Genesis 1:27-28 ‘God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Genesis 2:7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
To reach our potential we must recognize our source of life and identity are in God. God formed man’s body from the earth, but the breath of life and what makes us who we are came from God. The day Adam and Eve sinned, they died because they were cut off from the source of life. Their soul man began to degenerate with sin and their body eventually died also. It was like cutting a healthy green tree from its roots. The tree will stay green for a while, but then the leaves will begin to dry and fall off. Eventually the whole tree will die and begin to decay. But through Jesus Christ we have been made spiritually alive and connected back to God.
1 John 4:4 says, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” Our training, education, five senses and, and life experiences try to keep us connected to the world. We measure ourselves and others by what we see, hear, and feel. It can cause us to worry and fret, feel devalued, measuring ourselves by how we look or what we own, or how we perform. If we are not careful, we even measure our spiritual life and ministry by man’s standards. As long as we see ourselves and others by worldly standards, we are bound to this decaying world. But we are not of the world, we are of God! Those who are of God, overcome the world!
Daniel, who was taken into captivity, rises to become the second in the empire. Joseph, unjustly sold as a slave in Egypt, rises as a slave to be in charge of Potiphar’s whole house. When falsely accused and thrown in prison, he is put in charge of the whole prison and from prison rises directly to be second in Egypt. David, the shepherd boy, kills a lion and a bear, then kills Goliath, and becomes the greatest general in Israel’s history. It was he of whom the people said, “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” David then becomes the greatest king in Israel’s history.
What was their edge? What enabled them to rise above the injustices of life? It was because God was with them. Daniel, as a youth arriving in Babylon, purposed in his heart not to compromise himself with the Babylonian system. (Daniel 1:8) Three times a day he knelt down to pray to remind himself that he was not a Babylonian, that he was a child of God and that God was his source. (Daniel 6:10) Joseph understood his God-given destiny. David was a man after God’s heart. They all worked hard and were good at what they did, but their edge in life was their relationship with God.
We often relegate the Holy Spirit to ministry, but like Daniel Joseph, and David, the Spirit wants to give us success in every area of our lives. The Holy Spirit is a creative genius, a brilliant educator, ultimate economist, righteous politician, and noble warrior. But we often get so busy and caught up in the world’s way that we fail to hear His still small voice and do things His way. “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” No matter what area or field of life you work in, your edge is your ability to bring the Holy Spirit to bear on what you are doing.
Andy Clark
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