The Backbone Of The Bible

We don’t talk about the covenants today, but we should. Covenants are one of the most important themes in the Bible – They are the key to God redemptive plan to restore humanity to its divine calling. Starting in Genesis, God enters into one form a partnership another after with various humans in order to rescue His world. These divine human partnerships drive the narrative forward until it teaches its climax in Jesus. To tell the story of God redeeming humanity through Jesus is to tell the whole story of God’s covenant relationship with humans.

So what is a covenant? And how does the covenant story of the Bible begin?

A covenant is a relationship between two partners who make a binding promise together to work together to reach a common goal. They’re often accompanied by oaths, signs and ceremonies. Which are not very common today. Covenant divine obligation and commitment, but they are very different from the contract because they’re relational and personal. Think of a marriage – A husband and choose to enter into a formal relationship, binding themselves to another in lifelong faithfulness and devotion. Then they work as partners to reach a common goal, like building a life or raising children together.

Covenant relationships are found all throughout the Bible. There were personal covenant between two individuals, political government between two kings or nations, legal covenant with a nation, and so forth. These are found in 1 Samuel 23; and 1 Kings:5. Entering into covenant was a major part of the past. So God partnered with humans through a structure that they already understood.

The covenantal also story began when God created humans in his image to partner with him and spreading the goodness throughout the world.

God invites Adam Eve to be priest kings and represent his generous rule on earth. They could enjoy and reproduce blessing of eternal life as long as I continue to trust and partner with God. But as God lays out the terms of the relationship, he warned them not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil because it would bring a curse of death on humanity. I am pretty sure we all know the accounts that lead up the end of the Garden of Eden.

It was their first test of covenant faithfulness, and humans failed. They ate from the tree, fracturing the human divine relationship and plunging humanity into corruption and death. We were still gonna stuck on the record if God had never intervene. But the rest of the Bible is all about how God repaired this broken relationship with humans.

God had a physical covenant with the people in ancient times this means there was physical dimensions of the land and there would be no over spiritualizing into the realm. They had to have blood covenant, which carried a connotation of the shedding of blood. This were nothing unusual in early times, covenant agreements we ratified by animal sacrifice or an exchanging of blood.

Such a covenant is so binding that to break it you it would have to result in death of a person who broke it and often the family as well.

Abraham, therefore with following ancient custom where he cut the three animals in two and placed each of them in someway that the blood formed a pathway.

The two parties entering into this covenant would walk through the blood to confirm a covenant and with each party how to clean all the positions of the other party.

But in the case of this covenant, only the smoking burning Presence -a manifestation of God that is reminiscent of the pillar of fire that guided the Israelites through the wilderness centuries later walk through the blood.

Why? Only God can establish this everlasting covenant, and the responsibility for maintaining it fell solely on him.

This was no mere contract that could be voided, It was an unconditional, eternal trust. This covenant is often referred to as the Abrahamic Covenant.

The New Covenant

For generations, Israel ignored the terms of the covenant with God, breaking command and living by their own definitions of good and evil. Amidst rebellion and exile, the Hebrew prophet spoke of a new covenant, saying that God would One day per feel one of his promises, repairing his relationship and with his people the blessing the nations through them. (Jeremiah 31:31-34: Ezekiel 36:22-32).

This new covenant is to be everlasting. We are living this new covenant today. God will write his law on the hearts of the people, when you complete forgiveness of sins, and and raise up a king from the line of David who will restore all that is broken.

This anticipation of the covenant pushes the account forward into the pages of the New Testament where we are introduce Jesus (Matthew 26:26-29. Luke 22:19-22).

The physical covenant in the Old Testament and the spiritual covenant of a new testament progressively build upon one another, forming a complete redemptive storyline. God preserved the world through Noah initiated redemption through Abraham, establish the nation of Israel through Moses, promised an internal shepherd King through David, and fulfilled all the covenants through Jesus. With each covenant, God’s promises and plans to see the world through a sheet of a woman become clearer and clearer and how we finally see that redemption can only come through King Jesus.

