Prepared for Power Part 1
Notes
Transcript
Connected to the Source
Connected to the Source
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
“took” leqah לָקַח
“took” leqah לָקַח
The key word to focus on here today is “took” or leqah לָקַח. It means to lay hold of; to take into one’s own hands; to seize; to steal; to choose. You see, the fruit they took was not theirs to take. And when they took it, something greater than the fruit was separated or disconnected. They were disconnected from the source of life. And the source of life was not the tree or the fruit it bore. It was the presence of God.
Have you ever experienced a power outage? How do we typically respond when there is a long term power outage?
Well, it kind of depends on the season. If it is over one hundred degrees outside we are more concerned with surviving the heat. If it is freezing temperatures we are concerned with getting more heat. We also consider things like sustaining ourselves by preserving our sustenance. We think about having light in the darkness.
Each of these things are also relative to our spiritual wellbeing. In Jewish culture there is a saying, “They tried to kill us. We survived. Now let’s eat” (Epstein, Benjamin. Living in the Presence; p.192). It is interesting to note that in Hebrew lechem is “bread.” It is associated with the word milchamah which means “war”. Dr. Epstein points out that even when we sit down to eat there is a battle. None of us eats just to survive when sitting at a feast, going through a drive-through, or picking up another glazed doughnut. This battle actually began in Eden. The problem was not them eating the fruit. It was in picking it off the tree. It was a desire to experience pleasure apart from it’s source of life.
So, what is revealed here is that, in all of our fleshly natures, we all have an eating disorder. We all have the tendency to separate ourselves from God and feed our fleshly appetites. What Adam and Eve failed to understand was, their true nourishment did not come from anything in the Garden that was of natural existence. Their true nourishment came from the presence of God.
Look at Jesus’ words to His disciples in John 4:30-34
They went out of the town and were coming to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
Jesus was not saying that food, drink and rest are not needed or important. But that they are not the most important thing. He was pointing them back to a priority beyond the desires of the flesh to the will of the Father. He is, in a way, revealing to them a way of life (halak הָלַךְ) that existed for man before the rebellious act of seeking pleasure apart from the provision of God. Instead of seeking please in what is provided, seek pleasure in the provider. Look with me in Genesis 1:26.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
“Dominion” in Hebrew is rada רָדָה. It means to dominate; rule over; to take from. You see, in Genesis man was given a power called dominion. He could take from all God had created except one little tree. And from that, he stole from God. Man only had this power as long as he was connected to the source. When you choose to satisfy the flesh you separate yourself from the source of true power in your life. When you gossip, you are disconnected. When you lust, you are having an eating disorder of the soul. When you withhold from God, it is spiritual theft. When you sin in any form, you are choosing again as did Adam and Eve.
So, how do we stay connected to the source? Jesus tells us in John 15:5
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
We all know that if a branch falls from a tree it dies. It will lay on the ground and rot. We know this happens because it is separated from the tree, or the vine. But do we consider that when it is separated from the vine, it is also separated from the other branches and the roots. Together, they sustain one another through the vine.
The ministry of Christ was to redeem and restore us to right and holy relationship with the Father. But it was also to prepare you for power. Look what Jesus tells His disciples in Luke 24:49
And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
In the New Living Translation it says, “with power from heaven.” Either way, it means that Jesus had made a way for them to once again receive the power of God’s presence into their lives. But it came at a price. The life of one that did not belong to man, but to God, had to be willingly given, not stolen from Him.
For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
Now this power from heaven is given to you. It is the power of the Holy Spirit to know and do the will of the Father. It is a power that comes only through connection to the whole tree, the vine, the branches, the roots, the Creator Himself. Will you choose to connect to it and stop your spiritual theft? Will you draw from it and stop the spiritual eating disorder? Will you willingly connect to the source and let the power of God operate in your life? Will you reconnect to the whole tree and the rest of the branches and all the trees in the Garden of God? Or will you continue to be the lone tree? the one with the fruit of the flesh that you keep stealing from having no life in it’s fruit, only death?
Please remember saints of God, you cannot eat from the Garden of God and the table of demons at the same time. You must choose. The power of God is not one to take lightly or toy with. It is a holy power to transform one into a new creation. It is the power to heal and restore a broken life. It is the power over darkness through the blood of Jesus Christ.