What Was That Forbidden Fruit, Anyways?

 

Recently, at a women’s conference, the speaker read scripture from the book of Genesis. While tempting Eve with the forbidden fruit, Satan challenged what God had told her, stating that “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” – Genesis 3:4-5 (NLT)

While that wasn’t the focus of her message, it spoke volumes to me about the love of our heavenly Father.

When you have children and grandchildren – really, any child that you love, you want to protect them. Ideally, we wish that they never had to know evil at all. How wonderful would their lives be if they never even heard about, let alone experienced, all the evils in the world? It’s our sincerest hope and wish to protect them from all that’s evil. Oh, that they would never know about pain, insult, assault, rape, kidnapping, torture, murder, greed, heartbreak and so much more!

Alas, we know that they will be exposed to all those things through media and some of those things through their own experiences.

What if there was something we could do to protect them from it?

What if we could prevent them from opening the doorway to the evils of the world?

What if they could only know…..good?

In His love, mercy, compassion and goodness, God only had one rule for His children in the Garden of Eden: Don’t open this door – this door will lead to pain and sorrow and destruction, even death.

Yet through the subtle deception of the enemy, the door looked tempting, as Satan attempted (successfully) to make it look to Eve – and Adam there with her, like God was keeping something good from them. He wanted to make them believe that knowing good AND evil would make them like God.

But God didn’t want His family to know the torment of evil. He didn’t want us to know good AND evil – He only wanted us to know good, forever.

In wanting the best for His children, He sought to protect them with a simple rule. He’d already provided every good thing for them – and forbid the bad from destroying their lives by containing it in a single tree.

“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” – Genesis 3:4-5 (NLT)

Knowing what we know now, they’d never have eaten from the forbidden tree. But – they didn’t yet know evil. They didn’t even know what evil was.

Sometimes, as in this case, rules are for our own protection. God didn’t want us to know evil – only good!

Because that fruit was eaten, we now need to be redeemed. In His great love for us, God provided for our redemption by sending His own Son to make the sacrifice necessary to bring us back into harmony with Him.

“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.”  – Romans 5:8-9 ESV

Yet, like Eve – and Adam, so many of us think we know better than God.

 

I'm F.I.N.E.

 

I'm fine. 

I guess you could say that's my mantra. I'm fine. It's what I tell myself when the road gets bumpy. 

 

Is that sometimes a denial that things are harder than I want to admit?

 

Does it mean things could be better, but "I'm fine"?

 

When I'm sick or just feeling lousy, I'll remind myself, "I'm fine."

 

Sometimes it's a phrase I quietly assert repeatedly in my mind. Sometimes I tell it to myself out loud. 

 

Is it merely a positive confession or an affirmation?

 

I took time to think about it. What do I mean when I say I'm fine?

I chose my meaning. 

 

I deliberately came up with what I actually mean when I humbly acknowledge I'm fine. 

 

I'm (Finally and) Forever In Need of Emmanuel. 

 

I'm

Forever

In

Need of

Emmanuel

 

Emmanuel - God with us. God with ME!

 

I need God to draw my next breath and take my next heartbeat. 

Of course, I need Him for anything and everything. 

 

Whether I'm doing great and don't remind myself I'm fine or I'm dragging and feeling defeated - I'm fine. Because I truly am forever in need of Emmanuel. I always need God with me. 

 

That's my reminder. 

 

What do you mean when you say you're fine?

 

"Let all those that seek and require You rejoice and be glad in You; let such as love Your salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified!

[As for me] I am poor and needy, yet the Lord takes thought and plans for me. You are my Help and my Deliverer. O my God, do not tarry!"

Psalm 40:16-17 AMPC

 

"And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen."

Philippians 4:19-20 ESV

 

What Do You Do With Your Trash?

 

Garbage. We all have it. We have it in the kitchen in the trash bin. We see it blowing along the streets sometimes. We might even view some people’s possessions this way – as garbage and not deserving a place in their homes (one man’s trash is another man’s treasure).

We have it in our minds. All the wrong thoughts, beliefs and lies we have tucked away in there amount to trash.

