April 2, 2013 … Spiritual Contracts

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 92

Passage of the Day: Daniel 9: 2 [in the context of verses 1-2 [NLT] …  
1 It was the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede, the son of Ahasuerus, who became king of the Babylonians.2 During the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, was studying the writings of the prophets. I learned from the word of the LORD, as recorded by Jeremiah the prophet, that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years. 
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Contextual Study of today’s passage: Daniel, Chapter 9 [NLT] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passage #1: Jeremiah 25: 11 and 29: 10 : [Daniel believed and repented in obedience to God's prophesy through Jeremiah] …[NLT] …  
25: 11 ,,, This entire land will become a desolate wasteland. Israel and her neighboring lands will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years. … 
29: 10 ,,, “The truth is that you will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.

My Journal for Today: To quote my devotional editor, Os Hillman, this morning – "When you enter a legal contract, it binds the two parties to fulfill the terms of that contract. In Heaven there are legal contracts that, when fulfilled, allow the spiritual to impact the physical."

And to illustrate his teaching, he uses the case of Daniel, during the reign of King Darius in Chapter 9 of Daniel’s book to show Daniel’s understanding that God had established a contract (i.e., a covenant) with Israel, which had been breeched). But Daniel also understood from God’s word that God could and would activate a plan of deliverance for God’s people if they would repent and return to the contract. He got this understanding by reading and believing God’s word to Jeremiah (see passages above from Jer. 25 and 29). So, Daniel took it upon himself to be the activator of God’s covenant plan; and he humbly fasted and prayed for God’s deliverance; and we know from history and Scripture that Chapter 9 of Daniel was the recorded transition of God’s promised plan of deliverance for His people from Babylon, … activated by the humble prayers of ONE MAN.

Is there something in our lives to which we’re captive where deliverance has been promised by God but we are only captive by our own unwillingness to repent and to move back into the contract we have with our Lord, established on Calvary and sealed when He was delivered from the tomb … ALIVE. As we just celebrated on Easter (just two days ago), Jesus’ finished work has freed us from our sin; and His living promise (i.e., heavenly contract) is to provide His Spirit-sealed resurrection power to free us from the bondage of our sin. But so often, even knowing this sealed contract with God, we act in willful disobedience, breeching the contract and locking us in a self-imposed prison of selfishness.

And like Daniel, all we have to do is enter in to the cleansing and releasing prayer of repentance, moving out to activate that repentance by fulfilling our part of the New Covenant; and that, of course, is being obedient to our Lord so that He can release His resurrection power of enabling and empowering grace into our lives so that we can walk free of our self-imposed chains of sin. Again, Os Hillman today: "Whenever [we] want to confront spiritual forces that have dominion over a situation, [we] must find the source of the problem. Once [we] find the source of the problem, [we] must take the necessary steps in the spiritual realm to release God's power into that situation. … For Daniel, it meant taking responsibility for the sin of the nation by confessing its sins and asking forgiveness on behalf of the entire nation. This allowed God to begin the process of releasing the nation. … Ask God to show you the source of the problems that may exist in your city, your work, or people you want to see freed to fulfill God's purposes for their lives."

I pray this for us today.

My Prayer for Today …Lord, I pray for myself and anyone reading here … that we can move into the binding, releasing power Your Spirit can release in our lives when we walk in lock-step to Your covenant of freedom on our behalf. … Amen