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Before the Fall of Adam and Eve, which inevitably led to the Fall of all mankind, they both allowed God to be the core and creator of their lives. All they were, both individually and together, was of God. All their life consisted of, were open hearts, open minds and open spirits for God to fill, form, give and bring to them, and to create within them. There was no suspicion or doubt in God because they were only conscious of God and not of themselves. Thus they were naked, but were not ashamed (see Genesis 3:9-11). Their lives were in perfect conformity and knowledge of who God was and what He was to be to them. He was good, all good, and all goodness was only found in Him, and both Adam and Eve “knew it.” God enabled them to know that He was good by sight, feeling, knowledge, learning and by their experiences with Him. Their five senses were fully alive in the reality of God’s goodness. God’s whole being was in love with them, and they, because they chose to receive His love completely, were in love with Him. How could they not be? How can we not be?
It’s amazing to meditate on what it must have been like in this perfectly God-willed relationship. Perfect faith, perfect trust and perfect contentment. Did God inspire the book of Genesis and the history of this holy relationship before the Fall, to just let us know what we as man ruined, or for another reason? Could it be, that we can enter once again into what Adam and Eve chose to give up? Enter Jesus Christ. The God-Man. Through His death and resurrection, He reconciled our spirits to be at One with the Father God once again “You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in us” (John 17:22, NKJ).
This is the “Good News” and “good tidings of great joy which will be to all people” (Luke 2:10, NKJ), that Jesus came to this earth to bring. But, we are going to have to fight for it. Because a loving and obedient relationship with God in any day and age, does not come easy. We have come to a resolution within ourselves about God. Either He is who He says He is in the Bible, or He is not. We must know this either way and God will have it no other way. God is not cheap, and coming to know Him as He is in all His goodness, power, strength, love, holiness and perfection will not come cheaply either. Do you think Noah didn’t have to fight the fight of faith to believe God was who He said He was and that He was going to do what He promised (see Genesis chapters 6-8)? You better believe he had to, every inch of him. God told the Israelite's that He would save them despite the on-coming of Pharaoh’s army. What did the Israelite's do? They balked. But then they chose to believe God and were saved (Exodus chapter 14). How about the friend of God, Abraham. Did his faith and friendship with God come easy? Hardly. King David had to be on the run for several years for his life, to enter into this most sacred and trusted of friendships with God. Isaac, Esther, Elijah, Paul, Peter, etc., all had to pay dear prices to enter back into what God had freely given to Adam and Eve. All of Himself, in fullness for their joy. We are not talking about just knowing about God, but actually knowing Him, up close and personally, “when you said, “Seek My face,” My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek” (Psalm 27:8, NKJ).
Do you know that God wills with such an undying passion for us to enter back into the perfect one-ship He once had with Adam and Eve? To have His heart and mind become our heart and mind. To be hearted and minded, as He is hearted and minded. What breaks His heart will break our hearts. What makes Him smile, makes us smile. Do you not know that God wants to show all of Himself to you, as He did with all of those great believers of Him in the Bible? This is why Christ paid the price He did for us. God is so ready to open up His love, wisdom, mighty works, powerful strength, his heart and mind for us to receive, so we can enjoy and glorify Him forever. Yes that’s right, I said enjoyment and believe it or not, that is what God wants us to do. To enjoy His presence within us, to be our Teacher, for us to learn of His love for us, His guidance, His always unique doings in our lives that only He can do. God is no other than whom He declares Himself to be in the Bible and He desires to prove this out to us in our lives. He, nor His word, are not to be watered down even in this 21st Century world of ours, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8, NKJ). And we must fight and will ourselves in faith, to believe God is exactly who the Bible proclaims our Lord to be, nothing less.
Why must we have to fight so hard to enter back into one-ship with God and believe Him? Does God will this “battle to the death” in us? Yes He does, because He has to. It was not God who made it so hard for mankind to believe and love Him, it was sin. Before the Fall of man, God’s perfect will was to live in perfect communion with man, daily displaying His glory and goodness to us. Man was to receive God in all His fullness as his very life and glory, with not even a shade of darkness in between. God had plans, perfect plans, with no death for man in sight. God had prepared this for Himself and His masterpiece, mankind (that’s you and I), before the foundation of the world. Then man chose to not believe and love Him anymore and it broke God’s order of how man and his God were to live out into eternity. Man would turn his back on God and seek to live life his own way, without God. God said to Eve, “what is this you have done” (Genesis 3:13, NKJ). The emotion and hurt that was in God’s heart when He said this to Eve, well, only God knows. Man broke God’s heart.
