Author: Christine Wyrtzen

In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.  Genesis 4:3-5 ESV

Considerable time has elapsed since Cain and Abel were babies. Apparently, instruction was given by their parents on how to approach a holy God. Their kids heard a tearful account of what life had been like in the garden and how wonderful it was to be near God. Both young men knew about why their parents were banished from paradise and what was required for them approach God. One respects the terms of the sacrifice, and the other does not. Cain treats God casually and decides that he is going to offer what he believes God should accept. The results are catastrophic.

Mankind has always been tempted to make Cain-kinds of offerings. He decides that God should be happy with charitable acts, with token sacrifices made in the temple on holy holidays. With the illusion that God has been bought off, many live with an illusion of eternal security. All the while, God’s requirement has not changed, and they believe this lie to their peril.

Both Cain and Abel needed a blood sacrifice – a symbolic look ahead to the Lamb of God who would shed His own blood. For every man and woman since then, it has also required a blood sacrifice, but ever since Jesus’ death, we don’t bring our own lamb to the altar. We trust in the one God provided in 33 A.D. He will reject any offering other than the blood of His Son.

Many marriages fall apart because a husband or wife refuses to express love in a way that the other says they need. Token gifts are given to buy affection; gifts that end up being resented rather than cherished. Our holy God is the spurned Lover anytime I decide what I am going to give Him instead of what He requires. Even after salvation, I can still be stubborn to give everything but a surrendered heart. And then I wonder why my heart is not warmed. May it not be!

I pray for those I love today who have wrongly assumed that You have been appeased by their good deeds. Amen

And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. Genesis 4:2 ESV

When Eve gave birth to her second child, he was named Abel. The meaning of his name fit his destiny. ‘Abel’ means ‘breath or vapor’. As the story of his life unfolds, his life is short, just a vapor. He is to be the first martyr for the Christian faith and will be remembered in the great hall of faith chapter in Hebrews.

Names are interesting things. Oftentimes, the meaning of someone’s name holds great spiritual meaning. It’s something we can grow into. I believe God often handpicks names though parents think they made the decision. Names so often seem to fit the child.

In a loving and stable home, a girl named ‘Joy’ will be a bubbly child, full of sunshine. A boy, whose name means ‘man of courage’, will grow up to have spiritual grit. He will go on to surmount daunting challenges. But, let the home be a wasteland and Satan will make sure the child grows up to believe the exact opposite of their name. ‘Joy’ will be visited by depression. ‘Courage’ will experience affliction that causes him to live fearfully.

Can God change our story, our nature, and our name? Consider Naomi. Her name meant ‘pleasant and agreeable’ and for a while, she was those things. Then her husband took her, and their two sons, to Moab. She watched all three of the men in her life die. Her story took on bitter elements so she renamed herself. Instead of Naomi, she was ‘Mara’, which means ‘bitter’. Eventually, through many redemptive twists and turns, God restored her name. He used a Moabite woman named Ruth, from a godless race, to nurture and provide companionship to her mother-in-law. Ruth made one righteous decision after another and married a holy man, saving Naomi, and filling her senior years with joyful laughter.

God is a God of new names. He wisely, and perhaps playfully, bestows a new identity on one who is willing to follow Him to the land of blessing. It’s not an easy journey, as it will involve the complete shift of a former mindset. It will require courage to leave behind who you were to become who you were not. But deep joy and profound significance will follow any who are willing to believe God for their new identity.

He did it for me. I thought I was stupid. For 40 years I was afflicted with deep insecurity about my intellectual capacity. God healed me. And interestingly enough, He used the meaning of my middle name to do it. ‘Eloise’, the name I disliked and hid for four decades, is a French name that means ‘smart’. I think I heard God chuckle.

I am praying for a girl right now whose name means ‘place of stones’. I am inserting her name into Ezekiel 26:36. God can give her a heart of flesh, replacing her heart of stone with one that feels deeply. Instead of stoicism, she will be responsive. Instead of resigned, she will be proactive. Instead of cold, her heart will beat warmly. Currently, her story is a sad one but there is a Father who is wooing her through the prayers of others. He calls her to Himself and to abundant life. Her ‘place of stones’ will become an altar of worship.

You are a life-changer. When pain is associated with a name, You long to heal the disfigurement. Amen

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”  Genesis 4:1  ESV

Though Adam and Eve’s external world had radically changed from the perfect Garden to a cursed world, their inner life was still somewhat alive to God.  My hunch is that they missed Him, longed for Him, dreamed of walking with Him again as they did in the Garden.  They remembered the beauty of His character and the kind of love they experienced from Him.  How could you not grieve the memories!

