Tag: Genesis 1:26-27

What Does It Mean That We Are All “Image Bearers”? Genesis 1:26-27

Genesis 1:26-27Amplified Bible

26 Then God said, “Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning; is now and ever shall be; world without end, Amen, Amen.

Uniqueness

People are unique.

We all have things that make us who we are as individuals.

Yet, there is something that unites all of humanity: we are all “image bearers” who are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).

All throughout history and the world, in different times and in different places, our humanity connects us to our Creator.

In James 3:9 it says that human beings have been made in God’s likeness.

Being human sets us apart from the rest of creation, but it draws us together as image bearers who were originally designed to reflect their Maker.

Reflecting God’s Image from the Beginning

It was always God’s intention to create us to bear His image.

From the beginning, God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26).

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit were in perfect fellowship together from before the world began and have always been.

This is why it says “us” and “our.”

We worship one God in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is spirit (John 4:24), but when Jesus came into our world as a baby, He became flesh and blood; He was God incarnate – God with us (Matthew 1:23).

When God created man, He breathed life into him:

“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).

We are distinct from the natural creation around us that we were mandated to steward and take care of.

We were created to be in fellowship with God, to dwell with and walk with Him.

God also created a man and a woman who are both made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).

The woman was to be a helper suitable for the man (Genesis 2:18) and she was created by being taken out of man (Genesis 2:23).

Both man and woman were created by God, for God, and with a purpose that God had planned out from the very beginning.

Complementing the Created Order

It is said that God is a God of order and not chaos.

In 1 Corinthians 14:33 it says, “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace” and we see this consistency in the order of creation.

He placed the earth in the perfect conditions for life and habitation.

The pattern of day and night, the rhythms of the seasons and the sequence of how He created everything was brought into perfect order.

Within the order of creation, it was beautifully and intricately designed.

When God created humanity, He had an order and a purpose within that.

He gave the instruction for the man and woman to increase in number, fill and subdue the earth, and rule over the creatures on land, in the sea and the sky. (Genesis 1:28)

Through the first man, Adam, came the fall of all mankind into sin and death.

Yet, this was still under the divine purpose of God, with a clear, ordered plan to rescue the image bearers He made. 

Romans 5:17-18 says,

17 For if by the trespass of the one (Adam), death reigned through the one (Adam), much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in [eternal] life through the One, Jesus Christ.

18 So then as through one trespass [Adam’s sin] there resulted condemnation for all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to  [a]all men.

Jesus took on flesh and lived the life that Adam did not.

God became fully human; living and breathing like those made in His image from the beginning.

The mind can barely fathom the wonder and the mystery of God coming down into the world He had made, as flesh and blood,

“who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used for his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:6-7).

The one who is the

“exact imprint” of God’s nature and “upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3) was made to be like us in order to reconcile us to Himself.

Disfigured, but not Destroyed by Sin

Since sin and death entered the world through Adam, the image of God in us has been disfigured.

It has been marred because of the ugliness and depravity that sin works in the lives of us and those around us.

Yet, thanks be to God, this is not the end of the story.

Adam and Eve were not destroyed on the spot for their decision to disobey and destroy the relationship with their loving Creator.

There were, however, serious, life-altering, eternity-shifting consequences for their first choices which has been passed through generation to generation.

However, what Satan did to tempt the first image bearers in the Garden of Eden and unravel the order and peace, Jesus came and regenerated and restored.

He lived the perfect life and died the death that we all should have died.

He took the wrath of God upon Himself; all the judgment and condemnation our sins deserved was imputed from us to Him.

His body was crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5).

We live because of what Jesus did for us when we went catastrophically astray.

Adam and Eve walked out of the presence of God in Eden, but not before God had mercy on them and clothed them with animal skins.

God is the one to make the sacrifice of mercy, taking the animal’s life, covering their shame.

It is all a part of His plan, pointing to another time when He would provide the ultimate sacrifice – His body and His own life blood poured out on the cross to cover our shame and give us mercy and forgiveness, eternal life in His presence.

Created to Reflect the Image of God

We are made in the image of God, but because of sin, that image has been distorted.

All of us are still image bearers and we need to live with that in mind as we interact with others, we reflect God’s love and love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31).

Setting biases and prejudices aside, as we are covenanted by God to do, from the very beginning all lives absolutely matter to God, without exception, and those around us DO bear the image of God and Jesus died for their sin as well as ours.

