May 2015
This Month The Sheep Are Sleeping
And so am I
. . . but Donna is wide awake (see “and Finally . . .” for an explanation).
Donna’s Corner
Dear Friend,
I’ve been pondering a lot about what covenant is. I’m sure there are many books written about it. Covenant is a very serious, two-way agreement.
It is a contract and is an unbreakable commitment. Like marriage.
I can only speak from personal experience about what covenant means to me. My first spoken covenant, and outward commitment, was to Jesus my Lord and Saviour at my baptism when I was 20. I didn’t realize what I was doing as far as covenant was concerned, until I was 34 and bowed my knee, and said, “Whatever you ask me to do I will do. My life changed.”
Then I made a covenant with Peter when we were married. Again I didn’t realize what this really meant until we started to live in a covenant marriage relationship. It means, ‘dying to self’ in a similar way to the covenant I made with Jesus, except Jesus is without sin.
So, for Peter and me, trust and forgiveness became daily realities. With Jesus, I don’t have to forgive Him I just need to trust Him and He forgives me. I pray He can trust me too, even though I let Him down. He sees my heart.
We first make the covenant and then fulfill the purpose. For example, a marriage or a ministry relationship built around ‘purpose’ instead of ‘covenant,’ could end in a split.
In the last 25 years, Peter and I have made covenant commitments with people verbally. We love these people, we are one in the Spirit with them, and have deep relationships. Our love for each other covers sin, and we always believe the best. We have unspoken covenant relationships with some people with whom we have walked for many years. We just know and trust each other, and would never speak behind each other’s back. It really comes by being ‘one in the Spirit.’
Covenant affects generations, even through friendships like the one between David and Jonathan. So it is not to be taken lightly. Jonathan said to his friend, I will be there for you and your children for generations. “The Lord will be between you and me and between my descendants and your descendants forever.” [1 Sam 20:42]
When you make a covenant commitment, and the other person doesn’t keep their commitment, what do you do? FORGIVE! Even though it takes time to trust again.
Don’t make covenant hastily. Count the cost. But when you commit to someone forever, it is so rewarding.
Who do you have covenant with? Have you kept that commitment? With God? With Spouse? With Friends?
Love and Blessings,
To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the Almighty. No one can defeat His plans, prevent His purpose, or resist His will. Arthur W. Pink
Let’s pray that the human race never escapes Earth to spread its iniquity elsewhere. C. S. Lewis
Register Now for this Summer’s Camps in Europe
(including a triple-header with Edwin Fillies)
May 24-30: Rostrevor, Northern Ireland with Val Clark
July 5-11: Restenäs, Sweden with Edwin Fillies
July 12-18: Sighisoira, Romania with Edwin Fillies
July 20-25: Skjærgårdsheimen, Norway with Edwin Fillies
http://ywamkristiansand.com/intouch-july-20-25-2015/
Aug 2-8: Champagne, France with Paul & Genevieve Marsh
Aug 16-22: Châtel, Switzerland (minimum age 18)For details on all camps except Norway, go to http://www.intouchcamps.com
and Finally . . . Silence is Golden
Each month I attempt to write on a subject that I have been pondering in my heart . . . something that I think is also on the Lord’s heart, and may be of help to others. But I’m sure there have been times when I’ve ‘missed it.’
I thought I ‘had it nailed’ for this month’s Sheep2Sheep. I was wrong. Maybe the topic is for another time. Or perhaps it is to be laid to rest. Permanently.
Or maybe I just have ‘writer’s block,’ that affliction which sometimes strikes people, causing paralysis of the ‘putting-words-together-in-a-readable-way,’ part of the brain. Hopefully this is a temporary aberration!
So this month, I hereby lapse into a relative silence. Blessedly, Donna has a particularly good insight on “Covenant.”
Once, when I was much younger and mouthing off a lot, I was told rather brusquely . . .
“Silence is golden; shut up and get rich!”
How rude! (But definitely what I needed to hear.)
Even dunces who keep quiet are thought to be wise; as long as they keep their mouths shut, they’re smart.. Proverbs 17:28 [The Message]
Till next time,
The Small Print
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