This is to be done beginning with the right thumb held high in front of you...add the index finger, and so on until you have a "high five" position and say aloud:
1- God is who He says He Is 2- God can do what He says He can do 3- I am who God says I am 4- I can do all things through Christ 5- God's Word is alive and active in me.
I am Believing God !!
Believing God by Beth Moore available @ lifeway.com
"Sometimes our problem with God is that we don't like the rules."
~Beth Moore, Believing God, p. 17
OUCH...That sentence has pierced my soul, my mind. It's true. I am having to consider that I have an issue with rules and boundaries...I know they are for my own good, but what if there is something better???? something more fun??? an alternate way of going about things??? easier, less sacrificial, less painful to my pride?
However, if I am going to fully live in the life and liberty that God my Savior has called me to, I must operate inside His boundaries.
I have believed in God for many years, but find that even in my pursuit of Him, I fail to simply BELIEVE HIM.
When my boys were very small, they loved to laugh, run, and play. We allowed them to have all the fun they wanted to inside the space of our front yard (or sometimes the back) instead of in the middle of the street. You do not play in the street, it is dangerous.
Our great God has provided boundaries for us to live in that are for our good...and outside those boundaries, there is danger...God's deisgn is to Protect and Provide for us...not unlike we do with our own children or the children entrusted to our care.
"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder." James 2:19
Do I shudder, tremble and respect God? I fear I do not on a daily routine basis...and this makes me sad.NOT because God wants me to cower in terrorized, anxious fear of HIM...but rather to approach Him with an attitude of AWE and Worship and Respect.
he is Holy and I am not
Believing God is founded on Isaiah 43:10 "Your are my witnesses," declares the Lord, "and my servant whom I have chose, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He."
Will we simply take God at His word and BELIEVE Him?
Belief is one thing...Believing is another. In this study we will discuss Believing God as it is intended in the Isaiah 43 passage..."Believe" as a present-active-participle...not a singular action, but rather an ongoing continual BELIEVING.
And, just as Joshua and the ancient Isrealite people moved to enter in to the Promised Land that God had promised to Abraham and his decendents, we will discuss and learn how we, too, as New Testament believers, are called to enter into our own Spiritual Promised Land of Freedom in Christ and Abundant Effective and Fruitful lives as Christ Followers.
This is going to be a journey! I want this..do you?
Join me in reciting our Shielf of Faith: 1) God is Who He Says He Is 2) God Can DO What God Says He Can Do 3) I Am Who God Says I Am 4) I Can Do What God Says I Can Do 5) God' WORD is Alive and Active IN ME
Adam and Eve lost Paradise and we will not find it again until our faith is made sight and we are standing at the great glass sea with the angels and the elders around Throne of God and cry HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the Lord God Almighty..who WAS and IS and IS to Come!!
In Genesis 1 and 2 we read of the account of all of the creation that God Spoke into existence:
and evening and morning the day began with the REST of God...
“Then God said, ‘ Let US make mankind in our image”
God FORMED man from DUST and BREATHED LIFE into him. God Himself got His hands into the dirt of the earth He had created to form and make a man...and then He breathed LIFE into His nostrils....
" For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise youbecause I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. "
Pslam 139:13-17
And the God who holds the Universe in His hands and causes all things to work for good knows how we are formed and remembers that we are but dust...
As I think about how God has beautifully and wonderfull created us by His own design, I reflect on how He has created us male and female...with all of our wonderful differences..
Besides the obvious physical characteristics, men and women do not approach decision making the same, we do not handle challenges the same, we are created with a different amount and varying degree of hormonal capacity
(which makes A LOT of difference..can I get an AMEN?) and much more…
And not unlike Adam and Eve, when we do something we are not proud of we do what? We try to HIDE it, hope no one finds out… and then we blame...and there is shame...
We tend to blame others when we make a mistake or fail in some way…
“It’s all HIS/HER/their fault”. Just as Life began in the Garden of Eden...
Naming, Blaming, and Shaming also began in the Garden...
Whose fault is it that we live in a fallen, sinful world?
Most people refer to it as ALL EVE’S fault, but let’s look at what the scripture says, not what we have been lead to believe.