Childbirth would have been so painful for Eve.  I’m confident she looked to God for help and strength. On the other side of the pain, she had to recognize that her newborn son was a miracle.  Neither she nor Adam had ever seen a baby before, nor could they have guessed that a tiny person would come from a womb. 

Probably hundreds of thousands of infants are being born as I’m writing this sentence.  Will each mother know that God was involved in the creation of her child?  Sadly, no. Will each child grow up to know that they are a unique creation of Almighty God?  Probably not. When a person lacks that knowledge, their self-worth is skewed.  The parents who spoke into a child’s life at birth shape that little person’s view of himself.  If the parents were atheists, a baby is perceived as scientific matter, not a precious life.

Let me personalize.  If my parents failed to celebrate my birth and hold me in their arms with wonder, then I will wonder at the meaning of my life.  I will have seen no evidence that I have a Creator who celebrates me. Not until He chooses to reveal Himself to me and open my ears to the sound of His heart beating fast for me, will I understand what it is to be cherished.

No one should have the right to define my worth except my Creator.  Not a parent.  Not a caregiver.  Not a child.   There is no such thing as an unwanted child in the kingdom.  Each birth is a miracle regardless of the circumstances.  Eve knew it.  Cain was the first son in a cursed world yet she could see past the darkness of her times to see the handiwork of God in the face of her son.

When it’s time to sign a birthday card for a friend, I often jot a note that says, “I am praying God will show you how HE is celebrating your birthday today.”  Just a glimpse of that will help right the wrongs of others who missed the miracle of their birth.  God can heal the gaping wounds of those who feel lost and invisible.

I am Your plan, Your creation, and Your joy.  Always was.  Always will be.  Oh, how You love me.  Amen

The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was mother of all living.  Genesis 3:21  ESV

Dear Adam,

 What name will you choose for your wife?  Can you name her anything remotely heartwarming?  Are you feeling the pressure?   You’ve just watched your wife sin while you stood passively by.  You’ve both experienced God’s judgment.  You’ve both heard a curse pronounced on the land, on this beautiful garden that has brought you nothing but pleasure and the best of things to eat.  Life must seem like it’s over.  How does it feel to have broken the heart of your Creator?

And yet, you choose to name your wife, Eve.  It means ‘life’.  Really?  You can name her the ‘mother of all living’ in spite of your grief?  I don’t understand.  There is no way you could think this up apart from feeling some kind of hope.  You heard your Father, didn’t you!  In the middle of pronouncing the curse, He told of someone who will come from your wife…one to crush the head of the serpent who deceived you.  You feel the tinge of justice rectified?  You feel the ache of personal sin forgiven?  Your hope hangs on the God you know you can trust.  You know He is good for His word.

So ‘Eve’ it is!  When you speak it against the backdrop of tragedy; it is an utterance of faith.  When you say her name, do you feel anything joyful?  Probably not yet.  The grief is too recent.

Please know that all who live after you will struggle with the same challenge.  We will choose names for children who will be hopelessly lost without the Redeemer to come.  We will grieve for them, wondering if their cherished name is a mistake.  But we will trust the same God who walked with you in the garden.  We will know He can’t fail.

The one who crushed the head of the serpent is our Redeemer too.  Though we were born cursed, we are now children of the living and not of the dead, beloved and not despised.

Thank you for exercising faith in what looked futile.  In heaven, we will worship together at the feet of our Creator.

Inspired by you, I am your distant relative,

Christine

Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:17-19  ESV

Cursing is when a supernatural power is called upon to injure something or someone.  In this case, God initiates the curse upon the earth.  Sin has brought about desperate consequences for the man and woman.  The very planet that God had created for them to subdue will now hold them captive.  The irony is that, in death, earth will swallow them up completely when they return to the dust of the ground.

The land still feels the effects of man’s sin.  It holds the memory of whatever has been done upon it.  God’s original purpose for His creation (including the land) was that it glorify Him, as well as bless and sustain the people He created.  But man’s sin defiled the land. If we are responsible for defiling the land, it follows that we are critical to the healing and restoring of the land.  If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chron. 7:14  Old Testament reformers like Hezekiah and Josiah repented and cleansed the land from defilement and they prospered.

