This question came up recently for me because I noticed that financially there has been something missing. I am paying my tithe and giving my time but I still felt stretched in my finances. Things that were once being paid by the grace of God started coming up short or adding up differently and I had to ask myself the same question I’m asking you today. Immediately it took me back a few years before I was married to when I first understood giving.

Dating for me, stopped being hard when I made my non-negotiables God’s standards and not my preferences. My standard went from being 6 foot, tall, dark and handsome and starting being someone who has a pastor, who serves at their church, and tithes. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was looking for someone who gives to God. I have found that someone who isn’t afraid to give to God are the best people for any level of relationship. Even now, my closest friends are those who give freely to God. They give their time, service, and self to The One who created them. These are worshippers. The Bible says that those who worship God must do so in both spirit and in truth. Those who give to God are worshippers and the true worshippers are not afraid to give. In fact, one of my favorite worshippers in The Bible is found in Genesis 4.

Before Abel was a homicide victim, he was a worshipper. Like David, he was a shepherd and his job was to take care of animals. Animals in this time was a currency so the more animals you had at good quality the wealthier you were in societal standing. It gave you power, influence, and prominence. You see, even though Adam and Eve had been kicked out of the Garden, the gifts God gave them without repentance still worked. They passed on this gift of shepherding to their children. They had the ability to control wild animals and tame them just as you and I do today. Abel was in charge of his families wealth (the sheep). Modernly this would like a son who is taking care of his father’s hedge fund. One wrong move, or lazy assessment of a situation could lead these sheep into disease or harm thus killing or reducing the families wealth and ability to survive life. But, Abel is the second son.

I assume that Cain killing Abel was not only because of what Abel gave God. I assume that they were not besties before this. Imagine, how whimsical Abel’s life looked compared to Cain. Cain works the ground. He comes home sweaty and bruised from prickly plants and digging holes and carrying heavy water pails. He has dirt underneath his nails. The ground is hard to walk on without tennis shoes and is even harder to break up by hand or makeshift tools. There are no shovels or electric saw, Cain had to even build the tools used to till the ground just to make it useable before planting any seeds. Abel, got to spend all day in grassy plains, traveling far from home, having time to think and rub soft, furry animals. Cain worked so hard to be an asset to his family and when the time came for crops to be used, I’m sure he was ready to show off the literal fruit of his labor. That same fruit turned to shame when the God he gave the crops to denied his offering. How crushed, hurt, confused, and broken he must have felt. *Notice God did not deny the man, He denied the offering.

This is how many of us feel today. Hurt, broken that what we gave to God was rejected. We woke up, came to church and our pastor wasn’t even there. We serve our family and friends who take advantage of us. We tithe only to have our bills increase. We serve on teams at church with people we don’t like just to never be recognized by the lead pastor. It hurts…It makes you angry…and over time, it makes you bitter not just toward God but to those who seem to be giving at the same or lesser rate than you. But we aren’t honest. Many of you reading this now, are just coming to the conclusion that you are angry like Cain. Can I tell you that the biggest difference between Cain and Abel’s offering is their heart. And whatever is in our heart will flow out our mouth. Because we know the end of these brothers’ story we know that even while offering to God, Cain’s heart was already against God. Cain did not just inherit his father Adam’s ability to tend the ground, he also inherited his anger toward God. We call that rebellion of the heart, sin.

Sin does not care if you give to God or the homeless person on the corner. It does care that while you are doing something morally well, that it can taint YOU. It can cause you not to receive the Lord because of the separation that is happening in your heart as a result of its presence in your life. We do not get to choose what God accepts but we do have an obligation to give Him what He asks for. In verse 7 of chapter 4 we see that before Cain gave, he already had instructions from God on what was acceptable. Though we do not the details of this instruction we know that the instruction was there. The rejection should not have been a surprise to him and his anger, though real, was not warranted. If you give someone something they did not ask for, rejection is guaranteed. Yet we do this to God daily. We give Him service at church but won’t get up early to give Him 30 minutes of quiet time in His word. We give Him our the change at the bottom of our purse for a donation to the church building fund but won’t give Him the tithe from our paycheck. We give Him a raised hand when listening to worship music but we won’t give Him our life. You still won’t seek Him in dating, you still won’t be obedient about the job because of fear, you still won’t let go of that friendship from childhood. But, if that is what He asks for, why are you surprised of the rejection that comes with disobedience?

Cain is not the only one to learn this lesson. In Genesis 17, just a few generations after Cain, we see this same situation pop up with our friend Abraham. He is lamenting (crying out to God) because his wife is still not pregnant and now he has this child, Ishmael who he lowkey regrets. Abraham in his desperation and I think frustration says this slick comment to God that subtly puts the blame of Abraham’s situation on God even though it was the permissive Will of God that brought about Ishmael. He says, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to you”. He is literally telling God that if God changed his standards then his own trouble would be over. If God, the unchanging, covenant keeper were to CHANGE then Abraham’s life would be better…

And we do that too, we try to negotiate/manipulate God into changing His standards. God is very specific about what He wants. He is very vocal about what worshipping Him looks like. He gave us 66 books that teach us about His character, and His love language, and His expectations and yet we argue everyday in our hearts (and sometimes in online comment sections) that God didn’t mean what He said and we can give Him a fraction or half or most of what He wants.

