I've come to realize that when my brain is in overload, I shut down...everything around me seems like a blur and I can't see. It takes a few days or sometimes weeks for me to see through the fog, well I am finally seeing through the fog. It started the week of the Beth Moore conference when I when I found out a really awesome friend of mine has cancer and then the conference just put my head in overload and it took me awhile to understand, but because of it I am stronger and digging into scripture like I never had before and am finding out amazing stuff.
Here are some of my notes from the conference and some of my own in site as I go through them! :)
There were six statements that Beth Moore went through...
1. Man was created in the image of God
2. The fall of man distorted the image of God, but failed to destroy it
3. Christ IS the image of the invisible God
4. Christ incarnation was not only to redeem man. It was also to redeem the image of God in man.
5. Yielded to His Spirit redeemed man increasingly emanates the image of God
6. The purpose of man's existantance will be complete when he beholds the unveiled image of God.
First off we have to start with Imago Dai which is by definition "image of God" applied uniquely to humans, which denotes the symbolical relation between God and humanity. Genesis 1:27 "God created man in his own image." This totally thrilled and scared me because if we are the image of God and He created us in His image, man I need to get my act together!! :) God is seriously the best artist I've ever known. I mean look at what he created. There is no way all of this could have just appeared. He took his time and he created every fiber of this world and then He created us!! Instead of just saying "let there be human" He took his time and created and sculpted us into His image, and then He actually breathed life into us. His breath made us who we are. He is in us! Just think on that a moment...
He is in us!!! This was God's plan and you know he thought it through! God has a purpose! "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 We may have fallen short, but God ultimately has it figured it out. Yea sometimes we wonder around confused, but God has the plan and will put us on that path we need to be going in order to fulfill His plan. No matter how hard anyone tries they cannot destroy God's image. They just can't because fact is He created us in His image and we can't change that!
Christ Is the image of the invisible God: Colossaians 1:15(the Message) "We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank of angels-everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it together right up to this moment." You see Jesus was here before it all began because He is God! He knew when He came into this world, He was here to fix it!! He knows we are corrupted and need a Savior. We all have these god images and idols that we hold onto in our lives. I know I sometimes hold onto these things like TV and what people think of me and sometimes they become all I think about. I want to lose myself in a show because I don't want to face reality and in doing so that becomes an idol. Yea, I don't bow down to it, but it does take my time away from making the one who created me famous and takes away my time from studying his word. Isaiah 40:18 "To whom, then will you compare God? What image will compare him to?" What image do you have of God? How do you picture Him? This was a weird concept to me. I don't think I ever sat down and really thought of this. How do I perceive God? Is he this mean guy up in Heaven treating us like puppets or is He this great guy up in Heaven who loves and dotes on us and wants us to have this wonderful relationship with us? He loves us. God is LOVE!!
Hebrews 1 (the Message) "Recently he spoke to us directly through his Son. By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God's nature. He holds everything together by what he says-powerful words!" Jesus is our example for what God is like. Recently I have been studying Jesus The One and Only by Beth Moore, and then at the conference when she said this I thought back to the study and it made me think. God is amazing!! Jesus is amazing!! Jesus loved every one and was always there for anyone who needed him, from the homeless, sick, adulteresses, sinners, everyone! Writing this brings tears to my eyes because Jesus is my best friend! He is always there with comforting and encouraging words. He never puts me down, he laughs at me and with me! If Jesus is the image of the invisible God I cannot wait to someday meet Him!!! Study Luke and you will see Jesus is AMAZING!!!
People ask why did Jesus come as a man? This was an awesome concept as well. Jesus had to be man because we were in God's image. Jesus knew He was sent here to die on a cross because we needed a Savior. We needed someone to take away our disgusting sins and bring back our image. We needed the perfect invisible image of God to come down on earth in man form to save us. And Guess what? Jesus did just that!! He rescued us and when he rescued us we were given the image of God back by the Holy Spirit. Now there is no locked door that can keep Him out!! No matter how destroyed we feel or how insecure or inadequate nothing can keep Him out and He will keep knocking and knocking until that one day you open the door and say "Ok God, I'm ready" and that day will change your entire life. He will knock your socks off! It won't be easy and most of your questions won't be answered until that day at the pearly gate but He will work wonders in your life. When you are in despair He will encourage you. When you feel the tears coming He will wipe them away. When you feel the anger coming on He will listen and when your done will say "Ok, now let's fix it." God loves you so deal with it! :) That was said by the worship leader and I loved it so I wrote it down!
When Jesus died on the cross He unveiled our veiled faces! Ephesians 4:22-24 "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" He took on our sins and gave us new life! When we give our lives over to Christ we are new people. We say goodbye to our old selves and hello to this new life with the grace of God. You see God forgives when we ask and truly believe in our hearts that we are forgiven! That is amazing peace feeling. Words cannot describe it! God forgives no matter what sin or where we are in our lives, He loves us and wants us to be happy. Sometimes being a Christian feels like nothing goes right because Satan is trying to bring us down, but if we stand up and tell him to shut up and look up to the one who gives us peace, you will be amazed at how strong you really are with God by your side. He is by your side all day and all night! He loves us and give us hope!
This is just some of the incite I've had from the conference and in the past few weeks. It feels really good to go through my notes and study and really reflect what I learned that weekend and remembering standing there praying with my Grandma I'm getting teary eyed remembering that moment because that moment was totally a God moment! I'm so glad I got to go to this conference and then go through the fog afterwards because going through the fog has made me see what I really learned and a reminder of who God really is! My best friend and the one I want to make famous!! :)