In the Canadian Arctic, a very moving reconciliation ceremony was held between original inhabitants of the land and those who came afterwards to settle there. As the newcomers repented and rededicated a particular plot of land, they were overwhelmed with God’s immediate response. Although caribou (a mainstay of life) had been scarce in the area for nearly four years, suddenly 15,000 caribou showed up two days later. The caribou spontaneously gathered on the very spot where the land had been rededicated.

The power of God to heal and restore is released through repentance.  I encourage those who attend my prayer mapping training to pray through their homes, pray over their property, and if needed, repent for whatever has historically happened there. Wherever there has been sin, residue remains and the land holds the scars.

God longs to bless His children.  We must actively rule over every place the sole of our foot treads.  Many today, because of reading this, will spiritually cleanse their homes and feel a powerful difference as they experience a peace never before felt on the land they own.  God is true to His Word. “Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things! Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and vine give their full yield.  “Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain.  Joel 2:21-23 

You give me all the spiritual tools I need to live in freedom.  Visit and bring life to my land.   Amen

To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.  Your desire shall be for your husband, but he shall rule over you.”  Genesis 3:16  ESV

The consequences of sin are far-reaching.  Because of what Adam and Eve were about to suffer, their relationship would change.  Where there was once respect and harmony and a complementary working relationship, they would now experience a deep fracture of distrust.  Little could they guess that because of their sin, a woman will struggle to respect the man’s role, and the man will be bent to abuse his authority toward the woman in his life.  The compulsion to do both will be in the sinful, spiritual DNA of both.

I hear the fallout every day.  “No man is going to tell me what to do!” a friend says.  And, “The old lady has me under her thumb!” says an acquaintance of my husband, Ron.  The fracture can be understood as man, by nature, struggles to know how to be strong without dominating and women struggle to know how to be led while still maintaining their strength.  The farther both are from Christ, the greater will be their distortions.

The only remedy to the friction between the sexes is for both to find peace with God.  A people without peace carry their anxieties into every relationship.

Is it possible for a man and woman to live as the first couple did in the garden?  The answer is yes, for the most part.  It will not happen, however, without each one coming to Christ for the cleansing of their sin.  And it will not happen without each one putting to death the deeds of the flesh and deferring to the life of the Spirit within them. 

I used to fear Your rule, Lord.  I was filled with distrust.  It has taken time for me to experience Your character and leadership.  Now, I’m putty in Your hands.  Amen

“I will put enmity between you {Satan} and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”  Genesis 3:15  ESV

  So many have had their heart broken by bitter vows and judgments.  “I’ll never forgive you.”  “You’re no longer my son, or daughter.”  “I never want to see you again.”  “I’ll never speak to you again because you said that!”  “You’ve gone too far and you’re hopeless!”

Ever heard those words?  You know you’ve blown it so badly that you’ve been told there’s nothing you can do to make things right.  Finding this hard to believe, you try everything to make it up to the person.  A parent, a boss, an old friend but you’re shut out.  Bearing consequences without any chance of restoration is cruel.  God does not ever do this.  He never inflicts hopeless despair.

Can you picture this scene in the Garden of Eden?  Things were absolutely perfect.  There was no disease, danger, or disappointment.  No famine, nothing bitter, nothing spoiled to eat. No hurt feelings.  No fear of intimacy.  Then the serpent came.  He lied, cajoled, and reasoned with the woman while Adam stood nearby and probably heard everything.  Doubt about the goodness of God was planted and the woman chose to explore the alternative path Satan presented.  Can you feel the weight of her choice?

Creation broke in half.  Immediately, she and Adam knew something horrific had happened.  I’m sure it felt cataclysmic and irreparable.  God cursed the earth, inflicted the consequences, but in the very same breath gave hope for a Redeemer.  From the seed of the woman, One would come who would crush the head of the serpent and offer redemption to fallen men and women.

Jesus offer Eden again to His children, internally.  Through Him, I am made perfect again.  I walk with His Father in the cool of the evening, just like Adam and Eve.  I get daily instructions for how to rule my Garden, just like Adam and Eve.  I ask Him, daily, for the wisdom to see through the lies of the tempter and He promises spiritual savvy.

The eternal judgment I deserve has been withheld because the Redeemer came and I trusted in Him for total forgiveness.  For every child of God, the kingdom-Eden, is here now. We need only look inside to Christ to live there.  And one day, we will step into a tangible Eden to live forever with our Creator!

