DEALING WITH IMPERFECTIONS

DEALING WITH IMPERFECTION

2Ki 2:19-22 KJV 19 And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren. 20 And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. 21 And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land. 22 So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.

The Bible has defined who a Christian is. This is who we are.

Col 1:19 KJV For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

What is this fullness here?

Col 2:9-10 KJV 9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

Col 1:19 KJV For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

Joh 1:16 KJV And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

Because of our union with Christ we have been made full with His fullness. His completion is our completion. All the fullness of God. All the attributes of God dwell in Jesus and because we are in Him, we have been made complete or filled up or full. John 1: 16 says, of the fullness we have received.

That means whatever has become of Jesus has become of ours too. When you dip an envelope inside water, both the letter inside and the envelope becomes wet. That is why John made this statement:

1Jn 4:17 KJV Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

This is in your spirit. As He is, so are you. 2Cor5:17 says if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things have passed away and all things have become new. That part of us in Christ is our spirit and is made complete and perfect Heb 10:14. As He is complete, so are we.

The implication of this is that the new creation is

healed

1Pe 2:24 KJV Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 

blessed 

Eph 1:3 KJV Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

2Pe 1:3 KJV According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

prosperous 

2Co 8:9 KJV For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

delivered. 

Col 1:12-13 KJV 12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

The new creation is forgiven, redeemed, washed, purified, justified, consecrated, sanctified, holy, righteous in Christ and perfected forever.

However, most of the time we see that this is not an exact reality in the physical. This is not our experience. 

How do we deal with imperfection or things that seem contrary to what the Bible says?

Elisha had come to Jericho. Jericho was the first city the children of Israel encountered immediately they left the wilderness. It was a city that stands in between the children of Israel and the promised land. It was highly fenced but after it was surrounded seven days and seven times on the seventh day, it came down. That Jericho standing between you and your goal shall collapse in Jesus name. In this seventh month, that wall of Jericho separating you from your blessings shall collapse by fire in Jesus name.

Joshua made a pronouncement over the city that whosoever will try to build it will start it with the death of his first born and will finish it with the death of the last born. 500 years later a man in the day of Ahab tried it and so he lost his first born during foundation and when he completed it, his last born died.

Any power that wants to try the power of God in your life shall perish by fire in Jesus name.

The city was Jericho. After the curse pronounced on it by Joshua, (Jos 6:26 ) it had lain in ruins till the reign of Ahab, when it was rebuilt by Hiel the Bethelite, at the cost of his eldest and youngest sons” lives. (1Ki 16:34 )

In the text above, the men of Jericho came to Elisha right after Elijah had gone and told him that just as he can see that the situation of the city was pleasant, beautiful and wonderful. Everything seems to be okay. in a plain, surrounded with gardens and orchards, with vineyards, oliveyards, and groves of palm trees, and other odoriferous ones: 

However, they said the water was bad and the ground was barren. that is, that part of it where this water was, or ran, for from thence it became barren; or “caused to miscarry”, as the word signifies; not only trees cast their fruit, which it watered, but women became abortive that drank of it, The badness of the water had affected the land so that it is does not produce.

What was the cause of the problem in Jericho?

The cause was not either that ancient malediction of Joshua, or the neighborhood of that noisome lake of Sodom, but the recent sins of the inhabitants, – see Psa 107:34 , – and particularly Hiel’s presumption in rebuilding it. 1Ki 16:34. It was the presumption of the man Hiel that brought the naughtiness or curse upon the city of Jericho.

This is the situation of many people today. They appeared excellent, beautiful, gorgeous and wonderful. They laughed out loudly and smiled generously but inside their heart is a deep seated wound, sadness, sorrow and bitterness. Many are going around with a heavy burden in their heart. Burden of lack of peace at home, burden in marriage, health, jobs, academics, career, economic and financial burden.

We all have become unregistered members of the Nigerian guild of actors and actresses. We pretend and make representations to the world as if all is well. But if they can xray our heart and open us up, it is a different thing entirely. Behind that smiling face is the sorrow of the heart. The situation is pleasant but the water is nought.

After this encounter there shall be a change of stories in Jesus name.

The water in Jericho was the spoiler, it was the reason why the city was not 100% okay for the inhabitants. Every other thing in the town was alright but the water. The water was nought, bad, polluted, corrupted and unpleasant.

We can say that Jericho would have been a perfect city but for the water.

What is that water in our life that is nought? Our situation seems pleasant but the water…After this encounter your water shall receive resurrected life in Jesus name.

Elisha asked them to bring him a new cruise and salt and he went to the spring of the water and poured the salt there and made a prophetic pronouncement and from that day till now the water was healed and the ground was no longer barren. 

The result of Elisha”s word was that “the waters were healed unto this day.” “Down to the present hour all travelers to Palestine speak in glowing terms of the cool, sweet, and pleasant waters of the “Fountain of Elisha.” The soil is extensively cultivated. Sugar-yielding canes are plentiful. Fig trees abound on all sides.

Your water is healed in Jesus name.

HOW DO WE DEAL WITH OUR NOUGHT WATER OR IMPERFECTION?

