Just a quick note to let everyone know, as of this issue, our Sabbath book is still not in print. I said last time, I thought it would be out by this issue. However, it is still not completed. I have most of the text written, but there is more I would like to add. So, I need more time before we put it into publication. The bottom line is, we want it to be in the Lord's will and timing. I want this book, and everything we publish, to be what God wants it to be. Remember, if you have a subscription to this newsletter, the book will be sent out automatically as soon as it is ready. If you do not have a subscription but would like to receive a copy when they are in print, you can go to our website and pre-order the book. You can also simply write to us, using the address at the bottom of this newsletter, and tell us you want the "Sabbath Book"!

So, as always, we appreciate all of your prayers for this ministry. Thanks again for all your support, and we hope you enjoy this issue of the newsletter!

Last time, we talked about the seventh day of creation and finished out the creation story. Now we will go into the story of the temptation. The transition between Gen. chapter 2 and chapter 3 is actually very good. The last verse of chapter 2 says "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." Now, we've already covered this verse, but to get a proper run on chapter 3, we want to take another quick look at it. This verse emphasizes the state man was in. God had made everything man needed. God had supplied all of man's needs. Man was not naked because God had not given them clothes to wear - they were both naked because they did not need clothes. They needed nothing. Their lives were theirs to live. Where they went, what they did, was totally up to them. Whether their lives counted for good or bad was going to be judged on the basis of what they decided to do or not do.

I know it may seem like I'm driving at a point which is very simple and obvious. However, it is a point which we, in our lives today, seem to ignore or misunderstand. We humans, if we believe in God at all, are very quick to blame God for everything that goes wrong in our lives. We never understand sickness because we do not understand that in order to have life eternal, we must shed these earthly forms. This, of course, means we must die. If God healed us of everything that ailed us, we would live forever in these forms, and with sin that is not a good idea for anyone!

We rarely understand when we are suffering the consequences of our own actions. I can't count the times I have been asked to "loan" someone money because they needed food, but the reason they had no money for food was because of the weekend of partying they'd been bragging about all day. We humans love to do the opposite as well. Some of us just can't help but believe everything "bad" that happens to us is punishment for something we did wrong.

We seem to drive ourselves nuts with these issues, and the whole problem is the same one Adam and Eve had. We do not realize God is with us, and we need only to keep our eyes on Him. The reason we find this so hard is because we do not really have faith in God. We want to walk by sight, not by faith. (2 Corinthians 5:7) We have been lied to by many false teachers. However, this is no excuse, because we have probably developed the thought all on our own in many cases. You see, we believe if we are following God, then only good things happen. If we have enough faith and/or do the right things, we will receive some form of prosperity in exchange. However, this is not walking by faith. This is a formula we have put together so we do not need faith. If we do x-y-z then we receive a-b-c. This would be walking by sight. That is how the laws of physics work. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you prick your finger do you not bleed? However, walking by faith is not like that. If we truly walk by faith, we realize God hears us when we cry. If we are striving to work for Him, then whatever happens, happens! (Romans 8:28) If we are truly focused on God, we will know when something is going, as we see it, "wrong" because of some action we have mistakenly taken. That is what we call the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Most of us do not seek it and that is a big mistake! All things that are bad in this life are because of sin. That is a no brainer! However, God does not impute sin to us when we do not realize it is sin. Only "to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." (James 4:17) We should understand that, simply put, everything that "goes wrong" is a lesson we can learn from. Yes, sin had something to do with it. The question should always be, is the sinful action our own? Be open to God's voice and conviction. Do not fear it. The greatest example of this is Job. Through everything the Devil had thrown at him, and in the face of his friends who believed Job must have done something wrong, Job says "though He (God) slay me, yet will I trust in Him ..."(Job13:15).

We do not know what lies ahead on this path of life. Our only hope is to put our faith in the God who created it all. Whether we live in innocence like Adam and Eve, or whether we live with the responsibility of the knowledge of good and evil, this truth rings clear. God is the only one who can teach us how to get it right. We only go wrong when we fail to trust Him. In the next verses, we will see that is exactly what Adam and Eve failed to do.

