A Father’s Elaborate Preparation for Fellowship
In the last post, we concluded that it is in the place of fellowship that we get to know God, or if you like, to enjoy God. Do you remember how the dictionary defined ‘fellowship’? It is ‘friendly relationship; companionship: the fellowship of father and son.’
Please recall that the chief purpose God made human beings was so we could enjoy Him and glorify Him. It wasn’t because he was needy. He did not wake up one morning and realized how lonely he was, and then said, “You know what? I am going to make human beings to keep me company.” God is self-existing, self-sufficient, complete, entire, and does not need our affection or company to be complete. If he needed our love and affection to be in some way complete, then, he would not be God, would he? Any way if he did, then he must have been a thoroughly starved God, don’t you think? Why, you say? Because we hardly ever give him the love or praise he so richly deserves. So, this whole deal is about us, and for our sakes. It is a father’s desire to birth and bless a son that compels the divine heart to seek us out in order to bless us.
I think it is so important that we get this paradigm shift. Until a revelation comes to our heart that God chose us only in order to love and to bless us, we may continue to act as though he owes us, or as though we do him a favor by fellowshipping with him. In fact, some people have rebelled against God and ‘religion’ because they think that God is so demanding. It’s like saying, ‘Who in heaven does he think he is to demand so much from me or to demand that I submit to him? Why does it always have to be about him?’ But when we see a loving and caring father that seeks our company and even our obedience only in order that he may have the opportunity to bless and impart our lives, then we can’t help but cry, ‘Abba, Father!’.
So, let’s go back to the beginning and take a peep into the divine workshop on the sixth day of creation morning. That was the day he made man, with the goal of fellowship in mind. Now, here is the marvelous thing about this. He was eagerly anticipating our coming. He made elaborate preparations. He could not just speak the word alone this time. Before now, all he had to do to create anything was speak the word, and it was so. Check it out for your self in Genesis chapters one and two.
But when it was time to make man, his beloved friend and companion, he spoke the Word first, yes, but then he did something he had never done till this time. He dug his hands into clear dust and mud, digging and molding his man: “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being” Genesis 2: 7, Amplified Bible.
No wonder Ephesians 2: 10 tells us clearly, according to the Amplified Bible, “For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live]”. You are God’s deliberate handiwork. All of us humans were deliberately and thoughtfully created by a loving God with ‘good works’ in mind for us. Oh, he wants us to live ‘the good life which he prearranged and made ready for us to live’. It’s a good life he planned in the beginning for all of us. If this doesn’t make you dance, then you need to read it over and over again until it does.
Notice a recurring theme in the passage we just quoted is ‘plan’. God made elaborate preparations for our ‘birth’ on creation morning. None of us is a product of accident or chance occurrence. God planned well in advance for your coming into being. And it gave him immense pleasure thinking about his good plan for you. This is how the New Living Bible puts it in Ephesians 1: 5, “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure”.
‘This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure’! It gave God great pleasure thinking about you and the plans he has for you. The Message rendition of that verse clearly shows that he not only took time in planning man’s being, it was a pleasure for him - “Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!)”. It wasn’t a bore. It was a carefully thought out process, but it was also an exciting one.
Now, you are thinking, ‘I will like to know some of the elaborate preparations he made in advance of having me fellowship with him’. Genesis 2: 7 tells us two of those right away. “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being.”
Did you notice that? God made a form which resembles any of us today, and then did something that was utterly amazing. He breathed (exhaled purposefully and intentionally) into man the breath or spirit of life. The word used here is ‘neshamah’ in Hebrew, or ‘pneuma’ in Greek; and means either breath or spirit. That is why the Amplified bible safely translates it as ‘breath or spirit’.
So, the first thing that God did was exhale into us the ‘spirit of life’, and we became living souls. Ah, you get it; until he did that, we were nothing different from any other organic form he has already made. It was the ‘spirit of life’ that rushed into our being on creation morning that made us unique, highly elevated above all other forms of animal or plant life. There are then two key factors here that make us in a large degree what we are as humans – spirit and life. In the next post, I am going to continue to explain how these two factors interplay to prepare us for fellowship and wholeness.
If you ever have a question or prayer need, feel free to contact us at anytime.
