God said, part 2

Rom 10:8So what exactly was Moses saying?

The word that saves is right here, as near as the tongue in your mouth, as close as the heart in your chest.(Msg)

Rom 10:8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim)(Esv)

The word is the culmination of Who God is. The destiny of the word (logos, the logic) of God is not in a book, its not to be concealed in seminary books or commentaries. The final destination of the word is in human life.

This is what the scriptures reveal the logos, the logic of God, the final ultimate dream of God of co dominating with man, this is what God meant in Genesis that man should subdue and have dominion over the works of creation.

The integrity and the genius of God has been preserved in Christ and revealed to humanity in the fullness of time. Jesus comes and says if you see me , you have seen the father. Its such a bold declaration confirming that the word became flesh and dwellt amongst men.

God’s thoughts are higher than ours and his ways are higher than ours but prophet Isaiah reveals that as rain falls down and waters the earth and drenches it so has the word come down and drenched the whole earth.

Isaiah 55:11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it

Gal 4:4-5 but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Friends Jesus has come. He has come to redeem us and to set us free. The word, Christ is near us, he is in our mouth and in our hearts. The word is in our expression.          John the Baptist came and preached. Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. Its time to change how we think about the word of God. The kingdom is at hand . the proximity of the word of God cannot be explained in a better way than emmanuel himself. He is God with us.

He doesn’t need your performance for him to be with you. God swore never to hide his face from his people anymore. Ez 39:22. The word Christ cannot be near more than he already is.

In this last days God has said. Listen to Jesus. He is the spoken word of God. In these last days God has spoken to us through Christ. Heb 1:3. God has spoken to us Christ. He is the ultimate reconciliation, bringing all things inn heaven and in earth to a perfect synchrony and you know what? We exist in him. He is the explanation of scripture. Didn’t Jesus say that the law and the prophets testified to him? Luke 24:25-27.

He is what the Lord is saying to you today, don’t look for a better spectacular expression of scripture. Don’t create distance and delay. The word is in your expression in your mouth and in your heart. Mmay jesus open your eyes to see him in the scriptures. The rvelation of Christ is the revelation of the glory of God not in the stratosphere but inside of us. He lives in you and you are the temples of the living God. The tabernacles and a holy church.

God said, part 1

Gen 1:3-4 and God said” let there be light and there was light”. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated light from darkness

The word of God is the logic of God. “In the beginning there was the word nd the word was with God and the word was God.” John testifies.

The word of God created the universe e and everything that was not was called into existence by his word which is his logos, logic.

In order to understand the weight of this logos the psalmist says that The lord has placed his word above his name. The basis of the greatness of God is not merely in his name but in his logic. The logic of God is calling things from nothingness to existence.

And so God said let there be light and light came and God saw that the light was good, so good that it was separated from darkness.

It’s as if light spewed from the mouth of the almighty father of creation, there was no distance, delay or any effort, the word, logos has its power to execute its divine command yet the word is not less than God neither does it result in something that is less than God.

The amazing mouth gazing events continued to unfold in genesis 1 as things were called from nothing to existence and God saw that the results of his logos was good. This makes us appreciate prophet who said that the Word of the Lord doesn’t come back to him void, it resounds back with fullness.

The climax of these events is when God formed man out of dust and breathed his spirit inside of him. God was so enthralled to see his image and likeness reflected in man. His dream was that his image and likeness would be realized in a glorious creation known as man and that man and God would become active partakers of this divine nature.

2^nd peter 1:3”his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.”

The dream of God was that man would come face to face with deity and co dominate with God. By this association man is to draw his essence of living from God. We were created and were God enabled.

Why is it important that God said?

Many believers believe that we ought to believe in the report of the Lord. While we are quick to affirm that we are not what the world says we are what our situations say we are what our past says we are? Many believers are not acquainted with the divine logic of God, we are unstable in life because we have over time formed a contrary opinion of God. What God has said of us has been usurped by religion to be a means of earning ourselves back to God.

