There are many Scriptures that show us we are all imperfect people. Romans 3:23 says that we all have fallen short of the glory of God. This verse does not say some people or even most, but all people have fallen short of the glory of God.
As it is written in Ecclesiastes 7:20, “Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.” But James 5:16 says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” How can we possibly become righteous when Ecclesiastes states that no one on earth is righteous?
Credit: JC
God answered this question by sending His Son, Jesus. When Jesus died on the cross for us, He offered a way to put on His righteousness and holiness. It is when we believe in Jesus that we then become righteous because we are now in Jesus. We become ‘set apart’ which is another meaning for holy. We put on the righteousness of Jesus, which is part of the armor of God; the breastplate of righteousness is a piece of God’s armor that we have to pick up and put on. The action we need to take is belief in Jesus. Righteousness belongs to Jesus, He earned it for us – all we have to do is believe.
Let’s pray.
Father in heaven, thank you so much for Jesus and for what He did for us on the cross. Lord, we lift up all church leaders and members. Please give us the strength to pick up the armor of God and put on the righteousness of Jesus. Help us to share and follow the Word of God. Help us to stay on the paths that You have laid before us. It is in Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.
Recently, we have been unfolding the real story of Eve by taking a different view of familiar Scriptures. After Adam ate the fruit, he blamed Eve and God. Eve then blamed the serpent. In spite of these attempts to place blame on others, God assigns the consequences of sin to each of them.
He then performs the first animal sacrifice and sheds blood to cover the sins of Adam and Eve. In Genesis 3:21, we read “And the LORD God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife. Then the LORD God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!”
So the LORD God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. After sending them out, the LORD God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.”
Credit: JC
So where are the cherubim today and the flashing sword? Where is the garden of Eden? The Scriptures tell us where it was in Genesis 2:10 – 14. “A river went out from Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became the source of four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon, which flows through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. Gold from that land is pure; bdellium and onyx are also there. The name of the second river is Gihon, which flows through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris, which runs east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.” With this information, you would think someone would have located the Garden of Eden by now.
But there is one thing to keep in mind, the flood that covered the entire earth. Genesis 7:18 – 24 reads, “The flood continued for 40 days on the earth; the waters increased and lifted up the ark so that it rose above the earth. The waters surged and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. Then the waters surged even higher on the earth, and all the high mountains under the whole sky were covered. The mountains were covered as the waters surged above them more than 20 feet. Every creature perished — those that crawl on the earth, birds, livestock, wildlife, and those that swarm on the earth, as well as all mankind. Everything with the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils — everything on dry land died. He wiped out every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, from mankind to livestock, to creatures that crawl, to the birds of the sky, and they were wiped off the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark. And the waters surged on the earth 150 days.”
Let’s pray.
Father in heaven, thank you that you have promised to never again flood the earth. Thank you that you love us, even as the sinners we are. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.
Recently, we have been unfolding the real story of Eve by taking a different view of familiar Scriptures. After Adam blamed both Eve and God for him eating the fruit, Eve then blamed the serpent. In Genesis 3:14 – 15 , we read “Then the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Credit: JC
In these verses, God details the consequences for the sins committed. The serpent will crawl on its belly and be hated by Eve’s offspring. The offspring will strike the devil’s head and he will strike the heels of the offspring. It is important to note that there is a big difference between an injury to your heel which can hurt and cause you to limp, versus an injury to the head which can kill you.
Eve’s ‘offspring’ is humanity, the human race. When Jesus walked the earth, He was fully human and fully God. Through His death on the cross as a human, Jesus shed His blood. The death of Jesus on the cross served to end the reign of the devil, leaving every human with a choice. We can choose to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and shed His blood for our sins or we can deny Him. If we deny Jesus, then we live under the reign and power of the devil, a puppet of his pain and suffering.
