The power behind our answered prayers 2/2

God’s voice doesn’t make a racket—unlike the voice of our thoughts.

Job 33:14 (NIV) — God does speak—now one way, now another—though people may not notice it.

This passage is often read to introduce the holy Last Supper time. It is about a new covenant. What do the words 'new covenant’ mean? This covenant that we celebrate every week is the most formidable and transformative truth ever for our daily lives!

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! Philippians 3 :1

We rejoice when we understand something. Joy rarely occurs for no reason, from one second to the next. Joy is aroused by good news, a look of faith, a happy circumstance.

And the new covenant is the good news that Jesus invites us to live constantly, in our hearts and in the congregation. In the first church, this truth was so present that they would break bread in the houses every day. Every day they would drink the cup together, celebrating this new, extraordinary covenant. A covenant that changes our lives, from our entry into salvation to our last breath. It is said somewhere:

But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light, that shines more and more until the perfect day. Proverbs 4 :18

This experience becomes possible for each of us and I invite us to it by starting to understand, accept, frequently recall and receive revelation of what the new covenant produces in and for each of us. Truth makes us free (John 8:36) and produces holiness (Ephesians 4:24). It is not just a doctrine. Truth is an active person. Jesus Christ is our hero, our Lord, our liberator and such a great Savior! God works wonders for the sons of man!

The new covenant abolishes the old covenant

The new covenant inaugurated by Jesus Christ abolishes, without annulling, the old covenant.

For there is an annulling of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect), and a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God Hebrews 7:18-19

By so much, Jesus has become the collateral of a better covenant. Hebrews 7 :22

The old rule has been abolished. You read it right: abolished. The law of Moses that every untaught or poorly taught Christian seeks to follow by drawing from his own resources has been abolished.

Do not misunderstand ! Not the rules at have been abolished, but the way to submit to them.

This way of obeying, this ancient way of receiving a commandment from God and then trying to obey it with all personal efforts to earn the Lord's favor, has been outdated. Obedience is always required, but it becomes possible only for those who grasp the power of the new covenant and greet their Savior Jesus Christ with cries of triumph. Remember that word: SAVIOR. Praise his name!

He is the one who guarantees us the success of this new covenant that has replaced the old one, that of the external commandments offered to our human capacity for obedience, that is, an ability close to zero !!! Not convinced? Read this:

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Hebrews 8 :7

The first covenant was replaced by a second (the new one) because it had a defect. It appealed to our human abilities. What made it useless and weak.

Now, let’s make no mistake, God did everything on purpose. The purpose of this first covenant was to lead us to become aware of our total inability to follow God and to turn to a Savior who would do the work in us.

Its goal was to enclose all men equally in disobedience since no one could perfectly do God's will, because of the weakness of the flesh. And God’s goal was to pour mercy on all. Still not convinced? So let's read this:

For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all. 
Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out! 
"For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" 
"Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?" 
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen. Romans 11 :32-25

We cannot give something to God, even the best of us, in the hope of receiving in return a payment, a reward. This mentality is a production of human pride. If you give your best, it is out of love, without even conceiving the idea of a return.

Thus: obedience to all commandments is impossible without the Savior's action in us. If you haven't read it yet and/or understood it, and if you're not trying to get it wrong with false reasoning, recognize you've experienced it and experience it every day.

 The old covenant :

Yahweh spoke to you out of the midst of the fire: you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form; you only heard a voice. He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the Ten Commandments; and he wrote them on two tables of stone. Yahweh commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it. Deuteronomy 4 :12-14

Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you shall listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I command you this day; and the curse, if you shall not listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which you have not known. Deuteronomy 11 :26-27

• God gives commandments
• He asks us to obey ALL his commandments, and if we succeed, we are blessed.
• If we fail to do so we are rejected as it is also written:

So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, "Cursed is everyone who doesn't continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them. Galatians 3: 10

• It's the old covenant. There's a contract. I'm doing my part, God is doing his. If one of them breaks the contract, the alliance is broken.

