"... God, who gives us richly
all things to enjoy."
1 Timothy 6:17
_______________________________________________________________
End Days Church,
“We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.”
2 Corinthians 5:20 NIV
God did not take us to heaven immediately after being born again. Why not?
Every child has a call to fulfill. Every child carries God’s purpose. All ministries, whether directly or indirectly, are flowing toward this one message to the unsaved world:
“BE RECONCILED TO GOD!”
Christ’s earthly ministry and purpose continues in the heart of every Believer because He has given us of His Spirit, of His purpose. Every member of Christ’s Body is an Ambassador for Him.
What is an ambassador?
An ambassador is the highest-ranking person who represents his or her own government while living in another country.
And more specifically an ambassador is:
An official envoy; especially : a diplomatic agent of the highest rank accredited to a foreign government or sovereign as the resident representative of his or her own government or sovereign or appointed for a special and often temporary diplomatic assignment ; an authorized representative or messenger; an unofficial representative (traveling abroad as ambassadors of goodwill)
Now imagine that ambassador wandering here and there, without direction, always searching, wanting more of something, yet not having a clue to what is Heaven’s assignment for them. I’m not speaking of unsaved people; I’m speaking of born again children of God. Many Christians do not have any knowledge of who they are in Christ or what He has given to them.
COVENANT FAITHFULNESS
Jonathan, King Saul’s son, had a holy covenant with David that even extended to his family if he should die. “You shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever…”
See 1 Samuel 20:15. Years after Jonathan’s death, King David would inquire of Jonathan’s household.
“Now David said, ‘Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?’"
And Ziba told the King about Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth, who many years ago had become lame after an accident when he was five years old. The lame prince had been staying in the house of Machir. King David summoned him to his palace where he fell on his face before the King.
“David said to him, ‘Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually.'
“Then he bowed himself, and said, ‘What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?’
“And the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, ‘I have given to your master’s son all that belonged to Saul and to all his house.
“‘You therefore, and your sons and your servants, shall work the land for him, and you shall bring in the harvest, that your master’s son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth your master’s son shall eat bread at my table always.’ Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.” Read 2 Samuel 9:1-13
Three times in this passage the word kindness is used.
COVENANT KINDNESS: CHESED
The Hebrew word for covenant kindness is “chesed” or “hesed.” It’s not possible to translate the meaning of hesed into just one English word.
Vine’s Dictionary:
“In general, one may identify three basic meanings of hesed, and these 3 meanings always interact: strength, steadfastness, and love. Any understanding of hesed that fails to suggest all three inevitably loses some of its richness.
“Love by itself easily becomes sentimentalized or universalized apart from the covenant. Yet strength or steadfastness suggests only the fulfillment of a legal (or similar) obligation.
“Hesed refers primarily to mutual and reciprocal rights and obligations between the parties of a relationship (especially Jehovah and Israel). But hesed is not only a matter of obligation but is also of generosity. It is not only a matter of loyalty, but also of mercy. Hesed implies personal involvement and commitment in a relationship beyond the rule of law.”
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COVENANT AND LOVINGKINDNESS
Hesed is related to God’s Covenant and the gift of grace, in that hesed was (is) extended by God when it is completely undeserved.
God's hesed is His persistent, unconditional tenderness, kindness, and mercy; a relationship in which God seeks after man with His love and mercy as when God immediately sought after Adam when he had sinned in the garden.
One minister put it this way: Hesed is God’s overwhelming, unending desire to shower us with His abundant lovingkindness and unearned favor. We can see hesed in action when King David went searching for someone of Jonathan’s household that he might extend his lovingkindness upon.
Although the children of Israel were continually unfaithful to God, yet His mercy and lovingkindness was still extended to them.
“I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;
I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And you shall know the Lord.” Hosea 2:19-20
HOLY BRETHREN
Because of the covenant and integrity of righteousness made between David and Jonathan, Mephibosheth’s honor and respect were restored. Not only that, but the right to his inheritance was reinstated as King David gave to him all the estates of King Saul!
David also appointed servants to him, and gave him a place of nobility. Mephibosheth would always “eat at the King’s table like one of his own sons.”
COVENANT RESTORATION
Mephibosheth knew he was the son of Jonathan and the grandson of King Saul but that’s as far as it went. He was living far below his inheritance rights and perhaps was not even aware of what belonged to him. I don’t believe he knew of the covenant made between his father Jonathan and David. He lived a timid and fearful life…what would become of him and his son, Micha? Perhaps he even viewed his ancestry as a death warrant, being himself a target of King David.
Within his heart, Mephibosheth saw himself as nothing better than a dog! And a dead dog at that! Who knows what was told him as a child growing up with servants…?
Jonathan would have been severely grieved to see how his son Mephibosheth was living and how he thought of himself.
How many Christians are living this same kind of miserable life today:
dishonored, disrespected, in debt, without the knowledge that they are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, living under the bondage of fear, seeing themselves and their lives as worthless and without purpose, wanting to depart this life and go home and be with the LORD. See Romans 8:12-17.
“Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” See Galatians 4:3-7.
Saints, now that’s hesed!
God made His Son to be sin for you and me. He transferred His Son’s righteousness into us when we made Him LORD and Savior. 2 Corinthians 5:21 There is nothing higher than this, God’s extreme love, grace, and forgiveness given to us--without depending on our works! Praise God!
THE NEW COVENANT
The New Testament is the New Covenant between God and His Son that can never be annulled or broken, for it is ratified in blood and based on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on behalf of all mankind. God would now write His Law on the hearts of those who are born again, on the spirit of the new-creation man.
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Hebrews 8: 10
THE NEW CREATION MAN:
“Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God ...” 2 Corinthians 5:17
CONFLICT
The unrenewed mind will challenge the above scripture regularly. Why?
Because “ the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are contrary to one another...” Galatians 5:17
“Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16
Jesus said, "By your patience possess your soul." Luke 21:19
How does this relate to Mephibosheth’s life?
What's all this got to do with hesed?
Mephibosheth received the abundance of goodness, hesed, from the hand of the King.
He received the benefits of his father’s covenant, something provided before his birth.
He received his family’s inheritance, name, and servants.
He was no longer in fear, for his father’s covenant brought the honor of dining at the King’s table as a son.
Mephibosheth’s life was translated from a life of darkness to the abundant life of riches, grace, and favor.
The old man that saw himself as a dead dog was gone.
All things were made new.
The transfer of wealth belonged to him …all of his life.
Every one of these statements could be also said about the born again Christian and be found in scripture. Selah
______________________________________________________________________
Suggested Assignment
Receive and renew your mind to God’s unconditional kindness, love, mercy, strength and steadfastness often with thanksgiving and praise.
Read the Who You Are in Christ Scriptures to get rid of the “old man” image and renew the mind to God’s covenant faithfulness: hesed!
Remember who you are and what stands behind you: You are an Ambassador of the highest ranking authority who represents the eternal and everlasting Kingdom of Heaven.
Your purpose will see you through, Beloved!
________________________________________________________________________
PRAYER WITH PURPOSE
MARK YOUR CALENDARS: 8-15-14
A Day of Fasting and Prayer for Revival in Our States/ Countries
"Ask the LORD for rain in the time of the latter rain." Zechariah 10:1
See also Joel 2:23.
The Glorious Church
The Lost
Elected Leaders
Copyright © 2013 – 2014 Prayer with Purpose; prayerwithpurpose.org
“We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.”
2 Corinthians 5:20 NIV
God did not take us to heaven immediately after being born again. Why not?
Every child has a call to fulfill. Every child carries God’s purpose. All ministries, whether directly or indirectly, are flowing toward this one message to the unsaved world:
“BE RECONCILED TO GOD!”
Christ’s earthly ministry and purpose continues in the heart of every Believer because He has given us of His Spirit, of His purpose. Every member of Christ’s Body is an Ambassador for Him.
What is an ambassador?
An ambassador is the highest-ranking person who represents his or her own government while living in another country.
And more specifically an ambassador is:
An official envoy; especially : a diplomatic agent of the highest rank accredited to a foreign government or sovereign as the resident representative of his or her own government or sovereign or appointed for a special and often temporary diplomatic assignment ; an authorized representative or messenger; an unofficial representative (traveling abroad as ambassadors of goodwill)
Now imagine that ambassador wandering here and there, without direction, always searching, wanting more of something, yet not having a clue to what is Heaven’s assignment for them. I’m not speaking of unsaved people; I’m speaking of born again children of God. Many Christians do not have any knowledge of who they are in Christ or what He has given to them.
COVENANT FAITHFULNESS
Jonathan, King Saul’s son, had a holy covenant with David that even extended to his family if he should die. “You shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever…”
See 1 Samuel 20:15. Years after Jonathan’s death, King David would inquire of Jonathan’s household.
“Now David said, ‘Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?’"
And Ziba told the King about Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth, who many years ago had become lame after an accident when he was five years old. The lame prince had been staying in the house of Machir. King David summoned him to his palace where he fell on his face before the King.
“David said to him, ‘Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually.'
“Then he bowed himself, and said, ‘What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?’
“And the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, ‘I have given to your master’s son all that belonged to Saul and to all his house.
“‘You therefore, and your sons and your servants, shall work the land for him, and you shall bring in the harvest, that your master’s son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth your master’s son shall eat bread at my table always.’ Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.” Read 2 Samuel 9:1-13
Three times in this passage the word kindness is used.
COVENANT KINDNESS: CHESED
The Hebrew word for covenant kindness is “chesed” or “hesed.” It’s not possible to translate the meaning of hesed into just one English word.
Vine’s Dictionary:
“In general, one may identify three basic meanings of hesed, and these 3 meanings always interact: strength, steadfastness, and love. Any understanding of hesed that fails to suggest all three inevitably loses some of its richness.
