THE COVENANT
Today’s Reading: Genesis 16-17
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
This spectacular view looking across from the Mount of Olives toward the Eastern Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem is taken from the Dominus Flevit (Latin for “the Lord wept”) Church which is built on the traditional spot where Jesus wept over the city (John 11:35).
Key Verse: Genesis 17:1
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless…”
Chapter 17 contains the articles of the covenant between God, on the first part, and Abram, on the second part. A covenant is the most legally binding agreement into which two parties can enter. This covenant was sealed with blood, Abram’s in circumcision and God’s in the shed Blood of Jesus. Our key verse provides the introduction to the long-range purpose of the covenant. It is a covenant of grace, which God continues to implement for all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. In making Himself known as “Almighty God,” we are told what we may expect God to be to us; namely, God Who is Enough: an all-sufficient God. Our part is to walk in integrity. God, as recorded in 1 Samuel 2:30, tells us, “Those who honour Me, I will honour”!!!
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Father God, I am blameless in Your eyes because of the blood of “Immanuel,” “God with us.” Father, I am confident that according to Your Word, “The Blood of Jesus Christ, His [God’s] Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Thank You for initiating the covenant, and thank You for the grace You’ve given me to say “Yes” in response. Amen!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
Yesterday I introduced who provides pictures each day which he photographed in Israel. I’ll never forget the afternoon when God baptized my son Reynold with the Holy Spirit in our rec room. This was a powerful encounter with God which he experienced at eight years of age. God did Acts 2:4 (please it look up) after school that day before I arrived home from work. Just as I entered the room, I saw him holding up a kleenex tissue and saying, “Lord Jesus, You’ve made me whiter than this kleenex by Your Blood.” This was also the first long sentence I had ever heard him make without his usual stutter. His public school teacher called us the next day to ask, “What has happened to Reynold?” His whole life was transformed by an act of God. God initiated a similar encounter with Himself for me when I was 16. God said “I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughters shall prophesy” (Joel 2:28). Peter quoted this in his message on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:17).
Yours because of God’s covenant!
David
P.S. Happy Independence Day to all our USA blog readers!
A verse for my parents: “Godliness with contentment is great gain”.
Thank You, Lord, for faithful people. Help us all grow to be more like You every day, I ask in Jesus’s great name, amen
Amen Rob. Amazingly He chooses and prepares people for His purposes. May we listen and hear His Voice clearly. Blessings all
Amen Rob and Doreen.
This comes to my mind quite often:If a NASA scientist came to your church and took the pulpit and spoke in NASA terminology would anyone understand him?We would understand the ‘street level’ language only.It is that way for nonChristians also when they attempt to learn the Christian vocabulary without the terminology being explained.
I wonder how many give up because of this.Biblical movies such as on Youtube would be a good teaching aid.Children have Sunday school but adults do not.
Many get confused and frustrated so they criticize Christianity. God bless
Our World Forgot
‘Our’ world forgot what is right
For we were supposed to teach them,
By sharing with them the light
But we could not reach them.
Not long ago we ‘were’ them
Until we found the light He gives;
The One the world would condemn,
Then died to show He lives.
They don’t want to know our ways
For they think their ways suit them best,
But we know how it dismays
When one begins the quest.
We must begin to reach out
Or we may loose them all to sin,
So we must defeat the doubt,
To plant the seed within.
Using words at their command
Will allow His word to imbed,
Thus they can then understand
Why He rose from the dead.
GW(Bill) Marshall/26 July, 2015