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the spirit and in truth for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.” John 4:23 NIV

Everyone wants to worship God, until it’s time to give. So, what are YOU giving God?

I couldn’t pinpoint the exact day or time that I gave my life to Christ. Like most church kids, I couldn’t wait to be of baptism age not because I had a person conviction but because I thought it was something that I SHOULD do. Yes, I wanted to go to Heaven and I was scared the devil lived under my bed at night, but I saw it more as a culture practice rather than a necessary or spiritual one. So I did not see a direct change internally. I did however, notice that after I got baptized at the age of 8, my life went terribly. I now know that what I experienced was depression but at the time I thought my lack of desire to live was normal.

In my adulthood, I can remember thinking I was already saved while serving at church and maintaining a lifestyle that welcomed in the culture of the world we live. Partying, sex, zodiacs, were as much of a staple in my life as choir practice and Sunday services. I remember once a bunch of my friends from church who were also living a double life got together for Bible Study and someone brought alcohol. I don’t even think any of us brought Bibles or knew how to study the Bible. So, we did what we knew which was to party.

The very first physical Bible anyone ever got me was when I was 23/24 years old.1 Although I had been redeemed from the party girl lifestyle, my Bible Study was solely relegated to an overconsumption of YouTube sermons and the Bible app. Neither are bad, in fact they helped me in that time. Regardless of when my full conversion took place, if I could go back and get saved for the very first time again, here’s what I would do:

Learn the Gospel

Even though I grew up in church, I didn’t know until I bought my first physical Bible that the first four New Testament books were called the gospels and told the same story from four different angles. Learning about why that is so and the relationship each writer of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John had with Jesus the Christ taught me a lot about how God sees us and how close He actually desires to be with us.

I also didn’t know what the Gospel is. I know I will get a lot of flack for saying this next statement BUT I’m going to say it anyway because it is true. As a new believer I was told over an over again that the gospel is just that Jesus lived, died, and resurrected for my sins. That’s it! I was told that the good news (the gospel) was what Jesus went around preaching during His earthly ministry. But the Bible never says that Jesus went around from town to town telling people that He was going to die and resurrect. In fact, that was a fact He allowed to be hidden from His closest disciples until well into His ministry. so what was Jesus saying at His services? Matthew 4:17 CSB “From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, because the kingdom of Heaven has come near.”

There is a piece of the gospel of Jesus that often gets left out and because of this many believers do not know or have not heard the FULL gospel. The full gospel is that we can seek out the kingdom of Heaven because it is accessible. It’s not this high up lofty thing that can never been seen or understood or only has access after death or before life. The kingdom is NEAR! It’s not coming, it’s HERE! Once this is understood the next question is HOW do we get to the Kingdom, the answer Jesus revealed in miracles, signs, wonders, and parables when He constantly told crowds “The Kingdom is like…” and in all of these statements overtly and covertly He was telling all who would listen that the ONLY way to the kingdom of Heaven is HIM (Jesus)!

It’s the same gospel John the Baptist taught in His ministry. If God never changes, then before the foundation the gospel has not changed.

I wish more new believers would be taught and come to understand that the reason Jesus died was not just so you could be sinless, it’s so you can be sinless to ACCESS the kingdom of Heaven. If we teach new believers to finish out that sentence, we would have more people anchored in faith and not works. They would be able to recognize that the kingdom is IN them when they accept Jesus and they wouldn’t go looking for the kingdom in works related to morality, serving in church, or a man/woman of God they admire. The kingdom is near!2

Get a Discipler

Trying to read, interpret, and live out the Bible alone is impossible. One or more of these areas at a time is always going to require another person. If you are someone who has an easy time reading and interpreting the Word of God then to live out what you read will be a struggle for you. If you are someone who can live out the Bible because the fruit of the spirit comes easy to you then you will need accountability in reading and understanding the word.

I wish more churches set up disciplers to help get personal help from someone more seasoned in the faith for new believers beyond a baptism class or small group. Often those who lead them are untrained in the things of God themselves and can provide emotional support but not spiritual insight. Many Women’s ministries are focused on how to live biblical but do not give tools on how to interpret the unique call God gives to all women. The first to receive the news that Jesus was risen was a pair of women and they were told to tell everyone yet women’s ministries both in and out of church are hyper focused on how to find a husband and raise godly children. All women were called to run and tell of the resurrection but not all women are called to be wives or mothers.

Having a discipler will pinpoint natural gifts God has given you individually, ones you need to hone and develop, and confirmation of identity which all new believers needs a healthy dose of daily. Disciplers will also be prayer warriors and intercessors for the new believer to protect them from spiritual warfare that seeks them out to snatch the small mustard seed of faith they have. Disciplers can see things in new believers that they probably don’t recognize is from God like their personal testimony of faith. Many believers are easily swayed by popular doctrine or doctrine that dresses itself up in Jesus but is actually demonic like new ageism, islam, race based Christianity like Christian nationalism, Mormonism & Hebrew Israelism. Disciplers help to weed out Godly language so new believers can learn to hear God for themselves like Samuel & Eli in 1 Samuel 3:7-9.

