If God created the world to be so good and perfect, then why is it imperfect today? Let’s look to the Book of Genesis to find out just what went wrong. Most of us have heard about the fall of humanity, when Eve was tempted by the serpent (satan) to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (see Gen. 3). She ate the fruit and gave it to Adam, and he ate of it too. Let’s look closer at what really happened here. This account in Scripture is more than just disobeying Daddy’s rules and stealing apples!
I find it interesting that the serpent of old cowardly avoided the governor, Adam, and went instead to the vise-governor, the helper, Eve, in order to set in motion his plan of deception. Let’s observe what the serpent (satan) said to Eve and find out why he tempted her.
Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5).
Satan lied to Eve when he said that she would be like God. He was playing with her identity by twisting words. She was already like God. She was created in the mirror image of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, (see Gen. 1: 26-28). But satan was deceiving her into thinking that the knowledge of evil was something to be desired. However, he didn’t tell her the end result. I wonder why?
She knew what good was, but she did not know evil. As she meditated on what he had said to her, she convinced herself that it would be satisfying to her body and that it would make her wise. She ate of the forbidden fruit and gave it to Adam. Adam could have refused to eat the forbidden fruit, but he didn’t. He was just as guilty as Eve (see Gen.2).
If we want to breakthrough in healing, we need to understand the answers to some important questions. Why did satan tempt Adam and Eve? Why does he bother tempting us today?
Who exactly is satan? And what does all of this have to do with being redeemed from the curse of sickness and disease? We need to know more than just the fact that we are redeemed from the curse. We need a deeper understanding of where the curse originated. When we understand who is behind the curse and what the curse really is, it will be easier for us to receive divine healing into our physical bodies.
Who is Satan?
Scripture talks about the fall of Lucifer. He was a beautiful angel that God created. Be he deceived himself and became full of pride because of his beauty, and he thought he was greater than God. He even deceived a third of the angels to believe his deceitful lie and convinced them to rebel against God with him. Scripture says that he fell from Heaven (see Isa. 14:12), but before he fell, it says that he was the anointed cherub who covered and that he was in Eden, the Garden of God, as well as on God’s holy mountain (see Ezek. 28: 13-15). But lucifer was evicted from these places and, more importantly, from God’s presence, and his name was changed to satan (the devil). The angels who fell with him are now called demonic spirits. And God has a place prepared for them called hell, the worst part of which is separation from God, Himself. His foolish pride cost him everything; he lost it all (see Isa. 14:12-21; Ezek. 28: 12-19; Rev. 12: 4, 9; 20:10).
Why Did Satan Go after Adam and Eve?
He was jealous over what he had lost, and he was even more envious of these beings who were created in the mirror image of God. Before lucifer fell, he was created as a beautiful angel (see Ezek. 28:12-19), but he had not been created in the mirror of God. The first man, Adam, was so special. He was so different from the rest of creation. Not only was he created in the mirror image of God, but he was created to have authority and dominion over all things on this Earth (see Ps. 8:6), and that included satan. Satan wanted Adam’s authority and dominion on this Earth, and that’s why he tempted Adam and Even in the Garden of Eden. And as soon as they ate of that forbidden fruit they handed over their authority and dominion on this Earth to satan. That’s what he coveted and pursued, and that’s how he got it (see Luke 4:6).
Why Does Satan Go After Us Today?
He is venomously envious of us because he knows that we are created in the mirror image of God. He knows that we, as believers in Jesus Christ, have been given back that authority and dominion on this Earth that he stole from Adam and Eve back in the Garden of Eden. When Jesus Christ took our place at Calvary, He restored humanity’s original authority on the Earth.
For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet (Psalm 8:5-6).
In Psalm 8:5, the Hebrew word translated in some versions as angels is Elohim. Elohim is a Hebrew name for God. There is a big difference between angels and God. Let’s read from another translations of Psalm 8:5-6.
Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet (NASB).
In Psalm 8, the angels are conversing with God concerning humanity and the position that people have been given by God in the realm of all of His creation. I believe Psalm 8:5-6 is a confirmation of Genesis 1:26-28—that God created people in His mirror image and gave them authority and dominion over all things on the Earth.
In searching the word Elohim, I have found several definitions. Elohim is plural and could be referring to God (God the Father; God the Son, Jesus Christ; and God the Holy Spirit), gods, angels, or heavenly beings. I believe, in this portion of Scripture, Elohim is referring to God the Father; God the Son, Jesus Christ; and God the Holy Spirit.
As Christians, we agree that we have not been made a little lower than false gods. But, what about the possibility that people were created a little lower than angels or heavenly beings? If we were created a little lower than angels or heavenly beings, then satan would have authority over us because satan (lucifer) is a fallen angel. And that would not line up with the Scripture in the New Testament that says we have been given authority over satan and all of his wicked works, including sickness and disease, (see Luke 10:19). I personally refuse to be beneath satan!
Our true identity is probably the most important truth that satan tries to conceal from us because he knows that once we start to unveil the truth about who we really are in Christ and who Christ is in us, we become lethal to satan and his kingdom of darkness. Once we start to recognize who we are in Christ, we start to seize our authority over satan, the temptation of sin, and the consequences of living in a fallen world, such as sickness, disease, and every other foul curse that comes our way. In other words we start to dominate satan and his evil works, instead of him dominating us. It is amazing that he can identify those who start to comprehend their identity and operate in their authority in Christ.
I remember traveling to the Maasailand in Northern Tanzania for the first time. Before an evening evangelistic campaign, a demon-possessed man that I had never seen before ran up to me and knelt before me. The demons within him started to cry out to me in English (for I did not understand the Maasai language), “Why have you come to torment us?”
I was astounded. How can they perceive when we know who we are in Christ? I believe it is partly by watching how we start to speak and act. And there is also an actual unveiling of the glory of God that takes place in the spirit realm that they identify and that requires them to yield to and admit defeat.
It is of utmost importance during these last days, that we recognize who we are in Christ and activate the authority given to us over satan and all of his wicked works.
Becky Dvorak is a healing minister and the Destiny Image author of DARE to Believe and Greater Than Magic. Visit her at authorbeckydvorak.com.
Janet Perez Eckles 
Shawn Akers 
Abby Trivett 
