Yet...God provided a pathway for their return. It included exercising great faith which would begin the process to break down the barrier which separated them from His presence. In complex terms we call the first step the Aaronic priesthood. In simple terms it is receiving and passing the angels that stand as sentinels. To exercise such faith that even the angels of heaven can't be kept from associating with you and returning and reporting to the Lord.
"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" (Hebrews 1:14)When angels appear to mankind they almost always say, "FEAR NOT".
Why would God create the SWAT team of the universe (angels), if He just wanted you to behave? What was it that Satan introduced to Adam and Eve in the garden exactly? To BE AFRAID.
As Stasi Eldredge has said, when the angels came to the shepherds when Christ was born - they told them to "FEAR NOT!". It wasn’t so much telling them to pick their faces up off the ground as it was a declaration of the WAR on Fear. Christ is come.
FEAR NOT.
Fear is faith in Satan. It is believing that He has all the power. It is in large measure how Satan receives worship and gains greater power and dominion for his kingdom.
TRUST is Faith in God.
Look at every part of life you are struggling with right now - it can almost always boil down to a fear you have. A deep fear.
In the Garden...Satan lied to Adam and Eve (and now lies to us) about where true life was found...and they (and we) believed him.
God gave us the wondrous world as our playground, and he told us to enjoy it fully and freely. Yet despite his extravagant generosity, they (and we) began to wonder if God was holding out on us. We feared...and in that fear, we reached for the one forbidden thing.
And at that moment something in our hearts shifted. We reached, and in our reaching we fell from grace where we remain still fallen until we exercise great trust (faith) in God and are redeemed from the fall (Ether 3:13).
Every story has a villain...even yours. Satan is prowling the earth to see who he can destroy. Satan asks you, like he asked Eve... “Can you really trust God?”