But if we choose to believe in Jesus as the Son of God, the power that the devil has over you is gone. The verse says that the devil will strike the heels of humanity, that is true even after you believe in Jesus. The devil can still nip at your heels and try to hurt you, but the only ability that the devil has to hurt you is the power you give him. The blood of Jesus protects all those who believe in Jesus as the Son of God. In this life, there will be hurt and pain, but as believers in Jesus, we know that this is temporary, “. . .therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16 – 18
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, Thank you for the blood shed by Jesus, Your Son. Thank you that the power of the devil is broken, all we need to do is believe in You. Father, even though we are pressed on every side, we are not crushed; we may be confused about what is happening in this world, but we are not in despair; we may be persecuted, but we are never abandoned by You; we may be struck down, but we will never be destroyed because we belong to You, our Lord, our Savior, Our Jesus. It is in His precious name we pray, amen.
Last week, we began to unfold the real story of Eve by taking a different view of familiar Scriptures. This week, we are continuing with Genesis 3:7. This verse is right after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit., “At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the LORD God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the LORD God among the trees.”
Credit: JC
How can it be that Adam and Eve walked with the Lord? In Exodus 33:20, God says to Moses, “But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live.” We know that God only speaks truth. We know that the Scriptures say He walked with Adam and Eve in the garden, so how did they walk with Him and live? Did they just not look at God while they walked with Him, maybe. But I think a closer answer is who and what Adam and Eve were when God walked with them.
During their time in the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were without sin. God created them and certainly did not place sin or evil hearts in them. So at that time, Adam and Eve were sinless and they were able to be in God’s presence, they were able to walk with Him and look Him in the face. Then they committed sin and had to be removed from God’s presence, sin cannot be in the presence of a perfect God. Exodus 33:20 happened well after Adam and Eve had sinned and were banished from the garden. Their sin separated them from God. This is exactly why God sent Jesus, so we could look upon His face again, walk with Him again and trust in His sacrifice on the cross resulting in us living forever with God, just as He created us to do.
Let’s pray.
Lord, please forgive us when we sin. Please give us hearts that are broken when we break yours with the things we do. My our broken hearts drive us to repent, to turn from sin and toward your loving embrace that is always right there waiting for us. Thank you for Jesus, it is in His precious name we pray, amen.
Many of us have heard about Eve, she was Adam’s wife who ate the fruit that resulted in the downfall of humanity. The Scriptures are clear about what happened. Genesis 3:1 – says, “The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied, “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”
“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.”
Those last few words are critical . . . Eve’s husband was with her. Didn’t Adam hear the serpent lying to his wife, Eve? Didn’t Adam recall the instructions that God gave to him? Why didn’t Adam speak up and tell the serpent to leave his wife alone? Why didn’t Adam tell Eve that they were going to obey God? Why didn’t Adam refuse the fruit that his wife offered him? God had already given man dominion over all animals, why didn’t Adam exercise his authority over the serpent? So many questions about why Adam seemingly just stood by. But, I want to focus on Eve.
Credit: JC
In that moment, as Eve held out that piece of fruit to her husband, Eve’s desire was to control her husband. Eve “. . .saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her.” Sometimes when we as women want something, we pursue it relentlessly. After all, women are created to endure pain and suffering each month, during pregnancy and in childbirth. We are not easily dissuaded when we want something. That is why, later, in verse 3:16 God says to Eve, “And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” That declaration was part of the consequences of sin that every wife since then has to bear. Sure, sometimes wives understand something better or can do something better – but this is about control. We need to ask ourselves if our behaviors, actions and words are attempts to control our husbands or attempts to help them.
On this Mother’s Day, as women are honored by loved ones, we should ask ourselves how are we honoring our husbands? Are we trying to control them or are we helping them in their role as spiritual leader of the family? Are we acting like Eve and leading our husbands down paths that are not ordained for them because we want something different for our lives, some forbidden fruit perhaps? Maybe without even realizing it, we are influencing our husbands out of God’s will. If Eve had obeyed God and helped her husband versus trying to control him, she would not have let her desire for something swallow up her identity as a daughter of the Almighty God. Stand firm in who you are, a Daughter of the King created to help her husband.
Let’s pray.
Father in heaven, as we honor the women in our lives and as our lives as Moms are honored by others, let us reflect on how we live. Do we live in a way that attempts to control our husbands or to help them? Lord, may the cry of our hearts be to help our husbands become the men You created them to be. Help us to pray daily for them and show them honor and respect as You command us to. Help us to focus on honoring You by doing what You have said we need to do. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.
Wounded Butterflies 