A BEING AND NOT A THING

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen 1:27-28 NKJV)

The understanding of who you are is what makes you know what you have. God created a being called man after His own likeness on the sixth day and gave him authority over all He has created before him. It was like God giving birth to Himself in the figure of man. This is why God blessed man saying;

“Be fruitful…; have dominion…”

In other words, God was saying, “You are now my representative here, begin to take control! Increase what I began as you create and recreate according to what I have placed inside of you”. God was telling man to continue from where He stopped, through the power He placed inside of him to handle and put things outside under control.

“For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2:10).

It’s essential to know that at creation, God put a being inside of man and put things outside him. Man is a being and not a thing. Imagine those words as spoken by God; “Be fruitful and increase…fill the earth and subdue…have dominion over…every living thing…” All this blessings can only be fulfilled when man has a good understanding of his true composition.

It takes a being to control a thing. To be fruitful; it has to be a product of the inside and if he is asked to fill the earth, then his inside must also be full of abundant potentials. God is so confident of those great abilities He placed inside of man, hence He told him to have dominion over all other things. And until a man has a true knowledge of his being, it will always be difficult for him to appropriate these blessings for his fulfilment. He was created to be more than ordinary things on the outside and only that understanding can give him his true dominion status!

SUPREMACY OF INTERNAL RESOURCES

Come to think of this; just as the earth (outside of man) is blessed with different kinds of natural resources, so also are resources in abundance inside of man. But the resources on the outside cannot be tapped without the resource on the inside. The reason people have to go to school and learn certain courses in order to know what resources are available around and how to make the best use of them. The minds of such individuals were made developed toward taking control of those external resources. It takes the inner capability to develop the outer capacity.

Man will never be able to control things around him until his inside is developed to the level of knowing whose and who he is. The more of his inside he can discover determines the more outside will yield to him. To maximally tap into blessings on his outside, he must discover those internal potentials. No wonder why some some who have more than enough resources around them still found it difficult to make the best use of them due to lack of internal competency.

“The people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits” (Dan 11:32NKJV).

There is surely some things to know internally before being made capable of carrying out exploits on the outside. Moreover, man’s origin is the pointer to his unique discoveries. It takes knowing your "Source" to be in total control of the resources within and around you.

This shows why the present economic problem of third world countries is not because of what they lack on the outside, but due to the untapped resources on their inside. Africa for instance contributes the largest percentage of most mineral resources used in the world presently, but this in no way reflects on it. Even though God gave it to them freely, nevertheless the price to process and manage it remains their personal responsibility if its benefits and blessings must be attained. Gifts without capacity will always bring grief. No matter how valuable results in decadence and penury – the most reason why Africans live in poverty in the midst of plenty. Success is more of who we are than what we have.

When you lack the understanding of your person, to manage a possession will always be difficult. To know the value of what you have begins with knowing who you are. Check this out; the wealth and success of most developed countries never come because of the resources they have on their outside. It takes a being, to manage a thing. Even as expatriates, their citizens carry it inside of them everywhere they go making more money than the owners of the land. An African proverb says “when a man builds houses without training his child, then be sure that such child will soon sell out the entire houses built.” It is time the so called third world countries recover their destinies as individuals, nations and continents.

Have you ever wondered why tin Africa there is a big difference between the class of the rich compared with the poor? Whenever we mistake possession in place of service as a measurement for greatness, we automatically create a world of poverty and struggles around us (Matt. 20:26,27). Let’s note that development will always be lacking a long as we value possessions more than persons. This is against God’s standard as it will never bring the true dominion. God never instruct man to dominate man, but man to dominate things. Furthermore, God’s plan is for man to possess things and not things possessing him. Both organizations and government establishments need to realize that people come first or else the destinies of generation to come remain bleak. Let organisations and other religious bodies focus more on building people than bleeding them.

Jesus declared the purpose of the gospel when He said

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” (Luke 4:18).

