Adam and Eve

P 2460 Never underestimate the power of choice.

/ DVH

Yeah, I know I rabbit on about choice all the time. However, I have a good reason to do that. Our minute by minute choices determine the intimacy of our walk with the Lord as well as others. I want to highlight the power of choice today, because many people are under the impression that if they just pray about something – that is all they need to do. I disagree. First we choose, then we carry whatever it is out.

I totally believe that Father God always hears our prayers. I think that He hears the prayers we never even say out loud.  His love is so incredible, He cares about the unspoken things that tear at our hearts, but they are unseen by other people’s eyes. In that place human heartache has no words – the bible calls that ‘sighs and groans too deep for words…’

It seems to me that this is why He says:“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you …” Seeking His will above everything and everyone else in our lives, positions us to be under His Government. And boy, is HE a fantastic governor! His government is far more than just provision – there is shelter from the storms of this life when we choose His will, His way. He sent us the Holy Spirit to help us carry out Godly choices. The Holy Spirit is poised, ready and waiting and longing to help us … because He loves each one of us dearly and He wants us to win! Jesus relied upon the Holy Spirit, and so should we, if we want to follow Him. 

The Holy Spirit IS Jesus Christ Himself, with us – He is literally standing right at our elbows, waiting for us to ask Him to help us out of our learnt patterns of disobedience, and fear, as well as the stupid messes we make. And all that takes is the humility to choose to ASK. Jesus told us that He left this world so the Spirit could come to be with us, and convict us of sin. We know that He will help, guide, comfort, counsel, instruct, and support us. However, the Holy Spirit in us, is also the Lord’s deposit upon us for our eternal future – His Presence in our lives assures us we belong to Jesus now. We need to treasure Him, and obey Him, plus walk with HIM – that is also a choice. 

Because we long to be His obedient people, we cannot afford to rely upon our own choices, no matter how small they seem. We daily need the Holy Spirit’s help to make kingdom choices. Yesterday our kitchen sink tap started leaking into the cupboard under the sink. What a mess! We could have thrown up our hands and cried: ‘Oh no, more bills!” But we chose to ask the Lord what He wanted us to do about it. Because of that choice hubby was able to witness to a young plumber. Our choices can hinder our growth or encourage it. They invite us into our destiny or close the door.

Right at the beginning of mankind’s interactions with God, and the wondrous world He made … the one Adam and Eve lived in… Everything was lost by that one bad choice. Genesis 2:16–17: “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Death came into that garden. God gave Adam a reason not to eat from that particular tree, but they both went ahead and made the wrong choice. They were tempted to doubt God’s truthfulness and they fell into sin! They thought what they could see was all there was, because that fruit looked and smelt good!

The devil wants us all to think that our choices do not count. he whispers: ‘You are no-one, what you do doesn’t matter.’ Or he says: ’Who will know? After all this or that need is so great, God will understand.’ I know about that particular rabbit-hole, I’ve fallen down it myself … sadly, many times. I ended up in Alice’s wonderland, where nothing made sense – until I chose to acknowledge my sin and repented. 

We cannot afford to put aside the kind of faith-filled obedience that demonstrates that God knows better than we do. In reality without faith, nothing can actually make sense. Let’s face it, it made no sense humanly speaking, that Adam and Eve could eat from any tree but that particular one! But immediate gain overtook caution … and they fell in. In our own lives that is also true.

Here is some advice: ‘choose God’s way from His Word, quickly, and stick with it despite any opposition.’ And there will be opposition, from our flesh as well as our enemy! I think we can easily blame the devil when the real point is, we either don’t want to, OR our flesh is weak and it is crying out for whatever it wants. That means our flesh has become used to being indulged.

When we are not walking with the Holy Spirit we can make really bad choices that affect tomorrow… and tomorrow … and … tomorrow. That’s how our eyes are blinded by our needs, and the overwhelming desire to sort out our own lives. We start to focus on the immediate, instead of the eternal. The power of choice is huge, and we cannot miss God if we are guided by His Word, as well as the good advice of mature saints … plus the desire to obey … above everything else. Never underestimate the power of choice!  Choose life.👋🏻

P 2250 Value His opinion.

/ DVH

We should never be surprised by this world’s actions and activities – this kind of hate filled stuff has been going on for centuries. Sin is common to mankind. After all, we were like this from the very beginning. God said to Adam and Eve: ‘You can have everything you see, but that tree over there – don’t eat from that one.’ He had a great reason, and He gave it to them … but they didn’t value His opinion.

