To learn more about the details for activities happening during the 10 days, please read here. Each day we will be sharing a devotional here on the KCI Blog, which you can follow via RSS here or by signing up to the emails here. Read Day 10's devotional below.

Day 10, A Covenant People and a Covenant Keeping God

Today's passage is Deuteronomy 11:22-25.

“If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow – to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast to him – then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. Every place where you set your foot will be yours: your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the River Euphrates to the Mediterranean Sea. No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.”

Wow. Here we are at the end of a powerful 10 days of prayer and fasting and the beginning of the season ahead. Are you ready? It’s time to take possession of the land and conquer. It’s time to see a great harvest.

Deuteronomy 11:22-25 is such an encouraging passage for this moment and the times we are living in. It speaks to us about the faithfulness and power of a covenant keeping God and speaks to us about what we can conquer when we stand together as a covenant people.

A covenant relationship is based on a freely given promise of lifelong commitment of love and faithfulness. A relationship built on honour, vulnerability and intimacy. It is a shared fellowship where both parties give everything into the relationship wholeheartedly seeking to bless and serve one another and sacrifice for one another.

God is love. He is a covenant keeping God and He wants to build a covenant relationship with you.

Be confident and, “know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments” (Deuteronomy 7:9).

Today commit to put your full trust in Him because, “the Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does” (Psalm 145:13). His Kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and His Kingdom endures through all generations.

In Isaiah 55:3 God says to us, “Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you.” God offers you His faithful love and promise freely. He is calling us to be a covenant people.

You enter this covenant when you decide to ‘“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind”; and, “Love your neighbour as yourself”’ (Luke 10:27).

As a church let us a resolve to be a covenant people. We must decide to be disciples recognised by the love we have for God and the love we have for one another.

We are a people of promise, we are a people of faith and if we remain faithful God will make us a blessing to the nations. Isaiah 51:1-3 points out our heritage, “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth.”

God will use us powerfully to touch many people’s lives but it all starts with our own encounter with the covenant keeping God. In fact, this ministry started when my grandfather WTH Richards had a powerful encounter with God. He chose Psalm 40:1-3 to express this in his first message declaring, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.”

Isaiah 60:1-3 encourages us, “arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”

As we experience the light of God’s love through relationship and as we love one another with this same light, people will see God, they will be drawn out of the darkness and experience the life-changing love of their Heavenly Father. They will know what it means to be redeemed and restored and adopted into God’s family, the church.

As a church we value covenant relationships. This is recognised in our name King’s Church International. A people in relationship with the King of Kings. We wanted to be a known by a name that would honour God. This is not our church. It is His church, the King’s church. We want to serve the King and serve one another. People from every nation coming together as one.

The crown symbolises the message of the gospel and the covenant promises of God. A crown that was given. A crown that was lost. A crown that was restored. We wanted a humble and approachable crown that represented King Jesus who humbled himself and came to live among us so that we may be crowned with life.

The circle represents the world and that God is for all people and wants all to be saved. It represents a people covenanted together with Jesus at the centre of our lives.

This is a significant time for us as a church. Deuteronomy 11:24 promises, “every place where you set your foot will be yours: your territory will extend.” It is time to take new ground as a church and I believe as we step out in faith we be amazed by the fruit that we will see.

As the rain falls the fruit will come. Ezekiel 47 and Revelation 22 give us a prophetic picture of how God’s living water brings supernatural fruit. Be encouraged by the following verses as I believe this is a picture of what we will see as the Lord sends His rain and we take new ground.

Ezekiel 47:1-12, “I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows...where the river flows everything will live...fishermen will stand along the shore; there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds – like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea...Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”

Also Revelation 22:1-5, “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.”

As God sends the rain and as we stand in teams of 12 disciples and spread the nets we will reach people from every background. People will experience salvation, healing and deliverance. Every month we will see abundant fruit. People will encounter Jesus and cities and nations will experience the healing and blessing of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 11:22-25, “If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow – to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast to him – then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. Every place where you set your foot will be yours: your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the River Euphrates to the Mediterranean Sea. No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.”

Let us rise up in faith together as a covenant people confident in a covenant keeping God. We have an opportunity before us but we must stand in faith and refuse to be intimidated by fear.

There are 2 responses we can have when faced with such an incredible opportunity. We can operate in fear or rise up in faith. Numbers 13:27-33 makes this clear:

“They gave Moses this account: ‘We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large...Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, ‘We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it’...But the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.’ And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, ‘The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.’”

We need to be like Joshua and Caleb who see the promised land and declare with faith, ‘We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it!’

Church, we can certainly do it! We have the strength of the Lord and the rain of the spirit!!! Time to see the miracle.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.’ The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 31:6 & 8).

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23).

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” (Isaiah 52:7).

I want to close this devotional with Psalm 24 which is a reflection and declaration of the promise of Deuteronomy 11,

Psalm 24:1-10, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Saviour. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob. Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty – he is the King of glory.”

Who is the king of glory who sustains the heavens and the earth? Every knee will bow and every tongue confess. The word of God made flesh. He rose from the grave. Sing Hosanna. Every tongue will confess. He reigns. He reigns. Jesus our Lord. He reigns. He reigns forevermore. Amen.

Prayer

Lord I love you and commit to follow you as a disciple. Thank you that you are covenant keeping God and you are faithful to keep all the promises you have made. Thank you that you are for me. You are my strength. You bless me and make me a blessing. Thank you for calling us to be a covenant people. Thank you for leading us to the promised land of your blessing. 

Declaration

We can certainly do it!