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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781482809480 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Partridge Publishing |
| Publication date: | 10/14/2015 |
| Pages: | 180 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.38(d) |
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Unleashed
Spread Your Wings and Fly
By Francis Agbo
Partridge Africa
Copyright © 2015 Francis AgboAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4828-0948-0
CHAPTER 1
IN THE BEGINNING
You will never win if you never begin. – Helen Rowland
1.1 In the beginning God
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. -John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And so before there was ever a beginning there was God. God existed before time started. He was there before there was a beginning. He is known as the Ancient of days. That is because before time started He was there. He was before there was a beginning.
I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. – Daniel 7:9
Only a fool would doubt the existence or reality of an Almighty God. God has been there before the beginning. Belief that there is a supreme God is a must if you must live the kind of life He has planned for you. The bible is God's revelation to man of who God is. God has given us a revelation of Himself through the written word of God- the bible. The bible is the word of God that gives us a revelation of who God is. The bible reveals to us the nature, character, works and purpose of God. There is a God who has existed from the beginning. To acknowledge that there is a creator God is wisdom. It is foolish to believe that there is no God. God has always been and will always be. God has no beginning and He has no end. He is LORD and He is a mighty God. Daniel calls Him- the One who had been living forever.
While I was looking, thrones were put in place. One who had been living forever sat down on one of the thrones. His clothes were white as snow, and his hair was like pure wool. His throne, mounted on fiery wheels, was blazing with fire, - Daniel 7:9 GNB
In Nehemiah we are told that He alone is LORD and ruler of the universe. He is creator, owner, ruler and master over heaven and the earth and all things that are in heaven and earth. God alone remains God and He is LORD over everything and everyone.
Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee. - Nehemiah 9:6
The heavens, earth and all that is in them did not just appear. They were created by a Supreme Being. His name is Jehovah God. He is the creator. Believe it or not there is an almighty God who existed before anything or anyone else came into existence. This God is the self-existent one. Everyone and everything else is created. He alone is not created. He is the creator. That you don't believe there is an Almighty God don't mean that there is no God. An atheist does not believe in God. He deceives himself and is foolish to say there is no God.
The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. Psalm53:1
It will do you good even excellently to acknowledge Him as God. It hurts you the most when you live believing there is no God. The word of God says God is real and you had better believe it for your own good. You can't hope to reach your full potential in God while doubting the existence and reality of God.
1.2 God created everything
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. Colossians 1:16-17
In the beginning God created everything. There is nothing that exists that He did not create. The theory of evolution is a lie. Any theory, idea, suggestion, thought or law that denies the existence of God is a lie. It is plain dumb or foolish for anyone to believe that this vast universe just appeared out of nothing. The universe did not just happen. God made the universe and all that is in it to happen. Chemistry, biology, philosophy or science cannot explain God or His works. Indeed as scriptures say only a fool would say there is no God.
The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. Psalm53:1
God is the creator of all things in heaven and on earth. The visible and the invisible. All things is all things. God created everything. Even the devil is created. He is not stronger than God. The creature cannot be stronger than the creator. Never. He is not as powerful as he has deceived the world to believe that he is. He is a created being. God is the Creator. No creature can be stronger than the Creator. There is only one supreme creator and He is LORD over the universe. He created heaven, earth and everything that is in them. His name is Jehovah God. All things in heaven and earth were created by God. The visible and the invisible things were all created by God. Principalities, thrones, powers and ALL things were created by God. Nothing and no being is stronger than God.
And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment. And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. -Hebrews 1:10-12.
God laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens, the earth and all that is them is the work of God's hands. God owns everything because God created everything. He existed before the beginning. He was been there before the beginning started but He will never grow old or weak. He remains the same. God remains God. He is not less God today than He was yesterday.
1.3 Created by God for God
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.- [Genesis 1:26
God created man. Man is not the product of evolution or human philosophy, logic or thinking. Man was created by God and in the image and likeness of God. The bible says so and that settles it. We cannot know God through biology, medicine, philosophy or human knowledge. It will always be an exercise in futility for geography to try to explain creation. The word of God is the only thing that can show us who the creator is, who the creature is and what the creature can do. God is the creator of the universe. The heaven and the earth did not just happen. God created the universe.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. - Genesis 1:27.