And the first covenant was broken long ago, for God did not find a righteous one, not one, in all times and places. All have disobeyed and are deprived of the glory of God. God then inaugurated a more excellent covenant, based on better promises.

But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which on better promises has been given as law. . Hebrews 8 :6

Already David, King David, prophetically, heralded this extraordinary covenant that begins to act with power in us, as soon as we understand it and adopt as a daily way of life to tighten it on our hearts. David said :

“Truly is not my house so [blessed] with God?
For He has made an everlasting covenant with me,
Ordered in all things, and secured.
For will He not cause to grow and prosper
All my salvation and my every wish?
Will He not make it grow and prosper?.  2 Samuel 23 :2

Jesus is the seed of new life. And our salvation sprouts from Him and blossoms through Him. Salvation is not just about going to heaven. Salvation is the perfect transformation of our soul into the image of Jesus. Complete salvation is the ability to obey the Father, to please the Father, moved, propelled by the imperishable life of the One who lives in you and produces in us his feelings, his desires, his love, his joy, his Wisdom, his strength. Provided and only in these conditions, provided that we expect everything from Him, even desire because every man is driven first by his desires.

Having the mind that was in Jesus Christ is a commandment (Philippians 2:5). Who can claim to be able to put it into practice? First of all no one can trigger mind, deep feelings to command. Even less can you put on someone else's mind. And from afar, clothe yourself with the mind of Jesus Christ! And yet it is a commandment.

The key is to understand that commandments with the new covenant become promises. They say, this is what Jesus is, he is the germ, and that is what he is sprouting in you, if you expect him to do so. Stop trying to find energy in yourself to please God. God loves you as you are. That is, with an ability to follow his orders close to zero. But with Christ in You, everyything becomes possible. It's the new covenant. It produces desire in you and gives you the ability to please Him. This is what makes Him your Saviour.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days," says the Lord; "I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people. . Hebrews 8 :10

So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. . Philippians 2 :12-13

Learn by heart the verse of Ezekiel that follows because it is the official text of the new covenant and this is this faith in Jesus in us, this firm hope in the good news that triggers in us the powers of the Kingdom of God that transform before our amazed eyes, our daily life.

Learn it by heart and after every failure, at the desolate realization of your coldness, at every unsuccessful attempt to overcome a sin, in front of every temptation, whenever you are tempted to discourage yourself, remember that there is nothing surprising to your failures. You have ceased to rely on Him and you were proudly leaning on your abilities. Your ability is close to zero and it is Christ in you, who first must produce a true will (intelligently working for our salvation consists of turning our eyes to the One who is the source and the engine), then your faith leads you to obedience and you realize that the same God who gave you the will now makes you able to perform with zeal and love the good works He has prepared in advance. So learn this verse by heart. It's the new covenant :

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.  Ezekiel 36 :25-27

Jesus Christ, our Savior, who existed in the form of God, emptied himself, took a form of servant, he became like men, without using any prerogative of any divine power. He came like a simple man.

… Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, didn't consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.  Philippiens 2 :6-8

But He, the only son of God, born of the Spirit of God and the Virgin Mary, He, truly a man, weak as each of us in his humanity was strong, by the power of the Spirit of God that was in Him and although He was living in a flesh similar to that of sin, the same as ours, He, the One Son of God in a man's body lived WITHOUT sin. He became the first of a new humanity. He conquered the power of sin in a man's body. And today by the new covenant, inaugurated by his Blood, by his sacrifice and by the coming of his Spirit in us, Jesus Christ can do in us and through us, what he did in his own human body. He makes us overcome sin, love God with all our strength with all our soul and thought, and already live on earth the life of the Kingdom of Heaven.

As far as we expect everything from him. These are the conditions of the new covenant. To expect Him and Him alone to do in us what we fail to do or what we so laboriously and imperfectly succeed to do.

