We read in 2 Corinthians 9:8, “Besides, God is able to make every blessing of yours overflow for you, so that in every situation you will always have all you need for any good work.” (ISV)
God is able to make every blessing overflow for us, and though it seems like there is no evidence that God’s promises are possible, and even when situations seems adverse, the Lord is able to fulfill all of His promises. The secret is that we have to believe the word, and trust the God who made the promise. Our God is faithful to all His promises, and hence He will fulfill every promise that He has made.
Adam and Eve enjoyed God’s overflowing abundance
The first man who enjoyed this overflowing abundant blessing in his life was Adam. However, we will try to understand the things that can hinder these blessings in our lives. If we are not aware of these, we will most likely miss out on the blessings that God desires to lavish on us.
In the Garden of Eden, there was great fellowship and union between God and man. Also there perfect harmony between Adam and Eve. They had abundance of trees, fruits, precious stones, rivers and everything they desired. There was nothing that they lacked, but were in a place of perfect abundance.
Sometimes, God gives us certain stipulations, and all of these are entirely for our own good. Government has the authority to give us license to drive. The motorcycle may be ours and we may take the effort to procure the license, however, when the government has a rule that we should wear a helmet when riding, if we don’t abide by the rule, we put ourselves in danger.
Note how the promises of God also come with certain stipulations that we are required to follow. Often we like to hold on to the promises, but don’t want to take heed to the restrictions that God has placed for us.
The only condition God imposed
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve enjoyed everything in its fullness. They had the presence of God, unison with God and each other, and every other blessing that they could ever dream of.
We read about it in Genesis 2:16-17, And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (ESV)
Some people argue this way, ‘If only God did not place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve would never have sinned.’ Why did a good God place this tree in the Garden when He knew that Adam and Eve would make wrong choices and would cause the downfall of all mankind?
The answer to this question is found in our understanding of the way in which God created human beings.
We read in Genesis 1:27, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (ESV)
Man was created in the image of God Himself. Of all God’s creation the only ones who were created in the image of God was human beings. This is such a blessing God has bestowed on us and part of this image of God is the freedom to choose. We have such a good God who gave man the freedom to choose to love and obey Him or choose to walk away in disobedience.
As long as Adam and Eve obeyed God, they enjoyed the overflowing abundance of God in their lives. This was the consequences for their obedience. However, they also had the freedom to not obey God if they chose to and face the consequences for the same.
1. Be careful about your choices
Every choice has a consequence
There is an important point that we must bear in mind, and that is the fact that for every choice we make there will be a consequence.
At the beginning of a New Year many children will make a resolution that they will take their studies seriously, do their home-work every day, and parents will be elated with these decisions. This resolution will last only for a few weeks and honestly if a student could uphold this resolution throughout the year, they will top their class. There are other children who will procrastinate and never complete their assignments on time. The fact of the matter is that there will be a consequence for every decision that is taken.
For instance everyone who came to church made a choice to do so, and if for some reason someone did not choose to come to church, they have the freedom to do so.
There was a man of God Brother Stanley, a good teacher of God’s word and he had this way of teaching people about choices. Before telling them what choices they should make he would tell them about the choices that they should not make. The reason is that sometimes it is easy to know what choices to make, but far more difficult on deciding what choices we should not make.
Here’s an example of how not to choose a church. Some will choose to go a church that is closest to them because they don’t want to travel or there are others who are part of a church only because their forefathers were members of that church. However, when it comes to schooling for their children, they want to choose the one that they think is best suited for them and none of the above arguments will stand. Don’t make decisions based on traditions. There are some others for whom church is a place where there child is named, marriages are solemnized and funerals are conducted. These are all the wrong reasons for choosing a church.
Our primary reason for choosing a church should be because the word is preached as it should be, because only God’s word can protect us and bring blessings into our lives. We are reminded that, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ Often we make wrong choices because we have no knowledge of the word of God in our lives. I have heard many people say, ‘I wish I knew this earlier, I would have avoided made a different choice and my life would have been different.’
Secondly, we should be in a church where the word that is taught can be easily understood. There was a family who came new to church one Sunday. When I asked them if they were blessed by the service, they replied that they understood the word that was preached. Only if we understand the word will our lives bear fruit.
Thirdly, the church should be a place where we worship God is Spirit and in Truth. One type of worship is traditional churches where they will sing a couple of songs or hymns. Then there are those who have instruments on high volume and create an emotional hype that dies down once the music stops. We have to worship God not only in Spirit, and in Truth but also with understanding for that is the right way to worship.
Let me share some of the choices we make. Think about the way we dress when we go to a wedding, and compare this with the way we come dressed to church. We should come well dressed to church too because we represent the King of kings, and when we come into His presence let’s put on our best clothes. What about the choice to be at church on time? Sometimes people give an excuse that they missed the bus, and hence were delayed. But, think about it, if we had an important appointment with some official, we would never give such an excuse for turning up late. All of this is our choice, and we should be careful to make right choices all the time. Think about the way we rush our children to be at school on time, knowing that there will be certain penalties, but we take it so easy when we come to church because God is a loving God, and there will be no apparent consequences for our actions. Our coming together to church is more important than any other job we do, because when we come seeking the Lord He strengthens us. Though we can’t see this with our physical eyes, we will experience this in our day to day lives.
Let me share a good example from the bible for choices and consequence.
