Success is from God, We are created “In His Image”
We’ve been talking about “believing God,” and we’re talking about the power in our words. Last week we started with the fact that we are three part beings, this is because we were created in His Image.
Genesis 1:26-27 (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. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Notice that when the Lord created the trees, grass, herbs, and animals, He said, “Let the earth bring forth” (Genesis 1:11 and 24). When He created all the animals in the sea, He said, “Let the waters bring forth” (Genesis 1:20). But when God made man, He said, “Let us” (Genesis 1:26). Plants and animals came from the ground. Sea creatures and fowl came from the water. But mankind came from God Himself.
Man was created last of all the creation of God. Thus, everything was prepared for him in advance. He didn’t have to tread water for a few days until the dry land appeared, and he didn’t have to dodge trees and shrubs as they suddenly appeared. If God had created man earlier, things wouldn’t have been ready for him. But man was created and then moved immediately into the rest of God where everything was complete (Genesis 2:1-3).
Adam didn’t have to plant trees or vegetables; they were already created and producing fruit. All he had to do was partake of what was already done. Likewise, in the new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), Jesus has already provided everything, and all we have to do is receive by faith what is already ours. It’s a done deal. We need to enter into the rest of the Lord. Hebrews 4:9 says, “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.”
In all the rest of creation, God just spoke and told the waters to bring forth all the fish and fowl of the air. He told the earth to bring forth all the animals. But even though He used the dust of the earth to create man’s body, He was directly involved in the creation of man. Man was the crowning jewel of His creation, and He took special care and created man in His likeness and image.
Man is like God in many ways. One obvious likeness is that man is totally free to choose their course, as is God. We were made free moral agents in every sense of the word. Our best choice is to follow the will of the Lord (Deuteronomy 30:19), but God will protect our freedom of choice, even when it brings Him, or us, suffering.
Mankind was given an unconditional authority over this earth. There were no restrictions or fine print. The rulership of this earth was man’s to do with as they wished. In this sense, man’s authority is far superior to that of angels. Angels have delegated authority. If they rebel, their God-given authority ends. Satan saw this and therefore got mankind to submit to him through lies and to transfer this authority over the earth to him through their obedience. Romans 6:16 says, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
The creation of angels is not detailed in Scripture, nor is the time of their creation given. We can be sure that the Lord didn’t create Satan. He created Lucifer, a godly angel (Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28), and in a very real sense, man made Satan when they transferred their God-given power and authority over to him (Romans 6:16).
Andrew Wommack's Living Commentary.
In the image of God, there is power in our words, our words can work wonders, and our words can work defeat. Bonnie shared a great verse with us at the end of class last week.
Colossians 3:8 (KJV) 8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Other versions say put away and rid yourself of these things. Paul was stating that there are certain things Christians must put off or lay aside. The Greek verb used for “put off” is “APOTITHEMI,” and it was used for the putting off of clothes (Acts 7:58). In Paul’s analogy, he was using it for the putting off of one kind of life and the putting on of another. This verse emphasizes the putting off of the old, and Colossians 3:10 and 12 emphasize the putting on of the new.
With Christians, there must be the putting off of anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy communication. Anger is the feeling of hostility, indignation, rage, or wrath. Wrath is an action motivated by anger. Malice is the desire to harm others or to see others suffer. Blasphemy is injurious, slanderous, and irreverent speech. Filthy communication is foul speaking and obscene speech. All of these sins have to do somewhat with one’s talk and speech.
Andrew Wommack's Living Commentary.
Here’s what happens, if we read the Bible without truly understanding that it is a living Word that is for relationship between each individual and God, then what we are reading is a bunch of rules to live by, and we stay bound up by the law, and we bind other people up by the law, because we share what we know. When we focus on Jesus, the grace that He provided, the Love that God had for us that He would send His Son while we were yet sinners, to deliver us out of all of that bondage into His Love, and freedom, when our individual love relationship grows to the point that we are simply basking in His Love, and through His Love living our lives, THEN we become vessels that He can LIVE through, we become “Blessed to be a Blessing.” Blessings of love to the world around us, a lighthouse for God’s grace, the love of God that flows out of us, because it is full to overflowing begins to “Draw all men unto Him.”
If we would realize and give credit to the power of our words, our lives could be the “abundant lives” now, just as Jesus told us in John 10:10 that He came to give us. Psalm 50:23 (AMP) He who brings an offering of (speaking words of) praise and thanksgiving honors and glorifies Me; and he who orders his way aright [who prepares the way that I may show him], to him I will demonstrate the salvation of God. Psalm 34:1 (KJV) I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. I really like how the New Living Translations puts that verse, when it says “I will constantly speak his praises.” When we resolve to Psalm 50:23 (NLT2) “ordereth our conversation aright,” so that we “Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God's favor) to those who hear it.” Ephesians 4:29 (AMP)
When we do that, then we are told that Words of Bold Authority will overcome Satan’s power in Revelation 12:11 where it says, “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.”
