John 10:10 (Amplified) says, "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."
We find in Genesis 1:26-27 (Amplified) that, "God said, let us (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) make mankind in Our Image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the (tame) beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps on the earth." Verse 27 says, "So God created man in His Own Image, in the Image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them."
In Genesis 2:7 (Amplified), we find a second creation or formation of Adam and Eve in a body, "Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being. In the same chapter of Genesis:21-23, God made Eve from the same substance that Adam was made of.
After Adam's transgression in the Garden, we find the death (or deaths) of Adam and his wife. The spiritual death or separation from God came first. Then, in Genesis 5:3-5 (Amplified), when Adam had lived 130 years, "he had a son in his own likeness, after his image; and he named him Seth. After he had Seth, Adam lived 800 years and had other son and daughters. So altogether Adam lived 930 years, and he died."
The Bible doesn't say how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden before the transgression. It only says that when they transgresses, death came. I have more confidence in the creation of my Father, than to believe they died quickly. Adam and Eve might have been in the Garden for thousands of years before the devil invented a temptation that they would yield to.
The only thing satan could tempt them with was the only Law that God had given them at that time. Genesis 2:16-17 (Amplified) says, "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree of the garden, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
The only Law they could break was the Law of not eating from that tree. Everything else was "freely given." No man ever lived to be a thousand years old after God said "That day you shall surely die." Spiritual death set in immediately, but the natural death (death of the body) took 930 years. Some might say that they didn't die that day, but 2Peter 3:8 (Amplified) says that, "Nevertheless, do not let this one fact escape you, beloved, that with the Lord one day is a thousand years and a thousand years as one day."
No man has lived a thousand years. Methuselah was the oldest man ever listed in the Word of God. Genesis 5:27 (Amplified) says, "So Methuselah lived 969 years, and he died."
When I say that we must learn to live, I'm referring to the life Jesus came to give us which is the life in the Spirit of God again. This life will also extends the life of our flesh. Reports come out saying man is living longer because of medical breakthroughs, but I believe it's because we have more revelation knowledge of Jesus and the Word of life. Even after the fall of man in the Garden, it took satan 930 years to teach Adam to die. All he knew was the life and presence of God. He had no idea how to die or even what death was.
On the other hand, we have no idea how to live or understand what Jesus said about having abundant and overflowing life. We've thought the life was just going to heaven when we die. Jesus said that we should have life "to the full, till it overflows." Jesus, Who is the Word made flesh, now dwells in out spirit. He, Who is the Word, is like medicine even to our natural body as well as to our spirit. Unless Jesus comes first, every natural man will die in the body. But, we've been granted an extension of life by His Word according to Proverbs 4:20-23 (Amplified) which says, "My son, attend to My Words; consent and submit to My sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh." Verse 23 goes on to say, "Keep and guard your heart (your spirit) with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it (your spirit) flow the springs of life."
We haven't been very careful about what we allow to enter into our heart (spirit). We program ourselves with the world and death constantly. We set ourselves up for all the ailments of the world and preach how health and healing have passed away. We fill ourselves up with fear, death, disease, pills, doctors and almost everything except God's Word. Yet, in Proverbs 4:20-21 (Amplified) God says, "My son, attend to My Words, consent and submit to My sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart."
Even Jesus admonished in Mark 4:24 (Amplified) saying, "Be careful what you are hearing. The measure (of thought and study) you give (to the truth you hear) will be the measure (of virtue and knowledge) that comes back to you---and move (besides) will be given to you who hear."
I wonder what we've been listening for all these years. God taught Adam to live and it took satan 930 years to teach him to die. Satan has been teaching mankind how to die and kill every since that time. The Church taught us how to receive life through salvation messages, but failed to teach us how to live. We've always heard how to live through the outward man. We learned about not drinking, lusting, stealing, lying, committing adultery and all the rules of the flesh, but we didn't learn how to partake of the very life of God from within.
The only thing satan could tempt Eve with was the only "Thou shall not" given to her, which was thou shall not eat from the tree of knowledge. Now, we've given satan an arsenal of "Thou shall nots" to mess with and very few "Thou shalls" to accept. We hear very little teaching about how "Old things have passed away" and much about all of the faults we still have. Grace has made its way into the spirit of those who "Have ears to hear" and healing, joy and power flows from this abundant life til it overflows in healing and life to others.
I hear much teaching in the Church about who I used to be, but very little about who God has made me to be in Jesus. I don't hear much on our being made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I mostly hear in the Church, how to die and not how to live. I don't mean to live holy, but how to accept holiness and live in it. I don't mean trying to live righteous, but accepting righteousness by faith and living in His righteousness.
We must learn how to live by faith in Jesus' sacrifice and not in our performance. Your performance will change from bad to good constantly, but your sacrifice Jesus, will not. He is the same, yesterday, today and forever. We've been taught to live by our feelings and our flesh instead of by our own born again spirit. Your flesh can and probably will, fail you. Your Christ filled spirit, will not.
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