Secondhand Knowledge

Gen 2:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desireable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

God told Adam about this tree that he "shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Eve knew they were not to eat of the tree, but did she have secondhand knowledge? Nowhere in the scriptures are we told God told Eve. We know that God spoke directly to Adam. We could surmise that it was Adam who told Eve. There is no record given that Eve ever spoke to God about His command even after Adam told her. Perhaps Adam told her and that was the end of the subject.

What a priviledge to have the Word of God and the Holy Spirit to teach us. We do not have to rely on secondhand knowledge. We can open the Bible and read for ourselves. We have the Holy Spirit to teach us and reveal to us exactly what it is God wants us to know from His Word.
God provides teachers in His Body to help build up the body, however we can talk to God directly about anything shown to us in scriptures. We have direct access to the Father. His Word becomes food to us that gives us life. His Word is given to us as a sword that we can use in battle against that snake!

Eve did not use God's Word. Instead she looked at the tree. She considered the words of that snake. As she gazed at the tree, she decided that it was "good for food." She had to look long enough to decide that it was "pleasant" to look at. Did she reason that something that looks so good must be desireable. She must have considered the word of the snake to decide that not only was it desireable, but it was "desireable to make one wise." In all this looking and considering, did she forget what God had said about the tree? Were her feelings that came from her thoughts of being wise overwhelming her? As she ruminated on what had become options to her, had she forgotten the truth that God spoke that the tree would bring death? Was she trusting God, believing Him, or had she forgotten His Words altogether? Did her relationship with God enter her mind (was there room with all that other thinking going on)? Did she stop to think that God Who created the entire universe, had also created her? That He had "fashioned" her from the rib of Adam and knew her and therefore her needs intimately. In all her considering, did she consider how special she must be to the One Who created her? Would He withold any good thing from her?

No, she looked and looked at that tree. She listened to a snake. She made a decision based on feelings and lies. And she also "gave to her husband with her and he ate."

I John 2:16 For all that is in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world.

James 1:14,15 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

Humbled by the Truth

Self effort really gets me nowhere except eventually, hopefully, to the end of myself. I can do nothing alone but thru Christ I can do all things. Yet, still I struggle wanting so badly to fix things yet knowing thru experience that I not only don't accomplish what I hope to but often create more of a mess. So it is back to my knees I go.
I am starting to see that my dreams have me at the center where my hope has Christ at the center. I can trust God, I can't trust myself; I have let myself down too many times. God has never let me down. There were times I was deceived to think perhaps He had, but by the end of the chapter I learned I was very wrong.
To believe the lie that I can somehow satisfy my own needs often leads to another lie - that I can somehow control someone else. Its like that tiny snowball that starts at the top of the hill and by the time it has rolled to the bottom, it has become huge. Big enough to roll right over me and bury me underneath. It is easy enough to stop the snowball - by accepting my responsibility to control myself (the only one I can), and trust God with my needs. Its funny how that works. Once I become willing to relinquish my needs to Him, I end up thanking Him as I realize He has always met my needs once I get out of the way. I know I can trust Him. He knows, better than I do, what I need at the time. He truly is my Father who created me and knows me so intimately that He knit me together in my mother's womb. No wonder all I need to do is thank Him.

Don't Back Down

When God plants something inside of your heart, do you stand firm? Do you resolve to go after everything He has for you, and for you to do for Him, no matter what? Do you grab hold of Him and refuse to let go? Because most likely, everything that can will come against you to get you to do just that - to let go, give up, discourage you from believing and get you to return to your life of mediocracy.
The past week I have talked with several people about things God has planted in their hearts. One man wants to share Jesus with other guys as they work on cars (isn't it funny how men feel most comfortable in the garage or eating together) as well as bless single moms with car repairs. A woman is excited about the wonderful things God has recently done in her life and wants to glorify God with others who also are excited about Him and want to learn all they can about Him. A small group of teens are stepping out to lead others in praising Jesus thru music. A man and his wife are starting a church where people can come to party with Jesus. A woman sees her house being used as a place where people discover the freedom of knowing Jesus as their Deliverer and are set free as they learn who they are in Christ. Wow! And to all of these things I say yes and amen!
Obviously there is a defeated foe who is not happy about any of these things and would like nothing better than to shut them down before they even get started. He whispers lies and discouragement, speaking of inadequacies, financial hardships, and persecutions. How great it is that he is defeated already and we don't have to listen to him. Each of these people can stand firm resting in the knowledge that what they want is what God wants, and when He is for us, who can stand against us. We don't have to be concerned about our inadequacies, as He is more than adequate within us. He is our Provider - He is the One responsible for giving what is needed to do what is needed. And He never left any doubt that there would be persecutions - that is why He told us to stand firm!
So don't back down - the Body of Christ needs you too badly to drop out now!