Disciplers can come in many forms and go by many names like Pastor, Spiritual Mom/Dad, Teacher, Mentor etc. but the underlying understanding/covenant between the discipler and the disciple is a spiritual covering & mentorship in the things of Christ.

Go to Corporate Prayer

No one taught me how to pray. No one told me that there is no secret sauce outside of prayer. Worship nights are packed out but prayer lock ins are scarce. Yet, the Bible tells us over and over and over again to pray without ceasing. Prayer is the primary place we receive revelation. It is the place our personal relationship with God the Father is lived out. Without a prayer life we are stuck in the mindset of most believers that our circumstances of life are the primary reflection of the health of our spirit. We expect to hear and see God but don’t go to the proper place where He resides. The temple of God lives within us but the way to access it is in the place of prayer.

I was a few years into my new life before I learned about prayer resources like the Pray First App or the ACTS prayer model. I did not understand or value the importance of corporate places of prayer at the local church because I thought it would be boring. But, prayer is where I saw miracles for the first time, the place I connected with church mothers who taught me so much about the things of God, where my pastor learned my name. I learned how to bring burdens to the altar and to take on the burden of a brother/sister in Christ to the Lord. I saw God answer those prayers quickly, immediate needs met, real life generosity. I saw people hear God in prayer to collect money for someone in the room not knowing that this person didn’t have gas money to return home or pay a bill.

The principle of the Upper room is alive and well and until we see prayer as the very breath of God in our lives, we will not have proper view of His place in our everyday life.

Write it down

If Baby Christian Janae had a journal, there would be a lot of cuss words, tear stains, and questions. I wish someone told me that I would want to remember some of these things because being saved means that at some point the Lord will wipe your memory of certain things as a result of His grace that erases sin and sometimes the memories that are associated with them. This is why it is hard for me to remember the exact moment of salvation for me. He has erased these things because His word always tells us to not look at the former things. I saw more miracles, prayers answered in those first few years of conversion that it was so normal to me. I would love to be able to share those things with new believers or unbelievers.

Writing has a certain spiritual connection to the manifestation of the power and presence of God. Now, that I am older in the faith, I know that writing things plainly is not just good advice but sometimes it IS the thing God is waiting for us to do for something important to manifest. Isaiah wrote a name down in Isaiah 8 not knowing that this was to be the name of his son. It wasn’t until he wrote the name that his wife conceived. Presumably they had marital relations previously, but something about writing down an expectation caused that thing to manifest. This is a running theme we will explore another time.

Ask someone their testimony

When you are new in faith it can seem like you have catching up to do. Everyone you meet has the prayer life, worship life, attitude of gratitude you wish you had. It’s easy to look at them as above or beyond you but the truth is that they all (even your favorite pastor) has a past. Hearing their conversion stories helps not only to humanize them but help new believers find a commonality and hope that they can overcome whatever held them before coming to Christ. When we share our testimonies often, we take a tool from the enemy and use it to sharpen our siblings in Christ. The enemy likes to bother new believers with images of their past. When we give space for new believers to share their testimony and hear what others have overcome we weaken his affect on our babes in Christ.

In Joshua 3 the Lord instructs the Israelites to set stones as reminders of their testimony not just for the current generation but for future generations. Testimonies are answers to questions not yet asked. Speaking them, remembering them, honoring them always points us to God because we can see how large the gap between God and man is. The original sin in the garden was that of changing the perspective of how deep and far the gap between us and God is in our intelligence, holiness, and ability. He lied to Eve by convincing her that the human limits of life are close to God. The truth is our testimonies show us how far above us God is. It humbles us, and keeps us motivated to do the good works He has set before us.

Be set apart | Janaé

And time after time, month after month, my period would come and though I would thank God, I would count it as a problem I would deal with at another time. But then I turned 31, I was newly married and felt like it was time to start trying for children. Long gone were my old ways of casual sex, replaced by abstinence in my singleness, and now morphed into newlywed bliss. I wasn’t sure what to expect from trying to conceive. I thought all I had to do was remove any contraceptives from use in my house and within a few months pregnancy would fall on me like a biweekly paycheck, sure to come bringing an anxious anticipation of its arrival. Month after month, I experienced no pregnancy symptoms. Months became a year, a year became another year and I knew something was wrong…

“God I’m following you now. Is this the punishment for the former frivolity with which I gave my body away? Is this a curse? Am I being spiritually attacked? Am I too fat to conceive?”

Trying to find answers only left me more questions. Which doctors do I call? Why do I need a referral to talk to a fertility specialist? Why are doctors offices only open on the weekdays? Why is everyone else getting pregnant except for me?

This is where I was in January of 2024. I was hearing the disappointment in the voices of my family when they knew we still weren’t pregnant. Trying to pray jealousy off of me to keep my faith led me to a very particular place of desperation. Unable to voice how I was feeling to anyone because the only person who I felt understood had passed away. This is how I imagine Sarai felt. Emotionally spent, confused and seeking answers but only finding questions.

