DAY 27
陷阱
雷克-喬納 Rick Joyner
翻譯：Kate
轉載/轉寄 請註明出處：國度禱告網

蛇對女人說：你們不一定死；
因為神知道，你們吃的日子眼睛就明亮了，你們便如神能知道善惡。（創世記3:4-5）

當魔鬼看到這個女人已經對神的命令表現出微妙的不尊重，對它進行了補充，然後牠通過大膽地反駁神把她完全推入陷阱。當夏娃沒有因此而退縮時，她的命運就註定了。如果我們容易增加或減少神的話語，我們就會成為受騙的主要對象。如果我們不採取立場反對與神的話語公然矛盾，我們也同樣會成為狡猾者的獵物。

與夏娃相反，當耶穌被魔鬼試探時，祂以神的話語為立場。順服的基礎是在我們的心中確定神的話語是真實的。每當我們被試探時，我們應該逃到神的話語中去，尋找聖經中關於這個問題的說法。如果夏娃等著問神關於蛇的斷言，她就很可能吃了禁果。主應許我們，如果我們尋找，就會找到（見馬太福音7:7）。如果我們尋求祂，祂將教導我們祂的方法。把我們的問題提交給主，這並不是錯誤的。

我們還應該注意到，撒旦的第一個有記錄的謊言是 "你們不一定死"。這仍然是牠的基本謊言，也是大多數虛假宗教和信仰的根源的巨大欺騙。然而，神的話語很清楚，"因為罪的工價乃是死"（見羅馬書6:23）。罪會導致死亡。不管那些哲學或宗教聽起來多麼狡猾，如果我們相信神的話語以外的東西，那將是我們的厄運。

什麼是罪？就是違抗神。祂創造了我們，祂知道什麼對我們是最好的。祂只為第一個男人和女人制定了一條規則，那是為了保護他們。祂沒有對他們說，當他們吃樹上的果子的那一天，祂就會殺了他們。祂說，他們吃樹上的果子的那一天，他們就會死。祂知道那果子是毒藥。那果子會使他們死亡，而且確實如此。主總是考慮到我們的最佳利益。祂只把那些會傷害我們和祂的創造物的東西定為罪。

神已經為我們的生活制定了準則。如果我們堅持彎曲規則，將導致我們自己的毀滅。制定這些規則不是為了挫敗我們，而是為了保護我們的安全。罪是致命的。不順服就是罪，它總是會導致悲劇的發生。讓我們在心中確立神是好的，祂的道路都是公義的、真實的，祂制定了我們應該遵守的準則，是為了我們的益處。如果我們渴望理解，就讓我們為了在順服中變得更加完美而請求。

我們還應該注意，知識之樹在園子的中間。這也表明了吃它的果實的主要結果--以自我為中心。當亞當和夏娃吃了它，他們做的第一件事就是看自己。以神為中心帶來生命，而以自我為中心則帶來死亡。蛇讓女人吃禁果的最後推手是讓她認為神保留了一些讓她感到完整所需的東西。如果敵人能讓我們關注自己，特別是關注真實的或感覺到的個人不足，那麼我們就會很容易成為被騙的獵物。

敵人的策略是讓我們看自己，無論是好的還是壞的，而不是看主的充足。通過這一點，我們通常可以識別出魔鬼在我們心裡種下了什麼東西，把我們引入歧途。同樣，知識之樹的果子通過讓我們看自己而殺人。與此相反，吃生命樹的果子會使我們以基督為中心。不是我們在祂裡面是誰，而是祂在我們裡面是誰，才會帶來生命和力量。

我們必須知道什麼是罪並且能夠認出它，但將注意力集中在罪上並不是通往無罪生活的道路。我們確實需要了解魔鬼的計畫，但我們不能將注意力集中在牠身上，或者過於關注牠的方式。哥林多前書 11:31 告訴我們：“我們若是先分辨自己，就不至於受審。”因此，我們審視自己是對的，但如果我們專注於自我，我們就會跌倒。

我們必須把注意力關注在主身上，看祂的榮耀，如果我們要改變成祂的形象。我們必須防範任何試圖讓我們把注意力集中在自己、魔鬼或罪上的教義或人。這裡的關鍵字是 "關注"。跟隨那些追隨基督的人，在對祂是誰的認識中成長，並越來越接近祂。

DAY 27
The Trap
Rick Joyner

And the serpent said to the woman, "You surely shall not die!
"For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened,
and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:4-5).

