::the blessing of god's oath and his faithfulness::

The quantity of reading happening in my life is pretty aggressive. I have always loved reading and found blessing in doing so, which makes this a continued "SCORE!" I am reading to finish up my Discipleship Counseling certifications, which will allow me to counsel others; and further disciple and/or write curriculum. This is exciting. 

The amount of reading I am doing is incredible. And some of the texts are so deeply profound. I am reading a book right now called: "The Power of the Blood Covenant" by Malcolm Smith. It's incredibly powerful. 

I have included some nuggets that have blessed me, specifically about God's faithfulness::

"[God's] faithfulness is the outworking of His covenant oath. He did not need, as humans do, to swear an oath in order to bind Himself to keep the covenant. The covenant does not make Him what He would not otherwise be, but is the means of revealing to us who He eternally is." (page 121) 

Malachi 3:6

"For I the LORD do not change..."

"He is the Father of uncreated radiant light, and in Him there is no shadow, no darkness" (page 122)

James 1:17

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."

"[God] is incapable of making a promise that He cannot perform, for every word He says is the perfect expression of who He is. His Word is in complete accord with reality; is Word and deed are one." (page 123) 

"Biblical Faith looks outside of itself to the God who made the promises. It rests solely on the character of God and the covenant oath that HE has sworn....Faith is totally absorbed with its object, the God of the covenant; the Believer's faith is as sure as the faithfulness of the One he or she rests in." (page 124) 

1 Corinthians 1:9

"God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."

"Faith is a relationship with Him, a submission and obedience to Him, and so we read of "the obedience of faith." Faith is not a mental marathon with the goal of bringing to pass our agenda using a formula fashioned out of the words of Scripture. Faith never forces the hand of God but submits to Him, responding to His covenant words knowing that He who promised is faithful to perform them. Faith is trust in God, who He is, and what He has done. From that trust arises our belief that He will be faithful and do as He has said." (page 126)

Jeremiah 31:33

"But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

"It is in the Oath of God that we discover the uniqueness of the Gospel. The key words of the Gospel are not "struggle," "try," and "try harder" but "surrender to," "yield to," "rest in," and "believe on the Lord Jesus," who is the covenant. All these words indicate that we have come to the end of our struggles and failing attempts to live a godly life and have come to stake our hope on who He is, what He has promised and achieved." (page 128)

Hebrews 10:23

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."