THOT [The Hour of Truth] 364, WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT GOD THINKS ABOUT YOU? That is an important question because whatever it is that will be HOW you approach Him, and how you deal with the people around you! Continued from last issue. 1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. Gen 3:1-7. 1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? The first thing that Satan said to her questioned God’s GOODNESS and HONESTY to her, in simple terms it questioned His relation with her, and changed what she thought that God thought of her! THIS WAS HIS FIRST AND FOUNDATIONAL ATTACK! He used the same exact tactic with the Lord Jesus, 16And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 17And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my BELOVED Son, in whom I am well pleased. 1Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 3And when the tempter came to him, he said, IF THOU BE THE SON OF GOD, command that these stones be made bread. Matt. 3:16-Matt. 4:1-3. The one word that Satan left out when tempting [his first attempt] the Lord was “BELOVED” questioning God’s relationship with Him. It laid the ground (or at least it was supposed to) for what he really wanted found in verse 9, And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. If Satan can get you to QUESTION [in a negative way] what you think that God thinks about you then he has laid the groundwork for what he really wants! He needed to get Eve’s thoughts away from the abundance of trees (that expressed … physically … God’s GOODNESS, LOVE and GRACE to them) and on the ONE TREE, and he succeeded as seen in verse 6, And when the woman saw that the tree [1] WAS GOOD FOR FOOD, and that it was [2] PLEASANT TO THE EYES, and a [3] tree to be desired to make one wise … we see almost the same wording in chapter 2 and verse 9, And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is [1] PLEASANT TO THE SIGHT, and [2] GOOD FOR FOOD; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. When we look closely at these two verses we see that Eve put no difference between all the trees of the garden and the forbidden tree. She was now looking at what she COULDN’T have, instead of on all the things that she already FREELY HAD! BEWARE WHEN WE LOSE OUR THANKFULNESS FOR THE THINGS THAT WE HAVE, and desire the things that we THINK WE NEED! There is nothing wrong with wanting to improve our status in this life, [there is nothing wrong with being rich however there will temptations that will be faced if you are, But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. I Tim. 6:9] but in doing so stay THANKFUL FOR WHAT WE HAVE NOW! Let me say a word about TEMPTATION in closing, something [an excerpt] that I taught at our Bible study several weeks ago. First don’t confuse the TESTING OF OUR FAITH, My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. James 1:2-3, WITH THE TEMPTATION TO DO EVIL, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. Matt. 6:13. Our prayer to God should be, not to help us when we are tempted (to do evil) but to LEAD US AWAY FROM IT THAT IS THE BETTER WAY! I’m certainly not saying that if we find ourselves being tempted to do evil that we should not pray, but God offers something better and that is to pray that we are not tempted in the first place! We don’t know what we are going to face today, or what situation we might find ourselves in, and to be honest, there are times when if we were to be put in certain situations that we might be weak and give into a certain temptation, so we need to go to the one who owns the KINGDOM, and has the POWER and GLORY to LEAD US AWAY FROM THOSE SITUATIONS! The choices that we make [seemingly out of hand] will eventually lead us to a certain place and time that we are unaware of, but God does know, and has the very power, and WILLINGNESS, to CHANGE that direction, if it is going to be bad for us, and even OVERRIDE our own [fleshly] will, that might be weak at the time. Let’s not wait until we are in a bad situation and pray, but let’s pray that we are NOT LEAD INTO BEING TEMPTED WITH EVIL IN THE FIRST PLACE, IT WORKS! I have a message that I taught in our Bible study about HOW children should treat their STEP PARENTS. I would say that a large percentage of Christians (including myself, with step grand, and great grand children) live with this. The message is plain and simple and a great blessing. Lord willing I will be bringing it here to THOT. I also want to explain in detail these verses found in Prov. 5:3, 4, For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a TWO-EDGED sword. For those who have fallen prey to that two-edged sword, and there are some men and women of God who have, THERE IS HOPE! You need NOT live without hope and confidence because there is something that is SHARPER THAN THAT THAT TWO-EDGED SWORD! Praise God! For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and SHARPER THAN ANY TWOEDGED SWORD, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Heb. 4:12. QUIT FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF, AND CONDEMNING YOURSELF, OR LISTENING TO THOSE WHO WOULD CONDEMN YOU! I also want to explain in detail, and in the CONTEXT OF THE GOSPEL, Prov. 2:19, None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. WE NEED TO KNOW THE TRUTH OF IT! These truths need to be taught to the people of God! Think about it. Bill, the man who Jesus loves! “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts 17:11, 10/24/13.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 23:52:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015