When He wanted fish He spoke to the water. When he wanted plants He spoke to the soil but when He wanted man, He spoke to Himself. Man was taken out of God. God the Father said to God the Son and the Holy Spirit let us make man in our image.
Man was created in the image of God. God created man. It is an insult to God to say man descended from apes. You are giving the glory that belongs to God to another when you credit another with what should be credited to God. And the word of God says His glory He will not share with another. When you take the praise or adoration or the acclaim that belongs to God you have denied Him the glory. Yet God says He will not permit that His glory be given to another.
I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. - Isaiah 42:8
It does not matter what science and evolution say. Man was created in the image of God. God the creator created man. Man is not a descendant of apes or monkeys. Man's origin cannot be explained by the mind of man. A child can't tell who his father and mother are because he or she was not there when they were conceived. It is the father of the child that tells the child who his or her father is. The creator can't explain the account of his creation outside of the creator. Creation is trying to explain the origin of creation. It is not possible. The creator alone can explain the origin of creation and the purpose of creation. You are God's creation. He is the Potter and you are the clay.
But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. –Isaiah 64:8
Is that not so beautiful? God is my Father. I may be the clay but He is the Potter and dear friend God does not make nonsense. He does not make thrash or junk. I am the work of God's hands. God does not make mistakes. You are not a mistake. Yes we all make mistakes but just because you made a mistake does not mean you are a mistake. I am God's masterpiece. Specially designed and crafted by God Himself. Better appreciate and love you because you are God's masterpiece with value and honor. You are valuable and you are honorable because you are God's creation. Ephesians 2:10 says we are God's workmanship. We are the work of His hands. Ignore the theories of evolution, natural selection and the like. These theories are a pack of lies and the product of much thinking or imagination. You are created by God and that is the truth.
And I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me. Everything you do is marvelous! Of this I have no doubt. - Psalm 139:14 CEV
1.4 Created like God
Like God does not mean we are equal to God. We are in the same class with God. When God wanted animals He spoke to the soil. When He wanted man He spoke to Himself. God is a spirit being. Man is a triune being- a spirit that lives in a body and has a mind. The spirit of the man is the real man. The physical body of the man is the cloth or "earth suit" that clothes the spirit of man. The man is a spirit. To operate in the earth man who is a spirit needed a body so God formed a body out of dust for the spirit man. Man is thus a spirit being that lives in a body suit. When we wear clothes on our physical bodies the cloth is not our body. Our physical bodies are hidden within the cloth. Our spirit is that part of the man or woman that is created in the image of God. The body is not created in the image of God but the spirit of man is created in the image of God.
Likeness - same class of being as the Godhead. Not almighty God but we are gods. Not Almighty God but in the same class as Almighty God. In our likeness. In our class. Man was created like God. Not almighty God but in the class of gods. Man was not created equal to almighty God yet we are created in the same class like God. Like beget like. Flesh beget flesh and spirit beget spirit. Man is spirit with a body. God is spirit without a body. A body of clay was given to man to enable him live in the earth. Man is not evolved from monkeys as evolutionists will have us believe. Man came forth from God. God gave man life. Man was created in the image and likeness of God. Man who is a god was created in the same class as almighty God.
Understanding who God is and who and what He created you to be is crucial if you must be everything God wants you to become. Understanding your true identity in God is a must if you must reach your destiny or potential in God. The word of God explains who the creator is, gives us understanding of who we are, the creator's purpose for our lives and how we can fulfil His purpose for our lives. The function of a thing is closely related to its structure. Until you understand what a product is created to do by the manufacturer you cannot get the best of what it (the product) is supposed to do. That's why when a manufacturer makes a product he also includes a user's manual that describes what the product is and explains how the product functions. The manufacturer describes the various parts of the product- structure. He also describes the functions of each part so the user can derive benefit and satisfaction from the product.
