Download Notes Here:  Living & Enjoying My R.E.A.L. Life – Lesson 1 – Back To The Garden

Affirmation My R.E.A.L. life is both spiritual and practical as I receive, enjoy, abound in, and love God and His gifts.

R — Receiving God’s gifts

E — Enjoying God’s gifts

A — Abounding in God’s gifts

L — Loving God & His gifts

Lesson One — Back to the Garden

Do you ever feel like your spiritual life and your practical everyday life are two different things? They were never meant to be. God’s original design was one life — enjoyed, productive, and shared with Him. That is what God and Adam enjoyed before the fall and in this lesson we go back to the beginning to discover that life is still available to you today.

Stop The Competition

God Designed Your Spiritual Life And Your Daily Responsibilities To Thrive Together

Did you know God designed us to live in constant fellowship with Him? We see it in Adam and Enoch — both described as men who walked with God. But many Christians misunderstand what that actually looks like. They see their spiritual life as the ideal — the life they are really reaching for — but then there is this “real” life on earth. The job. The family. The bills. The responsibilities. And it feels like that “real” life is constantly standing between them and the fellowship with God they actually want.

But that is not what it means to walk with God.

God never designed two lives competing for your time and attention. He designed one life — meant to thrive as a shared life with Him in every ordinary moment and responsibility

Back To The Garden

Where Spiritual Life And Daily Responsibilities Were Never A Competition

Many people carry a false belief about this world — maybe you do too. They believe God created this world as a temporary holding place until He takes us to Heaven where we will finally enjoy uninterrupted fellowship with Him. No work. Just worship and rest.

But when we go back to the Garden of Eden we see something completely different.

We see a world God created not just for mankind to live in — but to share life with mankind in. Look at what God did:

• God created the animals — then brought them to Adam to name. God didn’t need Adam to do that. He wanted to include Adam in the work of creation.
• God could have spoken people into existence or formed them from dust — but when He wanted to fill the earth He gave mankind the responsibility to be fruitful and multiply. God shared that work with us.
• God could have created a garden that never needed tending — but He gave Adam the responsibility of keeping and caring for it, pulling Adam into the work He was already doing.
• God could rule all creation alone — but He gave mankind dominion because He wanted to share that responsibility too.

Adam was not living a life of leisure and worship, waiting for a chance to be with God. Adam was working alongside God, talking with God, and learning from God — his work, his responsibilities, and his fellowship with God were never in competition. They were all one life.

Now that we see God never intended our relationship with Him to compete with our daily responsibilities, we need to realize something equally important — that never changed after the Garden.

Sin made work harder. Our roles became more complicated. Our sinful nature will compete for our time and attention in ways Adam never experienced before the fall. But God never withdrew His invitation to share life with us. He never stopped including us in what He is doing.

He still shares His work with us — through the jobs we do, the families we raise, the people we care for, the communities we serve, and the church we build together. Just as He pulled Adam into the work of creation, He pulls us into the work He is still doing in the world today.

Think about the roles and responsibilities God has shared with you — your job, your family, your relationships, your place in your church and community. What if you approached every one of them as something you are doing with God and for God rather than something competing with your time with God?

As Parents

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 — “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

Notice that God designed parenting to happen in the ordinary everyday moments of life — not just in a devotional setting. He knows your children better than you do. Talk to Him about them — the proud moments, the funny moments, the moments where you have no idea what you are doing. Learn from Him. Trust Him to grow you as a parent as you raise them for Him.

At Work

Colossians 3:23-24 — “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.”

Going to work is going to work with God and for God. Talk to Him through your day — about the good moments and the funny ones, the frustrating ones and the ones where you don’t know what to do. Learn from Him. Trust Him to provide, equip, and grow you right there in the middle of your ordinary workday.

In Your Relationships and Community

2 Corinthians 5:20 — “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”

He gave you those people in your life. Talk to Him about them. Rely on Him to love them through you. Celebrate with Him when you see Him working through your relationships.

In Your Church

1 Corinthians 3:9 — “For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.”

You are not a volunteer helping God out — you are His fellow worker. Serve alongside Him. Learn from Him as you serve. Trust Him to accomplish His work through yours.

This is what sharing life with God actually looks like. Not a scheduled event competing with your real life — but a continuous living relationship woven through every role and responsibility He has already shared with you. And yes you can still read your Bible and set aside time to pray. But you will no longer feel like you are failing God because your real life got in the way of your spiritual life. Your R.E.A.L life is where you are already walking with Him and sharing life with Him each day

The Competition Is Over

My Spiritual Life And My Real Life Are One

Imagine waking up tomorrow morning and instead of feeling the pressure to squeeze God into your busy day, you simply wake up to a life God is already sharing with you. You join Him in it.

This is exactly what Jesus modeled with His disciples. He called them to follow Him — but He did not train them in a classroom or a prayer closet. He trained them by sharing everyday life with them. They walked roads together, shared meals together, navigated crowds together. They both grieved and celebrated together. Jesus laughed with them, wept with them, corrected them, and taught them as they shared everyday life. The twelve learned to walk with God by sharing life with Jesus every single day.

Paul did not mean stop life to pray all day. He meant a continuous conversation with God woven through the regular moments of your day.

Here is what that looks like. As you drive to work you thank Him for what you see and ask Him about what is ahead. Through your workday you talk to Him about what is happening. Something makes you laugh — He is in that too.

He is not a distant observer of your life, He is fully present in it. When you face a hard moment you bring it to Him in real time. When you feel anxious, you give it to Him in that moment. Someone needs encouragement and you rely on Him to work through you. You face a temptation and you call on Him for strength. You make a mistake and you repent right there and keep walking.

By the time your head hits the pillow you have not chosen between your spiritual life and your real life. You have lived one life — Received, Enjoyed, Abounding, and Lived with God.

Your responsibilities are done. Your family has been loved. Your work has been completed. And your relationship with God has been nurtured throughout the day.

That is your R.E.A.L. life. And the competition is over.

What Is Next?

We call this series Living and Enjoying My R.E.A.L. Life — and R.E.A.L. is a map for how we live this shared life with God:

R — Receiving God’s gifts

E — Enjoying God’s gifts

A — Abounding in God’s gifts

L — Loving God & His gifts

Next week we start with the R — Receiving. Because everything starts with receiving what God has already given you.

My spiritual life and my everyday life are not competitors — I share one life with God, talking with Him, serving alongside Him, and learning from Him as I live my R.E.A.L. life.