Galatians 3:23-29 Amplified

23 Now before faith came, we were kept in custody under the Law, [perpetually] imprisoned [in preparation] for the faith that was destined to be revealed, 24  with the result that the Law has become our tutor and our disciplinarian to guide us to Christ, so that we may be [c]justified [that is, declared free of the guilt of sin and its penalty, and placed in right standing with God] by faith. 25  But now that faith has come, we are no longer under [the control and authority of] a tutor and disciplinarian. 26 For you [who are born-again have been reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified and] are all children of God [set apart for His purpose with full rights and privileges] through faith in Christ Jesus.  27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ [into a spiritual union with the Christ, the Anointed] have clothed yourselves with Christ [that is, you have taken on His characteristics and values]. 28 There is [now no distinction in regard to salvation] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you [who believe] are all one in Christ Jesus [no one can claim a spiritual superiority]. 29 And if you belong to Christ [if you are in Him], then you are Abraham’s descendants, and [spiritual] heirs according to [God’s] promise.

Seeing all people, without any exception, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit do, as image bearers should change how we view human dignity, the sanctity of life.

There are ethical, moral and spiritual implications to our understanding of all that it means to be dignified and respected as an image bearer of the living God.

From the moment of our Baptisms, we are to forward reflect His image to a sin disfigured world needing to be reconciled with their Creator and their Savior.

Those who trust in Christ’s finished work on the cross have become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17); they have been “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

He has “reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).

Those who look to Jesus for salvation, behold His glory “are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

It is transformational to us and others as we begin to look more and more like our Savior.

It is all the Spirit’s work in us, transforming us to be like Jesus, reflecting His image to a broken world.

It was all part of His plan of redemption, as it says in Romans 8:29:

“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

Restoration of the Image Bearer

Sin has affected God’s original design of humans being made in His image.

Preacher, theologian and writer, Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson spoke at ‘Made in the Image of God’ (Ligonier Ministries online event, 2020) of how the image of God has disintegrated within society.

He said we no longer know who we are and when we remove God, we take away our identity – the image of God. But one day we will bear the image of the man from heaven, Jesus, and all will be restored.

There is hope for the people of God in a broken, fragmented and distorted world where it seems chaos and disorder dominate.

Pastor and theologian John Piper describes well how the image of God in us has been defaced but not destroyed.

It is worth reading his description of being like a mirror which gives a clear illustration of how we reflect God as image bearers has become distorted since the fall, where “Satan persuaded [us] that [our] image is more beautiful than God’s image.”

Yet, by His life, death, resurrection and ascension. Jesus has made salvation eminently possible and because of Him we can see all God’s glory once again and we can begin to reflect the beauty of the Lord Jesus unto those around us.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

My Heavenly Father, I stand in awe of Your grace and wisdom. Thank You for my creation, salvation, and the glories that you have prepared for me in the eternal ages to come. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Dearest Heavenly Father, I thank You that I was created in Your image. Help me to see the reflection of Your beauty in my life. Help me to reflect Your beauty through my life. Thank You for sustaining me by Your divine DNA imprint in my life. May Your likeness, and the likeness of your Son, be reflected in all that I am, and all that I do. Alleluia, Amen.

Revelation 4:11 Amplified Bible

11 
“Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they exist, and were created and brought into being.”

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning; is now and ever shall be; world without end, Amen, Amen.

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Valuing Self, Others, More Like Jesus: Are We Recognizing The Truest Value We All Have To the Kingdom of God? Mark 6:7-13

Mark 6:7-13 English Standard Version

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles

7 And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— 9 but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.[a] 10 And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. 11 And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” 12 So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Community Is Our Doing Difficult Things Together

When Jesus sent out his disciples, he had very specific thoughts in mind.

He sent them out together to do difficult things.

He sent them out together.

He gave them authority over unclean spirits.

He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff.

He charged them to take no bread, no bag, no money in their belts.

He charged them to wear only one tunic at a time and wear only sandals.

He charged them to knock on doors they did not know and ask for hospitality.

He sent them out into the villages ahead of them to preach and to heal.

He charged them to give their testimony wherever they went and stayed.

That meant each of the six pairs of Apostles went to six different villages.

To proclaim a message of repentance and of the coming of God’s Kingdom.

Even though it was incredibly unlikely they had a very clear grasp of exactly what they were being commanded to preach and give their testimony about.

And it is highly doubtful that any one of the twelve Apostles had spent any amount of time or expended any measure of effort towards believing they had the ability, could exercise any authority or power over any unclean spirits.

I’m sure they were apprehensive at first.

I am not so sure they seriously believed they could actually accomplish the task before them, to act directly, decisively in the astounding measure of confidence they were told, nay commanded by Jesus, to display before all of those people.

One does not get the very clear idea that any one of those twelve believed that much in themselves, believed that they had that even minimal value to others.

But, one thing is abundantly clear about this whole scene and that is Jesus said nothing to them about of any rescinding his direct command of their mission.

He commanded them to “Go!”

Told them how and when to “Go!”

