Showing posts with label The Two Trees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Two Trees. Show all posts

Friday, June 22, 2007

The Secret, the Bible, and the Answer

An unexpected best-seller has recently been making the rounds, promoted as the path to health, wealth and happiness. It is called The Secret and is a compilation, by Rhonda Byrne, of motivational thoughts of people from various walks of life. It is not a new teaching, but a recycled one, a distillation of the “New Thought” philosophy movement from the late 1800’s. Essentially, “the secret” is what is known as the “law of attraction,” that “like attracts like” and that we tend to attract to ourselves whatever we focus ourselves on. Focus on poverty and sickness, for example, and that is what you’ll end up with. Focus on wealth and health, and happiness, and they shall be yours.

There is an underlying value to the book that is true: The world was created to respond to us. The Bible teaches us that the world was framed by the Word of God (Hebrews 11:3), and we were created in the image of God, to be like God, and to subdue the earth and exercise dominion over it (Genesis 1:26-28). Also, experiments in quantum physics demonstrate that the world does indeed respond to the very act of how we observe it.

What is left out, however, is the truth that sin has marred both mankind and the world. Remember that there were these two trees in the Garden of Eden: The Tree of Life, from which man could eat feely, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which was forbidden. Adam and Eve rebelled against God, ate from the forbidden tree, and disconnected from the life of God. The result is that the world was plunged under a curse. That is still the problem today.

The answer, however, is found in Jesus Christ, who sets us free from the penalty and power of sin. The apostle Paul tells us that all of creation is waiting for us to manifest this salvation:
For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Romans 8:19-21)
Just as the fall of man negatively affected creation, so the redemption of man also brings with it the restoration of creation.

But instead of eating from the Tree of Life and operating from the life of God, the life of the Spirit found in Jesus Christ, man keeps eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, trying to deal with good and evil apart from God. That is what The Secret ends up doing: It tries to deal with good and evil apart from the life of God and the power of the Holy Spirit — and that ultimately leads to death.

The Secret promotes positive thinking, which is not necessarily bad, just inadequate. Consider what Jesus had to say about changing the world:
So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. (Mark 11:22-24)
It begins with faith in God. It is not enough just to imagine mountains moving, or even to speak to them; we must also believe in our heart, and the faith by which we believe in our heart has everything to do with faith in God. Indeed, it is a faith that comes from God. The Bible says that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17).

The Secret is not about the kind of faith that comes by hearing the Word of God, but merely about the power of human intention. Human intention can be very powerful, but when it is not directed by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, it can also be very destructive.

From a Christian point of view, the problem I have with The Secret is that it is not founded on the Word of God, by which the world itself was created, and by which faith comes. However, the current interest in The Secret gives us an opportunity similar to the one Paul had at Mars Hill. The Athenians had a temple to the “unknown God.” But Paul took that as an opportunity to tell them about this unknown God, and he preached Jesus to them (Acts 17:22-23).

Likewise, I do think that the people cited in The Secret have learned some things about how God's creation works, though they have missed some crucial aspects which are revealed to us in the Scriptures. But the things that they have learned presents a common ground for understanding, and a “Mars Hill” opportunity to bring the teaching of Scripture and especially the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Though man was created to subdue the earth and exercise dominion over it, the likeness of God in us was marred by Adam's sin in the Garden. But Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, we have redemption, so that we may be “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). In other words, what was lost in Adam is restored to us in Jesus Christ, and all creation is waiting for that to be revealed in the grown-up children of God (Romans 8:19-22).

THAT is the essential key, which The Secret lacks.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Obedience — Obligation or Opportunity?

Many Christians look at obeying God as nothing more than a matter of obligation — just something we gotta do. They treat the will of God as something to put up with, something to acquiesce to, whether we like it or not. It is just a sacrifice we make. What a drag!