Many of us quote what the bible says but we are not acquainted with what God is saying and has said to us. The truth of the matter is that what God has said

Will remain sure forever. It cannot be improved by man’s performance neither is it activated by man’s spiritual prowess. The word, the logos, the ‘has said ‘is as sure as it has ever been.

We have to realize that as sure as the word of God is in eternity, its alive and active in us.In Christ is the realization of the same God who said let there be,,, and today he has said that let there be life in you, let there be righteousness in you,, let there be peace in you,

2^nd cor 4:6 For God who said let light shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Stay put for the second part, how can we know what God says? What he has said

judgement true and complete

John 8:15-16”you judge according to the flesh: I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for its not I alone who judge but I and the father who sent me.”

Jesus addressed the Pharisees after he had released the woman caught in adultery. Notice the bible does not address the woman as adulterous. Jesus said that he is the light of the world a testimony to which the Pharisees did not auger well with. He had just revealed to them that whoever walks in him will have the light of life.

The Pharisees judged according o the flesh yet he judged no one. It’s a thing that we see in the church today. Men judging fellow men yet the son Of God did not come to the world to condemn it but by him the word may be reconciled to God. At least the Pharisees could have discerned from the scriptures that the Messiah was not coming to condemn the world but to save the world.

Jesus said though that if he happens to judge, then his judgment is true. The one with the full rights to judge did not judge humanity but humanity through him has been saved. He did not judge you and me he is not judging you and I but he is giving us his gift of no condemnation.

 my judgment is true, for its not I alone who judge but I and the father who sent me.”

Jesus says that his judgment is true because his judgment is not done by him alone but with his father. That term to judge from the Webster dictionary it means to form an opinion after carefully weighing of evidence and testing of premises.

the word judge in Webster dictionary means to form an opinion after carefully assessing the available evidences.

God saw the world and in its sin weighed and saw that the world deserved to be punished after weighing of the intensity of man’s sins in spurning the authority of God.

the evidences before him declared that sins deserved to be punished by death 

Christ Judgment is true because he weighed and saw man in his wickedness, he came and dwelt among us and became like us. His love for mankind fostered him to die for us at the cross and at the cross God the father executed his righteousness by judging Christ for us, the wages of sin is death and therefore Christ gave up his life and took the penalty of sin for us so that whosoever believes in him will not have to bear the penalty of sin.

His judgment is true because its not him who judges alone but he and the father, for the scriptures tell us for God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.(2^nd Cor 5:19)

God views and weigh his opinion on you and he sees you in Christ, if you have believed in him he sees you judged in Christ Jesus. He sees you forgiven in Christ Jesus. If you are not born again, he wants and yearns to see you receive forgiveness which is yours in Christ Jesus

 His judgement is complete because Jesus was judged entirely on our behalf

indeed he bore our sins on the tree, 1st peter 2:24, even if sins are to be searched for none has remained that was not cleansed by his blood.

he has come to perfect us , to sanctify us by a once and for all sacrifice

Heb 10:10-14God's way - by which we are made fit for God by the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus. 11 Every priest goes to work at the altar each day, offers the same old sacrifices year in, year out, and never makes a dent in the sin problem. 12 As a priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it! Then he sat down right beside God 13 and waited for his enemies to cave in. 14 It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process (the message)

partakers of the bread

1st Cor 11:23-24”For I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you that the lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me.”

Isn’t it amazing to know that we are part of the body of Christ? Yes this is true that we are the body, the church and Christ is the head of the body.

That is why we partake of the table of bread (Holy Communion) at the last supper Jesus said   “this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19

Jesus was introducing us to a new family where he is the head and we are the body. He says that I am the bread which came from heaven. Now Jesus has been distributed to us and when we partake of the Holy Communion we appropriate unto ourselves that we are members of this body, the body of Christ.

I want to tell you that if you are a believer you are part of the body of Christ and scripture has qualified you to partake of the table of bread. It’s your right since Jesus has been commended to you by the virtue of his death on a cross and so today you and I are partakers of the bread.

As you partake of the holy Communion its just a remembrance of Jesus and what he went though in order that we are now the partakers of his body. Holy Communion is therefore a lightener to that which is yours for the taking, Christ Himself. He is your daily bread and so daily you should be partaking of him. It’s his pleasure that everyday you partake of him. He says “he who eats of me will never hunger and he who drinks of me will never thirst.”

taking the bread and the cup in unworthy manner.

Controversy has brewed up over the years over this issue. When is one qualified or disqualified of partaking of the Holy Communion. We have over time build walls around people and whenever its time to take holy Communion we have gone forth in a condemnation spree and requiring people to examine themselves to check whether hey have any sins before they can partake of the holy Communion. Today we want to establish some truths.

“Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks of the cup of the lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and the blood of the lord. Let a person examine himself, then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” 1^st Cor 11:28-29

Paul establishes the seriousness of the practice of the Lord’s Supper. The church in Corinth were faced with diverse controversies among which concerned the issue of the the lords supper. When this congregation convened, they convened to eat a normal meal a normal feast and so unethical that the weak could miss out on the meal.

Paul is calling the Corinthians to examine themselves as to why they re partaking of the meal. They are brought to attention that they are partaking of the body of Christ.

The Lord supper is not just any other meal as the Corinthians had inculcated in them. They were fellow shipping in the body of Christ. Jesus has been given for us as our means of redemption and salvation. When we partake of the holy communion we should discern that it’s for our being made whole, it’s for our healing and restoration. Not partaking the Holy Communion in a worthy manner does not meaning partaking of the elements with sin in you. The elements are a symbol that by the virtue of Jesus’ death on the cross we got our redemption forgiveness and restoration. It’s for your being made whole.

partaking of the elements in an unworthy manner is therefore not discerning the body of Christ    and whoever does so invites judgment unto himself . Scholars have written numerous views concerning this text to insinuate that Paul is urging people to confess their sins before partaking of the holy communion.

the truth however is that this text has nothing to do with confessing their sins. Paul is urging the Corinthians to discern the body of Christ in a worthy manner, failure to which they incur a judgment, perception. The word judgement here implies forming an opinion after assessing the evidence available to ones sight.

Paul therefore says that failure to discern the body of chriist in a worthy manner makes them have an unfair opinion about what Christ has accomplished for them. They fail to discern that Christ has fully represented them.He then directs them to what they experience at the moment , some of them are sick, weak and dying. This is because they dont discern that the body of Christ was offered for their healing and restoration.

with this truth firmly established in our faculties its high time we discern christ and his body. Its high time we discern that he was offered up that we may be made whole.

Christ's body was offered for you, Do not disqualify yourself from this table prepared for you.Do you have some sin that you think should keep you far from this table, recognize that his sacrifice was to cleanse even you the worst of sinners to become clean(1st John 2:2)

CONSCIOUSNESS PART 2

Romans 8: 6-10 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

We have heard that such a breathtaking recovery has taken place for us in Christ. What a salvation! What redemption! Man is brought to the place that he can be conscious of God all the time.

The bone of contention is why are we not experiencing the fullness of God and yet we are in Christ.

Paul sheds some light to us by telling us that too set the mind on the flesh is death but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.

Why? Many believers are not aware of their co inclusion in Christ; they are not aware they are new creation in Christ Jesus. Many believe that they were forgiven only up to the point of salvation and then it depends n their effort to live a pure and upright life and if possible make it to heaven one day.

To be carnally minded is death; to set your mind on the flesh, what you can do with your own strength is death. The scripture did not say to set the mind on sin is death as many will like to interpret this verse; It said to set your mind on the flesh is death and its not a process to death but its death.

