By David McFadden

Jesus was deceitfully tested by the Pharisees when they asked His position on paying tribute to Caesar. His reply? “Whose image is on this coin?” (Matthew 22:20)

Genesis 1:26 tells us that man was originally created in God’s image. The first man, Adam, bore God’s image. 

As God’s image bearer, Adam was given the mandate to execute God’s will upon the earth, to subdue and to have dominion over it. Through this delegated dominion, Adam’s objective was to fulfill God’s purposes on earth. That exercise of power was accomplished through close fellowship, communication and submission to God. The earth’s history and future were entirely under Adam’s influence. Ruling the natural world has been man’s destiny from the beginning. Before sin entered the world, God could entrust man with this high calling. Why? Because man was made in God’s image—the external calling to reign in the natural world had its roots in Adam, who possessed God’s nature. Unfortunately, Adam’s sin disfigured that image and, in the process, Adam lost his destiny to rule creation.

Today, each person has a choice—to be God’s image bearer or not. The image we choose to bear determines our destiny.

A genuine believer once again bears God’s image. But the question is, “Do we acknowledge and fully live in the restoration that God wrought through Jesus?” Part of the answer lies in how we avail ourselves to commune with God through prayer. Adam had this privilege and lost it. 

A genuine believer has this privilege but soul-searching is due here. Do we recognize that through prayer we are His image bearers? Do we fully realize the power given to us to influence “earth’s future history” or our mandate to fulfill God’s purposes on earth?

The privilege of prayer bears witness to the fact that, like Adam, we are image-bearers through restored communion and fellowship with God.

A believer who has received Jesus’ mantle and “stepped into” his calling to influence his world through prayer, becomes a mediator between God and His desire to dispense His bounty to a lost and hurting world. It is in bearing God’s image in prayer that we have the wonderful privilege of opportunity to carry out His plans and purposes. 

This is not of man’s doings, far from it. It is God’s unmerited favor through Jesus that restores man to his original position, as His image bearer. Bearing His image means that we have forsaken self to draw close to Him in intimate fellowship with His life of obedience and self-sacrifice. Those who are willing to give up their life for His cause, and are entirely given up to the interests of the Father and His kingdom, will find it again in Him.

Theologian, Andrew Murray says it this way,

“To pray in the Name of Jesus is to pray in unity, in sympathy with Him. As the Son began His prayer by making clear His relation to the Father, pleading His work and obedience and His desire to see the Father glorified, we do so, too. Draw near and appear before the Father in Christ. Plead His finished work. Say that you are one with it, that you trust on it, live in it. Say that you too have given yourself to finish the work the Father has given you to do, and to live alone for His glory. And ask confidently that the Son may be glorified in you. This is praying in the Name, in the very words, in the Spirit of Jesus, in union with Jesus Himself. Such prayer has power. If with Jesus you glorify the Father, the Father will glorify Jesus by doing what you ask in His Name. It is only when your own personal relation on this point, like Christ's, is clear with God, when you are glorifying Him, and seeking all for His glory, that like Christ, you will have power to intercede for those around you.”

It is God’s desire that we bear His image and represent Him on earth. As redeemed believers, we have, by prayer, the directive to determine the future history of this earth for God’s eternal purpose. Man was created, and has now again been redeemed, to pray in boldness, declaring His will through prayer.

Prayer :

“Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me and calling me into a relationship with You. I want to glorify You with effective prayer. So, LORD, I ask You to work the truths of Your Word into my life. Thank You that I can know You and come into Your presence with the confidence of a well-loved child. Thank You for trusting me with the authority and power to participate in Your kingdom plans and purposes.

LORD, thank You that I am sinless in Your sight because of Jesus. Thank You for instilling in me a conqueror mindset so that I can pray effectively. My sinless position infuses me with the courage to storm heaven with Your Word, liberating people from Satan’s domain. Thank You for trusting me with Jesus’ power and authority so that I can do my part to fulfill His Great Commission. I want to proclaim the liberating gospel message so that I can bear good fruit for You. I desire to bear Your image as I engage the world in Your name. I ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. ”

Excerpted and adapted from, “Prayer by the Book” - Available on Amazon.com by clicking here: Prayer by the Book

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