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The Eternal Promise: Delighting in God's Covenant
How does it feel to acknowledge a promise that remains intact despite the passage of time and the fluctuations of life? Have you ever thought about the constancy of God's love? Do you delight in the ancient and everlasting promise given to us?


The Eternal Promise: Delighting in God's Covenant
How does it feel to acknowledge a promise that remains intact despite the passage of time and the fluctuations of life? Have you ever thought about the constancy of God's love? Do you delight in the ancient and everlasting promise given to us?

He has sent redemption to His people; He has ordained His covenant forever; holy and awesome is His name. — Psalm 111:9

God's Covenant has always been a comforting constant for His people. This Covenant, like an abundant feast in the banquet hall of the Holy Spirit, is a source of deep satisfaction. We revel in its antiquity, the promise sealed before the celestial bodies began their cosmic dance, ensuring our interests in Christ Jesus.

We take pleasure in the Covenant's unshakeable reliability, contemplating "the sure mercies of David." We celebrate this Covenant as "signed, sealed, ratified, and perfectly ordered." Its immutability fills our hearts with joy. It stands as a Covenant that neither time nor eternity, neither life nor death, can ever violate—a Covenant as old as eternity and as everlasting as the Rock of Ages.

Moreover, the Covenant provides us with everything. God is our portion, Christ our companion, the Spirit our Comforter. Earth is our temporary abode, and heaven is our eternal home. The Covenant ensures an inheritance for every soul that has a stake in this ancient and eternal deed of gift.

We also revel in the Covenant's abundant grace. We understand that the law was nullified because it was a Covenant of works that depended upon merit. However, this Covenant endures because it is rooted in grace. This grace forms the basis, condition, bulwark, foundation, and pinnacle of the Covenant. This Covenant represents a treasury of wealth, a granary of sustenance, a fountain of life, a storehouse of salvation, a charter of peace, and a haven of joy.

May we always find joy in Your unchanging Covenant.
Grant us the wisdom to understand Your eternal promise.
May we live each day secure in Your everlasting love.
Guide us in Your grace and lead us in the path of righteousness.

Questions for Reflection

1. How do you experience the constant love of God in your daily life?
2. In what ways can the awareness of God's ancient and unchanging promise influence your decisions and actions?
3. How can we better rejoice in the abundance that God's Covenant provides?
4. How does knowing that God's Covenant provides for all needs shape your attitude towards life's challenges?
5. What role does Christ, as our companion, play in your understanding of the Covenant?
6. What does the phrase "the sure mercies of David" mean to you, and how does it relate to your faith journey?
7. How can the Covenant's grace influence your interactions with others?
8. How can we make God our portion, in a practical sense, in our daily lives?
9. How does the assurance of a heavenly home affect your perspective on earthly struggles?
10. How can we better perceive the enduring nature of the Covenant, rooted in grace and not in merit?
11. How does understanding the Covenant as a "treasury of wealth" and "storehouse of salvation" impact your spiritual life?

Supporting Scriptures

Hebrews 1:3: The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Revelation 5:9: And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
Isaiah 55:3: Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.
Ephesians 1:7: In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
Colossians 1:14: in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Psalm 130:7: O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is loving devotion, and with Him is redemption in abundance.
Luke 1:68: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has visited and redeemed His people.

Dawn and Dusk: Scriptures, Devotions, and Prayers. Inspired by Charles Haddon Spurgeon's Morning and Evening: Daily Readings. You are free to copy as needed for noncommercial personal and ministry use.

Bible League: Living His Word
Fight the good fight of faith.

Faith is a gift from God. Ephesians 2:8 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." However, even though faith is a gift from God, there is also a human component. Since faith has been given to Christians, it is something that we have, it is something that we do, and it is something we are responsible for as a result. Christians must put the faith we have been given by God into action. Indeed, as our verse for today says, faith is something that we must fight for.

