Have you ever stopped to think about what it really means to be in covenant with God? What would change in your life if you truly understood that His promises are more than good ideas or dreams you hope might happen someday, when you realize these promises are descriptions of the truths contained within the covenant that God has made with you?

Recently, as I’ve been spending time studying the subject of covenant, I’ve been reminded that God’s covenant is the foundation of everything God has done for us. We can talk about faith, healing, provision, salvation, and every other promise of God, but covenant undergirds it all.

Deuteronomy 29:9 says, “Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.” Notice the order in this verse: covenant first, then prosperity. 

When you hear the word prosper or wealth, your mind can immediately go to thoughts of money, possessions, or financial increase. But biblical wealth is so much greater than physical things. Wealth begins with your relationship with God. It begins with knowing the realities of being “in Christ:” who you are, what belongs to you, and what God has provided for you through His covenant.

Ephesians 2:12 reminds us that we were once “strangers from the covenants of promise”. But, in the next verse, we are told that “…now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” 

You were not brought near to God because you were a good person. You were brought near because Jesus shed His blood and made it possible for you to enter into a covenant with God.

But what exactly does it mean to be in a covenant relationship with God? A covenant is a complete exchange… the giving of one thing in order to obtain something else. The parties entering a covenant would exchange identities, garments, names, strength, and resources. What belonged to one person became available to the other. 

This type of transaction is a picture of what Jesus has done for us. He took our sin, and He gave us His righteousness. He took our weakness, and He gave us His strength. He took our separation, and He brought us near to God. He took what we could never fix on our own, and through His blood, He made a way for us to become partakers of the promises of God.

This is why the cross is so much more than a symbol of suffering. While on the cross, Jesus said, “It is finished.” The Greek word used there is tetelestai. It speaks of something that has been completed, accomplished, and brought to its goal. 

Jesus didn’t leave the work of redemption halfway finished. He didn’t make salvation available, then leave you to figure out the rest. He completed the work. Therefore, because it is finished, we can live our lives sustained by what Jesus has already accomplished, instead of constantly trying to earn what God has already given us. 

We don’t have to approach God as outsiders begging Him to notice us. We come to Him as people who have been brought near by the blood of Jesus. 

This past month at my church, we have been digging into the vast subject of covenant wealth, and we have seen that, when it comes to wealth, your greatest possession is not what is in your bank account. Your greatest possession is your covenant relationship with God. Money cannot give you peace, nor can it give you righteousness, salvation, or the presence of God. But through covenant, God has made available to you everything you need to fulfill the assignment He has given you.

That doesn’t mean you should ignore finances or practical stewardship. It means you should put them in their proper place. Always be mindful of covenant first. 

Friend, we have a covenant-keeping God. You have been made part of something that God established, and Jesus fulfilled. When you feel weak, remember the covenant. When circumstances look impossible, remember the covenant. When you are believing God for provision, remember the covenant. When the enemy tells you that you are alone, forgotten, or disqualified, remember the blood of Jesus. 

The same God who made a covenant with Noah, Abraham, Israel, and David is the God who has made a way for you through Jesus Christ. The promises we once looked forward to are now promises we can look back on, secured by the finished work of Jesus.