And such was his command of the moment and his authority over the twelve:

So, in obedience, Go they did out into those random villages ahead of them.

What were they told to expect of their efforts – nothing specific.

What did Jesus hope and pray they learned from whatever levels of success or failure each of them would report back to him with?

Again, we note there were no specific expectations of success or failure.

No standards of measure for either success or failure are given to anyone.

No graphs or charts, no percentages, no lectures from any in management.

“Go! and do as I have commanded exactly as I have commanded you!”

“Learn your unspecified lessons from your efforts and report back to me.”

Unspecified Lessons being perhaps:

“Learning of God.”

“Trusting in God”

“Testifying and Witnessing of and to God”

“Your immeasurable inestimable undeniable VALUE to the Kingdom of God”

But when they came back, with no specific expectations having been placed upon them they each had amazing stories to tell of God’s power displayed in their world and perhaps hidden even from their own perception – Value to God!

They returned to Jesus with a new found confidence.

They returned to Jesus with a new found sense of self esteem, value to others.

They learned to believe in themselves.

They learned to believe in themselves and to value themselves.

They learned to have confidence in God.

They learn to trust and believe in God.

They learn to highly value God in the undeniable role God plays in their lives.

They learned to have confidence, to trust in, place high, higher, highest value on the words and the plans and the intentions and the works of their Rabbi.

God, together with us in faith Community brings all of that ‘wonder’ together.

How many of those villagers lives were touched and transformed, now found themselves with a renewed, fresh and refreshed and refreshing belief in God?

How many of those villagers found themselves and their curiosity peaked to start wondering about and following this Itinerant master Rabbi named Jesus?

It goes and does difficult things together—all the time witnessing the amazing work of God in the world around us, all the time assigning inestimable value to each, every one of us, what we have to bring “just as we are” unto His Kingdom.

Are We Recognizing Our Value to God’s Kingdom?

John 15:12-17 English Standard Version

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13  Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14  You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants,[a] for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

When we think of these original apostles, we perhaps think of holy men of God.

And though they were gifted and dedicated, they also were all rather ordinary. 

Jesus did not call these men because they were great; their greatness was the result of the call upon their lives through Jesus being obedient to His Father.

A great writer can take an ordinary unvalued piece of paper, and with the addition of his or her words, and God it suddenly becomes extremely valuable.

It wasn’t the blank piece of paper that was valuable; it was what the inspired thoughts which the writer, for whatever reason, just put down on that paper.

History has repeatedly taught us that a great artist can take a canvas and paint, and suddenly it becomes $$$$ costly work of art because of what the artist did.

It wasn’t the canvas that was valuable; it is what the inspired artist painted on the canvas.

As believers, we recognize in ourselves that we are sinners separated from God.

But let’s also recognize that when Christ came into our lives, He gave us value.

He put His treasure in earthen vessels, or in jars of clay, which are our lives.

As 2 Corinthians 4:7 tells us, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”

As Ephesians 2:8-10 Amplified so eloquently reminds each and every one of us;

8 For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God; 9 not as a result of [your] works [nor your attempts to keep the Law], so that no one will [be able to] boast or take credit in any way [for his salvation]. 10 For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us].

With a new confidence and boldness, we have something to offer.

It is not self-confidence; it is God-confidence.

It is not self-esteem; it’s God-esteem.

God graciously forgave us and took us into His kingdom, and now He has made us someone of inestimable value to the work which God began at the beginning.

In the same way,

the original twelve apostles, called by their Master Rabbi Jesus were valuable because of what Jesus did in their lives, by summoning and sending them too.

Valued of Mankind versus Valued of God

“Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee,
though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see,
only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
perfect in power, in love and purity.”

Sinful man who goes to indescribable, unnecessary lengths to devalue itself in the eyes of self and of each other, devalue others through indescribable means,

Indescribably, stereotypically “crucify,” unimaginably devalue and degrade, disenchant, disenfranchise, dehumanize and to fully and utterly humiliate,

Sinful man whose eyes no longer are focused upon the inestimable value of life which God has assigned to each, every single cell of one of His own creations,

From the very beginning of all created things, and through the very end of all created things, God has always had one very specific, undervalued message;

God’s never changing message to everyone is exactly and exactingly this:

Genesis 1:26-27 Authorized (King James) Version

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

“I, and I alone assign all the value you will ever need or require in your life!”

God wrote His name on your heart when you gave your life to Jesus Christ.

He has given you incomparable value, valuable gifts and invaluable abilities.

He has fully, utterly and completely invested everything of Himself in you.

That is where your absolute value to God and His Kingdom comes from.

And that’s why you can make an absolutely miraculous, wondrous difference.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 139:1-18 Complete Jewish Bible

139 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:

(1) Adonai, you have probed me, and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I stand up,
you discern my inclinations from afar,
3 you scrutinize my daily activities.
You are so familiar with all my ways
4 that before I speak even a word, Adonai,
you know all about it already.
5 You have hemmed me in both behind and in front
and laid your hand on me.
6 Such wonderful knowledge is beyond me,
far too high for me to reach.

7 Where can I go to escape your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I climb up to heaven, you are there;
if I lie down in Sh’ol, you are there.
9 If I fly away with the wings of the dawn
and land beyond the sea,
10 even there your hand would lead me,
your right hand would hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Let darkness surround me,
let the light around me be night,”
12 even darkness like this
is not too dark for you;
rather, night is as clear as day,
darkness and light are the same.

13 For you fashioned my inmost being,
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I thank you because I am awesomely made,
wonderfully; your works are wonders —
I know this very well.
15 My bones were not hidden from you
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes could see me as an embryo,
but in your book all my days were already written;
my days had been shaped
before any of them existed.
17 God, how I prize your thoughts!
How many of them there are!
18 If I count them, there are more than grains of sand;
if I finish the count, I am still with you.

Psalm 139:23-24 Complete Jewish Bible

23 Examine me, God, and know my heart;
test me, and know my thoughts.
24 See if there is in me any hurtful way,
and lead me along the eternal way.

Invaluable Father, Invaluable Son, Invaluable Holy Spirit, send us into the world together, in your inestimable name, to immeasurably love and value all thy children and to ceaselessly witness to your power at work through changing lives. Let us each bring to you only ceaseless, incalculable, indescribable, immeasurable, inestimable, invaluable, unrelenting glory unto your name and into your name alone. Amen.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Becoming Like Christ: Steps Towards Spiritual Freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17

2 Corinthians 3:12-18 Amplified Bible

12 Since we have such a [glorious] hope and confident expectation, we speak with great courage, 13 and we are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the Israelite’s would not gaze at the end of the glory which was fading away. 14 But [in fact] their minds were hardened [for they had lost the ability to understand]; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed [only] in Christ. 15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil [of blindness] lies over their heart; 16 but whenever a person turns [in repentance and faith] to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [emancipation from bondage, true freedom]. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Becoming Like Christ

2 Corinthians 3:15-18 Amplified Bible

15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil [of blindness] lies over their heart;  16 but whenever a person turns [in repentance and faith] to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [emancipation from bondage, true freedom]. 18 And we all, with unveiled face,  continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit.

If the Holy Spirit’s work in us is like the work of a master gardener, what is the Spirit growing in us?

The Spirit wants to reproduce Jesus’ character in us.

Our reading from 2 Corinthians today states that we “are being transformed into [Jesus’] image with ever-increasing glory.”

In other words, the Holy Spirit’s aim is to make us more and more like Jesus.

The Holy Spirit’s work is to nudge us, prod us, move us, transform us and shape us to think and act and be more like our Savior Jesus, for us to better mirror Jesus in our character, to increasingly help us love like Jesus in our daily life.

Of course, it’s not an overnight rush job.

The Spirit doesn’t guarantee delivery in full by 8:00 a.m. the next day—or even within a few days, months, years or decades.

This isn’t the work of a courier driver.

This is the work of the Master Gardener, the One with a master’s vision of the finished garden, the One who daily, gradually toils and works in our lives until the desired spiritual fruit eventually sprouts, blossoms, unto the glory of God.

There are times when the Holy Spirit’s work in us will be immediate, dramatic, and maybe even spectacular.

But usually the Spirit’s work in us is slow, subtle and gentle.

That’s the Holy Spirit’s trademark.

We are made in God’s image, in the image of God we are created, (Genesis 1:26-27) but that sacred image became spoiled and polluted in us because of sin.

So now God is slowly remaking that image in us—to be like our Savior Jesus!

Steps Towards Spiritual Freedom

Have we truly noticed that most of our unrest comes from ourselves?

We get stuck ruminating on the things we can’t change or control.

Un-forgiveness stops us from moving toward healing in our relationships.

Pervasive negativity prevents us from enjoying the moment.

Exhaustion keeps us functioning as only a shadow version of ourselves.

Repeated excuses keep us trying the same things over and over again that are no longer capable of working, are burning bridges and stop us from changing.

Fear, guilt and shame stop us cold from accepting God’s free gift of grace. 

Our unhappiness lives in our souls and finding peace starts as a process of Holy Spirit-led self-discovery.

How many of us will spend our lives turning a blind eye to our own hangups?

In our own stubborn blindness, we refuse to consider that maybe the rhythm of frustration we are up against might be something we have the power to change.

It’s so much easier to render our judgments, and then blame our surroundings.