Do you think this is too sentimental to believe? Do we really believe that God’s anger and hurt were not at full flame when Adam and Eve chose not to trust, believe and obey Him? Maybe not. But when you read of how God reacted to man’s sin against Himself in Genesis 3:14-19, it sure seems as if it were that way. Better yet, for the next few thousand years, what was kindled in God’s heart in the Garden of Eden, waxed even hotter and more intense. Until it finally came to full fruition and the wrath, anger and hurt of God was fully poured out on His Son Jesus Christ, for the remission of all our sins and man’s wrongdoing of Him.
But thanks be to God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ we are put back into God’s original design. We get to delight in God’s love of us and we get to return this delightful love right back to Him. Relationally through Christ, we are once and forever a delight to God, but we also get to experience this holy love affair in all the happenings and circumstances of our daily life. Again though, to stay here will take all the discipline we are worth.
To believe God and all He claims to be to us, thus becoming One with Him, is now the new avenue Satan seeks to tear down. He knows he has lost our souls, but he now seeks to dismantle the love, belief, obedience and devotion we have to God (or at least we should have to God). For you see, the most dangerous person on the face of the earth to Satan, is that child of God who now considers himself or herself dead to their old lives of sin, and only alive to the living Christ within them (Romans 6:11). And this, is the fight.
To Eve, Satan did not enter into her presence with a pitchfork, long tail and horns, but rather as a skilled craftsman. He is cunning and subtle. He comes to the child of God not so much to get us to commit wrong-doing or sin, but at least in the beginning of our lives with God, to make us take a second thought towards God. He does not come at us with gross, grievous temptations, but He comes at us to get us to start second guessing God and how He means for us to live our lives out, “Has God indeed said” (genesis 3:1, NKJ). To begin blurring our clear sight and knowledge that God is good and that He only wills Himself to be good to us. To get us to begin thinking that God is holding out on us, to put some gray area in His commands. To get you to know that you have a right to happiness and why all this need for purity, holiness and chastity. I mean God made us human didn’t He and how can He expect us to live under such holy strain? To get us to start saying to ourselves “If God will not do it for me, then I guess I will just have to do it myself.” “Did Jesus Christ really tell us that we are to be “pure in heart” (Matthew 5:8), and walk blamelessly before God.” “Does God really expect us to be holy as He is holy” (Leviticus 11:45).
Once the devil begins offering up the kinds of temptations to us as he did to Eve, unbeknownst to us, we are at a great crossroads in our life with God. We can listen, ponder and then entertain the idea that God is not all that He says He is (that He is all good and only wills goodness towards us, Psalm 119:68), or we can resist and turn our backs to Satan, immediately. Eve did not do this, she debated, and once she debated about God, His goodness and that His commands were only for her own good, she was already dead spiritually before she ever partook of the forbidden fruit, then her husband Adam did the same. The children of God who once lived by faith in God and were only led by His Spirit, now chose to live by their own flesh outside of God’s dominion of them and at once, they came to be dominated by their flesh. Before, they were graced and bathed by the very Life and Spirit of God and now they became dominated by the appetites and cravings Satan offered them. God’s Life in man, became severed. Now man’s life was to be lived out at the whims of Satan in which man had no power to overcome, “the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:26, NKJ). In this life, you are either going to live under the power of God which leads to an all overcoming life of Godliness, or you will live under the power and dominion of godlessness, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19, NKJ). Death in our spirit, “for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17, NKJ). It's not pretty or romantic, but it's life as it really is in this current reality.