As we jump into the temptation story, we are immediately faced with a problem. We have to ask the question, why did Eve accept the idea that a serpent was talking to her? The Bible does not give us a direct answer to this issue, but there are things we should stop and consider. We do not know how long a time period there was between the creation and this encounter with the serpent, but we must understand, Adam and Eve, though highly intelligent, were only beginning to explore their world. Modern man is still not convinced there is not an animal who can communicate at a human's verbal ability or above, and there is no doubt we can communicate with animals to some degree. Now, I'm not suggesting there is an animal out there who can talk like humans, but understand Eve was at the very beginning of things. To her it may have come as no real surprise that an animal would talk to her. It may have even been something she expected to have happen someday. Humans still love to give animals human personalities. We write stories and make movies about this idea. We even dress up humans to look like animals and talk to our kids. So, if we have too much of a problem with Eve talking to a serpent, we really should take a closer look at ourselves.

One more interesting point in this matter, is the fact we do not know just how fixed in thought Eve was at that moment. How you are thinking and what you are thinking about, can play a large role in what you accept. If we read Numbers, chapter 22, we find a story about a prophet who's donkey talked to him. In the story, the prophet is not immediately disturbed by this fact. This shows what a hard time this prophet was having listening to the voice of God, and this was mostly due to his own determinations!

Gen. Chapter 3, verse 1 starts out by telling us the serpent was more subtle than any other beast of the field the Lord had made. This statement was not talking about the Devil being subtle. It was talking about the reason Satan picked a serpent to speak through. The word subtle here is a very good translation from the original language. About the only thing our English word may not imply that the original word does, is we are talking about subtle strictly in the negative sense. Now, I have already, in an earlier issue of this study talked about the fact that animals were likely just like they are today, in their habits and instincts. The exception being, no animal would harm a human. This verse would seem to solidify this thought. If the serpent was subtle in a negative sense, it would likely mean he was created to be a hunter. Smooth and crafty in his ability to hunt prey and catch it. This would certainly line up with what we know to be true today. Cows are not very subtle. They stomp along and only catch anything to eat because their prey happens to be plants, which have no ability to run away. A bear on the other hand is very fast and can take down very large animals for its food source. Though bears are much smoother than cows, they are not as smooth as say, a lion. We could work our way through a discussion about which hunters are more subtle than others, but the verse here in Genesis tells us the serpent was the most subtle of them all. I think many of us will accept this fact with ease!

This subtleness is exactly why the Devil chose this animal. It definitely fits his personality. Now, we know it was the Devil that day in the garden, because Revelation tells us, Satan is that serpent. (Rev. 12:9, 20:2) It was very fitting for the Devil to use an animal who was smooth. Just as we today, imagine very different personalities, depending on our general perception of an animal, Eve likely did the same. We think of owls as very wise, we think of lions as very proud, but birds with long necks do not fare as well in our minds. These perceptions can differ from culture to culture, and these differences in thought come from God creating us all to be different. However, the Devil is a student of human behavior, and many times does a very good job. Choosing a serpent as the form to appear to Eve, and the fact he went to Eve instead of Adam, were not accidents. They were very carefully planned points the Devil believed would heighten his chance at success!

Here in verse 1, unlike most of the depiction's we have seen all our lives, we are talking about a serpent with legs. We do not know exactly what this may have looked like, but to Eve it is likely the serpent seemed very majestic. Later, in verses 14 and 15 God curses the serpent. The serpent would now crawl on his belly, and God put enmity between the serpent and the woman. We will talk about this issue in greater detail later, but one of the reasons God does this is because of the fact, the Devil has a tendency to stick to the same tactics. God was, for the most part, putting a block in front of Satan's ability to come right back and use the serpent idea to trip man up further. After the curse, there would be a natural distrust between the serpent and man. This is just another example of the fact God is always working for our good!

There are those people who like snakes even though this distrust exists. I'm not saying this is wrong, a serpent is still a creature created by God. However, anyone who likes snakes and has any sense in their head will still warn you that snakes have to be watched very carefully. Going back to the issue of the way we love to give personalities to animals, we can see the truth of God's Word still. We can take a carnivorous animal, like a bear, and make him into a honey loving cuddly guy who is nothing but lovable. However, we do not see this personality given to snakes. Almost without exception we find a very negative personality given to a snake. This negative perception of snakes is what many snake loving people will tell you they are trying to change. Though they may change our general perception to some degree, there will always be a mistrust.