To point out the sliver in our neighbor’s eye, all while avoiding our own planks. (Matthew 7:1-5)

We so often live stuck in a giant sheet of bubble wrap we wrapped around us.

Thank God He is patient with us! 

Thank God that God knows exactly what to do with bubble wrap – POP IT!

How, then, do we allow ourselves to be “popped by God” to get us past our blindness and grab onto the gracious freedom that God promises each of us?

1. Freedom comes when we abandon pride. 

The path towards freedom begins with a surrendering of the pride we each hold that claims we have what we need to fix ourselves all on our own.

This pride tells us to be ashamed, embarrassed, fearful and humiliated when we don’t live up to our own internal standards.

It relies on rules and religion rather than grace and a relationship with Jesus.

Step one towards freedom and making peace with the people God created us to be is to abandon our pride.

The Bible teaches that pride comes before a fall (Proverbs 16:18), and the humble find wisdom (Proverbs 11:2). 

2. God’s wisdom teaches us how to change. 

Wisdom helps us change.

Only through God’s miraculous truth can we see the way past the same thought processes which keep us trapped, wrapped, in our own fears, shame, bitterness. 

James 1:5 prompts us to ask God for wisdom when we don’t have it.

He gives it freely when we have a humble heart.

When we read and study God’s Word, spend time in his church, seek Him and His Kingdom through prayer, we discover what godly wisdom looks like.

Proverbs 1:7 instructs us that wisdom is found in the context of community.

We have to be willing to accept advice and instruction when we are stuck and looking for a new way forward. 

Proverbs 3:7 tells us that wisdom turns away from evil.

If our own set patterns get us stuck in sin over and over, then God’s wisdom, and our Savior’s Cross, His Resurrection power moves us away from that evil temptation that keeps repeatedly keeps maliciously tugging at our souls.  

3. Freedom points us towards others.

Interestingly God gives us the internal power through the Holy Spirit to find spiritual freedom, not so we can just enjoy ourselves better.

Even though a free you is a happier you and is a you that you can be confident in and enjoy.

The purpose of this Christ-purchased freedom is that we can serve others.

Isaiah 61:1 tells us God’s spirit in our lives gives us the ability to bring good news to the poor, assist the brokenhearted, and set free those imprisoned in this world!

We are set free, so we can help others find that same freedom.

When we find ourselves stuck, wrapped in our own frustrations or even upset with others in our lives because their sin nature is making our lives harder, we are invited to draw on God’s spirit to see new ways to love and to serve others.  

4. God’s spirit sets us free. 

2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

There is a mysterious element to spiritual freedom.

Freedom is an indescribable moment or journey that can take time where Heaven meets us here on Earth.

Areas I’ve sought freedom in has been anxiety over diabetes management.

For me, this freedom journey has taken years, but God has been my faithful teacher and sustainer through step forward and backward, each up and down.

Other times our freedom is like a dam breaking all at once.

The old life is washed away in an instant, and a new one is ready to begin.

Why does God work one way in my life and a different way in yours?

That is part of the mystery of the Spirit.

God is connectional and relational and not a rule-based God, which is why each of us has a singularly unique and diverse and vastly different spiritual journey.

One thing the Bible does tell us is that if we want to find freedom in our lives, we have to seek His Kingdom through His Holy Spirit.  

Matthew 6:33 Amplified Bible

33 But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.

John 8:36 says, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Jesus came to Earth, so we could not only escape death and join his family, but so we could experience freedom in our lives here on Earth.

I am so thankful that God has not left me as I was.

He is always renewing my mind and spirit.

May you, by God’s grace, take steps toward spiritual growth and freedom today.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Jesus, my Savior, I have been listening to too many lies for far too long. I have been tricked one too many times by the enemy and I am frustrated. I need to be free from these lies. Jesus, I know that You are true and that the truth will set me free. Jesus, help me to rejoice in the truth. I need to believe the truth. I pray that it really would set me free. Help me with my unbelief, Jesus. Holy Spirit, You know my heart, and know that I need help believing. Thank You, Jesus, that You offer truth to Your children. Thank You for Your patience with me. In Your glorious name, I pray.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Parenting! Will you bless your children? Will you affirm and love them the way God originally intended? Genesis 1:26-27

Father God calls, covenants, every generation of Christians to see to it that the next generation hears about His mighty acts. God does not drop a new truth from heaven on every generation but intends that the older generation will teach the newer generation how to read and think, trust and obey and rejoice.

The Goal of Parenting: Eternity in the Everyday

God’s ordinary way of shaping children into radically committed, risk-taking, countercultural, wise, thinking, loving, mature, world Christians is through parents who themselves teach and model a God-centered, Bible-saturated “Christian” worldview to their children.

