Our First Parents Chose Lies Over Truth, We Must Choose Truth Over Lies.

 2Jn 1:4 I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.

I've spoken about it before but it bears speaking about again. The truth is so important, without it we have nothing at all. Think about it for a moment. When the first pair of humans were created and placed in the Garden of Eden, they were given truth by love. God is love. God is truth. They were given instructions, much like we might give instructions to someone that needed them. Adam and Eve were told what to do and what not to do. The list wasn't very long.

Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, BE fruitful, and multiply, and REPLENISH the earth, and SUBDUE it: and HAVE dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Gen 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to DRESS IT and to KEEP IT.

Mankind was to take care of the garden he was placed in. In what sense were they to take care of it? There were no weeds in the garden, all was perfection. Man was in a garden with beauty beyond our imagining. He was given leave to do in the garden as he willed. Imagine for a moment that you were in a garden where you could tend to it in such a way that was pleasing and wonderful to you every day. No tools need. A simple, gentle grasp of an exquisite flower tenderly lifted out of the soil. A relocating of that perfect flower into new soil just by setting it down and watching the living roots bury themselves into the dirt. Or possibly something to that effect. You could create such wonders and do so as often as it pleased you. This garden is not at all like our gardens today. We do have gardens that are gorgeous in places all over the world (and sometimes in our own back yard) these take work, hard work and constant upkeep. The Garden of Eden wasn't one of hard work, but of unique creative beauty that our amazing gardens today only hint at. The Creator's hands brought the wonderful garden into existence and then taking the two new creatures, humans, he placed them within that garden. It was teeming with animal life, insects, reptiles, amphibians, you name it and each one was perfect, and wonderful, beautiful. Have you ever been somewhere that took your breath away because of its beauty? Again, that place is only a hint of creation's perfection. So how does one take care of a garden that is perfect in all ways? Through the wonders of perfect imagining and the ability to alter things as the will moves. Through communing with nature in way unknown to us now. In truth, the first humans were able to enjoy and live in that garden in a manner that we can only imagine, and imagine we must.

God didn't stop there. After He told Adam and Eve about their life in the garden He also told them their food would be provided from every tree in the garden….

Gen 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat.

…except one…

Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

There was a very special tree in that garden, a tree of something more than the pleasure of tasty fruit.

This special forbidden tree contained the knowledge of good and evil and the pair were told as such. The other trees in the garden were for their pleasure, but this one, this single tree was made of something that should they choose to disobey their Creator's command, would kill them, end them. This tree was very deadly.

Did Adam and Eve know what death was? They had to have been given the comprehension of the outcome of their actions or it would have been meaningless. The word death would have described nothing if it had no meaning as being what it was. When told they would surely die if they disobeyed, they were given the full comprehension of what their actions would mean. Perhaps in a vision of themselves as being lifeless and returning to dust, we don't know. But for God's words to have any sense of caution, they had to know what dying would entail.

Dying would be living without God, not them as spirit beings ascending to heaven. Dying would be their Creators and them separated from each other.

Dying would make them outcasts.

Dying would be horrific and completely undesirable.

This awful thing that would happen should they eat of that tree and willfully disobey God's command, was well known to Adam and Eve or else they've have had no reason to stay away from it.

Some say the test was in them not knowing, just in their choosing not to listen to God. Then what point was there in God telling them there would be consequences if they didn't comprehend those consequences? If I tell my very child not to touch a hot stove or it could burn them, they might look at me in complete incomprehension. If I tell them not to touch the hot stove because it would cause them a lot of hurt, they'd probably understand because what child doesn't get 'owies' when learning to walk from falling down and bumping a knee? Children learn that things can cause them pain, things can hurt them, and if they are told that hot stove can hurt them, then they'd be cautious around that stove. Comprehension has to exist if we speak to our children. Those children must have a sense of what we are telling them or it is useless for us to expect them to understand and not hurt themselves. We don't tell infants not to hurt themselves, we know they have no way of understanding, we protect them and teach them as their comprehension grows as they age and learn. We don't tell an older child or adult who doesn't have the ability to comprehend things not to hurt themselves, we continue to protect them for the rest of their lives.

