Genesis 1:26,27 (Amplified) says, "God said, Let Us (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), make mankind in Our Image (after Our Likeness), and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the (tame) beasts, and over everything that creeps upon the earth."
Verse 27 goes on, "So God created man in His Own Image, in the Image and Likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them." Jesus says in John 4:24 (Amplified), "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (reality)."
When He created Adam in the beginning, God created him in the Spirit. God made mankind in His Image and Likeness and GOD IS A SPIRIT. Genesis 2:7 (Amplified) says, "Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the Breath or Spirit of Life, and man became a living being."
Adam was first created a spirit, then God formed a natural body for this spirit man to dwell in and be able to contact the natural elements of this earth. The spirit man and the natural man, were one single unit. Adam ruled his natural man, by his spirit man and he wasn't aware that they were anything other than one body. Adam never thought of himself like we do today, as being natural (carnal) or spirit, but as one body.
When Adam yielded to his natural man and decided to believe satan's lie, he separated his own self into three separate units. Adam was in the fallen state and became separated from the Life of God and he realized for the first time, that he was a natural man. Today, we've learned from God's Word that we are actually three separate units. We are a spirit, we live in a body, and we have a soul or carnal nature.
Adam only thought and knew from his spirit, when God formed him from the beginning. Adam's soul and body were always subject to his spirit and his spirit was always subject to the Spirit of God/ We've operated by the carnal man and the world for so long, that we think of ourselves as being three different degrees of people, unlike the first man. Adam's body and soul were always in line with his spirit, which was always in line with God's Spirit, because he was made in the Image and Likeness of God, Who is a Spirit-being.
We haven't seen ourselves as being in God's Likeness and as a spirit. We continue living by the dictates of the flesh, instead of our real identity, in the spirit. We struggle keeping the carnal man in line by the means of our flesh, instead of the true life that is spirit and the one who's in control.
Jesus, being born of a woman and being flesh, learned to live His Life by the Spirit, instead of His flesh, to the place where He could declare that, "He and His Father were One." He didn't do this because He was the Son of God, but because He knew that the Spirit Man was the True Identity. Hebrews 4:15 (Amplified) says, "For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with out weaknesses and infirmities and liabilities to the assaults of the temptations, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning."
Jesus had to learn to live by His Spirit Man, just like we must learn that our spirit man is the true us, in God's Image and Likeness. We still see ourselves mostly after the flesh, thinking this is the real us, instead of feeding and growing in our true identity made in God's Image and Likeness. We don't know how long Adam walked in God's Presence as a flesh and blood being, before he yielded to his carnal nature. Until that time, Adam never thought of himself as three different people, but only as one, which was his spirit man.
Prior to yielding to satan's temptation, Adam needed to bypass his spirit and go to his carnal nature. Adam saw himself after his spirit and not his flesh, in God's Image and Likeness. Adam lived out of his spirit.
We've lived in the realm of the flesh and the world, so we've still been subjected to the thoughts and feelings of the natural realm and we don't see ourselves as who we really are, spirit beings. The "real" you, has been created a new creation again and into a living spirit, in God's Own Likeness. We must realize that we are in this same form and relationship with God that the First and Last Adam were. All of our instructions are in and through our spirit.
Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong), for this who are in Christ Jesus (who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit." If we train our spirit man to dictate the things of God to us, then our spirit man will control the dictates of the flesh. Verse 2 goes on, "For the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus (the Law of the new being) has freed me from the Law of Sin and of Death." Our new being walks after the Law of the Spirit of Life, which is in Christ Jesus and walks like Adam and Jesus did, by the spirit man made in God's Image. The Law of our new being is the Word of God and we must learn what this Law says, so we can walk in it.
Sadly, many of God's people haven't spent much time learning and listening to this Law of our new being, so we still live by the dictates of the flesh. We've made our own laws as to "Why things aren't working" and have been taught that these "Aren't God's will for us," instead of listening to what God's will really is. Paul earnestly prayed for us to know God's will in Colossi ans 1:9-11 (Amplified), saying, "For this reason we also, from the day we heard of it, have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom (in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God, and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things). That you may walk, live and conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Lord (fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him) in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God with fuller and deeper and clearer insight, acquaintance and recognition. We pray that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the Might of His Glory, to exercise every kind of endurance and patience, perseverance and forbearance with joy."
In order to understand what manner of man/woman God has made us to be in Jesus, will take time in His Presence, listening to Him. Then, we'll understand God's Original Intent for His children. We are a new creation spirit man/woman, made in God's Image and Likeness. God deals with us by our spirit and His Word, which is Spirit and Truth, according to what Jesus said in John 6:63 (Amplified). Thus, Jesus said, "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life Giver); the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (Truths), that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life."
We must learn to discern what is being preached and spoken, concerning the Father and His will for us, in this realm. We can't take everything as being Truth, without listening to God's Spirit. We can't take carnal interpretation of Spiritual things. Let's learn to walk after the Spirit and see ourselves as being like the First and Last Adam. We must control our flesh by our spirit and control our spirits, by God's Word and His Spirit. We must stop seeing ourselves as only human, excusing our actions by saying, "We all make mistakes." Psalm 23 tells us that, "God will lead you in paths of righteousness for His Own Sake." He is the Good Shepherd.
Jesus didn't see Himself as a Man Who had a spirit living in Him, but as a Spirit that was clothed in a Body. Jesus did the things He did, out of His Spirit, regardless of the objections of His Body. This was how mankind was created to be and how both the First and Last Adam were created. Jesus denied the suggestions of His Flesh and dominated His Flesh by His Spirit. He withstood against His Flesh in the Garden of Gethsemane, to the point where He was bleeding.
No comments:
Post a Comment