You have to understand that Sarai was a good wife. Up until this point in she had followed her father in law away from her homeland, followed her husband to Egypt, lied for her husband to the Pharaoh, sent her husband into battle to rescue their nephew and all of this a the bequest of a God who would not speak to her. She was humble and submitted. She was loyal and good to her husband. Every time that he said he heard God speak to him, she supported him even if it caused uncomfortability to herself. I imagine being in a Pharaoh’s castle knowing that he had intentions on sexual relations with you was unnerving. I’m sure packing up their things every few years while managing their employees and physical wealth was uncomfortable. I’m sure she laid uncomfortable at home while her husband with no formal combat training went to war with trained professionals for the life of their family member.

After all of this, in Genesis chapter 16, she speaks. She has an idea because now not only has God said a thing to her husband but what He said DIRECTLY involves her for the first time. And…it’s something that she has actually wanted, a baby! I’m sure when her husband told her what God said her heart swelled with anticipation. I’m sure she immediately started imagining what cute outfits she would make for her baby. She probably wondered whether this baby was a boy or girl. She probably reached out to her favorite carpenter to begin building a crib and collecting soft things for her baby to hold. But, when years went by and the baby she was promised didn’t come. I’m sure that much like me she began to wonder “What is wrong with me?”

Her suggestion to give her servant Hagar to her husband was one done not in malice or with ease. She loved her husband, she was loyal to him and the idea of him sharing the bed with another woman was not a thought she enjoyed thinking BUT the momentary uncomfortability was nothing compared to the discomfort she had in Pharaoh’s house. The uncomfortability of sharing her husband was nothing in comparison to what she felt at her neighborhood sewing circle when all the women talked about the woes of motherhood while she remained silent week after week unable to relate to them. So, she probably thought to herself, you can do it, just this one time for a few minutes of discomfort and you get in exchange a lifetime of bliss with your new baby! So she tells her husband her plan and pushes down the silent distain for this plan.

I’m sure Abram looked at his wife like she was crazy. Another woman was out of the question. He was happy with Sarai, she was kind and beautiful and everyone loved her. She never asked him for anything but this baby was all that she wanted. Why not make amends for the time he almost got her involved in serious business by lying to Pharaoh. Oh, how that plan had backfired. He could do this ONE thing for the wife who lets him lead their family with no obstacle.

…waiting is painful. It’s lonely and quiet. Not the good quiet that greets you on a rainy day but the kind of quiet that halts your thought patterns and consumes your every waking thought. The kind of quiet that is all consuming and creepy. The quiet that anticipates a surprise around every corner. This is what both Sarai and I have had to deal and wrestle with while waiting for our promised children. Like Sarai, I have received word through prophets and pastors about this child and every time my heart would leap but fall directly after because I anticipated the wait.

Psalms 40:1 says “I waited patiently for the Lord and he turned to me and heard my cry for help.”

When the Lord first gave me this scripture for this year I thought…I will wait but patiently? To be patient in waiting feels cruel. The word for patience here is translated from the word kavah which means to hope. It can also mean to twist or stretch. Kavah is an action word which means that you have to DO it not just experience it. It is not describing an act, it is participatory. This is what I believe Sarai was trying to do and if I’m being honest, it’s what I try to do in my own waiting. When the world talks about patience it usually is referring to something that can be lost or is in short supply BUT the Bible is talking about hope during pain. Patience in the Biblical context is about stretching and moving toward the hope that God alone brings in waiting. That instead of reaching for understanding or actions (like Sarai did), it invites us to reach to Him. The One who gave you the promise.

And no this is not an easy thing to do but our waiting produces something that actions cannot…revelation. Because Sarai was not patiently waiting her reputation took a hit. She changed the way she dealt with Hagar and in turn saw the lowest form of herself as a wife and a woman. She became a mean girl. I’m sure the other servants and neighbors heard how she was treating Hagar and at first they probably dismissed it as poor rumors. But, eventually they starting seeing the tear stained face of Hagar, seeing her belly grow, and knew in their hearts that this child was conceived not by God’s grace but by science and probability. Hagar with no choice or vote in the matter is also at her wits end of a pregnancy she didn’t ask for waiting for the promise of a child she won’t be able to raise. Hagar finds herself in her own waiting period for this child that has caused chaos and uncertainty in her life. So she leaves and decided to run away but meets for the first time a God who sees her (El Roi). She is finally given a voice for her own discomfort and seen as more than just an incubator but a person, a woman! She was given her own promise by this same God concerning this same child and she is sent back…to WAIT.

God ALWAYS sees us when we wait. Wait with tears, wait with hope but make sure that you wait! The pain you feel in the waiting is what will illuminate the God who sees you. The pain of the wait will reveal a side of God he reserves for the ones who are unseen, unappreciated, and without resources. El Roi, is the God who sees. The ones who are always in the spotlight whose lives are lived in public do not/cannot witness to the goodness of a God who sees. But those of us who wait in private, in silence, in patience can attest that there will come a day when El Roi reminds you that He has ALWAYS seen your waiting and it is your time to witness the promised child (fruit) of your waiting.