God did not tell Adam and Eve they would surely die, without their comprehension of death. They were created with that full comprehension. Their Life-Giver, their Creator, the One who was Love, and revealed that Love in creation, was everything to them. They loved in return, how could they not? Separation from those who sustained their very lives, was a thought of pure terror solidifying their desire to abhor that tree and all it stood for.

The first sin was so much more than we truly realize. There have been too many depictions of poor, innocent Eve in all her purity and goodness absentmindedly wandering down the path to the forbidden tree only to be met by the evil villain, as if she hadn't a clue in the world that nothing good would come from that tree. Eve wasn't a sinner, she had no evil intent in her at all, but she had the knowledge that her Creator, her God, had given her that the tree was off limits and that was all she needed to know. She had every bit of knowledge in her that knew better than to do what she did and yet she was seduced into sin. The allure of the tempter overcame her reason, her knowledge. A seed of doubt was planted.

What happened when that fruit was eaten by the pair? They began the process of dying immediately, didn't they? The death sentence was pronounced, they were put on death row in that instant. They didn't have to wait for a trial at all. They knew everything in their entire perfect lives had changed- beginning with the robes of righteousness, the pure robes of the light of God's love disappearing from their bodies so they no longer were clothed in sinless perfection. Separation from God's righteousness, disobeying God, turning from the TRUTH of God's words and accepting SATAN'S LIES cost the pair God's perfection.

They turned away from TRUTH and accepted Satan's deceptive LIES.

Do you not comprehend the importance of being TRUTHFUL? Of accepting TRUTH? Of learning what is TRUTH?

Deception caused the FIRST HUMAN SIN and every sin after is a result of that deception. Tell me that deception isn't insidious, and something we need to guard against by knowing the truth.

Jesus lay claim to being THE TRUTH. Yet we cringe and refuse to accept His truth when it interferes with our traditions. We cringe when we hear that there might be truth that we aren't looking into, because we like the little bit of truth we have, thank you very much. We don't need any more. We grasp hold of one truth to the exclusion of all others, telling ourselves it's enough to simply love without studying Jesus' entire life as the example and following in that example. We take a bit here, a bit there and ignore those parts that clash with our lives.

TRUTH.

Adam and Eve chose lies over truth. We must choose truth over lies.

3Jn_1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children WALK IN TRUTH.

1Jn_1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and WALK in darkness, we LIE, and do NOT THE TRUTH.

1Jn_1:7 But if we WALK in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Mal 2:6 The law of TRUTH was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips…

Eph 5:9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and TRUTH)

Deut 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of TRUTH and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Rev. 15:3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and TRUE are thy ways, thou King of saints.

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and TRUTH.

Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me

Joh 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

Joh 14:17 Even the Spirit of TRUTH; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you

John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and ABODE NOT IN THE TRUTH, because THERE IS NO TRUTH IN HIM. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Every lie is of the Devil. We deceive ourselves when we try to convince ourselves otherwise.

A lie caused our first parents to sin, and lies are still deceiving many. Don't pretend lies are truth. Pray not to be deceived, because the deceived will not see the truth through the lies they believe.

God help us to only ever want all Your truth and nothing less! All through Jesus Christ our Lord now and forever. Amen!

 

Prayer

Mat 6:9  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Mat 6:10  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Mat 6:11  Give us this day our daily bread.

Mat 6:12  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Mat 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

This a prayer we are all well acquainted with. I say 'all' but in truth, I don't know if you are. Those of us who are familiar with this prayer most likely can recite it by heart and we use it in our prayers all the time. Did Jesus want us to do that? Use the prayer all the time? Did Jesus want us to pray vain repetitions? We know He didn't like vain repetitions. In fact right before he gave us this manner of praying he told us this-

Mat 6:7  But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

So, why do we think if we pray this prayer that Jesus gave us, over and over and over, every day, once day, ten times a day, fifty times, that it's something that Jesus would approve of? You say because you aren't using VAIN repetitions. What exactly are vain repetitions? Stay with me here, take time and read the following…

Let's look at a dictionary to get an idea.