“Love by itself easily becomes sentimentalized or universalized apart from the covenant. Yet strength or steadfastness suggests only the fulfillment of a legal (or similar) obligation.
“Hesed refers primarily to mutual and reciprocal rights and obligations between the parties of a relationship (especially Jehovah and Israel). But hesed is not only a matter of obligation but is also of generosity. It is not only a matter of loyalty, but also of mercy. Hesed implies personal involvement and commitment in a relationship beyond the rule of law.”
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COVENANT AND LOVINGKINDNESS
Hesed is related to God’s Covenant and the gift of grace, in that hesed was (is) extended by God when it is completely undeserved.
God's hesed is His persistent, unconditional tenderness, kindness, and mercy; a relationship in which God seeks after man with His love and mercy as when God immediately sought after Adam when he had sinned in the garden.
One minister put it this way: Hesed is God’s overwhelming, unending desire to shower us with His abundant lovingkindness and unearned favor. We can see hesed in action when King David went searching for someone of Jonathan’s household that he might extend his lovingkindness upon.
Although the children of Israel were continually unfaithful to God, yet His mercy and lovingkindness was still extended to them.
“I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;
I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And you shall know the Lord.” Hosea 2:19-20
HOLY BRETHREN
Because of the covenant and integrity of righteousness made between David and Jonathan, Mephibosheth’s honor and respect were restored. Not only that, but the right to his inheritance was reinstated as King David gave to him all the estates of King Saul!
David also appointed servants to him, and gave him a place of nobility. Mephibosheth would always “eat at the King’s table like one of his own sons.”
COVENANT RESTORATION
Mephibosheth knew he was the son of Jonathan and the grandson of King Saul but that’s as far as it went. He was living far below his inheritance rights and perhaps was not even aware of what belonged to him. I don’t believe he knew of the covenant made between his father Jonathan and David. He lived a timid and fearful life…what would become of him and his son, Micha? Perhaps he even viewed his ancestry as a death warrant, being himself a target of King David.
Within his heart, Mephibosheth saw himself as nothing better than a dog! And a dead dog at that! Who knows what was told him as a child growing up with servants…?
Jonathan would have been severely grieved to see how his son Mephibosheth was living and how he thought of himself.
How many Christians are living this same kind of miserable life today:
dishonored, disrespected, in debt, without the knowledge that they are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, living under the bondage of fear, seeing themselves and their lives as worthless and without purpose, wanting to depart this life and go home and be with the LORD. See Romans 8:12-17.
“Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” See Galatians 4:3-7.
Saints, now that’s hesed!
God made His Son to be sin for you and me. He transferred His Son’s righteousness into us when we made Him LORD and Savior. 2 Corinthians 5:21 There is nothing higher than this, God’s extreme love, grace, and forgiveness given to us--without depending on our works! Praise God!
THE NEW COVENANT
The New Testament is the New Covenant between God and His Son that can never be annulled or broken, for it is ratified in blood and based on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on behalf of all mankind. God would now write His Law on the hearts of those who are born again, on the spirit of the new-creation man.
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Hebrews 8: 10
THE NEW CREATION MAN:
“Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God ...” 2 Corinthians 5:17
CONFLICT
The unrenewed mind will challenge the above scripture regularly. Why?
Because “ the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are contrary to one another...” Galatians 5:17
“Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16
Jesus said, "By your patience possess your soul." Luke 21:19
How does this relate to Mephibosheth’s life?
What's all this got to do with hesed?
Mephibosheth received the abundance of goodness, hesed, from the hand of the King.
He received the benefits of his father’s covenant, something provided before his birth.
He received his family’s inheritance, name, and servants.
He was no longer in fear, for his father’s covenant brought the honor of dining at the King’s table as a son.
Mephibosheth’s life was translated from a life of darkness to the abundant life of riches, grace, and favor.
The old man that saw himself as a dead dog was gone.
All things were made new.
The transfer of wealth belonged to him …all of his life.
Every one of these statements could be also said about the born again Christian and be found in scripture. Selah
______________________________________________________________________
Suggested Assignment
Receive and renew your mind to God’s unconditional kindness, love, mercy, strength and steadfastness often with thanksgiving and praise.
Read the Who You Are in Christ Scriptures to get rid of the “old man” image and renew the mind to God’s covenant faithfulness: hesed!
Remember who you are and what stands behind you: You are an Ambassador of the highest ranking authority who represents the eternal and everlasting Kingdom of Heaven.
Your purpose will see you through, Beloved!
________________________________________________________________________
PRAYER WITH PURPOSE
MARK YOUR CALENDARS: 8-15-14
A Day of Fasting and Prayer for Revival in Our States/ Countries
"Ask the LORD for rain in the time of the latter rain." Zechariah 10:1
See also Joel 2:23.
The Glorious Church
The Lost
Elected Leaders
Copyright © 2013 – 2014 Prayer with Purpose; prayerwithpurpose.org