The Apostle Paul even considered all his earthly accomplishments as trash compared to the glory of knowing God. (Philippians 3:8)

Some people are fortunate to have compartments in their mind. Enjoying all the benefits of A.D.D. (I jest) all of my thoughts are sometimes scrambled together in one large room that could be labeled chaos. I seriously need to learn to put on the mind of Christ!

But if you sort through things and compartmentalize them, do you have a garbage bin tucked away in your mind somewhere?

Earlier today I was pondering this and realized it would be very effective to have a little trash bin in my mind – one like the one in my email, where I can just click on “empty bin” and it would all be gone in an instant. Like with my email, I’d have to pause and ask myself, “Am I sure I want to delete this? It’s a permanent decision.”

I recently shared a blog post about becoming organized and focused. That’s going to take some work. But how can I clean any room and organize without a trash bin (or Goodwill box) for what I no longer want or need?

The same goes for my mind.

There are plenty of unorganized thoughts I might want to forget about, but do I want to delete them forever? Well, yes – the lies I have stored up there need to go. But not necessarily all the unpleasant memories.

Let’s face it, some of those experiences brought me to where I am today. And today – I am quite happy. As a matter of fact, there’s little that could make me happier and more joyful than I am (despite the occasional bad mood or how much you might hear me complain about nothing).

So how do we tell the lies from the unpleasant memories or problematic thoughts?

Well, fortunately, that question has a pretty easy answer. It’s called taking all thoughts captive, something I didn’t understand for the longest time.

“(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” – 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 (KJV)

If I captured a bunny or a butterfly to enjoy its beauty and awe, I would momentarily release it.

If I captured a wild, angry rabid wolf, I would have to have it killed for safety’s sake.

When I capture a thought (taking it captive to take a closer look at it), how will I know if it’s something I need to hang on to or throw away?

I’ll lay it at the feet of Jesus in prayer and ask Him what He makes of it.

If He calls it a lie and reveals it should be tossed out, it needs to go into my mental trash bag. Yes, the one I need to take with me daily and empty before the end of the day. For me – this is something I’ll need to imagine every morning, or I’ll forget to take it with me.

But how will we know what Jesus thinks of my thoughts? He’ll tell you, and you will know His voice.

“When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” – John 10:4 (ESV)

This is where trusting in God becomes your faith.

This is a pivotal moment in your life; the moment you’ve looked for all your life. God has already hidden that faith in your heart. You just need to uncover it.

“ Call to me and I will answer you and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” – Jeremiah 33:3 (ESV)

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.  You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” – Jeremiah 29:11-13 (ESV)

Learn His voice by listening for Him every day. Converse with Him. He’s always longing to engage intimately with you.

And bring along that mental trash bag. He’ll even throw it away for you, if you let Him.

Leave a Message After the Tone

 

I heard a simple, but amazing suggestion today while at a brunch at church for volunteers.

Something doesn’t have to be profound to be effective. I don’t know why it never occurred to me before!

When you call someone and get their voicemail, leave your brief message, but include a short prayer. Even just a one or two line prayer could make their day. Know your audience, of course, but how powerful might this turn out to be?!

Not only do they know you need to get ahold of them, but they know you love them enough to take the time to pray a blessing over them.

What a beautiful way to share Jesus, even if you don’t mention His Name. What better way to love someone than to make time to pray for them?

When we offer to pray for someone, we often put it off till a time when we’re already praying (nighttime prayers, early morning prayers, etc…) or sometimes we might even forget to pray for them. Praying for someone in the moment is best. (My dear husband has taught me this.)

I get it, sometimes they’re in a hurry or you are – but short prayers are powerful, too.

Just a suggestion. But it’s a powerful one!

….might be a great way to end a letter, too, for those of us who still write letters!  

And yes, it will be a great way to end a blog post.

A prayer is but a breath given to God in faith, on behalf of yourself or someone else.

