A Covenant bond is most likely relatable in the context of marriage, yet also a word we don’t use today. However, with the failure to use that term over the past few hundred generations, we’ve also become laxed in holding ourselves and other’s accountable for the covenant relationship values we still seek today. Covenant oaths and rituals may have changed over the centuries, but the heart of what covenant bonds meant to God and man are still true for relationships today. The most important covenant is between God and us, followed by marriage covenant, then family and friendship covenant. Covenant is how God has chosen to communicate to us, redeem us and guarantee us eternal life in Jesus. He is a covenant keeping God who desires to be in relationship with people. Sadly, over time, though we have lost sight and raw understanding of true covenant and have become awakened to a lost generation of brokenness, divorce, loneliness and lack of commitment to our spouses and friendships. A covenant friendship holds most of the same principles as a marriage. According to “Blue Denim and Lace,” by Dr. Jack Hyles, “A friend should be as carefully chosen in the will of God as husband and wife.”

Not to be confused with the Old Covenant (Old Testament), which was more contractual and legally binding, the New Covenant (New Testament) is all about the heart. The Old Covenant or contract was sealed on paper, but the New Covenant is sealed in the heart and much more binding than a contract. “In Him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the good news of your salvation, and [as a result] believed in Him, were stamped with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit [the One promised by Christ] as owned and protected [by God],” (Ephesians 1:13 AMP) A contract was enforced by the law, whereas the new covenant was enforced by the Spirit of the living God, driven by God’s own Spirit. The entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation threads a chord of covenant between God and His people. Covenant is the key to unlock the Bible. When we read the Bible as a law, a separation will exist between God and us preventing proper relationship. Although the old covenant is made void in light of the new, we can be too legalistic and miss the heart of what God is doing today!

Until Jesus came to fulfill the New Covenant through His own blood, the Old Covenant preached of the law. It was much harder to keep the old covenant, and consisted of a blood sacrifice, usually a pure, innocent animal. “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them,” Genesis 3:21. When sin entered the garden through Eve’s deception and Adam’s disobedience, they recognized their nakedness and vulnerability was introduced. The Lord made garments for them to cover up, animal skins no less! We see the plan of redemption as early as the Garden. To Adam and Eve, animal skins covered their nakedness, but the shed blood of the animals covered their spiritual nakedness. This was a foreshadowing of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus carrying guilt for humanity. We die to old covenant ways and rise up in Christ, clothed in His righteousness, not animal skins. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement, by reason of the life [which it represents],” Leviticus 17:11.

Covenant keeping people require a perfect heart. We will never be perfect people, but we can have pure hearts. David was an adulterer and murderer but the Bible says he was a man after God’s own heart. “But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do,” Acts 13:22. In the Amplified Bible, that same verse ends with the words, “…who will do all my will.” That means there was a purpose for David’s clean heart – he would be able to carry out the plan of God, not because he was a perfect person, but because he had a covenant heart. He went on to be one of Israel’s finest leaders.

We will focus more on the New Covenant for purposes of tying in how this relates to us in this generation. Covenant works in two ways. One, it is a relationship between God and man and two, it should reflect the relationship between us and others. Covenant is relative and redemptive. It is spiritually liberating! There is a power and freedom in being in covenant with someone else that essentially sets your soul on fire! You are empowered to see the plan of God fulfilled in the world around you, are fought for, chosen and sacrificed for. If our earthly relationships are to be a reflection of God’s covenant love to us, then shouldn’t we all feel fought for and chosen? That’s sadly not the case in this generation. We are too lazy or don’t have time to cultivate such relationships and isn’t that the dilemma of today-too many broken people with no real confidence or security to fight the spiritual forces that come against them alone? If we truly understood covenant more, there would be much less divorces and broken friendships.

In his sermon, “Covenant Relationships Keep Love Turned on,” Danny Silk breaks covenant down as being intended to help us become free. He goes on to say that we have limited each other to performance. If one party does this, then they are accepted, however if one party starts doing something the other doesn’t like or is uncomfortable with, the hidden terms of the relationship are jeopardized and eventually broken. There is a standard we expect others to live up to in order to stay in union with us. At that point, their struggle or fear becomes scary and we pull away and put our guard up to protect ourselves. This is the exact opposite of covenant relationships. In Covenant, your guard is down, you are willing to risk, sacrifice and literally lay your life down for the other person. Their needs take center stage always. Covenant is not about the other person. It’s about you keeping your love turned on no matter how they act. Through covenant, we are called to draw closer to the other person in struggles, and sacrifice our own ideologies for their success. Jesus was not afraid of covenant. He was not afraid of our failures or what other people were going to think. All He knew was covenant and to offer up His own life for our benefit. This is what we are called to do, as well.

