Before the Fall, Adam and Eve were able to reflect God’s image because they fellowshipped with Him in the Garden of Eden. After the Fall, the redemption story regarding Christ’s death on the cross is all about trying to restore the image of God in humanity. Without being connected to God again and hearing His voice, it is impossible for us to understand what He wants to restore back to us.

I. God personally spoke to Adam before the Fall so he could reflect God’s image and will on the earth

1. Genesis 1:28, 2:16.

II. After the Fall, God came in a storm on the earth and separated Adam and humanity from Himself

1. Genesis 3:8: “cool of the day.” Akkadian terminology has demonstrated that the word translated “day” also has the meaning “storm.” This meaning can be seen also for the Hebrew word in Zephaniah 2:2. It is often connected to the deity coming in a storm of judgment. If this is the correct rendering of the word in this passage, they heard the thunder (the word translated “sound” is often connected to thunder) of the Lord moving about in the garden in the wind of the storm. In this case it is quite understandable why they are hiding.

2. Our disobedience to God brings a storm in our bodies, mind, emotions and spirits that blocks us from hearing God’s voice in our lives.

III. Jesus came to restore us back to the Father by preaching the gospel that heals the storms in our being

1. Luke 4:18-19: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

IV. Our new man– given at moment of salvation – has the capacity for God’s spiritual knowledge and voice

1. Colossians 3:10: Our spirit is a repository of God’s Spirit and word which minister to us continually.

V. God’s Spirit and word in us gives us rest from the storm both inside and outside us

1. Hebrews 4:3, 7, 9: By faith in the word spoken to us (through preaching, prophecy, God’s Spirit within us, and prayer) we enter into God’s rest.

2. Hebrews 4:10: We rest when by faith we cease from our own works of the flesh to construct our lives and plans. (Unless God speaks to us we don’t generally know what God wants to restore to us, what God wants to give us, or what God wants us to believe for.)

VI. Labor to enter into God’s Rest

1. Hebrews 4:11: We are called to labor to enter into that rest, which means to make every effort to hear the word of God, whether it be in personal private prayer, corporate prayer, conversations with godly people, hearing the word preached, reading the word of God, remaining silent before the Lord, or worshipping the Lord.

2. Hebrews 4:12-13: The power of the word is so great it pierces through our emotions, minds, hearts, and bodies, and reflects back and compares our thoughts to God’s word in our lives.

3. We change and more reflect the image of God in areas of our lives where we hear the word and then have faith to obey and change. For example, we may grow spiritually because we hear, believe, and obey the word of the Lord to worship and pray and be filled with the Holy Spirit, but that doesn’t mean that we are hearing the word in regards to our emotions and allowing God to deal with us in those wounded areas of mistrust and pain. Any emotional areas not surrendered to the word of God will still be in a storm and not in God’s rest.

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