Israel was a nation that lived by and relied on
their covenant with God. Those who knew their
God and the integrity of their covenant with Him
were mighty and did exploits in His Name.

David was a prime example. He credited his
covenant with God as the power behind his
ability to slay the lion, the bear and the giant. In
1 Samuel 17:26-37, we find David assuring King
Saul that he was well able to slay Goliath. “Who
is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should
defy the armies of the living God?… The Lord
that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and
out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out
of the hand of this Philistine” (verses 26, 37).

Circumcision was the sign of the covenant. By
calling Goliath uncircumcised, David was making
this very pointed statement: He may be a giant;
he may be strong; but he has no covenant with
God, and that’s why I can kill him. Of course,
you know the rest of the story. David bravely
slew Goliath in the Name of the Lord—because
of his covenant.

The book of Hebrews promises that we have
an even better covenant than David had. Our
covenant has better promises. But to know exactly
how much better they are, we must understand
what the promises of the old covenant were.

The covenant David stood on was made long
before he ever faced the giant. God established it
with a man called Abram. He promised to make
Abram the father of many nations. He promised
to give him a great deal of land as an inheritance
so his descendents could live peacefully on it.
And in Deuteronomy 28, you will find more very
specific promises that God made to Abram’s
descendents—promises of health, well-being,
blessing and victory.

These were very awesome promises. It was
hard for Abram to believe God actually wanted to
do these things for him. In Genesis 15, we read
how God made a blood agreement with Abram in
order to convince Abram once and for all that He
meant what He said. Abram asked, “How shall I
know that I will inherit this land?” The Lord
answered by telling him to prepare for a blood
covenant. He said, “Take me an heifer of three
years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a
ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a
young pigeon. And he took unto him all these,
and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece
one against another: but the birds divided he not”
(Genesis 15:9-10).

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Since the real nature of honor has largely gone
untaught, caring and knowledgeable Christians have
fought an uphill battle. Far too many of us have been
trying to teach honor using religion as the basis. The
concept of honor has become lost in the translation.
Many people today have no foundation for receiving
spiritual teaching.

Part of this problem is that the Church is divided
into so many different denominations, associations
and affiliations that we no longer speak the same
language. Through the years we have developed different
vocabularies as well as different doctrines and
practices. The result is that we have different terminologies
for different things.

Various groups of Christians speak different
languages. They speak the language of Protestant,
Catholic, Evangelical, Fundamentalist, Pentecostal
and on and on.

To effectively teach honor—real honor—to someone
else, we must learn to speak his language. We
have to learn to interpret our message in terms that
he can understand. We must base the teaching we are
trying to impart to him on something he knows.
Let me give you an example.

Not too long ago, I heard a street gang member
being interviewed on television. He was asked if he
would kill.

“Yeah,” he answered.

He was asked what would cause him to kill.
Immediately he responded, “If somebody jumped on
one of my boys, I’d do what I gotta do.”
My ears perked up.

“Did you hear that, Gloria?” I exclaimed. “There’s
a covenant between those kids, and they’re honoring
their covenant.”

If somebody would go into those gangs, preach
the blood of Jesus and talk with those young people
on a basis they understood, we would see some
results. He might ask them: “Did you know that Jesus
is offering Himself as leader of your group, your gang,
your family of people? His message is simple. He’s saying:

‘You come to Me. When the devil jumps on you,
I’ll do what I have to do. I’ll give you My weapons. I
have given you My life.’” Believe me, they would
understand that type of language.

When I preached the blood covenant this way in
Africa, some of those people sat on the edge of their
seats. And they didn’t stay there! They jumped out
onto the floor. I was talking about the foundation of
their culture—their life.

When I began to talk to those people about honor
coupled with that kind of covenant, I presented the
gospel in a way they could understand. In their culture
they would rather die than dishonor a covenant.

They would rather give up their lives than criticize or
curse somebody who is in covenant with their family.
It is a matter of honor. In fact, these people are taught
that they will die if they dishonor a covenant.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries