Originally posted on January 1, 2023 A rainbow, such a covenant, and God’s loving presence! The entire time I ran a few days before the New Year, a rainbow stayed in the sky for over an hour! I immediately felt this was a sign of renewed joy, peace, love, and a fresh start with God‘s covenantal grace in 2023! Creator God wanted His beautiful rainbow, His covenant with humankind, to be noticed once again! God, our Father, never takes His covenant away from His people. “The Lord delights in His people; He crowns the humble with victory.” (Ps. 149:4-5) A covenant is a promise, a pledge, or a pact. The rainbow first appeared in Genesis 9 after the great scripture that said, this is my covenant for all generations and living creatures to come. I will see the rainbow and remember my everlasting covenant. And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between you and me and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth, and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between you and me and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” (Genesis 9:12-16) God made a covenant with Abram in Genesis 15. “When the sun had set, and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt, to the great river, the Euphrates.” God, the Father, is depicted by the smoking pot which is symbolic of sin and judgment. The Holy Spirit is the blazing torch, a symbol of truth. Jesus is the sacrificial lamb and our shield against eternal death. As God made His covenant with Abram, Jesus blood flowed as a covenantal covering. His blood sealed the covenant. Jesus, by His sacrifice on the cross and shedding His blood, covers us and washes our sins clean. His blood made a way when there was no way for mankind to be with God in eternity. His blood protects us from the evil schemes of the enemy. His powerful blood gives us hope, healing, and peace as we are connected covenantly to Him and His life. God made the covenantal promise to Abram and passed through the pieces of the sacrificed animals. And, God, the Father made the most awesome covenant with us by Jesus’ sacrifice. Who doesn’t need fresh hope, joy, healing, and peace in our crazy world? Get ready, for I sense the Lord God Almighty, our Jehovah Adonai, (the Sovereign Lord, and the Resurrection Life) will do something fresh and new in your life in 2023! New assignments, new anointings, plans, and paths to walk or run! I feel in my spirit a renewed hope and joy are returning to God’s remnant. I also sense God wants to remind His remnant about His covenant with them. God and Abram had a covenant based on God’s goodness, where God had made a promise and a pledge to him. God is faithful to His Word. What He says, He does. God’s promises are not a maybe, but a sure certainty. God enters into a covenantal relationship with us. God told Abraham, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” (Gen. 15:1) And, the Lord wants to be your shield and very great reward too! Seek Him today. God wants you to know that you can know for sure that He has bound Himself to you in a covenant relationship (as a beloved believer of Christ), just as Jehovah bound Himself to Abram. God is with you, and He is still for you, despite what life looks like in the natural. Jehovah Adonai has not forsaken you. He is for you! You can trust God as Father, just as a child willingly trusts his parents. Ask Him what He has in store for you in 2023. Believe as Abram did. Gen. 15:6 says, “Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” Let me repeat this: Jesus, our holy Savior’s blood moved in between the covenant between God and Abram. He is the sacrificial lamb, and His blood covers our covenant with God. The blood of the lamb is over you. Praise Jesus! His blood covers you and surrounds you because of Jesus’ work on the cross. The enemy cannot come against Jesus’ blood! The accuser cannot come against the covenant completed by the Trinity! These facts are a powerful arsenal against the fiery darts shot against your mind today and always! The rainbow of covenant reminds us… When I am fearful, He is faithful. When I feel unloved and unlovely, He shows me His love and shares His beauty all around me. When I feel insecure and insignificant, He reminds me to look up at the precious cost of Jesus’ Cross, who disregarded its shame. When I sense the death of a job, relationship, ministry, or something special to me, God says He can bring dead things back to life! When I do not know which path to take, He will be a voice behind me, guiding me forward. When I feel lackluster and lost, He tells me I am beautiful and truly found in Him! When I am faithless, He is as sure as my very next breath. The rainbow reminds me, He IS the Alpha and the Omega-the beginning and the end. I am safe and sound because He knew me before I was formed in my mother’s womb, and He will guide me safely home to paradise someday. What a sweet ending and a beginning all wrapped up together! This is the covenant of the rainbow God made with you and I. God made the covenant with Abram, and it is also made for you and me. We can make covenants with God, also. Genesis 17:2-4 shows God made a covenant with Abram, and Abram made one with God. “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.” God responds to Abram by changing his name to Abraham. He changed Abraham’s identity of being a father to many nations. Abraham’s requirement was to walk before God blamelessly and faithfully. God credited to Abraham righteousness because he BELIEVED GOD! He believed God at His Word to give him many descendants through many nations and bring him and Sarah a baby boy-Isaac! Abraham responded with reverential fear and respect and I’m sure, a great sense of awe and astonishment! God said He would increase Abraham’s numbers and his descendants… and He did! In this beginning, the New Year on 1-1-23, I sense that God is making a covenant with His people. Will we make a covenant with Him? Covenants such as: Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and strength. (Matt. 22:36) Serve no one before me. Make no idols. Worship Jesus alone. (Lev. 19:4) Consecrate yourself. (Joshua 3:5) Give me your YES, with radical obedience. (Deut. 30:16) Have a reverential fear, a healthy respect for Creator God of our universe, asking for forgiveness. (2 Chronicles 6:30-32) Daily get in the secret place with Him, seeking His plans for your life, praying, worshipping, and reading the Word. (Proverbs 25:2) Love your neighbor as thy self. (Matthew 22:39) Happy New Year as you make your covenants with God, the Author, and Perfector of your faith and very life! Remember the covenants He has made with you! Joy and blessings! Holly 🙂 You can also find my Blogs on Bible Gateway Blogger Grid! https://twitter.com/Heart4TheCross and hollylachappell | A topnotch WordPress.com site

