What’s Your Forbidden Fruit?
What’s your forbidden fruit? Remember that story in the bible in the book of Genesis, when God gives Adam instructions on how to live in the Garden of Eden where He placed them to live. God tells him that he can use/occupy any part of the Garden with only one exception – do not eat from the tree of Life! But the garden was full of many trees and they had access to every other tree in the garden because God said that they were good for him to eat from. Here it is in Genesis 2:16-17 (nkjv); And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” God did this for a few reasons. God did this for their protection, because He knew it would keep them safe. God also used this as a test for them to see if they would obey Him. Well, if you know the story then you know it didn’t end well for them. If you don’t know the story about Adam & Eve, you can read about it in the Bible in the book of Genesis.
When presented with the choice Adam & Eve allowed themselves to be talked into disobeying God by Satan and their family paid a very expensive price for that disobedience! Have you heard the story of Cain and Abel? They were the children of Adam & Eve. In this story you see that the demon of disobedience was passed down from the parents to their children. You can read about them in Genesis 4:8 – 12.
So what about you? What are you disobeying God about?
What’s your forbidden fruit? What are the things you know you need to stay away from, but can’t seem to quite do? We all have them. Sometimes forbidden fruit can be some type of food or dessert. Forbidden fruit can also be a place, or a person (we all know this one), or anything that you know means you no good. You know messing with it never ends well, but you are powerless to stop yourself! “Just one little bit, just one more time” the demon tells you & it sounds sooooo good to you. You really believe the lie that this will be the last time! Why do we still fall for what we know is a lie? We fall for the lie because we really like the idea of having something that’s forbidden! No matter what the cost & we are losing to it every day. However, God has put in us the power to beat our forbidden fruits but we have to learn to tap into that power!
It’s the New Year and again millions of people have sat down & made New Year’s resolutions to themselves & to the world. The same resolutions that they made last year & the year before that! What are you doing to make sure that this is not you this year?
Here are a few tips I suggest:
- Stop – Set-up a time & put it on your calendar. This will be the time you stop yourself, sit down with God & do an honest review & inventory of your life & how you are living it. Keep tissue close if you think you’ll need it, but you have to be willing to be honest with yourself about yourself. Every problem in your life is not someone else’s fault. And the problems that were caused by others can not be allowed to stop your life’s forward motion!
- Cleanup – how bad do you want to be free from your forbidden fruit so you can stop spinning in circles & move your life forward? That being said, you have to be willing to clean house – your house. This cleaning must take place on your inside & outside!
I think of it like lifesaving surgery. You can read about it in John 15: 1 -3 (msg): I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken. You have to allow God to cut out the part of you that are still attached to you via your forbidden fruit. Then you take the time God says you need to heal. You know we always say we feel better before the doctor says we are completely healed. Taking the time to completely heal is very important because you will need to do this again. However, during this time of healing you and God can develop your “next steps” plan to implement once your healing is complete. You will repeat this process as you need to in your life to keep your foundation strong.
- Enjoy! – freeing yourself from your forbidden fruits that have been sent to block you is an assignment that each of us have. Therefore, God has given each of us a way to overcome & defeat every one of our forbidden fruits. But it’s up to us to work with God to face & defeat them. Once you have freed yourself, the adventure that is your life can really begin!
Being free from your forbidden fruit will bring you a peace that surpasses human understanding. Being free from your forbidden fruit brings the power & courage to explore and discover what God put inside of you & what you can do with it to solve some problem in the world. Being free from your forbidden fruit will position you to live your dreams!
Once you have defeated & freed yourself for all of your forbidden fruits you will be able to spread your wings & fly!
Clarence D. Sellers Jr
Thank you for this. I have forbidden fruit i need to leave a lone. This makes me really have to look at myself and my fruits. Like woman, old habits and people. i really would like to free myself!!!!!!! Once again thank you for this and please continue with helping people.