We come to the place where we move to the next level of spiritual maturity.  This level of spiritual growth has to do with taking on the image of God.  In Genesis 1:26 it reads, And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion…”  It is clear from this passage that God’s purpose in creating mankind was to have someone on earth made like him, made in his image. Now we know that God is Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth. To take on the image of God, then, means to take on his spirit image.  God is a spirit being, and He has made us like him – spirit beings. However, the gospel of John adds to the revelation about the image of God. We find in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Here the Holy Spirit takes us deeper. The Word is God.  This being true, then the image of God is the Word. Now there is no need for confusion because Jesus, the Word, said that His Word is spirit and life, John 6:63. We thus come to this conclusion that to take on the image of God means to take on his Spirit image by taking on his Word image. How do you take on the word image of God? By establishing (planting, building) the word of God into your spirit. There should be no doubt that God is His word and the Word of God is God. When you establish the Word of God in your spirit, you establish the image of God in you.

Over and over again in the scriptures, God reveals that those who were truly committed to him, those who served him with their whole hearts, those who sought his face continually were strong in him.  They were courageous, full of faith, and victory in the ways of the Lord.  God’s strength became their strength to live, to pray, to minister, and to do mighty exploits in His name.  God used them to do great things to bring Him glory in the land. But none of it came without a price.  Every generation that saw God’s hand move mightily to bring healing, deliverance, salvation, and victory over the enemy was a generation that turned to the Lord with all their hearts and sought God’s face continually.

You say so much is happening to you? Everyday new demands are placed on you? You are tired of being tired? You feel like giving up? You say that there is even fighting within yourself; that sometimes it is a fight just to stay saved; that there is just no more strength to hold on? You want to know why does it seem like God lets the enemy come in when you are at your lowest and your weakest? Why does God allow you to experience the greatest trial of your life when you have nothing – no strength – to face it with? Beloved, these things will continue to come until you learn without a shadow of a doubt that the battle is not yours but God’s. They will come and continue to come until you learn that you can do all things through Christ who is your strength. These things are going to continue to come until you learn to have way down in your soul the peace of God that passes all understanding. Paul in his darkest hour, a prisoner headed for Rome on board a ship, in the midst of a great storm at sea, will tell you that God will give you the strength you need to go through. Acts 27:20 And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.

There is no way Paul could have gone through all that he went through on his own strength, on his own power.  By his own testimony: II Cor. 11:24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 In weariness and painfulness, in watching often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness. You can make it through all that you have to go through. Do not give in to self not to the trials that you have to go through. God will be your strength. God will see you through. You are never alone.

It is almost like God orders our trials to show us how weak we are. He wants us to cling to Him. His purpose is to bring us to a place where we entirely depend on Him for all things. His purpose is to bring us to a place where we no longer depend on our own strength to overcome in this world but by faith depend upon Him to supply us with the strength we need, when we need it. How many times, since you have been saved, have you said, “help me Lord”? How many times have you said, “Father, I can not take anymore? How many times, since you have been saved, have you stood at your end not knowing that this is where God wanted you all the time…not knowing that your strength must decrease before God’s strength could increase in you?  As long as you have the answer, God can not impart to you His answers.  As long as you are using your strength, God can not impart to you His strength. So He waits. And He waits. And He allows you to go through; but in so doing you begin to see that what you have is not enough…can’t be used… won’t work against the wiles of the Devil.

Everything that God has said in his word concerning you can be established in you by your believing and faithfully agreeing with and saying what God has said. When the word of God is established in you, the world, circumstances, sin, trouble, trials, and Satan are no longer in control of your life. When the word of God is established in you, the word of God is in control of your life by the power of the Holy Spirit. You no longer bend with every wind that comes along. As the Word of God is, so are you. Psalms 119:89 reveals that God’s word is already settled in heaven. “For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.”  Now let us settle and establish it in our hearts/spirits on earth. How? By daily speaking forth the word, meditating on it day and night. In so doing, you move to a new level of Christian maturity, and you take on the image of God and enter his divine purpose for your life.

Four things God held before Israel.  Four things that he required of them if he was to move on their behalf and heal the land.  He said, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall 1) humble themselves, and 2) pray, and 3) seek my face, and 4) turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” II Chron. 7:14. If Israel would do this, God would move.  If Israel would do this, God would heal the land.  If Israel would do this, God would heal, restore and renew.   Now don’t you know of someone who needs healing today?  Don’t you know of someone whose life is broken all to pieces?  Don’t you know of someone who is in a state of despair? Don’t you know of someone who is at their end?  Don’t you know of someone who has just lost their soul?  Don’t you know of someone who needs a breakthrough? God is saying to the Church: If my people, who are called by my name would do what I have called them to do. If the Church, my body in the earth today, would do what I have called them to do, then will I hear them when they call and will answer them and will heal, restore and renew.

Faith in God is what you need. It is what you have to have to believe and trust Him to have His way in your life.  Mark 11:22 …”Have faith in God”.  For Matthew 19:26 “…with God all things are possible”, and regardless of the situation John 11:40 “…if thou would believe, thou should see the glory of God”.  Only do not tell God how to bring the victory in your life.  Do not try to direct God into granting the kind of victory you want or think you need.  Just trust Him.  Trust God and have faith in him to bring the victory you need in every situation.