A God who delights in keep his promises

 When we talk about the Kingdom of God it is important to know the God of the Kingdom. Walking with God in what He is doing means that what you step into is always beyond you or more than you can understand with the natural mind.  

Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. Prov. 3:5-AMPC

One of the constant questions the Lord asks is "Ken, do you trust me?" I have to say yes, because I have committed my walk to follow him, but I can do it because He is trustworthy and he has proven it time and time again in my life. There is only one God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a god of "Covenant." Covenant is mentioned 315 times in the Bible. A covenant is defined as a contract between two equal parties with each party having equal privileges. An oath is taken that binds both parties and their families with penalties if a party breaks the oath. There are several types of covenants in the Bible: unconditional, and conditional. In both cases God will do what he says and carry out his commitment.

God gave Adam everything including his authority to govern and care for the earth.  It was a conditional covenant in that, for Adam's protection, God told him not to eat of the tree of good and evil. If he did, he would die. It was unilateral because Adam was created by God, he couldn't create himself and obedience was the only part he had.  When Adam rebelled, God's solution was, " I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel." Gen. 3:15 -NASB That was an unconditional statement. It was fulfilled by Jesus on cross. He was both the seed of the woman and called the second Adam. More on that later.

In Genesis 15:8 Abraham asked the Lord, "How can I know that I will possess it?"  It was a humanly impossible for him to have all these children.  The Lord made a "blood covenant" with him. It required the sacrifice of clean animal without blemish, They would walk between the halves of the sacrifice and declare an oath, "be done to me as was this sacrifice if I don't keep this oath. Each party committed all they had to come to the aid of the other and it was an obligation that also pertained to their families for generations to come. The difference between this and all others was that Abraham was not able to keep his part of the oath and God himself passed between the sacrifice.  He alone was responsible, it was an unconditional covenant, and it was forever.  

In Genesis 22, God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, his only son Isaac.  Abraham knew he was acting out prophecy.  When Isaac asked, " where is the sacrifice?"  His reply was "God will supply "himself" a sacrifice.  While God provided the ram immediately, He provided "himself" in his only son on that very spot 2000 years later. 

 Paul states it clearly. "For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, "I WILL SURELY * BLESS YOU AND I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOU."
And so, having patiently waited, he(Abraham) obtained the promise."-Heb. 6:13-16-NASB
The blood covenant was normally sealed with a meal of bread and wine.
God cannot lie, he will do what he says.  Truth is his nature and he delights in keeping his word.
The god of Islam is distant and can do anything he wants to-you can't trust him for salvation and he requires slavery. The gods of the other religions similarly require constant sacrifices to avoid punishment or to perform man's will.
Christianity is based on what God did once for all.  God sent his only son to take on flesh, live the life man could not, take on man's sin and shed his blood as the sacrificial lamb to secure the justice required by the Father. Jesus opened the way to reestablish the relationship with the Father. He now ever lives to make intercession for us. 
Like the Abrahamic covenant it was not something we could merit in our own strength. There is nothing we can do to earn it.  Only the love of God that he gave his only son to save us and the creation.
We just have to acknowledge that we are separated from God, repent and accept Jesus' atonement for our sin. 
Only with his Holy Spirit can we be fully human as God created us to be in His image and likeness.
He is God alone and he delights in keeping his promises. The death, burial, and the resurrection of Jesus is the ultimate example of God's trustworthiness. Only in him can we live, move and have our being to fulfill our destiny.

Check out my devotional, Fearlessly Devoted, Kenneth Shirkey, Old Paths Publishing, available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble

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