If you are like most of us Christians, you go to Church, hear a good sermon, go home, and try to live a decent life, always wondering why bad things still happen, try to trust God, and keep trudging on.
Sound familiar?
Hello, my name is John Dumke, Sr. I am 82, almost 83 years of age, and now, after 45 years of diligently seeking the Lord, reading the Bible every day, the Spirit of our living Lord revealed a truth that I have been missing all these years! I am about to share it with you, and trust me, if practiced in your life, it will change everything!
A little background. I am the son of a pastor, I was brought up believing everything the Bible says as true, attended all the Church services and activities in my father’s Church until I left home. For a while I continued with Church attendance, but eventually got so busy raising a family and with work that I put off the Church stuff. I didn’t give up on God and Jesus, I simply found other things more important.
Sound Familiar?
Then I wondered why things didn’t turn out the way I wanted, and I began doubting that God really loved and cared for me. You see, He wasn’t giving me what I wanted, and I wanted to know why! After all, “If you are the all-powerful God, you say you are, why aren’t you giving me what I want and need?”
Sound familiar?
At age 37, after working to build up a portfolio of aver $1,000,000.00 in rental properties, plus starting both a wholesale and a retail appliance and electronics business, due to some changes in financing rules and regulations, I saw myself losing everything, and going broke! While in this frenzy, a friend of mine gave me the book, “How to Live Like a Kings Kid”, by Harold Hill. I started reading it one night, couldn’t put it down. Finally, at 2:30 AM, I laid the book aside and prayed. “Lord, I don’t believe I need you to save me, come into my heart, I did that when I was 7 years old. But I now see, I have never submitted myself to you, or asked you to take over my life. I do that now, Lord.”
Although I had not had a good night’s sleep in over a month, I slept like a baby. Although I had lost over 20 lbs. in the last 30 days because I just couldn’t, and did not want to eat, I was hungry and ate again, because the peace of Christ overcame my spirit. I was at peace! Then everything fell in to place just like I wanted it to. Right?
Nope!
I ended up in bankruptcy!
But God is patient, when and if we let Him, he will work everything out for our good and His glory! Hallelujah!
The truth I am about to reveal to you is the secret success formula God has given us, and most have never heard of it and therefore have never practiced it. Hang on, here it comes!
Why could I not see this earlier in my life? Things would have been so much different, but I didn’t. Perhaps I was not ready to listen and learn, until then. Wanting to learn more about God’s way of doing things, I started studying the Bible from the beginning, again, and I noticed something, there was a God formula that He used and still uses, and we are to do the same, use His formula for our lives.
There is one caveat that must be stated at the beginning. This formula will work for good things as well as evil things, because it is a universal truth. Therefore, if we want the blessings of God, we must use it only for God’s glory and therefore, for our good. To use it apart from God is to invite the curses of the world into our lives.
Here is the God used formula!
- Imagine it.
- Speak it.
- Believe it and act on it.
Imagining the creation in His mind is the first part of the formula.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Now comes the second part, He speaks what He just imagined.
Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
The third part is to believe and act on your belief. He did that by acknowledging it and giving instructions to the creation.
Genesis 1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Now as we read through the rest of creation, He repeats this formula 8 different times for various creations.
Genesis 1:6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
Genesis 1:7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
Genesis 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Genesis 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
Genesis 1:10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
Genesis 1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Genesis 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Genesis 1:15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give Genesis light upon the earth: and it was so.
Genesis 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
Genesis 1:17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
Genesis 1:18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Genesis 1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
Genesis 1:21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
Genesis 1:23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Genesis 1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
Genesis 1:25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
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, 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 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 1:28 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, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Genesis 1:29 And , Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
Genesis 1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
In these few verses we see God imagining what He was going to do, then saying what He was going to do 8 times, then He gives instructions of what He wanted His creation to do, thereby confirming that He believed it was done. Amen, and Hallelujah!
What you look like on the inside
Anyone who has read the Bible knows this scripture.
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, 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 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Let’s state some basics to begin with. We all know that God is a Spirit, not a human being, therefore, when He created us in His own image and likeness, what He created was a spirit being that looked just like Him! Then He had to give this new being the equipment to function in this earth environment to carry out the duties which He, God, would assign to him.
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 soul.
“The human body is one of the most complex structures in nature, yet it is made up of those SAME basic minerals and elements that are our natural resources.” (soil)
Now the creator God instructs his man on his vocation, or what he was to do.
Genesis 1:28 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, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Okay, it is done! God the creator has created a being in His image and likeness, has given them a body, or equipment, needed to operate on this planet, and then gave the authority or power to accomplish their tasks. What more could they need?
Oh wait, One more thing. God did not want slaves, no, He wanted beings who had free will, and would follow Him and be obedient to Him because they wanted to!
