Family Under Attack!!!

As I sit with the precious people that come in seeking the Lord, I am amazed to see the damage in so many families. As I look in Ephesians 3:14-15 I see that family was God's idea from the very beginning and one of the main ways His covenant love is imparted. Yet as I came face to face with my own inadequacy to know how family works (much to the stress of my wife), I began to see some things that the Lord was revealing. First, after the fall family was affected by sin and the Lie in a very profound way. Second, through the finished work of Christ God has given us a roadmap for family restoration and true freedom. We have a saying in our church that it is important to go back to the beginning. As I reflected on the verses in Genesis I was struck with first the magnitude of the Heavenly Father's blessing to give Adam and Eve authority over the whole earth to fill it with His glory. It was not God's job, He gave that to us. This also helped explain a question, How did Satan get into the Garden of Eden? Well according to Genesis 2:15 it was Adam's job to cultivate, tend, and guard the Garden. Where God gives authority I believe He also gives the power necessary to carry it out. It was Adam's failure to take his authority to stop Satan from coming in the Garden that was an integral part of the march towards the Fall. The Holy Spirit was showing me that having pure evil (Satan) in the Garden which was a place of God's holiness began to bring division between Adam and Eve, which allowed Satan to come in the back door. Adam stood with Eve as she reasoned with the serpent (Satan) which ultimately led to her being deceived to believe the Lie that she could be as God and have independence and self-sufficiency. The Lie was directly contradictory to the Word of God and I believe Adam knew this and yet was silent again. As Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil she was plunged into death (seperation from God who is life). Adam I believe was then faced with losing Eve or trusting the life that came from God through His Word. We know that Adam chose to follow his wife and not lose her but be plunged into death with her. It was through Eve that Adam was deceived. I believe it is crucial to see the way of Adam that we would not follow them but follow the last Adam (Christ) who is the Way, the truth, and the Life. After eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (never ate of the Tree of Life) God sought out Adam, I don't believe for condemnation but for relationship. A loving father asks his children what many parents have asked their own children, What have you done? Adam immediately passes the blame to his wife and also hurles blame in God's direction (Genesis 3:12). But as we see it was Adam's lack of taking his authority that led to Satan being in the garden and also to Eve being in a vulnerable place to be deceived. I pray that as you read this the Holy Spirit will work in your heart, His role is to lead us into all truth. I see like the first man Adam I have abdicated my authority, been passive, and allowed Satan into the garden of my life (my family). I say this not as condemnation on myself or any man because I look to Christ for the restoration and freedom not to myself. In the next blog we will explore God's healing and restoration of the family through the finished work of Christ. My desire is to expose the lies of the Enemy that you would experience the truth, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free (John 8:32). While the magnitude of the Fall and the Lie is great, God's plan of redemption and restoration through the New Covenant in Christ far surpasses the devastation.
In His Love,
Bret