O set your mind on the flesh is to focus on what you can do with your own strength. Its living your Christianity from what people say or what you say, what you can do to please God and your efforts to succeed in your spirituality.

The major cause of sin consciousness is living the life of the flesh instead of living by the spirit. The flesh has its demands and this is where the law takes full charge.

Rom 7:11 Sin took the advantage of the law and employed the commandment to seduce and murder me( mirror)

What empowers sin is the Law, it’s the desire to fulfill any form of requirements which stimulates the flesh to produce every kind of covetousness.

When I speak of the law I do not only speak of the laws and commandments but also many other laws that we have put in place to live our lives.

THE Law multiplies sin. Rom 5:19-20, Rom 7:11.

What this simply means that if you set any expectations in whichever level, expectation to obey God’s commands, expectation to be a better person, expectations to get the best out out of life, most are times you will discover you cannot attain the levels you set for your self.

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. What this means is that any mind that is set on your own effort is hostile towards God, why? Because God’s ways are higher than our ways. God’s ways are usually what his spirit does freely to us and in us.

Romans 8:7 Those who are in the flesh will never please God

If you try to live your life independent of God, you will never please God and you will find yourself often failing.

It’s the desire to do something more that made Adam and eve fall in the garden of Eden, it was not even the desire to sin but it was if they could just do something then they would become like God knowing good and evil.

What causes the awareness of sin, what causes many people not to believe in the righteousness of God and prevents them from living the redeemed life in Christ is to try to live from the flesh, living by the requirements of the law and all this serves to prove the futility man is in.

Paul however has a remedy to give us

Romans 8:9You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

That is the glorious conclusion enjoyed by those who are in Christ. We are no longer in the flesh but in the spirit. If this is so then we are living above the consciousness of sin.

We have been purged clean from a evil consciousness.

Heb 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

You are not a sinner saved by grace. No you are a new creation created in Christ Jesus. The spirit of the sovereign God lives In you, you are a victorious child of God. Your Body is dead because of sin and your spirit alive because of righteousness, a mathematics that we cannot explain but here is what we have to do

ROM 6:11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

consciousness part 1

Gen 2:7And the LORD God formed a man's body from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. And the man became a living person(NLT)

God breathed in man and man became a living soul. Ever since then man has become the prime recipient of all that God is. We were created in his own image and likeness; this means that man has had every capability to respond to God.

Man became a living person. This means that any life that was in man was God’s, any consciousness, any influence to act was of God and of God.

Thousands of years later Paul bears this in mind as he storms a pagan city of Athens and he addresses the people who have never had any reference to the bible, nor were they expected to be in any way religiously inclined to The God of Israel. Paul declares that in Him we live we move and have our being.(Acts 17:28) Notice that Paul did not open any scriptures but in he contrary he used one of the sayings of the famous esteemed poets of Athens.

We can now bear witness to the psalmist that everything    testifies to the greatness of our God.

PSALM 40:5 O LORD my God; you have done many miracles for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them. (NLT)

Or together with Paul echo that in Him all things hold together.

Col 1:16-17 for by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

The integrity of the consciousness of God

The integrity of image and likeness of God is what Adam and eve enjoyed in the Garden of Eden before they succumbed to the lie of the enemy and lost that glory. The first couple enjoyed a consciousness that is full of God. Everything echoed the life of God. They carried heir businesses in the Garden of Eden with all the dominion and accuracy God had granted them. While such a grievous thing hit the entirety of mankind; God still saw something valuable in man. He saw his image and likeness; he saw his design in man. Man had become conscious of sin and fallenness but greater than that is God’s love which looked beyond the frailty and the mess of man.

We could see glimpses of the consciousness towards God being expressed by people who purposed to be Godly I n the Old Testament. No one though has ever been fully conscious of God. Not even the prophets, not even the great kings. No one has existed who knows God fully.