"The effective, fervent prayer of the righteous (those made righteous by the blood of Jesus) avails much." - James 5:16

 

When I pray for you,

I pray that God’s Joy

will over-come you

And that God’s Peace

will over-whelm you

And that God’s Protection

will over-shadow you

I hope you rest in His Love

And stand in His Grace

And dance in His Glory

I Love You!

Side-Tracked

 

The things that distract and sidetrack me…. I let them have too much power. Surprisingly, they can be petty, small things that prove to be amazingly strong.

Moments ago, I stopped on my way through the family room to stand in front of the patio door, indulging in the warmth of the sunshine. I even contemplated moving my desk to that spot because I loved it! I leaned my back onto the glass and melted. Maybe I should just put a sweater on, but it distracted me.

See there! Another distraction! The very sentence I typed out caused me to run upstairs to grab a sweater. But now I AM much warmer. While upstairs innocently grabbing that sweater, it crossed my mind that the dryer will stop any minute now. Will I submit to the buzzer when it calls me up there? Probably. I hate wrinkles in my clothes.

I can tie pretty much anything to some verse in the Bible and this topic is no exception. As I wrote in my journal this morning, I saw a piece to my puzzle emerge.

See there! Mother Nature called and I ran upstairs again. Well, that was a necessary distraction that I couldn’t ignore, but while I was up there I could totally have ignored the call of my Satin Hands in a pocket on the back of the bathroom door. Before I knew it I was exfoliating my hands. While yes – they’re incredibly soft now, it could have waited till after I’m finished writing. But by then, I’d have forgotten all about it and my hands would have been ignored. It’s a losing battle, I tell ya!

I recently joined a group on Facebook, hosted by a friend of mine [shout out to Debbie Mussack!] called Focanize Support Group. In this group we’ll hopefully unearth some solutions for those of us who are focus and organizationally challenged.

The puzzle piece that emerged while journaling this morning has an odd shape, one that might be hard to analyze, but compelling to look at.

Tying this puzzle piece into scripture is easy, introducing it to my life might be a little harder.

The phrase “fullness of time” popped into my head concerning whatever I was writing about, and it bounced around until it landed in this topic of being unorganized and my lack of focus and discipline.

In the Bible we read it in places that say things like, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” – Galatians 4:4-5 KJV Meaning, when the time was right.

Intrigue swirled in my brain asking, “Hmmm. Is there a fulness of time when I will successfully address all my shortcomings and whatever is behind them will be resolved?” And THAT’S when it dawned on me in a realistic way that there are ISSUES behind my shortcomings! (Duh!)

Well, that bit of the puzzle piece fit into place nicely, but now it’s time to explore what those issues might be and deal with them. Yikes! This will be the challenging part. Is the time right? Is it now?

What tares need to be pulled up without disturbing the wheat? (Another biblical reference, see Matthew 13:24-30.)

What things in my mind need to be addressed without breaking my heart?

What are the procrastination traps that keep showing up in my path? What are the roots of the focus / organizational challenges in my life?

As I explore this with God holding my hand AND my heart, I’ll write updated blog posts to share my discoveries with you.

How do YOU handle the little dysfunctions in your life?

How do YOU get and stay organized? How do you get and stay disciplined and focused?

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heavens…” – Ecclesiastes 3:1 KJV

 

Light on Your Path

 

In January our pastor talks about vision. “Even if a person has 20/20 vision, it does them no good without light. When we are born again, we have 20/20 spiritual vision, yet we still need the light of God’s Word to see what God is saying.” – Pastor Mark Cowart, CFAN The Power of Vision

He speaks of catching God’s vision for our lives and writing it down and being purposeful about fulfilling His plans in our lives. He speaks of the need for God’s light to understand God’s will and great plans for us. That light is called rhema. It’s the light of God that gives us understanding of His Word.

We know God’s will about many things - that we love one another and that we be quick to forgive. We know He wants us to share His truth and His love (with words, if necessary). We know He wants us to always rejoice and give thanks. We know He wants us to turn from sin and turn TO Him.

Because of that light, God’s rhema light, I know He wants us to run with Him and discover all the love and joy and secrets and power and authority He’s placed before us.

