by Michael Barrett

Discovering by revelation of the Spirit of God that you are a person of destiny in God's kingdom is one of the most thrilling experiences in the life of any believer.  The issue of divine purpose is at the very center of the Christian's ability to experience joy, happiness and true godly contentment.  It is impossible for the child of God to be genuinely fulfilled if he or she is living a life outside of the purpose for which they were designed in the Father's kingdom.

A People of Destiny

Every born again saint of God is a person of destiny.  Each and every one of us has been chosen in Him for a very specific work.  We are given the grace of God, and gifted by Him with something special in mind.  Each of us was called before we were in our mother's womb.  You and I are no less destined for the things of God than was David, Jeremiah, Paul and even our Lord Jesus.  Ephesians 1:3-4 says "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world."  You and I were chosen in Christ "before the foundation of the world!" What an incredible truth, to think that I was selected by God in Christ to play out a certain role in the destiny of the kingdom of God.  The highest level of responsibility for any child of God is to come to the place that you begin to order your activity around the revelation of who you are in God and His kingdom.  If the saints of God could really catch by revelation the fact that "all are called", the impact on the Church and the world would be both sudden and incredibly powerful.  This shift in paradigm would immediately alter the course and speed of the advance-ment of our Father's kingdom.

The primary role of the five-fold ministry is to equip or perfect (fully furnish) the saints for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12).  If we are to really see the saints successfully functioning in the work of the ministry, there are two very clear imperatives.  The first imperative is to preach a message just such as the one contained in this writing.  The clergy-laity system can be a great hindrance to the saints of God ever coming to a place of functional maturity.  The five-fold ministry must help the saints receive by revelation this correct paradigm.  The second imperative for the five-fold ministry is to then train the saints in their particular gifts and callings.  Only when these two imperatives are being accomplished will we see the Church exhibit the glory and the power of God to the world.

The Genesis Face

In James 1:22-25, we find these words, "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."  Let's extract a particular word from this passage and then together see the truth contained in it.  This scripture says that when a person looks at himself he sees his "natural" face.  Now I understand that we have all heard this passage and have had the message of being a doer of the Word versus being a hearer only preached to us countless times.  Obviously, this message can leave us with a negative view of the "natural" face.  I would like to ask you to stop reading just a moment and to pray for the Holy Spirit to give you some fresh revelation and understanding about this natural face, about your natural face.  Please trust me and ask the Lord to help you see what I'm attempting to communicate with you.  (As you pray and continue to read this message, believe that the Holy Spirit is about to show you some things about your own life that will alter your course and set you on a more accurate path towards your true destiny).

The word "natural" found in verse 23 is the Greek word "genesis."  The Strong's Concordance defines this word as nativity or nature.  Webster's dictionary defines the word native as, "produced by nature; born with the being; natural; not acquired-such as a native talent or disposition."  Webster also defines the word natural as opposed to artificial or acquired.  I believe that the natural face of James 1:23 is the true person.  That which is produced by nature, not in a generic sense, but by the very God of creation-the God of nature.  The Father-the Creator has created you with natural talent, ability and disposition.  The grace and gifts of God, combined with the disposition and personal identity you have been created with, is the real you-the natural you-the genesis you!  The real you is what you see as your "Genesis Face."  Remember, you are "born with the being."  There is in you right now, by the very design and creation of God, everything necessary for you to be successful in God.  Those gifts, abilities and talents need to be trained and enhanced, but they do not need to be acquired!  They are natural for you.  You will find the greatest ease when you cooperate with those natural things in God.  You will experience the greatest frustration when you ignore or neglect those natural things.

Let's go back to James 1:23-24.  James says in verse 23 that this person "beholds" his genesis face.  The word "behold" means to fully observe.  There are so many things in our lives that are designed by the enemy for the express purpose of keeping our genesis face veiled or hidden from us.  We must understand that it will be impossible to see who we really are if we don't spend time in the closet with our Master.  Ephesians 1:10 from the Peterson's Message, reads, "It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for."  We can never hope to find out who we are until we begin to find out who He is!!  As we more fully observe who we are, there are two basic responses from which to choose.  One response, the correct response, is to embrace by faith the destiny of God for our lives.  Another response, which is described in James, is to "go our own way."  The Greek word here means to go off, to depart, to go aside, apart or behind.  The impression is that when we go our own way, we immediately get off track or fall further and further behind in the plan of God.  The continuing result, James says, is that we "forget" who we are.  This word simply means that we lose the thought, idea or vision out of our mind.  We are all familiar with the phrase "out of sight, out of mind."  This is exactly what happens when we go our own way.  We lose sight of who we are in God.

What Manner of Man

James further expresses that what we forget by going our own way is "what manner of man" we are.  The Greek word here is very powerful.  It means "of what kind that, that is, how great."  Please bear with me a little at this point and don't misunderstand what I'm saying.  I am very strong on humility and the fact that apart from Jesus we can do nothing.  However, I believe that this is a very impacting word to us if we are able to hear it.  When we "go our way" we forget what kind we are and how great we are.  The greatness here deals with our value as viewed or defined by our Heavenly Father.  To determine the value of an object you must know what price will be paid for that object.  Now, brother or sister, the price that was paid for you was the highest price ever known to mankind.  You were bought with the price of the blood of Jesus!  The highest price for the most valuable object??  Is that too much of a stretch for our finite minds to handle?  I would encourage you to consider the price that was paid for you and understand that if you had been the only person in the earth, that the Father would have still paid the price!!  You were chosen by the Father in the Son before the foundation of the earth.  Look up these four passages and consider them as a word to you personally.  John 15:13-16, 1 Peter 2:9, 2 Timothy 2:4 and Ephesians 1:4.  The Greek work chosen means favorite.  You are your Father's favorite!  You are chosen!!  Not only have you been chosen, but you have also been redeemed.  1Peter 1:18 from the New King James Version says that we have been redeemed from "aimless conduct."  I believe that a revelation of this genesis face and an overriding sense of being redeemed from aimless conduct will serve to endear a person to the perfect will of God.

Destined, Formed and Put

I want you to now go with me to Genesis 2:5-8.  We find there these words, "And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.  But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.  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.  And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed."  I would like to point out several very important features from this text.  The Father knew what the garden was to look like before it was ever "in the earth."  The vision of the desired result was in the Father's heart before the first seed was even planted.  However, He knew that He couldn't afford to plant the seed until He had a man to till the ground.  He couldn't even allow it to rain until He had a steward for the earth in place.  The Lord kept the earth in a ready mode with a mist.  Saint of God, please catch this vision with me.  I want to say to you today, that the Father still has seed in His heart that He hasn't been able to release into the earth, because, I believe, He is still waiting for men and women to step up to their stewardship and calling.  I want to be very bold at this point and say that I believe the Church is living under a "mist" and the Father is holding back a mighty rain until some hear and respond to their calling or destiny.  The scripture says in Genesis 2:7 that God "formed the man."  The Hebrew word translated formed here means "squeezing into shape, to mould into a form; as a potter; to determine."  I believe we are in an hour in the Church that the Father is "squeezing and moulding" many into shape for His ultimate purpose.  Just as in the account of creation, when the Father had formed the man, He put him in the garden, the Father is about to "put" many in His garden to work and protect it.  Can you see yourself being "put" by the Lord into your divine purpose?  Do you have a sense about your life that you have been "squeezed into shape" and that the hand of God is on your life to determine a certain, strategic outcome?  Perhaps this is the very hour for which your loving Heavenly Father has brought you to His kingdom.  You may, even as you read these words, sense a release of rain or refreshment in your spirit to water the Lord's vision and purpose in your life.  If you feel particularly stirred by this message, I urge you to spend some prolonged time in prayer and meditation, asking the Lord to reveal more to you about your gifts, calling and destiny.  I trust that as you do, you will see your "Genesis Face."

To go to a printer friendly version of this article click here.  To send this article, copy and paste the link: www.citychurchla.com/city/the_genesis_face into a new email here.  Address the email and send.