SUCCESS: YOUR COVENANT RIGHT

At new birth, you entered into a covenant relationship with God. This covenant covers all areas of your life. God has done everything to make you a success. He has made a grand design of success for you. His will for you is success and it is spelt out in His Word.

The problem with many of God’s people is that they lack the knowledge of this truth. They do not know that God has planned and programmed them for success. So they continue to live purposelessly. They do not have knowledge of their success. They are confused. They drift and wander because they have no knowledge motivation for success.

Lack of knowledge is one of the most dreadful spiritual diseases. It is basic that you cannot rise above the level of what you know. Knowledge has a way of affecting and influencing an individual’s personality and well-being. If you do not know something, you cannot use it. You cannot reap what you have not sown. There must be sowing before reaping. So you cannot use knowledge you do not possess. That is why the world says, "Knowledge is power." This is very true. Knowledge actually gives power. When you know something, you have the ability to control it. That ability proceeds from knowledge. God says, ignorance (the absence of knowledge) destroys.

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
Hosea 4:6

If God’s people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, it means that they can be saved and delivered by knowledge. Knowledge is very important for life in the Spirit. You will not amount to anything serious with God without a good knowledge of Him. Even in the academic world, knowledge is the key word. You need knowledge to become anything in God.

On the other hand, there are people who have a lot of knowledge of God’s word, but it is useless to them. They have it only in the head and not in the heart. The word has become common to them. They are so used to hearing it that it does not make any difference. Some read only for head knowledge or to increase their "spiritual vocabulary." They have not come to a place of unshaken confidence in the word. All they have is mental assent. They only agree mentally with the Word. They know and agree that it is true but do not have a heart knowledge of it. They do not believe it.

There is a difference between mental assent and faith. Mental assent knows and agrees that God is God and He is the Almighty and the Bible is His word. It agrees also that the word is true, but without committal of faith to it. This agreement or knowledge, does not work for those that possess it. It has no activating force. It is limited to the sense knowledge realm only.

Faith, on the other hand, is of the heart. Mental assent is of the head. Faith knows, agrees and believes. You cannot believe with your head. You can only believe with your heart. Jesus, speaking about the power of faith and confession, said it is only the one who speaks and refuses to doubt in his heart that can have what he says.

"For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, AND SHALL NOT DOUBT IN HIS HEART, BUT SHALL BELIEVE (IN HIS HEART) that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith"
Mark 11:23 (Emphasis mine)

It is clear from this statement that faith is of the heart not of the head. It is not what comes out of your head that is established, but the one that proceeds from the heart. Paul says, "With the heart, man believeth ..." (Romans 10:10). Not with the head!

Do not approach the word with a mental state. Approach it with reverence and godly fear. The word has to be sown into you before you can reap results. Your head is not the fertile ground, your heart is. When the word enters your heart, it will produce a miracle. Note that the Bible says the entrance of the word (only) produces light.

"The entrance of Thy word giveth light, it giveth understanding unto the simple"
Psalm 119:130

It does not say, the reading of the word. Not even the studying. It is the entrance of the word into the heart that produces light. I am yet to see a man into whom the word has gained entrance and still remains the same.

When the word enters you, it produces a miracle light, and you become a master in that area of life. When the word of victory enters you, you become a victor always. When the word of authority enters you, it becomes absolutely easy for you to take your rightful position and operate accordingly.

The day the word of holiness entered me, becoming holy ceased being a struggle. It has become quite natural for me to be holy. I am no longer struggling with sin. I have no business with it. I know I am above it. I know I have won the battle in that area. I am a master in that area.

It is the same with other areas of life including success. If you do not have the word of success in you, you will still struggle with failure. When the word of God concerning any subject enters you, God’s ability is released to take total control of that situation. You are helpless without the entrance of the word. You should always long for the entrance of the word.

The success of the early church hinged primarily on the fact that they were always receiving the word. They constantly allowed the word to gain entrance into them. That was why it was easy for them to get things done. The light that is produced at the entrance of the word is so powerful that no darkness can overcome it.

