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Garden of Eden
by Janelle Goodwin The Garden of Eden our need for salvation; the key to our souls Bible Story God looked at the wonderful world He created and it was good. God saw how beautiful the bright yellow sun warmed the earth. He knew how pretty the colorful flowers made His land. God watched the birds fly through the big blue sky, the fish swim in the cool water of the oceans and lakes. God watched the lions, tigers, and horses walk through the green forests. God knew He wanted a special friend to enjoy all of the great things He created. God decided to make a man like Him, in His image. God took a pile of dust from the ground, made some mud, then formed the mud into the shape of a man. This mud man was not alive. He needed to breathe in order to live. Next, God blew into the man's nose the breath of life. The mud man came alive and began to breathe. God had created the first man. God named this man Adam. Adam was God's special creation. God gave an important job to Adam. God put Adam in charge of all the earth, all the plants, and all the animals God had created. God planted a special garden in Eden. This garden was a perfect place for Adam to live. God made each tree and plant in the garden for Adam to enjoy. Adam loved his job of taking care of this spectacular garden. In the middle of the garden, God planted two very important trees. One of these important trees was the Tree of Life. The other important tree was the Tree of Knowledge. God made the all plants and trees to provide vegetables and fruits for Adam to eat. God told Adam that he could eat from all the trees in the garden, but Adam could not eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. God told Adam if he did eat of this tree, then Adam would surly die. God had a special job for Adam to do. None of the animals God had created had names. God sent all of the animals to Adam to name each of them. Adam saw a great big grey animal with a trunk. He said, "I will call that animal an elephant." Next, Adam saw a cute little animal with fur that purred. He said, "I will call that animal a cat." Then, Adam saw an animal with four legs and hair all over. The animal barked and Adam said, "I will call that animal dog." Each of the animals came to visit Adam to get their name. As Adam named the animals, he noticed there were two of each. Each animal came with a special friend. Even though the special friends looked a little different they were still the same kind of animal. Seeing as there were two of each animal, they could play, eat, have fun, and help each other. Adam became very sad. Adam did not have a special friend like him to play with. He did not have anyone that was like him that he could eat with, have fun with or help him when he needed help. Adam lived all alone in the beautiful Garden of Eden. This made Adam very lonely. God knew that it was not good for Adam to be without a special friend. So God made Adam fall asleep. While Adam was sleeping God took one of Adam's rib bones from his side and used it to create a woman. When Adam woke up he saw this woman and knew there was something very special about her. This woman was a person like Adam. The woman stood tall on her legs and had arms and hands that hung by her side just like Adam. This woman did not have fur all over her body like the animals. She had long beautiful hair on her head. This woman was different from the animals Adam was used to having around him. Adam knew that this woman came from his body. Adam knew God had made this woman to be his special friend. This woman completed Adam. Adam now had someone to play with, have fun with, and to help him when he needed help. Adam named his new special friend Eve. There were many animals that lived in the garden. One of those animals was a snake. The snake was different from the other animals; he was smarter and liked to play tricks. One day while Eve was in the garden, the snake proved that he was a trickster. The snake asked Eve if she was allowed to eat from all the trees in the garden. Eve said to the snake, "Adam and I can eat from all of the trees except for the Tree of Knowledge". The snake tricked Eve by saying, "God does not allow you and Adam to eat from the Tree of Knowledge because God does not want you and Adam to be as smart as God." The snake used his words to trick Eve into feeling like God was keeping something good from her and Adam by not allowing them to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Eve wanted to be as smart as God. Eve looked at the tree. She saw how beautiful the fruit looked. Eve saw how shiny the fruit was and thought how juicy it would be. Eve knew the fruit really would be tasty. Eve also thought it would be good to be wise like God. So, Eve reached out, plucked a piece of fruit off the tree, and took a bite. After taking a big bite Eve realized nothing happened. Eve did not die. Eve was not any smarter either. She was still Eve. The fruit did not seem to do anything, but it was tasty so Eve gave Adam the fruit. Adam ate what was left of the fruit. All of a sudden, Adam and Eve knew they had disobeyed God. They had new thoughts and questions going through their heads. Adam and Eve figured out the snake had tricked them. They understood that eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was wrong. Then, Adam and Eve realized they were not wearing any clothes. They were ashamed about being naked. They realized they had not obeyed God. They hid themselves in the bushed and made little aprons to cover up their bodies. Later that afternoon when it was cool in the garden, God came down from Heaven to visit Adam and Eve just like He did every day. God looked forward to spending time with Adam and Eve in the garden each day. God enjoyed coming into the garden to walk and talk with Adam and Eve. God looked and looked all over the garden, but could not find Adam nor Eve. God's heart was broken. God knew Adam had disobeyed Him and ate of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. God called out to Adam, "Where are you?" Adam came out from where he and Eve were hiding and answered, "Here we are God. I heard your voice in the garden. I was afraid that you would see me naked, So I hid from you." God asked Adam, "Why would you be afraid?" God asked this question even though He knew that Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge before they told Him. God knows everything. God just wanted to hear Adam tell him. God needed to make sure that Adam realized by eating the fruit God told Adam not to eat, Adam disobeyed God. God asked Adam, "Have you eaten of the fruit I told you not to eat of?" Adam answered, "The woman gave me the fruit, and I ate it." God asked the woman, "What have you done?" She answered, "The snake tricked me, and I ate it." God was very sad that Adam and Eve had disobeyed Him. God knew He had to teach them that it is wrong to disobey God. Adam and Eve needed to know there is punishment for not obeying the rules. First God said to the snake, "Because you have done this, you shall move on your belly, in the dust, all the days of your life. The woman shall be your enemy, and her children