IN THE BEGINNING

In the beginning when Adam and Eve were in the garden they disobeyed.  They made a choice to do something the Father had said not to do.  Of course they placed blame elsewhere just as people do all these thousand and thousands of years later.  Eve blamed the serpent who was possessed by Satan in serpent form.  Adam blamed Eve because she gave the fruit of the forbidden tree to him.  Both Adam and Eve made the choice to disobey the direct command of God. Human sinful and willful nature destroyed the paradise God had intended for his creation of both mankind and animal. 

The price they paid for their disobedience was very heavy.  God banned them from living in Eden.  Eden was perfect and they were now imperfect and only more damage and disobedience would come if He had let them stay there.  There was a price to be paid just as there is always a price paid for disobedience and sin against God's instructions and words.

Satan is still having his head crushed by the believer who holds tight to the promises of God.  He knows that Jesus paid the final price with His blood and that those who have accepted Jesus as their savior, Christ and Messiah know the victory of eternal life has been won.  Those who walk with Jesus know beyond any doubt that they are forgiven and their names are written in the Book of Life for all eternity.  Death on earth is just another part of the journey back to Eden.

Men are still blaming women for all their problems and for all the trouble and turmoil in their lives instead of facing the truth that they each have a choice how to react to a woman.  How to talk to a woman.  How to love a woman.  They want to blame the woman for the lust of their eyes.  They want to blame the woman for leading them astray.  They do not want to face the truth that they were too selfish to say "No" and stick with that answer.

Women are still blaming men, children and Satan for leading them off the path of goodness and mercy. Women want to blame anyone and anything at any time for their own inadequacies.  They blame weakness.  They blame lack of superiority.  They blame other women.  They blame God for making them less than men.

I know this may all sound a bit harsh but read Genesis 3:12-13;

'The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” '

Man blamed woman.  Woman blamed the serpent.  The serpent was silent because he had done the damage intended and caused the fall of mankind into sin and apart from God.

Each one of us are responsible for our actions, then and now.  Each one of us have a choice to follow God and what He says is moral, good and acceptable in His eyes.  Each one of us can blame others all we want for our trials, tribulations, and troubles but the truth is, at some point in time, we have no one to blame but ourselves for our decisions to lead a life pleasing to God or pleasing to only ourselves. 

 They are called choices for a reason.

BELIEVE

 Believe.  What a word.  I'm sorry I am sort of a nerd and want to get to the basis of why we use certain words. The dictionary definition of word believe is:

a: to consider to be true or honest (ie. believe the reports or you wouldn't believe how long it took)

b: to accept the word or evidence of (ie. I believe you or I couldn't believe my ears)

c:: to hold as an opinion (ie. I believe it will rain soon)

Luke 8:50 says, 'But when Jesus heard it , he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole. '

As believers of Jesus Christ, that He is who He said He is, the Son of God, God in flesh, we believe that every word He spoke is truth.  We believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God written by men but truth by the power of the Holy Spirit.  But right before Jesus told Jairus that his daughter would life, He said, "Fear not".  This is where the truth lies.  As human beings we know there are liars, cheaters, frauds, deceivers, and evil people in the world and we do not trust many.  We have been led astray many times and therefore we have fear that the truth is not what we are hearing.  How do we believe when we have been tricked and duped so many times in our lives?

We do not put our faith and trust in people.  We put our faith and trust in God alone.  Only by the power of the Holy Spirit will we be able to endure the trials of the day.  Only by the power of the Holy Spirit will we hear God and know that He will guide us and be with us even when the world is against us.  To believe is to trust.  On this earth we cannot trust what someone says.  We cannot trust what someone does.  We cannot trust people as they will let us down, they will hurt us, they will take advantage of us, they will look out for their selfishness first.  It is the way of the world and we are in this world whether it be the good or the bad.

Mark 11:24 (NKJV)

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Romans 10:9 (NKJV)

that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Mark 9:23 (NKJV)

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

The above verses are just a few of the scriptures which teach and speak of how and what to believe.  Unbelievers cannot comprehend how the believer can believe in these words.  The unbeliever lives in a world where there is no hope, there is no peace, there is no faith in anything they cannot see or understand, there is nothing but trouble in life.  But the believer knows the heart of God the Father who created us in His image.  We know that He is for us and not against us.  We know that He gives us divine protection against the Satan, the enemy of our souls.  Satan is out to steal, kill and destroy all belief we may have.  He is the one who puts the doubts, fears and anxiety of life into our minds unless we continually ask the Lord to guard us and protect us from the evilness of this world.

Believers believe.  When the doubts creep in we seek the Lord and He calms our fears.  I wish I could tell you that someday you will not have any fears or doubts and that you will be able to trust the people in your life but that is not the way things work in this world.  

Jesus says, "Fear not. Believe only."  That is all we can do and what we do in every single day.