Let’s Go Back to The Garden

Let’s go back to the garden. Let’s go back to the day that Satan first lied to God’s creation. Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden when Satan came to them as a serpent, which was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made (Genesis 3:2). Satan spoke to Eve, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” ⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” … And there it is… the lie that made Adam and Eve start to wonder if God was actually holding something back from them. And from that thought produced the sin that would be the fall of man. From that day on the enemy had created an epidemic of doubt that maybe our God is holding something back from us… maybe He doesn’t want me healed, maybe He doesn’t want me to prosper… maybe I don’t deserve this or that… maybe I am not worth it. It’s everywhere and has polluted the body of Christ.

 

Adam and Eve ate the fruit because they didn’t trust God’s plan. They thought He was holding something back from them and they wanted it. In reality God was protecting them. Let’s go back to the garden… where God gave man and woman everything they needed. It was peaceful, beautiful, perfect, yet they took matters in their own hands to obtain what they thought was best.

 

Let me tell you this, God has a plan for you, whether you see it or know it. He has the fullness of His blessing available for you and wants you to have it. The thing is, we have to trust in Him. We have to develop a relationship with Him. You can read about God’s love for you all you want but until you experience it the Bible will just be a book to you instead of one big love letter to His creation: an instruction booklet on How To Get Back to The Father. He wants us to be blessed and He wants us to be consumed by His love, but we have to walk on the path He has for us.

 

Head up, look to the Father. Do not stop believing in His goodness. Never give up. Press forward. Know that you are a vital piece to the body of Christ. The eyelash may be small, but it has a very important job of protecting the eyes. Get in His word. Pray. Surround yourself with Christian friends. Get lost in his love.

Power of Your Words

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” –Proverbs 18:21

Power of your words… it almost sounds cliché to say, but it has so much truth in it. There is a reason why Solomon wrote about it in Proverbs over 20 times. There is a reason why the Holy Spirit prompted James to talk about taming the tongue. Jesus even knew that the power of our words were very important when He said, “But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them,” in Matthew 15:18. Especially in Matthew 12:36 when Jesus utters these words that no one likes to hear,” But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.” Wow, that’s only two verses and it is already deep. In other translations it says we will give an account for every “idle” word or “careless” word. One version even says “thoughtless” words. And whether you believe it or not, words have a massive impact on people. There is a reason why people can remember what someone said to them 20 years ago and still be affected by it today.

Want my honest opinion? I think the church is not fully walking in the anointing due to the words we speak. From what I have heard from Christians now days there is no faith in their words! They speak blessings and curses from the same mouth! The pray for healing and then go tell all their friends how sick they are. They want to be used by God but their words are filth. I believe once our words line up with the Word of God we will see the Church explode with miracles.

There was a time when I was very insecure about my hair. I always had a full head of hair in high school (yes, the Justin Bieber hair). But once I started getting older I began to develop a receding hairline. I remember people used to tell me I was going to go bald and my hair would fall out. I used to have bad dreams about that! And those words those people spoke planted in my heart and I began to hate my hair and I feared I was going to go bald and not find a wife and have to die alone lol. It sounds crazy but it’s true! Those words impacted me and my life! And most of the time verbal abuse has a larger impact than physical abuse! Words are powerful!

The question is: How do we stop speaking curses and start speaking blessings though? James 3:8-12 tells us that no man can tame the tongue, Which means we might as well give up if we are trying to do it on our own. We need the Holy Spirit in order to tame our tongues to speak life and blessings. Which means that in order to truly change our speaking patterns we need to renew our minds every day more and more. We need to let Jesus transform us into new creations. Easier said than done, right? Hey, don’t be discouraged. It’s a process and we will always be growing and maturing. Take hold of this and apply it to your life and I bet you will see a difference.

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” –Ephesians 4:29

“Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.” –Proverbs 21:23

“If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.” -James 1:26

-If you say you are a Christian and yet speak curses, you are strutting a worthless religion and the religion is not Christianity.

Let Us Flourish

“The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon.”    –Psalm 92:12 NIV

What do you know about palm trees? If you were like me then you didn’t know much, especially since I was born and raised in the Midwest. But did you know that pal trees are a very unique tree? They are quite special from any other tree. You see, the fibers inside palm trees are different from other trees because when these fibers are stretched and stressed, they actually become stronger. If you have ever seen a palm tree in a storm, the wind will bend it almost to the point of breaking, but they wont break. They will stay limp for a while but eventually they start to stand up again, stronger than it was before. That is what I believe this scripture is telling us here. The righteous (which thanks to Jesus we have become the righteousness of God; not by our own works but by Jesus [2 Corinthians 5:21]) will flourish (Hebrew word is parach and means to break forth, bloom, generally to spread, abundantly blossom, grow, spring up).

Here is the thing, Jesus never promised us an easy life. Persecution will come, storms will rise up, trials and tribulations are a part of living in this fallen world. But those who trust in Him will never be put to shame (Romans 10:11; Psalm 25:3). Those who are considered righteous because of their faith in Jesus, they will come out of those troubles and trials, those tests and persecutions as victorious! They will flourish like the palm tree. They will be bent and stressed, but will come out of the storm stronger than they were before; growing and blossoming. To me, that is what the author is telling us.

Do not complain going into the storm. Praise Him before the storm, praise Him during the storm, and continue to praise Him as you come out of the storm and flourish. Amen?

User Error

Once there was this man who longed to buy his own computer. He worked hard and saved up just enough to purchase his dream computer. He went to the store, bought it and brought it home. He couldn’t stop bragging about how awesome this thing was. He started naming off all the features of this computer. He was amazed at how all its statistics from storage to CD burning. The man finally got it all set up and turned it on. The first thing he did was download a free anti-virus. But once the download was complete, his computer started acting funny. It became slow, started glitching, and pop-ups kept popping up every time he would click on something. His computer soon just turned off. He took it back to the store and wanted to return it. As he walked up to the customer service desk, he stated. “I would like to return this computer, it is broken and it doesn’t run as fast and accurate as you said it would. After the computer repair people took a look at it they discovered the problem. The man downloaded a fake anti-virus and attached to it was a virus which destroyed the computer. The man was shocked that it was his fault and felt very embarrassed and left with his broken computer.

What’s the point of this story? My point is this: Marriage works but the reason it fails is due to “User Error.” You see, God created marriage and He planned and intended for it to work, but it is man who has abused it and given it a bad reputation. Just like the man in my story, we have taken what should work accurately and effectively, and infected it with selfishness, greed, adultery, idolatry, anger, perverseness, and everything else that is not of God. We have taken our relationships off the Rock and moved it to the sand, where the storms of life have destroyed it.

This post is not to discourage you, when in fact, this is just the intro to my encouragements. Marriage works. Relationships leading up to marriage are able to be healthy, blessed and prosperous. That’s how God intended it, we just have to know how to do it. Let us learn together 🙂 God bless.

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word      –Ephesians 5:22-23