The reason why faith must be fought for is that there are enemies of faith. Satan and his minions are always trying to challenge and undermine our gift of faith. They are always trying to create circumstances in our lives that will challenge our faith and they are always trying to send messages our way that will contradict and undermine our faith. Faith cannot be taken for granted. We must fire up the faith we have within us.

The primary way that we can fire up our faith is by reading the word of God. Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." The word of God is a revelation of God's will and ways. Since it comes to us in the form of human words, it takes faith to believe that it actually is the word of God. By reading the word we give the Holy Spirit an opportunity to give us the gift of faith and the opportunity to fire up our faith if we already have the gift. Reading the word gives the Holy Spirit something to work with.

If we never or seldom read the word of God, then we are not doing anything for our faith. Faith needs the revelation of God's word in order to come into existence and in order to burn brightly. If our faith is not on fire, it is probably because we have neglected to read the word of God. Faith is always faith in something. For the Christian, that something includes the word of God.

Today, make the determination to fire up your faith. Make the determination to read the word of God on a regular basis.

Fight the good fight of faith by reading the word.

Bible in a Year
Old Testament Reading
Psalm 128-131

Psalm 128 -- Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways.

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB

Psalm 129 -- Many times they have afflicted me from my youth up.

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB

Psalm 130 -- Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord.

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB

Psalm 131 -- O Lord, my heart isn't haughty, nor my eyes lofty

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB

New Testament Reading
1 Corinthians 7:25-40

1 Corinthians 7 -- Paul's Instructions on Marriage

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB

Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library.
Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion
I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!
Insight
When things are going well, we feel elated. When hardships come, we sink into depression. But true joy transcends the rolling waves of circumstance. Joy comes from a consistent relationship with Jesus Christ.
Challenge
When our lives are intertwined with his, he will help us walk through adversity without sinking into debilitating lows and manage prosperity without moving into deceptive highs. The joy of living with Jesus Christ daily will keep us levelheaded, no matter how high or low our circumstances.
Morning and Evening by Spurgeon
Mark 9:15  The people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him.

How great the difference between Moses and Jesus! When the prophet of Horeb had been forty days upon the mountain, he underwent a kind of transfiguration, so that his countenance shone with exceeding brightness, and he put a veil over his face, for the people could not endure to look upon his glory. Not so our Saviour. He had been transfigured with a greater glory than that of Moses, and yet, it is not written that the people were blinded by the blaze of his countenance, but rather they were amazed, and running to him they saluted him. The glory of the law repels, but the greater glory of Jesus attracts. Though Jesus is holy and just, yet blended with his purity there is so much of truth and grace, that sinners run to him amazed at his goodness, fascinated by his love; they salute him, become his disciples, and take him to be their Lord and Master. Reader, it may be that just now you are blinded by the dazzling brightness of the law of God. You feel its claims on your conscience, but you cannot keep it in your life. Not that you find fault with the law; on the contrary, it commands your profoundest esteem; still you are in nowise drawn by it to God; you are rather hardened in heart, and are verging towards desperation. Ah, poor heart! turn thine eye from Moses, with all his repelling splendour, and look to Jesus, resplendent with milder glories. Behold his flowing wounds and thorn-crowned head! He is the Son of God, and therein he is greater than Moses, but he is the Lord of love, and therein more tender than the lawgiver. He bore the wrath of God, and in his death revealed more of God's justice than Sinai on a blaze, but that justice is now vindicated, and henceforth it is the guardian of believers in Jesus. Look, sinner, to the bleeding Saviour, and as thou feelest the attraction of his love, fly to his arms, and thou shalt be saved.

Daily Light on the Daily Path
Psalm 23:5  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.

Psalm 34:8-10  O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! • O fear the LORD, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want. • The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.

Lamentations 3:22,23  The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. • They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

Psalm 16:5,6  The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You support my lot. • The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.

1 Corinthians 3:22  whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you,

Ephesians 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

Philippians 4:11  Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

1 Timothy 6:6  But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.

Philippians 4:19  And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

Morning August 26
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