Genesis 1-6 and Matthew 4
In the Beginning was God…. Every time I read this I simply breathe in and say YEEEESSSSS…. HE WAS, HE IS, AND KRISTI HE WILL BE AGAIN! This brings so much peace to my heart because I actually believe that the Word of God is true and the first thing God wanted me, us to know is: "In the beginning"…that everything we know around us, everything that we can see whether in the sky, the ocean, or land finds its origin in GOD. He created it all, set it all in motion, and had a plan from the very beginning. God wanted a family and from page one is inviting us into that family as children of God. I love how during creation each day was pronounced with, there was EVENING and then MORNING DAY 1, there was evening and then morning DAY 2…and so on until the days of creation were complete. WHY? We typically think of a day starting with morning and then ending with the evening. So this little detail sticks out. I believe that God wants us to view our days like this. EVENING and then MORNING because it is pointing to the truth that DARKNESS will always be swallowed up by LIGHT! It is a constant reminder of hope. That death loses to resurrected life and good will forever trump evil. This is a biblical perspective of our days. If we put our unyielding trust in the one who has been from the very beginning of time then darkness will never triumph because Joy will always come in the morning. Just a side note as we are talking about the days. Notice that God himself set aside a day of rest and COMMANDED us to keep it holy. That is not just for Israelites and just in case you don’t believe me take a look at Isaiah 56:6.. Go ahead read it. That command is for any person that desires to follow the God of the beginning..and in the original Hebrew text that means ANYBODY. The Sabbath day is actually a gift from the Father to us because it is a day set aside for honoring God and enjoying your family. It is a day that God wants us to CEASE from the work of our hands and just be with Him.
One of my favorite things in Genesis is the creation of man, Adam! God spoke everything into existence and because we are made in His image we should always remember that our words are powerful. They can create chaos, destruction, pain, division or like God they can speak into chaos and create love, light, goodness, destiny, healing and so on. That is not why I love the Adam story though THAT was just a rabbit trail. I love the story because one: Adam was created from the dirt and two: Adam actually came to life by the very breath of God. Catch this… Adam was not just spoken into existence (and neither was eve) God took careful care in creating man and He did it from dirt or the EARTH! Then after He was done with His masterpiece God took a deep breath and blew life into Adam. You see Adam did not become a living being until God breathed His very breath into Adam. The word for breath is Neshamah in Hebrew and is commonly used for the word soul. Adam became alive when God breathed His soul into him. Every one of us has a soul and contains the breath of God. Isn’t it funny how when babies are born we all wait in expectation for that first breath that indicates life. So here is why it’s my favorite part of Creation. Adam was made from the EARTH and brought to life by HEAVEN. We too are caught in between the two origins daily. The stuff of EARTH (jobs, pursuing pleasure, growing, families, running from pain, everyday ordinary things) and we all carry this deep desire for spiritual things that can be rooted in our HEAVEN seed. Even if people do not recognize God, they still are intrigued with supernatural things. This is because we are all made up of both, HEAVEN and EARTH! Our greatest victory in life is cultivating our Heaven side to overtake our earthly side and reveal Heaven on Earth. THAT THOUGHT AMAZES ME!
This is why the story of Adam, Eve and the Serpent, and the Garden is so powerful. All through out our lives we have the choice to be Earthly grounded or Heavenly minded. We have the choice to obey or disobey. We can choose God which is the tree of life or we can listen to the crafty serpent and choose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You do realize that in a world of paradise where God literally walked with man that not eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the only DO NOT COMMAND. They had a choice as we all do and like all of us, they went astray because they listened to the LIAR. It’s funny how he tempted them with the very thing they already where. If you do this God knows you will be like Him….Remember they already where like God made in his image. The enemy still traps us today with the same lies. Everything we need can be found in God already yet the enemy still try to convince us that something else we don’t need will satisfy us. Remember that by taking that fruit sin entered the world and has been ever increasing since that time. Sin in 1 John 3:4 …go ahead read it.… Is described as disobedience to Gods command. Adam and Eve disobeyed the word of the Lord and for the first time their eyes were opened and they felt ashamed. Sin will always bring death into our lives and separate us from the presence of God. Notice God was not hiding, they were hiding out of fear. God was actually looking for them. Sin will always cause us to run away from a God who is searching for us. Our best bet would be to immediately STOP<DROP<AND ROLL into the searching presence of God and be covered. Instead they blame shifted and attempted to rationalize their sin blaming other people. Sound familiar? As long as we insist on finding excuses on why we walk in disobedience we will never experience the freedom of Gods covering. We have to learn to be individuals that love God so much that we readily admit our failure and sin and run straight to the one who forgives and heals us. This is actually what salvation is all about. We have all sinned and fallen short and have lost our paradise with God but if we are willing to confess our sins, turn our back on the serpent, and cast our allegiance with the Creator God of the beginning of all things then we live our lives on a constant return to Eden. That place where we can walk with God in the cool of the day without fear or shame because we are our beloveds and He is ours.
Good Old Cain and Abel teach us a whole different story. Basically don’t let sin master you. When God points out the wickedness of your heart don’t ignore Him have ears to hear and be quick to obey…Cain ignored and Sin most definitely multiplied until Gods heart is grieved with all humanity and says, that’s it zip it up, these people are all about themselves and evil as pervaded their heart.… And GOD WAS GRIEVED. Don’t ever think your sin, your disobedience, your lack of communion with God does not bother HIM. God is jealous for you because He has a life giving love for you and ANYTHING that hinders that love from flowing, He cares about.… Beloved remember this, the God of the Beginning, the one who flung the stars and calls them by name, Loves you and is Jealous for your affections. May you run to Him in your shame, dance to Him in your joy, crawl to Him in your hurt, and STOP<DROP<AND ROLL to Him in your disobedience and FIND HIM ALREADY LOOKING FOR YOU!
Now to Matthew, let me just say that John the Baptist is my (pound my chest two times) man with the bible plan, brother from another mother, my cross boss, locust eaten, dread lock havin, half naked man in the wilderness and I would sit under his teaching any day. Im just gonna leave this passage of scripture with you to chew on:
John dressed in a camel-hair habit tied at the waist by a leather strap. He lived on a diet of locusts and wild field honey. People poured out of Jerusalem, Judea, and the Jordanian countryside to hear and see him in action. There at the Jordan River those who came to confess their sins were baptized into a changed life. When John realized that a lot of Pharisees and Sadducees were showing up for a baptismal experience because it was becoming the popular thing to do, he exploded: Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference? It’s your life that must change, not your skin! And don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as father. Being a descendant of Abraham is neither here nor there. Descendants of Abraham are a dime a dozen. What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it is deadwood, it goes on the fire. I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned……..Then Jesus appeared!
Matthew 3: 4-12
Thats right, Johnny Boy was not playing games because he understood that there was one coming about to set people on FIRE and he wanted people ready. We should live our lives in the same manner, not playing games with people or ourselves. Sometimes being a Christian is the cool thing to do, going through the motions but never really having it effect your life. Im joining with John and shouting from the rooftops, a little bit of this and a little bit of that does not change your life. SURRENDERING to the Kingdom Life and allowing Jesus to set you on Fire through the Holy Spirit will cause your life to blossom and be more than just a slithering snake trying to look good.
