“Born to be a success” – (part 0ne of Three)
Compiled by:
Willie du Toit
When God created the earth, He never intended for man to live a short-lived life, then die, and go to heaven. God’s intention was, to place man on the earth so that he could manage it on his behalf.
Unfortunately, God’s enemy, the devil has always tried to put himself above God, and to steal that which belongs to God. We read in the book of Isaiah Chapter 14 how the devil planned to exalt himself above the throne and authority of the Almighty God by rebelling against God. We read in the Scriptures how a war was waged in the heavenlies and that satan and a third of the angels, who supported him in his endeavour, were thrown from heaven, never to be restored to any position of glory ever again!
What most people do not realize is that when everything on the earth is concluded according to God’s plans, the nations will stand amazed at the image, they beheld of the enemy. Let us read it together as it is recorded in Isaiah Chapter 14 from verse 16:
Isa 14:16 Those who see you will stare and wonder, “Is this the man who made the world tremble and shook up kingdoms?
Isa 14:17 Did he capture every city and make earth a desert? Is he the one who refused to let prisoners go home?”
Can you imagine how many people on the earth are living in bondage to an enemy who has no authority over them? They live their entire lives in fear and trembling of something or someone who has been dealt with, even before time began.
The Word of God says clearly that people will stare in wonder when they realize the truth about the enemy. Cities and nations are being held hostage by something or someone who is far less superior to those inhabitants of those cities and nations. Even the very earth is held captive by this fallen enemy and large areas of entire continents are suffering due to the ignorance of man. Another sad state of affairs is the fact that even those whose lives have been restored by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, at the cross of Calvary, have been tricked into submitting to a lifestyle of total defeat, while living on planet Earth. Born-again people are living with the hope, that they will one day be set free from the power of the enemy and the effects of sin, once they step from this life on Earth through the gates of heaven. Millions of people are evangelized to join a religion, who prepares them for victorious living, once they breathe there last breath of air on the earth. If we however search in the Scriptures, we find that God never mentions heaven as a reward for faithful living and obedience to Him as our Creator. Even Jesus, during his earthly ministry, did not promise his disciples more power, greater faith, or elevated positions, in heaven one day in the far distant future.
In fact, Jesus spent all his days during his earthly ministry, equipping His disciples in successfully identifying their “unnatural and ungodly” circumstances on the earth, and then instructed them how to deal with it according to heaven’s blueprints. A study of God’s Word soon reveals that when He created us, He designed us for a life of total and complete success and victory on the earth.
Everything Jesus came to teach and show his disciples was aimed at changing the earth into a place where the glory of God could find permanent residence. This is exactly what the prophet Habakkuk meant when he said that the whole earth will be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters of the seas, covers the earth. You and I must therefore realize that we have been specifically designed and created by God to reign and rule over the entire earth, and to teach nations the real reason why they exist. We have been placed, by the wisdom of God, in specific areas, under very unique circumstances, to exercise our God given authority until that place, where we have been “sown” into, becomes conducive to be inhabited by God himself. What an awesome privilege to be God’s representatives and to carry such a tremendous responsibility towards the earth and the Creator of everything.
God did not plan for us to be defeated, to be overpowered, or to be prevented from achieving His ultimate plan for us on the earth, in any way whatsoever. When He created us, the devil had already been banned from the heavens, and cast down to the earth. God knew that the devil had freedom of movement in the realm, where he was about to place us, and with this in mind, He continued to form us in His own image and likeness, and placed us as His deputies in the same realm as His enemy. Not for one moment did God think that we would be unsuccessful in exercising His authority, and subduing the entire earth and all of creation, on His behalf.
When the enemy saw that God sowed His own seed in an area, which He called the earth, the enemy saw it as an opportunity to strike back and regain some lost ground against God. Little did the devil know that God was prepared for this by keeping the blueprint of man, abiding with Him in heaven. The word of God says in John chapter 1 that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and without Him, not even one thing came into being that has come into being. As we already know, this Word John wrote about is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and it is therefore evident that all things created has Jesus Christ as its source. Jesus is therefore, the blueprint of everything that existed in the heart of our Father in heaven, who then, made it to manifest through his own son, Jesus Christ, on the earth
God placed the very first human being, namely Adam and his wife Eve, in the garden of Eden with the instruction to be fruitful, to multiply, and to subdue the earth and to reign and rule over it on His behalf. When they failed in this mandate due to their rebellion and disobedience, the devil thought that he had found the perfect recipe to hit back at God for banning him from the heavens.