Vain

1. Empty; worthless; having no substance, value or importance.

2. Fruitless; ineffectual.

3. Proud of petty things, or of trifling attainments; elated with a high opinion of one's own accomplishments, or with things more showy than valuable; conceited.

4. Empty; unreal; as a vain chimers.

5. Showy; ostentatious.

6. Light; inconstant; worthless.

7. Empty; unsatisfying.

8. False; deceitful; not genuine; spurious.

9. Not effectual; having no efficacy

So there you have it in part. Now, what do you suppose Jesus meant when He told us not to use vain repetitions?

A possible answer is that when a prayer becomes something we say by rote it becomes a vain repetition. When the words we speak hold no real meaning to us, they are in vain. Just because a person knows the words by heart and can recite them upon being asked, does not mean those words hold a single ounce of importance to them. In our day to day talking we can we can babble word after word but those words can mean nothing at all. What makes our words worthy?

Let's think about it. Do we ever find ourselves telling someone… 'I need you to REALLY listen to me'? We say that because we know our listeners don't always fully listen to us and we want our words to be heard and understood. When Jesus gave us the words to say in this manner of praying, He wanted us to comprehend what we were saying. Not only that, He wanted us to say those words directly to His Father, who is Our Father. He wants the relationship to be a familiar one, a comfortable one, a real one, a relationship filled with the knowledge that we have a compassionate listener, One who really want to hear us, One who truly listens to our every word attentively. He does this when we speak in truth, from our hearts.

If the words we are saying to God have no real importance to us, why should they have any importance to God?

Do we think that Jesus gave us a magic prayer that no matter what, when those words comes out of our mouths God is instantly pleased? We've done no favors to anyone if we've taught them to recite a prayer that is in vain, holding no weight and meaning nothing beyond being sounds in the air, or in our head. Jesus didn't give us that prayer so that we could pray like those he told us spoke in vain repetitions.

You protest, thinking that God will always think those words Jesus spoke are something special, and if you just repeat them, maybe even over and over, it's fine.

People won't like to hear what I have to say about that, especially those who repeat the prayer the Lord gave us all the time. They might even think I'm crazy, and just don't understand. They could be right. You know what? I repeat those words myself, a lot, and guess what? When I do, I TRY (notice the capital letters there)I TRY to stop and contemplate the meaning of what I'm praying as I do. It's so easy to just say those words without thinking all that much about them. We speak them, doing our due diligence and get on with things. Recite the prayer and throw in a couple extra words for those we believe need, want, or have asked for prayers, and we've done good. Really? Do you think that's how God looks at it?

Teach us to pray. These words were said by those who had been praying all their lives. They knew what prayer was. They wanted something more. They didn't want a prayer they'd heard for many years and had been taught to pray from their youth on up. Why weren't those prayers sufficient to them? Why did they need Jesus to teach them to pray? It's important that we ask ourselves these questions.

Two times Jesus taught this prayer - once to His disciples after He'd finished a private prayer, and another time to a crowd of people.

Luk 11:1  And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

Luk 11:2  And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

Luk 11:3  Give us day by day our daily bread.

Luk 11:4  And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Mat 6:9  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Mat 6:10  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Mat 6:11  Give us this day our daily bread.

Mat 6:12  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Mat 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Are the two prayers exact? I'll compare them for you…

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, AS IN HEAVEN SO IN EARTH.

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done IN EARTH AS IT IS IT IS IN HEAVEN

Differences. Am I being petty? No. Are the meanings the same, basically, yes. Let's continue.

And forgive us our SINS; FOR WE ALSO FORGIVE EVERY ONE THAT IS INDEBTED TO US. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

And forgive us our DEBTS, AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY FOREVER AMEN.