So Adam and Eve ate from the only tree that was forbidden. Did you know that there are 73,300 tree species? Approximately 20,000 plants are edible by human beings. That’s a whole lotta choices. Yet the tree that attracted those two was the one they were not allowed to eat – and it wasn’t about hunger at all. It was really  about ambition. That teaches us a lot about what makes people tick! The power of choice was always going to be our downfall – as well as our salvation.

satan put a caveat on that fruit when he told this couple if they ate it they would be just like God Himself. satan, BTW lied, by twisting the truth and not stating the consequences. Adam and Eve were already like God, they were eternal pure beings. satan implied that the lack of choice in one area was robbing them. However when they sinned, it corrupted them, the same way satan had been corrupted. he was ambitious too. Many people want a God who provides – but not one Who is in charge. 

Now let’s look at Genesis 9:1 for another illustration: “Then God blessed Noah and his sons. He said to them, “Have children so that there are many of you. Fill the earth.”… But they didn’t! … Genesis 11:2-4: “The whole world had only one language, and everyone spoke it. They moved to the east and found a broad valley in Babylon. There they made their home. They said to one another, “Come on! Let’s make bricks and bake them well.” They used bricks instead of stones. They used tar to hold the bricks together. Then they said, “Come on! Let’s build a city for ourselves. Let’s build a tower that reaches to the sky. We’ll make a name for ourselves. Then we won’t be scattered over the whole earth.” 😳

That is in direct disobedience to what they were told to do. And here’s human defiance and ambition sticking up its nasty little head. Father God told those people to fill the earth, literally … spread OUT. But they clubbed together instead. Then they built a tower because their building was going to get them to heaven – their way! They even changed their building materials to make that tower more permanent! They had to work to make those bricks!

Humanity wants the freedom to decide what is good for us, and what is not. Instead we need to recognise that what holds us all back is common to mankind. Sin. Defying God. Wanting our own way. Let’s look at Job 5:1-7: ““Call for help, Job, if you think anyone will answer!To which of the holy angels will you turn? The hot temper of a fool eventually kills him, the jealous anger of an idiot does her in. I’ve seen it myself—seen fools putting down roots, and then, suddenly, their houses are cursed.

Their children out in the cold, abused and exploited, with no one to stick up for them. Hungry people off the street plunder their harvests, cleaning them out completely, taking thorns and all, insatiable for everything they have. Don’t blame fate when things go wrong— trouble doesn’t come from nowhere. It’s human! Mortals are born and bred for trouble, as certainly as sparks fly upward.” 

The bible tells us that sinful attitudes are inevitable – because human beings think that what WE know, is all there is. That, and blaming others when we get it wrong, is our downfall. Sin isn’t just sex, booze and deviancy. Sin is saying: “I know better than You do God.” That’s what happened in the garden. Blame and disobedience. However, Almighty God already had a much bigger plan. If satan had had even a whiff of God’s plan he would have left those two newbies in the garden alone! 

We are more than capable of corrupting ourselves – we once gave away purity for independence.  We gotta stop blaming the snake for our own proclivities. All satan did was give Adam and Eve an opportunity. he’s a tempter, and he studies humanity for flaws, but he’s not able to make us do, anything. Our will can oppose his temptations, but instead we allow supposed needs, and our own opinions drive us. We need to value God’s opinions above our own, and see what He will do with our obedience. 👋🏻

P 2171 Who told you that?

/ DVH

In Genesis, right after Adam and Eve sinned, they hid. The Lord God came walking along in the garden, like He did every evening, and the first question He asked them was: “Where are you?” The second one was: ““Who TOLD you that … you were naked?Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” Genesis 3:11.

Recently the Lord put His big highlighter over those four words. ‘Who told you that…?’  was all He said, so I went away and looked that scripture up. Suddenly I realised, there is somebody who stands at our elbow whispering in our ears, constantly replaying our sins and disobedience – even after we have repented. Our enemy won’t ever remind us about what the blood of Jesus did for us, because he never wants us to live in the knowledge of our freedom from the compulsion and temptation to SIN! We were made free when Christ died. Once for all. 

I believe the Lord Himself wants to say to everyone reading this blog today – “Who told you you’ve failed me? Who told you I don’t love you? Who told you that you have to run and hide from Me? Who told you that I am angry with you? Somebody told you that … and it wasn’t ME!” …satan led Adam and Eve right up the garden path and then shoved them off a cliff of his making.

I believe the Lord highlighted those words to me today, because the devil used that ploy back there in the garden, and he is still doing it now, today. he hands us the weapons for our own destruction and then clobbers us with what we’ve done after we did it. The good news is – we don’t have to take anything from him! Seriously … turn your hand upside down whenever he comes at you, refuse to take guilt, shame and the blame. Instead, intentionally – repent, repair and restore things, with the Holy Spirit’s direction and help. Don’t give him a reason to accuse you – fix things.