His mission statement is full of people oriented goals; hence the success and greatness of His ministry is still speaking till today. The present wave of personal enrichment engulfing both government and spiritual bodies is simply due to lost of focus. We need to know that possessions come as we create values around people, bringing out the best of God in them. Money doesn’t bring posterity, only value-added people do!

CREATED FROM WITHIN

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jer. 1:5NIV)

When a baby is being born, nothing differentiates the sex from a boy or a girl. At birth, all the physical features of the baby give no clue to what sex would be until the latter part of the body is sighted. Even as they grow up, you wonder where all the gender characteristics are hidden. Both the boys and the girls carry a similar look! The breasts and curves of a female together are far from fetch while the beards and the deep voice of the male are all trapped in the world of the unseen. Yet all these are very much present within; for in a period of time, changes start becoming visible. The inside begins to reveal the outside, and the unseen becomes uncovered.

At this point, the distinctiveness of either gender now becomes realistic and easy to recognise even from the sound of their voices. It is certain that while no one gives cognisance to these children as they grow up, the treasures on their inside earnestly yearns for manifestation.

This illustration depicts how the hidden treasure on the inside of man awaits manifestations to his world. We came here with all we needed inside and it doesn’t matter what it looks like presently, our true personality remains intact.

If you are such that thought that all you are is all that is seen at the moment or measures your fulfilment due to your beginning, then you need to reconsider your thoughts. Man’s future is meant to be measured from within than by his beginning. Every man is born to the world with his future trapped inside of him, hence it is time we begin to call out what we are made by God to conceive.

Taking a look again at what happened in the beginning; the whole situation was characterised with formlessness and emptiness. There was no clue of what would happen next, yet the Creator never gave up on the situation. Right inside of Him was the actual picture of the end product conceived and with it He made the outside to produce its reality from the invisible. When the word “Let there be light” was sounded, it was birth from within! God saw His destination from within and called it out to manifestation.

“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” (Heb 11:3NIV).

Inside the darkness He called out the light, the sea, the ground, the vegetation and also animals. This was possible because the whole creation were once an idea inside of Him. He conceived them hence birthing them became possible.

FIRST THING FIRST!

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God…” (Matt 6:33)

“Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21)

No man can ever comprehend the totality of what God has in plan to bring out of his life. There is more in your inside that you can ever imagine on the outside. No wonder the scripture confirms He who is in you is greater than he in the world. (1 John 4:4NKJV)

What God intend to birth out of your life is described as weight of glory. At this point, it’s good to know that God’s glory has weight. And you don’t just put weight on someone without considering the inner strength of the bearer.

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;” (2 Cor. 4:17).

Did you now wonder why some desired changes take so long? Can you handle the blessing? God often waits until your inner strength becomes competent in handling the outer weight of glory, if not; such stands the risk of crashing underneath the weight.

I came to reason why Abraham has to wait as long as twenty five years before Isaac came. Or did you think it was deliberately delayed by God? All these while, Abraham was concerned only about how to have a child of his own. He was so desperate with this desire that he has to accept Haggai, her wife’s servant for a wife. But God’s higher plan for him was far more than just a child. God has a plan to bless the whole families of the earth through him. He was not looking at him from the point of one child owner but rather as the father of many nations. God plans more than what a man can desire.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,” (Eph 3:20NIV)

This is why God waited that long to keep changing his inside; showing him the likeness of his promise in the pictures of stars of heaven and in the sand of the sea shore. This is to help conform to the weight of glory in God’s mind (Gen. 22:17, Gen. 28:14). God wants to see your person matched up with your plead. He once told Abraham, walk before me and be perfect (Gen 17:1). In other words God is saying “build up your inner capacity for the promise”. The ever loving Father has a far higher thoughts and plans for our lives than we can ever think (Isa. 55:8,9). He will surely turn when you turn.

It’s good to know that glory has weight and it is necessary first of all to be built for it. When Abraham reached the standard, Isaac was delivered. If you are not prepared and developed by God, the burden of success may soon build sorrow just like it did for Solomon. This wisdom is God’s way in preparing and preserving His people along with His blessings.

PUSH WITH PAINS!