Man became a fallen being, subject to the pressures of life, which was released upon the earth during the fall. Man also became the most suitable object and sought-after vessel through which the enemy would try to regain some of his lost pride and position. A battle began to rage, which would involve heaven and earth and would literally span over all of creation’s seasons and times, consume all its resources and affect each and every generation ever to live on the earth! In fact, even the realm between heaven and earth would be swallowed up in this war between the Originator of all things and the imposter. During the ages, as the battle continued, God held His ultimate plan for humankind’s redemption very close to His heart. He shared this plan with some of His most loyal confidants, the prophets and told them to record it in writing so that all the nations of the earth should know that a day would come, when He would once again, sow His best Seed into the earth in order for a mighty harvest to come forth. In this process, He allowed for the redemption of all humankind. In other words, all contaminated seeds would be destroyed instantaneously by this generous act of giving of Himself, provided that man receives it as a free gift. Miraculously man was granted the opportunity to literally start over again with no trace of past mistakes, failures or weakness!
All He expected from man was to consider his own sinful ways, make up his mind to turn away from it, to receive and accept the new way of living, and to persevere in pursuing it.
With this comes a new awareness of man’s relationship with God and man’s real reason for being on the earth. God’s Spirit now puts an unquenchable passion in man’s heart to know more about the Father, the Son and the Spirit and about Himself. Man suddenly becomes aware of his uniqueness and should begin to ask valid questions about his existence on the earth. As there is, only one place to find answers to these questions, man should now begin to meet God regularly with the manual of Life, the Bible, as point of reference to explain all queries and mysteries. The Bible must now become a manual in which man discovers all lost formulas, principles and plans to bring his life to the point of departure for the future. The Bible must not be seen as a book of ancient history, although it contains the greatest summary of man’s history, it should be treated as a study manual on which his entire life depends. Together with the Author of this manual, man must now begin to replace all previous knowledge of God, the earth and himself with the angle from which God allowed His servants to pen it down. Anything that does not line up with this manual, must be discarded, and completely removed from the memory bank, never to be remembered again. All religious opinions, ideas, notions or doctrines must be identified and replaced with God’s perspective. Begin to see yourself as God sees you, not through your own thoughts, but through the written Word! Study the Scriptures and discover God’s plan with man on the earth, with the nations, with those who believe in, and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
As you journey through the pages of the Bible and with His Spirit as the Teacher, you will soon realize most of us have been living a second rated life, far beyond what He intended.
You will soon discover that you were very uniquely designed by the greatestDesigner of all time. Your time of birth was carefully planned by the One who holds times and seasons in the palm of His hand and who ultimately knows when to send something to the earth during a time when it is much needed! He knows how to clothe and disguise it in human form! He knows where it is needed most and in His wisdom places, it in the midst of the field He wants to touch. He then empowers it, supports it, sustains it and releases it as the best He has to offer to a world in desperate need of salvation.
You are God’s best He has to offer this world. You are God’s hope to reach and change individuals, communities, cities and nations. In Christ, you have the right construction to be a success, in fact, God says: “You are worthy of success…”
Always keep in mind:
You are called to a place
You are called to a people
You are called to a purpose
Together through this journey, we will uncover who we are through the eyes of God and understand:
I do not think many people are truly aware of who they really are and with what tremendous potential they walk around on the earth. You may notice that I frequently refer to “the earth”, and for a very specific reason. Man was created with unique gifts, talents, skills and abilities and placed in an allocated space where these created gifts would be of great value, absolutely applicable and 100% effective. God did not design us the way He did, in order for us to live a life of great struggle, only to die and go to heaven where we will then eventually taste success.
