One of the ways to read scripture effectively is to study men and women of God as patterns. Every king, prophet, wife, mother, husband, kinsman, priest, doorkeeper or whichever role you may mention, was assigned to a man or a woman who had one or many peculiar things about his character that revealed in some way God’s ultimate plan to redeem mankind, which was Jesus Christ. His plan would go into detail about those who would be in Christ’s genealogy, it spoke of the preparation that would take place in the hearts of men to receive him and it also described the prophets who revealed the things to come. As I often mention, our God is a God of principles and patterns. This is one pivotal reason why His ways are not hidden to humankind. Every man on earth who does not believe doesn’t necessarily carry doubt in his heart about whether there is a God. It is the lack of desire to know this God intimately that births the lack of response to Him.
One of the men mentioned in scripture that is an extinguishable source of lessons to us as believers is King David, the man after God’s own heart. When you read the story of David, you realize that if God was a God who holds our sins against us, then Jesus could have never descended from such a man. The peculiar and distinctive mark about David was (1) his knowledge of God and desire to know more and more of Him and (2) his response to what He knew about this God. These two things one cannot do away with because in order to truly serve and live a life that is pleasing to God, you ought to know Him first and then respond to what you know wholeheartedly.
Then one of the servants answered and said, “Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the Lord is with him.” NKJV
This is the first time David is mentioned in scripture, and the servant of Saul spoke of the son of Jesse in a manner that nothing he mentioned has been physically written as done by David yet. Saul sends his servant to Jesse’s house and says ‘send me your son David who is with the sheep’. Inthe Bible says that God calls the things that are not as though they were. He called Abraham father of nations before he had even one child, likewise He came upon the servant of the king and called David ‘a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, handsome and whom the Lord was with’. Nothing in scripture had been previously mentioned as a battle won by David nor had he given a spectacular speech where he would have been witnessed by many.Yet the God who knows his heart and was with him where many were not, including in the womb when he was being formed and endowed with all these gifts and callings (called him by what he was yet to become.
A man or woman who has not yet understood this reality will not be able to respond to circumstances with the truth found in scripture about what God speaks of us despite it not being manifested in the physical realm yet. Your ability to receive what has been deposited by this Word of truth, will determine how it manifests in your physical realm For example, the Bible calls us masterpieces and because the seed is the Word of God and you have a womb in your spirit that is able to conceive this seed you will inevitably bear the fruit of your seed, just as a woman bears a child from a man’s seed. You cannot receive the seed of a man and give birth to a bird. Likewise, you cannot receive the seed of God who is Spirit and give birth to anything contrary to the will and heart of the one who deposited the seed. No human being that believes in Ephesians 2:10 can stand before a mirror and believe that they are ugly, because a masterpiece is a creator’s best creation among many, and God treats each one of us in a particular way according to how He made us and what He stored in us which is unique to every individual.
He calls us other things like more than conquerors and this is His seed. As you conceive it in your spirit, it takes root and builds fruit that makes you confidently and unshakably know that if you apply for a job opportunity, you are the best candidate there is for it. He calls us able ministers of the new covenant of peace you can never sit in the company of non-believers when you have a relationship with God and not have a word to speak into their lives in season.
Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life. NIV
Now that we have understood what to know about the God who chose us and loved us first it is important to aggressively uproot everything that disagrees with what He has told you about yourself from your spirit, soul and body. In our theme scripture, the Lord says, ‘since you are precious and honored in my sight’, you who is reading this particular line (insert your name if you must) are honored and precious in God’s sight, the God who lacks nothing and yet owns all, cannot lie. Even if your mind decides to tell you otherwise, let the mind be the liar but not your God He continues to say, ‘and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you’. This passage may be a little confusing if again you have not understood how God sees man but in the Bible describes that among all creation in heaven or on earth, mankind is what God made a little lower than himself [selah].
Consequently when He says in that He would give people, these beings He masterfully created just below Himself, His most prized possession for you, it is that you may understand how important you are to God and everything in you can only respond to that knowledge with service.
David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.” NKJV
The man David knew that in all things, he would process his feelings and emotions with God. He would repent of his sins to God, he would ask for advice concerning leadership, war, temple worship and all matters you can face as a human being. He would address all of it to God. He would mourn in God, when he was angry, he would take it to God and be corrected in his mistakes by God and this ladies and gentlemen, is what makes him the man after God’s own heart.
Many of us invite God in some areas of our lives, perhaps on Sunday at church and as soon as the midnight hour has come and we cross into Monday, we work for men, we perform for men, we mourn for men, we give for men, we are angered by men, we seek advice from men, we feel after men and in so doing, we sin against God. No man that has ever understood the heart of God concerning the precious and honored in His sight (us), can tell you that they live for themselves. They are consistently brought to the realization that apart from God, they can’t do anything by themselves Once you begin to truly mature in His love for you by growing in the understanding that it is too great and incomprehensible; all you can do is mourn over your sin as everything else that you do begins to be for His glory
You begin to eat for strength to perform the works of His assignment therein taming your appetites. You begin to dress as one who carries royalty and perfect honor within themselves that they cannot afford to be naked or immodest. You begin to speak as one who knows that since Jesus was perfect in all His speech and you carry Him in you, your speech must be found without reproach. You begin to behold the wisdom of God in creation and your affections that were misguided by the desire to satisfy men and yourself are tamed, causing you to willingly and joyfully conform to His original order and not to what the world prides in. You begin to adore time in His presence because separated from Him, you cannot fully know how to please Him and represent Him.
Child of God, living unto God is not an effort or an exercise. It’s an inevitable response to something you have come to know and cannot ignore or digress from, even if you wished to. Hallelujah!
If you have never given your life to Jesus Christ, and you feel that this is the perfect time, pray this prayer:
“Lord Jesus, I thank you because you died for my sins and you were raised for my glory. Today, I receive you as my Lord and Savior. I am born again. Amen.”
