PASTOR SEYI OSANYINBI
GENESIS 1:27(KJV): “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”;
EXODUS 20:4-5(KJV): ” Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;”
Man had dominion over all of God’s creation after he was created because he had the image of God in him. The glory and honour in the image of God made him reign and dominate.
The spirit of a thing is what defines its operations. When the spirit of an animal was put into Nebuchadnezzar, he ate grass and his digestive system could handle it. He was exposed to the elements and he did not break down. When the Holy Spirit takes charge of a man’s life, He operates like God. A person full of the Holy Spirit is supernatural because he carries the Spirit of God! God communicates with man through His Spirit. In the same way, the Devil tries to change the configuration of man by giving him a perverted spirit.
The strength of a man’s spirit is capable of sustaining him. The weaker a man’s spirit is, the easier it is for him to die (Proverbs 18:14). When Adam fell, the Spirit of God in him died. As such, he lost his God-image and became far less than he had potentials for. God is very particular about images. He does not want us to bow to any image because He made us in His image just so that we might fellowship with Him and worship Him.
Man is not expected to live only on bread which sustains the body. He is also expected to live by the word of God. The word of God makes us live by judging our thoughts and helping us to walk in the way of life. The word helps to purge our conscience so that we will not go the way of death by having wrong standards. The word separates between soul and spirit.
II CORINTHIANS 3:18(KJV): “18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”;
HEBREWS 1:3(KJV): “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high”;
EPHESIANS 4:22-25(KJV): ” That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.;”
ISAIAH 55:6-9(KJV): “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Jesus is the exact replica of God and as we continually look upon Him, His glory rubs off on us and we get on our way back to recovering the image of God. Reigning in life is not about being the richest or the smartest guy around; it is to keep beholding Jesus and to keep changing until the image of God is fully formed in us.
We put off the old man by constantly beholding Jesus. It is not enough that we become born again; we have to consciously starve the nature of sin by always looking unto Jesus. You cannot walk with God if you don’t have a sound mind. It is erroneous to believe that you have to be unreasonable to follow God. The difference between God and man lies in our divergent thoughts. If we can think the thoughts of God, we will operate like Him. The restoration of the image of God in us will not come by just fasting and prayers; it will come by us fixing our gaze on the glory of God.