Again, I promised myself that I would not get "stuck" in one verse or idea... so I am forging ahead. We will leave the prehistory of man in God's capable hands and move on into the story of man's creation. The account of creation of course involves the earth, atmosphere, animals etc. but this world was created specifically as a dwelling place for God's favorite creation - mankind and more specifically the future Bride of Christ. Now, I know that some folks might want to argue about mankind being God's "favorite" (mankind is not always MY favorite creation!). But, I submit to you that at the end of the creation of humans God declared it was VERY good, whereas, all other creations were only declared good. And, mankind is the only one that was created after His Image! I know your mother never had a favorite -- but God does, YOU are God's favorite!
Uh ohh...I am enticed by several "rabbit trails" I could take here, but I really want to think about two elements of the first Creative Day. ... The Word and The Light
Gen 1:3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. First, let's talk about the power of God Said. Nothing occurred until God spoke... He was present and moving or brooding (as the Amplified Bible tells us in vs. 2) over the face of the deep; but nothing was created until He spoke. What strikes me as important about this is that we are created in His Image and invested with His Authority (Gen 1:26).
Follow me now... Jesus is the Word and was the Creator
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. (NIV)
Jesus tells us that all that He did we can do, and more also (Jn 14:12..anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these.);
He also tells us to be like Him (Rom 8:29... become conformed to the image of His Son...)
So, We have access to CREATIVE POWER through our words... IF we are conformed to the image of His Son, IF we are functioning through the Spirit in faith. Jesus tells us that He did only that which he saw His father do... we can do what we see the Father and our older brother (Jesus) do. We are ambassadors for Christ (2Cor.5:20)... He has invested his Authority in us (Col 2:10-11 you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.)
He does not tell us to beg in prayer, but rather to ask with true expectation and declare the will of God into our atmosphere, our sphere of influence and our own life. We may not see instantaneous results... does the Bible tell us how long from God's declaration and the evidence of light? No, we might assume that it was immediate, but the Word does not tell us so. Jesus spoke to the fig tree and walked away (see this story in Mark 11), expecting that his curse would be obeyed. He did not stand for an hour praying against that tree. He just went on about his business in Jerusalem. Now Matthew's version of this story says the fig tree immediately withered, but Mark indicates that they did not see the evidence of it until the next day. The disciples were amazed the next morning when they saw the proof of his authority-- the fig tree had withered from the roots. When God said it, it was a done deal... but the rest of the party saw the evidence a little later down the road. Sound familiar in your life?
Jesus is a living representation on God's Spoken Word...don't we need to become a living representation of God's Word and His plans and intention for us as His Child, His Ambassador to the lost world? I guess I am suggesting that we need to know the will of God in our lives (we gain this through communion with Him in Prayer and Word); then we can ask, declare and go on about our daily lives with the expectation that we will also see the evidence of God's invested authority show up in our lives.
As Paul Harvey might say...stay tuned for page 2... The Light. (I guess I just don't know how to make it short, do I?) As always, I encourage all readers to comment and add your thoughts...
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Good thoughts!
ReplyDeleteGen 1:3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
I was pondering the meaning of this light, and giving myself the liberty to go down a little rabbit trail, was thinking about the light that dispels all darkness, including darkness in the spiritual realm. The place that this light illuminated was probably not spiritually neutral ground, but had at one point after God originally created it was somehow changed.
The Spirit of God was over the face of the waters - this is telling me that there is a renewal of our earth.
About creative power - I believe that we have wonderful creative power that is part of what God created us to be. We are created in God's image, and creativity is part of who we are, part of our DNA. We see this manifested in all parts of our lives on a natural level: music, painting, the performing arts, and the list goes on. What more so is this creativity manifested in the spiritual realm? We are free to express ourselves, and have the means to do so.
Our Papa God also has given us power and authority, as we see in later verses. As originally intended, we have creative power, executive power, governmental (legislative) power, judicial power, and spiritual power!