In my last article, I wrote about spiritual authority, and we were able to see why it is important to hear the voice of God and also to see the form of God because that is what defines and form the basis of our authority in ministry. This article will open us more into what God is saying concerning this subject matter. It will serve as an introduction into many other episodes as God will help us. So, we were able to establish the fact that the degree to which you will be used by God is the degree to which God speaks to you and with you. I want us to begin a step by step walk as the Holy Spirit helps me to show you what He has shown me.

 

Let us begin from Genesis 1:26, we would be considering the first part of this verse and then move to the second part if time permits. Genesis 1:26 says; “Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image according to our likeness” Let me quickly establish a point before we proceed. Did we notice “Us” began with capital letter and “Our” also began with capital letter? What was “God” trying to show us here? Before the word man came into that statement, it says; “God said” what did God say? “Let Us.” Now, this was the God head speaking to the Son and to the Spirit, He said let Us, come together to make man in “Our”; so, the ultimate aim of making man was not just to look like God, but also be a god and also exhibit certain properties of the God class.  But the process would never be completed or functional without the contribution of the Son (the word) and the Spirit.

 

God was deliberate about His choice of words in this verse. He said “Let us make man” meaning that man would not just appear on the scene, He was simply saying man would be an end product of a making process as a result of a partnership between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

 

So, if man would ever become like God, there is a process that would necessarily have to rout the man through the Spirit and the Word. So, before the man can be called a man there is a phase he must have to pass through in order to become a man. Let me quickly raise a question here for us to ponder on while we meditate together. Does this mean that whoever hasn’t gone through the making process of God is not yet a man? What is Gods own view and idea of a man? Who is an ideal man? Is Gods perception of man different from the way man views himself? These are questions to ponder upon. As I write this article to you the Holy Spirit saying to me; there is a difference between a man and a perfect man. A man is a being that has breath in his nostrils and his life is at the mercy of the cursed earth, the perfect man is a man that looks like God in every way, he is a man that has grown into a particular measure of the stature of Christ. The perfect man is the man that has the life of Christ, he is a man that reigns together with Christ in dominion.  

 

Now, why did God have to involve the Word and the Spirit? God had envisioned that man ought to have life, but if that would be possible, the Spirit must play its role. And the medium of the transfer of that Spirit is by the word. The Scripture says in Ezekiel 2:2, “And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.” Jesus said It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63). There is no medium to the transfer of life other than the word. That’s why the Scripture says in Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The word performs the surgery, it creates an opening for the Spirit to enter. That is why wherever the word finds it difficult to penetrate, the Spirit will also not penetrate. The word and the Spirit go along. That was why in Genesis 1, the Bible says the Spirit of the Lord was hovering over the surface of the waters, then God said; until the word is spoken the Spirit is not engaged.  

 

So, God said; let us make man, let Us make an entity, note that the ultimate aim for God making man was not just to let man dwell in the realm of ideas, there was a need to make the idea a reality. So, you maximize your garden when you don’t dwell in the realm of fantasy, success does not come that way. You must act upon that idea. It is not enough to wish, you must take on the responsibility to work and to put yourself to work whatever it takes to make it a reality.

 

So, in Genesis 2 verse 7 God formed man. And this shows a pattern to which execution is being carried out. Scripture says after God made this statement He created man. He didn't just create the man, He formed the man. I want us to note the sequence because this will be the Crux of our discussion this morning. Why did God not just create man and end the process that way? He went ahead to form the man. So, we now have a situation where there was a created man which we could also call the spirit man, and there was a formed man which ultimately makes the process successful.

 

At this point the formed man was not ready yet for ministry until the breath of the almighty came upon His nostrils. The Scripture says after God had breathed into the nostrils of the man, the man became a living being. The breath became the medium through which the spirit was transferred into the man. There are two things I want us to note at this point: when you read Genesis 1:28, you would realize that the created man was blessed, and inherent in that blessing is fruitfulness. See what I am saying; “then God blessed them, and God said to them. Be fruitful and multiply” what did He bless them with? We would soon find out, it says “and God said to them.” So, by the pronouncement of that blessing upon the man, he was expected to be fruitful and to multiply. So, this means that blessing is actually a reflection and a manifestation of the words spoken to your spirit by God.

