ONE: Our Covenant With God

By Bishop Randy Barnett

Our covenant with God is perhaps the most important aspect of our Christian life. A thorough understanding of our covenant improves our self-image, our interpersonal life with others, and our direct relationship with God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9781645596356

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One

Our Covenant With God

Bishop Randy Barnett

ISBN 978-1-64559-634-9 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64559-635-6 (Digital)

Copyright © 2019 Bishop Randy Barnett

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

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www.covenantbooks.com

Table of Contents

Here Is How It Happened

Fundamentals of the Blood Covenant

The Abrahamic Covenant

One with God

Your Covenant Is Horizontal as well as VerticalIt Starts with Being One with God

You Are Righteous!

The Tiers of Relating to God

The Benefits of the Covenant

This Has Your Name on It

Friends with God

One New Man

The Mutuality of a Covenant

The Power of the Promise

Glossary of Covenant Language

About the Author

1

Here Is How It Happened

It is important for you to understand that the fellow writing this book is not someone gifted or special. This author is merely someone God has ordained to write the book to dispense this particular truth. The book is His idea, not mine.

I preface the meat of the book with this brief story of how the book came to be. I suppose I feel it is necessary to qualify its validity somehow because you will encounter things here that may challenge your beliefs. All along the journey of receiving these truths from God, I was challenged too. I had to continue to set aside my personal beliefs and opinions in favor of His. My sacred cows fell by the dozens! On many occasions, I had to go to the Word to see for myself the proof of what I heard the Spirit say, and time after time there it was right before my eyes, and of course it had been there all along. But like most Christians, I was a product of my spiritual environment, and I had depended too much upon those in church leadership within that environment to teach me truth. They meant to, they tried to, but they fell short just as I have failed in my own ministry. What I heard from God and what I was taught throughout my journey of receiving this revelation oftentimes did not fit my theology. It probably will not fit yours either. I encourage you to read on anyway.

Come with me to the Sunday morning worship service in Harvest Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in January of 1988. The worship service that day seemed special to us all for some reason. There was a unique and awesome spirit of worship, and we could sense that God was up to something. I had no hint that something momentous was about to take place that would forever change my life and ministry that morning. Our season of ministry to the Lord was wonderful as we praised and glorified His name. I was lost in the Spirit as I ministered to the Lord; my eyes were closed, and my hands were lifted to God in worship. That is when it happened.

I suddenly felt someone with strong hands take me by the right arm. I opened my eyes and turned to see who had done this, and to my amazement, there stood a young man that towered over me! Before I could mentally process what was happening, someone grasped my left arm. I did not turn to look at the man to my left; just the sense of strength from his hands signaled to me that he was as large and powerful as his friend to my right. In a heartbeat, the three of us took one step forward as if divinely choreographed, and I was ushered into the very presence of God! We had penetrated the barrier between the natural realm and the spiritual realm. As I think back on it, I had no inclination to look around the throne room to try to take it all in; I knew I was before the Almighty God, and that is all that mattered. I fell on my face before Him in awe and worship. Interesting enough, my physical body had fallen under the power of the Holy Spirit, facedown there on the platform in our church sanctuary, and it mirrored the position I was in there in heaven.

The church family continued to praise and worship God after I fell to the platform floor. Skip Cannon, our associate pastor, continued to lead the service. He noted that it was a powerful season of worship and prayer. The people saw their pastor take that step forward on the platform, and they saw me fall on my face, but no one in the sanctuary that morning saw the two angels, not even my wife, Kay, who was there with me. This episode reminds me of what happened to Saul on the road to Damascus and to Daniel when he was visited by the Lord. Those present with each of these men witnessed something supernatural, but the profound effect of the experience was limited to the one with whom God wanted to speak. There was no doubt in the minds of over one hundred saints that God was present that day in a unique and powerful way, and that He had come to speak with their pastor.

Maybe Paul and Daniel were like me in that many times over the years since that eventful day, I needed for someone who was there to confirm what part of the event they experienced. I will tell you that many times the evil one has tried to convince me this did not really happen, and it has helped to have my wife and Skip tell me that it really did happen. Of course, they were not in heaven with me, but from their vantage point, there was no doubt in their minds that a divine visitation happened that day.

