In the beginning of time, God appointed humankind to be His image bearers on earth. Because God is spirit, the image we were appointed to bear was spiritual and our spirits and souls were fashioned to be housed in a body that would serve as a symbolic representation of God’s temple. In essence, the temple of our bodies would house the fullness of God and He would delegate dominion and authority to us to bring heaven on earth.
The English language has severe expressive limitations and so I do not believe we can ever humanly express the full scope of who God is. For the purposes of this blog, however, I would detail the fullness of God as bearing the completeness of the Trinity:
1. God the King, Father and Creator
2. Jesus Christ, the Son, our High Priest and Redeemer
3. The Holy Spirit, our Teacher, Comforter and Intercessor bearing the full expression and manifestation of the seven spirits of God.
When Adam and Eve fell out of covenant with God by their disobedience, we see where the image they bore became perverted. They no longer reflected a true image of their Creator and who God created them to be. Sin dismantled their spiritual nature and consequently, their temples became defiled. Mankind by nature of their sinfulness sought independence from God’s Kingdom hierarchy, and they made spiritual appeals and petitions to dethrone God to suit their own sinful and self-inflamed agendas.
Truthfully, we are all called to choose whether we would like to sit on the throne of our hearts and govern ourselves or allow God to take up His position as our King by dethroning the permissiveness and entitlement of “self”. God is fully interested and invested in not only sitting on the throne of our hearts but also FULLY expressing and manifesting His nature, personhood and image in and through us. God is not interested in part-time or half-witted possession. By the blood of the Lamb, we have been fully reconciled unto God through Christ and our adoption into His family as sons and co-heirs with Christ means we have been brought back into our rightful position as COMPLETE. It is imperative that we as believers never forget that we have been bought with a price and so God holds the title and deed to our lives.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
In the beginning, God completed His earthly creation in six days and determined that everything He made was good. Before the entry of sin, we too were deemed “good” in God’s eyes. When sin entered the human race, God’s good order became corrupted. Because of this corruption, God devised a way for us to be a “good” creation of His again. Jesus Christ died on the cross to redeem us from the penalty of death and He paved the way for our spiritual rebirth. Salvation gives us access to be reborn of His Spirit and water so we can carry the fullness of the tripartite God within us as new creations. We are not good in and of ourselves but rather we are perfected by Christ and brought back into a righteous standing before God because when God sees His Son in us, He sees a representation of what He originally created and intended for mankind. As new creations carrying the goodness of Christ within us, we qualify to be called “good” by our Creator again.
Let’s examine a few scriptures on the fullness of God:
Colossians 2:9-10
“For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.”
Ephesians 3:17-19
“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 4:13
“Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
Colossians 3:11
“A renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.”
1 Corinthians 15:28
“When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.”
Ephesians 4:11-13
“And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
In order for us to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God, we must offer up ourselves as vessels to be filled. We must allow God to feed and fill us with His Word because the capacity of our vessels increases as we receive more and more knowledge of Him. God not only fills up our vessels, but He also recreates us over and over as He pours into us so that we can hold more of His likeness and showcase an uncorrupted reflection of Him.
We are not stationary beings made of plastic or paper. We were designed straight out of heaven encoded spiritually with the divine and symbolic likeness of a seed. A seed is not just simply a seed – it is the potential and promise of a forest. Within it holds seeds, roots, leaves, fruits, trees, flowers and so much more and yet, in the beginning of its life cycle all we can see with our physical eye is the seed. A seed is unable to realize the fullness of what it is if it is not planted and likewise, we cannot fully manifest who God created us to be if we are not planted and enriched by God. When God plants us by the rivers of living water, out of our bellies will flow living waters too.
To some God has given one talent, and to others He has given multiple. To some He has given the office of prophet and to others He has ordained as apostle. We all hold various portfolios in the earthly realm, but we are all called to carry the same spiritual DNA of Christ and to be planted as heavenly seeds on earth. The amazing thing about being a vessel manufactured by God is that His vessels evolve with the inflow of His Word. His vessels are ever expanding and ever growing to accommodate every Word spoken and promised.
While we are on our spiritual adventure with the Lord, we must remember that we also have an Adversary, the devil who roams the earth to and fro seeking whom he may devour. His primary aim is to steal, kill and destroy every Word poured into you by God. His desire is not to see your vessel grow but rather to see it diminish, self-destruct and expelled from the plans and purposes of God. If we contaminate what God pours into us with sin, we give the Devil who is our ever-present Accuser, a foothold in our vessel. Because Satan’s nature is one of destruction, he endangers the spiritual integrity of your vessel by causing damage which in turn causes leakages. The Word of God starts seeping out and the contaminated water of the world starts seeping. He knows if he can get the Word of God to drain out subtly and the blessings of God to leak, there will be no growth in your vessel and the promises of God will wear thin. He knows if he can only corrupt the DNA of Christ in you, there will be a reproduction of his poisonous DNA.
In spite of our spiritual shortcomings, we as believers MUST rise up in true repentance and by faith confess and declare the Word of God. We must avail ourselves to receive more of His Word so that we can have light to see. Satan’s trick hat is attacking us in the areas in which we have no knowledge, and it is easy because when you are ignorant, you cannot see in the dark. You cannot see the Devil coming in the dark, but you can definitely prepare and armour yourself for him when there is light. The God we serve is not only in the business of creating, growing and sustaining His vessels; He is also in the business of repairing any leakages caused by the Devil or our own rebellion, disobedience and sin so that our vessels do not sink into despair and death.
One of my favourite bible verses is Jeremiah 1:12 which states:
“The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”
Through Christ, we have been washed, sanctified and justified but moreso, we have been given a guarantee. If only we would just OBEY God, we would see Him watch over every Word He has poured into our vessels until it is fulfilled, and He would pour into us until we have indeed been made complete. If only we would subject ALL things to Him (our bodies, mind, emotions and will), He would be our all in all. Because we cannot pour from an empty cup, we must be filled. Our infilling is not only to be image bearers but to also be cup bearers of His Word. Our aim is not only to be filled by God for ourselves but also to pour the goodness of God into others so that the reflection of who God is can be seen.
We fill up our vehicles with fuel everyday so that we can travel to and fro. May we never be found with a leaking vessel or shut down spiritually due to the lack of God’s Word. May we allow God to service us with His light and merciful love.
As we end today’s blog, my only encouragement is for you to be bold enough to go to God in prayer. Allow Him to pour into your vessel and while He’s doing that, you can cast on Him all your cares.
Prayerfully sing the words of this song:
Fill my cup, Lord; I lift it up Lord;
Come and quench this thirsting in my soul.
Bread of Heaven, feed me till I want no more.
Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole.
