Missionary Women Registering for Prague...and "Stopping the Chaos" Continues...

The missionary women are registering for Prague. Please pray that God will get the word to every woman who needs to be there! We have 16 of the missionary women sponsored as of this writing. So, that leaves us with 34 for more to go. Please be praying about the opportunity to give toward the sponsorship of these women. No gift is too small or too large (smile).

I am excited about a couple of things God is up to for this group. He is always about the business of doing something unique for each group of missionary women. Love that about Him!!! I am working with a young woman in Albertville, Alabama who will bring to this group of ladies something we have never done before! Totally Awesome!!

Also, Patty and I made a trip up the road Saturday to Clarksville, AR to do follow-up from our Dominican Republic (DR) trip. We had lunch, shared about the trip, and showed a video that one of the missionary women from DR produced from our time in DR. The women also shared some things they are doing for our missionary women in Prague. Debbie, thank you so much for your church’s encouragement and support of Pure Joy International.

Well, we continue our journey of ‘Stopping the Chaos in the Family’ . . .

I hope you were able to take the time this past week to read Genesis Chapter 3 daily. I hope you have a nugget bag because I suspect you’re about to mine some important principles from this chapter in the next couple of weeks. I can promise you we will be parked here for a while. It is so crucial, because we had order in the world up to this point. Then sin entered the world and the result was . . . Chaos.

Let us begin with the last verse I gave you in the previous week from Genesis.

Genesis 2:6-17 “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’”

Know what? God gave Adam the first command ever given after placing him in the garden. I suspect Adam heard God’s voice for the first time when this command was given. “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Wow! Never lose sight of this truth! God told Adam, “don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or you shall surely die.” He told Adam this when Eve wasn’t even in the picture. To this day, we don’t really know who told Eve this command. Was it passed on from Adam or was it given to her by God as well? What we do know is that she knew the command. Ok, well maybe she didn’t really fully know it since she added to it, but she had the principle given to her at some point before the serpent entered the scene (vs.1-2).

Now let’s look at Genesis 3:1-5 (emphasis mine):

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘Youshall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

In verse one, I want to use the word subtle instead of crafty which many Bible translations use. The reason is that I want us as women to understand the enemy is subtle. He isn’t marching into our paths with a big neon sign saying, “I’m getting ready to trip you up!” In fact, God’s Word tells us in 2 Corinthians 11:14 “Satan masquerades as an angel of light.” Obviously, the serpent wasn’t so scary and offensive that Eve ran off yelling for Adam to save her from the big monster! Instead, she was actually tempted by him. Girls, please know that the enemy works subtly in our lives with his temptations. Temptations are anything that would cause us to put other things first before God, spouse (if married), and children. These things would initially just cause us to be distracted from what God’s plan is for our life but eventually lead us to sin.

Also, I want us to understand that the serpent came to Eve not Adam. Why? I suspect God’s Word in 1 Peter 3:7 hints at the answer. Women are the weaker vessel. “Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the women as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life so that your prayers may not be hindered.” Isn’t it interesting that it appears that even the serpent knew the order of things in his approach in the garden? He approached Eve instead of Adam.

Ok, so we see the serpent is subtle. We also see his plan of attack.

• First, get Eve to doubt God. “Did God actually say . . . ?”
• Second, convince Eve that God is a liar. “You will not surely die!”

Today I close with these challenges for you. Where has the serpent deceived you regarding your relationship with God, your marriage, or your family? Where do you doubt God? What are areas of your life that God has given as promises to you through His Word, yet you have allowed the enemy to call lies?

Keep reading Genesis Chapter 3 because next week we are going to answer the question, “What the heck was Adam doing during this interaction between the serpent and Eve?”, because I suspect some of you feel the same way about your husbands. Where is he?

His,
Vickie