Covered by the Blood

The covenant that God made with Abram in Genesis 15 was a blood covenant. In ancient times, both parties to a covenant walked through the blood of slain animals. God told Abram to kill a three year old heifer, a three year old female goat and a three year old ram plus a turtledove and a young pigeon. The large animals were split in half, head to toe, and each half placed across from the other. The birds however were not split apart. Instead the birds were simply placed across from each other. Both of the covenanting parties walked through the blood indicating that a new bond was formed by the death of existing lives. When God made the covenant with Abram, He was the only one to walk through the slain animals (Genesis 15:17), thus indicating that it was up to Him to make it happen! He was the one to bring to pass the promises that He had made. Abram only had to believe that God would do what He said He would.

In Exodus 24 we see Moses reading the commandments to the people, and although they agreed to keep them, they had no power to do so. In this setting (Exodus 24:6), Moses took half of the blood of the offerings and sprinkled on the altar and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the people thus ratifying the covenant. The blood sprinkled on the altar represented God’s agreement to forgive and the blood sprinkled on the people was their bond to God! Just as Moses was the mediator between God and the people of the Moses’ day, so is Jesus the mediator of the new covenant. His blood was sprinkled on the altar (cross) and Hebrews 5:9 says that He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him! Our part is to believe and obey. The Old Testament people had to be covered by the blood! By faith we too have been covered by the blood.

Haiti

The first week of the new decade went by with very little to report. The second week of the new decade was totally different! A 7.0 earthquake shook Haiti with tens of thousands killed making the headlines on Jnuary 12th. It struck Haiti near the capital of Port-au-Prince, home of three million people. The damage to buildings is extensive and the number of injured or dead is estimated to be around fifty thousand. The country is in shambles as rescuers are frantically working around the clock to save lives. The hardest part for those with loved ones in Haiti is the waiting. They are just waiting and waiting, hoping to hear a report about his or her loved one.

Pray for the children and families devastated by this earthquake and aftershocks. Pray for hearts filled with compassion to send money as well as volunteers to help restore order to chaos. People are hungry and thirsty. Pray for the much needed relief to have quick passage into the country. Medicine and medical workers are needed. Pray for helpers to clear the streets so rescuers can reach some of the hardest-hit areas. Recovery is never easy, but with people pulling together and caring about one another, it will go much quicker.

God set him up

The first full week of the new decade has passed with little fanfare. What is the Holy Spirit doing on the earth in 2010? I believe the church is being positioned for prosperity (in life). Sometimes we are positioned to preserve the lives of our family, to preserve posterity in the earth! What do I mean by that? Consider Joseph. There are no mistakes with God, just providential steps. It was God who sent Joseph to Egypt. (Gen. 45:8)

Joseph had a revelation of his calling. He believed and trusted God who had chosen him. He had two character traits that set him apart from most people: he never gave up and he never had anything negative to say! At the young age of 17 his brothers planned to kill him. When human slave traders happened by, the brothers gave up their idea to kill him. Instead they decided to sell him to those slave traders! The next thing he knew, he was in Pharaoh’s house and second in command over all Egypt. God set him up to provide for his family when there was a famine in the land. God sent him to Egypt to preserve posterity in the earth and he does that with us also.

Paul seemed to understand this as he wrote to the church in Philippi. Read Phil 3:7-21 where he describes how he was willing to suffer for the prize that lay ahead. He had the revelation that nothing that happened to him was outside of God’s knowledge. Next time you’re going through a trial, remember that it might just be that you are being positioned to preserve the lives of your family, to preserve posterity in the earth!