When He designed you and me, He took great care in “packaging” us with all the necessary “goodies” so that when we become aware of our need to be connected to Him through His Son Jesus Christ, and we become born-again, or rather “born from above”, He sends us the Holy Spirit to enlighten us of who we really are. Jesus told His disciples in John chapter 14 that He would ask the Father to send us another Helper when He ascended to Heaven. Let us read what the purpose of the Holy Spirit must be to the believer:
John 14:16 – 20 “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, so that He may be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him nor know Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world does not see Me any more. But you see Me. Because I live, you shall live also. At that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”
The Greek word for “Comforter” is “Parakletos” and actually means far more than what we understand in the English language as a comforter.
In telling His disciples they will receive another “Parakletos”, they understood that another person similar to their teacher Jesus would be sent to them. In their minds, they knew that this person would support, assist, empower and enable them to fulfill whatever assignment they had, successfully. They knew that this helper would be assigned to them specifically, with no other task but to be their guarantee for successfully executing their duties as followers of Christ. Jesus also told His disciples clearly, that it would be Himself returning to them, just in another form.
He elaborated on the function of the Holy Spirit by explaining to them that when the Spirit of Truth came, he would teach them many things, and reveal to them many things they were not yet ready to hear, during His walk on earth with them.
John 16:12 – 14 ”I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatever He hears, He shall speak. And He will announce to you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will receive of Mine and will announce it to you.”
I want you to take note that without the Spirit of God, the Word of God will remain a great encounter of history and events, which took place in previous generations. Jesus emphasized the importance of being filled with the Spirit in this passage of Scripture by informing His disciples and us, that a constant flow of direction, revelation and instructions for the people of the earth, would be released by Him over the generations to follow, and that these life-essential pieces of information must be received, digested and implemented in our lives. Without the presence of the Holy Spirit in us, and working through us, the Word of God will remain a great book of information with lots of historical facts recorded with no power to transform our lives and circumstances. When the Holy Spirit is present, the Word of God is turned from pieces of information to becoming the very breath of God, breathing over us, causing a flood of waves from His very mouth. Instead of information reaching our ears, a supernatural impartation takes place, reaching our hearts, penetrating our very existence and transforming our very being of who we are!
Most people who consider themselves to be Christians, are aware of the fact that salvation through Jesus Christ and the Cross gives them access to eternal life, and they gladly make the confession most Churches lead them into as a promise for heaven after death. Most of these people are then sent away with the assurance of “a place in heaven” and is never seen of, or heard of again by the Church. Most of the Churches record the numbers of people who came to salvation during a service without recording their names for follow-up.
Jesus never told His disciples to see how many people they could get to respond to an altar call, let them confess Him as their Saviour and then send them the same way they came! According to the great commission, the task of the Church is far deeper, wider and much more involved than having an altar call after each service! Leading someone to faith in Christ is only the doorway to a life-long journey of commitment, commitment and more commitment.
I shiver to think what would happen the day when we, who are confessing Christians, stand before God with our lists of numbers, figures and neatly drawn up statistics of whom we have led to Christ during our time on the earth, only for God to turn around to the crowds and ask: “Can you point them out to me?”. You see, according to Matthew 25, a day will come when all nations will be gathered before the Throne of God, some at the right and some at the left. No one will escape this event and no excuses will grant anyone permission to be elsewhere. Interesting to note, that when Jesus described this scene to His audience, the basis of the separation of those on the left and the right was built on their level of interaction with one another when they were on the earth:
Mat 25:32 – 46 “ And all nations shall be gathered before Him. And He shall separate them from one another, as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. And indeed He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats off the left. Then the King shall say to those on His right hand, Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; I was naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. Then the righteous shall answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see You hungry, and fed You? Or thirsty, and gave You drink? When did we see You a stranger, and took You in? Or naked, and clothed You?
Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and came to You? And the King shall answer and say to them, Truly, I say to you, Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you have done it to Me.
Then He also shall say to those on the left hand, Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in; I was naked, and you did not clothe Me; I was sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me. Then they will also answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to You?
Then He shall answer them, saying, Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life.”
So many of us have been drawn into efforts where the message of Jesus as the way to eternal life has been preached to literally thousands of people, with no system in place to take them to the next step in the mind of Christ. Jesus did say in John 14:6 “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me.”