The Bible tells us that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be established. God followed that divine principle that day. While I was before the Lord in the throne room, a prophet was prophesying in our worship service about what was taking place in heaven. At one point, the Lord told the church family through the prophet what I was saying to the Him and His response to me. It was totally accurate.

I lay there on the floor out in the Spirit for almost four hours. Jesus was imparting to me His plan for His church and for my ministry. It seemed like I was there for days or weeks, not just four hours. Even after I returned to earthly consciousness, it was several days before I could really function; I could hardly eat or drink during those hours after being in His presence. There is a profound reaction the physical body and mind has to the presence of God; it is beyond explanation.

Things were revealed to me that I am still unable to mention because the time in not yet. God poured into me specific revelation knowledge for the Body of Christ. It is difficult to explain what happened when God spoke because He did not always use audible words to communicate with me. The best way for me to describe it is that it was a kind of spiritual transference of knowledge—download. It seemed strange to me at the time that this revelation knowledge was sealed up until the fullness of time. I was told that I would not be able to retrieve it but that only He could bring it forth as He willed and when He chose. On various occasions throughout the years after that, I would be in the middle of a sermon or teaching, and without notice, some of that revelation knowledge would flow out of me. The Lord told me when He filled me that I would know whenever it came forth, and I did each time it happened. He also reminded me that it would be Him and not me that produced those powerful words of revelation truth. I give praise to Him each time it happens. I want to reiterate that every word given to me while in heaven are easily and clearly confirmed by Holy Scripture. If it were not, I myself would be suspect of it since the Word of God is my sole source of Truth.

This visit to heaven produced quite a stir in Harvest Church as you can probably imagine. News got out of the preacher who had been in the presence of God for four hours, and people flocked to our church the next Sunday to hear all about it. When I entered the sanctuary that Sunday morning, I saw movie cameras set up all over the place by people wanting to capture my heavenly visit on tape. For the most part, they were disappointed because Father kept me from discussing in any great detail what had happened there, focusing rather on His words of truth and life that came from my time there. I was specifically cautioned not to allow my heavenly visit to become a publicity thing. He reminded me that I was simply His servant and that He had not summoned me to His throne because of anything I was or anything I had done. I was chosen to be a messenger, and my task was just to deliver His word to His people here on earth. I have been about that task for these many years and will continue to do as long as I have breath and strength.

Since then I have jokingly laughed about how God damaged my theology the day He invited me to His throne room. In a matter-of-fact way, in the middle of a sentence, He called me My apostle. In the prophecy to the church body, the Lord also referred to me as My apostle, and He went on to explain and qualify the fivefold ministry office to which I was called. It is interesting to note that when we played back the audio tape of the word from the Lord, the word apostle was not there! Kay and Skip both distinctly heard the word apostle used by the prophet just as I had heard, but God had chosen not to allow it to be captured on tape. It was not time for that information to be public knowledge, nor was I prepared to fill the role. In fact, it was over five years before He unveiled My apostle, and He did so publicly through two different prophets who knew nothing of the throne room experience.

In my thinking, all the apostles had long since died and gone away. The term apostle set in the present tense did not fit my understanding, but then who was I to challenge the King of kings and Lord of lords? An important principle was developed in me that day; I share it with you.

The knowledge that you or I possess does not change or limit the truth.

Truth is truth regardless of whether I know it or even accept it. I was called an apostle of the Lord, and I had to accept it. That was truth. I am His servant who happens to be called to the office of an apostle. I am an apostle just because He says I am. Actually, the biblical definition of an apostle is really not that grandiose at all; an apostle is just someone who is sent by God to do a specific task. One of the things I was sent by God to do is to deliver this present truth of the blood covenant.