Confession always precedes possession. The word “confession” means “to say the same thing.” Dare to say exactly what God says in His Word. Agree with God by speaking His Word in all circumstances.
When we “ordereth [our] conversation[s] aright,” God manifests the benefits of His great salvation. “With the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10). And remember that, when we make confession unto salvation, it includes healing, deliverance, and every spiritual and physical blessing provided for us in Christ’s atonement (sozo).
Proverbs 21:23 (NLT2) 23 Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.
Proverbs 6:2 (HCSB) 2 you have been trapped by the words of your lips— ensnared by the words of your mouth.
Refuse to have a wrong confession, keep your mouth shut, “bridle your tongue,” and you will stay out of trouble.
When we accept and confess the Lordship of Jesus Christ as our savior, and say, “Master you rule from today,” then you can say, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1).
The Lord is my Shepherd, I cannot fail. Ephesians 1:3 (HCSB) “Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.” Every blessing that belongs to the plan of redemptions automatically becomes yours the moment you confess His Lordship.
Remember that it said in John 1:14 (HCSB) “The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” And then in John 17:17 (KJV) which is His Priestly prayer over us, He asked God to “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” So first we see that the Word became Flesh (Jesus), and in John 14:6 (HCSB) “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” So, Jesus is the Word, the Word is Jesus, the Word is Truth, the Truth is the Word. And remember that the definition of Truth is that it is true whether you believe it or not. The word “believe” is interchangeable with the word “faith,” how many times did Jesus say “have faith” or “do you have so little faith”? The reality of the Truth being true relies on my belief, my faith that the Truth is true, when I believe it, have faith in it, to the point that I will speak it out as Truth, then I see Truth come to be true.
Matthew 9:29 (NLT2) 29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “Because of your faith, it will happen.”
Matthew 15:28 (HCSB) 28 Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment her daughter was cured.
Matthew 21:21 (HCSB) 21 Jesus answered them, “I assure you: If you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you tell this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done."
When your faith is completely and totally in Jesus Christ, then your faith is completely and totally in the Word. Suddenly, problems cease to be problems because the Word of God covers every issue that may come up in our lives. The Word is alive. The Word is final.
During discussion last week, the question came up of the original language of “hearing.” Because we read in Romans 10:17 (KJV) “So then faith (belief) cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Andrew Wommack’s Note on Romans 10:17
This verse starts with the phrase, “so then.” That means this statement about faith coming through God’s Word is a conclusion or result of what was said before. Romans 10 is speaking about a faith righteousness versus a works righteousness. So it’s this message of righteousness by grace that causes faith to come. It’s specifically saying that the message of grace causes faith to come. See my note at Acts 14:9.
Life For Today Study Bible Notes
Note 5 at Romans 10:17: Faith comes by hearing God’s Word because God’s Word is His faith (see note 4 at Romans 3:3). People cannot be born again (see note 2 at John 3:3) through human faith. They have to use God’s supernatural faith (see note 2 at Matthew 8:10, note 4 at John 20:29, and note 6 at Romans 4:17) to receive God’s supernatural gift of salvation.
The only place to obtain God’s kind of faith is from God’s Word. Therefore, we cannot compromise God’s Word. It must be proclaimed boldly to make God’s faith available to those who choose to believe.
Note 6 at Romans 10:17: Notice that this verse says faith comes by “hearing,” not by “having heard.” People cannot rest on revelation they received from God years ago, unless they are still hearing the Lord speak those same truths to them now.
The Lord doesn’t fail to speak; we fail to hear. Therefore, we can keep our faith in the present tense if we will open our spiritual ears to hear what God’s Word is saying (Proverbs 4:20-22, see note 10 at Mark 6:52 and note 3 at Mark 8:17).
Andrew Wommack's Living Commentary.
My understanding of an answer to the question is this, “hearing” could be one on one conversation with a deaf person through sign language or writing. But, if the deaf person could not understand any of that, then they would fall under the age of understanding. . . One of many verses that speak of accountability is James 4:17 (KJV) “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
When we have faith and fully believe that the Word is Truth then we can stand on Psalm 23. It will make us no longer fearful. We will not be afraid of diseases or weakness or sickness or lack of ability, for He has become our strength. He is our ability for any and every emergency. What burdens are lifted from us when Jesus becomes our ability. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13). This verse says through Christ’s strength, I can do all things. It does not say, I can do all things. Self-confidence is the opposite of God-confidence. When we “Submit to God, resist the devil, he will flee” (James 4:7). When Jesus becomes our ability, we can say, “I have ability for anything. I have strength to do anything He wishes.”
The Lordship of Jesus means the Lordship of Love. Romans 5:5 (NLT2) “And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” We put off the old bitterness and hardness and have put on love, God’s love. When we walk in love, we have no fear of temptation, situation, or trial, for we know that our Lord is always at hand. He lives within us, we are His temple. We are Christ carriers. We are wearing the belt of Truth, the breastplate of Righteousness, the helmet of Salvation, the shoes of Peace, and we have taken up our shield of Faith, and our sword of the Spirit. It is Christ the Truth. It is Christ’s Righteousness. It is the salvation of Christ. It is the Peace of Christ that we wear as shoes for our walk of faith, and it is THE MEASURE of faith, the faith of Christ that we are given to use as a shield, but we must lift it up. It is God’s own armor that He has appropriated to each and every believer that if we would but go to the trouble to take off the old grave clothes of death and put on the new armor of life, then we can live lives of abundance here on earth, right now. God is a right now God.