Note that after the statement “I am the Way”, He continued by pointing out that after you find the way, a process of transformation needs to be implemented. Everything now must be measured according to what He stands for! After “finding the way”, one must now discover the Truth, and this Truth is nothing other than Jesus Christ and everything He stands for. John the Baptist said that he, John had to decrease and Christ must increase. This must be the motto of every born again believer, empty yourself so that Christ can fill you with Himself, until you overflow with what Christ said thirdly about Himself, “the Life”.
Not only is Jesus the Son of the living God, He is also the Originator of all things:
John 1:1 – 3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.”
No one can explain where God comes from, when He came into existence, or even if He ever did not exist! All we know is that He decided to create a place called earth and to put man on it to manage it on His behalf. And so we read, that at the beginning of this great plan of God, to create a visible realm where He could put some of His own attributes and characteristics on display, the Word played a very prominent role. God describes Himself through the pen of the Apostle John, as the Word. In the Greek language, it is written as “Logos” which means the following according to the Strong’s Hebrew and Greek dictionaries:
something said (including the thought); by implication a topic (subject of discourse), also reasoning (the mental faculty) or motive; by extension a computation; specifically (with the article in John) the Divine [removed]that is, Christ): – account, cause, communication, X concerning, doctrine, fame, X have to do, intent, matter, mouth, preaching, question, reason, + reckon, remove, say (-ing), shew, X speaker, speech, talk, thing, + none of these things move me, tidings, treatise, utterance, word, work.
In layman’s terms it simply means that God, and specifically Christ, is the origin of all created things. God wanted to see Himself in action and wanted to have a mirror of Himself to enjoy the manifestation of His thoughts, as it would be put on display through creation. His pure and holy thoughts, His awesome wisdom, creativity, ingenuity and entrepreneurial nature needed an outlet and an arena to be implemented and appreciated by more than just Himself. And so He decided to make His thoughts, ideas, hopes and dreams become alive, and therefore He spoke them out in order for them to take shape in the form of creation! On the sixth day, after He spoke what was in His mind into being, He saw it was very good and then wanted to see Himself enjoy all of it, and so He decided to put Himself into living beings called humans, and placed us in the midst of His manifested thoughts! Wow, what an awesome thought! We must also understand that a great deal of false teachings have gone out, teaching that we are gods. We are not gods, but have certain specific attributes of God built into us. When God said: Let us make man in our own image and after our own likeness, He did not mean equal in position but comparable in nature, character and to a certain degree, in functionality. You see God has certain attributes which makes Him to be God. He is almighty and therefore no one can compare or compete with Him in this department. He is also omnipresent, meaning He can be in more than one place at the same time, which not even the angels or the devil himself can achieve. Another divine attribute is His omniscience, giving Him the ability to know everything, all the time. He knows our thoughts evenbefore we areaware of it. Nothing is hidden from Him. As a matter of interest, the devil cannot read our minds and cannot know our thoughts either, only God can. We often think that the devil can read our minds but this is not true, he places thoughts in our heads and then we think he has read our minds. Not before you and I express our thoughts verbally, can he know what we are thinking!
There are many other attributes, which makes God who He is, and cannot be copied or duplicated by any other creature in heaven or earth. So God is also the only creator with the ability to make something out of nothing. Humans need something that God created before they can turn it into something else. The very same fact is also applicable to the devil, he can only work with that which God created, and twist it into something else.
I believe one of the greatest attributes God placed of Himself into us, at creation of the very first man, is the ability to give. God has been a giver from the very beginning and not just a giver of unimportant stuff, but a giver of Himself! He took the best of Himself and put it into Adam. Remember how Jesus told His disciples what the greatest act of love is:
John 15:13 No one has greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
The love of the Father is described in another part of the gospel of John:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him.
