Thursday: The Journey 3

"You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden!"

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, the Son and the Sun are both out shining bright this morning. One in my window and the other in my heart. God is good and it is a perfect morning here at the Southern Location of the North Pole. Lots of people jokingly ask me how are things at the North Pole, and I often tell them that it is cold, but never being there I also tell them how proud of I am of the fact that I have a son who has been under the North Pole three times... (Navy Veteran, Submarine Service). Today is family day on this line and I ask that you pray for all families and please remember the one in the White House. Oh, and please remember to give thanks to the family that went to the manger to give birth. Please also pray for Vicki and her family and Donna and her family. Pray also for Todd who broke an ankle (four small children, now no work) and for Jet who has swine flu.

The Journey 3: Genesis 3:2 - 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.'" (NIV)

Now picture this, you go out someplace that is really neat, a big garden with flowers and trees and veggies gardens, you may even pay to get in. There is one of these places that we have been to, it is called Longwood Gardens, and it is beautiful. Always something to see and, depending on the time of year you go, the fruit on the trees or the tomatoes on the vines might be really nice and ripe. Now folks, they tell you not to pick flowers or to pick and eat the fruit or veggies for they do harvest it and give it to the needy, but the temptation is there and I must confess that I did have a taste or two of those cherry tomatoes. Have you ever been tempted like that? Gosh, I have seen people many times tasting grapes at the food store. They open a pack and eat a few, and I have even seen them take food from the salad bars... Temptation...

Now let's picture ourselves in that Garden that Adam and Eve were in, in fact that is why I want to take you on this journey so you can really picture it. You are standing there, just you and your spouse and you are nude because that is how Adam and Eve were placed in the garden. God has laid out this spread for you that is just perfect and has told us to enjoy but just don't eat from the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, men, we go off someplace else in the garden and our wife talks to a serpent who tells her that it is ok, and that fruit did look so good, so she picked it... and she brings it to us, and we ate some of it. Then we hear God coming and we try and hide from Him.

Now folks, I want you to think about a few things right now. First,we try and hide from God, and brothers and sisters, we cannot hide from Him; He sees it all and He knows it all. Now we were not in the garden, but have we not been tempted in our lives to do things that God has told us not to do? Oh, you say, God did not tell us anything. Yes, He did, and it is in the Bible, and yes, if we learn to, oh you are going to like this... if we learn to "shut up and listen" you can quote me on that one. Maybe we would hear God talking to us when we pray. How many of us have prayed for something only to not listen to God for the answer? All of us! How many of us have prayed to God and heard the answer and did not listen anyway? Most of us I would guess! Temptation all around us... One more point for today from this lesson.

When God came and found Adam and Eve in the garden, what happened? The blame game when on and it is alive and well today. Adam tells God, Eve gave it to me, and Eve blamed the snake. Folks, today I hear so many people say "The devil made me do it". No, now he might have tempted us, but God gave us free will and that means we are free to choose what we do. God made us and He made us free so if we really do not need to listen to Him, do you think for one minute He would have made us listen to Satan? No, not at all. Folks, when we mess up, stop blaming someone else. Gosh, I was driving the car, officer, but that guy in front of me made me run the red light because he did it also. I just followed him. And so it goes. Folks, to be in tight with Jesus we must have a personal relationship, and when we mess up we must take personal responsibility for it. How does that saying go, "if you want to dance you must pay the band". Our Lord Jesus will forgive us when we mess up, but how will He do it if we blame it on a friend or our spouse or the snake?

And look, dogs do not eat all the homework, but one did eat mine... see I lied again. I did have a dog eat a five dollar bill once when I was a kid. I dropped it on the floor and my dog just ate it up. I gave the dog some of that Cod Liver Oil and put him in the basement, but I never did get my five dollar bill back, that poor dog could just not pass it... it was counterfeit. So much for that joke. In closing, listen to God and obey Him and if you fall to temptation, get on your knees and ask Him to forgive you, and if you hurt others do the same with them.

Dear God in Heaven, thank You for the lessons learned from Adam and Eve and the events in the Garden of Eden. Help us to not be tempted to do wrong. Lord, be with those on our prayer list today and we do ask for healing for them. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Now go forth sharing your blessings and again we thank you who have supported us. Even just praying for us is great support... and reading this line, great support. Love ya, dan.

Carry The Light Ministries
16 Dewalt Drive
Mechanicsburg, Pa. 17050
717 691 8200
717 991 0754