As a parent, you and I, and my soul mate, Nita Raye, trained our children to be creative, expand their thinking, do what they had a desire to do, BUT within certain guidelines, or boundaries. We did this for their own good, because life had taught us truths about the world that they had yet to learn.
Genesis 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
We see in verse 16, God gives man the liberty to eat and enjoy the fruits of the garden, and of their labor, then in verse 17 He sets the boundary with the result of disobedience clearly stated.
Adam and Eve were created righteous!
Satan knows what it is like to be in God’s good graces, because before he and Pride got together to attempt to overthrow Almighty God, he too was righteous! Did you realize that?
In the first chapter of my book “The Human Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane” I write about how the spirit of Pride drew the most beautiful and the most greatly talented Angel, Lucifer, into disobeying God. Yes, I took some literary license, but the evidence indicates that something like that happened. You see, Satan has no authority to do anything on this earth without the agreement of a human cohort! Why? Because creator God, (we just read this), gave dominion of the earth to humankind, not to spirit beings! We have all heard the comment, “The devil made me do it!” In reality the devil suggested to the human, he might want to do something by “selling” the idea as a “It will satisfy your desires!” He, Satan, uses the same old tricks and questions he used with Adam and Eve! Really? Yes! Let me show you.
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Genesis 3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Genesis 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Genesis 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
The subtlety of the Devil hasn’t changed, he does the same thing today, as he did in the garden! Have you ever heard someone say something like this when they committed a sin, say of adultery? “I saw how beautiful she was, and I just had to have her!” then after the act, they were ashamed and regretted their decision!
We see this played out throughout the Old Testament time after time, and in areas of not just adultery but in breaking the very first commandment, by following other gods!
God saw what was happening and as only He could, He solved the problem by sending a Savior, Jesus Christ His Son!
How did that solve the sin problem? Let’ s look at it from His prospective.
First, beginning in the Garden of Eden, it would take the shedding of blood to cancel the penalty of sin, which is death. So, in the Old Testament, under the old covenant it took an innocent creation, a lamb, or other animal, who had not sinned, to be sacrificed to cover the human’s sin, it didn’t blot it out, but covered it so God could intervene in their lives.
Secondly, God had a plan to erase the sin, blot it out. But to operate within the boundaries He had set, it would have to be a sinless human being who would be willing to shed his blood to satisfy the law and bring humankind back into a right relationship with Him, as it had been in the Garden of Eden, before sin entered in.
So, the third part of the solution was and is this. He had His Son, part of Himself, a perfect Spirit being, enter the world as a human being, born of a woman, but with a righteous Spirit, made in His image, and His likeness, live and mature in a fallen world, without sinning, then anointed Him to tell the world what they needed to do to return to right standing with God, and then offer Himself as the only sacrifice that could and would pay the price for sin and blot it out forever!
Jesus did exactly that! He paid the price for our sins! In God’s eyes sin and the Devil are defeated! So how can we take advantage of Jesus’ sacrifice?
Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
There it is! As humans we can do nothing of ourselves to get back into a perfect relationship with God! But, because of what Jesus did, if, and when we accept Him as our Lord and Savior, confess our sins, ask Him to come into our hearts, submit to His Lordship over our lives, we are “born again”! Our humanity is still there, but our spirit has been re-created in the image and likeness of God! From that moment on, when God, our Abba, (Daddy) Father looks at us, He sees Himself, perfect righteousness, and welcomes us into His family as a son or daughter!
If we, that is our humanness sins, we have an advocate, who is Jesus, to plead our case before the Father, and all He has to say is; “Father, it is covered, paid for by My blood!”
Wow!
So, are you saying that just as God created mankind, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in His Image and His likeness, when I am born again, He, God, does a recreation in me creating my new spirit in His image and likeness?” Yes!!!
Prove it by scripture!
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
When we accept Jesus as our Lord and savior, God the Holy Spirit begins a work in us to bring our humanness into alignment with our new righteous spirit. Yes, it will take a lifetime, but when we enter God’s Prescence we will be as He is. Hallelujah!
So, what should you, we, do now? Remember the formula.
Imagine it!
Begin right now to see the real you, that is your spirit, as righteous before God. You are made in His image and likeness! Period! Stop demeaning yourself! You are righteous!
Speak it out!
I am the righteous of God in Christ Jesus, not because of anything I did, but rather what Christ Jesus did in me.
Believe it! Act on it!
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Begin today to seek God’s guidance in everything you do. Imagine it, speak it, and do it.
Question. How would you act today if you knew, without question, that your future was settled as you had imagined it and spoken it, and it was what you knew God wanted you to do and be? You would walk out each minute, hour, and day in full confidence that you would experience what you were believing for! Well, then do it! To the glory of God! Hallelujah!
12/24/2022 John H. Dumke, Sr.