My apostolic assignment was given to me four months after the throne room visit. I was in prayer in our sanctuary one day during the week. No one else was around. That is when I heard the Lord instruct me with these words: Teach My people the truth of the blood covenant. It was a clear word from the Lord; but there was one small problem with His command, and that was the absence of knowledge on my part about the blood covenant. He gently reminded me that He had poured into me His revelation knowledge and that He would retrieve it as He wanted to, and this was one of those times when He wanted to. Over a period of months, one truth at a time was dispensed to me about the blood covenant. His words would come, and I would write them down. We got to the end of what He wanted me to write, and then what He told me to do astounded me. He told me to seal up the manuscript and put it on the shelf until further notice. He did not say so, but I just understood that it was not time to deliver the fullness of that revelation. Now after all these many years, I have been given permission to dust off the manuscript and release it to the Body of Christ. It is now given to you.

Men of God greater than me have written on the subject of the blood covenant over the years, so this is not something new. Nevertheless, as the Lord put it to me, no one has ever presented it in the same way He does through this book. He says this present generation has been made ready to receive this revelation knowledge. You are a part of this present generation, and your life will never be the same because of your encounter with this truth. I bless you as you open your heart and mind to the truth of God.

2

Fundamentals of the Blood Covenant

The single most important event in the first four thousand years of the history of mankind was the blood covenant that was struck between God and man. They stood at the crossroads of eternity, and what was about to take place was so momentous that it would forever change how God and man interacted. The holy God, for some reason, chose to cut covenant with sinful man. Why was such a mismatch to take place since they are certainly two unlikely partners to be sure? God was restoring fallen man to his former glory, the glory that was lost in Eden. Step 1 in this restoration process was to set in place something strong, something sacred, something permanent, and something absolutely unchangeable—only a blood covenant could accomplish all of this. The blood covenant brought these two together as one in a holy union.

Read the account of the covenant ceremony from the Bible.

5 Then He brought him outside and said, Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them. And He said to him, So shall your descendants be.

6 And he believed in the Lord and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

7 Then He said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.

8 And he said, Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?

9 So He said to him, Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.

10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.

11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him …

17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.

18 On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram. (Genesis 15:5–18)

We modern-day people have essentially lost the understanding of covenant-making for the most part. This is true even within the Church. Actually, the word covenant is foreign concept to our culture. Sometimes we see the word in legal transactions and might even hear the minister briefly refer to it in a marriage ceremony or in a Sunday morning sermon, but the essence of a true covenant is unknown to us. Ours is not a covenantal society. My goal is to change that at least within the Body of Christ.

The blood covenant is a spiritual experience that produces a spiritual existence. Since it is a spiritual thing, we need help from the Holy Spirit to truly grasp it. That is why in this book we will rely upon Him totally to teach us about this dynamic and powerful truth.

In this first chapter, we explore the basics of a blood covenant. A tool of instruction that God uses to explain something spiritual (which is invisible and mystical to carnal man) is to compare it with natural things that we clearly understand. We will do the same thing here in our development of this spiritual thing called the blood covenant. Come along with me as we witness the making of a covenant.

The Purpose for the Covenant

The fundamental purpose for any blood covenant is to bring two parties together who have been adversaries and to establish peace between them and create something new. Let us couch this in an example in which there are two tribes; the first tribe we will call Tribe A, and the other tribe is Tribe B. These tribes have seen the devastation and destruction that years of war have brought; no one has to point out the need to establish peace between them. Even though they have been avowed enemies for generations, each tribe understands it is now time to put down the weapons and to live in harmony. Peace is what they need, and they understand that is a tall order given their violent and bitter past. These people understand that only a blood covenant can produce true peace and sustain it. Understand this truth:

A blood covenant is the most powerful union on the earth.

Mutual Benefit

The covenant formed by this new alliance has practical implications besides preventing further bloodshed. Let’s look at each of these tribes for a moment and you will see what I mean. Tribe A is a strong and fierce warring tribe that is known far and wide as a formidable foe. They have elevated war to an art form. However, they have a problem that needs a solution. Tribe A has a weak economy, and its people often suffer from hunger and the effects of poverty. This has often led to Tribe A forcibly taking what they need from neighboring tribes.

Tribe B from down the river a few miles is quite different. This tribe has developed