PASTOR SEYI OSANYINBI
GENESIS 1:26(KJV): “26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”;
GENESIS 2:7(KJV): “7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.“;
GENESIS 5:1-2(KJV): ” This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; 2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.”
Man was made in the image and the likeness of the Godhead. These two properties are two distinct features that enable man to have dominion over other creations of God. God formed man from the dust rather than speak him into existence. He formed man following an intricate design on His mind. God literally replicated Himself when He formed man. God breathed into man the breath of life and man became a living soul. To have a soul is to have the image of God. No animal has a soul rather they have only spirits. As such, they are subject to man.
When man fell, the likeness of God in him did not change but his God-image was twisted. The essence of redemption is to restore the image of God in man. The creations of God cannot be delivered until sons arise. Sons cannot arise until they are conformed back to God’s image. What makes God God is His image which He also put in man. By conferring His image on man, God gave man unlimited possibilities. Man could move from one realm of existence to another without stress. He did not need aids to go into great water bodies to name aquatic creatures. He did not need aids to go into the air to name the birds. He was just like God.
Man is a soul; he has a spirit and lives in a body. Man is a soul because when God breathed into him, he became a living soul (Genesis 2:7). He has a spirit with which he connects with God. He lives in a body so that he can interface with the physical realm.
EPHESIANS 2:1-3(KJV): “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”;
[biblegateway passage=”II CORINTHIANS 3:13-18″ display=”II CORINTHIANS 3:13-18″];
II TIMOTHY 1:7(KJV): “7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
Man lost God’s image when He was hoodwinked by the Devil. By virtue of the fall, man’s soul became darkened and twisted and his spirit died in him. He became insensitive to God. Also, his body became subject to elements of decay which ultimately make him die. The hope of restoration of man into God’s image came when Jesus came to the earth. Jesus is the exact image of God and by being like Him man repossesses God’s image (Hebrews 1:3).
We cannot do well in our spirit walk when the mind is not renewed. We have to be bold enough to approach the throne of grace where we can relate with God. We have been given well-balanced minds so that we can retrace our steps back to God. Our resurgence into the God-kind of life is designed to follow a process of unlearning our old ways and relearning the ways of God and getting our minds renewed. We have to be patiently committed to the process so that we can get back to our original state.