Sadly what we often do is to ignore the manufacturer by ignoring the user manual. We think we know so we ignore the manufacturer's instruction. We throw away the user manual and ultimately we then pay the price when the product malfunctions or we fail to get the maximum benefit from the product. Man ignores God and fails to reach his potential only to turn around and blame God for his failure or defeat.
To live life at your best you must understand who you are. You must understand the reason you were created by the creator God. To manifest your best in God you must ask yourself - who am I. Why did God create me? To live your best you must understand your person, your God given responsibilities, abilities, strengths. Who is man? What or who am I? Your function is closely related to your identity. An eagle cannot fly (its function) if it thinks it is a chicken (structure). It will live life as a chicken if it is ignorant that it is an eagle. To be your best you must realize and live in the realization or revelation that you were created to be the best possible you that you can be and live the best possible life that you can live.
It's time to fly but you can have wings and still not be able to fly because you do not know what the wings are for. We often settle for less than God's best because we accept less of ourselves. Who is man? To understand who man is we have to ask the one who manufactured or created the man? We think we know man. We want to find meaning in life but we ignore the creator God. We think we know ourselves and so we ignore the One who created us. We don't ask Him. We don't seek Him. He understands the structure of man because He is the One that created man. We seek to live a fulfilled life but we ignore the one who is the author and sustainer of life- Almighty God.
We pursue success and satisfaction in places and things that we can't find it. God is the creator of life and all created things including man. What is God's intention or purpose for man? Why man? Who is man? We must understand God's purpose for man if we are to live the good and abundant life He has planned for us. His plan before the fall and still even after the fall is that man might live the abundant life.
The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). John 10:10 AMP
Someone has said that it is discovery that leads to recovery. An eagle can live among chickens all its life and not fly because it did not know it can fly. The day it (the eagle) discovers what its wings are meant to do it begins to fly. It's never too late to discover the life God planned for you and to live it. Abraham met God at 90 and that was when he started to live the blessed life. Moses started his journey into greatness at age 80. God is a restorer and He is able to restore the lost years. So don't dwell on the past. Don't dwell on your mistakes, failures, what has happened or not happened.
So Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded them. Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was eighty-three when they made their demands to Pharaoh. -Exodus 7:6-7 NLT
At age 85 Caleb was still living the life of a winner or overcomer and conquering lands, territories, and mountains. Age is a number not an obstacle to your success and greatness. You are neither too old nor too young to become who God created you to be and to do what God created you to do. At 85, Caleb refused to settle for less than God's best for him. He grabbed God's promise for his life and refused to let go.
Now, as you can see, the LORD has kept me alive and well as he promised for all these forty-five years since Moses made this promise — even while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Today I am eighty-five years old. I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then. -Joshua 14:10-11 NLT
Don't give in without a fight. It's not too late to "fly". It is not too late to be who God planned that you would be. It is not too late to achieve everything that God planned for you to achieve. Again age is a number and not a barrier. It is only a barrier when you allow it to stop you. Your life is not over because until God says it is over it is not over. You are never too late to succeed and become great. It's not too late to discover yourself and become everything that God created you to be. You are a son or a daughter of God and your world is waiting for you to manifest the potential or ability God put inside you. Somebody will be out of place because you did not manifest the ability God put inside you. If Moses had not manifested his potential as a leader and deliverer perhaps generations of the nation Israel would have perished in Egypt.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Unleashed by Francis Agbo. Copyright © 2015 Francis Agbo. Excerpted by permission of Partridge Africa.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Dedication, ix,Acknowledgment, xi,
Preface, xiii,
Identity, 1,
1 In the beginning, 3,
2 Along came the thief, 21,
3 Along came the Christ, 30,
4 Here come the sons of God, 45,
5 Power and authority to unleash greatness, 59,
6 On purpose with a purpose, 80,
7 Take responsibility, 95,
8 Tear the leash and move forward, 138,
9 To God be the glory, 153,
10 The conclusion of the matter, 162,