| God and His Word are Simple
By Joseph Prescia God makes simple requests to His people. In the beginning God laid out His Word very simply. Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Is this commandment pretty straightforward? Do you need to deeply study it for hours? God says you can eat everything, except of this one tree. If you do, you die. There is nothing complicated with this. Genesis 3:1-6 Now the serpent was more subtil (wise, shrewd, crafty, cunning, wily.) than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. This is how the devil complicated the simple commandment. The woman “saw” that the tree was good to be desired. Instead of going to God and asking, “God what is this all about?” She acts independent of God and does the one thing God said not to do. Then the man follows her right down the same path. God’s commandment started with a very simple request, “Eat anything except one thing.” The devil complicated the issue with being shrewd, crafty, cunning and showing her something else. 2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty (Panourgia=craftiness, cunning, false wisdom, trickery.), so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Eve was deceived by craftiness, false wisdom, and trickery. This is what takes people away from the simplicity that is in Christ. The Working Translation says of this word “simplicity,” haplotes-“singleness, integrity (as opposed to duplicity or double standards). The devil confuses with duplicity, a double standard. Duplicity means double-dealing. The Bible says that you cannot serve God and mammon. You will naturally cling to one or the other. Simplicity is singleness of heart. Colossians 3:22 Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: Don’t just show obedience with your eyes as the world does, but show obedience from your heart. God is always after your heart. Have singleness of heart toward the one true God. Don’t just show it on the outside, that’s religion. Obey in all things with singleness of heart towards God. A hypocrite is one who says one thing outwardly but on the inside they are thinking something else. Luke 20:20-26 And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor. And they asked him, saying, Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly: Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no? But he perceived their craftiness (subtleness, trickery), and said unto them, Why tempt ye me? Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar’s. And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s. And they could not take hold of his words before the people: and they marvelled at his answer, and held their peace. They tried to complicate the issue with craftiness, a false front. They pretended to be something that they were not (hypocrites) to try to trick Jesus, but Jesus gave them a simple answer back, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and render unto God the things that are God’s.” People can’t get over you and me when we have singleness of heart because we are linked with God Almighty. He shows us what is going on. Duplicity confuses the issue. 1 Corinthians 3:18-23 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise (of this world) in their own craftiness (subtleness, trickery). And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise (of this world), that they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s. The light of the Word illuminates the craftiness so that they are caught in that darkness. The Bible draws a very clear distinction between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God. The wisdom of the world is crafty, subtle, tricky, but we belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God. There is no reason for duplicity. 2 Corinthians 4:1-2 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness (subtleness, trickery), nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. We don’t handle the Word of God deceitfully. We don’t walk in craftiness like the devil did with Eve, instead we walk in truth. That truth helps us to have singleness of heart towards God. Ephesians 4:14-15 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness (subtleness, trickery), whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: If you know enough of the Word you’re not a child that can be tossed like a wave, to and fro. When you speak the truth in love you’re grown up. You’re not easily tricked like a babe in Christ could be. The more mature believers walk in love. Acts 2:42-47 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart (not duplicity), Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. During these wonderful days after the day of Pentecost they had a great time together with that singleness of heart. This would not have happened with duplicity, with subtlety, with craftiness, or being hypocritical. You have to be free of pretence or hypocrisy. It took a focus on the one true God, a singleness of heart. Matthew 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Christ is easy. He’s not hard to understand. The devil tries to complicate things, but God in Christ is easy. It’s simple to walk with God. James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. There’s no hypocrisy with this wisdom. There’s no pretense, no duplicity. The wisdom from God is easy. It’s easy to obey. It’s easy to comply with God’s requests. The burden is light. James 3:14-16 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. There’s confusion with this wisdom, but God is easy. God is simple. 2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. God and His Word are simple. We are to be free from duplicity, free from double-dealing. We will not get tricked when we have singleness of heart because we are focused on God. Going to God is easy. It’s not difficult. The devil is difficult. He confuses matters with hypocrisy, double standards. The true God is easy. When God says you are healed, then you have it right now. When God says you are prosperous, then you have prosperity right now. Just to have God available 24 hours a day is being prosperous. Some people make it very difficult to change their ways from living with and for the world to living with and for God. They say that to believe God takes a lot out of them, it’s hard to change so drastically, they’ve been so negative all their life and now I’ve suggested it’s easy to make the switch. Really, the hardest thing for a person to do is to continue living life in their comfort zone with their worldly heartaches, bitterness, mediocrity, jealousy, strife and hatred. Those things take the life right out of a person and cause sickness and premature death. Contrast this with living a peaceful life with God and all His love, tenderness, compassion, goodness, patience and joy. The life with God is not based upon individual works but rather upon the grace of God. He has freely given these things to us. I find this easy. This is simple. This is the way to the most powerful life relying upon Him. All the difficulty and confusion has been discarded. I now trust God. That is easy and that is simple. Return to main page |