 

The reason why we are establishing this background is that you will have an understanding of “dominion” when we look at the other part of this Verse-Genesis 1:26. Now let us find out what the blessing was, what God gave the man that activated the capacity to be fruitful and to multiply. See what He said to the created man in verse 29; He said “see I have given you.” The ability God gave the spirit man/the created man was an ability to see. The question is; what did God say he should see? The answer is there; seeds! He said I have given you every herbs that yields seeds, but you must see. You must see to be given. So, the seed was the blessing. The seed was not to be touched, measured or stored, the seed was meant to be seen. As long as the created man/the spirit man could see his seed, he was in authority and dominion. I want you to believe what the Holy Spirit is saying here.  

 

The spirit man was designed and wired to live and to depend upon Vision. And this is what births the law of Vision. This law states that dominion can never be possible without Vision. What is the implication of this? It implies that the food, the leadership and all activities of man is dependent on what he sees. It means that the wife he would marry, the things he would talk about, his destiny, his children and all that he needs is dependent on his seeing power.

 

Let us see something in Genesis 2:21 the Scripture says and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam and he slept. The Scripture didn’t say God woke him up, up and brought the wife to him, the Scripture only said God brought her to the man. So, it means that the man saw his wife in a deep sleep. This also points us to another law, called the law of recognition. It states that it is not enough to see, you must be able to recognize what you see. Everything God will bring your way, every good thing that God has made and would be brought to you is to be seen via the eyes of the Spirit. The reason is because God is a Spirit being, His dealings with you must be spiritual, not sensual.

 

Anytime man lacks the ability to see, there is bound to be crisis. That’s why the Scripture says where there is no Vision, the people cast off restraints. They plunge into error. From today you receive eyes that see clearly in Jesus name. The eyes you require for your leadership the Lord grant it to you in Jesus name. One of the indication that the Spirit of God is in a man is that there would be clarity of Vision and leadership.  At a point Jesus said when the blind leads the blind, they will both fall into the ditch. The eyes of formed man were initially designed to rely on the eyes of the created man, but the moment man sinned the Scripture says their eyes opened. So, while the eyes of the formed man opened the eyes of the spirit man became shut. The moment you stop to see is the moment you begin to walk in error or death.

 

So, haven created the man, He formed the man and then what did God do to the formed man? He breathed upon him. So, the sequence to making a man was clearly seen here; God created the man, blessed the man by giving him a seed, gave him a Vision, and because the man has a Vision, it was easy to form the man to suit that Vision. And haven formed him He breathed upon him. So, because the man had a Vision he was able to recognize his wife. Concerning the questions, we asked, I hope we are still pondering upon it? Haven gone through these sequence, we could clearly understand what Gods idea of who an ideal man should be. An ideal man is a man of Vision, he is a man that can easily be formed, he is a man that has a Vision, he is a man that has seeds and most importantly he is a man that can recognize what God shows him while in a deep sleep.

  

Now what is the importance of the breath? What does the Scripture mean when it says and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life? It means that the blessings and the potentials of the created man can never be functional without the breath of the almighty. The created man which we can also call the spirit man, is blessed already, his capacity is loaded but without the breath he is nothing. Now see the sequence; the word was pronounced on the man, but for the word to become active the man must be alive, so, the Spirit took on that responsibility. The Holy Spirit is a dimension of God that takes any form in order to achieve an aim. It is fluid and flexible. It can come in form of a dove, in form of a smoke, in form of a fire, in form of water, depending on the mission it wishes to accomplish. Here it came in the form of a breeze. So, the Bible says God breathed into His nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being. What this means is that man began to function according to the word spoken to his spirit by God. Man will never function as a living being if he fails to engage the breath of God, or the Spirit of God. 

 

When you observe that word “became” carefully, you will realize that it is a product or a function of metamorphosis, the man used to be something or somebody, or was existing in a state but because the breath came he became another or functioned as another. So, this was the process God had in mind when He said let us make man. So, we have been able to establish that it is the breath or the Spirit that activates the blessings pronounced on the created man. The formed man without the breath is just a piece of dust, it is the Spirit man, the created man that is loaded. When Jesus breathed on His disciples, was it because they were not breathing? I think not. Gods impact and breath comes upon the created man so that it's effect can be visible upon the formed man. So, when the formed man refuses to have dealings with the one who created the spirit man, he losses the breath even though the formed man may still be breathing.

 

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Apeh Francis Abah!

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