Greetings,
Last week I began to present the foundation for establishing the family name of God in the earth. We are all called to be priests before Him. We are called to be ambassadors of heaven who bring the heavenly things of God into this world. Some things that I laid before us last week were:
- As priests before God our primary responsibility is to hear what God says and to give glory to His name. We live for His desires and to lead others to do the same.
- We must all understand that how we respond to God’s voice affects our descendants. The future of the church is affected by our responses to God today.
- An awe of who God is and an honor for His name will cause the expressions of our lives to have a life-giving effect upon others. The iniquities of others are healed when we accept the responsibility of being people who are in a close and personal relationship with God.
- Loving God as our Father and loving His children should be the testimony of our lives.
God loves us as we are, but He wants to move into our world and transform us to become like Him. He does this for the sake of His name in the earth. His name is His inheritance in the world. It is how He is revealed through His family in the earth. We must embrace God’s family above our own personal ministry agendas. Our aim in life must be to point all to the Father. It is not about what we want. It is about what the Father wants.
Let’s continue to look at the secrets found to show honor to God in the words of the prophet Malachi.
Malachi 2:11 Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judah has profaned the Lord’s holy institution which He loves: he has married the daughter of a foreign god.
What does it mean to marry the daughter of a foreign god? When we make the things that God does more important than who God is, is it not a making of covenant with something less than what should be? We must be true to God our Father, not true to the gifts He gives. What about when we make our dreams, visions, goals, work, or ministry more important than God? We cannot make personal agendas, personal work, or personal ministry our mistress. This is defilement to being a priest before God. It will affect His inheritance in the earth.
Malachi 2:12 May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this, being awake and aware, and who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts.
We must see being responsible for others as a joy. Doing what God wants is not a sacrifice of pain. It is a sacrifice of love. Do we desire God’s way more than our own? We must be zealous for His house, not ours.
Malachi 2:13 And this is the second thing you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and crying; so He does not regard the offering anymore, nor receive it with good will from your hands.
The secret to leading with joy is to lead for the future of the family. It is not about our will and our kingdom in the earth. It is about the kingdom and the will of God. It is about the family name, because this is the Father’s inheritance.
Malachi 2:14 Yet you say, “For what reason?” because the LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously; yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
We have a responsibility to the family name. That which is part of our lives is for His glory not ours. The relationships given to us are for the purpose of His life. We must know that our lives are meant to be lived in a way that strengthens the body of Christ. We have been given a life for the sake of children and children’s children. We must love God and have a covenantal and relational commitment to His bride.
Malachi 2:15 But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.
When we live for our own needs, our own desires, or our own agendas, we create an open door to the spirit of divorce. To live for ourselves is to live for divorce! We will live for the family of God, not the testimony of ourselves.
Malachi 2:16 “For the LORD God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence,” says the LORD of hosts. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”
To live for the Father and His family is righteous, true, and the destiny of our life as the church. We cannot make personal vindications and a justice system of the knowledge of good an evil the directing factors of our hearts. We must embrace the justice system of God. His justice is one of mercy, forgiveness, goodness, and love.
Malachi 2:17 You have wearied the LORD with your words; yet you say, “In what way have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”
To live for the Father and His family is righteous, true, and our life as the church! To live for our own vindication or justification is to live for divorce. We must live for the future of God’s house and the future of His kingdom upon the earth.
To embrace the testimony of the Father’s name requires a covenant with God, not merely a contract. What is the difference between a contract and a covenant?
In a contract two or more parties commit their individual selves for the fulfillment of the contract agreement. A contract is a formal or legally binding agreement holding all parties to the terms of that agreement. It is a putting together of entities to create a binding agreement for a greater containment. The name contract implies a shrinking or the making of something to a smaller size. It is tightening or a drawing together for a contained purpose.
A covenant is a compact made by passing between two pieces of flesh. In a covenant two living things become sacrificed for something greater to be born new. A covenant is a process of selecting another in order to feed them and to render all to them to become what did not exist before. Jesus made a covenant with us by allowing His body to be broken that we might receive the life that He gives, the love that He gives, and the testimony that He gives that makes all things new in our lives. To enter into this testimony we must fall upon the rock of this covenant to give our lives to Him, render all to Him, and become what did not exist before. As members of the body of Christ we must be broken and pass through the broken pieces of the body of Christ to select the Father, feed on Him, and render all to Him.
To be in covenant is to be one in the same body, house, or habitation. If we are a covenant family, we make our lives broken for one another that we might pass between the pieces to enter into one place of habitation. We select one another, feed one another, and give our all to one another. The testimony of covenant is a new entity that produces life beyond what could be before, whereas a contract is a binding of entities for a benefit of individual parts. A covenant is a commitment to fully identify with one another. It is a sharing of all possessions in the covenant with a loyalty to the covenant, no matter the cost. This is the testimony of the covenant family of God in heaven and earth!
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