Interesting isn't it? We understand forgive us our 'trespasses' as we forgive those who 'trespass' against us- yet trespass(es) is not in the Bible in these two verses. Forgive us our SINS is there. We are told to forgive trespasses elsewhere in other verses, but not in this prayer. Even more interesting is - forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and forgive us our sins for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.

We ask God the Father to forgive us our sins, LIKE WE also forgive EVERY ONE that is indebted to us. We forgive everyone who owes us anything. No matter the debt we forgive because we want the Father to forgive us in the same way- whatever we've done against Him, we want that forgiven, so whatever ANYONE has done against us must be forgiven by us. The two are intertwined. We cannot ask God to forgive us if we aren't willing to forgive others to the farthest depths we are able to forgive.

The small detail in differences between the two times Jesus gave the prayer should tell us at the least that the exact wording wasn't as important as the meaning of what Jesus was telling us to pray.

He gave us the structure of praying, not a new prayer that would become a vain repetition in years to come. He gave us the things that we should have in our prayers that we pray. Recognize our heavenly Father is holy. Recognize we are living in the reality of waiting and wanting His kingdom. Recognize that no matter what, above and beyond our own will we want our Father's will to be done right here and now. We have to recognize that He supplies our daily need- salvation! Who is the bread of life? Jesus! Seeking forgiveness daily for our transgressions, recognizing there will never be a day we don't need to seek this. Knowing as stated already, we have to forgive to be forgiven. Realizing that we are supposed to recognize that there are temptations specifically waiting for us and that we don't want to be put before those temptations, we want deliverance from evil. When we pray to be delivered, we are comprehending that evil surrounds us in this world and threatens to consume us, real evil, that which would deceive us and steals us from God. These are realities, Jesus didn't teach us these words so we could be flippant about them.

Jesus also told us to pray for one another. Throughout the New Testament we read about praying for others, but where is the outline for that prayer? I'll leave that for your contemplation.

There is however, something else I want to point out.

GIVE us …

FORGIVE us ….

LEAD us…

DELIVER us…

These are the petitions we make when we recite the prayer Jesus gave to us.

If we could give ourselves our daily bread, if we could forgive ourselves for our sins, if we could lead ourselves not into temptation, if we could deliver ourselves from evil… why are we saying otherwise in this prayer?

We are asking the Father to do for us what we CAN'T do on our own! We can't! It's senseless for us to believe we can! It's horrific for us to believe we have our own power to do these things. Any boasting to the effect that we've been able to do those things for ourselves is a lie.

The prayer isn't… Father… when I can't find my own daily needs, step in. It's not, when I can't forgive myself, help me out. When I fail at not going into temptation, take over and lead me elsewhere. And, when I can't deliver myself from evil, hey, can you do it?

Our reliance upon the Father first and foremost for these things is a must!

So, where does that leave us when we walk right into temptation, and evil over takes us? Does that mean the Father isn't doing His part, because hey, we prayed this prayer, we prayed those words?

What it means is we may pray those words, speak those petitions but we are not in full surrender to God at the time we are sinning. Hence, it's a DAILY prayer, something we seek on a daily (every single day) basis. We keep praying, we keep despising our failures, we are never content with them, never excusing them! We don't jump into temptation happily, and commit evil joyously and then ask for forgiveness day after day. We hate the temptations that lures us! We hate the evil that we do even as we do it! Contradictory? No! Case in point- how many people addicted to anything, hate their addiction even as they give into it? So many. We should never stop hating our sins, never. And no, I'm not advocating a liar's hate either. Those who mouth the words I hate this, but secretly love it. If there is a secret love for any sin in our lives, we need to ask God to help us hate that sin, hate that it has power over us, hate that we are loving something evil- and we can't fall into the trap of calling evil good, and good evil, either. We are in a real battle, a real war and Satan uses any and all sin, any and all evil to lure us and trap us, wound us, and even kill our love for God. We must recognize every sin, every evil for the thing that it really is…something that has the power to separate us from God. No sin is trivial, no evil is a minor nuisance. All sin, all evil is very powerful.

