Rom 8:13 (NIV) For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if BY the Spirit YOU put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. As Jesus takes you into this next segment of training, He will teach you how to not only believe in the creation power of the Scriptures in the Bible, He will lead you into the Holy Spirit’s power to make all the things of God possible for you.

Jesus will be teaching you how have the power to control your eyes and your thoughts by concentrating on the Truth of His Word; and, He will be helping you know how to yield to the power of the Holy Spirt so you can concentrate on His Word. Another way for you to learn how to concentrate on God’s Word is to see how Satan brings distractions your way. Once you learn what distractions look like, you will be able to yield to the power of the Holy Spirit so you can ignore or resist them. Then you will be able to concentrate on God and the things of God. The best example of this is the case of Adam and Eve’s temptation.

Just like Peter struggled with focusing his eyes on Jesus rather than the wind and the waves, Adam and Eve had problems with focusing on God’s commands rather than Satan’s temptations. Let Jesus show you Eve as she goes from faith in and obedience to God to putting her faith in and giving her obedience to Satan. Satan is going to use his five step temptation techniques he uses on everyone; and, Eve fell for them.

Gen 2:16-17 (NIV) And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” God spoke to Adam and Eve in creation power. From the moment He spoke, they had the power to not eat from the forbidden tree. If God gave them the rules but didn’t give them the power to obey the rules, it would have been unjust.

1 Cor 6:19-20 (NIV) Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, Whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. You have the power of the Holy Spirit helping you do all these things in cooperation with the creation Word. Adam and Eve didn’t have that. But, you need all the help you can get. Jesus knows your battle against your body, the pressures from the world, and the temptations of the devil pose a lot more challenges. So, He sent you the Holy Spirit to provide you with more power.

Adam and Eve had the power to make their own choices. That happened when God made them in His own image. Gen 1:27 (NIV) So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. That’s how you got your God-given free will. But, just like Adam and Eve had to have a forbidden tree to exercise their free will on, you have your body, the world, and the devil to choose, if you want to, rather than God and His Word.

Gen 3:1 (NIV) Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said (Satan using the serpent’s body) to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” This question was asked so as to get Eve’s FOCUS on the tree that they had been forbidden to eat from. Up to that moment Eve’s heart was settled on the Word of God. She had been looking at all the other trees in the garden and NOT spending much time looking at the forbidden tree. But, that is about to change.

John 16:13 (NIV) But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. You have the Holy Spirit leading you away from your body’s desires, the world’s pressures, and the devil’s temptations. The Holy Spirit is showing you the wonderful life of the Bible.

Even though Adam and Eve, in themselves, didn’t have the power to resist this temptation, God’s word gave it to them. BUT, it wasn’t a power that KEPT them from eating; it was a power that ENABLED them not to eat. Just like Jesus’ word, “come” created power for Peter, God’s words, “You must not eat” put the power to resist, in Adam and Eve, if they chose to use it (free will).

For when you eat of it you will surely die: Fear of death didn’t have any power to keep Adam and Eve from eating. They tried to use this to empower themselves to resist temptation. They even added a few more words to God’s command trying to give it more power: “And you must not touch it.” But, even adding some extra threats to the command didn’t empower them to resist. Their faith had to be in God and His Words, not in their ability to fear the consequences. Always put your faith in the creation power of God’s Word and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Step One’s mission is accomplished: You are willing to talk about it.