2:9 it’s written, what no physical eye has grasped (what no eye has seen implying what no eye has looked intently and from looking derive maximum benefit) neither ear has heard (no one has clearly grasped the communication of God that communicates his authentic goodness upon mankind) or the heart of man conceived (no one has truly birthed the fruit of God within himself) what the Lord has prepared for his people them who have responded to love.(Kainos amplified)

I recently watched a movie By Henry Forth titled 50 first dates. Henry falls in love with Lucy without the knowledge that Lucy had an accident which would make her have short memory to the extent that she forgot who he was and she would also forget who she is.

It was a touching scene to see Henry Forth in undate himself with the duty of doing everything to bring her back to remembrance,. He would do tapes that showed how they used to be in Love, How she had an accident, How her family Loves her and are always around her. He would even show her the tape of their wedding and her baby boy every day playing it on a video for her to see and to remember.

Man seemed to have forgotten who he is. That he came from God. That He is created in the image and the likeness of God. By one mans sin came disobedience yet by anoher came life and peace. Rom 5:12-17.

Indeed like Lucy all men seemed to have wandered like lost sheep, we have lost the consciousness of God. We have all gone astray (Isaiah 53:6). We have quickly forgotten the rock from which we were hewn.(Deut 32:18). We all became unmindful of the rock Christ who bore us. We forgot God who gave us birth. If such a great falling has endowed mankind, then how can we synthesize the logic of God? How can we be conscious of God and his goodness upon us?

Instead of man becoming conscious of God and of who he is; man has become conscious of sin that he became one with it. We became slaves to it that no amount of religious proclamations or performances would save us from it. The default of any natural thinking is apartness and fallenness. We would find it easy to be conscious of the dangers around us, the vices and evil around. In Fact no one has ever gone to school to practice the art of sinning. We were born with the inherent capacity to sin.

What now! Is this our fate? Do we succumb to what we see in the world today? Thank God that in Christ Jesus we are restored to our original innocence.

We who were once separate in our minds; we who were consciously effective in the realm of sin have been brought near by the blood of Jesus. Eph 2:1-10.

What a breath taking recovery we have in Christ Jesus?

Romans 5:17 death got the upper hand through one man's wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?(message)

Why we have the consciousness of God

1. Death got an upper hand through Adams disobedience. We could never know God because we had no consciousness of him. However a breath takng recovery has happened through the operation of God in Christ Jesus. We can know God we can be conscious of him.
2. What more ! We can never compare what we lost in Adam to what we have recovered in Christ. God lives in us. The consciousness that brings this awareness is attested to us by the spirit. The spirit awakens consciousness of God in you; for his spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God.
3. We are the prime recipients of God’s unlimited life gift. Thanks to Christ we are redeemed. Our original innocence is rediscovered in one man Christ Jesus. We successfully echo what the psalmist was looking forward to

  That blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no fault. We are blessed because God has erased the records of our wrong doings in Christ. Col 2:13-15. Heb 10:14, we have been purified by a once and for all sacrifice from a consciousness of sins we have been purged clean.

We ought to subscribe to the hearing and the listening of the gospel that communicates to us God’s generous and unlimited gift of righteousness. The church has been under a listening that awakens a consciousness of sin. We have been inundated with the duty of rescuing ourselves from sin and instead the church has thrived in the multiplication of sin and godlessness; find out in part 2 what arouses the consciousness of sin.

the origin: part 2

The origin
Part 2

James 1:18” Having made his decision, he gave birth to us through a Word that can be relied upon, in order that we should be a kind of first fruits of that entire he created.” Complete Jewish bible

In order to ascertain our origin as we have learn t we must go back to the definition that was ours way before Adam. We sprung out of the authentic word of God, the logos of God, the logic of God which is the essence of the being Of God.

