Created in His Image with Authority

We can see in the very beginning that God’s purpose and intent for man is to have  His image and His authority.  Man was created in God’s image to exercise His authority over the earth.   That is what a priest is:  A priest is one who reflects the image, the glory, and the light of God and has God’s authority. 

Genesis 1:26:  “And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness.  And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the foul of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.  So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him.  Male and female created He them.  And God blessed them.  And God said unto them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth.  And subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the foul of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”  

A lot of people are trying to have spiritual authority today.  Some are trying to take authority over diseases, over sickness, and many other things.  But unless you have the light and the glory, and you are a carrier of the presence of God, you really don’t have any authority.  Genuine spiritual authority comes out of a person who carries the divine presence, nature and character of God within them. Spiritual authority does not come from the natural carnal mind. Spiritual authority comes from a higher consciousness of spirit. That is why Jesus said “I of my own self can do nothing.”

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. Ex 19:5-6

So we see that God’s original intention when He called His people out of Egypt was to make every one of them, corporately, a kingdom of priests unto Him.  And again, a priest is one who lives in God’s presence.  The Old Testament priest was a type of the New Testament priest, but in shadow.  He lived in the presence of God and he worked in the temple of God, and everything he handled was a type and a foreshadow of the reality of Christ. From the shadow of the Old Testament we can discover that everything the priest did relates to how we experience Christ in our daily life.

I say again, the Old Testament priest that carried the Ark of the Covenant on their shoulders was a type of the New Testament priest.  The priest literally carried God’s testimony on their shoulders.  Well, today we carry the Ark of the Covenant on the inside of us.  We are carriers of the divine presence of God. The most important thing we will ever do is not work for God but spend time in God’s presence and allow him to fill us with His spirit, then everywhere we go His divine presence will flow from our innermost being. We will then accomplish much more than we could by working for Him from the flesh and religious carnal mind. It will be simply a matter of the divine Spirit of God flowing through man to do the works of God. 

Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. 2 Cor 3:3 KJV

When you are regenerated you now have a heart of flesh, your spirit is awakened and you begin to be conscious of the Spirit. At that point you become an open book and begin to hunger for the things of God. Your heart is brand new and you become like an open book. A priest speaks to and ministers to your spirit and his or her words become written on your new heart and begin to build you up and lay a foundation of Christ in you the hope of glory. A priest does not minister to your mind but to your spirit.

1 Cor 2:14 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. KJV

Your heart is brand new.  And you are just like a blank page on a book.   A minister of God can come to you, begin to minister to your spirit, and it’s just like writing on the pages of a book.  He literally ministers by the Spirit, and releases an anointing, and even His very words have within them Spirit and Life to penetrate into your being and cause you to begin to grow in spirit.

A priest is one who speaks and dispenses God into other people. If we can’t do that we waste our time by ministering by carnal reasoning's and doctrines of men. If we go out and teach them all the doctrines, and even teach them that Jesus is their Savior, and ask them to have Jesus to come into them, if it is just an intellectual thing we do them a disservice. The intellectual gospel is the big problem today. The intellectual gospel says you must believe right or you cannot be saved. As long as you believe right everything is OK, but if you believe wrong or do not believe some things you cannot be saved.

I have talked to many preaches and other folks about the gospel being a matter of the heart and not the intellect. You do not have to know anything to be saved. You just need a heart that wants to know God. All of us who really want God have been caught up in religion one way or another. Religion and right doctrine will not save you. You must have Christ revealed IN you to really know him and be saved from the religious and carnal man.

A person will always go after what they desire. If we do not have a desire for a deeper relationship with God we will not advance in spiritual life. We may go to church, or the temple or a mosque or a house church without really growing in the things of God.

However once you have Christ revealed in you not just as a doctrine but in reality your life will change, and you will not be trapped by religious doctrine. You may still attend religious services but you will not let their teachings put you in bondage.

If someone is ministering to you, and you are really being fed, that means that you yourself will recognize a change in your life, and others will recognize the change in you also. You will become more loving, forgiving and lose your resentment and bitterness. You will become Christ like as He is being formed in you.