“What you see, you will touch, what you touch, you will eat and what you eat you will become.”

Simple but profound when paired with Genesis 3:6 and the story of Eve. The first mother. But before she was a mother, she was wife, a woman with a mandate to fulfill her purpose to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, & subdue it. It is easy for us to say that if we were Eve and had personally seen and heard God that we would obey and follow with no hesitation, but this story shows us that that is not true. She’s more like you and I than we may think. Many of us right now (myself included) have sat on projects, moves, education, and even conversations that God gave us. Our spirits are no different than the spirit that resided in Eve on the day she fell away from God.

Before Eve ate the fruit there was 3 important things that happened to her that still plague humanity today. It’s the reason we find ourselves in sin even after we confess belief in God.

“The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” -Genesis 3:6 CSB

WHAT SHE SAW

She SAW two things when she looked at the fruit (which wasn’t an apple by the way). She saw that it was good for food, meaning it had the ability to reproduce just like her & delightful, meaning it was pretty. Many times the first step toward sin, looks like what you are used to. It has the ability to match your exact desires for comfort. It aligns perfectly with how you see the world and what would make you appear to be better to others without the consideration of quality. The enemy never appears in the Bible to humans and has to tell them not to be afraid which is proof that he loves to play dress up according to what the world considers beautiful and comfortable. I mean, why would he? if his goal is to steal from you, why would he come dressed as a threat. I watch a lot of heist movies like Oceans 11 and the one thing they always have in common is that they want to appear as least threatening and common as possible. They don’t want to stand out in speech or look or thought. And THAT is how the enemy trains us to accept sin. The enemy never asks you outright to sin against God, often he shows us what is visually appealing or seems good like a job or relationship but that job or relationship is meant to keep your eyes on IT instead of God. We confuse good with God. Just because it’s good does NOT mean it’s God. The tree LOOKED good because Eve didn’t have her eyes on the Lord.

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WHAT SHE TOUCHED

The Bible says that once her eyes were fixed on the fruit the next step was she touched it. She took it from the tree it was produced on (that’ll preach) to evaluate it further. The next thing we do before we sin is touch. We didn’t have premarital sex, we just downloaded a dating app for curiosity. We didn’t gossip, we just screenshotted a few images from the page of someone who did us wrong. It’s not sin….right? WRONG! God knows your heart and He knows the true intention of it. When you ‘touch’, you are subconsciously agreeing to the enemies second trap that we can handle/control the amount of sin in our life. Spoiler, you can’t! If you could handle a small amount of sin then there would be no need for Jesus. Sin is made to look like a small wave when it is really a dangerous current that will drag you out to sea. So don’t unblock your ex or meet up with your ex for closure. Don’t touch what God has already told you is not for you! Eve KNEW that she wasn’t even supposed to be focused on the tree, touch the tree, or eat from it. Yet, because God did not have a volatile reaction to her looking, she gave herself permission that it was okay to continue. We do that too! We look for God to send us these large sins of disapproval to decide what is His will when in fact, like Eve, we can just ask BEFORE we make a decision. Mature believers do not provoke God’s wrath to find His will.

We allow things in our houses that aren’t idols, yet! We idolize the blessings God gave us (house, car, job, family members) and are devastated when He asks us to give them up. How could God take what is mine? That’s what we say in our hearts. But the truth is, God did not give over ownership of this world and it’s creatures to us, He gave us management of it. It all still belongs to Him so when He moves things and people out of our life, it is not for us to touch it to get it back.

WHAT SHE ATE

Now that the fruit was in her hand…she might as well eat it right? It’s better not to waste an opportunity, right?

An opportunity void of God is repentance waiting to happen. It is harder to flee from sin when you are close to it. The best place to be in a knife fight is the furthest away from the knife. The same is true with sin, the closer you are to it, the harder it is to get away. True freedom in Christ is not about counting all the things you ‘can’t’ do…it’s about looking at all the things you couldn’t do before when you were a slave to sin. Christianity is like a pasture. It has limits and boundaries to keep enemies out but the ones inside of it experience the most freedom by residing in the center. At the edge of a pasture, it is likely I am daydreaming about all the things that are not in the pasture. Who is not there and what are their lives like. In the middle of the pasture, I can truly see how much space is available for me to occupy. I can see all the activities and food and things available to me.

When she ate the fruit, she had already sinned in her heart. It was the revelation to those around her (Adam) of the condition of her heart. Sin didn’t start with a bite, it started with a stare.

WHAT SHE BECAME

She became unclean. She allowed separation between her and God. She became contaminated and unfit to carry the seed of Christ. She became ineligible for eternal life. She rerouted herself and her family on the path to permanent destruction. She became, barren, unable to produce, multiply, fill the Earth and subdue it. Now, the ONE job she was born qualified for (naming animals and tending to the other things in the Garden) she was no longer eligible for. She saw death for the first time when she watched God kill an animal to provide them with clothing/covering. How terrible that must have been to see something living and for it’s very life to end abruptly and then be COVERED by what was once something you looked after. She became under a curse that affected all living things. She became a stumbling block for her husband. She had to leave the only place she knew for the unknown. She no longer had direct access to God. She couldn’t hear Him anymore. She became “like one of us knowing good and evil” Genesis 3:22. She went from being sent to being sent away. She went from being a guard of the Garden to being guarded FROM the Garden. She became at war with a spiritual enemy that had taken her purpose and polluted it with hypotheticals.

