Monday, January 8, 2007

Making Sense of the Process

Someone wrote to me:
The book you wrote said, "God’s Word in your mouth is just as powerful as it is in His—when you speak it in faith!" and "The divine mandate of dominion and how to exercise it." That does not make sense at all. You are not as powerful as God. If you are that powerful and you have so much dominion why have you not changed the world? No offence, but do people buy these books? Seems very strange.
In my book, God’s Word in Your Mouth, I tell about how God created man in the image and likeness of God, and how He gave man a blessing and a mandate: “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion” (Genesis 1:26-28). In other words, we were created to be like God and given authority to fill the earth with this god-likeness, to subdue the earth (that is, bring it into order with God’s plans) and have dominion (rule and reign over the earth as God’s representative). Now, of course, Adam really messed things up when he rebelled against God, and sunk it for all of us when he unhooked himself (and us in him) from the life of God. But the Lord Jesus Christ came to restore us back to God and the purpose for which He created mankind.

But this is not an automatic process. It requires that we respond in faith to the promise of God. Nor is it an instantaneous process. It requires discipleship — training — just like Jesus trained His disciples. Then He gave them power and authority, and sent them out into all the world to teach the nations everything Jesus had taught them.

We might prefer that it all happened at once, but God’s plan is for us to be in partnership with Him. He did not create us just so He could reign over us, but so we could rule and reign with Him (see the mandate in Genesis 1:26-28). What He desires is relationship, fellowship with us. Toward that end, He trains us up into maturity and faith, not into magical expectations.

God is raising up sons and daughters for Himself through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. It is not mechanical nor magical, but the process of maturity.

One day everything will be set right in the world when the Lord Jesus returns. Then the kingdom of God will be here in its completeness, and the will of God will be fully done on earth exactly as it is in heaven — just as Jesus taught us to pray.

(And yes, people do buy these books, and find them to be very helpful.)

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:22 PM

    Hey Jeff,

    Thanks for keeping the dialogue open. I probably posted seeming a little harsh.

    Honestly I dont agree with some of your concepts. You sound like a mixture of Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, and Kenneth Copeland.

    You said;

    "God’s Word in your mouth is just as powerful as it is in His—when you speak it in faith!"

    You also said;

    "How the Word of God created the world.
    How the Word of God changes the world.
    The nature and order of reality
    The divine mandate of dominion and how to exercise it.
    Things working together for the redemption of all creation.
    The all-sufficiency of God’s grace to deal with hindrances and difficulties."

    Exactly how much dominion do you have? It makes it sound as if you are like God. God actually created.

    You said;

    "But this is not an automatic process. It requires that we respond in faith to the promise of God. Nor is it an instantaneous process. It requires discipleship—training—just like Jesus trained His disciples."

    Most of His disciples were killed. John the Baptist was beheaded. Did they not have dominion over what killed them?

    It seems to me that Jesus was most of the time rebuking them for such small faith.

    You have been saved since you were 6 so I would assume you have had ample time to grow and exercise your faith?

    If we are supposed to be more like Jesus......why would you want to sell such good and Godly advice if that is what it is? I dont think Jesus ever sold advice?

    My name is also Jeff.

    Take care,

    Jeff

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  2. It's funny that you said, "It makes you sound as if you are like God," because that is indeed the point. We were created to be like God. When He created man, God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness" (Genesis 1:26).

    Adam lost it for us, but the Lord Jesus Christ recovered it for us, so that the apostle Peter could say,

    "His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine [god-like] nature" (2 Peter 1:3-4).

    That's a mind-blower.

    If you would like to discuss this further, I post regularly in discussion groups over at Faith and Fellowship Forum. The name I post under there is "PrayingWithFire."

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous8:19 PM

    Jeff,

    There may indeed be a likness that men have to God, but men do not have the attributes that God has.

    People are not omnipotent, omnipresent,omniscient,self-existant, self sufficient, sovereign, transducent....etc.

    Scripture says;

    "When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth."

    You cannot possibly think that you can create something from nothing like God has done? Walk on water maybe?

    Since you have been saved since you were 6 years old you must have a great amount of faith. Would that be a correct or incorrect statement?

    I mean after all....you are teaching people about great faith and how to exercise it.

    Is it ok with you if we keep the discussing here for now?

    Take care,

    Jeff

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  4. God did not create us to be God, but to be like God (Genesis 1:26ff). There are some attributes of God that we could never partake of, for example, His omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience, self-existence. These are called non-communicable attributes.

    But there are also communicable attributes of God in which we may take part. The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23(love, joy, peace, etc.) are, by definition, divine attributes of which we may partake. Indeed, these are Christ-like attributes, and God's plan is to conform us to the image or likeness of Christ (Romans 8:29).

    Now, man was created in the likeness of God, but it was horribly twisted by Adam's rebellion. However, it is restored to us in the Second Adam, Jesus Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. And God is conforming us to the likeness of Christ.

    No, I do not think any of us can create something from nothing, for everything that has existence has existence because of God. But God has given us the ability to create something from something, to subdue the earth (Genesis 1:28) and bring it into line with the order and purpose of God. And Jesus has given us the authority to call for the will of God to be done on earth as it is being done in heaven. When the will of heaven is being done on earth, that certainly transforms things.

    I do not know that I have a greater amount of faith since I first received Christ at six years old, but I do have a greater understanding of faith than I did then.

    If you would like to continue this discussion, you can email me at jeff(at)walkingbarefoot.com (use the @ sign). Otherwise, our dialog will soon become too unwieldy for this "comments" section.

    Or we can discuss it at Faith & Fellowship Forum, where I post under the name "PrayingWithFire."

    ReplyDelete