Jesus Is The Covenantal Climax

New Testament authors presents Jesus as the offspring of Abraham who trusted in God, even to the point of death, and became a blessing to all nations. He is the greater Moses, leading us out of bondage, and He is the obedient Israelite who perfectly follows the law of God. Yes the Royal Sonesta David who inaugurated God’s kingdom in his life, death, and resurrection, and who now sits at gods right hand forever reigning as the one true King.

Jesus perfectly succeeded at every point where humanity failed. He is the guarantor and a mediator of a new and better covenant (Hebrews 7:21; 9:15). Now people from every nation, tribe, and tongue who trust Jesus can become part of God’s covenant family.

In this new covenant, receive the forgiveness of sins and God’s empowering Spirit to help us live lives full of self-giving love. It’s because of Jesus, we can live righteously and partner with Him as He renews the world.

It seems today that many people have forgotten the covenant with God, that our forefathers made when they landed in America. We have forgotten that line in the sand between good and evil. If you have read the Bible you know that God always gives a warning before he says judgment. The warnings are here, and will soon pass. Are you ready to meet Jesus?

Gut Feelings You Should Never Ignore

The quirky urge. A funny tingly. That little voice in your head. These are your gut feelings talking. But what are they telling you, and should you listen? Here’s how to make the most of your innate wisdom.

A few weeks ago I had an appointment in the city about 3 hours away. The day before I had a gut feeling I should cancel and reschedule. So, listening to the feeling, I called the office to tell them I needed to reschedule. After many attempts to reach them I gave up and just thought everything would be alright and I would go to my scheduled appointment. The following day I proceeded to the city, after horrible traffic, I pulled into the parking lot, as soon as I parked my car, my cell phone started ringing. I answered and it was the office where my appointment was, they were canceling my appointment because an emergency had come up. Yes, I was upset after driving all that way in awful traffic and wasting all that gas. When I hung up, I was more upset at myself for not better following in gut.

A few years back some scientists at the University of Iowa conducted an experiment where individuals played a game of chance with four different card decks and stacks of play money. Each card indicated whether they had won or lost money, and the goal of the player was to draw as many cash-delivering cards as possible. What the players didn’t know was that the decks had been rigged. Two of them as been stacked so they yielded high rewards but punishing losses, while the other two offered smaller rewards and virtually no losses. It took most player about 50 cards before they started to favor the safer decks, and about 80 cards before they could explain thy they did so.

Here’s the curious part, sensors attached to the players skin showed that after 10 cards, a player’s hand would get sweaty and nervous when it reached for the risky decks. Although the individual had little inkling of which card piles were the most lucrative, their emotions know which decks were dangerous.

Gut Instinct:

Most of us have experienced the sense of knowing things before they happen, even if we can’t explain how. Maybe you hesitated at a greenlight and missed getting hit by a speeding vehicle or you decide on a whim to break your no blind date policy and wind up meeting your life partner. You have a hunch that you should not go somewhere and find out later a bad accident had happened right where you were going.

If only we could tap into those insights more often, right? It turns out we can, especially if we learn to identify which signals to focus on – whether they’re sweaty palms, a funny feeling in our stomach, or a sudden and inexplicable certainty that something is up.

According to researchers, intuition is far more material than it seems. The right side of our brains are always reading our surroundings, even when our conscious left brain is otherwise engaged. Our bodies can register information while the conscious mind remains blissfully unaware of what’s going on.

Some theorists suggest we can feel approaching events specifically because of our dopamine neutrons. The jitters of dopamine help keep track of reality, alerting us to those stable patterns that we can’t consciously detect.

This means if something in the environment is even slightly irregular- the speed of an approaching vehicle, the slightly unusual behavior of someone at a party – your Brain squirts dopamine and you get that “weird” feeling. Whether you pay attention or mot can make all the difference. Your might meet your future partner, or meet your maker. Those signal carry a lot of important information, so, it’s wise to listen up.

Gut Feeling:s:

1. Listening to your bodies subtle signals is a critical part of exercising your intuitive sense.

Intuition allows us to get the first warning signs when anything is off in your body so that you can address it. Your body is a powerful intuitive communicator,

2. I’m in danger. If you don’t trust somebody, even if it turns out to be inaccurate, it is something to pay attention to. Have you ever been walking down the street at night and you get the feeling to stay away from that person, and you cross the street, or go into a business.

