Day 30 – The Life of Honor

Today in my women’s Bible study we did an exercise to help us better understand the Life of Honor in Covenant.  The exercise was extremely powerful and appropriate for our last day of 30 Days of  Honor. I hope you remember that Covenant relationships always involve exchange.  When we come into covenant with Christ we exchange our “filthy rags” for his “robe of righteousness”.  This is an amazing exchange and we see the immediate benefit to US.  Jesus took on our “filthy rags”; what did that look like for Him? John 1:14

“So the Word (Jesus) became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.”

What does it mean in the nitty gritty of life that Jesus became human?  He experienced the same trouble and pain in life as we do. Hebrews 4:14-16

14Therefore, since we have such a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.…

Jesus came from heaven where there is no pain, no worry, no fear, no fighting, no sexual immorality, no battling with selfishness or lust or pride.  When Jesus became a man, he also became vulnerable to the personal battles of mankind. Let’s put that in our chart; this is what Jesus Exchanged with us when He became a man, look at how his His identity was altered.

• White Box – Jesus as a human
• Blue Circle – Jesus as God

Chart 1 – What Jesus took on when He became human

When we experience any of these “fleshly” feelings we want to find immediate relief; in moments of temptation the Life of Honor can quickly fade.   These are the “lusts of the flesh” that continually get us into trouble, aren’t they?  They are also places where satan tries to draw us out of our covenant relationship with Christ and back into covenant with ourselves.

So how did Jesus do it?

How did Jesus live on this earth and experience these very strong pulls of the flesh, and yet do it without sin?  The answer comes in the authority box of chart 1…Jesus Prayed

• in the mountains
• at the sea shore
• in the wilderness
• in the garden
• in the woods
• in a crowd of angry people

Jesus prayed when he was alone, with others, tired, fed up, disappointed, fearful, unwilling.  Jesus prayed.

I can hear him after the feeding of the five thousand.  Loving the people, exhausted from teaching and at the same time knowing exactly what everyone was thinking and planning.  I can hear his “human” thoughts when it was time for everyone to go home.

“I’ve got to get out of here.  I’ve used up all my words.  I’m so tired I’d just like to slap the next person who comes up to me for some need.  Can’t these people bring their own lunch?”

What? You may say – no way; He was God…but He was also human

Jesus had to have those kinds of thoughts.  But He didn’t stop there; Jesus self-corrected.”I’ve got to get with my father and talk all this out.” Jesus went away, alone and prayed and “talked it out with His father.” We see a perfect example of Jesus humanity in the Garden of Gesthemane.  He went there with the disciples after what we now call “the last supper”.  It was late night/early morning.  Read it and connect with Jesus in his humanity… it’s heartbreaking.

The picture in my living room.  It’s almost 100 years old!  My grandfather chose it for his own when he was just 8 years old.  This picture is HUGE – 3 feet by 4 feet.  When I stop and really look at it I am reminded of the scene this picture depicts; Jesus in his ultimate moment of being human. This was the moment when His heavenly Father gave Him the “cup of acceptance” and asked, “are you willing to pay the price of the bride?  Jesus answer, “If it is possible take this cup from me, but not my will but yours.”  Jesus looked at “the bride” – which by the way was you and I and all of humanity and questioned for a brief moment…were we worth all the pain and suffering He would have to experience?

Matthew 26:36-39

³⁶ Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷ He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.³⁸ Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” ³⁹ Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

I would say Jesus was feeling pretty human at this point.  Psalms 103:14 tells us

14For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.

Psalm 103 reveals how much God loves you…check it out!

Matthew 26:40-42

⁴⁰ Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. ⁴¹ “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

⁴² He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

Jesus really needed the support of His friends now but they went to sleep!  That had to upset him in his human flesh, right?  So much so that He went back and talked to His Father.

Matthew 26:43-44

⁴³ When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴ So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

Jesus wasn’t this incredibly good looking Jewish man wandering around Israel casting good will on every one without any personal struggle. He became HUMAN and He SUFFERED the same temptations we do but without breaking covenant with His father…without sin.

How did Jesus do manage to live as a sinless human?  Daily communicating with God.

Think about this in your own life.  You get frustrated, angry, lonely.  You have pain, fear, anger or worry.  You feel abandoned, abused, rejected or betrayed.  You burn with lust or jealousy.  You are human and Jesus understands because HE was human.  And he left us an example as a human – when you are feeling human you need to go to your heavenly Father and pray – talk it out with God. Satan wants you to break covenant with God and look to yourself or someone else to have these needs met.  He wants to draw you away from the ONE thing that can help you to live in victory…He wants to keep you from prayer…from communicating with your Father in heaven.

How does satan keep you from prayer?

I’ve said this myself…I’m just too busy, too distracted, too overwhelmed.  You just don’t have time.  Satan rubs his hands together in glee.  You not praying makes his job really easy.  As long as you are not communicating with your Father in heaven you will likely cave in to the flesh – your human desires and attitdes,  and that just starts, as they say in the south, “a hot mess”. If you want to live a life of honor, as the beautiful Bride of Christ, you must create and guard a regular prayer time with God to talk about your life and struggles AND you must go to him when you experience these “fleshly” emotions and temptations.

There’s another way satan tries to get us to break covenant

I was trapped in this for over 30 years of my marriage – he lures us into covenant with someone else.

My Broken Covenant Partnership

My husband Phil and I started dating when I was 15 and he was 17.  We broke up off and on over the next few years and became engaged on Memorial Day 1975.  I loved Phil and all his ways.  I was so excited to be his wife and see where life took us.  And I was dearly loved by him.   In the early fall of 1975 I had an eye doctor’s appointment.  I was in the waiting room and who should walk in but my future father-in-law!  I’ve always been one for a good chat so we started talking with each other.