Eph 1:4-5” in the Messiah he chose us in love before the creation of the universe to be holy and without defect in his presence. 5 He determined in advance that through Yeshua the Messiah we would be his sons - in keeping with his pleasure and purpose”(CJB)

When we are opened to the definition that God Gives us in Christ then we will be able to appreciate the beauty of redemption and we will truly understand that we have the nature of Christ in us.
God was redeeming what belongs to him. Contrary to the views of some scholars who would like to say that God was paying Satan some dues because of sin by the sacrifice of Jesus, it has become very apparent that the thief never takes ownership no matter what he steals.

The thief comes to steal kill and destroy but Jesus has come to give us life and in abundance. The act of redemption was the most holy thing that God would do. For God so loved the world that he gave,,,, He gave a son to a people who were worth the son. No one would redeem something that has no value.

What is the value of mankind? Mankind is valued the life of God. The breath of God that he breathed in Adam. Mankind was created to resonate the life of God within him.

The psalmist declares Bless the Lord ooh my soul and with all that is within me bless his holy name. All that is within mankind is God and his fullness.

From his fullness have we received grace upon grace.

Col 2:9-10 For in him, bodily, lives the fullness of all that God is.  10 And it is in union with him that you have been made full - he is the head of every rule and authority.  (CJB)

All that is within mankind is the fullness of God which is unveiled by the glad news(news is information of something that has already happened. A believer is not somebody who believed and then God started creating in him a new spirit. We believe because it happened. God’s dream becomes true in us.
The highest definition of a romantic relationship is sharing in image and likeness. We behold him as in a mirror and we are transformed into the mage in the mirror which is the glory of God which origin is in God. We are unveiled into our nature which God had created in us n Christ before the creation of the world.

Come and let us enjoy the definition given s by the father; for the father dreams and prepares beforehand the destiny of his children. You and I were born in God. Such a treasure we have in this earthen vessel to show the surpassing greatness of God and not of us.
Its time to get mesmerized with what we carry in this earthen vessel, God himself. Lets sing that song that goes

Celebrate the Lord with me
Let us praise his name together
Magnify the Lord with me
Let us praise his name together.

The origin: part 1

The revelation of the divine logic of God is unveiled by his introduction in the scriptures; In the beginning God.

He is not explained or defined but he is introduced as the perfect I am. God is the prerogative of definition for a lack of a better explanation. All the attempt of defining God by Human being has proven futile. His origin and Genesis is too much profound to be confined in pages of writing.

Our God is our father and is transcendent over the works of creation. He exists apart from creation, away from time. It’s an honor that he enters into time and reveals his unveiled logic to us for our bliss and for our captivation.

The bliss that is ours though is that we began in god.

1^st peter 1:3”blessed be God the father and our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his mercy has begotten us into a new and living hope.”

Apostle Peter unveils the logic through the revelation of the spirit for our bliss. It’s an introduction that resembles the one in Genesis where God breaths his ruwach  (wind, spirit), his life in Adam and Adam became a living soul and he became the father of human race bearing the image and the likeness of God as the origin of the human race.

We were given birth by truth. God is truth. James 1:18 and he caused us to be birthed by truth Am talking about a definition that existed before Adam fr God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world. Eph 1:4.

Humanity is the harvest of God. When God created man he said he is very good. He did not say that when he created the heavens and the earth and the firmaments and the waters. He saw his harvest in his image and likeness in Man and he saw that harvest was very good.

Elsewhere the psalmist declares that the heavens cannot contain the glory of God but I want to declare to you that today there is one address that can contain his glory and that is not the heavens or the universe but human hearts. He calls us his own and our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus came to redeems back to God again. He came to reveal t us the integrity of the image and likeness of God in us which was stolen by the enemy. He came o redeem us back to our originator God himself.

The thief never takes ownership

The thief only comes to steal, kill and destroy. That is the only agenda the enemy the devil has. We know that a thief can never have ownership no matter what and how long he has stolen any property.

Its demonstrated right from the Garden of Eden, the enemies plot was too steal Adam and eve of their innocence, to kill anything in them that exhibits the life f God and to finally annihilate mankind from existence.