Now pay close attention to what is said here in these verses. In this situation the Devil never really directly lies to Eve. He mostly implies things and tries to lead Eve to doubt God's intentions. I know many teachers and preachers would not agree that the Devil didn't directly lie, but I will explain what I mean as we go. The serpent simply starts out by asking if it was true that God had given man permission to eat of all the trees of the garden. He does not tell Eve, "the rule was that you could eat of every tree." No, he puts it in the form of a question. This gives the indication the Devil knows what the right thing is, but he is just trying to find out what God had told man. This gets the ball rolling for Satan. Recognize, the Devil is not going to tell Eve she should take of the tree! I think we many times believe the Devil treats us like a snake charmer would. We think he keeps playing the enticing music until we do what he wishes us to do. However, that is not his best tactic. Satan's best tactic is the one he played on Eve, simply planting the seeds of doubt. Doubt that we do not know what we are talking about and/or doubt God does not have our best interest at heart. He many times never suggests we do the thing we shouldn't. He simply let's us know he sees nothing wrong with it. That is all most of us need! Just a little assurance we are not alone in our belief or desire that it's OK to do something!

Verses 2 and 3 give us Eve's response to Satan's question. She tells Satan God had told them they could eat of the fruit of every tree except the one in the mist of the garden. She explains they were told if they eat of it, or even touch it, they would die. Now the touching the tree part Eve made up all on her own, or she was misinformed of God's Word, we do not know which. When God told Adam man could not eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, there was no mention of the idea that touching it would be a problem. (Gen. 2:16-17) There are many sermons which focus on the fact Eve had this wrong idea, but the main point here is the fact she had not taken enough time communing with God to have her facts straight. This lack of understanding and faith in God's plan for her life, is what makes her vulnerable to what the Devil is doing.

I believe we find ourselves mirrored all through this story. It is not just that we take time to talk to the Devil at all, but how we do it. Eve is not firm in her belief of what God had said. The Devil does not even go on to exploit the mistake about touching the tree, yet Eve never questions Satan about how he thinks he knows so much. She never seems to be bothered by why a serpent would know more than she knew. This is why the Bible tells us no man should believe when he is tempted that he is tempted of God. God can not be tempted with evil, and He never tempts any man. The scripture goes on to tell us, every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lusts, and enticed. (James 1:13-14) The Devil did not have to convince Eve the tree was safe to eat from. She already had a lust for the fruit. All the Devil had to do was heighten the possibilities of what the tree could offer. We talk about feeding our ego. Well, all the Devil does in many cases is feed our lust, in the hope its weight will become more than we are willing to bear!

Look at the story in Matthew, chapter 4, where the Devil comes to Jesus after Jesus had fasted forty days and nights. It was the Devil's hope he could get Jesus to be so hungry He would turn stones into bread. The Devil hoped Jesus had a desire to show off, so he played a game of "I dare you" on the top of the temple. He hoped Jesus' humanity would be so strong, Jesus would want to be the ruler of a vast land. However, Satan found Jesus had no such lusts, and every temptation failed. The only desire Jesus had, was to do His Father's will, and that is why Jesus met each temptation of the Devil with God's Word!

What the Devil was doing with Eve would have never worked if she had not had a lust for the tree. The Devil doesn't convince her of anything. He only tries to give her hope that what he already suspected Eve was hoping was true. So, the Devil tells Eve in verse 4, she would not surly die. Now, before we go on to the rest of Satan's statement, we must stop and deal with this part of the statement. I said before, the Devil never really directly lied to Eve. The reason most people don't see it that way, is because of this statement right here.

First, let's look at an amazing fact. The devil does not want us to get too far off base! This may shock many people, but the Devil really doesn't benefit from the drunk lying in the gutter, puking his guts out. One of the ways beer companies have side stepped the issue that thousands of people, every year, are killed by consuming their product then getting in a car, is by peppering their ad campaigns with statements about not drinking and driving. Well of course! It is actually in the best interest of the beer and alcohol Industry for this to never happen. Cigarettes come with a warning from the surgeon general which tells us that office has determined smoking may be hazardous to your health. However, far more people are killed by the direct result of only a small amount of alcohol. It doesn't take years of abuse to bring on the danger. Many people are killed the very first time they decide to drink. We debate the effects of second hand cigarette smoke, but there is no doubt about the dangers of being on the same road with someone who is under the influence of alcohol. Now, let me be clear, I'm not in any way making an argument for smoking! It is a filthy habit that is completely not courteous to those around you. Being addicted to a substance of any kind definitely affects your ability to turn your life completely to Christ, not to mention the total inability to keep your flesh under submission! (Romans 8:11-15, 13:13-14, 1 Corinthians 15:50) Many say they can quit at any time. If this is really true, then for the sake of your family, co-workers, and anyone else around you, I suggest you get right on that!

