BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES: THE PURPOSE OF OUR DESTINIES

                       BY BISHOP STEVEN LIBERTY SR.

Every one of us has a day we were born and for those who know that date .it is a very special time in their lives. As for those who have married; looking back on that day is always a memorable one that brings a lot of mixed feelings; depending on where the relationship was at the present moment. Many of us love to celebrate these special days in our lives and at such celebrations are lots of joy and happiness. I am celebrating a double day; a birthday and an anniversary and would love to share with you my view on these special days and what I believe should make up the agenda for that day. It is with great joy that I dedicate this work to all who has, who will be and who is celebrating these special days in their lives.

" And 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. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the 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.”( 1;26-28)

^"And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (2 : 18,21-24)

As I reach another landmark in my walk on the face of earth, the question comes to me like everyone else; why was I born? I have attended countless of birthdays and anniversaries where there has been great food and drinks but sadly I have never once heard any celebrant speaking about the purpose of their existence. I believe these special days should be a time of deep reflections about where you came from, how far you have gone in the journey and where you are determine to end this journey. Yes, life is a journey of what I will call here borrow time (that we must give account of) and it moves so swiftly that if you are not careful, nothing will be accomplished before you have use it all. You are born today and before you know it you are an adult with kids and gray’s. Wow, yes time flies and we must be careful to make the best out of it. Life is a great mystery and only a full understanding of how to life it can make it worth your while. Great men of the past pondering the question of life had these words of advice:

For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. (Chr29:15)

How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth? They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it. Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom. (Job 4:19-21)

My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope. (Job 7:6)

LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.(Ps 39:4-11)

For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun? (Eccl. 6:12)

Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of ? (Isa 2:22)

The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. (Isa 40:6,7,24)

Many dodge these verses in the Bible and shut their minds from thinking about their own day of reckoning. That is one reason why many are so ill-prepared not only to face the Master but fade away without a trace that they even existed. Each birthday brings us closer to our day of reckoning and should be a time of serious reflections about our life. That is why as the years past by and these important days come; the priority of celebration should be stock taking first before celebration. However one cannot take stock if they do not know the type of goods in their shops. That is why on our birthdays and anniversaries it is very necessary to go back to the roots which is where we originated from in order to know where we are and where we are headed. This world is fill of many roads that leads to nowhere and if we follow them we will realize that we have wasted the better part of the time allocated to us. Some people realize before it is too late but there are some who just go on following roads to nowhere, turning , starting again and taking another path to nowhere. During these important days if we just stop for a second and take stock, give praises for reaching that far and than we can celebrate. But who do we give praises to and what kind of goods should we take stock of?

I don’t know about you but I trace our beginnings back to the Word of God which informed me that my Created is God. I refuse to believe in the theory of man that we evolved. " And 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.” The Word of God says we were created in the image and likeness of the Creator to have dominion over all the earth. Now in the verse above I see no place where it says that we should have dominion over our fellowmen and women. Sadly this is one of man greatest defects today. Instead of trying to take their rightful place and have dominion over the fish, fowl, cattle and creeping things, they spend their life time trying to dominate the lives of other people. Because God made us in His image; that means we have creative powers. We can either choose to use these gifts selfishly or for the good of everyone. In many instances however we humans use our gifts selfishly. Are we fully implementing the purpose for our destinies? We are given gifts by God to use during this journey on earth. Not all are call to become leaders, Pastors, governmental officials, but there are those who are call to be carpenters, tailors, drivers, etc. Now if you are not where you are call to be and exercise the gifts given to you by God; you are on the road to nowhere and usually end up a failure. When you take stock of your life , you will know if you are on the right path or not. Misuse of God powers and gifts given to us has cause a lot of discomfort and pain all around the world.

 We use those powers at our disposal to create evil weapons and other things we have no business with. I have never gotten over the question why any countries on the face of earth need nuclear weapons. God is capable of protecting us and give us vast wisdom to do so but we waste it on foolishness. The billions of dollars wasted on developing these evil weapons should be spend on research for building homes that can withstand the type of storms, winds, flooding that go on around the world. It should be used to take water pipes to desert countries and food to the hungry. Sadly because of the evil desire to dominate others those we call our friends and allies are the very ones compromising our independence. The more weapons is created the evil desire is planted in the minds of men to try them out and who do they try them on besides their fellowmen. It is very possible to solve many of the world problems without the use of a single weapon; but we refused to take that path because of our selfish desires to dominate each other. The world will never know peace until man return to the original purpose of their creation. So what is the purpose of your life?

.” And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it”.  I want to start with the part that says subdue the earth. I love that part and it gives me a lot of courage when I am face to face with the enemies of God. You see; our birth right is to subdue every force upon the face of this earth because God give us authority over the earth. However today there are many who are not conscious of their birthright and live in constant fear of spirits, ghost, demons, etc. These things possess them and sometimes live in them because they are empty vessels that have lost the will to fight back or are simply ignorant of their birthright. This right was stolen from Adam and Eve by Satan years back but Christ came and died and regain our heritage; therefore it is possible to subdue the earth and those sickness etc that are causing you to panicked and not your fellowmen and women. Christ knew that man had lost the way and no longer recognized the purpose of their existence; therefore He purposely gives it to them for the second time. He reminded us more than once that we have the Power and Authority to dominate and subdue any part of the earth; both spiritually and physically. He pointed us back to the fact that we were a part of a heavenly family Listen to this great statement. "Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matt 18:18) We have the full backing of heaven when we put our birthright to use as it should be. However; in our world today so many people live in fear and anxiety over things that they have the inborn right to dominate.

Why do we have so much joblessness, suffering and economical collapses around the world today? The answer is simple; when men thought they were taking short cuts against the Word of God; they did not realize that they were harming themselves. Now in their wisdom they have created robots to do the jobs faster and efficient. One robot is capable of doing the jobs of a hundred men daily. The robots are great but what happens to the hundred men. Most of the climate changes, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc that are causing havoc in our world today; root causes are man. The life span has reduce from three score and ten to two scores and ten ; if you are so bless not to be kill by a bullet, die in a plane or car or from nuclear related disease .

God commanded us to be fruitful.  To be fruitful means that a tree/plant/humans; has to have the proper diet and nourishment. For us Created in the image of God means we need both physical and spiritual nourishment because we are the breath of God. That means we are supported be two types of food for growth. "But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” So; what kind of spiritual food am I talking about here for the building of the human body? I am referring to the Word of God. It is written: "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

 ^"Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.” (1 Pet. 1:11-12)

Now observe carefully the type of nourishment we get from the spiritual food needed for the body and soul. Quick, Powerful, Sharp, Discerner the guides, pierce, divides from deep within the unseen parts of the body with the naked eyes. It searches time and testifies about our origins and directs us back to the Creator and wonderfully minister to us things that even the Angels in Heaven desire to look into. The Word of God is the only food profitable to men while on this journey call life. Why is it so?

One of the key reasons listed in the Bible for the Creation of man is that God created man for His Glory! (Isa 43:7)  Isn’t that wonderful?  It is said He even created the wicked for the day of evil. (Prov. 16:4) But while on earth man has a duty to perform as they go through life; that is to God first and his fellowmen. Christ summarizing the Commandments narrows it down to this same factor. Man by themselves is very insignificant and is ordinary dust. It is the breath of God that makes us something worthwhile. We are so wonderfully made yet we are mortal and spirit at the same time. While the mortal feeds on physical food the spirit feeds on spiritual food. If we learn to strike a significant balance between the two we will arrive at God dwelling in us and will exhibit those attitudes that prove this fact.

These special days in your life should be a time when we stop a movement before all the earthly festivities and critically examine our walk through the journey of life and look back at the foot prints we are leaving in the sands of life. I am not saying do not celebrate but before celebrating ; take some time off with your Creator and take stock of the time allotted to you for this journey. Check your body careful and you will see many signs that remind you that time is flying by so fast that one have to be very careful. Check your diet very carefully and make sure to balance the diet for both. Remember that life is vanity.