The High Calling of Fatherhood

The overarching guide for every father should be to live in such a way that his children can see what God the Father is like. Children should see in their human father a reflection — albeit imperfect — of the heavenly Father in his strength and tenderness, in his wrath and mercy, in his exaltation and condescension, in his surpassing wisdom and patient guidance.

The Deep Impact of Motherhood

Motherhood is the transmission of a God-centered, Christ-treasuring vision of life to our children. Mothers have a covenant calling that can become the long-remembered ground of faith, not just for their own children but for the untold numbers of other children who will be affected and influenced by them.

Discipline: To Train the Heart

Gracious parenting prayerfully leads children from external compliance to what socio-cultural peer pressures dictate “must be” done to joyful willingness to do what Mom and Dad tell them, ask them, to do from the kindness of their heart.

Children must learn to obey before they are able process obedience through Christian faith. When saving faith comes, the obedience which they’ve learned from fear, reward, respect, becomes the natural expression of their own faith.

Parenting in the Hardest of Times

If you are parenting in the worst of times or want to get ready for parenting in the worst of times — or simply want hope in the worst of times — look to Jesus, take this posture: brokenness because of our sin and boldness because of Christ.

Genesis 1:26-27 Amplified Bible

26 Then God said, “Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

On the parenting front, if you are not a parent, a single, or not able to have kids, this is still for you because you were parented.

Somewhere along the line you were a kid and had parents.

There are two things I want you to do this morning, write down tips on what you need to do to help others, and write down things you were missing.

This is not to turn around and tell your parents what they did wrong, but it is a space and a place for Father God to come restore and heal you.

God is your Father and Restorer and it’s a place to meet with God.

Another thing on the forefront is to acknowledge parenting is hard.

It takes two, which is why God put us in partnership.

If you are a single parent, you know it takes a community around you.

It’s difficult and challenging.

Sometimes, mom and dad have to figure it out together.

Parenting is tough.

It is unique, but it is God’s will.

God’s plan A is family to glorify God and raise children in a way that they experience the fullness of God’s heart. 

Genesis 1:27-28, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God created male and female and He blessed them.

It was a good thing. Then, He said go and bear fruit and multiply, and care for these precious ones that they might glorify God in the earth.

May every generation be better than the one before it.

May every generation far exceed where their parents were in that journey and find the grace in God.

There is no Plan B; parenting is Plan A for His glory.

Just a reminder, especially to parents of little kids, children are a blessing from the Lord.

Remember, God created us male and female, and He blessed them, He let them know they were worth everything to Him.

The psalmist picks this up in Psalm 127:3-5,

“Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; they will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.”

This is God’s delight, His design, and His desire.

Whether you are experiencing this or not as a parent, you have promises from God that He will absolutely bless your children. It is His design and desire.

The question is:

Will you bless your children?

Will you affirm and love them the way God intended?

The one thing your kids need to know is that there is a mom and a dad, two people on the earth that will be for them, always, no matter what.

No matter the ups and downs, the failures, the successes, there is somebody that values them above all others, and that’s you.

That is why we don’t compare our kids to other people. “Why can’t you be like so and so?”

Of course, it is fine to say, “Look at that attribute in that person’s life.”

To point to Christlikeness, but at the same time, you do not compare your kids to other kids.

It devalues them.

It makes them feel as if they are not the most important person to somebody on the earth.

Everyone wants to know, “Who is going to love me? Who is going to value me?”

Mom and Dad – you are that person.

There is no one else that God has chosen to be the number one cheerleader for your kids.

This does not mean your kids are perfect or don’t have problems.

It doesn’t mean they aren’t challenging or a wipeout.

They need to know there is somebody on this planet that will love them like nobody else and will advocate for them no matter what, and it is you.

That is one thing you can be for your children.

Despite of what else is going on, consistently let them know they are a blessing. 

Mom and Dad, it’s absolutely okay to brag about your kids.

You say, “I get so tired of so-and-so bragging about their kids,”

You know what?

I don’t. I’m done with that.

I love hearing other parents brag about their kids.

You brag.

Somebody must be their cheerleader.

Somebody to actually and genuinely think and to say and to communicate to them that they are the best and most loved in the world and be on their team.

Because every kid needs it, and so do you.

Children are a blessing form the Lord, let’s act like it so they can experience God’s blessing over their lives.

The other thing to mention with this is we know everybody is tainted by sin.

Each one of your kids is marred by sin as you are.

When your kids are not a blessing, like coming out of the womb and screaming, or just all over you and crazy doing stuff you cannot tolerate or understand.

When you are thinking, “I think my kid has a demon…”

No, they are born in the beauty of God, but with sin in their lives and they manifest that sin.

It is your covenant role to deal appropriately, lovingly and biblically with that, in order to lead them towards more Christlikeness.