Reading these passages of Scriptures, makes us realize that God’s greatest motivation is to give everything of Himself to the Cause He loves. He holds nothing back when it comes to the works of His own hands! Another outstanding aspect of our God is that although He is the Almighty God, and the highest Authority in heaven and earth, He is also the ultimate servant of all servants:
Mat 20:26 – 28 ”However, it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to be great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
Imagine that our Saviour, the Son of the Most High God described the quickest and most sure way to greatness is the path of a servant. Not only did He preach this as a doctrine to be followed, He modeled this principle to the very end of His life here on earth. How often do we want to lord it over those we are set over in authority? We step on people, abuse every and any given opportunity to promote ourselves and our cause, at the expense of others. In the process to get to the top, we create enemies, inflict great painand leave atrail of irreparable damage. We become insensitive to the needs of others and blind to the warning signs of impeding danger. Many of us think that promotion brings position, but in the Kingdom of God, promotion only means greater functionality and more responsibility with wider accountability. The Apostle Paul grasped this truth and that is why he wrote to the Church at Philippi the following:
Php 2:5 – 11 “For let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with Godbut made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.
And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him, and has given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly ones, and of earthly ones, and of ones under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
This Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ discovered, through the interaction of the Holy Spirit, the very heart and nature of the Father and His Son, and the reason why Father and Son had such a powerful relationship, which could bridge the gap caused through generations of rebellious living by humankind on the earth. This was the very substance and foundation of their plan for mankind’s redemption. The Father could send His only Son to an environment riddled with sin, rebellion, ungodliness, greed, pride, selfish ambitions, and carnality, knowing nothing would affect, hinder or compromise their vision, to see man being set free from these very influences. You see when God created man, his intention was to reproduce Himself inman as the ultimate servant on earth. Servants obey their masters, no matter what. Servants have no vision of their own, no ambitions outside that of the master’s, and no desire to be otherwise employed.
Look at the following characteristics of a true servant in the Biblical sense of the word:
Servants are known for their excellent level of obedience, and for the accurate manner in which they perform the instructions of their masters. They know it is because of their obedience that they are assured of their protection, provision and well-being. Obedience to the one giving the instructions, creates a platform of give and take. The one who obeys, places a demand on the one giving the instructions, to create an environment of protection, provision and support, whilst the instructions are followed. To explain it in easier terms, when someone with a vision attracts others to himself because of the vision, their joining the visionary in reaching his goal will lead to a specific relationship developing between them. The visionary will be the one leading and the others will be following his lead. In order to be completely committed to this vision, those joining will be expected to abandon all other directions and pledge their support unconditionally. Once an agreement is reached, those participating in the building of that vision will now be under the covering of the visionary and can expect certain privileges that comes along with their joining the visionary in his endeavor. These privileges will be determined by the ability, strengths, influence, and authority and material liquidity of the visionary. The visionary cannot promise anything to his followers, which is out of his own reach, unavailable or even unattainable.
As long as those who follow the visionary stay true to the vision and obey his instructions, they are assured of being covered in all aspects of their needs in life.
Jesus was such a servant who knew the vision His Father had for the earth and all it’s inhabitants. He knew that God had the vision to create a place where He could see Himself in operation. That is why He created the earth and placed man in charge of it. God never intended to create man equal to Himself but rather as an exact representation of Himself. Man was meant to be the shadow of God, casting the movement of God in heaven on the earth, with His radiant glory as the source of light in which man would operate.
When God said, “let us make man in our image”, the Hebrew word for image is the word “tsehlem”, which means “shadow, illusion or phantom”. God’s idea was to move His hand in heaven, and let the shadow be seen on the earth, performing it as He intended it in His heart. We are that shadow that needs to perform exactly what God has in mind. That is why Jesus constantly said:
John 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, The Son can do nothing of Himself but what He sees the Father do. For whatever things He does these also the Son does likewise.
Jesus was merely the shadow or manifestation of the unseen God in operation on the earth. He gave His Father a body to work through, to show man what He is like, and what He is capable of doing. God’s greatest desire is to be involved in the affairs of the earth, without doing everything Himself, and to have us as His partners. He wants to show the nations of the earth how He operates, without revealing Himself in His true form. When Jesus was asked by one of His disciples Philip to show them the Father, He gave them a very clear answer:
John 14:8 – 11 ”Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you such a long time and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. And how do you say, Show us the Father?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The Words that I speak to you I do not speak of Myself, but the Father who dwells in Me, He does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the very works themselves.”