3. I want to help, you might think that gut instincts are something we’ve maintained mostly to avoid danger, the human species has evolved to an equally powerful capacity to sense when other people need support. Sympathy is one of humanity’s most basic instincts, which is why evolution lavished so much attention on the parts of the brain that help us think about what other people are feeling. (Sadly the instinct to support people seems to have gone out the window in some people).

Since evolution has made you a quick read of other faces and their emotional signals, you don’t always need to wait for a verbalized cue before you reach out. The sympathy instinct nudges us to change the subject when wedding tale makes a newly divorced colleague cringe, or to start up a conversation with a nervous seat mate during an airplane landing, subtle gestures that can make a big difference in someone’s day.

4. This is it, most people have a great “I just knew I was right” story. It might be about the time they first spotted their partner cross the threshold of their first house or figured out they wanted to switch careers. There’s a reason most of us have memorable stories about the biggest and best decisions we make in life.

When your intuition signals that you’ve found something or someone truly right for you, the choice often becomes strangely easy. It feels healthy, it feels good, it doesn’t feel like your forcing it, there’s not a lot of conflict.

You Can’t Run Away From Your Problems

I have found that running away from any problem only increases the distance of the solution. The easiest way to escape a problem is to solve it.

All of us have had weak moments in life, when we feel that despite working hard and to the best of our abilities, somehow the world gangs up on us and makes the going very difficult for us. Whether it’s relations, work, finances, health or practically anything and everything in life.

And when the going gets tough, we tend to do what is expected of us – either we put things off or try to run away.

When we can’t see the results of our problems, after a little effort, we can tend to bury the hoping that we woebegone able to get away from it if we don’t pay any attention, or blame circumstances, or people.

This comforts us temporarily, as the blame is now on something beyond us, beyond our control and this gives us a sense of relief. So why does running away from our problems seem to be an easier solution?

Running away from the problem gives us a temporary sense of comfort. That the monster can’t see us any longer, A feeling that you have escaped the danger you have been in, the blame shifts to something else or someone else, and a great sense of optimism that things will get better.

Understand that “running away from your problems is a race that you cannot win.” Because one day no matter how long it’s been or how far away you are, you are going to have to deal with them sooner or later, you are going to have to fix them.

What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance understanding fear; that means watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it, learn about the fear and how to escape from it.

Know that you cannot run away from yourself, you are always right behind you.

Never blame anyone in your life. Good people give you happiness, bad people give you experience, worst people give you a lesson and the best people give you memories.

When you run away from your problems, you might end up having to face them again, when that happens, it will be why is it hard to overcome. Moreover, when you are finished running, you would be 1000 miles away from the people who can help you.

Albert Einstein said, “We can’t solve the problem by using the same kind of thinking that we use when we created them.” when the going gets tough, it’s hard to stick it out. Running away is often an easier way to cope.

Running away from our problems will never fix anything. And when you know you can’t run away from your problems any longer you have to either fight them out or perish. And if that is soul, why not saw them when they first arise.

It’s when we stay and persevere, even when it’s difficult, that we will prevail. Go on fight and don’t ever give up. So, regardless of who you are, what your problems are, and what your fears are, rather than looking outward, start looking inward and identify how you can battle it out with your problems.

Here are a few steps to get you started:

Sit Down, Pause, Reflect And Act

When in trouble, don’t get overwhelmed with what’s happening around you, pay attention to what is going on within you. You can connect the dots only when you look backward. The process of self reflection is a very humbling process, it can open up a new you that you never knew existed. Re-visit the decisions we have made and think about your available choices.

Don’t Pass The Blame Onto Others Or Your Circumstances

If you keep blaming something or someone else for all your problems, you will never learn why problems come your way. And when you keep doing that repeatedly, one day you may realize that you have no one but yourself to blame. You have to stop looking for someone else to blame and start fixing the problems.