You can be a faithful servant of the Lord all your life and yet fail to enjoy your benefits. The elder brother of the prodigal son is an example. He was a faithful and dedicated worker. He served his father faithfully but he did not enjoy the benefits of that relationship. He knew him to be his father, he knew him to be very rich but he had no light regarding his right to the things that belonged to his father. When the younger brother came back from his wasteful spending, their father was excited. He killed the fatted cow and called a great party. He dressed the prodigal son beautifully and they began to make merry and to rejoice. When the faithful brother approached the city in the evening, he was surprised at what was happening. This man grew annoyed and protested to his father:

"And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he grew angry, and would not go in; therefore came his father out, and entreated him, and he answering said,

Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment; and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends; but as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him a fatted calf. And he said unto him, son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine"
Luke 15:26-31

This man has been serving his father faithfully. He has never at any time disobeyed. He has been loyal to his father. He is an embodiment of dedication and commitment. But he said his father had not given him a kid, not even a calf. The father told him it was his. "All that I have is yours freely to enjoy." Note that the wealth has been there always. He has contributed immensely to the success of the business but he was striving in ignorance. He did not know that all he needed to do was to draw from it and enjoy it. His father told him; they are all yours!

This is the picture of many believers today. They are only serving God; they do not know their right to God’s blessings. The elder brother to the prodigal son did not know these things belonged to him until he was told. Benefits do not come upon a believer just because he is serving God.

I have seen people who continued faithfully with God but lived in abject poverty. They did not have knowledge of their covenant rights. God will not say, "this man has done a lot of things, he is so zealous so let me do this for him." No! He does not work that way. It is the knowledge of the truth that you know that sets you free. Nothing can happen to you in the Christian faith above the level of your knowledge of the truth. You cannot reap what you have not sown.

The Word has to gain entrance into you before you can get the light. Jesus confirmed this truth.

"And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free"
John 8:32

It is the knowledge of your covenant right to success that will set you free from failure and throw you into a life of consistent success. It is not by accident or chance. The things of the spirit are not operated on chance or luck. They are programmed on spiritual laws. When the right key is used your result will surely come.

Your devotion and zeal are not enough. Paul said it is possible to be zealous without knowledge (Romans 10:2). That zeal is not good until it is coupled with knowledge, because you can never enjoy what you do not know.

You have a success covenant with God. But you need a definite knowledge of this truth to be able to enjoy it. Success is yours by right and by birth. The new creation qualifies you for success. That is the entry point into the covenant.

Naturally, life is full of troubles. It can be adequately described as a bed of troubles. But life in the spirit is just a bed of roses. There is no grammatical adjective to qualify it. It is more than anything anybody can describe.

Success for you is not a matter of chance. It has no relevance to your natural background. Most people say, "I wish I had educated parents," or "I wish I had a wealthy and successful background." They say life would have been better with them. Your background is the best. You have the most educated parents. Your parents are the wealthiest. No one is more educated than God. None is wealthier than Him. He is your real Father. He is your real background. Your background is the most successful in history!

Jesus said, do not call anybody your father on earth. He said you have one Father and He is in heaven. He is the Almighty God. He is your Father. And since you are not a bastard, you have only one Father and He is God. He is your background.

God called Abraham and made a covenant with him. He told him He would bless him and make him a blessing.

"Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land I will show thee: And I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed"
Genesis 12:1-3

The summary of what God told Abraham is that, He was establishing a covenant of success with him and his seed. This was the declaration of God’s mind to Abraham and you, his seed.

There is no way a man can be a blessing to others if he is not successful himself. A failure cannot be a blessing. It is one who has made it that can be a blessing to others. Study the life of Abraham and notice how successful the man was. God literally fulfilled that covenant. He was so successful that he had his own private army. He had a crowd of three hundred body guards! God blessed him so much that he became a blessing to many people.

God said you shall be a blessing. He said your blessing will be so obvious that people will come and be blessed by you. Your blessings will overflow to others.

A lot of Christians think or are made to believe that greatness and prosperity are not of God. To them, if you aspire to greatness, you are over-ambitious, and that such may even be a sign of pride and backsliding. But look at Genesis 12:1-3 again. God Himself told Abraham, saying, "I will make you a great nation and I will bless you. And make your name GREAT." He said, "I will bless you and make you a blessing."