Give us, forgive us, lead us, deliver us… for Thine is the …power.

Father, You have the power to give me my daily sustenance, physical as well as spiritual. You have the power to forgive me all my debts, my sins, all of them. You have the power to lead me not into temptation in all ways. You have the power to deliver me from every evil that exists. You have the power Father! Holy is Your name! All glory and honor unto You forever and ever!

Words have meanings, the words of the prayer that Jesus spoke have deep significant meaning. They were taught to those living when He ministered upon Earth, and were written down for us to know, to learn, to say. These precious words in teaching us the manner of praying, in teaching us what is to be said, do so but not for vain repetition. These words are beyond wonderful. Recognizing GOD as truly our GOD, as truly our LORD, as truly our SAVIOR, is something we must NEVER forget when we pray Jesus' prayer. Recognizing the royalty of our Father should leave us in awe. Recognizing the Father role our GOD has taken should ever remind us that we are mere children.

I'll stop here, having written these words from my heart and from the limited comprehension I've been given. All glory and honor to God! My God, My Father, Your will be done. Amen.

God: "Love Me."

 

God- Love Me. Jesus- Love Me.

Exo_20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Pro_8:17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
Pro_8:21 That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.
Joh_8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh_10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
Joh_14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Joh_14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Joh 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Joh 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Jesus spoke these words Himself- If ye love me keep my commandments.
Does that make His love conditional?
Or is it a natural result of our love for Him, keeping His commandments?
Can we say that if we aren't keeping His commandments that we don't love Him?
We can't keep His commandments and by our own works receive salvation, that's a fact. Our actions cannot save us, beyond believing in Jesus Christ's sacrifice. Salvation doesn't come by works- we are saved by grace not of works, God's word tells us so. (Ephesians 2:8,9)
Then where does the keeping of the commandments out of love come in?
Again, it's LOVE first, the GRACE first, by which we are saved that precedes our keeping the commandments, right?
We can't exclude the keeping of the commandments as if they don't matter especially when Jesus' own words tell us that IF we love Him we will keep them.
If we aren't keeping His commandments does that mean we need to examine our love for Him to check whether to see if it is genuine or not?
What prevents us from keeping his commandments after we love Him?
The standard has to be an ever seeking to live as Jesus would have us live and when we fall short of the mark, we seek forgiveness with true heart repentance.
We cannot make our seeking of forgiveness something that is perfunctory, because that is not true repentance, right?
Whenever we realize we've acted in a way contrary to loving as Christ would have us love- by keeping His commandments (summed up in two- Love God, Love Others, but detailed in the Royal Law, the Ten Commandments) - we have to repent from the heart, recognizing our failure, recognizing our constant need of forgiveness.
We run into great trouble when we are lulled by the words we speak without any attachment to our heart.
In Jesus' day he spoke of those who put on a great show of belonging to God, but they did not. This is a warning for us today too.
We have a guideline to salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord and only Him, and He, as the spokesperson for the guideline goes far beyond - For God so loved the world that He gave His uniquely begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
Our belief in our Savior goes way beyond being simple, it is to be incorporated into every aspect of our lives. It is a living faith.

John 3:16
John 14:15

These are all Jesus' word.

Jesus wouldn't tell us to keep anything if we were to stop at simply believing. It's not mere acceptance and then forgetting and going about our lives as usual. To believe in Him and not perish- is to know who we are believing in. A living Savior who left us a wealth of information on what it means to believe in Him and love Him.

We can never let ourselves forget these words--

'You believe one is God. Well you are doing! Even demons believe (that) and shudder.'
(Direct Greek Translation) James 2:19

Demons believe God exists.

The entirety of this passage- KJV version-
Jas 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Jas 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Jas 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Jas 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Jas 2:22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
Jas 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
Jas 2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

The work is to believe, and that belief is realized in our actions, our lives. There comes a result from believing and it's not our boasting that at some point in our life we accepted Jesus as our Savior. It's being able to say that at some point in our lives we accepted Jesus as our Savior and we NOW live for Him!