How much more for us? We were born into all that Eve (and Adam, who isn’t innocent) became. We play with fire often. We rarely listen or submit to the leadership God has given us. We make plans without consulting God and because these plans seem good to us we don’t think of asking Him the small things like what should I wear today? Who should I befriend? Is this job going to bring me closer to God or pull me away from Him? These are not moral sins but any form of disobedience is sin. Well, how can I know what is sin? If you didn’t ask, then you are already wagering that your opinion is superior to Gods. Ask Him EVERYTHING! Be on one according with both His way AND His will.

Paul asked, “should we sin that grace should abound?” The answer was no. Your ignorance is not an acceptable excuse for being outside of God’s will. If you are not 100% sure if this is God’s will, ask. He is faithful to respond and provide peace in the direction or decision that He wants you to make.

“What you see, you will touch, what you touch, you will eat and what you eat you will become.”

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Most people end up in false religions on in idolatry because they are searching for purpose. So, using our SOAP Method, we are going to look at not what man says but what the Bible says is the purpose of mankind.

S - Scripture [Read it in at least 2 different translations very, very slowly]

Genesis 1:28 says, “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”

This is the first thing that God tells Man to do. The principle of firsts says that because it is the first ‘do’. This is the thing we have also been commanded to do even though neither you nor I are directly mentioned in this verse. So, before we break down what it is God wants us to do, we need to understand the weight and importance it carries. Most of us who claim Christianity, want to do God’s Will. What is God’s will but what He has asked us to do? How did I know what would please my mother growing up? By doing exactly what she told me to do regardless of my own desires. This is true of our Heavenly Father. Now before we do, we need to look at the scripture above this one to get the context. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” This scripture is claiming us as His own. We are not merely creation but this verse tells us we are creation created for a purpose and a purpose that is different from every other thing that has been created so far. The Lord does not call trees, animals, or bugs creation in his image…we are! He also didn’t create us in the image of something else. We are not created in the image of stars, or ocean creatures. Sit with that for a minute. Of all the things He had option to choose as a mirror of Himself, He chose mankind.

Let’s go on in our method.

O - Observation [Look for repetition, numbers, things that stick out, and conjunctions]

Starting with verse 27, the word created is stated 3 times…why? This should stick out to you. Well, one of the reasons is because the number 3 also indicates that something is complete. So at the time that mankind was first created, we WERE complete, lacking nothing. Another reason is because it’s telling us that not only was mankind created in the image of the one who created us, but the One who created us is indeed God and were given even further distinction in the subcategory of mankind in male and female. So our largest identification is creation. Then we all fall into the subcategory of Image of God. Lastly, we all fall into one of the two subcategories, female or male. Notice how these act almost as funnels. Animals, plants cannot fit into the first subcategory.

It is helpful for us to know how God sees us in order for us to internalize and live out our purpose. Now, let’s deal with our foundational verse, 28.

Before God gave you something to do, he did two things: He created mankind, He blessed mankind. So, not only are you created but you are blessed to do the work before you even start it. It doesn’t matter what comes next God has given mankind the power/authority/approval to DO what He says. He didn’t send us out to EARN our blessing through our purpose. This tells us that our salvation, our favor with God, are NEVER a result of what we ‘do’. Hear me, I’m not saying you do not have to do anything to become saved and I am not saying that there is nothing for you to do once you become saved. We are JUST talking about our innate purpose. The purpose of mankind came before the fall and is not tied to salvation. In the Garden of Eden mankind had not needed a Savior, yet. This also means that non believers today carry this purpose because they fit into the subcategory of image bearer. (Later on in Genesis we will get to what happens to those who cannot live out this purpose BECAUSE of the fall and our separation.) WE GOT ALL OF THAT JUST FROM THE FIRST 3 WORDS OF THE SCRIPTURE.

Now what did God ask us to do? He gave us 5 things to do that collectively comprise of our purpose as mankind.

1. Be fruitful

2. Multiply

3. Fill the Earth

4. Subdue the Earth

5. Rule over the other creations

Be Fruitful: We have to produce something of substance for the consumption of others. Look at the physical fruit from plants, the fruit is there to feed us, provide nourishment to other animals and are connected to the life cycles of all things in and on the Earth in addition to looking appealing and adding to the beauty of the world. We too as believers must produce spiritual fruit (called the Fruit of the Spirit, found in Galatians 5). Though, this verse does not specify what this fruit is, yet, we first need to know that it exists and is necessary to live out our purpose. This verse is not referencing children. Even though we use it for that. The purpose of God is not that every woman should give birth to children. Notice that Adam and Eve were operating in their purpose BEFORE they had children. Therefore, children is NOT a purpose of God. Now, don’t confuse purpose with will. The will of God for SOME of His children is to have more image bearers. There will be others who will never have children. If this verse was talking about children then the Apostle Paul was never in purpose because he never gave purpose to biological children. But Paul DID birth spiritual children who carried his mantle, wisdom and the knowledge of God they gained from being spiritually connected to him in the work of Jesus Christ.