What is it we believe again?

Did you really want to see
who we would be on the other side?
If Joe could be broken
Does that mean Christ might lead you to brokeness also?

What is it He might require of you?
You long for the joy
but does there have to be tears?
Can we remove suffering from the message of Christianity?
Have we tried?
Does a broken life cry too loudly of the pain?
Are we rejecting the rain?

So the ground grows hard
Dry and cracked
Yet the God of miracles has Issac plant there
and riches abound
A hundred fold.
Again and again the farmer walks over the row
determined that the plow will bite into the ground
A farmer' heart cries -"Give me a year."
If there are no figs then, cut it down

What a long time a year can seem
When one believes in dreams rather than hopes for
what is not seen
I can produce nothing
But God never fails

I will not believe the cross was easy
Dying never is
Yet the Truth remains
It is finished.
The Price was paid
Abundant Life is yours
A seed never grows unless it dies.
Broken the shoot springs forth
The rains come.
Jesus reigns.

Jeremiah 32:17 Ah great God, You have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for You.

Be Excited!

God is doing so many things and I am so excited at all that I see. Even as I begin to think about it, I want to jump up, whirl around and shout! Even now, the verse comes - "Shout with a voice of triumph!" And I thank Him, thank Him, thank Him! God is so good (all the time)! Recently things had been rough - but "joy comes in the morning." God has never failed me. His promises are indeed yes "and in Jesus is yes!" Wow, no wonder I am excited. "What an awesome God we serve." He is alive and "for us. who can stand against us." Thank God for His Word that truly does feed us. He sustains me. In Him there is life and life abundant. He has delivered me from death. I have seen Him heal, deliver and free from bondages. I have watched Him put together families and fix all that is broken. He is the One Who knows me intimately and He loves me! He loves my family, my children, my friends. He is Love. "Nothing can separate me from His love." So yes, I am excited. When I allow His Word, His Truth to penetrate my spirit and my soul, everything that hinders falls off and I do indeed want to "shout with a voice of triumph!"

Wretched man that i am

So I am out in my yard when I notice my neighbor also outside. I hurry inside, not wanting to look at him little long speak to him , and at the same time, acknowledge how wrong this response is. So I quickly pray for my neighbor because I know in the past, prayer has created love where none seemed to exist.
The person I needed to pray for first is me. I recognized my inablility to muster up anything vaguely resembling love, but I did not recognize my total inability to love. I was filled with me: my thoughts, my opinions, my self effort. I did not recognize my inability to a level of desperation that caused me to cry out to God on my own behalf. I did not recognize my desperate state. Two of us are drowing, and I pray for my neighbor to be saved, but I do not cry out for my own rescue. I believe wrongly that I can get myself out of this mess. I want to love my neighbor, I truly do, but I find myself unable to do that (sound like something from Romans?) yet I struggle vainly to be a better neighbor.
I have forgotten the end of that chapter - Who is it that will rescue me? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! I know I have forgotten because I did not cry out to Him for help. It seems I am unaware of the verse before that states, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" I do not acknowledge my own wretchedness - "after all that neighbor does so many things that just rub me the wrong way! Just last week...." and I hurry into prayer for him. I do not look at me. I have become temporarily blind to my own state. I have listened to lies that say the problem is with my neighbor rather than with me. I have been led away from the Truth. Inside of me is the Holy Spirit, the One Who empowers me; the source of Love. It is He Who empowers me to put "to death the deeds of the body." My self effort has to die. I must cry out to Him, asking Him, the source of Love, to fill me with love. I must be emptied of self so that I can be filled with Him. And then, He will love through me and my neighbor will see Him and not me.

The Greatest Treasure

This morning I was thinking about the greatest treasure I have. I realized that the greatest treasure I have is God. I also realized that I don't always act like that is true. If I believe God, Jesus in my heart, is my greatest treasure than how will I act? What will matter the most to me?
He will! What He thinks, what He wants, what is important to Him is what will be the most important to me. And how do I know what He thinks, wants, requires of me? I have to know Him. Yet how do I know a God who is invisible, who no one has seen? His attributes are first revealed to everyone in creation- everything that was created was created by God. Then Jesus, who is God, came to earth to reveal God to us. As a child I learned stories about Jesus. I learned of God who loved me so much that He came to earth as a baby, despised and rejected by men, to suffer and die on a cross because He loves me so much! So I saw God outside my window, in His creation, and then I learned of God as I looked at Jesus. Once I choose to believe, to accept Jesus into my heart as the One True Living God, I was given The Helper, the Holy Spirit, to guide me, teach me, lead me into all truth about God. I am led to the Truth, but I must know the Truth. If I truly treasure God in my heart, nothing is more important than knowing Him. My life then becomes about knowing Him. I pursue Him as He pursues me. I seek Him with all my heart. There is no cost too great as He is my greatest treasure. I need to believe the Truth. I need to act on the Truth. I need faith. Thank God He provides - "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." The more I hear of God, the more I know Him. The more I know Him, the more I am drawn to Him. He becomes my greatest treasure not only in belief, but in action. He Who always was and is becomes in reality to me my very life. How I long for this even as I live differently. Thank God He draws me ever nearer, refusing to let me go.