This is based on the understanding of the fact that you know that you have been made complete in Christ Jesus and as He is so are you. That picture must be strong. In Christ Jesus there is wholeness and completeness. Nothing missing, nothing lacking, no deficient. That is the picture.

When we discover the contrary, what do we do?

1. By the renewal of mind.

We must not accept what we see as the will of God and go around with it. We must not accept the status quo. We obtain transformation or changes by accepting the truth of the word of God. We renew our mind to what is already a reality in our spirit by accepting the word as the final authority that defines us. The word is the truth and our circumstances are fact. There is a big difference between both.

Rom 12:2 KJV And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Even when our physical circumstances do not tally with what the word says, we made a declaration of the word. Our mind will agree with our spirit and that will be two against one. it is only a matter of time that our bodies will line up. It is a lifetime process. Our circumstances will line up with the word.

When we renew our minds then our thinking will change and as the Bible says as a man thinks in his heart so is he Prov 23:7. We become what we think. Our lives go the way of our dominant thoughts.

Here is the shocker. Any area of our life we have not achieved victory is the area we have not renewed our mind on completely.

2. By mirror principle

2Co 3:18 KJV But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The word “changed” is metamorphoo in Greek. The same word is used in Rom 12: 2 for transformation. 

The mirrors of the ancients were made of burnished metal, and they reflected images with great brilliancy and distinctness. And the meaning is, that the gospel reflected the glory of the Lord; it was, so to speak, the mirror – the polished, burnished substance in which the glory of the Lord shone, and where that glory was irradiated and reflected so that it might be seen by Christians

Christians, by looking on the gospel, could see the glorious perfections and plans of God as bright, and clear, and brilliant as they could see a light reflected from the burnished surface of the mirror. 

So to speak, the glorious perfections of God shone from heaven; beamed upon the gospel, and were thence reflected to the eye and the heart of the Christian, and had the effect of transforming them into the same image

The glory of God, the splendor of the divine perfections, was thrown on the gospel, so to speak like a bright light on a polished mirror; and that glory was reflected from the gospel on him who contemplated it, so that he appeared to be transformed into the same image.

To contemplate is to look at on all sides or in all its aspects; to view or consider with continued attention; to regard with deliberate care; to meditate on; to study, ponder, or consider.

It is a law of our nature that we are molded, in our moral feelings, by the persons with whom we associate, and by the objects which we contemplate. 

We become insensibly assimilated to those with whom we have social contact, and to the objects with which we are familiar. We imbibe the opinions, we copy the habits, we imitate the manners, we fall into rite customs of those with whom we have daily conversation, and whom we make our companions and friends. Their sentiments insensibly become our sentiments, and their ways our ways.

Have you seen preachers that talk or preach like Papa Adeboye or Bishop Oyedepo or Pastor Kumuyi?

And it is on the same great principle that Paul says that by contemplating the glory of God in the gospel, we become insensibly, but certainly conformed to the same image, and made like the Redeemer. His image will be reflected on us. We shall imbibe his sentiments, catch his feelings, and be moulded into the image of his own purity. Such is the great and wise law of our nature; and it is on this principle, and by this means, that God designs we should be “made” pure on earth, and “kept” pure in heaven forever(Barnes).

3. By contact with the anointing.

Just like in the text the men of Jericho approached Elisha because they perceived that he was a prophet and a man of God. 2Chr 20: 20 says believe in you God you will be established and believed in His prophets and you will prosper. The anointing you don’t honour and respect will not work for you. But whenever there is an encounter, imperfection is changed to perfection.

Mat 12:13 KJV Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.

The Greek word for restored is “apokathistemi” It means: 

to restore to its former state

to be in its former state

to reconstitute (in health, home or organization): – restore (again).

That man’s hand was restored to how it was originally or to the default setting.

4. Return back policy

Every manufacturer has what they call warranty on their products where they take responsibility for their products to either repair it at no cost to the purchaser within a specified time limit or in extreme case replace it for you. They can also recall damaged products from the markets.

Jer 18:2-6 KJV 2 Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

We are the clay and He is the porter. Whatever part that is marred can be remolded. Bring back to Him your clay. Defection and imperfection can be fixed. Marriage, career, jobs, ministry, home and every other area can be brought to the manufacturer. We have a lifetime warranty with God.

5. By the spoken word of God.

In Gen 1:1 Heaven and earth were made but in Gen 1:2, the earth was made void. Isa 45:18 KJV For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

How did God repaired the earth?

Heb 11:3 KJV Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Conclusion:

Gen 1:31 KJV And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Eph 2:10 KJV For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The word “very” is superlative and it was added to describe all that God had done including man. the whole is pronounced very good, perfectly adapted to answer the end for which it was designed, as well as consummately excellent and beautiful in itself: agreeable to the mind of the Great Designer, without evil or imperfection, or any thing which might impugn his wisdom, goodness, and purity

Under the new covenant, Jesus has restored the image of God that Adam lost in the garden. He is the image of God.

Heb 1:3 KJV Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Now we have the image of God in us and we can be restored in this life to the image we carry.

Prayers:

Isa 42:22 KJV But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.

We command restoration now in Jesus name.