It’s all about power and which power we choose to live under. Both God and Satan know that man is powerless within himself to live as he was meant to live i.e., to be filled with the very Life of God within, thus to live blamelessly and righteously before God. Man was made as a mere conscious being and nothing else. Then God breathed into him a spirit (“the breath of life”), that was meant to align itself and become one with God’s Spirit by faith and obedience (Genesis 2:7). We were made to comprehend the power and strength of God within ourselves and thus live a completely Spirit-filled life. The spirit God gave to mankind within their hearts was to evolve and deepen with His own Spirit, through their faith and obedience to Him. Thus, they would live out spiritual lives, not worldly lives. Consequently, man would reflect and represent the very goodness, purity, strength, holiness and splendor of God.
Essence, power, influence and dominion are found only in two persons and no one else, God and Satan. Our lives and the world at large is under the rule of spirit and of nothing else. God is Spirit and thus made heaven, earth and man according to His Spirit. Man was made of the dust of the ground and thus had no “spirit” in him, until God breathed one into him. We were to take our own spirit and make what was natural within our own living beings, to become subject to God’s Spirit. Thus we would become spiritual and align our spirits right alongside God’s Spirit, becoming One with Him in mind, heart, soul and spirit, but yet still under the dominion of God. Once God removed His Spirit from within man because we sinned, we ceased to be under the rule of God, thus His essence, power and influence were also removed from us as well. God also created Satan in perfection by His Spirit. Now he is bound to the earth “and you shall eat dust all the days of your life” (Genesis 3:14, NKJ), but he is still, and rules by, spirit. The spirit of anarchy against God and all His created order, including all mankind. This is why the Apostle Paul stated “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness” (Ephesians 6: 12, NKJ). In other words, our fight is not against one another, but Satan himself. But don’t dare take him on all by yourself because he will over-match you. Rather we as children of God are to “take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13, NKJ).
But back to our roots in Genesis. Now man, after the Fall, had no power within himself, thus succumbed to the influence and rule of Satan. Consequently, mankind was no longer pro-created under God as Adam and Eve were, perfect and innocent, but rather now mankind was born into sin and into the very world of it, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5, NKJ). Sin spread from Adam and Eve to not only every living human thereafter, but to every living creature “You (Satan) are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field” (Genesis 3:14, NKJ). Wonder why we seem to be at enmity with the many species of animals and they have a deep dread of humanity, it all began here in Genesis, the result of the Fall of man. To Adam, God said, “Cursed is the ground for your sake” (Genesis 3:17, NKJ). So naturally in the evolution of Satan with all his power, influence, essence and rule, mankind went from simply doubting God to becoming evil through and through, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5, NIV). Do you wonder why Jesus said to us we must become born-again, this is the reason? We went from just having a small doubt and suspicion of God, to full out being at enmity with Him (Romans 8:7).
So why should we bother to understand these facts? I think so we can live in the very realities of life as they truly are. Part of the process God undertakes is to educate us up in spiritual matters. This way we will be made to understand the seriousness of our lives and destinies. Also, the lives and destinies of those we love, who are unsaved. People think they are free and have liberty, but they do not. This is part of the great deception of Satan. He gets normal human beings who have not been born-again, to feed into the lie that they are naturally good and don’t need to be redeemed and reconciled back to God. In people who are unsaved, you see what seemingly looks like good, honest virtue. And you know what, it is good, honest virtue in many people. Men and women who are moral, upright in their conduct, work hard, don’t cheat on their taxes or spouses, raise good families and who to our amazement as Christians, many times seem much happier people than we do. But of course they are, Satan wants nothing more than for them to remain in this most subtle and deceptive lie he has fed them. Satan’s aim is to above all keep a non-believer in a slumbering peaceful sleep as to their own sinfulness. They are deceived.