Multiply: The fruit we carry should not be produced one time and one time only. Multiply means that there is a continuous and exponential increase once you produce fruit. Fruit grows more and more healthy. And healthy fruit is to be reproduced for more and greater reach. If your fruit only benefits you and those in your house then you are not operating in your purpose.

Fill: This is the third thing that the Lord said for us to do in the Earth. Fill the Earth with what? Well the english word is really closer to the word replenish. In Hebrew that word means broadly to fill or be full of. It more concisely means to satisfy, overflow, set space, take a handful, have wholly, fullness, accomplish, confirm or consecrate (Found in Strong’s Concordance). In other words, whatever is taken out of the earth in terms of resources and spirit, we are in charge of restoring it back to order. Where there is darkness or disorder we are to make it right. We know this in America as justice! To restore that which has been emptied or used up.

Subdue: He has given us dominion. If Earth was a school we would be the principal, the superintendent, the school board, the department of Education. A part of our purpose is to have a unique ability to ‘control’ animals that are larger than us. We have a conscious, a language, and the ability to make decisions. Have you ever been to a zoo or circus? Animals that could easily turn a human into dust with one squeeze by means of strength are submitted to humans regardless of their salvation status. It’s not just Christians who can be zoo keepers, why? Because our purpose is rulership! Now, it’s not just zookeepers but even in your house you probably have some type of bug spray. But bugs do not have the consciousness to have human sprays they have developed with chemicals to rid them of humans. They do not have dominion, we do!

Rule: Now, because we can subdue the other creations, we have a responsibility to do so with justice similarly to God. We have been given the ability to see the world differently. Lions don’t know what a circle of life or ecosystem is but we do. So we are responsible to take care of the ecosystem so that it can continue. We restore order if for some reason it is disrupted. Rulership is not oppression. Submission is not exploitation. When rulership is not paired with a relationship with God, we get the fallen world we live in now: animal abuse, greed of resources, wars for territory and resources, classism, etc.

So now that we know that our purpose carries great WEIGHT not only on Earth but for the benefit of each other. Everyone cannot live out their purpose without affecting everyone else AND without a relationship with God.

A - Application

Now that I know that I am one of many image bearers of God, I now have empathy for those who cannot live out their purpose because I know that non-believers are miserable from the inside of them screaming to live out this purpose but cannot do it due to their unbelief/separation from God. It pushes me to pray for, speak to, love on them a bit more and not just speak condemnatory about HOW they live but insert myself so I can show them Christ!

How do I apply this to my life?

I pray every day that my heart is aligned with God for that day. I repent to God and to ones I have wronged so that I may walk in purpose with justice and order according to the laws of the Lord (more on this later in Genesis & Exodus). I pray everyday for people I know who do not have a relationship with God to begin to believe and have an encounter with God so that they can live out their purpose. I let go of worldy definitions of what I ‘should’ do with my life and what that looks like. I ask God to give me His desires in my heart. I ask Him to reveal daily how I can produce fruit, multiply the fruit I have, fill the space in earth I have influence on, rule over my house and family, and subdue the earth’s desire to rebel against God.

P - Pray

“Father in Heaven, I know that Your word says that I am already blessed by You for You have made me in Your image. I am not in the image of my mother or of this world but I am in Your image. Reveal to me everyday deeper revelation of what that means so that I can live in the truth of Your word. I want to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it and rule it but I cannot do that without Your guidance and Your instructions. Give me desires that are instructions to do what is right in every conversation I have today. Help me to fill my office with You. Help me to fill my home with Your presence. Teach me how to love my spouse in a fruitful way. Help me to parent my children so they will WANT to know You. Keep me away from hypocrisy as I give advice to family and friends today. Help me to live according to what You say. Teach me how to subdue the desire to sin today. Show me how to flee from that which comes to enslave me to death. But I choose life, I choose YOU! In Jesus name I have prayed, amen!”

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If we are the temple of God then we must eat the right things in order for the presence of God to have dominion in us. Many of us are saved but our temple is crowded with things of the world; ideas, weak theology, weak faith, doctrine of other gods, etc. Every temple is filled because we are made to worship, but what is your temple filled wi…

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So, in our 3rd year here, when the tree died, my husband and I were devastated. We had noticed the color change and bark peeling & begun praying for and anointing the tree with holy oil but to no avail; it didn’t work. To the great distain of our neighbors, we had the tree cut down and added two new baby trees to replace it. Our lack of experience in the area of gardening did not stop God from using this whole scenario as a lesson for us. One day while noticing the growth of our new trees and the grass of the front yard returning to normal, I heard the Lord say, “this is what it looks like for Me when I planted you all into the Earth. I planted you with the expectation of growing and producing fruit. And when I come back, looking for a sign of growth and find none, I know that are not planted in what will grow you.”

