Shut the Door!

           It’s always amazing when we ponder on the purpose of God for humanity as revealed in Genesis 1:28 (AMP); all of God’s vast resources were intended to be used for the service of God and man. The level of wisdom, power, authority that we were all meant to be born into, the insights, the wealth, the creativity we were meant to walk in are just mind blowing. Adam walked in this dimension for a short while until he fell. When he fell, the realm of death and decay became open and it dominated everyone and everything. The unseen spiritual death Adam and Eve experienced gradually became evident when Cane murdered his own flesh and blood even after receiving the grace of being warned by God beforehand of such an evil act. Beloved, since then humanity has been reaping the fruits of this fall. This callousness of heart, headstrong attitude and obvious lack of natural human affection is rapidly becoming an uncontrollable epidemic in our time. Little wonder then that the Lord after His 1000 year reign on earth fully intends to destroy this earth with His fierce fire (2 Peter 3:10). Beloved this earth on which we stand has opened its mouth to receive the blood of countless souls. Destinies have been cut short, hopes and dreams shattered, families and nations destroyed.  Even children have not been spared in this battle. And Scripture warns that in these last days there would be an increase of such (2 Timothy 3:13). What a sobering thought!

This unfortunate trend of events can be traced to simple attitudes and actions left unchecked in the beginning, which opened up the doors to this present darkness. Jesus boldly declared to Peter “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” and this, we must allow Him to begin with and in us. It may be surprising for you to know that every human being created by God have the inherent ability to permit the influence of either Heaven or Hell to be released on this earth by their attitudes, words or actions. When God warned Cain about his attitude in Genesis 4, He revealed two things that are instructional. Firstly is His faithfulness to forewarn us of our innermost intentions and tendencies; that which may not be obvious to men, hidden in our heart, He is faithful to reveal to us: ‘so that we may not sin against Him’. Scriptures say he does not delight in the death of a sinner and is unwilling that any perish. The warning is boldly written in His word and we are reminded either by an audible voice, a dream or vision, perhaps just a gentle tugging of our conscience, but God is faithful he will remind us by His Spirit so that man will be without an excuse if they choose to sin.

              “And the Lord said to Cain why art thou wroth and why is thy countenance fallen, if thou doest well shall thou not be accepted and if thou doest not well sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire and thou shall rule over him” when we consider this scripture closely we must ask, what door was the Lord warning Cain about? Beloved the moment any man begins to harbor anger, hatred, jealousy and the likes (Colossians 3:8) in his heart a spiritual door is open to the Kingdom of darkness and this is equally true concerning the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23, Philippians 4:8). When evil thoughts are permitted roam freely in a person’s mind, they gradually deaden the conscience to the point to which such is literally empowered by demons to carry out the sinful act. The second important thing to take note of is that even though Cain already was experiencing these negative emotions, and sin had taken up a personality waiting patiently for his next move, yet he could at that same moment ‘rule’ or master it. Simply because the same Grace that warned him was equally able to help him overcome the temptation. No matter how enticing an opportunity to sin may seem or how forceful it may seem, the same Grace that warns is able to help us if we would rather open the door to Him by crying out sincerely from our hearts for help. Scriptures say where sin abound, grace much more abound. This clearly does not talk about a license to sin, but rather that when the opportunity to sin is so much, Heaven equally opens up to make available surplus, abundant and great grace, for the man or woman who is willing to receive it and take their stand (Daniel 1:8). Hallelujah! Are you being tempted or pressured to sin? Cheer up! God’s grace is standing next to you; He is only a ‘sincere cry’ away. Cry out to him today and shut the door in the face of the enemy! Heaven is waiting to celebrate your victory (Revelation 21:6-8). God bless you.