When God instructed Moses in the Old Testament to build the tabernacle He had only one thing in mind, to dwell amongst His own. He chose a man by the name of Bezaleel to create everything according to what was in His own heart and mind in heaven:
Exo 31:1 – 6 ”And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Behold, I, I have called by name Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.
And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all workmanship, to devise designs; to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all workmanship.
And behold, I have given to him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. And I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the wise-hearted, so that they may make all that I have commanded you:”
Very interesting is to note that “Bezaleel” means “in the shadow of God”, which describes someone who is protected by God and who operates under His covering. To be protected by God or to be in His shadow also means to be under His guidance, which brings man to be living within the boundaries of His provision, exactly what we discussed earlier as the relationship between the visionary, and those who follow him in obedience! This is also a reflection of the creation of man in the image or “tsehlem” of God, meaning, as we already determined, the shadow of God. God’s vision was to have a dwelling place amongst His people, and only He knew what this dwelling place should look like. He therefore needed someone that could operate from under His guidance and within His realm to produce exactly what He had in mind! Centuries later, when the time had arrived to redeem man through the ultimate sacrifice of the chosen Lamb, this Lamb knew the vision His Father had in mind and was totally committed to see it come to pass. His obedience to the One who carried the vision, provided the perfect platform to work from. Jesus, the Lamb came to earth, fully aware of the capabilities, integrity and resources of the Visionary of the plan of redemption, and so He became the visible image of the desire of His Father. If you and I will only know, the Visionary the way Jesus did during His earthly ministry, and trust Him in the same manner, just think of the possibilities to change the destiny of nations!
When God revealed His desire to Moses to live amongst His people, He also told Moses that only specific circumstances will attract and suit Him, so Hefilled Bezaleel with His Spirit. Only God’s Spirit in man, equips and qualifies man to know the will, and follow the instructions of God. God’s Spirit in man brings man under the authority of God and enables man to see, hear and experience that, which is hidden in the heart of God.
Bezaleel was equipped by the Spirit in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and wait for it – in all workmanship! The Hebrew word for workmanship in this passage is “mel-aw-kaw and means the following:
“Deputyship, employment, ministry”
It is part of the Hebrew word “mal-aw”, which means;
to despatch as a deputy; a messenger; specifically of God, that is, an angel (also a prophet, priest or teacher): – ambassador, angel, king, messenger.
How awesome it is to know that whatever God had in mind, He would transfer it to a human vessel through His indwelling Spirit, and with the Spirit comes the ability to do it exactly as God envisaged it in heaven! No wonder Jesus told His disciples in the New Testament, not to move until they were endued from on high with the Holy Spirit. To be endued literally means to be clothed or to put on, or sink into a garment. When one joins the military, you are stripped of your usual garments, and given a uniform, which distinguishes you as being part of that specific army. With that uniform come certain rights, privileges, position and authority. The same applies to the police or security forces. The uniform never becomes your property, as it remains the property of the state or country who gave it to you. By putting on the uniform you become the property of the owner of the uniform and pledge your unconditional support to uphold the vision of that country or state. Now let us have another look at the phrase of “being clothed by the Holy Spirit”. Just as a soldier’s uniform turns him into a representative of the owner of the uniform, so the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a clear indication of who owns us, whose business we conduct and where our allegiance lies.
When Jesus told His disciples to wait for the “clothing ceremony”, which would take place in Jerusalem, He knew what a radical change it would bring in the lives of ordinary men and women, men like you and me! He knew that nothing would stand in their way, nothing would be too difficult for them to achieve and no assignment would be left half-complete. He was also aware of the enormity of the vision His Father had in mind for the earth and the nations and knew from personal experience that this could only be achieved by men and women who would display the “image” or shadow of His Father under all circumstances.
As God needed a Bezaleel to bring forth exactly what He had in mind, He still uses the same pattern to bring forth His plans and visions for humankind in this age. He puts His Spirit in man to bring man and God on the same wavelength in order to produce heaven on earth!
(End of Part One)