It is a journey, and they are sinners just like you and me.

That is why we have Jesus.

That is why Jesus has to be the exact center of our hearts and the exact center of our homes, core thinking, exactly where we are leading our kids for answers.

He is a Redeemer, a Restorer, a Renewer, and an Empowerer.

He is who we are trying to be like, and He is who we are adapting to.

With Jesus as the Restorer and the Center, we always have hope, even in the most difficult and challenging situations with our kids.

The question becomes as parents, “What is our role? What does it look like?”

I have found some Scriptures that have really helped me to build faith, day-by-day, in my own stepparenting journey.

I want to share a few with you. 

Psalm 128:1-3, “How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, you will be happy, and it will be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house, your children like olive plants around your table.”

When it says “your children shall be like olive branches” that means anointed.

They should be anointed by God.

They will be like the anointed ones around your table, living in the abundance of God.

I claim that every day, I pray it every day over Laura and Joe and over their child.

Another Scripture I pray is 

Psalm 112, “Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed.”

Praise God! God’s children will be mighty on the earth. They may not stand on a stage; people may not even know who they are, but they will be mighty on the earth in God because this is true of those who reverently fear, worship the Lord.

Psalm 103:17 “But the loving-kindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him in His righteousness to children’s’ children.”

I don’t know if you do or have seen the theme, that the blessing and promises is directly linked to the fear of the Lord.

Our Covenant as a parent is to fear the Lord.

Fear does not mean to draw away from, it means to run to.

It means to acknowledge that God’s ways are right, and mine are not…

That the way I live my life, the way I think and treat Laura and Joe their child, my Grand Son, is Christ-centered, biblically centered, God honoring.

Anything that doesn’t look like Jesus is out for me and my household.

Fearing the Lord is acknowledging, keeping God central in all things so He might be the power source of life to fulfilling the promises He has over kids.

We are all God’s Children –

John 1:12-13 ” 12 But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name— 13 who were born, not of blood [natural conception], nor of the will of the flesh [physical impulse], nor of the will of man [that of a natural father], but of God [that is, a divine and supernatural birth—they are born of God—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified].

The issue becomes whether or not I fear the Lord.

Am I responding to God?

Am I adapting to God?

We aren’t talking about any degree of perfection here; nobody on this planet is perfect or will be perfect until Jesus returns or until we meet Him face-to-face.

But there is a journey towards Christlikeness that is an absolute must, mom and dad.

Jesus must be the absolute center of our hearts therefore the absolute center of the way we parent and love.

I in no way want to impart on to my kids that I am perfect, because they know and have seen that I am not and never will be anywhere near perfection.

What I want to put on is that I am a repentant man.

I want to be known as the ‘parent’ who tries to keep Father, Son, Holy Spirit as close to the very center of my heart and my soul not as “the very best parent.”

Because if I learn how to repent, learn how to respond to God, and humble myself to others, there will always be grace for the next challenge before us. 

You tend to respond to life with strength when you see your Father’s face.

Obviously, God Himself, but parents, we have the opportunity to be that face as well in their lives.

You are their number one influencer.

Moms and Dads, you are the one who puts identity on your sons and daughters.

You are the ones that calls a woman a woman, and a man a man.

You are the ones who hugs and holds and affirms them in such a way that they don’t need the arms of another man until the appropriate time which Father God has ordained exclusively, inclusively for them.

They don’t need, and prayerfully won’t see the need, to drift off to find love somewhere else, because they are supposed to be finding it with God in you.

God calls Himself Father in the Scriptures.

God portrays Himself as male.

Though He is both nurturing and consistent and strong,

He describes Himself as Father.

Until your kids connect with Father God, you are it.

Our Parenting is about how we ourselves live our lives in God, how we have established the ‘mirrored lives in Christ’ for them to model their life after.

The only way we can succeed as parents is by the power of God’s Spirit.

Even if you are the most educated, the most enthusiastic, and the trendiest parent around, you still need God’s Holy Spirit to help you.

This is why it’s so important for us to ask the Lord to refill us with His Spirit every day, so we can operate in His power.

Also, we need to ask the Lord to help us parent our children with HIS heart—and we need Holy Spirit’s help for that, too.

Carrying God’s heart for people doesn’t come by fleshly power or effort, even if those people are your children.

We have to ask the Lord proactively to give us His heart!

Asking the Lord to give you HIS heart for your child will transform your parenting.

God’s heart for your child is the same as it is for you:

  • He’s full of love and hope.
  • He believes the best about you.
  • He never remembers the sins He has forgiven.

If you pray and earnestly ask the Lord to gradually give you His own heart for your children, you will gradually be able to love them more and more each day with a holy fervor that eclipses the stress of day-to-day childlike behavior.

