Our Chance In The Garden of Eden

From the beginning, God the Father had a plan when he gave humanity free will. He understood sin would separate people from their chance at a “Garden of Eden” experience. One marked by a personal relationship with Him, provision, protection and purpose. Jesus was always part of the plan, opening the way for all to return to our heavenly Father.

God knew that Adam and Eve would choose incorrectly and that their choice would introduce sin into the world. From that point on, every person would be exposed to sin. We would see it all around us, feel it’s effects and be influenced by it at every turn. Even the most innocent child would be exposed to it, and exposure plants a seed for later behavior.

A Garden Of Eden Experience, For Jesus Followers Only

The Garden of Eden was a place of perfect harmony for Adam and Eve, yet it was lost through disobedience. In the same way, disobedience can keep us from feeling and experiencing the presence of God. Our disobedience and self will, causes God to let us do as we please- He leaves us alone. Our life then becomes a struggle from one day to the next which God calls, painful toil.

To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you. Through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.” (Gen 3:17)

Adam and Eve’s punishment was severe. They were living and existing with God Himself, and still chose to disobey His instruction. Therefore, their life from that point on expelled them from paradise and hard work was their new lot in life. In the Garden, they were to cultivate what He started. When they were kicked out of the garden, they were on their own.

God’s way is the way to life. Our ideas cause us to walk far from God’s protective path. This leads to a hastened death through hard work.

Hidden Treasures of A Surrendered Heart

When we surrender to God, we experience hidden treasures. God’s path is the safest path, yet we can be sure it isn’t the quickest. Scripture states: “Submit to God and be at peace with him;
in this way prosperity will come to you.”(Job 22:21)

Human beings want everything quickly: riches, relationships etc. But when we get these things quickly, we can run into major problems. I’m sure we can all think of someone in the public eye, who attained fame quickly. This caused their life to spiral out of control leading to major problems or even an early death.

When God lead the people out of the slavery of Egypt (the world) He took them slowly. Scripture states: “The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you.”(Deut 7:22)

God took them slowly into their promise land of protection, provision and peace. He led them through severe problems: issues of daily food supply and hydration. The Israelites learned to rely on God for their daily needs. And this seems to be how God leads us today, out of life as we know it into His Kingdom. Being lead too quickly out of our old life would cause us to be overwhelmed. This is when the enticements of the world, ie: Satan’s suggestions, would multiply around us.

Little By Little, Learning The Path of God

Little by little, God will lead us as we stay in His Word. After we learn a new truth, it must be applied right away. This shows our faith in God’s Word and He will reveal to us more of His will.

A hasty transport out of calamity through a quickly answered prayer, never leads to true dependance on God. God becomes secondary, our “hail Mary” prayer rather than a continuous relationship. God desires our constant awareness of His presence throughout the day, our silent prayers for help and guidance. A slow journey out of our problems can help us yearn for His presence and His voice of support.

Scripture: Our Guidebook to Life In Our Garden of Eden

Simply reading the Bible for information, without allowing it to shape how we live, offers little real benefit. When we insist on going our own way, we encounter the same struggles and losses that have marked human history.

By contrast, when we listen for God’s voice as we read Scripture and choose to follow it, we invite the Holy Spirit into our problems. The Holy Spirit gives us the strength to live on God’s path.

The Substance of Faith

Obedience to the Word strengthens our faith. Why? Because when we trust the Bible enough to obey it—even in difficult things—we grow confident that its promises are true as well. The more closely we walk under the authority of Jesus, the more we recognize the delegated authority He has given us to stand against Satan, who seeks to bring disease and destruction. Obedience awakens our understanding and deepens our conviction in what Christ secured for us at the cross. As we walk with Him, we begin to grasp what it means to live the abundant life He promised.

Jesus is our model. Through hardship, rejection, betrayal, suffering, and ultimately the crucifixion, He learned obedience through what He endured. If we are to walk with Him and live in the authority He secured for us at the cross—sharing in the blessings He promised—we too must endure trials. We will face rejection, betrayal, and hardship, but if we remain steadfast in faith, we will also experience the blessings and victory that come with following Christ.

“Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered.”(Heb 5:8)

Scripture states: “We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will.” (John 9:31 NLT)

Therefore, we can conclude that for our prayers to be heard and answered, we must listen to and obey God—much like a healthy relationship between a father and child. Ignoring His guidance often leads to unnecessary hardship, added burdens, and wasted time. Though believers still have the hope of eternity when they die, disobedience hinders our present walk, robbing us of the peace, wisdom, and our true purpose.

Therefore, we are often the ones hindering the blessings God desires for us. Through Christ, the overcoming power of the Holy Spirit has been made available to every believer and dwells within us. Yet to walk in that power, we must have faith, faith that trusts not only the instructions and guidance of Scripture, but also the promises and blessings God has spoken over His children.

We won’t enjoy the inheritance Jesus won for us, if we choose to ignore the fine print of the will. In other words, the fine print of the Last Will and Testament of The Lord Jesus Christ.

But, if we do choose to obey, the Holy Spirit empowers us to walk closely with Jesus and thus receive our promised blessings through our prayers. He will tweak our behavior, encourage us to praise and worship God and keep on the straight and narrow path.

This is the abundant life!

Food For Thought,

Lisa

When we are in a situation where we need the Lord’s guidance and help, we may pray and yet never seem to receive an answer. When this occurs it is most often due to something on our part. It is best at that point to look at our life and see if anything is displeasing to the Lord. If we are sincere about changing our ways in order to be in right standing with God, He will indeed make our wrong or sinful ways know to us.

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”( 2 Peter 3:9)

Everything is black and white when is comes to the Lord. If we choose God’s way we are walking in the light. If we oppose God’s principles and spiritual laws, we are walking in darkness. Pain comes from our sin and the sin of others but God can pull us out of our situations and set us on His path if we choose.

Life In Opposition To God Keeps Us From Wisdom

The Lord’s wisdom is our life force therefore, when we run our lives in opposition to His wisdom it’s like a hot air balloon with a one inch slit. It slowly loses air until it can no longer fly. This is how we can assume our life will go when we choose our own way in opposition to God. Initially we won’t notice our weakened state and our path hastening towards destruction, but eventually our choices will leave their mark on our lives in a very noticeable way.

God made His laws to be understood by those with a true seeking heart. “If you seek me with your whole heart you will find me.” (Jer 29:13)

Yet, if we open the Bible to refute it, thinking our intellectual theories, science and philosophies are superior to this ancient book, we won’t be able to discern any wisdom from it. In fact, God is so protective of who will receive His powerful keys to the Kingdom, that He placed a tiny caveat with His written manual. He said that only those who come to the Bible with a surrendered, searching and humble heart, will be enlightened and able to understand it. Those with a closed, hard heart with a superior attitude thinking that they are too intellectual to believe and learn from an unseen diety, will end up missing out on the secrets to the abundant life.

“Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children, it pleased you to do it this way.”(Matt 11:25-26)

It’s Impossible To Meet God’s Standards Without Jesus

God’s Word is referred to as the Truth and it is actually an unmeetable standard for us. That is correct, we can NEVER WORK HARD ENOUGH OR BE GOOD ENOUGH to meet all of the standards of God!

God made it that way on purpose.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”(John 15:5)

But the Good News is that God’s unmeetable standard was perfectly met by His Son so we can go to Jesus, admit our failures and receive His supernatural help.

God, through His son Jesus, has given everyone on the earth the ability to overcome every problem we will encounter. We do this by surrendering our life to Jesus and seek to follow the teachings in the Bible. Then we will understand the promised blessings of God and the conditional blessings. The best place to start is Deuteronomy chapter 28, this outlines the blessings and curses for following or ignoring God’s ways.

The Keys to God’s Kingdom- His way of helping His people- are there for the humble seekers.

Will You seek the Lord with all of your heart and align your life with His teachings? If so you and your family can reign in life as Kings and Queens privy to all of God’s blessings.

“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and everything else will be given unto you.” (Matt 6:33)

Food For Thought,

Lisa