Bible In One Year-Day 120 (Wednesday, April 30, 2014)

It is quite pathetic that long after Saul’s death, the shadow of his wrong doing still lingered after his descendants. The Israelites swore to an oath and entered into covenant with the Gibeonites in the time of Joshua, Joshua 9:14-15 “And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD.And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.” This oath was what Saul violated. The violation of any oath, agreement, covenant, wherever made and before any deity carries a curse. What Saul did a long time ago dried the heaven and earth for the Israelites in the time of David. The only solution was to satisfy the demand of the Gibeonites for seven lives from the house of Saul. After which the Gibeonites had to bless them. The last two sons of Saul Armoni and Mephibosheth (not Jonathan’s son, for David spared him because of his covenant with Jonathan), were taken for this course. When all these were done, God heeded the prayer of the Israelites and the famine died off. God is a respecter of covenants and he is mindful of it; Psalms 111:5 “He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant.” The covenant He had with Abraham is what we are enjoying through Jesus Christ today. Ancestral covenants or mistakes could be very disastrous if not broken in the name of Jesus Christ. Parental error and malady could cage a person’s destiny unless corrected in Jesus. Family covenant could dry one’s heaven and make the land (labor) unfruitful. Jesus came for this reason; to correct the wrongs and repair and reverse the damages done through ignorance;

1 John 3:8 “… For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the demon.”

Seven people were killed for the havoc done by Saul to be repaired. Thank God for Jesus for He paid it all. We need to take this victory in Jesus to the gate of any spiritual Gibeonite demanding for our blood. We need to bring the power of the cross of Jesus against the power of death and hell, i.e. the power of the grave. Because it is written in Psalms 118:17 “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.” Ancestral and parental covenants and mistakes are horrible strongholds that need be destroyed. You need to stand to get yourself and children delivered. There is a prophecy that has been fulfilled in Christ Jesus; Isaiah 49:25 “But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.” In the case study, the Gibeonites were the righteous and the Israelites, the captives. The Israelites were legal captives for what their father, Saul, did as far as God was concerned; 2 Samuel 21:1 “… and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.” Beloved, sin makes us to become legal captives to death. This is why God sent Jesus to set us free, John 3:15-17 “That whoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” Only in Jesus could we break evil covenants, remove contrary handwritings and change curses to blessings. Are you truly in Christ? Many are Christians only by professing it but not one in heart. You need to define your Christianity the same way the Holy Bible defines it and not by the way the motivational speakers define it. are you a consecrated Christian or just a Christian? The Bible calls those who profess Christianity but not one in the heart as ‘workers of iniquity’. These workers are not outside the church but in the church, Luke 13:26 “Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.” According to God’s word, there is a strange punishment for them, Job 31:3 “Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?”

Upon what soil is your faith built; that of the flesh (motivational speakers) or the power of God (by the Spirit of God)? Where do you put your tent in Christianity? There shall be a separation on the last day. The things you focus on when you take your eyes off the Kingdom of God are the obstacles to entering it. What is your focus? Our next reading for today is 2Sam22-24. Keep the fire burning and alive. JESUS PAID IT ALL, therefore, you have no excuse to miss that glorious place.

1 Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but to us which are saved it is the power of God.

1 John 3:8 “He that committeth sin is of the demon; for the demon sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the demon.”

1 Corinthians 2:5 “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”