Have you considered the implications of being made in the image of God? An image is a representation of someone or something. It is a re-presentation of the original. As representatives of an individual or an organization, our function is to present or to make known that person or organization to others. We may do so over and over again and each time we re-present the one we serve. We are told that Jesus, as the Son of Man, was the exact representation of his heavenly Father (Heb.1:3). Jesus told Philip, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn. 14: 9). Jesus re-presented the Father to those whom he encountered on the earth. I’m not suggesting that Jesus was the exact representation of God in some physical way while on the earth, but that he carried within him the essence of his Father – his values, his purposes, his perspectives, his ways, his words, and his heart.

In the same way, we are made in the image of the Father and carry within us qualities of his divine nature. Some of those qualities have matured in certain believers. Other qualities are developing and still other qualities exist in seed form waiting to be nurtured so that they can mature and bear fruit. All of mankind was made in the image of God. In many the image has been distorted and fragmented and yet some of that image is still recognizable.

For those who have the Spirit of God within them, that image is in the process of being fully restored. As we become more like Jesus, we become more like the Father and as we mature in Christ, we are able to re-present the Father on earth in greater and more accurate ways. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Cor.3:17-18, ESV). Jesus declared, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father” (Jn.14:9.) He went on to say in the same chapter that those who would have faith in him would do what he had been doing and they would do even greater things.” As the image of God is being restored, we become more like Jesus. As we become more like him, we fit less and less in this world and fit the spiritual realm more and more. In doing so, we take on the capacity to operate in the supernatural by the power of the Spirit and our words, prayers, and actions take on more significant properties.

Many believers never consider the idea of operating or living out of the supernatural or spiritual realm yet we truly are spiritual people because the Spirit of God lives within us. We are now citizens of heaven and are now seated in heavenly realms with Jesus. Living in the supernatural rather than the natural is simply a perspective or a point of reference. Jesus lived with the perspective that he was a representative of heaven living on the earth who could call on the power and the resources of heaven at any time to fulfill the purposes of the Father. A few loaves and fishes were multiplied to feed 5000. Water became wine. Withered hands were reformed. Blind eyes blinked at sunlight. Jesus was not surprised by any of those things. He expected the power and provision of heaven to be available to those who were children in his Father’s house and representatives of the King. He has called on us to live and pray with the same expectations.

I suggest that one of our daily prayers should be for the Holy Spirit to give us a revelation of who we are in Christ and where our home truly is. We should ask the Spirit to give us a revelation of our spiritual nature and what it means to live on earth while planting our hearts and minds in heaven. If we are truly made in the image of God and that image is being restored then we should expect our dominion over the works of God’s hand to increase as well since that was God’s original intent for Adam and his race. The truth is that faith is not only a revelation of who God is or who Jesus is but also who we are in Christ.

“Father, show us who we truly are today in Christ and how to live as true citizens of heaven who re-present you to all those we encounter. Father show us how to rule as you would rule over the works of your hands today and to know what it means to have the power and provision of heaven available to us as it was to Jesus that your will may be done on earth as it is in heaven.”