In The Beginning, God

In the beginning, God existed. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. In the beginning, darkness covered everywhere and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters (Genesis 1:1-2).

The beginning of everything is challenging and exciting. Those who remember their first day at school, for example, may recall that separation from parents, relatives, and friends was a challenge, but the opportunity to make new friends out of schoolmates was exciting. Similarly, if we cast our minds back, we may reflect on many challenging and exciting beginnings in our lives. There may be the beginnings of Christian lives, friendships, marriages, parenting, work, careers, businesses etc., with each category presenting its own challenges and excitements.

Everything has a beginning - everything, that is, except God. Everything except the Eternal and Everlasting Father. Everything except God who was, is, and will forever be, the Great I AM. The introductory phrase of the Bible, “in the beginning, God...,” confirms that God existed before the beginning of time. God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. God preceded the beginning and will outlast the end.

Some people would like to see for themselves concrete proof of the existence God before they believe in Him. They remain adamantly unconvinced that God exists or that God was the originator and creator of the heavens and the earth. They would like to use the natural to fully understand the supernatural, or the physical to fully understand the spiritual. They refuse to rely on the Bible, the indescribable creation, the power of the Holy Spirit, or the revelations and testimonies of others to understand the concept, existence, and power of the Almighty God.

Interestingly, they do not apply the same standard of proof to their own lives. For example, if they have to see before they believe, most of them should not accept the existence of air. In fact, the five senses of sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell may not fully help to explain it, but not many people doubt the existence of air. Almost all of us assume that air exists.

Further, no one remembers anything about the very beginning of his or her own life. Everything about the day each one of us was born and the circumstances surrounding our birth were revealed to us by our parents, relatives, and other eyewitnesses. We do not have personal knowledge of them. Yet, we do not doubt the fact that we were born on a certain day, or that one or both of our parents existed on the day we were born. Many of us celebrate our birthday as the most important day of our life.

God created and is creating. Our births are a continuation of God’s creation. God created man in His own image. Everything was good until Adam’s sin of disobedience entered into and damaged the loving relationship between God and man. God through Jesus Christ seeks to reconcile with people the separation caused by the sin of Adam. Those who are born again join the ranks of Christians and perpetuate God’s creation. As Paul put it, “therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Christians, as part of the new creation, do not need to rely solely on the physical (e.g., the indescribable creation) to explain the spiritual existence and creative power of God. Jesus said, “God is spirit and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24). Christians feel the presence of God, the presence of Jesus, and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. There is no better proof.

Those who by God’s grace seek and find God through Jesus Christ early in their lives are able to lay the proper foundation for the future because they allow God to direct their paths. They align themselves with God who existed before time and has existed since. Among other things, they learn about faith, trust, obedience, grace, mercy, fellowship, holiness, humility, sin, prayer, repentance, salvation, forgiveness, kindness, truth, and love. They learn about the awesome power and love of the Almighty God, and hope to be with Him in heaven. They also learn about Satan and his determination to deceive, destroy, and lead people to himself in hell.

Sometimes, it is helpful to look at the beginnings and learn from them. Ghanaians have an adage that the beginning of life is not difficult, but its end. However, many who started life on wrong paths have found themselves in bad and irreversible destinations. Even so, our God is able. God is able to shine or speak light onto every dark corner of our lives and redirect our paths. God is able to breathe life into every dead situation. God is able to repay for the years the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25). In addition, God is able to create opportunities for new beginnings.

God’s free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ is available to all who seek Him. Like the father of the prodigal son, God is ready to welcome all who come to the realization that they have sinned against Him and need to reconcile with Him. God’s redeeming grace is free for all.

Let’s put God first. Let’s place God at the beginning and center of everything we do, including our Christian lives, education, friendships, marriages, parenting, work, careers, and businesses.

Whether we are Christians or not, all of us at some point in our lives have experienced or will experience seemingly insurmountable challenges. For Christians, our trust is in God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth whose Spirit still hovers over the universe. Those who put their trust in any of God’s creation, such as human beings, animals, rivers, seas, trees, the sun, stars, the moon, mountains or the earth should look back to the very beginning.

If they do, they will find out that in the beginning, before there were any gods, angels, powers, principalities, or human beings to make fetish of the creations mentioned in the preceding paragraph, God existed and exercised absolute and maximum authority, power and control over the universe. That has not changed. God is still on His throne exercising absolute and maximum authority, power and control over the universe. Therefore, begin with God, stay with God, and end with God.

Prayer is the key. May God grant us the grace to seek Him daily through our prayers.

Dr. Daniel Gyebi, Attorney-at-Law, Texas, U.S.A., and Founder, PrayerHouse Ministry, Kumasi, Ghana.

PrayerHouse Ministry is dedicated to providing a quiet facility for Christians to pray individually by themselves without any intermediary priest, pastor or any other person. This is a free service. No money is demanded or accepted. One facility is located at Kyerekrom / Fumesua, near Building and Road Research Institute Offices, one mile off the Kumasi-Accra Road and next to a house called Grace Castle. If you are interested, please contact Agnes at 027-7423815. Another is located at Kantinkyiren, at the junction of Kantinkyiren and Konkori, off the Kumasi-Obuasi Road, branching left at Trede junction. Contact Kwadwo at 020-8768461 / 0246-989413.