How can this be? In the original Hebrew language, a remnant is defined as “to remain,” to be left over (Strong’s concordance). In everything God touches and makes, He always leaves a “remnant” of Himself. A remnant of His goodness. Remember, in this world the way it’s constituted, there are only two spirits and rulers, God and Satan. Light and darkness. The only goodness this world has ever seen and felt is God, because, “No one is good but One, that is God” (Matthew 19, NKJ). God leaves a remnant of Himself which was originally in full in Adam and Eve, in every human being. If God did not do this, then mankind would simply tip over the pendulum of evil and become so hard because of the influence of Satan, that he would be too far gone to retrieve. And there have been men who have done it i.e., Pharaoh of Egypt, King Herod, etc. Also, can you imagine what would happen if God completely withdrew His goodness from this world and mankind, see Sodom and Gomorrah (see Genesis 19:1-29). Better yet, read about what man will become in the Great Tribulation once the Holy Spirit is taken up from this earth (read Revelations). This is why He “has come to save that which was lost” (Matthew 18:11, NKJ). They are lost and do not even know it. I’ll hedge my bets that a person who has hit rock bottom morally in their life maybe saved sooner than a good upstanding man or woman who does not know God. In every man or woman, saved or unsaved, if you detect a goodness and righteousness, know that it’s always a remnant of what God originally put in Adam and Eve.
As long as the “prince of this world” can keep the unsaved person happy and content in their life, the further and further that person is sliding in their lost state. Satan, as described by the world at large is menacing, horrific, ugly, graphic and grotesque. The world uses the Hitler’s and Stalin’s of the world as those who are described as men of evil. These are the person’s that the world holds up as under the rule of evil and Satan. But to the masses of humanity, it assumes that man is basically good and heaven bound no matter which road they take, as long as you don’t become as bad as the Osama Bin Laden’s, Adolph Hitler’s or Joseph Stalin’s of the world. True enough, these men were truly evil and completely under the influence of Satan. But they are not so different than most any person living today. The difference, because of the unique and absolute power they maintained, and the fact that they were never held in check or held accountable to anyone with that unique and absolute power, it enabled them to become so hardened towards God, that they became irretrievable to Him. God finally gave them completely over to Satan as his full-blooded children. Now may we understand God’s grave warnings in the Bible to those who are powerful and rich.
As long as Satan can manipulate the world’s thinking of itself like he does, the more dangerous it becomes for the common person who is without God. True enough, Satan is the true representation in its purest form of horror, ugliness and grossness. But the way the Bible describes Satan as coming unto the unsaved person, is that of one who “himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14, NIV), cunning, subtle, deceptive and the “father of lies” (John 8:44, NKJ). Thus, Satan undertakes to work an attitude in the world that as long as you live and reside in the pattern of this world, you have nothing to fear, you are a good person, so of course you will inherit heaven. “Only those who are really bad go to hell.” “But you most certainly do not have to live according to the God of the Bible.” “A little religion never hurts, as long as you are tolerant and accepting of other’s views.” “Can’t be narrow minded, rigid, and oh don’t even bring up that Jesus is the only way to eternal life.” “You are a good person in and of yourself.” This is the greatest of all lies, and for the most part, we as mankind have done just what Adam and Eve did- we have sought to define life, good and evil, on our own terms. And this according to God, is the greatest sin of all “what is this you have done” (Genesis 3:13 NKJ). Independence from God.
The result of the great lie is that now mankind generally lives under the dominion and workings of Satan, never even coming close to any kind of realization of how deceived we are. Just as long as we are satisfied with enough of this life, that is all we want. Never concerning ourselves about the Creator, but only concerned with the creation. Insatiably alert to the environment and “Mother Earth,” but yet dreadfully dull to the eternal Father God, as well as to the eternal Son, Jesus Christ. In the greatest feat of his deception, Satan has made great strides within the last fifty years to make God out as the enemy of mankind and its future, when in the truest of realities, God came to our earth to reconcile us to be our best friend. But ultimately, we will all be held responsible for the very deception we have allowed ourselves to get into “they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20, NKJ). We, like Adam and Eve, took a bite out of the forbidden fruit and now we believe in our own goodness and righteousness…apart from God. We bought the lie.
So while the devil comes against the unsaved in the form of an “angel of light,” he many times comes to the Christian in the opposite form, as a “roaring lion” (1 Peter 5:8). He seeks to destroy the image of God within us. He accuses, condemns, creates fear, ostracizes us from society and tries to rip to shreds our relationship with God. While Satan seeks to leave the unbeliever in a deceptive peace within himself or herself, to the child of God who is “following hard” after their Lord, Satan seeks to create war. And a most brutal war it is. It’s not for our lives and honor he seeks to destroy, but for the very Life of God in us. He seeks to destroy God’s honor and name. This is where the war begins.