God is not against greatness. He is not against prosperity. He is not against success. He is the author of them all. God is the originator of greatness. Do you not know that He is the Great God? No one is greater than Him. He is not against your success. He is happy to see you succeed in life.

Notice that this was the first statement He made to Abraham. It was so important to God that He did not say anything about any other thing. He seemed to give the impression that, that was and is the most pressing thing in His mind.

God wants you to be great. He wants to bless you so much that you will be a blessing to others. That blessing means prosperity. It means success. It means reigning in life, over every situation and circumstance. That is God’s will for you. Do not be deceived. God is not in anything that has to do with failure. He does not know it. He reigns over and above failure.

The reason why Jesus came is to redeem us from the bondage of the curse and to grant us entrance into the blessings of Abraham. That is the core of His assignment. He came to make life more inspiring and fulfilling for you. He came and took your place under the curse of the law and redeemed you. He brought you into covenant relationship with God.

"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every man that hangeth on a tree: that the blessings of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith"
Galatians 3:13

Your blessing story started the moment God said to Abraham, "You shall be a blessing." That was when your blessing started. And Jesus came and brought you into it. He came so that you may have access into the blessings of Abraham. They are yours today.

You have come under this blessing of Abraham. You may not know it, but you are already under the covenant. You are a partner with God in success, that is how He sees you. Understand that God knows the implications of that covenant. He adheres totally to its terms. He is bent on fulfilling it to you. He wants you to realize your position and stand tall in success.

You need to have an understanding that God intends and wills you for good success. You can only understand this effectively if you know your place in the covenant. You need to know and believe that when God gave out the covenant to Abraham, He was doing it for you. He had you in mind at that time.

If you trace a few scriptural facts, you will notice that you were present when God established the success covenant with Abraham. Paul, presenting his case on the high priestly office of the Lord Jesus Christ, insisted that Levi paid tithe to Melchizedek, King of Salem, the priest of the Most High and paid tithe to him.

"And Melchizedek King of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the Priest of the Most High God. And he blessed him, and said, blessed be Abram of the Most High God possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the Most High God who hath delivered thine enemies into thine hand, and he gave him the tithes of all"
Genesis 14:18-20

Paul said that since Abraham paid tithe to Melchizedek, Levi and his descendants (the priests) paid tithe to him through Abraham. He said the reason is that Levi was in Abraham’s loins at that time and so it was the same as Levi paying tithe to Melchizedek.

"And as I may so say, Levi also who receiveth tithes, paid tithes in Abraham. For he was in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him"
Hebrews 7:9-10

This is very clearly stated. It was the same thing that happened at the fall of man. The moment Adam sinned, the whole human race sinned in him. He was the representative of man. So by his sin we were all made sinners. It became real that the whole human race was lost, separated from God.

You were not there physically at that time, but you were present in him. You were yet in his loins. So we were all accounted to have sinned. Much in the same way, you were blessed in Abraham when God said to him, "I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shall be a blessing." He was not cutting the covenant with Abraham alone. He was cutting it with Abraham and his seed. He was cutting it with you.

He knows you are a seed of Abraham and so He cut that covenant with you. It is not strictly Abraham’s covenant. It is your covenant with God. People call it Abraham’s because he received it on our behalf. But it is yours as much as it is Abraham’s. God is committed to fulfilling it to you as much as He was to Abraham. You are a covenant son. You have God’s success covenant.

Jesus had all these in mind when He said you are a light on a candle stick which cannot be hid. He also said you are like a house built upon the top of a hill which cannot be hid from sight. God does not design you for obscurity. He wants your success to be obvious to sight.

"Ye are the light of the world, a city that is set on an hill cannot be hid, Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candle stick and it giveth light to all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven"
Matthew 5:14-16

Success is the underlying factor in these statements. The summary of all Jesus was saying there is that, your success will be so outstanding that nobody around you can claim ignorance of it. They will all see it. You will not be able to hide it even if you want to. Success is as revealing as light. You cannot hide it. God wants you to know that He has destined you for success in an absolute sense. Success is your covenant right.