shall be the enemies of your children forever." Even though Adam and Eve had disobeyed God, He still loved them. God made Adam and Eve coats of animal skin so they would not be cold. Then God sent Adam and Eve out of the beautiful Garden of Eden. God did not want Adam and Eve to eat of the other important tree, the Tree of Life. Adam and Eve could no longer live in their beautiful garden. Adam and Eve could not longer do what God had created them to do. The punishment for disobeying God's rules was to make their way in the world filled with hardship and sorrow. Lesson The Garden of Eden was a pretty place where Adam and Eve spent all day together. Taking care of the garden was not like a chore or a job. Taking care of the garden was fun because it is what God created Adam to do. Because Adam disobeyed God by eating the fruit, Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden and not allowed to come back. In the Garden of Eden everything was perfect. The garden did not have weeds. In the garden God created a special kind of mist so Adam would not have to water the plants for food. God wanted Adam to have fun all day. God did not want Adam to have to work for food to feed the family. Now that Adam disobeyed God he was not allowed to live in the garden. God punished Adam and Eve by making them work to provide for their family. Adam, Eve, and the children needed things like food, water, and clothes. Adam had to work the land outside the garden for food to feed his family. Things were no longer fun for Adam. He had to plant food for his family. Adam had to pull weeds and water the ground. He would work hard outside everyday and come home all sweaty and dirty. Adam never had to do this in the Garden of Eden. Eve's jobs were to take care of the kids and the place where they lived. She was in charge of cooking the food Adam brought home for the family to eat. She made sure all of the chores of the house were done. Eve was not used to working either. She was used to being in the garden where she could spend the day having fun. Even though Eve loved her family, it was still very hard work and working was not always fun like it was in the garden. Adam and Eve disobeyed God. The bible tells us that Adam and Eve sinned. Sin is disobeying your parents, your teachers and other people. Most importantly, sin is disobeying God. When Adam sinned it caused sin to spread to all the people of the world. Just like a person with a cold can spread cold germs to other people, the sin nature was spread to all people from Adam. Because Adam sinned, all people are born with a sin nature. Even though tiny babies can not really disobey, they are still born with sin already in them. One of the special things God gave Adam and Eve in the garden was eternal life. Eternal life means that Adam and Eve would live forever. Because Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sinned, they lost the special gift of living forever as a friend of God. Because we are born with our sin nature, we are not promised eternal life as a friend of God. This fact made God sad. God wants everyone to be His friend and to live forever with Him. So, God made a plan to cover our sins and give us eternal life again. More importantly, God made a way for us to be friends of God! God wants to be our friend. God loves us and wants us to be with Him. He wants us to live with Him forever in Heaven. Heaven is a beautiful place where God lives. Heaven is full of wonderful things that God has made for us. Heaven is a place where we will be happy and have fun all of the time. In Heaven we will not get sick anymore. In Heaven we will have everything we need. God made a way for us to be with Him in Heaven. God sent Jesus, God's son, to cover up our sins. Jesus had to suffer many things and even die on a cross to cover up our sins. Dying on the cross was a very hard thing for Jesus to do. Many mean men hit Jesus with their fists. Some people threw things at Jesus. These people all hurt Jesus very badly. God could not watch these mean people hurt His son. Jesus never hit the mean people back. Jesus never said a word about how these mean people were treating him. Jesus knew that he had a special job to do. Jesus knew that he had to go through all of this pain so that we could have a chance to live in Heaven with God. Jesus withstood the pain and died on the cross all because He loved us. Jesus wanted us to be able to have eternal life again and to live with him and God in Heaven. Have you ever hurt yourself and blood came out of your body? When Jesus was on the cross blood came out of his body. But His blood is very special blood. Jesus' blood can wash away our sins. When we ask for Jesus to live in our hearts, his blood washes away our sins so we can live forever with God. To ask Jesus into our hearts, all we have to do is believe that Jesus is the son of God, accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, then, even though you cannot see it, Jesus' blood will cover our sins and wash us clean. We can all have clean hearts to live for God. Once we have asked Jesus' blood to wash us clean, we can have life in Heaven where we will walk on streets of gold. When we get to Heaven, we will be able to see God and be God's special friend forever. While we are here on earth, we must learn more about how God wants us to live a good life. God has given us the Bible to teach us how to live a holy life on earth. God wants us to be holy. Being holy means behaving so that our friends can see we have asked Jesus to be the Lord of our lives. Other people need to see that we have asked Jesus into our hearts so that they will want Jesus in their hearts too! Living a holy life makes God happy! Life Application Do you ever disobey your parents? Have you ever disobeyed God? Do you ever do wrong things? If you do these things then you have sin in your life. If you have sin, but want to be washed clean from your sin all you have to do is ask Jesus to come into your heart to allow His blood to wash you clean. Then after you have asked Him to wash you clean, ask Him to help you grow in God. To learn to read the bible and pray everyday so that you can show others a good life and that they will want to be like you. It doesn't take much, just a simple prayer like this one: Dear God, I realize that I do wrong things. I realize that I have disobeyed my parents, my teachers and I realize that I have disobeyed You as well. God, I'm very sorry for disobeying You. I believe that you have sent your son, Jesus, to die on the cross for my sins. So, I'm asking You now, please let Jesus' blood cover my sins and wash me clean. I want to live my life for You, to show others a good and holy life here on earth. Please help me as I learn about You and how you want me to live. I love You and know that I'm on my way to Heaven. Thank You God. Amen. Lady of Virtue Ministries started as Janelle Goodwin attended Bible College in upstate NY. Janelle became burdened to see souls saved from eternal condemnation. Upon returning home from Bible College, she also became burdened to see women of the world develop characteristics of a Proverbs 31 Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |