FRIDAY, JANUARY 1
Scripture: Genesis 12:1-3

In Genesis 12:1-3 God established His covenant with Abraham when He said, “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” The Abrahamic covenant forms the foundation for all biblical justice and judgment. How the world treats the covenant church is how God treats the world. If they bless the church, they receive blessing. If they curse the church, they get cursed. To rule is a Kingdom assignment. Once we understand that, we know exactly how to pray for unrelenting enemies. God gave an assignment to the church to enforce His covenant and establish His Kingdom. That assignment gets very strong in the New Testament. We the church are under an assignment from God to establish His Kingdom. And establishing His Kingdom demands certain spiritual actions based on how people or even governments treat the church. When government comes against the church, God demands the church pray judgment on the government. Anything less makes us like Eli or Saul. Saul was sent to execute justice and he decided his standard was better than God’s. That is the current condition of the church because of tradition. Tradition can make the Word of no effect and the judicial assignment that God has given the church is currently having little effect because tradition has us acting like Eli rather than modeling the early church. Will we say yes to the fullness of Christ or will we continue to “turn-the-other-cheek” – enabling evil. That choice has to be made and it has to be made soon.