Did God Really Say...?

"This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it."  I just wanted to take a moment to lift up a praise before I get into what the Lord laid on my heart.

It's been a trying week with little sleep -
I will rejoice and be glad in it.
I've been fighting off a chest cold for two weeks -
I will rejoice and be glad in it.



Felt overwhelmed with the circumstances encroaching upon me -
I will rejoice and be glad in it.
I have huge steps of faith to take and it feels a little scary -
I will rejoice and be glad in it!
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!
I am more than a conqueror through Christ who gives me strength! Shout some praise!
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A brother in the Lord in giving me a review of my book, said, "Wow, this is great stuff, I needed to hear it....but is it really possible to live that way in today's world? Most people probably won't believe it. I probably wouldn't believe it possible myself if I didn't know you so well." In response to an underlying question that's being asked throughout my book, "Predator, Protector or Confused?," he said, "I've been a predator all my life, I was raised to be a predator, everyone that I know is a predator," as if to say, it's the norm, it's accepted, can I really be anything else?


When I awoke the next morning, the Holy Spirit said to me, "Did God really say...?" and he took me directly to Genesis 3:1 where the serpent said to the woman, "Did God really say...?" The prince of deception, Satan, his first words to mankind were, "Did God really say...?" He plants seeds of doubt. He makes us question what we heard from God, if we heard from God or if we heard correctly. He wants us to think that what God has said yesterday, doesn't apply to today. He makes it look ridiculous so that we rationalize our way out of obedience to God's Word.

The Bible said in the beginning of that same verse, "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the other wild animals the Lord had made." He didn't outright say, "God didn't say." He didn't refute what God said, he simply planted a thought of doubt as to whether you heard God correctly? Are you sure you got it right? That's much more insidious than to directly oppose the Word of God. Yes, he's crafty alright.


He had the woman adding to what God said and the man that God said it to, was right there and didn't even correct her.  The serpent said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden?'" (He knew very well God did not say that. He twisted it right there and the befuddled woman added to the mangled rendering.) The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"


That's when the serpent slithered in for the kill. He says, "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 from evil." He baited her and after she took the bait, he reeled her in with her own curiosity and ego.

His tactics hasn't changed. He's simply adapted them to fit each culture down through the ages.  Scripture says, "but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed." (James 1:14)  When we don't want to change, when it just seems too hard, when it's just going to cause too much disruption or make us uncomfortable, then we hear what we want to hear.  Did God really say...?  Because now in the light of day, now that I'm facing opposition, now that things aren't going the way I expected them too, I'm not so sure I heard right.  The devil is a liar and, "the heart is deceitful above all things..."(Jer. 17:9)


Many question the Bible. Even many Christians question and doubt some of the historical events, prophesies and commands in the Bible.

• Did God really part the Red Sea for the Israelites?
• How can God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit be One God (John 1:1-18)? 
• Is God really giving new prophesies in the last days (Joel 2:28)?
• Can no one really know the day or the hour that Christ shall return(Matt. 24:36-44)?  
• If Jesus said, we  will do even greater works than he did because he was going to the Father (John 14), why aren't we seeing more of it?
• Does God really want us to love our enemies (Matt. 5:44)? 
• How can we be holy even as God is holy (1 Pet. 1:16)?  
• How can homosexuality really be sin if I was "born" that way (Rom. 1:18-27)?  

The questions can go on and on?  But the bottom line is, Did God really say it?

Regardless of how ridiculous it may sound, how impossible, let go of your limited thinking. Believe in God and His Word. God is unlimited. We can't think as deep and as wide as He can. We can't see infinity. We can't even see tomorrow. Even the greatest minds of the past, present and those to come, if they were able to all come together and reason, their reasoning would be as foolishness in comparison to God's wisdom. (1 Cor. 1:19-25) For as far as the heavens are above the earth, so are God's ways and God's thoughts higher and beyond our ways and our thoughts. Their wisdom couldn't figure God out or out think Him.

So, if God said it, believe it.