But the righteous will live by faith. Hebrews 10 :38

Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; Philippians 3 :8-9

Our hearts are circumcised, the day Christ comes to live in our heart.

in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ;  Colossians 2 :11

That is to say, our heart (inner being) underwent, with our agreement marked by our repentance and baptism, a surgical operation, as a transplant that only the Holy Spirit could perform. Our new heart begins to love God, not only sentimentally, but by a burning and deep desire to please Him in everything.

This is how he creates the will. There are of course other desires that sometimes come to cover and oppose this will created by God. Desires that give us the impression that we do not love God: desires of our flesh, of our natural life still present in our soul and in our body. We know that our bodies will contain in itself and until the end of our earthly life the principle of sin.

For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5 :17

But let us not be deceived by superficial layers of our soul, for the truth is that deep down and in truth, in truth, we love God:

God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.  Romans 5 :5

And this love translates into a compelling desire to please him. A fulfilling desire producing peace and joy when we follow the conduct of the Holy Spirit in God’s will and obey it.

A desire that produces frustration and condemnation when we fail to do so. But always, the Spirit pushes us to follow God.

Always, the Spirit inspires us to love God and our neighbor, to do good to our neighbor, to serve him, to forgive him, to forget his offenses, to practice all kinds of good works. He who loves fulfills the whole law.

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Galatians 5 :14

And the Holy Spirit constantly influences us in this direction, sometimes very deep within ourselves, so gently within ourselves, that we sometimes prefer the will of the noisy, restless and superficial voices of our hard, independent and resentful soul.

When a desire rises in us, stronger than that of the Spirit of God there are two ways to react. One leads us to failure or to a temporary victory, the other to triumph and deep and lasting joy depending on whether we operate in the mentality of the old covenant or in that of the new covenant :

Scenarios: You have bad desires - you feel indifferent to God - you continually fall back into the same sins

In which mentality do you address the problem ?

The old covenant mentality and its results :

• You condemn yourself

- to be such a bad Christian

- to have such bad desires

- not to want to do joyfully what God asks of you (covenant of condemnation).

• You decide to shake yourself and you make the decision to defeat your flesh (ah ah, as if you could!).
• You force yourself to pray or obey or do what God asks of you (Law of Sinai).
• And the result: (I'm not a soothsayer but I've experienced this vain way of operating for years) is that you're going to get there once, twice and in the third, nature will come back to gallop. (an alliance of impotence and worthlessness)
• You sin, you disobey and sometimes you become worse than before. (alliance of disobedience because this is the role of law, to incite disobedience)

Welcome to the principles and laws of the old covenant that worked perfectly well..

• "Law condemns. It is called the service of death and condemnation.

But if the service of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face; which was passing away: won't service of the Spirit be with much more glory? For if the service of condemnation has glory, the service of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. 2 Corinthiens 3 :7-9

• It produces disobedience

But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead. Romans 7 :8

• It is weak and useless because of the weakness of our flesh

For what the law couldn't do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh; that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 8 :3

because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God's law, neither indeed can it be. . Romans 8 :7

• It makes you feel your imprisonment and the need for a Savior

But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, confined for the faith which should afterwards be revealed. So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Galatians 3 :23-24

And if you experienced the power of the new alliance ?

Mentality of the new covenant and its results

• you humiliate yourself before the Lord by noticing this rebellion stronger than your love for God and you do so systematically, with every manifestation of this rebellion, no matter how small it is.

O God, see the misery of my flesh. The desire to do what I want is stronger than the desire to please you.

• You recognize and confess the principle of sin that still lives in your body
• You remind your mind of the terms of the new covenant (did you learn it by heart?) which constitute God's contract with man through Jesus Christ.
• You present to God the promise of this covenant sealed by the Blood and tell him that you trust him to produce his will to Him stronger than yours
• Sometimes you will even confess that you have no desire for Him. Not even the desire to want to want (the illusion of our flesh goes far!).
• In short you feel your misery but you expect Him, Him in you, for desiring sincerely and deep in your heart to do his will because you have understood that the God who made this covenant cannot lie and in one way or another , he will do a miracle, He must do this miracle otherwise you are lost (not in the sense of salvation!). Repeat the text of the covenant to yourself or aloud. God is faithful to all his pacts.
• You summon the help of the Holy Spirit.

