New Covenant

Hebrews 8: 10

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

First things first, recognize that because of Jesus, you are now the house of Israel, so God is talking about you. There are many other passages, in both the Old and the New Testament, which speak to this new contract. In fact, one can see God’s plan unfold through the whole Bible. I could easily spend an entire week on just this aspect of God’s master plan but I will restrain myself. Just know that He has been putting the pieces in place for thousands of years.

The key here, as I see it, is that God is moving into our hearts. We are stepping into a relationship with God. I really like how this same thought is articulated in the book of Revelations, “Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children (Revelation 21: 7). God’s plan from the beginning and now was to raise a family. It ultimate goal is to have us in intimate, close relationship with Him. In the Old Testament, God was with the Israelites. He led them through the desert in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. He had an improvement plan on the drawing board though. In Joel 2: 28 He said, “I will pour out my Spirit upon all of you!” This was the foretelling of the New Covenant and the new way people would walk with God. No more is God in the cloud. With this pouring out, He has come to live in us. “Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3: 16).

God’s word is alive in us. He has come to earth and made a home in our hearts and spirits. No longer do we need to look outward to clouds or to an ark to behold our God. God has come to make His abode with us. We are the new Ark of the Covenant. Jesus has made all of this possible and we should seek God in our hearts and get to know Him as an intimate. He is our God and we are His people but as He has said, we are His children. The New Covenant is the indwelling presence of Almighty God and the intertwining of His spirit and yours. Get wrapped up in Him today.

Powerful Implants

James 1: 21

Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

The Amplified version of the Bible says that the Word of God, implanted and rooted in our hearts has the ability to save our souls. It is our hearts to which the Word of God must be sown. It is one thing for us to know the Word with our minds and with our intelligence but that is not the way in which we have been instructed. The Lord God is telling us that we must implant the Word into our hearts. Once we do, it has the power to heal our souls. God has not called us to an intellectual relationship with him. He has called us to intimacy through the communion of our hearts with His. Only then can we receive all that He has designed for us. Only then can we walk with him. Only then will we be able to really know him and his plan for our lives. He cannot minister to our deepest needs if he is consigned to our minds and our intellect. He wants to be close and intimate with each of us. When we open up our hearts to Him and to His word, then all the power of heaven comes to reside in our deepest being, leads us and save our souls.

Yesterday’s Word of the Day encouraged us to put on the characteristics of God. Today’s Word has us putting off that which is not consistent with the nature of God. In each case we can only succeed through the power and grace of Jesus. When we fill up with Jesus then we have, within us, the power to put off the negative attributes and put on the glory. Jesus implanted in us is the key to our success.