My future-father-in-law, Phil’s dad, was a well-known pastor in town.  He was not too excited to see his second son marry a girl so young and not from his church.  He was always kind and grandfatherly towards me and I respected him greatly. Phil’s dad spent our “little chat time” that day telling me how to live in covenant with HIM.  He wanted me to be sure to know that the “family identity and his authority” were supreme.

This wasn’t done in a hurtful way but rather, he showed me how Phil and I would be blessed coming under his authority and under the church’s authority.  I believed him and from that moment until 10 years ago, in 2007, I was “in covenant” with my father-in-law.  Always wanting to be sure everything we did pleased him. This was so unfair to Phil!  He was fully “living in covenant partnership” with me and I kept bringing his dad into our decisions and our life.  I have repented of that to him now.

The second way I “broke covenant” with my husband had to do with music.

One of the things that drew Phil and I to each other was our mutual love for music.  It had always been his dream for us to sing and minister together and one day bring our children into that dream.   Our first month of marriage Phil brought me to his “trio” practice at church.  I was so excited to sing with them!  I have an ear for harmony and couldn’t wait to use it with my husband, who I adored.

The trio, now a “quartet” started practicing and then one of the members stopped us.  This individual looked at Phil and said, as if I wasn’t there, “she’s not good enough to sing with us.”  Phil argued that I was certainly good enough, but in that moment, I believed the other person and made an agreement with their opinion.

I didn’t sing willingly with Phil again for 38 years.  38 YEARS! After I “broke covenant” with Phil’s dad I could break that agreement as well…the agreement that I wasn’t good enough to sing.   For years, I was frustrated with Phil because he didn’t have vision.  The truth is, he held onto that vision.  Phil must really love me to allow me to stop his vision for 38 years.  This affected not only me but our family and I believe it was a side-road of the enemy that led us down some difficult paths. How I wish I had known then what I know now.  The wonderful truth is, God restores…even the years we lost in wrong relationships and wrong beliefs.

One year ago, this month I brokenly repented to God for this agreement and asked my husband to forgive me. God is restoring that vision once again.

Are You Living in Covenant Partnership?

What about you, “Dearly Loved”?  Covenant is an Exchange.  We exchange our old covenant with self; giving that “old self” to our Covenant Partner Jesus Christ.  In the exchange, we receive a New Covenant with His Identity, His Authority, His Protection and His Provision and Possessions.

The chart below shows just a few of the things Jesus offers in this exchange with us.

What we receive from Jesus in Covenant Chart 2

We give Jesus our earthly “nothingness” and receive all He has from His Father – God in heaven.

Jesus lived in a human body – so that He might be touched with the feelings of our infirmities.  So that He might be a high priest who understands our weakness.  So, he could be tempted in every way we are; and yet without sin.   Here is an example of my old Covenant with Self – while I had identity, authority, protection, provision and possessions, the central theme running through my life, from childhood has been “Not Enough”… not enough time, money, resources, help skill…you name it!

I exchanged “Not Enough” with my Covenant partner for HIS Identity, Authority, Protection, Provision and Possessions in the Chart 2 above.

What I have to exchange with Jesus – Chart 3

Your Turn!

You will find great freedom in writing down your own Covenant with Self and then exchanging it.  Then you will experience a Life of Honor in covenant partnership with Jesus Christ.

What you have to exchange with Jesus, Chart 4

Living the Life of Honor

This next exercise is incredibly powerful because it puts action to all of these “ideas”.  When you put them into action you begin to be more aware of how your covenant partner is acting on your behalf.  Please set aside an hour or so in a quiet spot to go through this freeing exercise.

1. Print out the graphic above (Chart 4)  and write down what you have to exchange, use mine for an example. Yours will be different, be honest.  I encourage you to take some time, identify where you have been in covenant with yourself, and then literally write it out and hand it up to Jesus and then destroy it.  Break this self-covenant life and enjoy your covenant partnership with Jesus Christ.

2. Print out the graphic with Jesus name above it (Chart 2). Speak out loud and take HIS covenant Identity, Authority, Protection, Provision and Possessions and every day lay your hands on that picture and receive what He has so freely offered you.  When you have a need go back to that covenant picture, again, lay your hands on it and tell your Covenant partner your need and receive from Him.

The promise of Our Covenant Partner and our Seventh-Day Honeymoon, Hebrews 4:9-16

God has given us rest

⁹ There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. ¹⁰ For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

Let us be diligent

¹¹ Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. ¹² For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. ¹³ And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Jesus sympathizes with our weakness

¹⁴ Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

We can boldly ask our Covenant partner in our time of need

¹⁶ Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Print out your new Covenant identity and authority.  Print several!  Put them in your Bible, on your refrigerator, in your bathroom, in your car.

When you have a need or you are struggling with your human emotions and reactions, lay your hand on that covenant promise and ask your covenant partner for help. This is the Life of Honor.

The post Day 30 – The Life of Honor –  appeared on 30 Days of Honor, from The Wellness Workshop

About the Author: Celeste Davis, is a passionate follower of Jesus Christ with a heart to walk fully in Covenant with Him. As Founder of The Wellness Workshop, Celeste’s passion is to teach women and impact their families to “Be Nourished” as opposed to dieting or trying different life strategies. We nourish our bodies with God-Made Food, our Souls with God-Made Relationships and our Spirits with the Word of God and Prayer. More Info about Celeste.