2 Corinthians 3:5 (AMP) 5 Not that we are fit (qualified and sufficient in ability) of ourselves to form personal judgments or to claim or count anything as coming from us, but our power and ability and sufficiency are from God.
You need not worry about what you can or cannot do, for God in you can do everything.
Christianity is a “say-so” way of life. Psalm 107:2 says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so”! This is how you became a Christian in the first place: “With the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10). Your mouth makes confession “unto salvation,” not only when you are born again, but also whenever you operate according to Mark 11:23–24:
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
You cannot rise higher than your confession. A wrong confession will imprison you; a right confession will set you free. What are we to say? Again and again, I repeat that we should say what God says, for God’s Word is truth. It doesn’t matter what we think, feel, or see; what does matter is what God has told us in His Word.
Success is a God-made thing, available to every one of His children. There is no need for failure and no place for it in the purposes of God. There is strength for your physical body and for your mind. He is the strength of your life. That includes the whole man: strength of will, strength of mind, strength of body.
You have no right to be a weakling in the presence of God, who has offered His ability to you.
All that is necessary is that you take advantage of what you have. You may say, “My Father, I am depending upon your sufficiency in Christ to meet this crisis now.”
Jesus was made unto us wisdom from God. Wisdom is the most vital thing to each one of us. You may gain vast stores of knowledge, but if you do not have wisdom, you will only waste your knowledge.
Kenyon, E. W.. Speak Life . Whitaker House. Kindle Edition.
2 Chronicles 1:7-12 (NLT2) 7 That night God appeared to Solomon and said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!” 8 Solomon replied to God, “You showed faithful love to David, my father, and now you have made me king in his place. 9 O LORD God, please continue to keep your promise to David my father, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth! 10 Give me the wisdom and knowledge to lead them properly, for who could possibly govern this great people of yours?” 11 God said to Solomon, “Because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you did not ask for wealth, riches, fame, or even the death of your enemies or a long life, but rather you asked for wisdom and knowledge to properly govern my people— 12 I will certainly give you the wisdom and knowledge you requested. But I will also give you wealth, riches, and fame such as no other king has had before you or will ever have in the future!”
1 Corinthians 2:1-16 (NLT2) 1 When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. 2 For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. 4 And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. 5 I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God. 6 Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten. 7 No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. 8 But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. 9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 10 But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. 12 And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. 13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. 14 But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. 15 Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. 16 For, “Who can know the LORD’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.
Luke 21:15 (NLT2) 15 for I will give you the right words and such wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to reply or refute you!
1 Corinthians 1:30 (KJV) 30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
Life For Today Study Bible Notes
Note 14 at 1 Corinthians 1:30: By the work of God through the new birth, we are now “in Christ Jesus.” This terminology was used frequently by Paul to describe our relationship with Christ. The word “in,” as used in this verse, means a condition, state, or attribute.
Note 15 at 1 Corinthians 1:30: The new birth (see note 2 at John 3:3) doesn’t just produce a changed life but an exchanged life. That is to say, the Lord doesn’t make our flesh wise, righteous, sanctified, or redeemed. Instead, He becomes our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
The Christian life is not just difficult to live; it is impossible to live through our own ability. It is only when we cease to operate in our carnal selves and let Jesus live through us that we can obtain victory.
For instance, those who depend on their own intellect to figure out the direction for their lives will always make mistakes. The proper way for Christians to act is to humble themselves and ask God for direction. Then the wisdom of Christ within them will come out and He will direct their paths (Proverbs 3:6).
Instead of depending on our acts of righteousness to earn the blessings of God, we should accept the fact Jesus has given us His righteousness. In Christ (or through Christ) is the only way that we will ever be righteous enough to approach God.
Our bodies and souls are not yet redeemed (see note 11 at Romans 8:23), but our spirits are. Jesus lives in the spirits of believers, and all His wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption are available to us if we depend on Him instead of on our own abilities.
Andrew Wommack's Living Commentary.
So as we “live in Him,” and submit to Him, then “He lives in us,” that is when He overflows from out of us. That is when we are above and not beneath our circumstances. That is when we are able to resist the devil, and he flees from us. To resist the devil, we exert our dominion, which was given back to us by Jesus. People around us benefit from this, people around us see something different in us, and they want to experience the same thing. It is all about us focusing on the plank in our own eye, and not the splinter in their eye. Let the people around you figure out they have a splinter and then lead them by example to a place where they can get their own lives right with God, growing up little by little just like we ourselves are.
Renewing our minds to Jesus the Word, agreeing with Jesus the Word in what He says about us, makes Truth become true within us and for us.
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