The religious will hate what I have just described, but never be it, they will continue to live in secret in their defeats by boasting of holiness and love of appearance. For there is no constant, stable victory possible for a human if he does not resolutely turn his hope in Christ in him for everything and if each of his personal victories is not acquired by the life of Christ in Him.

A prayer that summarizes and illustrates what has just been said. To better understand the state of mind :

'Lord, remember your covenant. You said you'd make me follow your prescriptions; Jesus you live in me. Create in me the will. It's your covenant and you can't betray your covenant. I may betray it a thousand more times, but you are God and you remain faithful. You remember that we are dust. Your covenant is the divine power for my salvation, I believe in you and in your promise.

If I sin, forgive me but make me stronger. I wish I didn't want this sin anymore. I would like my desire to please you to be stronger than those bad desires I have at that moment. But isn't that your covenant? Isn't that what you promised? Didn't you promise to germinate my salvation? You are Jesus, the guarantor of this covenant, you guarantee the success of this covenant because you are its author and its consumer. Jesus, I put my hope in you and your Holy Spirit in me, and when this sin is overcome, I will be able to render glory to you because it is you, you alone in me, who gives me the will to please God and the ability to do so. You're the Savior. I adore you. I hope in my Savior who saves me perfectly.

• I recognize my weakness
• I accept the completely irrational idea that God does not condemn me when I fail.

This is part of the new covenant because God is now at work to restore everything in me and in the meantime, although I am still guilty of so many things, he no longer condemns me. If I feel doomed, it comes from me and I'm going to have to make up my mind that God NEVER CONDEMNS ME. It goes against my comprehension. It's the first difficult step to take, weirdly. This is the most beautiful news and we do not want to accept it; it is true that the widespread legalistic preaching does not encourage us to do so. Let's attach ourselves to the Word of God.

There is then now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death. Romans 8 :1

No more condemnation from God, even when they are guilty because God is working in them. And if someone interprets this principle to make it an excuse to sin, and if it is a child of God, the Holy Spirit will discipline him and put him back in the path of the perfect law of freedom.

For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don't use your freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love be servants to one another. . Galatians 5 :13

• I recognize the life of Jesus in me

Test your own selves, whether you are in the faith. Test your own selves. Or don't you know as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you are disqualified. . 2 Corinthians 13 :5

• I expect Christ in me to produce the fruit of righteousness by inspiring the will that I do not have at this moment. Only he can do it.

Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 
Philippians 3 :9

I am not condemned even when I have weakly abandoned myself to sin. For the Spirit of God works in me and is transforming me because I hope in him and he who hopes in the Lord will never be confused in the end Romans 9 :33 ; the righteous falls 7 times and 7 times rises up to never fall again Proverbs 24 ;16. Because what is lame is firming Hebrews 12 :13 and the one who strengthens himself in grace no longer falls 2 Timothy 2 :1. And in the end, sin will have no power over you, since you are, not under the law, but under grace. Romans 6:15

A testimony

I was in my car that morning and hadn't even taken the time for breakfast. The traditional and guilt-ridden thought did not fail to arise in my thought: 'you have not even prayed, you should spend time with God'. But you see, not only had I not prayed, but I had absolutely no desire to pray or even spend time with the Lord. I wanted to listen to the news or music.

This story invariably ended in two ways :

1/ Or I would zap the awkward thought, turn on the radio and soon forget all this especially if the radio started broadcasting a series of good music or interesting report.

2/ Or, after an inner fight, I was able to start a weak prayer, quickly evaporated by many parasitic thoughts. I was squealing, going back to prayer where I had left it and continuing. And these back-and-forths could be repeated two or three times before I finally entered, but not always, at least painfully, in a time of communion that by the grace of God proved however each time so invigorating. It worked one morning, maybe two, and the third, I fell back in the first way.

