The Covenant of Holy Obedience
Through His Son Jesus Christ, the Father has made a covenant with us which can never be broken. What will our response be? Foster asks "Are we willing to offer up lives of obedience in return?" He says "The point of a covenant is commitment-the very thing to which we have such an aversion." The point of daily obedience to the commitment we've made with the Lord is the key to true spiritual growth. The enemy tries to push us to the extreme getting us to focus on the big life-altering sacrifices we may be called on to make. Jesus only says I am here with you, I have given you a helper, my grace is sufficient for you. The Holy Spirit will bring us right into the present moment with Jesus. Foster reminds us that we can never hope to fulfill this covenant with God without failing. "We cannot do a single good act except God first gives us the desire for it and then empowers us to do it." Its important for us to place every call to obedience on the Lord and not on our own will and ability. This is why prayer is so important. We spend time letting the Holy Spirit speak his will into our hearts. Then we know what we must do to obey and keep following the Lord. At that point we should ask ourselves - do I have the desire to obey God in this one thing right here at this moment, and has God given me the power to do it? The answer should be yes, he has. We do that one thing and then we do the next thing and the next. Foster talks about forming a "habit of obedience." He says "We obey him right now in everything we can and in everything we know." That kind of covenant sounds good to me. We walk in his power, in his love, and in his lavish grace and abundant mercy.