Don’t Get Into A Self-Pity Mode

Self-pity comes naturally to all of us because it is our very nature, and it is very addictive. It gives momentary pleasure or eases the pain as we separate the victim from the reality. Be honest with yourself, appreciate your strengths and weaknesses and look for solutions.

Look For A Pattern Or A Trend To Understand What’s Happening

As much as success leaves clues, problems leave clues too. You just need to keep your mind and spirit active to identify the patterns. Once you understand them, you will be able to find a way out. Problems are never stop signs, they are just guidelines to get better, spend time understanding and solving them.

Don’t Be Pushed By Your Problems, Be Pushed By Your Dreams

When you are in trouble, make sure your dreams drive you, not your problems.

Why Should We Pray For The Peace Of Jerusalem?

I have a sticker in my car the says, ‘I Stand With Jerusalem.” I have been cursed, and reprimanded by people who don’t understand why I would do such a thing.

Why Should We Pray For The Peace Of Jerusalem?

The number one reason is because God has commanded us to. God tells us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem in Psalm 122:6-9. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; May those who love you prosper. Peace be within your walls, and prosperity in your palaces. For my brother’s and companion’s sakes, I will not say, Peace be within you. For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good. God promised blessing on those who bless Israel and curses on those who curse Israel. God will give us peace and see if we pray for Israel,

Praying for the peace of Jerusalem is most appropriate for the city whose name literally means “peaceful” and which is the residence of the God of peace. Jerusalem will be the scene of Christ’s return (Acts 1:11, Zechariah 14:4), and at that time He will establish permanent peace within its walls. All Christians should be eagerly awaiting His return and praying for the time when the Prince of Peace will reign in Jerusalem.

Jesus also said that we should be peacemakers, which would include praying for peace.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shake be called Children of God.

Matthew 5:9.

And we are commanded to do our best to live in peace with others,

If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.

Romans 12:18

So, God wants us to seek peace among all people, and that would include praying for the peace of Jerusalem, especially because of its special place in His heart,

Becoming Christ Like

For Christians, heaven is not a goal; it’s a destination. The goal is that “Christ be formed in you” to use the words of Apostle Paul in Galatians 4:19 to the Romans, he declares “Those whom God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Galatians 8:29). And to the Corinthians, he says, “all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image” ( 2 Corinthians 3:18).

The daring goal of the Christian life could be summarized as being formed, conformed, and transformed into the image of Christ. When are saved by being baptized and accepting God into our lives. The Holy Spirit comes to live on the inside of us. Christ has come among His pas our ever living Savior. Teacher, Lord, and Friend

He who is the Way shows us the way to live so that we increasingly come to share His love, hope, feelings and habits. He agrees to be yoked (United) for us, as we are yoked to Him, and He trains us in how to live our lives as He would live if He were in our place.

We must insist that this way of life is reliably sustained in the context of a like-minded fellowship. Essential to our growth in grace isa community life where there is loving, nurturing accountability. Being Christ like is not merely the work of the individual; rather It grows out of the matrix of A living fella. We are the body of Christ together, called to watch over one another in love. Unfortunately, in our day there is a ignorance of how we as individuals and as a community of faith actually more forward into Christlikeness.

Today we lack a theology of growth, And we need to learn how we “grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and Savior” (2 Peter 3:18). In particular, we need to learn how we cooperate with “the means of grace” what God has ordained from the transformation of the human personality in these God – ordained means will enable us to take into ourselves Christ’s character and manner of life.

What are these “means of grace?” And how can we be disciples of Jesus to cooperate with them so we are changed to be Christ like?

Formed By Experiential Means

God works first through ordinary experiences of daily life to form the character of Christ in us. Through these experiences we come to know on the deepest levels that Jesus is with us always, that He never leaves us or forsakes us, and that we can cast all our cares upon Him. In addition, we learn that ordinary life is sacramental, and that divine guidance is given primarily in these common junctures of life.

Every thing we experience in life are diverse as life itself, they are meant to draw us deeper in and higher up to Christ’s likeness, so when we are docile of heart, God takes the dynamic of give and take with each interaction with Himself and plants within us deep-rooted habits of the heart – habits of joyful allegiance and glad surrender, habits of faithful obedience and patient endurance.