Wow! Many of you may have heard of Penn & Teller, the comedic, magician act. Penn has always been very open about being a devout atheist.

But still when someone, filled with love for God and men who were created in God's image gave this outspoken atheist a Bible, this is what happened.

May the Lord our God find all His children this obedient and full of compassion for the lost.

Before I share this teaching on how God created man in His image, I want to thank those of you who contacted me and let me know that you were praying for God to give me wisdom from Heaven. I cannot adequately express in words what it means to me that you would go before the throne of God on my behalf, for my edification and growth in the faith. You are more precious to me than you will ever know.

Last week I was inspired by our Father God's Holy Spirit to make a Scripture-picture for our weekly WFW based on Psalm 23:3. And although I had read Psalm 23 in its entirety about a gazillion times (much like everyone else), God revealed to me that I needed to meditate on it once more...so I did.

This passage is so familiar that even unbelievers know and chant it as if it were some holy rabbit's foot that will save them when they're scared or overwhelmed. And sadly, as a child of God, I've misunderstood this passage to mean only that - that God is with us in our times of trouble and will bring us comfort. While this is a true fact about our God, I discovered this passage is not referring to God's comfort here on earth, but for something much greater. It turns out, it's a prayer that only believers would be able to say. This famous prayer of King David is a prayer of confidence in God's ultimate work of salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When the Holy Spirit inspired King David to write verse 3, He inclined David's heart to express the immeasurable peace of God that comes to a soul that is once again restored (brought back to its original state, brought back to a former or original condition). For the soul that is restored, is saved by God's grace, through faith/full trust in Jesus Christ alone. King David then ends this Psalm stating that he is confident he will dwell in the house (Heaven) of the LORD forever.

I was very excited, to say the least, to discover such an awesome truth about our infinitely glorious, holy and righteous God. So much so, I wanted to share with everyone how we were first created in God's image, how we separated ourselves from His holiness and how God Himself, saved us from our fallen state through faith in His Son Jesus, who became the propitiation for our sins; thereby initiating the process of sanctifying (restoring) our condemned souls, so that we might once again partake in holy communion with our Creator by the indwelling of His Holy Spirit.

But as I began to draw pictures to depict this miraculous phenomena of God - creating man in His image, I began to realize that all the teaching I had heard on this subject, didn't work. For years, I was taught to believe the trichotomist theology that man was made in the image of God in that God is a Triune God; therefore, man is a triune man (body, soul and spirit). I never really thought about it very much, but there were lots of great arguments for it and it all seemed to make sense - until of course, I tried to make sense of it all.

I found myself in quite a conundrum when trying to make this theology of trichotomy work. When I first drew it, it seemed odd to me that God is a Triune God, greater than man, yet man was equal to God in being made as a trinity? Somehow, that didn't sit quite right with me and I had a very difficult time trying to draw man and his essence, just like I drew the Trinity of God below with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three in one, and equal.

As my Favorite and I looked and looked over these pictures, we realized that further study was necessary, as there was no way that man is in any shape, way or form just like God. To be made in one's image, does not automatically denote that the image is an exact replica of the original.

I then pulled out Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine by Wayne Grudem, confident that a book about biblical doctrine would include the theology of man and his essential nature (being made in God's image), as well as Scriptures that would prove what is true versus what has been passed down from generation to generation (traditional theology) without question and without Scriptural proof. And sure enough, there it was! [By the way, I highly recommend this book, I use it quite often in my study of Scripture].

I must admit, it was quite taxing to look up all the Scriptures that were referenced and the laziness in me wanted to find a short cut. But I realized that this matter was far too important (really, anything about God is) for me to only read over what I might think to be necessary. I wanted to know the whole truth and earnestly asked God to help me and give me wise counsel through His Holy Spirit. Every time I was tempted to skip a Scripture/passage or favor a conclusion (which was to hold on to what I had always believed), God's Holy Spirit was ever so faithful to continue to remind me:

These words from our Lord Jesus were a great encouragement to me to continue on and finish studying and meditating on every passage noted so that I might not have an "answer" (come to a conclusion) before I finished listening to the full counsel of the Lord.

After much prayer and meditating on God's holy Word, I realized He provided no biblical reference for the trichotomist theology, but only that of the dichotomist theology which concludes that the the essence of man is in two parts (body and soul/spirit) and not three parts (body, soul and spirit). I won't get into all the nitty gritty details, but I will sum up my study on this topic with the following pictures which portray that being made in God's image does not mean we physically look like God or are made equal with God, but that we are an image of His character and nature.

The picture above depicts the essence of man, being created in the image (not exact replica) of God, with body and soul/spirit which are in perfect harmony with one another and more importantly live in harmony with God the Father.

In the picture to our left, we see what happened to the original design of man and his fallen state. The soul/spirit of man is no longer in harmony with the body as God created it (with the soul/spirit governing the actions of the body) because the soul/spirit is now dead to God and corruptible. The death of the soul/spirit also led to the death and condemnation of the body. The body and soul/spirit of man is no longer blessed by God, but is under His curse due to man's rebellion and willful act in the attempt to usurp God's authority and become his own god. Due to this atrocious rebellion, one day, those who have not been made alive in Christ, will suffer the second death, which is, the lake of fire.

Jesus said, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Luke 10:28)

In the picture to the right, we see how God is in the process of restoring man back to his original state for those who have trusted in the name of His Son, Jesus the Christ. But due to sin's corrupting affect on man's flesh, the final restoration will not take place while we're here on earth, but will be fulfilled when our bodies are redeemed. Until then, God uses His Holy Spirit to begin that sanctifying (or restoring) process and we begin to see the soul/spirit gaining victory over the sinful flesh that continues to war against the man's soul/spirit that has once again been made alive by Christ Jesus our Lord.

Can you see that the essence of man - being made in the image of God will once again be fully restored to its original state when those who have trusted Jesus with their lives will one day live in Paradise with Him? Just as God intended from the very beginning.

By the way, perhaps many of you already know this, but for those of you who don't, both Eden and Paradise mean: a garden or a pleasure ground.

I truly pray that this study of man being created in God's image, will cause you to give glory, praise and honor to our Father God, increase your gratitude for the long-suffering of God by which He patiently and sacrificially gave His one and only Son, to pay a debt He did not owe in order to restore our souls to its original state before the Fall of Man. And may your immense gratitude and love for what our God has done for us, burn your heart with passion to do what Jesus came to do: spread the Gospel so that condemned souls (like yours and mine used to be) may find salvation in the only name in which all men are saved, Jesus Christ our Lord.

"How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News!' "
~ Romans 10:14-15

He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
~ Psalm 23:3

One of the things I love most about God and His word is that He never gets old! He makes all things new, just like He's making me new every day!

Like many of you, I've read Psalm 23 in its entirety, probably about a hundred fifty million times (as you know by now, I like using LARGE numbers ☺). But today, God showed me something new that I had never seen. Before today, I've always looked at this particular verse as looking to God for rest, my hiding place, my source of comfort when I am weary, discouraged or afraid.

As I meditated on this Scripture today, I realized I didn't fully understand what the word restore means. This is what I found on Dictionary.com:

restore v.
1) to bring back into existence, use, or the like; reestablish: to restore order. 2) to bring back to a former, original, or normal condition, as a building, statue, or painting. 3) to bring back to a state of health, soundness, or vigor. 4) to put back to a former place, or to a former position, rank, etc.: to restore the king to his throne. 5) to give back; make return or restitution of (anything taken away or lost).

God alone is my Savior. He alone can and will make me new in Christ and give me life. I was once dead and useless. But now, I am whole, alive and created to be one of God's ministers of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-20)....just like all of you! ♥

I realize now that Psalm 23 is not about personal comfort, but about our eternal salvation. In Psalm 23, God is telling us that He alone is the Good Shepherd, who will feed us Bread from Heaven (Jesus Christ), allow us to drink from the from the Living Water (the Holy Spirit) and will restore our souls, by saving us and making our spirits that were once dead in sin, alive in Christ Jesus. And why has He done all this? Because we are good people? Because we do nice things for each other? No, because of His righteousness and for His name's sake (Deuteronomy 9:5).


For those of you who are visual, come back tomorrow. I'll have a picture to demonstrate how we are made in God's image; we'll talk more about what that really means and why it's possible for us to be alive in Christ, and dead to our flesh.

for more inspiration from God's word today please visit Amydeanne at:

And who are the ones who are "due" good done to them? Everyone in whom the LORD our God says; for truly no human being is worthy or owed (due) any good from God, but we are lavished by His love, mercy and grace in spite of ourselves (Luke 6:35).

Key Passages:

Exodus 35:4-9
"Moses said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, "This is the thing that the LORD has commanded. Take from among you a contribution to the LORD. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the LORD's contribution; gold, silver, and bronze; blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; goats' hair, tanned rams' skins, and goatskins; acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, and onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece."

Exodus 36:3-7
"And they received from Moses all the contribution that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning, so that all the craftsmen who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, and each from the task that he was doing, and said to Moses, 'The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the LORD has commanded us to do." So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp. 'Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary.' So the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more."

There is nothing "good" we give that hasn't been given to us from God. Therefore anything good we offer to another is from the LORD's contribution, not ours. We make these offerings to God, with His blessings; in the hopes that the benefactor of our gifts will be blessed by God and His generosity so that He alone may receive the praise due Him.

Yesterday, my heart was moved to make a phone call today and extend a very simple, not so extraordinary invitation to a sister - an invitation to take her to dinner in order to give her some rest from her troubles: the recent death of a child. And I prayed earnestly about this. I asked God for a sign. I did what I often do, "Oh Lord, I don't want to do this if this isn't from You. I don't want to do this if it's just my own desire and faulty thinking. If this is truly from You, please give me a sign. Remind me in the morning to call. Then let her answer right when I call and let her accept the invitation. Then I will know it is You who have spoken." I continued to pray that same prayer this morning as I became anxious because I had not heard from the Lord yet.

Then the Lord rebuked me, "Child, why do you ask for a sign? Have I not already commanded you, if your heart is moved, if your spirit is stirred to extend any kindness, any good, which all comes from Me, to another poor soul, you shall do it? For what good thought, what good deed or intention ever originated from you? I alone AM good. And every good and perfect gift comes from Me alone. So why do you ask Me for such a thing?"

And why was I behaving in such an evil and adulterous way? Because I wanted to "feel" secure in all that I was doing. If I was going to do something "in the name of the Lord" I wanted it all to work out. I wanted the assurance that what I was doing was not in vain. I wanted it to all work out the way that I considered would make the call worth my time.

Instead of knowing the good I ought to do and just do it (James 4:17), I labored over something that made me nervous (due to fear of rejection because I hardly know this sister), rather than keeping my eyes, heart and mind fixed on Jesus, who saved us not because we were going to accept His sacrifice and look upon His suffering with humble gratitude, but He did what He did because He loves us, much greater and better than we deserve.

So what shall I do with the Lord's rebuke today? I choose to be thankful that the LORD of hosts would hear my prayer and even speak to me. I choose to be humbled that I can approach the throne of grace without being destroyed because I come, washed by the blood of the Son of the Lord God Almighty. I choose not to let Satan use the Lord's rebuke as an occasion to spiral into self-deprecation, but will use my merciful Abba Father's rebuke as an occasion for thanksgiving for His holy discipline in which He is using to train me so that I might yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Most Holy Abba Father, thank You for the right to call upon Your holy name. Thank You that you hear me! Oh what is man that You Lord God are mindful of us?! What kindness, mercy and love! Humiliate me Lord with every opportunity you see fit, so that the beast of my pride may be utterly destroyed. Please help me to remember that Jesus left His place of comfort for me, while He found His full assurance and acceptance in You alone and not from men.

I am very disappointed to find out about this sin of mine; that I would even think twice about sharing Your goodness, Your kindness with others, particularly with those in the faith with whom You have commanded me to show particular favor. But I refuse to sit in this pit and allow my flesh and Satan to use this to deem me ineffective while I wallow in self-pity. Instead Father, I am grateful for Your kind rebuke, for Your directing me in Your love and into Christ's steadfastness.

I am grateful that You have revealed this sin to me Lord. Thank You for testing my heart, finding that which grieves You and leading me in the way everlasting. Make my heart like those Israelites, who loved you so much and was so grateful for You that You had to restrain them from giving. I pray that one day Lord, I will be so in love with You, that You will have to restrain me too. May all glory, honor and praise be given Your name alone! You are my Rock and my Salvation! Amen.