So we go into our work places, family gatherings, anywhere and everywhere and proclaim Jesus Christ crucified, and people take note. God burdens us with His own burdens, to seek and find the lost. Meanwhile, it’s almost as if the devil says to us “you proclaim Jesus Christ by your life, actions and words, well I am setting out to make you a false prophet.” If we are to be holy as God is holy, then we will be made by God to be unique and distinct wherever God places us. We are to be marked “God’s child,” to the world. The last thing Satan wants to see is anyone who “stands out” for God. For the most part, the whole world is blended into one, no one taking notice of each other and thus we are usually unaffected by each other. But God’s holiness, if it’s blazing hot within one of His children, will cause that child to be set apart, distinct and unique in every sphere within that life, wherever God takes him or her. Thus God sets out through His child, to call sinners to repentance.
Meanwhile, the devil is working to. If he sees he cannot come at God’s child as a “roaring lion,” then he will work to cause our zeal and passion for Jesus Christ to flame out. His goal is to slowly and subtly make us blend in with everyone else, with only one distinction, we are still God’s child. If we are not sober and vigilant (see 1 Peter 3:8), we will slowly begin to erode the very attitude of Christ that is formed within us and begin to take on the worldly environments around us. This happens from within us, not from outside of us. Our attitudes over time become towards God, what He most hates to see happen to His children, we become apathetic and indifferent towards Him and His Gospel. We become worriers like everyone else, complainers, anxiety ridden and before you know it, we are back in the world, or worse, we once again have become “of the world.” And believe it, the people around you will take notice and remember when you once walked on water proclaiming the love and greatness of what Christ has done for you. They will also remember the time you were so in love with God and the love and peace of God within you, because God does speak and magnify Himself through His people. Then if you flame out, people will not so much take note of where you have gone, but worse, where has the God within you gone. Little do they know as we know, that God did not leave us, but we left Him, thus bringing Him to shame. This is a most high and holy calling we are called to, so don’t let the sin of apathy and indifference towards God sneak up on you. We do carry God’s name and honor wherever we go. It’s part of the package of salvation.
The great news is, is that we never have to go down this road. Believe it or not, God did not predestine us to backslide. It takes great discipline to walk with God in holiness, but once we determine to walk this way for His name’s sake, He will move mountains to strengthen your will and resolve to do so, each and every day. Read God’s word daily and let His word to you inspire your prayers to Him, every-day, whether you feel like it or not. We cannot over-spiritualize on how we are to walk with God day-in, day-out. It takes work, determination and stern discipline. Thank God it is tough, because if it wasn’t difficult, then we would have no sacrifice to give to God and this is also the greatest way to show our own love toward God in which He values most of all- denying our fleshly desires in favor of our spiritual relationship with Himself. Because He will not do this for us, we have to do it. Remember, God is most personal and we are in a “personal” relationship with Him. The Apostle Paul stated that he disciplined his life and body as an athlete disciplines their life and body to compete, “There I (Paul) run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection” (1 Corinthians 9: 26-27, NKJ). We are to do the same. We have to get ourselves in shape, body, spirit and mind to be all that God wants us to be. That is, “to be” true sons and daughters of God.
The shame of slothfulness is not so much as to how we care or don’t care about how lazy we are in keeping up ourselves, but how we sometimes are so lazy towards God. Can we get up thirty minutes earlier in the morning to read and pray God’s word in quietness? Can we share part of our lunch with God and do we have to watch so much television at night? God has given us our bodies, minds and wills, not to mention the fullness of His Life in the Holy Spirit within us, so we have no excuse. He expects this of us, but don't ever forget that He also works with us, “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13, NKJ). We are to always be working out in our lives what God works into us. Amen to that.
Father, may You grant us an understanding of how serious our salvation is and the proclamation of Your Gospel to the lost souls within our families and our friends. Grow us in knowledge of our so great and solemn salvation, so that we may first see why You gave Your Son Jesus to die for us, and then to share it with the world. You saved us oh Lord, bless Your name. In Jesus name, Amen.
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