IMAGO DEI: WALKING IN GOD'S AUTHORITY
What about if the most profound power that you will ever walk in already resides within you, awaiting only your recognition? What if your confidence, your access, and your influence hinge upon the cognitive grasp of a singular verity, which is the essence of your authentic identity?
You are His masterpiece. You are His embodiment upon this Earth; His reflection, His expression, His authority manifest through your very life and existence. Shaped in His likeness, imbued with His nature, you are vested with the wherewithal to fulfil God's will and counsel in the world. You are the Imago Dei.
It is insufficient to bear the title Imago Dei without the consciousness of it. When identity is obscured, the world reflects that uncertainty.
Yet, when we awaken to our divine nature, as said in 2 Peter 1:3–4, creation resonates in kind. Opportunities beckon. World systems align. Your original purpose recognises you and shifts to embrace all that you carry as God's agency on Earth.
IMAGO DEI: LIVING IN YOUR TRUE IDENTITY AS THE IMAGE OF GOD
LIVING AS HEAVEN'S LEGAL TENDER. THE GREAT EXCHANGE
Have you ever wondered what happens when Heaven establishes her economy on Earth through your life? When God doesn’t just bless you, but works through you to shape systems, to create value, and to transform the world around you?
You are Heaven’s currency, stamped with divine authority, carrying God’s image, and backed by His authority. What you carry was never meant to sit idle; it was designed to circulate, to be part of establishing His order and His purpose, and counsel here on Earth.
When God invests His image in you, He expects a return through your creativity, by your productivity, and because of your contributions to effecting His plan here on the Earth. Your life was designed to manifest wisdom, to make impact in a world that is desperate for both.
when Jesus held up a Roman coin and asked a simple yet seismic question: Whose image is on this coin?
Caesar’s image on the coin granted the coin authority, access, backing, the power of legal tender, and of course, the recognition across the entire great space of the Roman Empire.
But what happens when you realize that you carry a far greater imprint than Caesar’s Roman coin? That you are stamped with the very image of God The Almighty? Because when you know this, you stop living beneath your calling and your spiritual credit limit.
YOU become God’s legal tender, Heaven’s currency in the earth authorized to transact His will and to bring about His purpose.
BEYOND COINS & COUNTENANCE: THE TRUE CURRENCY OF OUR IDENTITY
Nation building is one of the highest callings known to mankind. It is the sacred duty of a people to frame society around values that embrace righteousness, protect human dignity and build enduring prosperity for posterity.
Our story as a nation is still being written. However, history warns us of paths which destroy. Instead, she points us toward the patterns that build. History does not repeat itself. It is repeated only by men who refuse to learn.
Nigeria, and indeed Africa stand in need of their own reformation, the kind which transformed Europe and North America in the 16th century and beyond. That reformation laid the foundations of productivity, responsibility and nationhood. So must we also embrace ours in this time under God.
The All-Wise God has always depended on His human family to forge nations. And in every generation, He calls His people to engage in this sacred task.
Like Nehemiah summoned, we too must arise together and build. It is our time to dream again. It is our time to build with courage, with conviction and with creativity. It is our time to build with human dignity under the hand of The Almighty God.
For the sake of our children, their posterity and for the future of our land, this moment demands that we rise as one and build that which will endure.
WHAT IS YOUR NEXT MOVE? THE SEQUEL
When God lifts you, His purpose is never dependency; His plan, ultimately, always is stewardship. To be raised UP by God is intentional release, to move you from mere survival into real significance; to grow you from meagre subsistence into good success. His purpose is to shift you from mediocrity into a deep sense of responsibility.
Why so?
This is in order to free you from slavery and bring you into ownership; to advance you from consumerism and bring you into value creation and productivity.
It is never only about you; it is always about nations. Nations are not built by shortcuts, nor by miracles. Nations rise when you, and all of us together, renew our minds, skill our hands, and set our hearts intentionally towards purpose. My friends, great nations are shaped when people embrace proven values and weave them into the very fabric of their culture.
Some seasons bruise you and bless you at the same time. Yet God knows how to lift you, set you UP on high, and breathe hope into your tired places. When He does this, the next question to you should not be, ‘will you move again?’ but instead: ‘what is your next move?’
This Sunday, we lean into grace for your next steps. We will talk about momentum after mercy, preparation after perseverance, and opportunity that answers only to those who are prepared and ready. This message will interrogate the action for which the release of the power of God is already present and waiting on you to make your next move. I’ve always said that power is on the other side of obedience.
Breaking through is not your destination; it is the gateway to an incredible journey of endless fulfilment.
WHAT IS YOUR NEXT MOVE ?
NOW THAT I'M UP WHAT NEXT ?
What happens when the miracle is done, the deliverance is wrought, and then real life begins on a new level? Too often we prepare for the breakthrough but hardly ever for the responsibility that it brings.
Real faith is not only in getting up; it is in growing up. It is in learning how to step into your new identity and new self-concept. It is learning to live beyond dependence and learning how to step fully into the amazing life that God has called YOU to.
For too many of us, the struggle has lasted far too long, not because God is absent, but because we have refused to change our minds.
The scripture declares that, ”As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Your mindset is not merely a detail of your life, but it is the master key to your profoundly possible destiny.
Could it be that we have become so consumed with our dysfunction that we have lost sight of the vast possibilities that God has already prepared for us?
I will challenge you to lift your focus from the weight of your limitation to the wonder of what is still possible.
CHANGE YOUR MIND & IT'LL CHANGE YOUR LIFE _INTERACTIVE PODCAST
RISE & LEAP FROM HANDOUTS TO THE HAND UP_INTERACTIVE PODCAST
What do you do when life keeps limiting you to the same space? Yes, you are surviving, but you're not advancing. For many, the years just seem to slip right on by, and the opportunities fade away with each new year.
But just one encounter can change everything. Peter, now a new man, spoke a prophetic word ”in Jesus’ name,” and that lame man at the Gate Beautiful suddenly received the surge of supernatural strengthening in his ankles and in his feet. Immediately, he rose up, neither crawling nor stumbling, but leaping and jumping and walking and praising God.
He had never walked before, he had never leaped before, he has never praised God on his feet in 40 years. This was congenital; it was from birth. In one moment, limitation powerfully yielded to upward mobility. It was a shift from a lifestyle of handouts to the amazing hand up, which was a power move from God the Almighty.
Get ready, a power move is available for you to do what you have never been able to do before in your life.
That same power that we see at the Gate Beautiful is still at work today. And did you know that one move from God can turn lost years of limitation into new beginnings of restoration and elevation? What once defined you no longer has to determine you nor your future.