Blog originally written on 2/22/23 by Holly

Don't Despise the Day of Small Things

A Heart That Stirs

The True Mirror, Mirror on The Wall!

“If you give a mouse a cookie…the children’s story begins on a rather positive note. Suddenly, the mouse also wants a cup of milk then a book read to him and so on and on! When I taught Kindergarten, this was an annual Fall read. We would watercolor chocolate chip cookies and then make and finally eat our warm, gooey treats. The kids loved this story. The repetitive nature of the prose helped them memorize the story. Memorization along with rhyming are the keys to learning to read. This mouse’s desires are never ending. Reminds me of the task of staining our decks, which we are doing right now. My husband and I thought one day process, no problem. Noooo! First of all, he realizes he MUST power wash the deck I am taping off with pretty sky blue painters tape. He sprays most of the tape (accidentally, I’m sure) and it rolls off the side of the stairs. It’s a blazing hot day, so my plastic gloved hands are dripping with sweat and Russet acrylic stain. Thank goodness, it’s a water based stain. How many slats and railings do we have? It is amazing I haven’t noticed the 500 plus railings before! Well, (oh darn!) I’ve run out of paint. I have all the railings inside and out stained. Looking pretty nice, if I do say so myself. I’ll get more paint tomorrow after I teach at the gym and get the biggest latte I can find. I’m going to need it to finish this “one day project.” 2nd day: The hardware store has ran out of stain base. It’s on SALE, after all! ( Woo-hoo ! I get a break from the blistering heat!) “It will be in tomorrow,” the hardware man tells me. Too bad. I’m getting out of town to ride my bike somewhere cooler. The decks will wait for me, I’m sure. 3rd day: Darn. They have the stain base in so I buy another gallon, more sponge brushes and rubber gloves so I can sweat some more. Hey! I finished the floors of two decks. Looking nice. Pretty blue tape everywhere. Still 3rd day. Onto the small office deck since I have some stain left. My husband frantically tries to tape off the stairs before I leave little polk a dots of Russet stain everywhere. He is on the front porch blasting it with the water compression thingy. He’s off to the hardware store, again. He needs deck cleaner and some new brushes. Hubby comes back with all the above, plus a new American flag and headlight cleaner for my car. Boy, these decks are getting expensive! Now, I’m out of stain. Quick, back to the hardware store for more stain and two pieces of redwood board to fix the super warped stairs. Oh, by the way: power outage at the hardware store. Just a slight “delay.” On the front deck, the deck cleaner has worked amazingly well. Pick out new oil based Sequoia stain. Going to be beautiful. Must buy new oil based brushes, cannot use the water based brushes. What?! 4th day: We are finishing today, come heck or high water! I’m going on a run first and looking for the largest iced coffee I can find. Maybe I’ll add a shot or two of espresso. I’m going to need it. FYI…Training for a 1/2 Marathon is easier than staining your decks. Well, we are all finished now. Whew! A one day project turned into four days, a couple hundred $ doll hairs and seriously seven trips to the hardware store. Our decks look beautiful. The really good thing is I have had a lot of time to reflect and be grateful. Grateful for decks to sit and reflect on God ‘s beauty in nature. Our Sierra mountain view is amazing! The hummingbirds that hurriedly come to our decks for nourishment are a stunning iridescent green and glittery ruby red. Our two dogs come and lay at our feet as we drink our morning coffee. Our kitty sits on my lap, just for a moment. A neighbor whistles nearby. I rest and reflect on God’s love and presence on these decks. They look great. The time (and sweat) were well worth it. Now, I have peace and joy. I muse, I’m like this mouse with the cookie. If I start with one project, I might as well complete the rest of the projects while we’re at it. And so, I persevere, rather hilariously at times. “We rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit , whom He has given us.” Romans 5:3-5 NIV (Photo credit: https://unsplash.com/@arianassz)

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