It is clear that God has always looked for maturity in someone who would co-labor with Him in His restoration project.

In the beginning there was darkness and chaos and a lot of emptiness on this planet called earth. God began speaking His mind [the reality of heaven] and order began to happen on earth. He made a Garden and then set man in it and over it. His mandate to His man was to co-labor with Him in completing the restoration of all things. He set this man as the governor, the one responsible for managing His creation on earth. This man forfeited not only His stewardship of the planet but he set in motion the forces of darkness and destruction to rule over what has always been, and will always be God’s property [Psalm 24:1].

The first man [Adam] was commissioned to take Paradise [the Garden] into the uncultivated parts of the earth. They [man and wife] were, in essence, to bring heaven to earth. They failed miserably to say the least. Because they lost focus by looking at what they could not do instead of what they were commissioned to do, Adam and Eve allowed darkness to invade the Kingdom of Light.

Since that time God has been at war with this enemy that was once one of His most trusted associates. Rebellion that began in the heavenlies was given permission to set up shop on the earth. Man, by coming into agreement with darkness gave permission to darkness, and therefore to the prince of darkness, to have authority [permission to act] on the earth. Thus we have disease, dysfunction and disaster.

God could vanquish His enemy in less than a New York minute. But He has an agreement with man to steward His planet. He cannot act arbitrarily because He is a just God. He does not break covenant, His word.

God kept looking for a man to build up the wall and stand in the gap before Him so that He would not have to destroy the land, and He found no one who qualified as a man [who was mature enough to be responsible and co-labor with Him] [Ezekiel 22:30].

Then the Son of Man appeared and fulfilled God’s desire by being a man who would build up and not tear down, who would stand in the gap [the breach between God and man] so that God would not have to destroy the land. God never wanted destruction to come. He is not the destroyer, the prince of darkness is.

God vented all of His wrath on this New Man [the last Adam]. God’s destruction was diverted by this Holy Intercessor from the planet and all that is in it and all those who are on it onto this Mature Man, the Son of Man.

The Old Testament mindset was that God caused all things [good or bad]. The prevailing wisdom of that day [epoch] was that God was Sovereign and therefore nothing happened that He did not do or allow.

The New Testament reality is that God causes all things to work for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. God does not cause all things! He just causes all things to work for good.

In other words ~

God is a restorer not a destroyer!

In the Law [Deuteronomy 29:29] Moses said this, “The secret things [things hidden] belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed [found] belong to us and to our sons forever.” God hides things for us, not from us. God the Father loves the thrill of discovery and the response of His kids when they find what He has hidden for them.

All of those things [See 1 Corinthians 2 & 3] that God hides for us are for us and for our sons forever once we find them. God is a generational God. He plans for the generations to come. Proverbs tells us a righteous man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children. This communicates a co-laboring with God in the passing forward of all that is found.

In the Old Testament there were hints hidden [NT realities] for all to find that proved God was not the author of destruction. One such example is Psalm 115:16 which says, “The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s. But the earth He has given to the sons of men.”

The Hebrew root word for sons is banah / baw-naw’ and it means to build, rebuild, establish and to make to continue. Sonship in the Kingdom of God is the level of maturity where the Father can give the keys to His business to His son [Son] and not have to watch over his shoulder. In other words, a Kingdom son carries on his Father’s business the way the Father has established it.

Do you see this? God gave the earth to man, forever.

From the first Adam until the last Adam [Jesus Christ of Nazareth and His Body] God has linked Himself to man in the restoration of all things.

Jesus said that He came to seek and to save [restore, deliver, make complete and whole] that which was lost. His Body, through the power of the Holy Spirit is to carry on this mission. What is the mission? It is the restoration of all things.

There is no way God is going to send Jesus back to snatch us away when He has commissioned [commanded] us to restore all things. He never left His planet to the prince of darkness. He left His planet to the sons of men, who through blood are related to THE SON OF MAN!

It is time to man up. Seriously, it IS time to man up!

We need to quite looking for our rescue. We need to man up, stand up, step up and into our God-given responsibilities of stewards of His property. We need to quite looking up for Jesus to come rescue us. We are the rescuers!

Forgive me while I try to sort out why we excuse our immaturity by not manning up and being Kingdom intercessors. An intercessor is one who stands in the gap, the breach, the broken relationship and does everything possible to bring restoration. Intercessors are not called to curse the darkness [the problem]. And for sure Kingdom intercessors are not called to fear darkness and look for a way to escape it.

Intercessors are called to release light [the solution].

Kingdom intercessors know the Father’s heart and release it through decrees. They know the will of God is on earth as it IS in heaven so that is what they declare. Kingdom intercessors are salt and light.

Christ’s Body is the man [Ephesians 2:15; 4:13] that is supposed to build up and stand up in between the world God loves and the God who is also just.

The apostle Paul said this, “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child. But when I became a man I did away with childish things” [1 Corinthians 13:11].

Children live in their own little world and are not concerned with the rest of the world. Children make excuses for why their world is the way it is. Childishness is not Kingdom behavior. Childishness is equated with what is called the old nature, which is the nature of the first Adam.

Adam’s excuse was to blame his wife for the problems he created. That is not the behavior of a man.

Paul confessed to his time of living in immaturity. But he came to a realization that staying a child would not work for him or for his call. He knew he had to grow up, or in other words, MAN UP!

He said when he became as man he “did away with childish things.” It was his decision to make. Would he remain a child and be irresponsible or would he become a man and accept responsibility for his world and for God’s? It is always our choice. God never forces us to grow up. But He is always calling for us to grow up.

Do not confuse childlikeness with childishness. They are polar opposites!

Will we man up? God and His world are depending on it.

For HIS Glory!

Dr. Kevin M. Drury
A Hisstorymaker