So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” 16 To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” 17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:“ Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.18 Both thorns and thistles it shall [f]bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” 20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
Memory verse: For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights. Proverbs 3:12
There are a few things that comes to mind when we think and talk about God and the first most important one is that He is all about love. God is so loving that He is always seeking out to do what brings joy to the lives of is children and because He loves us so much, even when we make mistakes, He tidies up our mess. His kindness doesn’t create a platform to take God for granted because the scripture also makes us understand that despite his niceness, He is a consuming fire Hebrews 12:29.
I remember growing up as a child and all I could think of was how much my mum hated me. To me as a child, mum was simply not really my mother but then again I see her go all out just to give me the very best in everything. As a child I measured and saw being loved as being pampered and spoilt, so anytime I got anything less or even got disciplined, I switched places on how I think my mum feels about me. Growing up has pretty much changed all those because I now have the mindset of an adult and see clearly that if my mum had spared me all those times, I may have turned out to be totally different, possibly in a bad way.
The Love God has for us has no immunity to discipline and God has been very consistent in this approach right from the beginning of time. We see how He dealt with the sin of Adam and Eve when they disobeyed Him in Genesis 3. The Lord was disappointed in His own children whom He had given everything and expected more from, only for them to go and allow the serpent to control their mind and convince them otherwise about everything God told them. God set out punishment for this on His Children and put boundaries in place but despite all that punishment, He immediately showered them with Love again, Genesis 3:21 “ Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them”.
Being a Christian doesn’t mean we get to be like a teacher’s pet but in fact we are to be counted privileged if God notices us enough to put effort into correcting us. Some people are there and they are not God’s children so He has no expectation from them but if we are His children then He will use the rod at times in place of grace when we go against His instructions, a choice which remains solely in his jurisdiction. However in all that correction we know that For His anger is but for a moment Psalm 30:5.
If you are asking yourself weird questions like I did as a child because you thought you being a Christian is an immunity from being disciplined, then let’s be guided because God’s love for us is the reason why He cares enough to bother about correcting us. Everything God does even His ways of correcting us is all geared towards making us a better person.
Sin is rebellious and disobedience to God and merits punishment therefore we must know that there may be consequences for our disobedience to God. The blood of Jesus is only for when we have decided to walk in the light and is not a license to dwell in sin neither does it give immunity from punishment.
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.1 John 1:7.
PRAYERS
- Father I thank you for your unlimited blessings and reassurance at every point in time
- Thank you for the grace to know you and to spend time alone with you
- Help me from today Lord to lay aside seeking approval from the world but to focus on you
- Help me to be obedient and understand the need to live a live worthy of your presence
- Help me from today Lord to invest in things above, not things that will eventually lose value
- I receive the grace to be spiritually minded and not invest in the flesh
- Thank you for you are God over all storms and the day to day strength I need
- I renounce and denounce every spirit of fear, I receive the ability to believe, I receive power, boldness, sound mind and all round peace
- Help me Lord to be in the right place at the right time, walking in the purpose for which you have created me
- Let me not be ashamed and give the devil no chance to derail me from my assignment
- Go Ahead of Me Lord, guide me, order my steps, direct me and let this be my month of unprecedented grace.
- Give me Oil, keep me burning and let me never depart from your presence.
- Forgive me Lord of all my iniquities, bless me abundantly and make me a blessing unto others, in Jesus mighty name I pray, Amen.
