Genesis 3: 9 And the Lord called Adam and said to him, Where are you?
Where are you?
It is a question that is asked in Genesis 3: 9. Adam and Eve had just eaten some of the fruit of the forbidden tree and, sensing the presence of God in the garden of Eden, they hid among the trees. While they were in hiding, God asked Adam a one-word question. In Hebrew that word is Ayeka? In English it means
“Where are you?”
Where are you? It is what we ask our children when they throw the lamp in the living room and hide behind the sofa with their feet sticking out. Where are you? Today God has given me the opportunity to reveal a rhema Ayeka word (Where are you?), Some spiritual principles and, most importantly, our faith in God to help us transcend adversity and help us respond to God’s call. Ayeka.
“Know how to move beyond your current location”
“I’m not where I’m supposed to be, but thank God I’m not where I used to be.”
I really had to look at this statement, and over the past two years, the more I studied this Biblical Human Philosophy, the more I understood how the enemy works and what God expects of us as disciples of Christ. Let me help you understand where God took me yesterday morning on my commute to work. I encourage you to help me paint a picture of this statement in your mind, so that we can get a visual picture and please acknowledge when you see what God has revealed to me. Whenever I am not where I am supposed to be, be it a physical place, a spiritual place, or a set of goals for myself and / or my family. This statement immediately defines that I know the location or the final result, I might even have knowledge of the time remaining before my arrival, but I know where I am supposed to be. I may not know how to get there, I may have gotten lost along the way, or I might even have deliberately strayed from the path. Whatever reason comes to mind for not being there, the question arises … then “Where are you?” (Ayeka).
So let’s go back to my original, if controversial, commitment to reveal the philosophical tricks that the enemy has implemented in church doctrine, disguised as terms and verbiage that we use every day in a biblical way.
“I’m not where I’m supposed to be, but thank God I’m not where I used to be” …….. So where are you?
God did not need to ask Adam where he was, it was Adam that he needed to be asked; and God does not need to ask each one of us Ayeka, we are the ones who need to be asked. Adam stutters and says, “I realized I was naked, so I hid.” And God, always the patient father, says: “Who told you that you were naked?” And the man says, without shame or irony: “The woman you put next to me! She gave me from the tree and I ate!” Then God asks Eve, and she responds in the same way: “The serpent tricked me and I ate!”
And then God has his answer for Ayeka, where are you? Adam and Eve are in that place where they justify themselves by blaming others. They are in the place where they are too embarrassed and angry about being caught to take responsibility. They are in the place where they simply wait for the consequences of their act to magically disappear. Thank God we are not like them! Thank goodness they are just primitive characters in a story, while we are sophisticated and real. Thank God that, unlike Eve and Adam, we have good reasons for breaking our moral codes. Thank goodness we have nothing to hide, our excuses really justify our behavior.
Ayeka asks us, not just Adam and Eve: Where are you in your life? You are running? Ayeka? Are you afraid? In shame? Are you unconscious or just listless? Are you here today Or you are hiding, like Adam and Eve. And it is not only God who is asking.
Ayeka? Where are you? A woman asks her husband when he comes home with the scent of someone else on his body.
Ayeka? Where are you? A mother asks her teenage son when he says he is doing well in school when the counselor calls to tell her that homework has not been done and grades are unacceptable.
Ayeka? Where are you? A child asks a parent who never has time to talk, play, or go anywhere, that he is busy with everyone else except her.
Ayeka? Where are you? A man asks someone at work who has been playing fast and loose with office bills, stealing to keep his lifestyle out of control.
Our ability to move beyond our current location, regain the proper direction, and restart our journey is linked to God’s Word. Before we began to justify our errors, shortcomings, and errors with the Biblically Based Human Philosophy, against which we are warned in
Colossians 2: 8 “Beware that no one pampers you with philosophy and vain deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the rudiments of the world and not according to Christ.”
First let’s get this question from God … Ayeka “Where are you?” Many of us have not been able to use our Power to access the Power to continue our journey without eating from the tree, and if we eat from the tree, that we take responsibility for our actions and responsibility for the consequences. The instructions that we must follow are found in the word of God … Not in man, nor in the Philosophy of man. Not in the doctrine of this world, nor in the ingredients or principles that make up this world.
1Corinthians 2: 5-6 “So that your faith may not be based on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. (6) However, we speak wisdom among the perfect, but not the wisdom of this world, or of the princes of this world, who come to nothing “
The Prince of this world has filled the Church with Adams. We are becoming a place of victims. Many of us cheat and arm ourselves to the teeth with reasons why what we did was simply not our fault. We are codependent. We are recovering from phobias. We are psychologically disadvantaged, socially damaged, additively abused. What we will all admit is that actions must have consequences. What we all won’t admit is that our actions must have consequences.
The question, “Where are you?” It is a question that we must sometimes ask ourselves. Many today do not know where they are spiritually.
(2 Corinthians 13: 5). The prodigal son did not seek to return home until he “came to.” (Luke 15:17) It was not the pig pen in particular that brought him back, but the memories of his father’s home. As he examined himself and reflected on how far he had fallen, he realized where he was.
The enemy has created a church culture in which it is incredibly easy to evade responsibility for whatever we do. It is not that there are no real victims in the church, you will experience pain, depression, setbacks, falls … but I know where I am, and where I am, the Word tells me. That crying can last one night but joy comes in the morning … Weapons can be formed … BUT THEY WILL NOT PROSPER The enemy has placed so many perpetrators inside the body that they claim to be victims that the true victims are lost. ….. so today I ask you where are you?
2 Thessalonians
Consider the importance of asking the question, “Where are you?” There are only four states that people can live in in this life.
1. We can live in innocence – childhood, unaccountable to God’s law – (see Romans 7: 9).
2. We can live dead in sin – accountable to God’s law and condemned – (cf. Ephesians 2: 1-2).
3. We can be alive and well, faithful in Christ, enjoying the promise of eternal life (cf. 2 Timothy 4: 6-8).
4. We can be among those who have turned unfaithful and are looking toward “a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fiery fierceness that will devour adversaries.” (Hebrews 10:27; cf. Acts 8: 22-23; 2 Peter 2: 20-22). “Where are you? “