Swag Like No Other: When Dad (God) Decided to Use His Hands

Genesis 1:27- “And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”


If I bought you new Gucci shoes how would you treat them? How much value would you give to those shoes? Some would never play in them. Some would clean them every second to make sure they stay clean. You would make sure people stay hundreds of feet away so no one would step on your Gucci shoes. Why would you do that? Because you value the product because of who made them.

Then why do we treat ourselves like some thing made off the street? If you value Gucci then you should value yourself even more and have a sense of greatness when you look in the mirror because you are made in the image and likeness of Dad (God).

We wouldn’t play in our Gucci’s shoes but we allow people to play with our lives. We wouldn’t allow people to step on our Gucci shoes but we allow people to verbally step on and abuse who we truly are until we are so mentally disfigured that we live according to a false identity treating ourselves like cheap brand sneakers when we are God-made and blood bought!

You are made by the best! When you look at the creation and all its wonders, it can not compare to you! Realize that when Dad created the earth and the universe Dad created it with the “Word” and not His hands, but when Dad created YOU that is when He decided to put a personal touch on your life. Dad decided to put His branding on you when He created you in His image and His likeness.

“When Dad (God) decided to make you out of the dust of the earth, He took something that was virtually worthless and turned it into something of the highest earthly value. Then to make your creation even more extraordinary, Dad shared His every essence with you by breathing into you the sustaining force of life! With one breath, you became a vibrant spiritual being created in Dad’s image. Image signifies form. It’s not physical form that causes you to resemble Dad; it is your spiritual form. Dad made you a spiritual being with an earthly body. Likeness signifies function. You were created not just to look like Dad but also to act like Dad!” – Image to Likeness by Terry Warr

“So we are not a human being having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” – Terry Warr

So you must see the value of who you are. Soulja Boy talks about “Pretty Boy Swag”, but you have “Kingdom Swag”, “Swag from Dad!” You are greater than what you see in the mirror! You are greater than what people think! You are a product of the divine hands of God Almighty! Bill Gates couldn’t buy you! You are priceless for you have been made with eternal hands!

So do your relationships, behavior, and choices reflect your divine worth? Do your aspirations and expectations of yourself reflect the divine intention of Dad? Choose to walk in God’s likeness. Its swag like no other!

Rev. Max

Experiences That Impact Our Lives

Do you know why you do what you do and why you are the way you are?

“The greatest choice you will ever make is your identity. Here is a critical question: Who or what shapes your life? In other words, whose image are you going to embrace as your true identity? I have shared four options: pain, people, parents, and possessions. You are faced with each one of these options every day. In fact, the reason I chose these options is the powerful impact they have in the lives of most people. “– Image to Likeness by Terry Warr

This is true. Pain, people, parents, and possessions shape our lives every day. One could even add one’s past to this list. Sometimes we identify ourselves by what we’ve done, places we’ve been and things we’ve said. These things have had an impact on not only our own lives, but others as well. How you define yourself is very important. Today, we identify ourselves by a lot of things, yet they are not the things that truly empower our lives and it is not the things that truly reflect who we are and who Dad (God) has created us to be. Our choices, relationships, attitudes, lifestyles, and aspirations would dramatically change if we had Dad as the primary influence on our lives. Our identity should not be determined by what we have done, what people say about us or have done to us, or what we have or what they think we should be. Our identity rest on who Dad is, who Dad says we are, and what we know about ourselves by knowing who Dad is in our lives.

As a military child, I had a military I.D. as a dependant because my privileges on the military base were “depended” upon who my mother was in the military. With this military I.D., I had certain rights and privileges. I was able to get on and off of the military base, go to all the stores and buy anything and I was permitted to participate in all of the events. If I didn’t have my I.D. or know who I was and used my I.D. that was based upon my mother being in the military, I would lose out on various privileges and my rights could be potentially violated. What I am saying is this: knowing who you truly are as Dad’s creation, created in the image and likeness of Dad, allows you to exercise your kingdom rights and privileges here on earth. The things you allow to limit you, would not limit you, if you really knew who you are. The people you allow to take advantage of you and the negative words they say about you that you allow yourself to live by, you wouldn’t live by if you know who you truly are. Get to know Dad today! Get to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior! You are not identified by people or things, but you can be Christ-identified with kingdom privileges with Christ as KING!

Rev. Max

New C.R.E.A.M. Christ Rules Everything Around Me

Within our culture there is a stereotype against those who don’t have the “latest” clothes, sneakers and who aren’t up with the “latest” artists, songs, and dances. Our culture has made us materialistic and we have become identified by what we have and what people see on us instead what they see in us. So the culture tries to suggest, if you’re not Drake’s “Fancy” girl or if you don’t have Soulja Boy’s “pretty boy swag” then you are nobody. What one must realize is that we are not created in the image or likeness of the material, but we are in the image and likeness of the Maker. Our identity is not based upon the temporary our the cultures C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me, but we are identified by who Dad (God ) is and who He says we are! As believers, we have the New C.R.E.A.M (Christ Rules Everything Around Me)! So don’t be defined by the latest, but realize that you have be made for such a time as this, and that you are Christ-defined!! There is more to you than what they can see on the outside!! Begin to live your life from the inside out by living by the spirit and likeness of Dad! Share your thoughts…



Rev. Max
i2L Ambassador
http://www.imagetolikeness.com/

What Makeup Do You Wear??

― Well, it is not my acting. I have been told countless times that my acting is great. But they say I don’t “look” the part. Most of the good parts go to women who….let’s just say they don’t look like me. So I have been trying different looks to see if I can fit in. To be quite honest with you, I think I am starting to lose myself in the process.‖ Page 33 of Image to Likeness by Terry E. Warr

―Hold your horses, my brother. That is all well and good. But your approach, while it is
noble, would have been the wrong approach. You see, the problem was deeper than the
makeup and the fake stuff. The problem was on the inside. You are concerned with style.
The problem isn‘t style; it is substance. It wasn‘t enough just to tell her to be who she was.
She needed to understand who she was before she could be who she was.‖ Page 33 of Image to Likeness by Terry E. Warr

What makeup do you wear? I know you are not auditioning for a part in a play, but all of us in some way are trying to find our “part” or “role” in life. Like the young lady, we have experienced some things in our journey that has made up believe that our “divine makeup”, how God created us, is not enough and we must put on other “makeup” to try to fit it. Like the young lady, we too have lost ourselves in the process and no longer able to identify the person in the mirror when we look into it. Who are you? Have you lost yourself under the makeup of the world like drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality, your past, pain, relationships and disappointments? What makeup are you wearing to gain love, acceptance, happiness, popularity, and success? What things or people are using as the eyeliner of your vision, the concealer of your contentment, and the foundation of your faith? You don’t have to use the makeup that the world has but you can use the divine makeup that is already available to you! Post your comments, questions and/or experiences!

Rev. Max
(Get a copy of Image to Likeness at http://www.imagetolikeness.com/)

YDOC i2L Challenge Tuesday Nights

Many young men and women are looking at themselves and the world in a broken mirror. Broken mirrors can distort the image that is in front of the mirror. One looking and standing before the mirror, not knowing that it is broken, can believe that what they see is true. There are various stereotypes, prejudices, negativities, lies, and painful experiences that have tainted and broken our internal mirrors and has given us the wrong perspectives concerning who we are and what we can do. The i2L Challenge in Terry E. Warr’s book Image to Likeness challenges us to see ourselves as God sees us and the purpose of why we are by giving us a biblical truths through a creative and climatic fiction. Enter the i2L challenge and share your broken mirror experience and how God has been in the process of repairing your distorted image. (If you haven’t entered the challenge, get your copy and begin your journey at www.imagetolikeness.com )