God is greater than Satan though as we see in the Garden of Eden the proclamation of the gospel which reveals the logic of God. When man fell in the garden f Eden contrary to what we have heard and believed; that God cased man out of the Garden of Eden did something. God saw something that belongs to him and orchestrated a plan of redeeming man back to himself.

The story of what happened after the fall is a story of grace and mercy.

The thief never takes ownership. The earth is Lord’s and its fullness thereof (Psalm 24:1). The earth and all that’s in it belongs to God. The devil does not have credit has we have imputed in his account. The counterfeit is only there because of the reality which has been there from the beginning.

God saw what belonged to him and designed a plan of having it back and in the fullness of time Christ was manifested to redeem us back to God.

The harvest of sin and death;

The origin of sin and death was the disobedience of one man Adam. Rom 5:12-17

Rom 5:12when Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Nlt

One man single handedly caused us to inherit the nature of sin and death. Sin and death was the harvest that proceeded from Adam to all humanity.

The engine of sin is self-obsession rather than a desire to reject God as demonstrated in the garden.

Self-obsession creates mistrust and disbelief in the goodness of God. Gen 3.

Gen 3:5 "God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil."

The feeling that ignites the extra urge to do something more to become like God, move closer to God, make God more happy is no more than the lie that was evident in the garden of Eden.

Self-obsession creates fear in us which causes us to doubt the goodness of God. This in turn strips us of our identity and the confidence we have in God that he perfectly loves us. God has installed in us his being; his image and likeness. Religion tries to give you the prerogative of finding your own destiny by your own strength.

Many believers complain of not having enough faith, not being powerful enough, prayerful enough, not being committed to God enough, what is the bone of contention here? Its religion that has succeeded in making people focus on themselves rather than in God.

I believe the major reason is because they are not looking unto Jesus who is the author and the perfector of their faith. Many believers are not looking unto Jesus as they princely leader of their faith. Somewhere the faith that had its genesis with Christ has been replaced by self-effort and legalistic righteousness. What began as faith and reliance solely in the sufficiency of Christ climaxes with a list of to do’s. A relationship which is based on what you do we all know that it doesn’t last. If your relationship with Christ turns out be the one that is dependent on what you can do, how you can prove your allegiance, how you can pray more for God to hear you, then your joy and sufficiency in Christ has been severed completely. Its not about what you can do but on what he can do and does in you.

Many believers are therefore scavenging in the squabbles of self. Self-improvement program, self enhancement mechanism that by no means are connected to the sufficiency we have in Christ. Our churches are filled with activities that sorry to say so do not hold fast to the head. They are not drawing or adhering to the singularity of the cross of Christ.

What happened to the sufficiency that is ours in Christ? What happened to riches of the inheritance that is ours in Christ? If we are not drawing from the harvest of the cross we are drawing from another harvest. The harvest of sin and death which is empowered by the law.

It’s clear that self-obsession is no different than the natural principles of this world which is not a process to death but death. To seek to be justified by the law is to be alienated from Christ. Gal 5:4

God’s unveiled logic is that you may live by him as his harvest. God wants to live and operate in you and by you. God is your origin and he is the logic behind existence. He is the genius and the explanation of you and your existence. In Christ the logic of God is unveiled before our very own eyes.

Paul’s preaching always directed people to the sufficiency of Christ which is the singular claim of the gospel. In Christ is the manifold wisdom of God, In him is found that which was from the beginning; the word, the origin the genesis and we have him today. Christ in you the hope of glory

Being

Gen 1:27 so God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

 The beauty of existence is in the beauty of being. Being alive, Being happy, being complete and being every other good thing that God created us to be.

God created us in his own image and likeness. God created us in his own being in other words. It’s not fair therefore to define mankind by what he does. Human beings are human beings and not human doings.

The core of existence of man is to be like God, in his own image and likeness. The truth lies that just like God is that is how we were created to be. To display his splendor and his being.

