VICTORY IN THE GARDEN II

The first sin is actually ingratitude and not negligence as some people profess. You cannot be grateful for something you do not treasure. You cannot take charge of an environment you do not fully value. Everything Adam got was thrown at him. Something is terribly wrong with throwing things at people. Whatever you throw at people they are not likely to value. There was no place where Adam showed gratitude to God. When parents throw things at their children, such children grow up with entitlement mentality. Adam never at any time took initiative of anything except when he gave names to God’s creation.

In the world today, we have a lot of Adams and God is asking, ‘where are you?’ Quite a number of men have abdicated their priesthood ministry by allowing women to take over. As a man, the first ministry you have from God is that of priesthood. Ministry is not fanfare, it is warfare. As a man, you must have your eyes on the ball. The Bible says when men slept, the enemy came to sow tares. The home is another garden that you must guard jealously. You have to win the battle in the garden of the heart in order to win the battle in the garden of the home. Any time a snake enters, there is bound to be war; things begin to take a downward turn. You can’t solve a problem you have not defined. Neither can you solve a problem by avoiding it or through propaganda. You can only win a war by strategy. Strategy is from the root word – strategia which is usually associated with the roles of a General. You cannot win a war by pretending that it does not exist. Most men have abandoned the battle of the garden of the home to their wives while the snake is having an upper hand.

The Bible says, guard your heart with all (not some) diligence for out of it are the issues of life. The heart is the CPU (Central Processing Unit) both spiritually and physically. Any heart that is not right cannot connect properly with God. You can tell a heart infested with snakes through the word of the mouth because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The Bible says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me, Psa. 66:18. The devil is a generator of iniquity. Psa. 119:11 says, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee”.

One of the most difficult things to do in the world today is to raise godly children. The world is sick. The only way you can do this is to put the word of God in them; inoculate their heart with the word of God. Saturate their hearts with the word of God. The word of God is a direction finder. It is a compass, a neutralizer of evil. The word of God is a sanctifier, a hammer, fire, food, bread, life and light. You can carry so much fire of the word of God in the garden of your heart that there will not be enough darkness in the world to quench it. That is the secret of raising godly children in a sick world.

Pray-

• Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for the generous provisions you have made for my well being here and hereafter. I celebrate the efficacy of your word. Grant me the grace to always be thankful to you and never to abdicate my priesthood responsibilities in Jesus name. Amen.

TO BE CONTINUED……….