Ch. 1 What's REally Going On Here?

2 weeks in today.  Honestly, it's been so great.  I'm glad I'm not doing this alone.  I'm excited about the way I feel and that motivates me to keep going, because feeling great feels good.  No?  But even more than that, my mind has been free from the games...a lie sneaks in there now and again, but I am more prepared to leap on it and attack it instead of letting it sit there and fester and grow.

In Chapter 1 of Lysa's book, she takes a look at what cravings are all about and the possibility that yes, God made us to crave.  (Bear with me, there are quite a few scriptures in this one...)

Psalm 84:1-2  "How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!  My soul yearns, and even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh cry out for the living God."

Definition of Craving:  something you long for, want greatly, desire eagerly and beg for.  What if God designed us this way - to desire HIM in this way and instead, we have found replacements.  Replacements for that desire that we place in physical things that feel oohhhh so good at that moment (shopping, eating, sex, money, drugs, porn, alcohol, etc) but leave us oh.so.empty afterwards.

God never intended for us to get our physical desires met outside the will of God.  So many years ago, there in the garden, He had given EVERYTHING to a certain first man and first woman.  They lived in a lush home with fellowship with their creator and had need of not one thing until the father of all lies planned his attack.

1 Jn. 2:15-16 says, " Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has done - comes not from the Father but from the world."

Lysa details 3 ways in which this passage suggests Satan tries to lure us away from our loving God.
1.  The cravings of the sinful man
2.  The lust of his eyes
3.  The boasting of what he has or does
Then she brought us to the story of Eve.  This was amazing to me!  Satan tempted Eve with these exact three things, even as she was surrounded by unbelievable plenty, her desire was turned to what she had not.

Genesis 3:6, "When Eve saw that the fruit of the tree was good [cravings of the sinful man] and pleasing to the eye [lust of his eyes], and also desireable for gaining wisdom [boasting of what she has or does], she took some and ate it." [the one tree God had forbidden them to eat of]

Then she goes on to compare that to when Jesus had been fasting and praying in the desert for - 40 DAYS! and Satan goes to Him to tempt him.  He tempts Him in exactly the same three ways.  It's too long a passage for me to type out here, but it's found in Matt. 4:1-11.

"But here's the significant difference between Eve and Jesus.  Eve was saturated with in the object of her desire.  Jesus was saturated in God's truth.  I obviously wasn't in the garden with Eve, but based on three phrases from Genesis 3:6 I can only infer that she never took her eyes off the fruit as she:  saw that the fruit was good, pleasing to the eye, and desirable...She focused only on the object of her desire."  pg. 23

Wow!!  That was amazing to me.  There she stayed, focusing her attention on what Satan was telling her she wanted so badly.  She didn't flee.  She didn't combat his lies.  She didn't give herself some space to think about it or talk w/Adam or God about it.  The lies consumed her and she craved.

Jesus, on the other hand, when He was tempted with food (after not eating for 40 days!!!!!!!) and with kingdoms and with worship, He fought back.  He recognized the lies because He was saturated in the TRUTH.  He fought back with scripture and beat the temptation.

"Truth is powerful.  He quoted God's Word and so can we."  

"Cravings.  Are they a curse or a blessing?  Depends on what we're craving.  And what we're craving will always depend on whatever we're consuming...the object of our desire or God and His Word."  pg. 24 

It's a battle, but we aren't rendered powerless.  Isn't that amazing?  So today, I'm walking away.  I'm recognizing lies.  I'm fighting with truth.  I'm refocusing.