Your Covenant With God Creates A History With Him

The Lord desires to create and build a life-sustaining relationship with you that rests upon what He has done and what you have put into the relationship over the years.

Relationships require time.

In any relationship, the longer the people are together, the more they know one another, and they can create a foundation of trust and faith in the other. Relationships involve so many amazing facets. There is the joy of presence and being together and the ability to understand where each other is coming from in a given situation. Relationships inspire a common ground and shared experiences.

Over time, those who have come into a relationship together can look back on a rich history of events and shared memories that no one else will ever quite understand fully. 

The reason is simple: Relationships create a shared history.

I need you to understand something about the Lord: He is a person. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are each individual persons who make up the Godhead. We understand them as three in one, but the most important concept we can receive is that each is a person.

With this being said, the Father wants to have a personal relationship with you, and so does Jesus, the Son. Also, the Holy Spirit, a person, not just a force, idea, or power, wants to have a life-giving relationship with you. In fact, Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit to walk and live INSIDE of us!

When we enter this relationship, over time it creates a shared history.

God wants to have a history with you! He wants to have a common theme that the two of you share and understand. The Lord seeks to create a bond of history between him and his people that will stand the test of time and circumstance.

This history builds our understanding of the character and nature of the Lord, not only as God but as OUR God. We start to feel that we know what He will do in a given set of circumstances because we have seen him do things before.

We have a history together.

I can look back throughout my life and remember some the times I have had with the Lord. They are as clear today as when I first lived them. When I was fourteen, I became a believer and asked Jesus into my life. The joy I felt and the freedom are tangible emotions I will never forget.

In particular, I remember a study hall hour I had in ninth grade. Every day I went to the library and found a corner seat away from anyone else. It became an alone time with God and my Bible, and in those times together, me and the Lord began creating a history. What I learned and felt are moments that are woven into the fabric of who I am today. All this I say to help you understand that YOUR history with the Lord matters!

In Second Timothy 1:8-12, we read as the Apostle Paul declares this truth about history with the Lord, and he explains that our history even has the power to keep us during times of trial or suffering.

2 Timothy 1:8-12 NKJV

[8] Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, [9] who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, [10] but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, [11] to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. [12] For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

Pay close attention to Paul's words in verse twelve. He makes a statement that not everyone can make when he says, "For THIS reason, I also suffer these things."

Why can Paul go through the process of suffering, loss, pain, grief, difficulty, and problems? The reason is that Paul's history with the Lord created a depth of strength that would carry him through any persecution he faced. His shared history with Jesus built in him the character to run towards death with reckless abandon even while others were turning away.

Scripture is clear, Paul knew the one he believed in. He knew the Lord close enough to understand that his commitment to Jesus would be kept. The Lord would keep his soul. The Lord would keep his spirit safe and whole. The Lord would never leave or forsake him. Paul echoes this same sentiment in Romans chapter eight.

Romans 8:31-39 NKJV

[31] What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? [32] He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

Because of his history with the Lord, Paul completely understood that God would do anything we need in our lives because God had already given us the most valuable gift in the universe's history: Jesus. Paul's history with the Lord spoke to him and reminded him that there was nothing God would not do for us because He'd already given us Jesus.

[33] Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. [34] Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

Don't you think Paul probably remembered the many things he had been through? He was stoned and left for dead. He had suffered shipwreck and nights in the ocean. Paul had been beaten and mistreated more than once. Still, he remembered his history with Jesus, which reminded him that the Lord was interceding on his behalf!

Because of this history, Paul could say nothing shall separate me from Jesus!

[35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? [36] As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." [37] Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. [38] For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, [39] nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Please hear what I'm trying to say: History with God gives you a deep well of hope from which to draw when the times and seasons seem to be against you.

Your history with God will allow you, too, to say, "I am persuaded." Unless you have a history with the Lord, you may NOT be persuaded that things will work out. Paul had just penned these very words in Romans 8:26-28.

Romans 8:26-28 NKJV

[26] Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. [27] Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. [28] And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

When you can look at your current situation and declare, "All these things will work together for my good," it comes from having a history with God where you have seen him take what is impossible and bring something good out of it. Your history with God gives you rich resources to draw from in times of trouble.

