God's Woman - Always Apply Knowledge Immediately

Excerpted from
Your Inner Eve : Discovering God's Woman Within
By Reverend Dr. Susan Newman

The third lesson I see in this snake conspiracy is that we should always apply new knowledge immediately. When live ate the trait from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, her eyes and mind were immediately opened to a higher intelligence. She had new information that heretofore was unavailable to anyone except God. It stands to reason that since she now had this new knowledge, she should have known that the snake was evil and had no good intentions toward her or Adam. I say, "Eve, kill the snake before he utterly destroys you!" Think about it with your new knowledge of good and evil. Why would this serpent spend his time enticing you to be disobedient to your Creator? What does it matter whether you eat the fruit or not; What's in it for him?

The main goal of this snake-and of snake-like people-is to destroy you and thus bring heartbreak to God. The serpent was jealous and could not stand the fact that God loved man so much that God created Adam and live in God's own image. He was racked with jealousy that they were created "a little lower than the angels." Adam and Eve had dominion over the snake and walked about freely without a care m the world, while he was subordinate and vulnerable to predators.

Immediately applied knowledge would also have informed them that a few hand-stitched fig leaves could not hide disobedience to God. God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere at the same time. Before we do things, God already knows what we're going to do. When God asked Adam and Eve, "Where are you?" it was not because God needed the information. Adam and Eve needed to realize and confess that they were not where they had been commanded by God to be-in God's will.

When I was a child my mother would come to me and my sister and ask us questions from time to rime concerning something we'd done wrong. "Do you know what happened to my dishes?" "Have you seen my earrings?" "Where did you go after school today?" She did not ask these things because she needed information. She already knew what had happened. She was giving us the opportunity to confess and fall prostrate before her, begging for forgiveness for being inconsiderate and disobedient children. (I say this with tongue firmly in cheek.)

As with my mother, so it is with God. We read in James 4:17, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." It is not enough to know good and evil unless you are willing to apply your knowledge to your everyday choices and decisions. True knowledge is given from God. In Proverbs 4:7 it says, "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding." God's wisdom and understanding are accessible to us from within our spirits.

Some of us have become accustomed to seeking help outside ourselves. We believe that there is no way what we are looking for in life can be found within. Yet I'm beginning to think otherwise. Spirit allows us to encounter people in our lives who encourage us, test us, challenge us, and enlighten us. With every year of life, new lessons come our way. Each year brings its challenges, but also the strength to overcome them. There are months hill of hardships, hut also the grace to make it through. We have the treasure of our Inner Eve, God's Woman- Spirit inside us, who is able to empower us beyond what we could ever accomplish alone. In this lite we will he "tested in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed" (II Corinthians4:8-9).

To this day my favorite movie is The Wizard of Oz, with Judy Garland playing Dorothy. Just like Dorothy, the Lion, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man, we have always had inside us what we need to maneuver through this lite. God has given each of us courage, a heart, a mind, and a home. We need to allow our Inner Eve greater power in our lives. It we would take out the weeds of negativity that have grown up-by renewing the Garden of our mind through trust, affirmations, self-love, peace, hope, gentleness, kindness, patience, faith, and imagination-there are no limits to what we can achieve in our lives and the lives of others. 1 he Apostle Paul said it another way: "Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and it there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Philippians 4:8).

Who am I? I am Susan, God's original woman. I am a woman loved by God. I matter to God, and I matter to me. It takes courage to live our your lite in full expression of yourself. Don't live constantly seeking affirmation from others that you are valuable, important, wonderful, and worth loving. Affirm through your inner spirit that you are God's original woman, created in God's image. God knows you in your entirety, God loves you unconditionally, and you love yourself-that is enough.