Genesis 3: 8-9 Records an event of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden:

“And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam and said to him, “Where art thou?”

When God asked Adam where he was, it was not because the Lord did not know where he was. God knows the end from the beginning, the whole plan. It was Adam who did not know where he was, having lost his direction and purpose. God was not referring to a geographical position when He placed the question, but to Adam’s heart condition, which, through disobedience had become hardened.

“The carnal mind is enmity against God,” Romans 8:7. My flesh life, the Adamic nature, seeks to usurp the power of God in my life, whereas the Indwelling Christ is seeking His rule of my heart to establish His government there.

When temptations and trials come, if a wrong choice is made by me, then I will reap the consequences of that choice, questioning God with my lack of understanding. I learn the ways of God through His loving chastisement. Isaiah 55:8 the Lord declares, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord.” (Hebrews 12 expounds further on the loving chastening of the Lord.)

I am in a process and because I do not understand the process, I question God. In His great love for us, our Heavenly Father corrects and chastens His children. Correction and chastisement are necessary for healthy growth and development, but it is not a hard, penal discipline, yet my hard-hearted attitude to God may receive it as such until I yield to receive His loving correction.

Many misguided parents have ruefully said of their grown child, “I gave him everything he wanted, all his own way, but his life is a sad mess!” A child lacking a healthy balance of love, chastisement and boundaries results in chaos.

Once a man or woman is “Born Again” the judgement of God on sin in their life is over through the finished work of Calvary – but Calvary is the starting point where our journey from measure to fullness begins. I have to learn to give Jesus Christ control of my life. He dictates direction and as I yield to Him He takes me on the journey, another step towards the goal, fullness.

Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, had to learn obedience even though He was “without sin.” He is our Pattern Man, as it was with Him, so it is with us as we learn obedience. How do we learn?….by yielding our will, “Though he were a Son, Jesus learned obedience by the things which he suffered” (allowed/chose/yielded to), Hebrews 5:8

When God allows adversity in my life, He wants me to learn to trust Him in it. There are consequences for obedience and disobedience, but in the greater picture, God comes to me and blesses me because He loves me. All my righteousness and standing is in the shed blood of Jesus Christ alone and not in my works and efforts. If I go into sin, He woos me back in loving chastisement, to bring me further along the journey to be conformed to the image of His Son.

Romans 6:23 declares, “The wages of sin are death.” When I backslide into sin, I lose God’s peace and joy and my lack in this area is a consequence of my disobedience. On the other hand, the consequences of obedience automatically result in God’s peace and joy in my being.

When God says,”Where are you?” He makes me aware of my circumstances of doubting, disobedience etc. and He beckons me to move closer to Him again – “Come, learn of Me.”

Scripture declares our standing and position in Christ. Colossians 2: 9-10 “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you are complete in Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:16 “…..But we have the mind of Christ.” Every day we have choices to make to walk in our standing in Christ in humility, until it becomes a lifestyle. Jesus said, Matthew 11:29 “Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls.”

My flesh life, the Adamic nature in me, will seek to usurp the power of God in my life for, “The carnal mind is enmity against God,” Romans 8:7. When I receive the correction of God in my life then His government is established producing spiritual fruit. The establishment of God’s kingdom in my life is not only to me, but reaches out and extends to others, this is community blessing.

At the lowest point of my life in the “fight of faith” I need to declare: I AM THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS!

Philippians 2:5 instructs, “LET this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” The responsibility lies with me and my choice to allow it, to LET it! If I am not operating with the mind of Christ it is because I am not “allowing” His mind to be in me, and I have a responsibility before Almighty God to “LET” Him. It is my choice. I NEED TO START!