Fear entered the picture shortly after the beginning of our story. In a place called the Garden of Eden God created Adam and Eve. They hung out with him all the time and everything in their world was made just for them. Only one thing was off limits and that was the tree of good and evil. Satan convinced Eve that God was holding out on them. When they both ate of the tree that was forbidden, their disobedience was called sin and they became seperated from God. As a result they became afraid.
The man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in cool of the day and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked so I hid.” Genesis 3:8-10
The Hebrew word for “afraid” in this passage is yârê, which means fear or dread. God’s very own creation, Adam and Eve, those with whom He had walked on a daily basis, were now hiding. Although they hid from God, He was not the author of their fear. He did nothing to make them afraid. Everything had changed and their deceiver was now in charge of their world. (II Cor 4:4)
One of the ways that we are so deceived by our enemy is through our living in scarcity. I recently read a book called, The Soul of Money, by Lynne Twist, who describes scarcity as a lie containing three myths: 1: the myth of “There’s not enough”, 2: the myth of “More is better” and 3: the myth of “That’s just the way it is”. Listen to how she describes the difference between scarcity and sufficiency.
“Scarcity speaks in terms of never enough, emptiness, fear, mistrust, envy, greed, hoarding, competition, fragmentation, separateness, judgment, striving, entitlement, control, busy, survival, outer riches. In the conversation for scarcity we judge, compare and criticize; we label winners and losers. We celebrate increasing quantity and excess. We center ourselves in yearning, expectation and dissatisfaction. We define ourselves as better-than or worse-than. We let money define us, rather than defining ourselves in a deeper way and expressing that quality through our money.
Sufficiency speaks in terms of gratitude, fulfillment, love, trust, respect, contributing, faith, compassion, integration, wholeness, commitment, acceptance, partnership, responsibility, resilience and inner riches. In the conversation for sufficiency we acknowledge what is, appreciate its value and envision how to make a difference with it. We recognize, affirm and embrace. We celebrate quality over quantity. We center ourselves in integrity, possibility and resourcefulness. We define our money with our energy and intention.”
What a great way to describe good versus evil. Who wins when we speak and live in terms of scarcity? The enemy wins. We stay stuck in fear and disillusionment and the enemy gloats, “see, I kept another from experiencing life.” God certainly is not glorified by a victim mentality. Fear causes us to become helpless and hopeless. . Even though the enemy is always prowling around, wanting us to stay afraid, Christ has given authority to all who believe in His Name. (Matt 6:19) We are told in Ephesians 3:19 that if we know the love of Christ, we can be filled with the fullness of God. John 10:10 speaks of the abundant life that Jesus came to give. Sufficiency is already provided. Scripture tells us “we have not because we do not ask”.
What if we chose to never again speak of “not enough”? What if we claimed our rightful place and authority to command our enemy to leave? (James 4:7) What if we defined the resources we already have and praised God for it each and every day even if it wasn’t what we were hoping for? What if we could truly see that God provides for us daily and we had better eyes to see it? I have been trying to do this, to focus on what I do have, not what I don’t have. It has given me so much more hope and helped me feel less afraid.
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Good statements. “If evil whispers its authority in your life, kick it out swiftly and completely.” These were the words written to my son when he turned 21 years old. I didn’t want to be one of those freaked out Christians who said all liquor was evil, but I have seen a lot of lives destroyed. Evil has no authority over God.