The flip side of the coin is also true. When I see someone who claims to be a born-again believer in Jesus Christ fall apart when they face trials and setbacks, it tells me that they do not have a fully developed history with the Lord. I will not be so bold to say that they are not born again, but I will say that your history with the Lord steadies you and produces peace in your heart even when all hell breaks loose in your life.

You never see the disciples who later became the apostles fall apart, even when the worst persecution comes. So, how can we claim God is good when we come unhinged just because we have gone through a few hard months? The apostles were beaten, tortured, imprisoned, and martyred, yet the same Holy Spirit in them that we have access to produced love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Many say, "I'm not an apostle, so I do not have to be held to the same standard." Yet again, I remind you that we all have access to the same Holy Spirit who produces better things from those who build rich histories with him.

Part of the covenant of the Lord with us is that we get the opportunity to have a history with the Lord. 

Covenants cause those who partake of their agreement to come to know one another. In the same way that I have a marriage covenant with my wife, and I have come to know her, I have a covenant with the Lord and have come to know him. Over and over again, I've seen how he reacted when I obeyed and when I sinned. I've seen how the Lord responded when I have called out to him for help. In moments of distress when it felt like the world would end for me, I have seen Jesus show up and speak peace and, at times, move with great power to end the distress. This all comes from developing a history with God that creates His-Story in my life.

So, how do we go about developing a history with the Lord?

It comes down to only a few things: 

Obedience, faithfulness, and prayer, given that I also must spend time in His Word.

Every time the Lord asks something of you, and you obey, even if you do not fully understand what He is doing, it creates a history between you and the Lord. Your obedience is rewarded by seeing him do what only he can do in your life. Remember the story of Peter stepping out of the boat? It does not make sense that a person could walk on water, yet Peter did because he obeyed the command of the Lord to step out and do it. Remember when the Lord commanded the disciples to feed the multitude of people? They did not understand how it would work, yet they filtered out through the crowd anyway and distributed the bread and fish, and by God's grace, it multiplied before their eyes. They got to see God work because of their obedience, which also created a rich history for them to draw from the next time the Lord asked for obedience.

But beyond obedience, we have a deep need to spend time with the Lord in prayer. 

Nothing can replace prayer time with Jesus. Nothing will develop a man or woman of God more than setting aside a secret place to spend time with God. In fact, we will never be any greater than our prayer life. Prayer IS the vital connection point with the Lord. When we take the time to build a life of prayer, we are actually investing in our history with the Lord. We learn to hear his voice and sense his presence. If you have never prayed and sensed the Lord's presence, you finished before he did! Do not walk away from your prayer time with the Lord unless you feel his presence or hear his voice, or at least receive a sense of the peace of God. God is real, and scripture plainly tells us his sheep hear his voice. We are created to hear the voice of God, and when we do it builds a history of what his voice sounds like.

There have been times when I felt God was leading me in a particular situation. Still, I wasn't entirely sure it was him. What I did was pause and remember what the voice of the Lord sounds like. You can only do that when you build a history with God that includes the sound of his voice through prayer.

Lastly, let me remind you to spend time in the Word of God. The Bible IS a rich history of the ways of God. His word shows us the character and nature of the Lord. 

Even if we do not yet have the experience to draw from, the Bible gives us every example we need to understand how the Lord will move and respond in a given situation.

In fact, the Lord spoke a word to me the other day, and I want to pass this word on to you. This word is for those who lack clarity in their life.

If you lack clarity, I feel like the Lord is saying to you and me: "The key is to listen to my voice in the moment, and then be obedient to what I say. Quickly move, quickly obey, fully obey, fully comply with the things that I speak and declare over you," says the Lord.

This is a life lived by faith and a history with God. Clarity comes in the moment, and faith latches onto this momentary clarity. We must obey what the Lord says, leading us to the right places and times to do the right things.

This is the power of creating a history with God.

Pray this with me:

"Lord Jesus, I want to know your voice deeply in my heart. When you speak, I want to understand you and have the strength to obey what you say. Lord, help me to grow in my history with you! What joy it will produce in my life to know you more intimately and have the sense of your presence with me at all times. Father, let your Spirit fill me to the full and produce a harvest of his fruit in my life. Let this be our history together, and His-Story in me. In Jesus' name, amen."