When the devil saw that the woman had already shown a subtle disrespect for God's command by adding to it, he then pushed her all of the way into the trap by boldly contradicting God. When Eve did not recoil at this, her fate was sealed. If we are prone to either add to or take away from the Word of God, we will be prime candidates for deception. If we do not take a stand against the blatant contradictions to God's Word, we will likewise be easy prey for the crafty.

In contrast to Eve, when Jesus was tempted by the devil, He took His stand on God's Word. The foundation of obedience is having it settled in our hearts that God's Word is true. Whenever we are being tempted, we should flee to the Word of God and search for what the Bible says on the issue. It is very unlikely that Eve would have eaten the forbidden fruit if she had waited to ask God about the serpent's assertions. The Lord promises us that if we seek, we will find (see Matthew 7:7). He will teach us His ways if we seek Him. It is not wrong to take our questions to the Lord.

We should also note that the very first recorded lie of Satan was "You surely shall not die." This is still his basic lie, and the great deception that is the root of most false religions and beliefs. Yet, the Word of God is clear, "For the wages of sin is death" (see Romans 6:23). Sin leads to death. It does not matter how crafty the philosophies or religions sound, if we believe anything other than God's Word, it will be our doom.

What is sin? It is disobeying God. He made us, and He knows what is best for us. He only established one rule for the first man and woman, and it was to protect them. He did not say to them that the day they ate from the fruit of the tree that He was going to kill them. He said that the day they ate from it, they would die. He knew that the fruit was poison. It was the fruit that would kill them, and it did. The Lord always has our best interests in mind. He has only designated those things as sin that will hurt us and His creation.

God has established guidelines for our lives. If we insist on bending the rules, it will result in our own destruction. These rules were not made just to frustrate us, but rather to keep us safe. Sin kills. Disobedience is sin, and it will always result in tragedy. Let us establish in our hearts that God is good, His ways are all righteous and true, and it is for our good that He has established the guidelines by which we should live. If we desire understanding, let us ask for the sake of becoming more perfect in our obedience.

We should also note that the Tree of Knowledge is in the middle of the Garden. This is also indicative of the primary result of eating its fruit—self-centeredness. When Adam and Eve ate from it, the first thing that they did was look at themselves. God-centeredness leads to life, while self-centeredness leads to death. The final push of the serpent to get the woman to eat the forbidden fruit was to get her to think that God was withholding something that she needed to feel complete. If the enemy can get us to focus on ourselves, especially on real or perceived personal inadequacies, we will then be easy prey for deception.

The enemy's strategy is to get us to look at ourselves, either the good or the bad, instead of looking to the adequacy of the Lord. By this we can usually recognize what the devil is planting in our hearts to lead us astray. Again, the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge kills by getting us to look at ourselves. In contrast to this, eating from the Tree of Life will result in our being Christ-centered. It is not who we are in Him, but who He is in us that leads to life and power.

We must know what sin is and be able to recognize it, but keeping our attention focused on the sin is not the path to a sin-free life. We do need to understand the schemes of the devil, but we must not keep our attention on him, or concern ourselves with knowing his ways too deeply. We are told in I Corinthians 11:31, "But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged." It is therefore right that we examine ourselves, but if we focus on self, we will fall.

We must focus our attention on the Lord and behold His glory if we are going to be changed into His image. We must guard against any doctrine, or person, which tries to make us focus our attention on ourselves, the devil, or sin. The key word here is "focus." Follow those who are following Christ, growing in the knowledge of who He is, and getting ever closer to Him.