When it comes to learning to do things His way, we need to accept that it’s not simply because “He’s the boss” but because His way is truly best (and probably most adventure-filled) for us.

We love our children with a crazy, passionate love. When they’re small, we want to teach them how to do the everyday things they’ll need to master early in life like feeding themselves and walking, using manners, sharing and so much more. We teach them OUR way of doing them, we know how to do them efficiently and effectively. Along the way, we may see clever little ways they adapt their own personality to what they’re doing while still putting one foot in front of the other and still managing to get their food into their mouth. They still manage to write out letters and words, but in their own handwriting.

I’m right-handed. If my child is left-handed he’s going to hold his pencil differently than I do – but he’ll still master writing.

Here I go stating the obvious, but we aren’t God.

Though we endeavor to teach our children our ways of doing things, our way isn’t the only way.

God knows more ways to do things than we can imagine. He designed us to be like Him – creative! He wants us to discover new ways of showing off our creativity. He doesn’t care if we color outside the lines. He wants us to show off His glory through the talents He’s given us.

Clearly, we don’t want our children hurting themselves, we try to steer them in certain directions, teaching them to obey laws and to love and respect others. When they’re young, it’s usually easier to get compliance from them. As they grow confident in who they are and how they make their own decisions, they’re harder to protect. Eventually, we may discover that they didn’t need all the protection we pushed on them. They may leap into the air and fly, filling their hands with success. They need to have the freedom to discover even things we don’t know about them.

God’s Word teaches us all we need to know. Yet convincing us that His way is best must look futile at times. Once we’ve established ourselves as individuals we want to make our own decisions. Regarding our relationship with Him, He’s given us that freedom; the freedom to choose Him and His ways or reject Him. He knows what each choice holds. He’s already seen the outcome.

Now, if I was holding tomorrow night’s winning lottery numbers in my hand, wouldn’t you want me to show them to you? Wouldn’t  you want me to “shed a little light” on that for you?

Pray for God’s rhema light. Ask Him for it, and He’ll give it to you.

“In him was life; and that life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” – John 1:4-5

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you: For everyone that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.” – Matthew 7:7-8

 

Christmas Magic

 

Last night I laid down on the floor to look up through the branches of the Christmas tree. As a young child it was quite the magical thing to do.

Tonight? Nah. It was pretty, but not magical. We have a beautiful, pre-lit tree with tiny colorful lights, but not the large bright bulbs of yesteryear.

Eons ago, in my pretty little head, perhaps I longed to believe for magical suspension of existence in my fear shrouded little life, a longing for peace. Maybe in a home of six rambunctious children I sought a magical quiet. Maybe I pondered the awe of growing up splashed all over the reality of childhood.

I probably made up my own magical stories – as I’ve continued to do for decades since.

Whatever thoughts danced through my mind were thoughts that left me inspired and smiling.

The tantalizing starlight bursts from a million colorful Christmas bulbs and the grin from the jolly stuffed Santa perched up in the branches of a pine tree whose scent I’ll never forget made an indelible memory, kept safe in the recesses of my mind. It awakens every Christmas season.

The memory is there, but the magic is gone. Replaced by adulthood with its many responsibilities, magic seems a distant possibility.

Yet, I read of my King – Who calls the things that are not as thought they are! (Romans 4:17 – “…in the presence of the God, in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” ESV – or as the good ol’ King James phrases it: “…God, who quickens the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.”)

I also read that the unseen is greater than what I can see with my eyes. (2 Corinthians 4:18 – “…the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”)

This speaks to me of wonder more magnificent than magic.

1 Corinthians 13:12 tells us, “For now we see through a glass, darkly’ but then face to face: now I know in part; but I then shall I know even as also I am known.”

Just as a child (and most adults) don’t understand magic and how magic tricks are performed, we who are made righteous by the sacrifice of Jesus don’t yet understand the things of God like we will when we stand before Him face to face.

As a child, I gazed up into a magical looking Christmas tree.

Now, as a Child of God – I gaze into His Word and behold the wonder of the Christ behind our Christmas celebrations. As I read His Word, I grow to know Him better, but the best is yet to come!

“But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9