1. God’s Plan in the Garden: Worship
God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day as noted in chapter 3...There was no sin to separate the perfect relatioship between God and man...Worship was in Spirit and in Truth...and there were no lies or deceit and no shame..
Adam- Take care of the Garden (WORK) Genesis 2:7, 15
The first 3 Words of God’s Command: YOU ARE FREE Genesis 2:16
God’s Command:
Genesis 2: 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from ANY tree in the garden; 17 but you MUST NOT EAT from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you WILL SURELY die."
Adam, You can have it all!! I only have one limitation you must obey. One.
The rest is ALL Yours. Have at IT!
Not a hard or difficult to understand rule...easy.
And then Adam had the most FUN job ever...to name all of the animals! But No suitable helper was found for Adam as he worked and took care of all of God's creation, so God created Eve.
And the job of EVE was to HELP Adam...to complete him, not to compete against him...they were to be for each other husband and wife...and the two were naked and knew NO SHAME...
Shame was not God's Garden Design for our lives.
2. The Serpent’s Plan: Mess up the Worship Ezekiel 28:12-18 Luke 10:18-20
"Did God really say you can't have ANYthing good, no fun, nothing?....You will NOT surely die...God is a liar and cannot be trusted...You COULD be LIKE GOD...and know what He knows...He is holding out on you..."
The usual lies he tells today...
How did Eve receive Satan’s information? .... .
Genesis 3: 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for FOOD and pleasing to the EYE and also DESIRABLE for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, WHO WAS WITH HER, and he ate it.
Who sinned? Most people say and believe that Eve is the one who sinned and led Adam astray..
This is TRUE and NOT TRUE at the same time…consider the following question:
Who did God give the command to? (see 2:16)
Because Scripture Teaches Scripture, look at what the New Testament teaches about sin and Adam and Eve…
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—
2 Corinthians 11:3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
1 Timothy 2:13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.
Adam and Eve BOTH sinned, however, it is important to realize that God had given ADAM the command regarding the boundaries given in the Garden…
Adam DIRECTLY DISOBEYED the Word of the Lord. This is Rebellion and SIN.
Genesis 2: 16-17 “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 of it you will surely die."
Men (and HUSBANDS) have the God designed role/responsibility of Spiritual Leadership.
The Serpent/Satan played on Eve’s pure and sincere love and devotion to God
….Eve loved God…why would she NOT want to be like Him?..
Eve was DECIEVED and SINNED. Adam was with her when the Serpent deceived (tricked) her into thinking she was making a right decision…he played on her emotions….and ADAM did Nothing to intervene.
Women need to know God’s word for themselves so they will not be
deceived by the Enemy who will play on her emotions and desires.
Women have the Powerful Potential to turn a man away from the Lord.
Women are highly influential in the lives of me…be careful!
Ephesians 5:22-33 This is an illustration of the order of Worship there is to be in the home of a husband and wife…Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church…who gave himself up for her…cleansing her by the washing of water by the word of God…so that she will be pure and spotless…Wives, submit to and respect your own husbands…as unto the Lord.
3. God’s Covering of Grace
Adam and Eve did not die immediately, but rather a slow process over hundreds of years or hard labor…pain…and loss of intimate fellowship with God.
The first animal was killed in order to provide covering for their nakedness and shame…This is a foreshadow, or pre-story, of how God would sacrifice his own Son, Jesus, to provide redemption and forgiveness for the sins of the world.
Hebrews 9:22 "and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness"
see also Isaiah 53
Revelation 13: 8 …the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world…
This is a powerful reminder that God, even before He created the earth and all there is, He knew that we would need a Savior and Jesus was already, before the creation, the Lamb that was slain…Think about that… …
In God’s grace and mercy, he made Adam and Eve leave the Garden…there was also The Tree of Life there…had they been allowed to stay and eat from it, they would have been forever separated from God because of their sin.
Paradise, pure, clean, holy and intimate Worship with God was disrupted in the Garden when sin came into the world…it is not restored to this level until we at last worship in Heaven at the Throne of Jesus Christ as spoken of in the book of Revelation