There were two trees in the garden of Eden. Genesis 2:9b says: “In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”  In the middle of that garden was a choice! They could choose to obey God and live … or not. Genesis 2:16 says: “And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”  And we all know what came next. 😵‍💫 Meanwhile did you ever wonder if Adam and Eve both lived a long time just because they actually did eat from the tree of life? That tree was not forbidden. I’m just saying is all …

Back to my point this morning  – the enemy can’t wait to hand us our sins. Meanwhile those sins are real! We do dumb disobedient horrible things, but … we don’t have to live under his lies. We can focus on our failures, or the cross. The choice is ours. Jesus Christ died to give us that choice. Now, we have access to redemption – because it has already been released. We must learn to embrace what has already been done for us … “IF we CONFESS our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

There were two trees in back in that garden, one brought eternal life and the other brought death. Jesus came here to die for all mankind. He hung on another type of tree and defeated death forever.  His cross truly was the tree of life for us! He released life for anyone who believes in Him. We don’t have to take the guilt and the shame that satan tries to hand out to us when we sin, accidentally, or not. Our enemy started that game back in the garden – but we have the power to live differently now – we don’t have to play that game with him anymore. Thank you Jesus! 👏

Our enemy will always try to tell us that we are trapped in the past, or stuck in our old behaviour – he’s a liar remember? he’s called the father of lies!  Jesus Christ FINISHED the work. We do not have to listen to the one who tells us we are failures, and that we can’t possibly belong to the Lord – the bible tells a different story!  We need to take note of who is telling us that we are not loved – and ask ourselves: “Who told me that?” 👋🏻

P 2168 Use a sure plumb line.

/ DVH

If I compare Mt Everest with an anthill, I am going to run out of comparisons ve-ry quickly. Mt Everest is far greater and beyond comparison to any old anthill! Yet human beings do something very like that, almost daily – we define Almighty God by our own thinking. You cannot compare a superior thing to a lesser one, because the greater thing defies definition. Yet we compare Almighty God to the things that we already know, and we have no idea how self-centred we are when we do it. He is the Greater One – He defines US we don’t define Him.

Sometimes people say things like: “Why would God do this and this? Why did that person die?… Those people were good people.” OR .. “Why are there starving people in this world? Why are people born to live in pain? How can God be good when bad things happen?”  Um, because human beings live here and we do bad things!?? Duh! 🙄 He is God – He does not answer to us – yet He did and He does – His permanent answer is CHRIST.

Psalm 73:22 comes to mind. “I was senseless and ignorant;  I was a brute beast before You.”  In other words I’m so dumb – I can’t even begin to know what I don’t know. Praise God we have all eternity to begin to scratch the surface of what we don’t know! But …we … have … His … book and we find HIM is in His book, with the Holy Spirit’s help.

Almighty God doesn’t do things the way we do. Let’s look at some illustrations: God made the world. He created man and woman and put them into a garden that only had one rule.“Don’t eat from that tree.”Adam and Eve ignored that tree until satan pointed out that God was keeping: “His God-ness to Himself and if they wanted to be like God they needed to eat that fruit.” We all know how that ended. Badly! Then Father God had to ban Adam and Eve from their meeting place with Him. That was His loss as well as ours, you know.

Let’s move on … because I can’t summarise the whole bible in one blog! Almighty God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to earth as an infant, and He grew up living alongside humanity. However … look closely … now God and man can walk and talk together again just like they all did in the garden – all because Jesus Christ is God come to earth and died. And that’s why satan tempted Jesus to use His miraculous power to look after Himself. Jesus is God’s living illustration for us, of how this life can be lived.

And He picked a thief for one of His disciples. He hung around with prostitutes, drunkards, sinners, sick people – all those people we avoid. What does that tell us? Jesus Christ was not afraid of being contaminated by SIN. Why not? Because there is another way to live and He lived that way right in front of our eyes in the bible. He lived His life in relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit whilst facing the same daily stuff we do.

He lived a life of unconditional Love. Christ rubbed shoulders with everyone around Him and treated them with loving kindness and wisdom, in spite of their sinfulness and rotten attitudes toward Him. He had His eyes on their destiny!Then He went to the cross and bought us the right to live like He did. Jesus Christ bought back what human beings threw away.

Disobedience expelled us from the garden of Eden, but obedience to His Will, His Way, brings us back into that same place of walking and talking with Him. The further we have all walked away from the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and Their Ways – the more corrupt mankind becomes… all by ourselves. Jesus Christ’s life and death and resurrection, gave us a Way out of our own sinfulness. Our response to that fact makes all the difference. 

The Lord Jesus once asked Peter a question that determines any human being’s destiny.”But what about you?” Jesus asked: “WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?”  Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”… Matthew 16:15,16. 👋🏻