David was a shepherd boy who was looking after his father’s sheep. One day when David went to visit his brother’s at the battle field to give them some food, he noticed that Goliath a giant from the Philistine camp was challenging the Israelite army. Think about it, David could have just done his errand and gotten back home, but David chose to fight Goliath. It was that choice that took David from the wilderness to the palace. There was an abundant overflow of God’s blessings on David’s life because of the choice he made.
However, this same David when he became king, his desire to have Bathsheba the wife of Uriah cost him much, and we see how he later fled from the palace to hide and wander in the wilderness.
Think about what is that one thing that hinders us from being recipients of God’s overflowing blessings. To some it could be anger, to others it may be an online game, and to some others it may be that one friend. We must ask God to help us break or remove that one thing that is hindrance in our life so we can experience God’s bountiful blessings. Those little weaknesses that we sometimes set aside become big stumbling blocks in our lives. Our body is the temple of God, and we should ask God to help us overcome any sin, small or big that prevents us from being blessed by God. Even a person addicted to alcohol was not born that way. It was an addiction that came along the way and with God’s help anyone can overcome that addiction. To some who have a problem with controlling their anger, what they do or say in a moment of anger is beyond them. There are those addicted to watching reels and waste all of their time watching them .If we don’t overcome our weaknesses, we will soon find that they will overcome us. Let’s learn to make proper choices.
One person told me about a man who owned a good motorbike. Some of his friends suggested that if he sold the motorbike and gambled with it on one particular day, he would become the owner of a car. This man believed his friends, sold his motorbike, and put the money in the game. The outcome was that the man lost his good motorbike, and ended up with a pushcart.
Think about Adam, the only mistake he and Eve did was that they ate of the one fruit that God forbade them to and the consequence was faced by all mankind.
2. Be careful about your associations
The serpent was crafty
We read in Genesis 3:1, Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" (ESV)
Just imagine that you were walking on the road and a dog said hello to you, what would you do? Adam and Eve were conversing with each other up until the time when the serpent came and began a conversation with Eve. The fact is that Eve did not even stop to wonder why the strange creature spoke to her. Satan’s only aim was to tempt Adam and Eve so that they both eat the forbidden fruit. Interestingly, the serpent started off the conversation by asking a question about God, and thereby made them doubt what God had told them.
Just as Satan used the serpent to tempt Eve, he uses people for his cunning ploy. If we are not aware of these people we will get deceived. Sometimes there are some who actually start a conversation about God, but have a different agenda. If we are not cautious these sort of associations will become destructive for us.
Eve could have done two things; she could have asked her husband or could have asked God before she began the conversation with the serpent.
The women in the family should be cautious because often there will be those who will say subtle things so as to cause division in the family. That’s exactly what the serpent did. The goodness of God and the command He had given for the good of man, was misinterpreted and misrepresented to Eve.
Sometimes as a Pastor, I will ask the young people who lead worship to take turns so that they don’t just lead the worship, but also can sit and participate in the worship time. If someone went to one of these young people who did not lead and enquired as to why Pastor did not give them an opportunity to lead the worship, immediately it would sow a negative thought against the Pastor. Be cautious that Satan is using some people this way, and if we are not aware of it, it will steal all of our overflowing blessings from our lives.
In every choice be it big or small, let us do it with prayer and also only with God’s guidance and counsel. Don’t make a decision until you hear distinctly from God. Secondly, be careful about the people with whom you engage in conversation.
3. Don’t give room for doubt
We read in Genesis 3:5, For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (ESV)
Notice how the serpent planted a seed of doubt in the mind of Eve about the command that God gave them. All that the serpent did not use any force to make Eve eat the fruit, but just used some cunning words to deceive her to believe his lies.
Think about why the serpent was so bothered about Adam and Eve. Why did he want them to eat the forbidden fruit? Remember, that Satan was Lucifer who once stood in the presence of God. Since God cast him aside and Adam and Eve enjoyed God’s presence, Satan was filled with anger and jealousy. The serpent speaks to Eve as though he was so concerned about her and cared for her. However, Eve was not aware of Satan’s subtle ploy.
The one thing that could spoil our peace in our lives or in our families is doubt. Don’t stay in any relationship where someone who created doubt and suspicion in your mind. There are those who are jealous of your overflowing abundant lives, and hence with do all they can to spoil it. Let’s be thankful to the Lord for all His blessings on our lives and under no circumstances should we miss out on God’s abundant blessings.
These are some of the things that Adam and Eve lost in this association with the serpent.
• They lost the fellowship they had with God and were removed from God’s presence.
Be cautious of friends who take you away from God, and also take up a lot of your time. They will talk a lot and will constantly keep calling you. Sometimes such a friendship can also create problems in the family. Sometimes when issues at home are shared with colleagues, either wrong counsel is given or the matter is gossiped about with others.
• Adam and Eve forfeited the good relationship and union they had with each other.
• The ground that was giving abundant fruit was now cursed to bring forth thorns and thistles.
In three spheres Adam and Eve were severely affected as a result of their choice. Our choices, our associations and our conversations.
Adam and Eve lost all of the abundant fullness they enjoyed in the Garden of Eden and were sent out of the Garden.
This verse in Genesis 3:24, “He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.” (ESV) will certainly put fear in our hearts.
We read that Adam and Eve were driven out of God’s presence and from the Garden of Eden. This was the pathetic place that Adam and Eve found themselves in because of their wrong choice. Let’s be cautious about our choices, our friendships and our conversations so that we don’t miss out on the abundant and overflowing life that God has in store for us.
Rev. F. Andrew Dixon
www.goodnewsfriends.net
