Day 14
A Warfare of Rest – Day 14 – The Power of Covenant
A number of years ago, the Lord led me into an intensive time of fasting and prayer in a season in which I was going through a heavy testing in my life. One afternoon, while praying, I fell asleep and had a very vivid dream. Some spiritual leaders, who are friends of mine, came to my house. We were sitting together in my living room together when, one by one, they began to literally preach and release powerful words of faith into the situation I was facing. They were all sharing excitedly except for one older spiritual father, who sat quietly in the corner of the room. As the preaching continued, I felt that I really needed to hear from this older father, but when I looked up, he was gone! I ran to my front entrance where I found him putting on his shoes and preparing to leave. He looked sad.
I grabbed his arm and said, “Please don’t leave.”
And he looked me right in the eyes and said, “You just don’t understand the covenant and you don’t know how to appropriate the blessing. You are not going to be able to get it from someone else’s preaching or a book. You have been given so many promises from God, but you have not been wise to steward them.”
I woke up with his words burning in my heart. And the Lord spoke to me and said, “My Word is My covenant with you.”
“I know, Lord,” I answered, “the Bible is full of Your promises to us.”
“Yes, Stephanie, but I’m not just talking about the Bible. I have whispered promises to your heart and asked my friends, the prophets, to speak over you. These too are part of My covenant for your life. But you’ve not treated My words to you as the precious promises that they are and because of it, you have been unable to appropriate the blessings I have prepared for your life”.
At that moment, I knew what I had to do. I spent the next many days meticulously going through my prayer diaries, sorting through my files, finding all the words God had given me, all the promises He had made rhema to me from the scriptures, every dream I had ever had and every prophecy I had ever received over my life. I wrote them all down in a document I called “My Covenant with God”.
In Matthew 25, Jesus taught a parable about the servants who were taking care of their master’s money. Those who were faithful with the little, God began to entrust with more. That same principle applies to everything the Lord has spoken to us, whether personally or through others. As long as these words line up with the Scriptures they are part of our inheritance. More than that, they are part of our ammunition in the warfare to enter into rest!
This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. 1 Tim 1:18-19
I have a friend who recently got a very bad report about her health. She could have been tempted to come into agreement with the enemy but instead she sent out an email to her friends asking for prayer. To this email, she attached a document of all the prophetic words that have been spoken over her life. “If people are going to fight for me,” she said, “I don’t want it to be from a place of fear or pity. I want them to see what they are fighting for and pray in alignment with what God has said will happen in my life!”
“You said, God!” can be one of the most powerful prayers you will pray as you fight the good fight of faith in your life. There is an authority of heaven that is released when you declare back to God, and into the spirit realm, what the Lord has already spoken over you. You’re creating a holy alliance, strengthening the power of agreement and keeping the doors of your life secure against unbelief.
If this resonates in your heart, then I want to encourage you to take some time today to find the words that have been spoken over your life and, by faith, begin to declare them back to the Lord and into the spirit realm.
And if you would like to commit to the Lord to be a better steward of His covenant to you from this day forward, then let’s pray this prayer together. “Father I thank you for every word that You have spoken over my life. I declare that Your words are eternal, O God, and they stand firm in the heavens! I ask you, Father, to forgive me for the ways in which I have not properly stewarded or treated Your words as precious. Please help bring to my remembrance the promises that I may have forgotten; speak them afresh to my heart today. Help me to be a faithful steward over Your word today and from now on. In the name of Jesus, Amen!”
Love,
Stephanie
On behalf of the Awaken Team
We would love this journey to be an expression of the corporate body and not just a few of us, so if the Lord gives you a vision or dream or speaks to you through a scripture or if you have a story or testimony you would like to share, please send it to share@awakenthedream.org.
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