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.” (Rom 8:18-20NKJV)

Perhaps you have once heard the story Nick Vujicic who was born without limbs but now a successful motivational speaker having his own family. If you have once lost anything precious to you, know that the reason why you didn’t lose all is because what is left is still more than enough to make your life relevant. You are able to hear or read this today because there is something precious you have not lost. If a man lost anything outside, he suffered no loss as he that lost his inside.

There is always something to gain from contrary situations if only we can pick it from God’s eye view. How do you feel when you loose someone or something dear to you? How do you feel when cheated by someone you dearly trusted? What about when betrayed and accused of something you never did? How do you feel when you are molested or everyone around sees you as the black sheep in the flock? You may call the feelings anger, pain, regret or even disappointment, but I call it energy!

Tough situations have a way of generating energy in us such as when rightly released can bear great fruits. In other words, all inconveniencies arising as a result of what you are passing through right now is only working out a weight of glory in your life.

Those situations when carefully handled can positively change your life forever! There is no way you can compare the productivity of a land where fertilizer was applied to the one without. The fertilized one will surely be more energised than the other.

Every man that made meaning in this world has positive energy bottled up inside of him. Life is not meant for regret after a fall, but for a resilient action; to fulfil and go beyond all barriers. You need energy to refuse to be on the floor. Only the violent takes it by force!

Christopher Reeve, the former Superman of the box-office hit in 1978 might never have discovered himself if he had not went through a tragedy that rendered him quadriplegic (inability to move all the four limbs or the entire body below the neck) after a horse riding accident. His recovery brought him the passion for motivating and inspiring others to challenge their limitations.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Cor 4:16-18 NKJV)

Why will Hannah make vow and refuse to leave Shiloh without a child? It is likely because Peninnah wouldn’t just give her a space. The same way Ruth refuses to accept the defeat but still have her own husband. And if you think you are an outcast, let the stories of Rahab and Jephthah show you have all it takes to change your status from the inside to outside. Challenges are meant to bring changes that make us champions!

Who and who do scripture really refers to as men of great exploits? I believe they are men and women:

“…who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. (Heb 11:33-35 NIV).

Never expect the treasure inside of you to come out without a pressure. If you desire Abrahamic kind of blessing, then ask him how it looks like having the first baby at age hundred. If you desire to ascend a throne like Joseph did in a strange land, why not learn how it’s like been rejected, abused and wrongly accused both inside and outside the family.

Abraham against hope believed in hope in order to be called the father of many nations and also instead of Joseph giving up in the prison, he was rather full of energy helping others lessen their sorrow. Anytime you think of not allowing others to pass through such a contrary situation you experienced, then you converting your pains to meaningful energy.

No man is a failure until he personally declares himself one. The pain of failure can soon become a passion for positive change. It takes pain to birth. When you are a winner, you win when you are ready, but it takes being a real winner to win when loosing! Real men persist even when what goes on outside of them is working contrary to what is in their inside.

This is why Jesus also passed through such process like this for our salvation to become a reality.

“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb 4:15).

His redemptive work was made perfect as with wisdom He releases the pain sustained from the cross as energy “yet without sin”. Even while on the cross, He still stretched a hand of love to a criminal and prayed for his accusers. He was bruised, torment and crucified by his tribe folks for what he never did. But because of the joy set before him, He endured the death on the cross in order to receive a name above all names and an everlasting victory for us.

For everyone who also desire conquest, see that present tough condition as a moment to generate passion and resilient in faith towards God. There is none as helpless as the hopeless. Let the contrary situation knows that you are not the first to experience it, and will definitely not be the last to overcome it. And when the pain becomes greater, it simply shows how closer you are to delivery. At this point you are in labour to birth your own testimony, your own brainchild. You are about to bring forth something new.That is the energy of faith!

Sometime people wondered why their own storm seems much turbulent; sincerely it’s all because it saw Jesus in your boat. It’s because life sees you beyond ordinary. My advice is that you go and awake the energy and you will also see Jesus arose right inside of you. Your fruitfulness is unstoppable!