INTRODUCTION

During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the Lord. The Lord said, “It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death.”

2 Sam 21:1NIV

Covenant issues are among the most difficult cases in deliverance ministry; this is owing to the fact that they are like the case of missing or hidden keys and there is very little you can do about opening the door safely if you do not have the key. Years back I bought a briefcase that opens by some codes; you have to move numbers on a panel to the coded number to open the briefcase. I cannot remember what really happened but I lost the code the producer attached to that particular briefcase and I also lost the user’s manual. I had to leave a permanent damage on the briefcase in order to open it and it was never as beautiful as it came.

Let me share some funny occurrences that further illustrate what we are about to go into. A university lecturer had a problem with his car tires right on top of River Niger Bridge and decided to change his tires there. He loosened the faulty tire placing the nuts on the bridge besides him. While trying to bring in a replacement tire, he mistakenly pushed the four nuts of the tire into the river. He just stood there confounded; he did not know what to do. A mad man came across and called him, “Prof, Prof!” but he felt he had no business with a mad man at that time. The mad man went down and returned about forty minutes after but the lecturer was still standing there hoping that other road users will render some help.

The mad man said, “You have seen now that everything is not about school and grammar. Now, let me tell you what to do; loose one nut from each tire and fix them on this tire. When you get to town, you can replace the missing ones. Mad man that claims he is educated”. He mocked and walked away.

The lecturer was shocked at what the mad man told him. He wondered why he never thought of it. He applied what he was told and was able to drive away.

Another instance was the case of a car manufacturing company; they just finished building a new model but only discovered that the roof of the bus was slightly higher than the exit. This is a project they had spent months executing but nobody ever considered the matter of moving the bus out. They began to reason among themselves and different suggestions were made. They concluded to tear down a part of the building to get the vehicle out because they could not imagine how they will let all the time they spent to be in vain. An old man was their gateman and he had greeted the engineers several times to get their attention but they ignored him because they were angry. So he walked aside and let them deal with their issues. When they brought in heavy machines to start destroying a part of the house, the old man walked across again and said to them, “I know I am not as educated as you are but I sure deserve some respect because of my age. Now, you do not need to destroy anything here. Simply deflate the tires a bit and the vehicle can pass. You can pump after”. The educated men were stunned that none of them thought of this.

These are some examples of how covenant issues are; if you do not unlock the keys of the covenants, results may elude you. Unfortunately, many Christians’ resorts to fasting and warfare prayers in order to deal with any issue. I have been in deliverance ministry long enough to see how ignorance of the terms of a particular covenant can mess up great people of God

Many believers still believe that it was only the prayer that Elijah prayed that shut the heavens and he just prayed and the rains came again. Yes, Elijah prayed but have you taken time to look at the manner of prayers that he prayed before the rains came?

Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which was in ruins. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.” “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.”Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. 1 Kings 18:30-38NIV

Note the things he did

1. He called the people to himself. This was about Israel as a nation and not about Elijah as a person
2. He restored the altar of God that has been abandoned. It was not about calling upon God but the matter at hand is that Israel had abandoned the terms of a covenant. The shut heaven was God’s response to the consequence of the covenant they abandoned.
3. When he restored the altar, he positioned Israel to be blessed again by Jehovah
4. Then he called upon Jehovah to introduce Himself as the God of the covenant Elijah was defending
5. Then the Lord sent the fire in answer to Elijah’s arguments

It was after this that Elijah began to pray for rain. If Elijah did not follow this process, no amount of prayers will send the rain. In another place when Elijah was raising charges against Israel he said thus,

He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 1 Kings 19:10NIV

Covenant is worth our attention and we will give careful study of it in this small book.