Imitating God: The Amazing Secret of Living His Life

By Ruthven Roy

"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" â Matthew 5:48, NRSV.

Imitating God is not only possible, but it is also guaranteed. This book will provide you with very precious keys to your true identity in Christ, and will show you, in very simple steps, how to release the power of God's life from within you.

You will learn how to:

* Hear from God

* See like God

* Speak like God

* Walk like God

* LIVE LIKE GOD

This is an absolute life-changer, keepsake and sacred treasure to pass on to all future generations. You owe it to yourself to achieve God's ideal for your life. This precious gem definitely teaches you how.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBookIt.com
• Release date: Apr 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9781456624897

Book preview

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Acknowledgments

Thanks . . .

To my Counselor, Guide and Friend, the Holy Spirit, by whose wisdom, revelation and direction this entire volume was written and became a reality.

To my wife, Lyris, and our three daughters—Charisa, Lyrisa and Mirisa—for your prayerful support and editorial feedbacks. Words could never express the extent of my gratitude for all that you do to help make me a better person and servant. I love you all dearly.

To Patricia Elder, for the countless hours you have devoted reading, editing and sometimes even challenging the way I chose to express some of my thoughts in this manuscript. Thanks for your patience and faithfulness to the task of seeing this work through to the end.

To the many Disciples of Christ in Trinidad and Tobago, Canada and the United States, whose prayers and candid feedback from my partial presentations of this work, gave me the confidence to press on and complete the manuscript.

To my mother, Norma Roy, for her timely prayers, and her unwavering vote of confidence in all that I pursue for Christ, my Lord.

To Verlene Cromwell, Ingrid McCarthy, Pastor Patrick Roy, Michael Roy, Anthony Moore and Roger Taylor, who are always in my corner, supporting and encouraging my efforts for the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom.

To Emmerson Cyrille, for the immaculate cover design that placed the seal of perfection on the contents of this work.

Preface

When I decided to write this volume, I had absolutely no idea that it was going to turn out the way it has. It certainly did not occur to me at the time that I would be moved in such a way to even contemplate writing about the life of God in frail, mortal, jars of clay. What a turn of events occurred in my own life as the Holy Spirit began to unfold the real divine purpose of this manuscript! I never intended to make this magnificent journey, but I give praise and thanks to God for preparing me, and for giving me the courage and insight to pursue it with all my heart and with all my soul.

Every day brought a new and refreshing experience in the presence of the Almighty, and in the wellspring of His powerful, life-transforming Word. It is the most marvelous experience when the Spirit of Jehovah connects with the spirit of man through the medium of the living, active Word of God. This is when great things really begin to happen. Divine revelation eclipses mere human knowledge; light illumines darkness; clarity replaces confusion; and the thoughts of God rule over the vain imaginations of men. This is what characterized my experience as the Spirit of Jehovah led me through, chapter after chapter, in Imitating God.

One of the greatest blessings that could ever occur in the life of a child of God is when he/she receives divine enlightenment with regards to his true identity in Christ. There are countless numbers of Christian believers who are quite unaware of what it really means to be born again. Because of this ignorance, there is a great disconnection between their profession of Christ and their experience in Christ. Many of these dear children of God continue to go through their emotional cycles of highs and lows, to the point where some regard this as normal Christian behavior. Receiving, knowing and daily confessing one’s identity in Christ is a major key to a victorious Christian life. Without understanding and relating positively to these dynamic experiences, the believer will be at the mercy of the arch-deceiver, and will be in constant mental anguish over his inability to make satisfying spiritual progress in his walk with the Lord.

We must first know who we really are before we could ever begin to live as who we are. To do this, it is of utmost importance that we first understand what it means to be born again, and what really happens when a person experiences the new birth. Once this truth is clearly understood, and the new believer grasps what God has truly done for and in him, he must be led to comprehend what this new state of being really means. Without these two levels of understanding, the child of God is seriously handicapped in any attempt to pursue successfully the life that God has designed for him.

This book, Imitating God, is a very essential and profitable tool, not only to facilitate the impartation of this knowledge to all believers, but also to provide them with step-by-step instructions on how to grow and nurture the incorruptible seed of Christ’s spirit in them. This is a volume that they must keep handy or within close proximity at all times, as it will become a major touchstone for supporting their life in the spirit.

I invite you to come along with me for one of the most Spirit-filled, Word-directed, and Life-transforming experiences you will ever encounter throughout your journey in the Kingdom of God. The God who called you to this life is super-abundantly able, more than willing, and most ready to live His life in and through you. Take up the challenge and embrace this unique privilege by beginning this journey today, even right now.

- R. J. R

Introduction

Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. ²³So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. ²⁴Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

Genesis 5:22-24

The Merriam-Webster’s College Dictionary¹ defines imitation as an act or instance of imitating; something produced as a copy of another; and, interestingly enough, the quality of an object in possessing some of the nature or attributes of a transcendent idea. Additionally, that dictionary says, to imitate means to follow as a pattern, model, or example; to be or appear like something or someone; or to produce a copy of something.

We live in a world of ongoing imitations. Consciously or unknowingly, someone is always imitating another. Such imitation can be in the form of a single act or a multiplicity of actions over various periods of time. We all, at some point in our lives, have tried to imitate, mimic or copy the actions of another person—a parent, sibling, friend, teacher, sports personality, movie star, or some action hero. Some individuals have even had great success impersonating their famous hero or idol. For example, since the death of the King of Rock and Roll, there have been countless impersonations of Elvis Presley in the United States, and many of them as nearly as real as the King, himself. Television programs such as Saturday Night Live and Late Night TV have gained exceptional ratings because of their uncanny reputation to imitate high profile public figures—politicians, famous athletes, celebrities in the music and entertainment world, etcetera: much to the delight of their live and viewing audiences.

The success of Hollywood and the movie industry depends,

to a large extent, on the ability of their actors to imitate and portray, in living color, the lives and experiences of fictitious or historical characters. Quite often these presentations are so moving that the viewing audiences are emotionally drawn into every scene, as they sit transfixed before the silver screen or TV tube. This was my experience when I rented the DVD version of the never-before-told biographical drama of my jazz, soul and blues hero, Ray Charles.

I was really stunned by the stellar performance of Jamie Foxx as he skillfully portrayed the inspiring life-story of this unique music legend. I sat motionless before the tube and followed Jamie scene by scene, often wondering, how on earth was he able to portray this almost flawless imitation of the blind genius? This was so amazing that even after the movie ended, I remained in my position mentally processing what had just unfolded before my eyes. If Ray were alive, I wondered, and had the ability to see, if only for the duration of the movie, what would he have thought of Jamie?

Many months later, while I was browsing the internet, I discovered the reason for Jamie’s one-of-a-kind imitation of the legendary father of soul, jazz and the blues. The movie review said:

In preparation for Ray, the movie, he (Jamie) adapted many of Ray Charles’ physical characteristics and immersed himself in soul, jazz and blues. In fact, Ray, the movie, is so remarkable because Jamie Foxx was extremely dedicated to imitating the personality and characteristics of Ray Charles. He even spent weeks during rehearsal and production of Ray, the movie, walking around with his eyes sealed tight for 12 hours a day, to gain an intimate understanding of what it really means to be blind.²

This sounds almost too incredible to believe. I can’t imagine walking around with my eyes shut for even five minutes, let alone twelve hours. Although I do not believe that these were concurrent hours, I could imagine Jamie’s eyes being shut for extended periods of time, several times each day during rehearsals. At any rate, there is no doubt that this role demanded extreme self-denial and self-discipline on the part of the actor.

Granted, Jamie Foxx is not alone in this type of self-mastery. I could also think of Tom Hanks and Will Smith packing on a lot of extra pounds, and going through rigorous training, for their lead roles in the movies Castaway and Ali respectively. I could even visualize the bald-headed Navy SEAL, Demi Moore, in her grueling exercise regimen and combat training for her imitation of G. I. Jane. Hollywood star-studded Walk of Fame is engraved with the names of many, many of these noble souls who have sacrificed their lives and relationships with family and friends to bring to life the personalities of the characters they sought to imitate and portray before their viewing audiences. This they all did, and continue to do, in their relentless pursuit of an Emmy, an Oscar, a name-plated gold star, name recognition, or fulfillment of a life-long dream.

The Word of God is absolutely correct when it says that every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible (1 Corinthians 9:25, KJV). It is nothing short of remarkable to see how Hollywood celebrities fulfill this word as they stretch themselves to the limit, striving for excellence in a field of fierce competitors. They pursue strict self-restraint in order to master their roles so that they could receive a perishable award.

Called to be Imitators

In Ephesians 5:1, we are admonished to be imitators of God as His beloved children. It is heaven’s expectation for all God’s children not only to live like Him, but also to be like Him—that is, reflect His image as we did at creation (Genesis 1:26, 27). The Bible says that now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:2, 3). The bar has already been set, and all those who have received the adoption as sons and daughters of God through Jesus Christ (Galatians 4:4-6), must now purify or discipline themselves to imitate the pure, divine model. In this regard, there is so much we could learn from the examples of the Hollywood stars, who would stop at nothing in their reproduction of the purest imitation of the characters they were chosen to portray.

God, through His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ, has lived among men, walking our streets, wearing our clothes, eating our food, essentially living like us. It was the Word, who was God, who was in the beginning with God, and who made all things (John 1:1- 3), that eventually became flesh and dwelt among us; and we beheld His glory, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). It was He who invited all to follow or imitate Him, for He is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life and no one can come to God, the Father, except through Him (John 14:6).

Like the star-studded celebrities of Hollywood’s silver screens, we too must stop at nothing to immerse ourselves completely into the personality and character of the divine model, Jesus Christ, so that we could present the purest imitation of Him to a lost and sinful world. Unlike the stars of Hollywood, however, we are not chosen to act a role, but to live an endless life. Ours is not a mere performance that last for a time. No, no! Ours is a lifestyle for time and eternity. While these actors push themselves to the limit for an Oscar that perishes with time, we deny ourselves and carry our crosses daily for a crown of life, which never fades in glory.

The purpose of this volume is to help facilitate this life that God has called every believer to live—that is, to imitate Him. This call would not have been given if God had not already made provision for it to be carried out. All those who have been born of God through their acceptance of Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord (John 1:12, 13), have been endowed with the capacity to live the life of God; for they are His legitimate children. This life has been deposited within the believer through the incorruptible seed of Christ’s Spirit (1 Peter 1:23)—sometimes referred to as the inner man of the spirit.

It is through this new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) that God intends to reproduce His character in the believer, thereby, restoring him to the image and likeness of his Maker once again. This book teaches the believer how to connect with this new inner life of his spirit, through the discovery of his true identity in Christ. Then, from this center of operation, he will learn how to successfully live the victorious life that God has designed for all His children.

The Bible says that Enoch walked with God for at least three hundred years, and the imitation was so close that God took him from among men to live with Him in heaven. Many of us have been walking with God for a while now (certainly not three hundred years), and some have only just begun. It makes absolutely no difference, for God has made ample provision for all to succeed in living His life. If this has not been your experience thus far, you have this God-sent privilege to change that picture starting today. As you read this introduction right now, be assured that you are already on your way to this most incredible transformation.

As you continue to thumb through the pages of this book, I pray that your walk with God will become so intimate that you will truly lose (or immerse) yourself in Him, so that the life you lead henceforth, will be no longer yours, but His. Therefore, pursue this spiritual journey with faith and confidence. Decide now that, by heaven’s grace, you will stop at nothing until you have become a true imitation of your Father. I believe this ultimate and unmatched blessing is already yours.

PART I—IT’S ALL ABOUT IDENTITY

But He [Jesus] continued, You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

John 8:23, NIV

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3:20

1. In The Beginning

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same [Word] was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.

John 1:1-3

A Word Creation

Our earth is a word planet, made by the Word (Jesus) who was with God at the beginning of its creation. It was this Word-God who called everything into being through the word of His mouth, and there is nothing that exists apart from Him. The book of Psalms tells us that by the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the hosts of them by the breath of His mouth . . . He spake [spoke], and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast [firm] (Psalm 33:6, 9, KJV). In undeniable confirmation, the sacred account of creation reveals that the Word-God (Jesus Christ) did not create anything without speaking its existence first.

The Voice of God was, and still is, the active, life-giving force of all creation, past and present—the creative source from which all miracles originate and proceeds. God spoke to nothing and nothing became something. Chaos heard it and became order; darkness heard it and became light.³ It was not coincidental in the Genesis account of creation that the clause God said was repeated and recorded nine times as God brought the earth and its life forms into being. Eight out of those nine times the clause is followed by the word let as God declared and uniquely described what He wanted to create. A. W. Tozer puts it this way:

And God said-and it was so. These twin phrases, as cause and effect, occur throughout the Genesis story of creation. The said accounts for the so. The so is the said put into the continuous present.⁴ (Emphasis mine).

This repeated word phenomenon is a clear indication that God’s words, His speaking voice, were not just air vibrating against His voice box (humanly speaking, of course). They were much more than mere sound. The words of the Almighty were spirit, filled with life and creative energy. It is this life-producing energy of God’s spoken words that give order and continuity to all nature. All energy in nature exists only because God has spoken and continues to speak.

Christ declared concerning His words: It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken unto you are spirit and they are life (John 6:63). God places extremely high value on the words that go out of His mouth, for words are the priceless currency of His eternal Kingdom. All of the wealth and the blessings in the Kingdom are acquired and transferred through the use of spirit-generated, faith-filled words.

The Psalmist David tells us that God has magnified His word even above His name (Psalm 138:2). This is another way of saying that God is willing to come under the authority of whatever He says by putting His holy and exalted name ‘on the line.’ Consequently, God never uttered one unproductive word, for whatever He spoke was—that is, became whatever He said. He clearly stated through Isaiah that His word would never return empty to Him, but would accomplish whatever He desired, and would succeed in the matter for which He sent it (Isaiah 55:11).

God places extremely high value on the words that go out of His mouth, for words are the priceless currency of His eternal Kingdom.

God and the Word

In our scriptural heading, the beloved apostle John plainly links the Word who made all things (John 1:1-3) to the God who said "let there be light. . . (Genesis 1:3). Moreover, he stated that the Word was not only the God of creation; but that the same Word was also with God at creation as well (John 1:1)— obviously indicating to his readers that the Word was not alone when He created the heavens and the earth. Then, in verse 14, John identified the Word as the God who became flesh and lived among us. He is none other than Jesus Christ, God the Son, who became the Son of Man" through His incarnate birth as the son of Joseph and Mary.

Therefore, we can safely conclude that Jesus—the Word who became flesh—was in the company of God the Father and the Holy Spirit when He created our world. The book of Genesis, and Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae, clearly support this truth. In Genesis 1:1, we read: In the beginning God. . . The word God here is the plural form of the Hebrew noun ’elôhîm, an indication of the Trinity at work. Verse 2 shows the Holy Spirit moving over the surface of the waters; and in verse 26, God (the plural ’elôhîm again) said: Let us make man in our image. . . The us and our are self-explanatory, pointing to the three-dimensional manifestation of God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In his explanation of the supremacy of Jesus, Paul wrote this beautiful treatise:

¹⁶For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him . . .

Colossians 1:16-19, NIV

This passage reveals some very powerful images of the Savior of the world. (1) Jesus is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible, in heaven and on earth. (2) Jesus was before all things, and all things maintain their proper order and place by His eternal power. (3) Because of His incarnation, death and resurrection, Christ has been highly exalted, reigns supreme, and has secured a very bright future for His body, the church. (4) The fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ, so that He the full manifestation of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

It is this exalted Christ that John describes as the Word who created all things; whose life was the Light of men; who was the Light that gave light to all who came into the world; and who became flesh and lived among us (John 1:3, 4, 9). He is the Word-God who called forth everything by the word of His mouth, and has consigned each to maintain its respective place and operation by His spoken laws which govern them. Indeed, our planet is a word creation, and this has serious implications with regard to word power and how things operate in our world.

What Is Man?

⁴What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Psalm 8:4

The making of mankind was the crowning act of God’s creative activities. He was God’s masterpiece, and everything that was made before him was actually made because of him, or for him. The earth and every life-form that existed upon it were created for the benefit of man, to engage and develop all his faculties—that is, every facet of his spiritual, mental, physical and social personhood.Consequently, the order of creation was designed to facilitate God’s eternal purpose for mankind. There were absolutely no divine missteps or afterthoughts before man appeared on the scene of the pristine earth. Accordingly, when God made man, He did not just stoop down, scoop clay and begin the making process. To do so would have been out of character and out of sync with the creative order He was establishing. God did not create anything without speaking its existence first. The Bible says that God spoke man’s existence before the man-making process began.

²⁶And 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. ²⁷So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. ²⁸And God blessed them, and God said unto 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 1:26-28

God did not create anything without speaking its existence first.

Image and Likeness

Believe it or not, human beings are word products, just as the rest of God’s creation, but only of a much higher order. Man shares the image and likeness of His Word-Creator (Jesus Christ), the Father and the Holy Spirit. What is meant by image and likeness has been a theological task for many students of the Bible through the chronicles of time. There are many things that theology alone cannot explain. Man cannot, by his own wisdom and searching, find out God (Job 11:7). It is the Holy Spirit alone who possesses the ability to search all things, even the deep things of God; for no man knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:10, 11). Without revelation from the Spirit, man is in utter darkness and ignorance as he seeks to understand who God is, who he (man) is, and what God declares concerning His will and purpose for him.

Accordingly, in this matter concerning our pre-fall, human nature as that relates to the image and likeness of God, we must turn to what is revealed in the Word of God. The Bible clearly states that God is a Spirit (John 4:24). Therefore nothing material could be used in any way to adequately represent Him. To suggest or attempt such representation would be nothing short of gross human ignorance, rebellion and even blasphemy. In his parting words to the children of Israel, Moses gave them stern warning with regard to making such a drastic error.

¹⁵Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: ¹⁶Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, ¹⁷the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, ¹⁸the likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: ¹⁹And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

Deuteronomy 4:15-19

Moses gave Israel quite a comprehensive negative list of material objects from which one could be tempted to make any physical representation of God. Lest they missed anything in the list, God was very careful to mention that no form of any figure or the likeness of male or female should be made as an image of the Great I AM. From this informative account, it seems quite plausible to deduce that the phrase image and likeness in Genesis 1:26 must be taken to represent characteristics of God other than physical features and appearance. However, as we link this understanding to God’s man-making process in Genesis 2:7, a little clearer insight is given to the meaning of image and likeness.

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.

Genesis 2:7, KJV

It has already been established that the image and likeness of God has absolutely nothing to do with the clay form that God made from the dust of the earth. On its own, it was simply clay shaped in the likeness of a man. Through Moses, God said that no likeness of male or female could ever represent an image of Him (Deuteronomy 4:16). Therefore, it stands to reason that image and likeness must relate to what God did after He made the clay form of man. The Bible says God breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of the clay form, and man became a living soul (living being or person).

Therefore, it is the living soul, and not the clay form, that bears the image and likeness of His Maker. What made the difference? Unmistakably, it was and still is the breath of life of the eternal God in the clay. But what is this breath of life that God breathed into the lifeless form of man? Was it just a puff of air or oxygen? Certainly not, for humans die even though there is an abundant supply of these elements all around them. On the other hand, a fetus lives and continues to grow inside a fluid-filled sac of the womb of a woman although it is unable to breathe on its own until the full-grown baby makes its traumatic entrance into the outside world. Science tells us that the oxygenated blood of the pregnant woman keeps the growing fetus alive within the womb; but who can really explain the mysterious element that gave the spark of life to the fetus in the first place?

Image and likeness must relate to what God did after He made the clay form of man.

Breath of Life

The one thing that we do understand about what God breathed into man’s nostrils is that it produced and also sustained life in lifeless clay. Now what could that be? Jesus, the Word-Creator, told His disciples and crowds following them that it was only Spirit that could give life and that flesh (clay), apart from Spirit, was non-productive or nothing (John 6:63). A little later on, Jesus breathed the Spirit upon them, and told them to receive the Holy Ghost (John 20:22). That was, and still is, a very clear indication that His breath was not just air or wind, but spirit indeed. God is