The integrity of being; image and likeness

Eph 1:4: For he chose us in him before the foundation to be holy and blameless

Perhaps we should go to the definition of man that goes before Adam. We have been for a long time been defined by a definition that is a derivative of the fall .

I have heard comments that man is just carnal sinful, evil; No matter what he does he can not reach perfection. We have lived in the crevices of Adam and we have been robbed of a perfect life, a breath taking recovery that is ours in Christ.

God created us to be like him. All his divine perfection is to be captured in us in a un interrupted display of life. For God chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless.

The integrity of image and likeness reveals everlasting innocence. The true identity of man lies in this; a realm of blamelessness and holiness. Just as God is Holy, he declares ye also shall be holy.

Adam lost that glory because of disobedience and he single handedly catapult humanity into a dungeon of sin. Jesus although restored us to the glory of God. Jesus restored us to the being of God. We are the holiness of God, the righteousness of God.

Col 2:9-10 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

For in Christ all the fullness of the God head dwells/ resides in totality and we are filled of it. From his fullness we have received grace upon grace.

This is all from God in whom is birthed the initiative, the passion and the foresight of reconciling the world to himself. 2^nd cor 5:19

 We are the chosen, the ones who are his treasured possession. Is this only for Christians? Did Jesus die for Christians alone? I bet not, I bet the world does not consist of Christians who have separated themselves. The world is humanity and the fullness therein who all belong to God. Psalm 24:1

Man is not defined in doings but being

The same lie which the first couple succumbed to in the Garden of Eden is the same lie that prevails today. The lie as we know is that if Adam could do something then they would become like God knowing Good and evil. They partook of that tree and I bet you can tell what the results were till this present age.

The reality is that Adam and eve had the image and likeness of God without having the need to do one extra thing.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil tells us that we become like God by what we do. Have you been told that you will become holy when you pray enough? When you become devoted enough? And when you reach many other standards that are set before you?

It’s shocking that the thing that even made man to fall in the first instance is not a desire to do evil, to become disobedient, but a desire to become like God by doing something.

Why is this lie very devastative? It’s because it usurps who you are and who God is. It negates how God created you to be. God made us in his own image and likeness. To derive his being out of the abundance of our being in him, not by what we do.

The truth is that you are not a human doing but a human being. You are not what you do; rather who you are determines what you do.

You are not a sinner because you sinned rather you sin because you are a sinner. As a result of inheriting a being, people do what they do. The truth does ntot end there though; similarly because of Christ we are believers not because of what we do but because of who we are, new creation.

If therefore anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old is gone and behold all has become new. 2^nd cor 5:17

  Realize your being; Christ.

2^nd cor 5:16-17From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Paul makes a fair calculation; not to regard any man according to the flesh. He does not say this to believers and that to the heathens out there. He makes this fair calculation; that all have been represented in Christ.

This gives a limelight to evangelism. Evangelism is preaching reconciliation That men are reconciled to God and this message is to be received by a glorious response by faith which is also the working of God to actively persuade us of his goodness.

The gospel is awakening, not new truth. Christianity is not another kind of life that people graduate with and become a wild people. This has been made so by religion which makes Christianity a doing thing and makes people abnormal and seem to be in a hurry to please a distant God.

Christianity is the simplicity of being. We inherit the new life in Christ and become anew creation. Our point of departure is being. Being in the likeness of God as revealed in Christ. The power to function and to do good works as a Christian is in your being.

Churches should have the abundance of teachings that tell people who they are rather than directing people to abundance of things to do.

Bask in your being in him for nothing shall separate you from the love of God. Nothing shall separate you from the revelation of his love, that defines you that reveals your being in him.

You are no longer the victims of doings, you are released in the freedom of being. Your actions are an overflow of who you are in Christ.

You are no longer under the supervision of the law, as though you are a doing machine. You should realize your freedom of being a son(Gal 4:1-4)