And so I asked the Lord: How do we grow? By faith! He responded.

Just as a tree grows by the condition of the soil it is planted in, so we grow by what we are planted in. Too many of us are blaming God, or His church or Your pastor for your lack of growth. These are only supposed to be fertilizer and tools used to help you grow but we won't evaluate what we are planted in. What are you planted in?

Hebrews 11:1-6

Tells us that the formula for faith is truth of hope + proof of unseen = faith

But what does that mean?

In your beginning, whenever that was for you (mine was in the golden age of the 90s), the Lord planted you in a womb for the purposes of you being planted in Earth as both salt and light for His Kingdom. Throughout your life, he has sent The latter and former rain to grow you and sustain you in your spiritual growth journey. This just means that He has sent people, circumstances, and miracles to help you choose to follow Him. The main person He sent is Jesus, the Only begotten Son who has dies , rose, and is currently alive in Heaven with The Father as proof that the faith we have in Him is real, alive, and actionable. And we must believe in this Jesus in order for us to have the truth of hope. The thing about the metaphoric latter/former rain is that it only a benefit to those that remain planted. To those unplanted, rain is a nuisance.

It takes faith to stay planted. Not faith in self, but faith in God. Not faith in circumstances or what you have but faith in the God who planted. The same God that Jeremiah says knew us before our mothers’ womb. You know you are planted IN faith when you are concerned with eternity, not things that have a time limit. Every relationship I have right now is on a time limit. Everything I own will one day cease to be mine and belong to someone else (hopefully my children). Eternity minded are people prioritize obedience to God over their own wants/desire. They don’t pray for more money in their bank account, they pray for God’s hand to be on the money thats already there. Eternity minded people know that if there is anything they are without, (no matter how important) than they do not need it to please God.

In fact, the Bible says that FAITH is the only way to please God…not works, not obedience, not follower count; faith!

But how do we know that this God of the Bible is trustworthy?

Well, the simple answer (that you likely don’t want to hear) is the Bible is full of stories of His faithfulness to imperfect people. Some of whom got it together eventually and others who never did. But it’s not their response that makes God trustworthy it’s the fact that through the Bible which from cover to cover spans over 4000 years, God remains the SAME!

I change day to day, sometimes hour to hour. When I make my mind up about something, it takes one emotion or circumstances and I am willing to change my mind about it. Yet, God doesn’t. He doesn’t change His nature or His mind about how He feels about all creation. He still loves every tree the same way He loves the very first one. He loves every human the same way He loved the first one. His methods vary but His mind, His will is unchanged.

It is easy for us to think that the Fathers and Mothers of our faith, the biblical heroes and zeros fit neatly into categories of virtuous and not virtuous but the truth is the ones that God favored and highlighted, had faith. Don’t confuse their faith as natural-born virtue. Many of them never read, carried or had knowledge of the Bible, yet they had faith. They were flawed and sinful even while they were obeying God. But it was God’s continuous faithfulness that sustained them even in their insignificant attempts to please Him. Their faith came from testimonies of experiences with God and/or the hope that this was right. So when the Bible tells us that we overcome by the blood of the lamb (Jesus) and the words of testimony. It means it literally. Abraham only believed God because he had first hand testimony knowledge of the God who his own father heard from and obeyed (ish..).

Someone who is trustworthy has a history of being trustworthy. The only reason you have faith that the chair you are sitting in won’t break is because you have been sitting in this chair consistently. You have a life’s worth of experience sitting on chairs built the same way that never failed. SO DO THAT WITH GOD! If you are struggling with faith, take that same approach with Him. Trust Him…by trusting Him. You would never truly know if the chair is trustworthy unless you sit in it. So sit…in your faith! Look back over your life at the places you feel wronged by God and truly ask Him if what He allowed, although uncomfortable, brought you out of something that otherwise would not serve you in the growing version of you.

I’m willing to bet that the hard things you’ve experienced revealed things about yourself you never knew. Some of those things you changed, others you honed in and sharpened those skills.

Faith is loyalty, belief, & reliance. Paul uses the same word for faith in the entire New Testament. It comes from peithō which means inward certainty by evidence or convincing by truth. The root word used is pistis meaning moral conviction of religious truth or the truthfulness of God; the reliance upon Christ for salvation. Many of us have belief but no reliance. We have belief but no loyalty. And some of us have never believed in God because we have loyalty to things and mindsets of the past. These are the people that are like my neighbors. They raised their voices to attempt to keep us from cutting down an obviously dead tree because they have a loyalty to the tree not because it could continue to function as a tree by giving shade, providing shelter for squirrels or bearing fruit. But it gave them a false comfort. How many of us have planted ourselves in our own pasts that look like 100 year old dead trees. We refuse to let the friendships go, refuse to block your ex, and refuse to place our trust in God. Our spiritual gardens look like a desert when the Master Gardener (God) has the proven track record to turn your desert into a flourishing and alive garden. Behold I am doing a new thing can you not see it? I will make a river in the desert and make a way in the wilderness.

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