Before the Fall of man...

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.
Genesis 1:27–28

Before things went haywire after the fall, God assigned Adam and Eve the job of subduing the earth. From whom were they to subdue it? Satan.

You see, from the very beginning, it was as if God said, “This little rock called earth is the place where there is to be a cosmic showdown between Me and Satan. So I’m going to use you, mankind, to partner with Me as part of the process to drive out the Enemy.”

How? By being fruitful and multiplying.

How are you to subdue your earth, your world, or your family which seems to be in the grasp and grip of the Enemy? By being fruitful.

Because the fruit of the Spirit is love (Galatians 5:22), and because love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8), you’ll be fruitful if you don’t criticize, gossip, or find fault with things, people, or situations. You’ll be fruitful if you speak words of love and peace, patience and gentleness, for such is the fruit of the Spirit.

James talks about the tongue being an instrument of fire (James 3:6). If you find fault with your neighbor, your job, your school, your church, or your family, you will hand your world over to the hellish flames of the Enemy. But if you speak words of affirmation and encouragement, of faith and joy, you will replace the fires of hell with the fruit of heaven.

How do we multiply?

Acts 6:7 tells us the Word of God increased and the number of disciples multiplied when the Word was shared.

If you talk to your kids, your classmates, or your co-workers about the Word, you will see multiplication of life and love. And eventually the world in which you live will be subdued—won back from the Enemy.

This Daily Devotional is an excerpt from the book "A Pillar By Day" by Pastor Jon Courson.

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Happy New Year!

Image via Wikipedia

Happy New Year everyone! I pray that you have a healthy, joyous, new year and that you have success in everything that you do!

I leave you with this blessing!

"The LORD bless you and keep you,the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." Numbers 6:23-26

Interesting Fact: Blessing gesture that was the inspiration for the Vulcan salute.

"In his autobiography I Am Not Spock, Nimoy wrote that he based it on the Priestly Blessing performed by Jewish Kohanim with both hands, thumb to thumb in this same position, representing the Hebrew letter Shin (ש), which has three upward strokes similar to the position of the thumb and fingers in the salute. The letter Shin here stands for Shaddai, meaning "Almighty (God)". Nimoy wrote that when he was a child, his grandfather took him to an Orthodox synagogue. There he saw the blessing performed and was very impressed by it" Vulcan Salute