Today, I take evil to the root. When I realize that I have no desire to approach GOD, to pray, I prefer to tell him and not try by myself. It is rather time to feel his misery, to humiliate oneself before Him so that He may raise us. It is time to turn to Christ who lives in us and who is our real life, the Savior that we still need today.

Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you. James 4 :9-10

I have often told God :

Look, Lord at the state of my soul. I have no desire for you. I can't believe it. Nothing, no will to pray you nor praise you. My heart is cold, indifferent, not interested in anything about you. But it's your covenant to produce that will. Lord I give myself to you. And there my soul is so far from you, so indifferent and cold. I'm sorry and ashamed. But not surprised. You know me. You chose me when I was still a sinner. Everything has changed because you live deep inside me and your life in me is stronger than the principle of sin that still resides in this body. I have hope. Make me want you Lord. Save me again this time until I'm perfect in you.

And by speaking to him in this way, I realize that I have entered into prayer, without realizing it, just by conversing with the Holy Spirit. In doing so, I entered, and much more quickly and deeply than with the other forced method, into the restorative communion of God.

By simply and naturally practicing two dynamic principles of the Kingdom: humility (humiliation and recognition of who I am without His strength and that my nature has desires contrary to those of the Spirit) and faith (I trust only in the power of his acting covenant in me, in the power of the Spirit of Christ in me, even if it does not happen within a minute). I sometimes repeat aloud the fundamental text of the new covenant or another passage of the Bible that speaks of Christ in me. I strengthen my faith because it is through faith that we approach Him and God helps us in our weakness by strengthening our faith. Jesus is its author, its writer. It all comes from Him.

I encourage you, who have been born again, who have asked Christ to come and live in your heart (and he lives here) to expect from Him and ask Him for this will when you do not have it.

And when the will is there, engage joyfully in what it tells you knowing that you thus allow Christ to incarnate a little more deeply in you with each new step of obedience. This is how one enters holiness but in rest. This is how we practice the 'Sanctify yourself in the Lord' but in the grace of God, in the faith and power of the One who, in us, works both to will and to work.

Then we can boast in Christ, meaning we can glorify ourselves of what Jesus did in us and through us and not trust in the flesh, meaning that we will no longer put our trust in our so limited and unstable human capacity, in these laborious and discouraging efforts of the old covenant.

Life springs from within. We have everything in Christ : the desire to obey God and to please Him. He is our Savior. It's all from Him. God's work is that we believe in the One He sent to save us from our sad human condition. He makes us seat with the leaders of his own people (Psalm 113:8), with Him in heavenly places. And it is not by power or by force but by his Spirit, and it is the Lord who says so. I have just developed what this verse of Philippians says in one sentence (which I encourage you to learn by heart so that you can remember it in moments of coldness)

For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and boast in Christ Jesus, and do not trust in flesh. Philippians 3 :3

And next time you take the Holy supper sacrament and hear the text we mentioned at the beginning of this meditation, remember within yourself the text of Ezekiel's new covenant and begin to rejoice. God has done it in you and is doing it. Christ in you, began a work of transformation. It is the new covenant, well settled, offering full security because it depends on Him. Jesus Christ, the Son of God is the mediator of this better, more excellent covenant that you will celebrate, by taking bread and wine. Christ in you is at work, the hope of glory and triumph.

And all is grace, grace and grace of God because and only because of His love for us!

Download pdf : new-covenant.pdf (745.8 Ko)

“1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NIV)

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is Spirit, and He created man in His image. Man therefore is a spirit too, in the image of his Creator: a spirit with a soul in a body.

Audio: 

1 Timothy 3:9 – holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience.

Faith, indeed, is a mystery. A mystery in which one can remain only with a pure conscience—hence the recommendation of the apostle Paul that we have just read.

This is the second part. For the first part, click here.

The seed of seeds: The Cross