The Test
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die” (Gen 2:16-17).
The Lord did not place the forbidden tree in the Garden in order to cause man to fall. He put it there to give them a place to prove their obedience and commitment to Him. There can be no true obedience from the heart if there is not the freedom to disobey. The Lord established that man would have to make choices. We have been created to have fellowship with God, and for productive labor. Man was also created to be free, and we will never be fulfilled until we are free. Freedom is the natural state of man. Freedom is also difficult. We cannot have freedom without taking the responsibility that comes with it. The freedom that God gave to man to reach for extraordinary accomplishments can also lead to tragic mistakes. Mistakes have consequences. Even so, we cannot escape our calling to freedom. It may be easier to live with someone else making all of the important decisions for us, but without freedom we will be perpetually frustrated and stifled in a profound way because we were created to be free.
Some of the most fulfilling experiences in life come when we take initiative, make a good choice, and see the fruit. The most discouraging and hurtful experiences come when we choose to do wrong. To avoid the latter, many choose a life of bondage in cults or authoritarian groups who make all of the decisions for their people. However, as the German people learned in World War II, this always leads to even worse consequences. We were created to have freedom, and we can never become who we were created to be without it. Let us accept the great responsibility that comes with freedom, and choose rightly.
- The kingdom of darkness uses the quarter moons as bows to shoot arrows of various affliction at the righteous and the ignorant. Pray Psalm 64 and call on Jehovah to arise against such powers.
- Proclaim Psalm 91 often during the quarter moons.
- Pray that in the season of the quarter moons, your bow will be made strong by Yahweh. You will be an arrow in His hand. He will shoot you forth and you shall land on target, deep in the heart of the enemies of His purposes in every area of expression. Pray this for the Body of Christ (Deut 49:24, Psalm 127:4-5.)