You will be able to remain filled with hope not only for your child’s life, but also for the success of your day together!

Also, God’s heart will enable you to move past their “little” glitches (like temper tantrums) and still be able to treat your child with love and affection.

Second Corinthians 12:9 says, “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Every parent is familiar with the feeling of weakness.

However, we don’t always realize that God’s grace is a very tangible force that has a very real physical, discernible, extremely powerful impact on our day.

When I’m feeling particularly overwhelmed, I ask the Lord to make His grace tangible in my life.

In other words, I’m asking Him to manifest His supernatural help in our family in such a way that:

  • Things just work and flow, and they aren’t stressful;
  • I am able to stay filled with peace and joy, no matter what happens; and
  • I can take things in stride, not feel overwhelmed, and maintain a “can-do” attitude throughout the day as I spend time with my child.

By contrast, on the days when I forget to pray this prayer,

I often feel stressed and overwhelmed.

Little things feel like insurmountable challenges. I lose courage and feel like hiding, instead of operating in the peace and power of God.

God’s grace truly is sufficient for you and me—and “grace” isn’t a pie-in-the-sky concept. It’s the very real power of God that He applies to your life to make everything work and flow. It produces peace in your home and in your soul.

Therefore, on mornings when you don’t know how you will face the “coming catastrophes of today”, Pray! ask God to make His grace tangible in your life!

Let’s not miss the opportunity of a lifetime.

Our loving Father has promised to instruct us and teach us in the way we should go and to guide us with His eye upon us (Psalm 32:8).

This promise applies to our children also!

When you consider the other verses above, we can see that God Himself has promised to disciple our children personally.

As parents, of course we can and should guide and teach our children.

That’s our covenant role!

However, if we will also ask the Lord to personally teach them, guide them, and help them stay on His path each day, then His Holy Spirit will work in their hearts. He will lead them, disciple them, and even convict them when needed.

Parents are their children’s main influencers, and it is their covenant role to create a Christ-like environment, an environment of safety and peace in our households so our kids can know how to flourish in their coming generations.

They are taking on the world, the flesh and the devil every day, as we are.

Home should be refuge. Home should be a sacred place where there is every opportunity in the world to flourish, to be successful and supported, to walk through life and talk about everything. That is what we are trying to create.

God our Father wants our days with our families to be as precious and as sweet.

However, the enemy often tries to use the cares of this world and the stresses of life to rob us of our enjoyment of that time.

On days when you feel like hiding in the closet, pray specifically as follows:

  • Ask the Lord to help you fall in love with your children all over again. 
  • Ask Him to help you delight in their sweet kisses, in their hugs, and in their learning, growth, and development. 
  • Ask Him to give you creative, fun ideas for activities you can do together… and ask Him to give you the desire to do those activities.

If your children still live at home, you already know that your years of seeing them every day are numbered.

Eventually, they will grow up, move out, and build lives of their own.

Therefore, it’s important to ask God to help you make the most of every day.

Fellow Parents, Listen, not only are we not perfect, and we’ve got problems.

It’s so important that we pray daily for our children to be humble and to submit to the Lord in all things.

In order to bear any kind of good fruit in their lives, our children will have to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. (Even salvation requires us to humble our hearts before Jesus as we receive Him as Savior and Lord!)

When both we and our children are humble and obedient before the Lord, our family lives will naturally fall into place. God’s word—and the instructions found therein—will have first place in our hearts and homes. That means:

  • We will love and honor each other.
  • We will prefer other people as better than ourselves.
  • Our children will obey us as their parents.
  • The sweet sounds of worship and prayer will exude from our hearts and fill our homes.

But it all starts with humility, and with God’s Spirit changing our hearts to make us like Jesus, helping us to yield to all of the Father Day in and day out.

We are always working through something.

The goal is not perfection; it is a response to imperfection that is the goal.

How do we respond to imperfection?

It is what allows life, health and grace in the journey.

May we be those who respond well to the imperfections of life.

Find Jesus as central, find God’s grace is enough and we journey together as a family until death do, we part. Amen.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Lord, give me new eyes. Help me see each challenge as an opportunity to train my children toward right thinking and right living. Lord, give me a brand-new attitude. Remind me that any moment of the day can be a “start over” moment and a chance for an attitude adjustment. Lord, give me a new focus. Help me to pluck any worries from my mind and place them firmly in your hands. Lord, give me compassion. Remind me what it was like to be my children’s ages and have to face the struggles of growing up. Lord, give me wisdom. Help me to see my children as who You designed them to be, instead of the images I have set and locked securely up in my mind, of exactly who I’d like them to become.

God, You are my Parent. Earnestly I seek to guide myself, my family upon You!

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