Getting back to the original point. You need to understand, the Devil wants God's creation to be a failure! Satan does not want anyone to give God what He created humans for in the first place, and that is communion! The more the effects of sin glare at us, the more likely we are to open our eyes to the uselessness of this life lived without God! What the Devil wants, is for us to think everything is great and the world is our oyster. Then we will simply forget about God and go our own way. This is also why the Devil comes to us as an angel of light! (2 Corinthians 11:10-15)

So, here in this story we can talk about the "neither touch it" part of Eve's statement again. Many talk about the bad, this wrong thought could do to Eve, but this point could have worked in her favor if her mind set had been different. If Eve had not had such a lust for the tree and she thought even touching it would kill her, she probably never would have even considered eating the fruit. The Devil knows this is a danger in trying to get her to partake, and this is where the amazing part comes in! Eve said they could not eat from it or even touch it, "lest you die". The Devil comes back with the statement, "Ye shall not surely die.."! Now one of these statements is more right on with the actual Words of God than the other. Whose? Well, for the answer to that we need only go back a few verses to chapter 2, verse 17. God said in the day they eat of the tree they would, "surely die." This may seem like a trivial difference but it is not! The word "surely", in both God's statement and in the Devil's statement, is not a direct translation from a Hebrew word in the original text. It comes from the meaning in the statement as a whole. Eve's statement was more matter of fact. She believed if they ate of the fruit or touched the tree, they would die! God's statement was a judgment on God's part. If they ate of the tree, God had no doubt they would die. God's statement even said, it would happen the very same day!

I know, I know, some of you are still asking what the difference is. Eve's statement, especially with the addition of the idea you couldn't even touch the tree, indicates the tree itself had some kind of poisonous property about it. It indicated that eating the fruit was like downing to many pills and committing suicide. What God had told them was a fact which would lead them to have greater understanding in the future. He was not saying it was like a million volt electric fence. The misunderstanding of this point on Eve's part is most likely what led her to extrapolate the idea they could not even touch the tree without dying. However, God was telling man he could not handle what the tree had to offer; that if man became responsible for the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he would surely bring the judgment of death upon him by failing to be perfect! (Romans 3:23) So, God even points out man would fail to get through even one day with this responsibility!

So, if the Devil is going to get Eve to take of the tree, he doesn't want her to believe what she had come to believe. Once again, if the fruit was a poison, you would have to have a death wish to eat of it. So, in an astonishing moment, Satan had to pull Eve out of her own extrapolation and closer to what God had actually said! Satan's goal was to get Eve to mistrust God, to question God's motives for telling them not to eat of the tree. He wanted her to question whether God's assessment, they would "surely die", was true - to question if God really knew what He was talking about. Satan wanted more from the situation than just man's "fall" by taking of the tree. Satan wanted to start a wedge of mistrust between man and God!

Satan tells Eve "ye shall not surely die.." Here is where Satan has Eve in a really bad position. Satan knows Eve is only thinking of death in the sense of immediate physical death. Once again, like the idea of committing suicide. The Devil plays on this point. When God told them they would die, He meant they would bring the wages of sin upon their lives. God thinks about the future. If we bring the judgment of sin, which is death (Romans 6:23), on our lives, then we are dead! We can't be the growing, learning, being God created us to be! There would be no point, because in the end we would die and it would be all for nought! However, humans have chosen to think much more about the here and now, with no real thought about the goal God has for us. Eve was thinking this way. She was only abstaining from taking of the tree because she did not want to fall down dead right then. The Devil knew this was her thought pattern, so, in a scoffing manner, he tells her she is wrong and will not croak the minute she takes of the tree. This was not a lie. The story obviously shows us she did not croak on the spot after eating from the tree and neither did Adam. However, just as God had said, they did fail to handle their new responsibility that very day!