The Church - His Body

Eph 1:22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Eph 3:8 To me who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all people see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord
Eph 3:20 Now by Him Who is able to do exceedingly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.
Eph 3:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Eph 3:30 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.

1 Cor 12:12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
1 Cor 12: Now you are the body of Christ and members individually.
And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. Are all apostles?
Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.

Please hear my heart

Today I was reminded of a time when God reminded me of my own heart.
He spoke to me about the slaves and how when they were granted freedom, many did not go.
They continued to live as slaves, refusing to leave the plantation.
Many continued on in a new form of slavery as they sharecropped.
Some left. However, before they went they tried to convince others to go with them.
They tried to get their friends and family to understand that they were now free men, that there was a whole new life waiting for them. They worked to convince them to leave and go with them into the new adventure that was awaiting them. They wanted them to know their identity had changed - that they were no longer slaves, but free. Free to live life the way it was meant to be lived. They did not want to leave anyone behind.
Today God reminded me of my heart.
He spoke to me about believing for others what they are having a hard time believing for themselves. He has reminded me of this over the years. I would come to Him in prayer, telling Him what my husband was or was not doing and how he needed to change. God would ask me who Joe was. I quit telling God what to do with my husband when I answered God's question, "He is your son." Sometimes I would feel that godly sorrow knowing I had not treated Joe as God's son.
Sometimes God would remind me that I was seeing my child correctly when I would proclaim to him, "This is not you. This is not my son." The words flew from my heart, recognizing that this young man was not acting in a way consistent with who he is - God's son. God used me to remind him that the sin was not him. God also made sure I knew whose son he truly was - God's son.
So now I am reminded of my heart. That I want to see others walk in the freedom Jesus paid for them to have with Hiw own blood. There is so much ahead of us - Jesus said He came that we might have life and have it abundantly. Sure doesn't sound like slavery to me. I know that if you know Christ as your Lord and Savior then you are free! You are God's child, God's son, God's daughter! You can do all things thru Christ Who strengthens you! I believe it for you! My heart is that you believe it and walk in freedom. You don't have to worry - God provides for you! There is nothing that has the power to hold you down- Jesus has been given all authority.
He has cut the chains. Walk free!

The B I B L E

I came across this today in Victory over the Darkness and thought Neil Anderson said it very well:
"The more time and energy you invest in contemplating your own plans on how to live your life, the less time you have to seek God's plan."
Put that together with my husband's favorite acronym:
Basic
Instructions
Before
Leaving
Earth
And then that childhood song sums it all up:
The BIBLE
Yes, thats the book for me
I want to stand on the Word of God
The BIBLE!

Freedom

"Why read the Bible?"


An interesting question.


How about "If you abide in My Word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:31-32).


Wow. How powerful is that! Is there anything you want to be delivered from? Something you want to be free in?


I have read countless self help books, listened to advice gurus, read magazine tips, sought advice from others, searched the internet looking for help in many areas. I can tell you a lot about dieting and clutter control - two main areas I struggle in. I have experienced times in my life when the going was easy in these areas - I have also experienced total frustration feeling as if food and clutter were going to take over my life. At those times, do I want to be free? You betcha!


How about you? Are there areas you want to be free in? A lot of my friends struggle financially, worrying about those bills and that next paycheck. I have single friends who struggle being single and married friends who struggle in their marriages. What about wanting to please everyone, or wanting everyone to like you? Sounds like bondages to me. Is there a way out? Can we truly be free?


"If you abide in My Word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:31,32).


Do I believe what God says? Is there an answer for me? Can I be free in these areas I struggle in? I know that God is Truth and there is no lie in Him. Do I want to be free? Even more importantly, do I want to be His disciple? Do I want to learn from Him? Do I believe Jesus is Life and the only answer to Life is Jesus. Am I tired enough of struggling, sick enough of being bond up to turn to His Word?


A good friend asked a very good question "Why wouldn't you?" I don' t think there is a good answer.



God has offered us the key - we don't have to stay locked inside. Do you truly want to be free?



"And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."