Dear Partner,

Many of our struggles in life occur because we take the same attitude as Adam did in the garden of Eden regarding the Word of God. God gave Adam His Word which included precise, easy to understand instructions concerning the trees in the garden:

Gen 2:16-17   And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

But the serpent (a type of the devil) directly opposed the Word of God when he was deceiving Eve:

Gen 3:4-5   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.

Eventually Eve succumbed to the temptation. She took of the fruit and ate of it. After she ate the fruit, she turned to her husband Adam and offered it to him. It is important to notice that Adam was "with her" when she ate the fruit.

Gen 3:6   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.

God had said, "Thou shalt surely die." The devil said, "Thou shalt not surely die." Adam saw that his wife had eaten the fruit of the tree. I think he was amazed when he did not see her fall to the ground and die when she ate it. Remember, he had no way of knowing that she died spiritually at that moment. He also had no way of knowing that death also began working in her body at that moment. According to the evidence provided by his five physical senses, Eve did not die when she ate the fruit.

Now Adam faces a dilemma. It is the same dilemma each one of us faces every time there is an occasion to believe God's Word. Adam had to make a choice concerning who was telling the truth. If Adam had made a spiritual decision, he would not have eaten the fruit. A spiritual decision would have said, "God cannot lie. No matter what my five physical senses are telling me, I am going to trust God's Word." But Adam chose a natural decision instead. He chose to make his five physical senses the "judge" (instead of his spirit) regarding who was telling the truth. His five physical senses all agreed … Eve was standing there and talking with him. His "sight" told him she was alive, not dead. He made the most terrible decision of his life. He chose to live by "sight" and not by "faith." By doing so, he chose to believe the devil's lie instead of the truth of God's Word and mankind has been paying the price ever since.

2Co 5:7   For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Choosing to live by "sight" instead of "faith" in God's Word was how mankind was driven out of the Garden of Eden. Or said another way, choosing to live by sight was the way OUT of the blessed lives that God intended for mankind. That's why choosing to live by faith instead of by sight is the only way back INTO the blessings of God.

Every day of our lives we are faced with the same dilemma as Adam in the garden. Regarding every circumstance the only valid question is, "What does the Word of God say?" I would like to declare that I have always chosen to live by faith and not by sight, but that would be a lie. The truth of the matter is, however, as I have matured in the things of God over these years I find that I am living more by faith than at any time previously in my life. Faith is a growing thing. That is one of the reasons that Jesus often compared faith with a mustard seed. Most people focus on the size of the seed, which is very small. But it is not the size of the mustard seed which is important. What is important is the size of the IMAGE contained within the seed.

God's Word is like seed. It is full of wonderful images such as salvation, deliverance, healing, peace, provision, and so forth. In fact I would go so far as to say that there is nothing a human could need that is not already available to them through faith in God's Word. That's why Jesus said He had come to give us LIFE and life more abundantly. But the choice is ours. In every circumstance, what is the truth? Is it what you see with your five physical senses? Jesus forever settled the issue of TRUTH when he said,

John 17:17   … thy word is truth!

Whatever the needs are in your life, I counsel you to find some seed from God's Word that contains the image that solves your problem. When you find it, choose to make a spiritual decision that God's Word is truth and that what you see are only facts. I am here to tell you, TRUTH CHANGES FACTS! God's truth never changes, but facts (the circumstances) change all the time. Choose to live by faith and not by sight.

Sue and I love you and appreciate you.   We thank God for your generous and giving heart.   God bless you!

Your friend and co-laborer,

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