This is the point where Eve should've realized she was not on track, and there were things she obviously did not understand! We talk about the point where Eve stood in front of the tree and looked at the fruit. That point of decision she was faced with, but the bigger problem came far in front of that moment. It was here at this moment, Eve was faced with a decision! She could believe what the Devil was leading her to believe, or go back to God and find out what He really meant when He told them not to eat of the tree! Unfortunately, we many times, let this crucial moment pass and do not even notice it. This is why we love to say the Devil made us do it. However, the blame lies on us and our decision not to go back and give God a chance to teach us what He is actually saying and why. God is willing to teach us, (James 1:5) but He does not force us to learn. The desire to learn must spring from in us! However, most of the time we allow our lusts to drive us instead! We sin because we do not really care what is really right or wrong. We don't really care why God tells us not to do something. We do not care if, or many times just flat do not believe, God is working for our good! We only know and care about what we want, and will use any excuse to have it. The Devil is always willing to help us come up with those excuses, but on top of that, we are very good at coming up with excuses all on our own!

The book of Revelation tells us there will be a thousand year time period where the Devil will be locked in the bottomless pit. Man will not have the excuse of the "Devil made me do it", but man will still be itching for a way to get out from under God's leadership. (Rev. 20:1-3)

Gen. chapter 3, verse 5 tells us the rest of Satan's statement. This is one of the most misquoted, scriptures of all time. Even if it doesn't get misquoted it is rarely understood. Before, I said it was amazing when the Devil pulled Eve back closer to the truth. However, what followed was even more astonishing! The Devil actually explains the truth of why God told them not to eat of the tree! If Eve was mixed up about what God had already said, she seemed to be completely thrown off by hearing a deeper explanation as to why God told them not to eat of the tree. The only thing Satan does, is make it seem as if God's intent was for evil and not for their good!

Many times we hear this taught as if the Devil told her the fruit would make them gods. This is another reason people do not see the lack of lying the Devil does here. We try to blame the Devil for far more than he deserves. The Devil did not say it was because they would become gods, or take the place of God, the Devil simply tells Eve man would be "as gods"! There is a big difference!

The Bible tells us there is only one God, and He is perfect. Therefore, the Bible's definition of "God" is a loving, perfect, and incorruptible being. The Devil does not give the hope of man becoming perfect, thus he does not tell her man would become gods. What the Devil tells her is they would become like God, in the aspect they would then know good from evil. They would no longer be innocent. They would know what they should and shouldn't do. However, the problem was not what the Devil told Eve, it was what he omitted!

The Devil tells Eve the actual reason why God didn't want them to take of the tree. That was because their eyes would be opened and they would receive the knowledge of good and evil. What the Devil fails to tell Eve is the reason God did not want them to have this knowledge. Again, we need to look at the temptation of Jesus. The Devil used the truth of the Word of God as an excuse for Jesus to do what he was asking Jesus to do. The truth, fractionalized into just the segment Satan chose to quote, seemed like it supported the action. However, Jesus knew the whole Word of God. So, Jesus tells Satan why, if you look at all scripture, Satan's proposal does not make sense. This also goes back to what I was saying about Satan using the same tactics over and over. What Satan does in the garden, at the very first temptation, is much the same as what he does in tempting Jesus in the wilderness.

I have said in this lesson that the Devil never really directly lies to Eve. I have tried to be careful to use the word "directly", because this story should really show us something about what lying is! We are many times on the lookout for the "direct" lie or what many of us may refer to as the "bold face" lie. We, many times, go into situations believing that if the Devil is the father of all lies, (John 8:44) then he will stand right up in our face and say things we know are not true. If the Devil had told Eve, "just take of the fruit, God doesn't know what He is talking about", there is a good likelihood Eve would not have been so quick to take of the fruit. Instead, most of what the Devil does is put us in doubt of our Creator. He attempts to tell us things that will make us doubt God is working for our good. This is where we get in trouble almost 100% of the time! We just don't have the faith to believe God is working for our good, and that bad things happen because of sin. This does not mean bad things will not happen to the believer in God! However, it does mean those "bad" things can be used for our good! So, we really should stop and ask ourselves, if living in a world of sin means bad things are going to happen to me anyway, why would I let them be in vain?

