“Job answered the LORD: “I know that You can do EVERYTHING, And that NO PURPOSE OF YOURS CAN BE WITHHELD FROM YOU.” (Job 42:1-2)
Just what was GOD’S PURPOSE? “God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. RULE OVER… EVERY LIVING CREATURE…“ (Gen. 1:27-28) GOD’S PURPOSE was for man to willingly RULE OVER and CARE FOR all of God’s creation.
“…the serpent was more crafty than any the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “DID GOD REALLY SAY, ‘You MUST NOT EAT FROM ANY TREE in the garden’?” (Gen. 3:1) NO God said, “You are FREE TO EAT FROM ANY TREE in the garden…you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it YOU WILL CERTAINLY DIE.” (Gen. 2:16-17) The reason is since they ate from it now if they ate from the TREE OF LIFE they would be ETERNAL SINNERS!!! So, God got them out of the garden. For just a very short time they served and obeyed God but then they gave in to the devil and lost their authority to him.
Jesus said, “…from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven SUFFERS VIOLENCE, and THE VIOLENT TAKE IT BY FORCE.” (Matt. 11:12) Wicked violent people who fit this description include Herod Antipas, who imprisoned John the Baptist (Matt. 11:2), and those Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus’ ministry (Matt. 9:34; 12:22–24). And had Him crucified!!! We must protect ourselves and our families because “the God of this world” (2 Corin. 4:4) desires to take away our relationship with God! He comes to “…steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I (Jesus) have come that they MAY HAVE LIFE (zōē: eternal life), and that they may have it more abundantly (perissos: beyond measure).” (John 10:10)
We are in a battle, that’s why we are given the full “ARMOR OF GOD.” (Eph. 6:11)
Your Personal Pastor -Bill Stockham