Let’s take a look at Ruth and Naomi. Naomi had lost her husband and 2 sons and tells her daughters-in-law to go back to their countries. One goes and one stays and displays covenant heart. “But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord do the same to me [as He has done to you], and more also, if anything but death separates me from you.” When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more,” Ruth 1:15-18. Covenant loves with a love we have only learned from the Father. In Kris Vallotton’s sermon, “Covenant Relationships,’” he explains it as something your heart knows but your mind can’t wrap around! Covenant entails two major components: passion and sacrifice, not to be separated. Covenant means I have come to die for you! This generation confuses camaraderie with covenant. In camaraderie, there is a common root of an enemy. You befriend someone because they have similar interests as you, commonalities or most likely because you have a common enemy. These are all false and empty relationships that will never succeed. Camaraderie without covenant always requires an enemy.

Paula White talks about the personal benefits of covenant in her sermon, “Covenant Relationships.” If you are going to lead in covenant, never let anyone follow you that can’t see where you are going. Covenant is the melting of two souls into one. Covenant means you see what I can see, hear what I can hear and speak what I speak. Isn’t that what we are called to do with our Father, be led by His voice in every step we take? Then, as commanded, shouldn’t we be doing that here with each other? When you walk in harmony, in total unity, not only are you going in the same direction, but you are also linked up arm in arm. Visually, White shows herself being linked up with another woman from the audience. Together they are linked and walking harmoniously, but it’s a shadow of their hearts being one now. One will put a thousand to flight, two will put 10,000. Once you are connected by the heart, you can move together, going in the same direction. God doesn’t give everyone His heart; He gives His heart to every shepherd to impart to those around him/her the will of God. Back to the ending of Acts 13:22 that states, “…who will do all my will,” it’s the shepherds, the messengers that will take this message of covenant to the world. Not everyone will heed. God covers us on every side, except our backs. This is because He wanted us in covenant! When you are walking in the same direction, linked in covenant, you are now completely surrounded, protected! The other person can see attacks coming you may not be able to, and as covenant partners, they will instantly lay their lives down to protect you! No enemy can divide true, committed covenant!

“After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.” (1 Samuel 18:1-4, NIV). In the NKJV version, verse 1 uses the word knit, …”the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his own soul…” Going back to Dr. Jack Hyles, Blue Denim and Lace, he shares that the knitting of one soul to another is being “made one,” as in the relationship of Christ to the Church and a husband to a wife. He goes on to say, “…when God gives one a friend, he knits their souls just as really as Christ was knit to the Church and as the husband and wife are knit to each other.”

This kind of friendship led those around Jonathan and David to speculate that they were gay or carrying on a sinful relationship, but that wasn’t true or tolerated in their time or ever in Gods kingdom! Jonathan and David carried the covenant relationship that was God ordained and reflected the relationship of God with Jesus and Jesus to man. They walked together in the same direction with their souls as one. Covenant drives you to love harder, reach out and motivates you to want to change the world around you! There is so much to be said about Jonathan and David that could take volumes, but we will share with you our own covenant story.

We were at a point where life was good! But you can only go so far in life without a divine connection. Nothing could have prepared us for all God was pouring out on us. It took God joining the two of us together to fulfill our lives in a way we never expected. We experienced life with new depth, meaning and purpose. We were no longer just living, but now living to build the Kingdom of God together and produce something we knew we couldn’t apart from each other. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples,” John 15:5-8.

There’s supernatural power and intimacy in covenant relationships. Our hearts toward each other deepened unlike any other friendship we had known. God was removing us out of the realm of the world’s perception of friendship and into the supernatural realm of how He originally ordained friendship to be, covenant. Our generation doesn’t think of covenant, let alone friendship as necessary, but throughout the Word of God, the thread of covenant is knitted tightly through sacrifice, risk and everlasting commitment.

Bishop TD Jakes, in his YouTube Video entitled Jonathan and David, says covenant is indescribable. He goes on to offer that it is “passionate and intimate because you bear a fruit coming out of your union.” Essentially you are on the verge of producing something you could not produce apart from each other. This is where things get risky. We knew our souls were tied together and our destiny’s entangled in each other’s. There is a pure intimacy in covenant that the world has either abused or ignored out of fear, but not without consequences and hindrances on our generation.

Former Miss America, Author and Evangelist Cheryl Salem explains that Covenant is intimate and you can’t maintain several covenant relationships as it takes dedicated time, effort and energy. You may have more than one, but some are at different levels of friendships. “We are the temple of the Holy Ghost and we are made up like the temple, outer court, inner court, doorway into the holy of holies and then the ultimate where covenant is made, Holy Of Holies. Not everyone can be in our holy of holies. Only a few have this kind of ability and trustworthiness to be allowed this deep in our hearts and lives. It’s up to us to keep the unholy out of our holy lives,” Cheryl emphasizes.

Covenant to us means we take every aspect of our friendship to God first and that we remain committed to each other. How He commanded us to love each other as He loves us is how we portray love and commitment to each other. And it is a commitment we don’t take lightly and work at daily. However, we don’t consider it work since it is pure love. We sacrifice, risk, lay our lives down for each other daily and cover each other. “No one has greater love [nor stronger commitment] than to lay down his own life for his friends,” John 15:13. Historical scriptures tell that David and Jonathan did not miss an opportunity to reaffirm their love for each other every time they saw each other. We use that as our example. We do not let the sun go down every single day without praying together, praying for our husbands and children, our extended families and friends, our Church and this world, our friendship and our calling from the Lord. Through trials and struggles, we grow closer, not further apart. We don’t allow division or differences to take residency in our friendship. We are looking to the men of God here to redeem us back to the garden. The men of God do have that powerful presence and display the masculine heart of God as we look to them for protection, but the heart of the home, the heart of the garden was filled with femininity. It was Eve who entered sin first, disrupting the perfection between God and man. Since God redemptively brings all things back full circle, what if it’s redeemed Eve, this generation of covenant-making women that will restore things back, that the thread to surviving end times and thriving in these last days is covenant, relationships, and unity!

 

Oh intimacy how you’ve been dragged thru the mud

your true meaning undone

distorted and tainted by the world

covered in fear and shame

but the time has come

you will be redeemed and restored

seen for what you truly are

pure, innocent, gentle, heart and soul

God’s heart seen to all

Our friendship is not a friendship we have ever seen lived out, but we have the example of David & Jonathan in the Bible to live out. David & Jonathan’s covenant friendship is a rare and beautiful bond. Scripture states, “David met Jonathan and there was an immediate bond of love between them and they became the best of friends.” We knew from the beginning that our bond was rare. The love we have for each other is not like we have ever experienced with any other friend. We have such a deep desire to love each other and see the other fulfill and be all God has called the other to be. In other words, we love each other as ourselves. It’s a pure love that comes from Christ Himself to each other. We can compare this bond/friendship to a marriage. A husband is to love his wife as himself. “Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies,” Eph. 5:28. David & Jonathan loved the same way “…Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” We are commanded to love as Christ has loved. The problem is we don’t see relationships like this today. In our society/culture, there is a scarcity in true intimacy. How is this kind of relationship established? It is by developing a heart and soul connection, which takes time, vulnerability and intimacy.

Just as marriage entails vulnerability, so does covenant friendship. Vulnerability is an opening of your heart, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Brene Brown states “to let ourselves be seen, deeply and vulnerably, by others; love others wholeheartedly even though there’s no guarantee of reciprocation; practice gratitude and joy in those moments of terror; and believe we are enough.” It requires being honest with how we feel. The word vulnerability may be very scary to people because being vulnerable leaves room for hurt and rejection. Out of fear, many of us put up walls. However, this form of self-protection fails to allow relationships to flourish. When we choose to not be vulnerable, we also lose out on all the good life has to offer. Gay Gaddis, owner and founder of T3 (The Think Tank in Austin, Texas) says, “When you shut down vulnerability, you shut down opportunity.” We look for vulnerability in others, but lack the confidence to give it of ourselves. The misconception is that when we are vulnerable, it shows weakness. Conversely, when others give it, it shows boldness and courage. Vulnerability is risky, but a risk worth taking if we want to see relationships grow in greater intimacy.

Author Brené Brown says vulnerability is about showing up and being seen, which is tough to do when we’re terrified about what people might see or think. We become fueled by the fear of what others think or that voice whispering, “You’re not good enough.”  “We end up hustling for our worthiness rather than standing in it. When we’ve attached our self-worth to what we produce or earn, being real gets dicey,” says Brown.

My sister and I had an immediate bond, so while vulnerability came natural and easy for us; it still takes on a variety of levels in our daily walk with it. We are learning that part of being vulnerable is letting the other person know what you need. When you let the expectations go and allow yourself to be open and vulnerable with the other person, you create a safe place and open the floor for honest communication and resolution. In John and Stasi Eldredeg’s book “Captivating,” Stasi explains that “The capacity of a woman’s heart for meaningful relationships is vast. There is no way your husband or children can ever provide the intimacy and relational satisfaction you need. A woman must have women friends.”

Covenant relationships not only require vulnerability, but also intimacy. Let me make clear that intimacy is not all sexual. Intimacy has been perverted by the world. The sexual part of intimacy is just a small part of it and exclusively for marriage between a man and woman. Let’s take what the world, society and our culture have told us about intimacy and see what it really means according to the word of God.

Dictionary.com defines intimacy as “showing a close union or combination of particles or elements: an intimate mixture.” Another definition I love by Shannon Schutte is “In-to-me-see,” where intimacy is more about a heart and soul connection.

Intimacy knows someone’s innermost being; to really be known. Isn’t that how Jesus wants us to know Him? He longs for intimacy with us. We are made in His image so we also have a longing for intimacy. It is in our nature to be intimate. If we are created in His image, then we also are inheritably intimate. Intimacy doesn’t just happen. It takes time and effort. If intimacy requires vulnerability and is a heart and soul connection, then we have to cultivate it. The problem is that most people think they don’t have time for this kind of friendship/relationship. That is one of our biggest problems. We are too busy investing our time and energy in things that aren’t as important as relationships. We have become a culture that is disconnected. We communicate through social media. We often regard our intimacy and relationship with Christ the same, disconnected. We have to take time to spend with Him to know his heart. How we build intimacy with Jesus is how we should implement in our earthly relationships. Our relationships should be a reflection of Jesus. 

Intimacy is also physical touch. Human touch is essential and everyone needs it. We cannot survive without human touch. As stated in psychologytoday.com on the power of touch: “Touch is the first sense we acquire and the secret weapon in many a successful relationship.” Think about when women give birth to a child. One of the first things the Doctor does is put the baby on the mother’s chest-skin to skin. God gave us our sense’s, one of them being touch/feel. Studies have been done on the power of touch.

Research by the University of Miami’s Touch Research Institute has revealed that human touch has wide-ranging physical and emotional benefits for people of all age groups. In the Institute’s experiments, touch lessened pain, improved pulmonary function, increased growth in infants, lowered blood glucose and improved immune function. Human touch is important for all ages, but by the time children reach their teen years, they receive only half as much touching as they did in the early part of their lives. Adults touch each other even less.

It’s sad to think that as we enter adulthood, we receive very little physical touch. Even in marriage, most of our physical touch is sexual, and in friendships, we don’t consider physical touch at all. Physical touch gives us a sense of comfort, safety, and connection. Why is it children can be seen holding hands and we don’t think anything abnormal? We actually think it’s cute. It’s because it’s innocent, natural and pure. Where did we lose that? At what age did we become embarrassed or told it was wrong? Why don’t we see grown women holding hands? Is it because we are afraid of what others will think? Women may say, “that’s just not me,” or “I’m not an intimate person.” Those are lies from the enemy. If we are made in Gods image and He is an intimate God, then aren’t we also? Could it be that many of us don’t consider ourselves intimate because it was never displayed to us? Many of us may not have been brought up in homes that showed affection. The way we learn how to become more intimate is first building that with God. Intimacy with Him must be established before we can learn to give it. Let’s take the time to cultivate intimacy with God so we can display to others what true Godly intimacy looks like. Our world is in desperate need of seeing this displayed!

This is why my sister and I have no problem from time to time grabbing each other’s hand, giving each other hugs or reaching over and just putting our hand on the others. The problem is that culture and society have distorted true intimacy. People think of touch and immediately think sexuality. In today’s culture, my sister and I seen holding hands are suggested lesbians. But God created us for human touch and we will not be ashamed to live and love the way He has called us to. It’s time our world and generation see friendship/relationship lived out in the love of Christ. God is restoring relationships the way He intended it from the beginning; for the body of Christ to be one with Him and one with each other; to love like He loves, flowing in perfect harmony and unison on one accord that is the love of Christ!

A field of Sunflowers follow the Sun in UNISON

From Sunset to Sundown

Day after Day, they Display

Their loyalty and admiration

Like a beautiful dance before the Father

“They speak without a word

Their voice is never heard

Yet their message has gone through the world.”

(Psalm 19:3-4)

–Vanessa

Young sunflowers follow the sun from East to West across the sky as dawn slowly turns to dusk. A young sunflower’s flower head faces the sun to receive the sunlight it needs for photosynthesis. Heliotropism is the term for a plant’s ability to follow the sun. That ability allows a sunflower to move with the sun as it arcs across the sky from east to west; the sunflower’s bloom always faces the sun.