I realize it seems, so much of the time, those who do not care about the truth have better success than those who do; (Psalms 73:1-28) but this is why God asks us to understand, this life is just a vapour. (James 4:14) It is why Jesus told us, if we seek to have this life we will lose it. (Matthew 10:38-39) We must understand this fact, and there is so much teaching out there that is trying to get us to ignore it! The next time you hear a preacher telling you to send them money for the sake of receiving blessings, get up and walk away. We do not serve God for the blessings we will receive here. We serve God because we understand the only thing that truly is a blessing is the fact we will not only have this sin ridden life! It is true, many who do not care about the truth have more than those who do, but the Bible tells us they have their reward in the here n' now. That is a choice they have made, and is what they have received. However, if you choose to have your reward here, remember this is a place where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. (Matthew 6:19-20) If you believe and follow the truth, your reward is eternal.

Many false teachers will tell you, you do not have to be poor to serve God, and they are right! However, I'd rather be poor and have my eyes focused on God, than be rich and lose my way. Jesus told His disciples, it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle. (Matthew 19:23-24) The eye of the needle Jesus was referring to was a small opening in a city gate. It was up off the ground and when opened, a single man could crawl through it. This meant if someone came to the city after the gates were closed, there would be no need to open the entire gate or just leave the person outside. This also meant messengers could get in and out of a city without the city opening itself up to invasion. Multiple men, especially with weapons, could not get through this smaller gate within the gate, and horses and chariots were out of the question. In those days it was important to be in the safety of a city after nightfall. This was truer for no one more than the merchant who had his goods with him. Many times this merchant would carry his goods on a camel. So, if he did not make it to the city before they closed their gate, many times he was faced with the choice of being left outside the protection of the city altogether, or gaining safety for himself but not his camel and goods.

This brings us back to Job. After the Devil had been allowed to destroy almost everything Job held dear, the Bible says he fell down on his face and cried, " Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21) Later Job is afflicted with a great ailment, and his own wife encourages him to simply curse God and die; but Job asks her a marvelous question by saying, "Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" (Job 2:10) You see, it didn't matter to Job whether it was the Devil who did it, whether it was God who did it, or if it was just God who allowed it. Job knew it was foolish to turn from the hand of God! Job had also strived to be what God had asked him to be. So, he did not go crazy trying to figure out what sin had caused his demise; Job knew he walked with God. That is a wonderful place to walk. If more of us would simply examine our lives on a regular basis and be open to the conviction of God, we would not worry so much when we think things are going wrong. If our eyes were not so easily focused on the possessions of this world, it would not be so hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Job is a rare example of a man who had great wealth but who's eyes were not turned unto it. Use what God has given you, for God, and remember, Jesus fed thousands with just a few loaves and fishes. So, it doesn't matter how little we have, we can always do the will of God if we simply have faith!

Now, look again at Gen. chapter 3, verse 5. Now look at verse 6. Contrary to what you may have in your mind and what most of us are taught as a child, the serpent is not necessarily around at the time Eve goes and takes a look at the tree! In verse 2 Eve refers to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil as simply the tree in the midst of the garden. She doesn't say we can eat of every tree except this one we are standing by. This would indicate, especially when you think about how untechnical Eve was about quoting the Words of God, that they were not standing next to the forbidden tree. I would go so far as to say they were probably not even within eye sight of it. This shows another tactic of the Devil which we do not take heed of. The Devil is, many times, not standing on our shoulder tempting us to do the thing we know is wrong. More times than not, we simply do not recognize when we are listening to the voice of Satan; and many times when the true temptation comes, we already have his words rolling through our heads. This is why it is always important we keep ourselves in the Word of God. It is always important that we communicate with God without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17) When those times come when we are tempted by our own lusts, it is important we know what is right. It is important our reasoning is guided by the whole Word of God and not just some philosophy the Devil has been able to lead us into! We need to seek out our lives and thought patterns. We need to compare them to God's Word, and when we find something in ourselves which does not line up with God, we need to make the adjustment. God is not trying to deny us the pleasures of life, God is trying to move us off the path of death!

So, stay in the Word of God, and I'll see you next time!