A New Image: Imago Dei

Copyright © 2014 Carol L. Briggs.

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-4953-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-4951-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-4952-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014915535

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/17/2014

CONTENTS

A Thought for you, the Reader…

A question for you, the Reader…

Part I

Chapter 1 You are now NOAH (Noach)

Chapter 2 Now you are JOSEPH (Yosef)

Chapter 3 Now you are MOSES (Moshe)

Chapter 4 You are now Joshua (Y’hoshua)

Chapter 5 Faith, Trust, and Obedience

Chapter 6 Personal Stories of Overcomers

Part II

Chapter 7 Imago Dei

Chapter 8 Answering God’s Call

Chapter 9 Choices

Chapter 10 Put on the New Self…(His Image)

Chapter 11 Changing our Mindset to His

Chapter 12 Remembering God’s Victories

Chapter 13 He is our Oxygen

Chapter 14 Make Way!

Bibliography

A THOUGHT FOR YOU, THE READER…

WOULDN’T IT BE EXCITING TO CHANGE OUR WORLDLY,

WORN-OUT IMAGE INTO A BRAND-NEW PERSONALITY

AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE?

No matter how much we try to stick to a healthy diet,

exercise regimen, and/or a genuine, sincere attitude change,

we can’t seem to persevere long enough to accomplish

our long-term goal—or even a short-term goal.

This book gives us a solution to our woes—one mysterious word found on Page one of Part I (paragraph five) will solve our problems…AND, will also pique our interest about how others have found The Way to A NEW IMAGE—which isn’t really new, but called back into the image in which we were born.

Being Born Again gives us a new beginning in the Image of Christ.

A QUESTION FOR YOU, THE READER…

Have you ever had to make decisions which affect millions of people— even the whole earth?

You probably answer, Only God can do that!

You’re absolutely correct in that answer; but, have you considered that Adonai (our one true God) oftentimes chooses very ordinary people to tell others what His plan is? AND to carry it out—even uses wicked kings, friendly officers, sons of kings, presidents of countries, relatives, leaders, unscrupulous politicians, tentmakers, physicians, next-door neighbors, sons and daughters of the family—get the point? No matter how much we try to control circumstances— It is written in His plan for the Kingdom of God—The Bible.

Have you considered that Elohim (another name in Hebrew which means our One true Powerful God—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) knows beforehand who is righteous, who loves Him, and who will be impacted by His commands, blessings, and allowances; who is unrighteous, disobedient, but might eventually turn 180⁰ to Him, (if he has been chosen—God’s pleasure) and who will become an obedient child of God; and, on the other hand, who is a selfish, wicked, blasphemous, unrepentant follower of the Deceiver(who exists for one purpose—to lead those who can be separated from God down into the pits of Hell to join him in his misery for eternity).

Too bad about Judas—one might say that he didn’t have a choice—he was chosen to betray Jesus because he was created for that purpose. We are all created for a purpose; but many don’t find that purpose because we make choices which separate us from our Holy God. The only way to get back under the feathers of His wings is to ask forgiveness of Yeshua (JESUS) for our sin, be truly sorry, then, obey His Will—we are covered. Praise God! (Read Psalm 91).

So, it is immensely dangerous to let our carnal self (our nephesh) drive us away from that narrow path that leads to Jesus (His name in Hebrew—Yeshua). This is where A NEW IMAGE comes in—shedding our worldly image, then taking on the character of our SAVIOR, Jesus Christ!

I’m going to ask you, the reader, to do a strange thing…or perhaps if you enjoy reading, you have already done this before. Forget who you are and take on the identity of these four individuals being written about, whom God used to carry out the first part of His plan for the world’s redemption—not on their own—they couldn’t have done it on their own; but in the Image of The Christ, God’s Son, Jesus…well… read on…..

PART I

CHAPTER ONE

You are now NOAH (Noach)

It has taken us a long time, but I think God will be pleased with the results.

Oh, no! Here they come again. Guess that gang has nothing more to do than come out here to make fun of us. I’ve tried to tell them I’m obeying the voice of God, and that they ought to do the same; but, that just makes them taunt our family more…they think we are foolish; however, I have heard His voice. His commands are clear, and when He said to me, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.’ (NKJV, Genesis 6:13) I figure I’d better do whatever He says to do.

His reassurance quieted the turmoil raging in my thoughts when the next thing He said after His strange directions to build an ark, whatever that is, was this, ‘But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.’ (NKJV, Genesis 6: 18, & 19)

I don’t quite understand why I’m doing all of these unusual things, but, His voice is definitely one to obey. Thank You, my God, for all the blessings You have bestowed upon my family…I will obey You, no matter what!

Shall I try once more to talk to this crowd, Lord? I’ve told them to listen to Your voice, Lord; but they only yell back, Now he’s hearing voices!—guess You don’t talk to them, Lord, but I can see why. They do all these things so contrary to Your laws, and never feel sorry for anything…their violence and thoughtlessness against each other has become so bad, one has to keep to one’s own family and dwelling place and stay in God’s good grace for safety.

Thank You for protection, Lord; and thank You for reminding me each day to talk to my sons about You and how You created us, take care of us, and love us.

Shem, Ham, and Japheth have found good wives since we started building the ark, and now that it is finished, they might add to our little family. My prayer is that all of my family will pray, listen to Your will, obey You forever, and try to walk in Your ways in their daily lives all the days to come.

Wow! Here come the animals! You said that two of every sort, male and female, would come to me to keep them alive. You are such an awesome God, O Elohim! The food for us and them is already loaded. They are filing in that big door now… the boys are directing them to their respective areas. Little did I think we could be so near to the wildest animals without being eyed and pounced upon as prey. How can I forget that You are in control of everything and that all created beings and creatures were made to worship and obey You! We have nothing to fear as long as we are obeying Your will. Hallelujah!

At last the Lord said to me, ‘Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.’ (NKJV, Genesis 7:1)

After making sure I had done everything my Lord had required of me, all of us—my wife, sons and their wives entered the one door into the ark. Funny thing is… it was unusually quiet in there for having so many different animals and birds all together in one big place like that. Guess God made them know instinctively what was coming and that they would be safe in God’s ark.

After we had cleared the door, the Lord shut us in. We were kept busy for the next few days (seven days, to be exact) setting up a routine for feeding the animals and ourselves; but stopped and found our pallets of straw—provided for each one of us to sleep and sit on—when we felt the boat begin to lift…a wild, tumultuous rocking at first, a roiling tug in the tummy, a gentle rocking; then, a marvelous feeling of floating, and praise God! We were on top of the water, dry and snug as a bug in a rug; however, a strong feeling of regret swept over us when the loud screams and howls of those outside rose above the storm. The Lord had given them many years to repent and to listen to His voice—mostly through my telling them what God had said to me—all of the many years it took us to finish the ark. They didn’t listen…if anything, they became more depraved. It’s God’s will. Don’t look back! I say to myself and my family… Trust in Him.

I’ve been marking off the days and nights…looks like we’ve just finished day #39 and it’s still raining—an interesting sound, rain on the roof—I come up here often to pray and talk to the roosting birds and listen to the rain on the roof—wonder when it will stop…?

Not sure what day it is, but I know our ark came to rest yesterday on something solid…so maybe the rains have stopped.

At the end of forty days, I opened the little window high under the roof and sent out a raven. He seemed to be going to and fro looking for a place to perch. About a week later, I sent out a dove to see if the waters had gone down. She returned to me, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So I put out my hand, and drew her into the ark. Another seven days, I sent her out from the ark. That evening, she came back with a freshly-plucked olive leaf in her beak; I knew then that the waters had receded.

We waited another seven days, sent the dove out again…she never came back to me…and, the next day, when I removed the covering of the little window, indeed the surface of the ground looked dry.

God spoke to me and said, ‘Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.’ (NKJV, Genesis 8:16)

So we all went out—my family and every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families.

The first thing we did after our feet touched solid ground was to build an altar to the Lord, took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a soothing, sweet-smelling aroma. Thank You, our wonderful sovereign God who saved us!

He blessed my sons and me and said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And the fear and dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even the green herbs. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.’ (NKJV, Genesis 9:1-4)

Praise you, O God of creation, for allowing my family to live—multiply and fill the earth…when we see Your rainbow in the clouds, we will remember Your covenant with us: ‘Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ (NKJV, Genesis 9:11)

Thank You, O Lord, for creating me in Your image…a just, merciful and loving God…help my sons, Shem, Japheth, and Hamm to imitate You always by obeying Your will.

Thank You, O Lord, for choosing my family to populate the whole earth—

I said at the Lord’s prompting—Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and may Canaan (the son of Ham and the name of a people) be his servant. (NKJV, Genesis 9:26… my parenthesis).

Japeth will be of Shem’s tent. Thank you, Lord, for my 950 years of being able to serve You and walk with You.

(How would you, the reader, like to have been the earthly father, so to speak, of sons who were commissioned by God to re-populate the earth? Think about the enormity of the assignment! Praise God—whenever He gives us an assignment, He equips us with the fortitude and wherewithal to complete it—IF we but trust in Him and obey His will. There’s that key word again—OBEDIENCE).

CHAPTER TWO

Now you are JOSEPH (Yosef)

About 650 years later…(my approximation)

I hope I find my brothers soon…they’ll welcome the provisions our father sent…maybe so much so that I’ll be able to tell them about my