The neck of the sunflower’s stem, just below the bloom, points the bloom in the direction of the sun. In early morning, plant cells on the western side of the stem begin to grow and elongate, causing the sunflower bloom to tilt toward the sun. As the sun moves across the sky, the cells on the stem’s side that is opposite the sun elongate, keeping the flower head facing the sun.

“It’s the first example of a plant’s clock modulating growth in a natural environment, and having real repercussions for the plant,” Stacey Harmer, professor of plant biology at University of California-Davis said in a statement. And the sunflower doesn’t stop tracking the sun after the sun dips below the horizon. The sunflower’s bloom continues to move until it faces east, putting the flower head in position to catch the sun’s morning rays. Sometimes, the flower faces east before the sun fades completely in evening. When the sunflower plant matures, the neck of its stem no longer grows, and tracking of the sun’s arc ceases. The blooms of most mature sunflowers face east, but some face other directions.

Psalm 19:6 (NLT), says “The sun rises at one end of the heavens
 and follows its course to the other end. 
Nothing can hide from its heat.” Much like David says in Psalm 19, as the sun rises on one end of the heavens and follows its course to the other end, sunflowers are part of God’s creation that also point us to the Father. Until they are mature and pollinate, the sunflowers follow the direction of the sun, just as we are called to follow the Son. The sun is radiant; it can give power to over 20 million houses for 30 million years. The sun provides more than 1,500 times more energy than humanity currently uses. “Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame,” Psalm 34:5.

When my sister and I took a class at Church together a couple of years ago, the teacher asked us to ask the Father what He calls us, that we all have a special name the Lord calls us. After spending some time in prayer, God revealed to me that He calls me radiance! I was ecstatic that I actually had a name from Him, my own personal name He calls just me. I could see how throughout life, I saw hints of it, but didn’t know until that moment why. Family and friends use to always call me Sunshine and sing to me, “You are my Sunshine, my only Sunshine.”

When emoji’s came out and we were all using them like they were going out of style, I couldn’t think of a nickname emoji for my sister, so I used a Sunflower. I am not crazy about flowers, but have always LOVED Sunflowers and never really knew why, other than they were just bright and beautiful and there was something almost mysterious and jubilant about them. I used the sunflower emoji for my sister because I looked at it as beautiful. When she was given her name from the Lord, it was Beatitude! Of course, we knew Daddy was speaking right to us.

Fast forward a couple years and I am driving through a desert on my way to my parents house. Nothing on either side, but dry land and weeds. That particular Saturday morning, I noticed something I had never noticed before. In the midst of all the dry land and weeds were a bunch of beautiful baby sunflowers!! I almost cried. In all the years I had been doing that drive, I had never seen that before. That afternoon, I met my sister at the Mission Inn in Riverside and we walked around the Farmer’s Market. As I was telling her about the sunflowers I had seen in the field, a girl walked past us with a sunflower in her hair. As we kept walking, we almost missed a sunflower painting on the wall of one of the restaurants we walked by and the sunflower centerpieces on the café tables. People passing us by on the streets carrying bouquets of sunflowers they just purchased at the farmer’s market and we were suddenly in the middle of what seemed to be our own sunflower field! We had no idea why we kept seeing sunflowers, but we just kept taking it in as if we knew there was more to it.

That afternoon, my sister suggested we look up some information on sunflowers and see what was there. That’s when it all came together! That’s when we learned that sunflowers rotate to follow the arc of the sun! Like children following the movements of mom or dad to grow and are dependent on their every move, sunflowers mature and grow through being dependent on the sun, it’s rays and it’s movement.

Everything in creation speaks of heaven, speaks of God and His masterpiece that is this world we live in. We lose sight of that because we are a culture that is just too busy or too technologically social, but not cultivating personal face-to-face relationships. Like the sunflower follows the sun, we as God’s children are called to follow His Son! As we are dependent on Him for our every need and follow His every move and step, we become more like Him, act like Him, talk like Him, walk like Him and love like Him! As the sunflowers mature, they begin to pollinate and birth more sunflowers. As we grow and mature, we start spreading the Good News of the Gospel and discipling the nations, and that starts by the sphere of influence right around us. My sister had a vision one day of us standing in a field of sunflowers. What God showed through that is those sunflowers were people, they were covenant-keeping children holding hands and running free in a field. As we all learn to live the Word of God in a way we have never seen lived out before, as we look past the stigma’s and fears that have kept us bound and as we take the risk to learn to love other’s differently, we will see that field of sunflowers dancing before the Father with singing and rejoicing, for a new covenant is being lived out.

References:

http://www.tylerpaper.com/TP-Gardening/239282/science-how-sunflowers-follow-the-sun-each-day

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/sunflower-move-73855.html