In the last post, we concluded that it is in the place of fellowship that we get to know God, or if you like, to enjoy God. Do you remember how the dictionary defined ‘fellowship’? It is ‘friendly relationship; companionship: the fellowship of father and son.’
Please recall that the chief purpose God made human beings was so we could enjoy Him and glorify Him. It wasn’t because he was needy. He did not wake up one morning and realized how lonely he was, and then said, “You know what? I am going to make human beings to keep me company.” God is self-existing, self-sufficient, complete, entire, and does not need our affection or company to be complete. If he needed our love and affection to be in some way complete, then, he would not be God, would he? Any way if he did, then he must have been a thoroughly starved God, don’t you think? Why, you say? Because we hardly ever give him the love or praise he so richly deserves. So, this whole deal is about us, and for our sakes. It is a father’s desire to birth and bless a son that compels the divine heart to seek us out in order to bless us.
I think it is so important that we get this paradigm shift. Until a revelation comes to our heart that God chose us only in order to love and to bless us, we may continue to act as though he owes us, or as though we do him a favor by fellowshipping with him. In fact, some people have rebelled against God and ‘religion’ because they think that God is so demanding. It’s like saying, ‘Who in heaven does he think he is to demand so much from me or to demand that I submit to him? Why does it always have to be about him?’ But when we see a loving and caring father that seeks our company and even our obedience only in order that he may have the opportunity to bless and impart our lives, then we can’t help but cry, ‘Abba, Father!’.
So, let’s go back to the beginning and take a peep into the divine workshop on the sixth day of creation morning. That was the day he made man, with the goal of fellowship in mind. Now, here is the marvelous thing about this. He was eagerly anticipating our coming. He made elaborate preparations. He could not just speak the word alone this time. Before now, all he had to do to create anything was speak the word, and it was so. Check it out for your self in Genesis chapters one and two.
But when it was time to make man, his beloved friend and companion, he spoke the Word first, yes, but then he did something he had never done till this time. He dug his hands into clear dust and mud, digging and molding his man: “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being” Genesis 2: 7, Amplified Bible.
No wonder Ephesians 2: 10 tells us clearly, according to the Amplified Bible, “For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live]”. You are God’s deliberate handiwork. All of us humans were deliberately and thoughtfully created by a loving God with ‘good works’ in mind for us. Oh, he wants us to live ‘the good life which he prearranged and made ready for us to live’. It’s a good life he planned in the beginning for all of us. If this doesn’t make you dance, then you need to read it over and over again until it does.
Notice a recurring theme in the passage we just quoted is ‘plan’. God made elaborate preparations for our ‘birth’ on creation morning. None of us is a product of accident or chance occurrence. God planned well in advance for your coming into being. And it gave him immense pleasure thinking about his good plan for you. This is how the New Living Bible puts it in Ephesians 1: 5, “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure”.
‘This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure’! It gave God great pleasure thinking about you and the plans he has for you. The Message rendition of that verse clearly shows that he not only took time in planning man’s being, it was a pleasure for him - “Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!)”. It wasn’t a bore. It was a carefully thought out process, but it was also an exciting one.
Now, you are thinking, ‘I will like to know some of the elaborate preparations he made in advance of having me fellowship with him’. Genesis 2: 7 tells us two of those right away. “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being.”
Did you notice that? God made a form which resembles any of us today, and then did something that was utterly amazing. He breathed (exhaled purposefully and intentionally) into man the breath or spirit of life. The word used here is ‘neshamah’ in Hebrew, or ‘pneuma’ in Greek; and means either breath or spirit. That is why the Amplified bible safely translates it as ‘breath or spirit’.
So, the first thing that God did was exhale into us the ‘spirit of life’, and we became living souls. Ah, you get it; until he did that, we were nothing different from any other organic form he has already made. It was the ‘spirit of life’ that rushed into our being on creation morning that made us unique, highly elevated above all other forms of animal or plant life. There are then two key factors here that make us in a large degree what we are as humans – spirit and life. In the next post, I am going to continue to explain how these two factors interplay to prepare us for fellowship and wholeness.
If you ever have a question or prayer need, feel free to contact us at anytime.
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