Man was created three parts - spirit, soul, and body - in the Image of the Triune God. They ate the normally pleasant trees with their bodies for physical life. They ate the Tree of Life with their spirits for spiritual life. Satan’s strategy was more than one random act of disobedience; he schemed to get them to change source. He appealed to the soul to produce an independent and increased self-consciousness. Yet Christ’s sacrifice assumed all the aspects of Adam’s judgment.
The six days in Genesis One are literal, physical twenty-four-hour periods… and so much more. In its layers God foretold His moving in history and the fullness of time and eternity. The foundation of God’s love and grace for us is His image; He is jealous for and faithful to the display of His glory. We find our reason for living here: we are blessed - empowered - to be fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue and rule.
"Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus priority to get alone with His Father. Find a time and place with the Scriptures to read and pray and experience the love of God."
Creation’s purpose is to manifest the invisible qualities of God, but Genesis 1:2 manifests the opposite of God. The tragedy and ensuing war set the context for the age in which we were created, lasting from Genesis 1:3 to Revelation 21:1’s new heaven and new earth. This revelation rescues us from man-centered theology to God-centered glory.
It’s easy to amass knowledge from the wrong tree and argue theology, but we need to learn the Spirit of the Scriptures. We can find Christ in Moses’ writings and all the prophets. We can eat the Scriptures for fellowship with the living God.
"God, in His sovereign power, has decided that He will accomplish much of His will in partnership with Man. God gets maximum glory when people pray and He performs. "
"The mystery hidden in God was the summing up of all things in heaven and on earth under one Head, even Christ. Every decision you make should be in accordance with the Eternal Purpose."
"All things were created by Gods will and for His pleasure. We are made to feel pleasure, too, but it must be from the right Source or it leads to death. Ninety-nine percent of our problem hearing God and operating in His will is that we wont up our own will."
"Because you are a new creature in Christ, you have a new past to affirm; you have a new future more glorious than you can imagine; and you have new faculties to live in your now."
"Hebrews 12 teaches us to endure hardship as discipline (love) from the Lord that produces a harvest of righteousness and peace. Paul delighted in hardships, for Gods power is perfected in our weakness."
"From 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, we are in a war, and the mind is the battlefield. A breakdown of this passage and practical instruction to reign over our thoughts from our spirits."
"The goal of growing in spirit is to know God the Holy Spirit. We can walk in Him by revelation, faith, absolute surrender, obedience, and consistent fellowship. "
Jesus was unmovable in his resolve to enter Jerusalem to fulfill His Fathers will. Our disappointments with what we think He is or is not doing in our lives can cause us to miss what He IS doing for His glory and our good.