible that someone can break the Covenant The LORD in such a way that it is broken for ever, and cannot be re-established?

Re-establihing the covenant will take the same thing, the price of obedience and sacrifice must be met.

Q5) Does infant baptism by sprinkling, enter a child into a covenant relationship with The LORD?

Infant baptism doesn’t establish a covenant. It can be the fulfillment of a vow as Hannah did; vowing to give back the child to The LORD.

Q6) Does the dedication of a child by parents, enter that child into a covenant relationship with The LORD?

Same answer as Q5).

Q7) Certain people appear to operate in spiritual gifts before they formally accept The LORD. Are they classified as being in covenant with The LORD at that time?

The gift doesn’t in any way denote covenant. Spiritual gifts is a matter of spiritual inheritances. They received spiritual inheritances from those who walked in them and passed it on as Jacob passed on gifts to his spiritual children and also Ephraim and Manasseh. The children have to be taught to be under submission to The LORD so that these gifts are not hijacked by the enemy for wrong things.

 

~ by Abel Praise

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Abel Praise, serving as Team Lead, Ministries Of Abel Praise is committed to working with apostolic and prophetic ministries across nations to raise up a new generation of leadership in The Body of Christ; by making teaching and training resources available and stewarding Ministers In Congress Conventions. See also: abelpraise.com

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