You never speak hopeless words over anyone who trusts in the Redeemer You sent to undo what happened in the Garden.  Jesus – the name of above all names – is our Savior.  All glory to you, God.  Amen

The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you…” Genesis 3:14a  ESV

 God is passing judgment on sin.  At this moment, a war commenced between what was holy and unholy.  Satan’s designs for mankind had been made public; he was one who seeks to devour and destroy.  Light and darkness would never live harmoniously together.  The two are antithetical.  Jesus said, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be brought to desolation.” Matthew 12:25. Whether the forces of light and darkness fight in the heavenlies, or fight upon the earth, or war inside the life of every believer, the battle is intense and cataclysmic. 

There can be no good outcomes when a disciple of Jesus habitually sins.  What is the result when a believer’s light is dim, when some of his deeds are evil and others are holy?  What happens when God’s family sings together and then leaves to fight and gossip?   There is confusion as we send out a mixed signal.  The spiritual meal we offer others is void of salt and tasteless.  No one wants a second helping.  

In the garden, opposites were established.  It is God’s plan for His people to continue to draw a line in the sand with their lives.  When the lines are blurred, God is misunderstood.  People can’t separate who we are from who God is.  As we misrepresent him by living in the shadows of light and darkness, the world is repelled by a God whom they assume is also corrupt, driven by double standards.  Wary, they keep their distance because they reason that he surely can’t be trusted.

Satan is my enemy.  He represents everything that is evil and dark. 

Jesus is my Savior and Lord.  He represents everything good and glorious. 

I am a child of the Light.  As I live, may there be no confusion about my allegiance.

Make me holy as you are holy.  Make evil distasteful to me on all levels. Amen

Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”  Genesis 3: 11-13

Eve, herself, relayed the sequence of events.  The serpent deceived her.  That is true.  She ate of the tree.  That is true.  But she failed to mention that these two events were separated by an additional one.  She thought through Satan’s words and processed them to make a choice.  Satan was cunning but he didn’t make her sin.  She did that on her own.  And ever since that day, Satan’s presence and influence have been public.  Whether he is portrayed as a caricature with a pitchfork or is the topic of a serious bible study, people throughout the earth are familiar with him in some fashion. 

If a trusted friend warned me about a certain someone, I would certainly listen.  I wouldn’t get involved with him on any level.  Yet Jesus, more credible than any trusted friend, warns me about my spiritual adversary.  Despite that, I continually flirt with him.  If his customized temptation is perfectly matched to my area of weakness, it feels like I’m helpless to say no.  The truth is, I always have a choice.  When Satan’s lure is too strong for me to resist, Jesus promises something called ‘grace.’  My sin is without excuse, just like the sin of Eve.

Jesus is clear.  “Don’t believe our common enemy.  He hates you because you belong to Me!”  If I trust my Savior, I will put up my guard today and secure my armor in place.  I will not be prey to the ultimate spiritual predator, the one who preyed on the angels in heaven to get them to join his mutinous enterprise.  He is no respecter of persons. 

You came to destroy the works of this evil one.  You’ve told all of us that this was your mission. Jesus, I’m yours and I join you in Your enterprise, starting with my own choices.  I lean completely on Your grace. Amen

But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”  And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”  Genesis 3:9-10  ESV

Adam didn’t give the right answer when God asked him where he was.  Adam said, “I hid because I was naked.”  Technically, that wasn’t true.  He should have said, “I hid because I disobeyed you.”   Defensiveness was Adam’s default, and by extension, it is also mine.

There have been periods when I avoided God.  I quenched His voice when I could sense Him reaching out to me.  I kept the noise level high to drown out the wooing.  The more time went by, the harder it became to turn myself around.  Excuses were thin when I finally knelt before my Father.  “I was busy” didn’t cut it, and I knew it.  Like Adam, I tried to hide the real issue, but I also knew that the fracture in our relationship would never be right unless I told the truth of my detour. 

It’s a reminder that, sooner or later, every person who hides from God will stand before Him.  All will encounter Him as their Judge or as their Savior.   Those who ran from His presence because they were disobedient children will mourn their choices, and mostly, what they missed from being near perfect Love.  They will regret all the small things they hid behind, the exchanges they made to replace time with Him.  Those who rejected Him because they were enemies of the cross will also mourn their choices.  Like the rich man in Hades, they will see the expanse of an eternity before them that offers no second chances.

I can be consumed today with just a sideways glance of a mere acquaintance.  It will bug me for hours on end.  I might even obsess about it.  But, am I equally consumed when I sense that things between God and me aren’t right?  Of all relationships, this should disturb me most of all. 

Sometimes, I haven’t known what was wrong but when I asked, You showed me.  Thank you for all the times You came looking for me..  Amen