But people who know only obligation, duty and sacrifice have not yet come to the place where love is reigning in their hearts.
  • Love does not speak of obligation but of opportunity.
  • Love does not dwell on the duty of obedience, but the delight of loving God.
  • Love does not think of sacrifice, but of serving the one we love.
When we love, the will of God becomes, not something we gotta do, but something we get to do. For the will of God is the unveiling of the powerful passions, delights and desires of the He who loves us more than our words can described.

The Bible says that “to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). But if we stop there, we have missed what God is about. Obedience and sacrifice are the technical terms of bean-counters and legalists, not the language of passionate lovers.

But God is a lover, not a legalist; He is about relationship, not rules. He gave Moses the Law, that is true. But it was not for the purpose of restricting His people; it was given to enable the relationship—He was after the heart of His people. The Law simply serves the relationship. The Bible says that “God is Love” (1 John 4:8), not Law.

Rule-watchers and score-keepers, who see everything in terms of obligation, eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is a bitter food that leads only to death. God-lovers, who see God’s will as opportunities to enter into divine passion and delight, are going after the Tree of Life — and they shall find its fruit in abundance (John 10:10).

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Sow Good, Reap Grief?

Someone asked, “There are many people who sow good and reap grief. How do you explain it?”

If we sow good, then we will reap good, and if we are patient, we will see it come to pass.

If we have reaped grief, it is because we have sown grief. The Bible says that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). In other words, all have sown grief. God created us to participate in His glory — to reflect and express His glory, which is the manifestation of His goodness. But we have all declined in one way or another. The Bible calls that "sin." The Greek word is harmatano and literally means to "miss the mark." We've missed the mark of sharing in God's goodness.

We inherited this affliction of grief from Adam. He had the choice of eating from the Tree of Life or the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Tree of Life is relationship with God. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is about trying to be God ourselves, something we were never created to be. Adam "missed the mark" and passed his sickness of spirit on to us.

The good news is that Jesus Christ came to redeem us from that affliction, to forgive our sins and bring us back into relationship with Father God. Speaking of Messiah (the Hebrew name for Christ), the Bible says:
He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
(Isaiah 53:5-6)
In other words, Jesus took our place.
  • We sowed the transgressions, but He reaped the wounds.
  • We sowed the iniquities, but He reaped the bruises.
  • He reaped our chastisement, we reaped His peace.
  • He reaped our stripes, we reaped His healing.
  • He reaped what we sowed, and we reaped what He sowed.
In the New Testament, we read more about this great exchange: "God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). In other words, He took our sin and so we could become righteous.

"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). We should have reaped eternal death (which is separation from God), but Jesus gives us eternal life — the Tree of Life that Adam passed up.

We receive this great gift through faith in Jesus Christ. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Though the devil (the thief of this world) comes to steal, kill and destroy, Jesus is the Good Shepherd who comes to give us abundant life (John 10:10).

Now we are free to sow the good — something we could not do before when we were, as the Apostle Paul puts it, "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). We may still reap grief, but often it is because we still sow grief, or have not dealt with the grief we have already sown. Repentance and confession are wonderful means for healing and detoxifying in this regard. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Jesus has also given us authority over sickness and the demonic strongholds we may have let into our lives — we just need to learn how to exercise that authority (which is one of the things Christian discipleship is supposed to be about, but is often neglected).

Make the "Great Exchange" with Jesus Christ. Stop sowing grief. Keep sowing good. Grief will decrease, good will increase. Overcome evil with good.

Thursday, September 8, 2005

The Knowledge We Need

The fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is always evil. It is never just the good by itself, but is always mixed with evil. Evil is nothing more than the lack of the good.
  • Darkness is the absence of light.
  • Hate is the absence of love.
  • Sickness is the absence of health.
  • Brokenness is the absence of wholeness.
  • Poverty is the absence of provision.
When good is mixed with evil the final result is always a lack of good. Even great good, when it is mixed with a little evil, is evil in the end.

We therefore do not need to know evil, not even a little bit, for it will always bring us up short of the wonderful plan God has for us. That is what the Bible means when it says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). God created us to experience and be full of His glory — the extreme value of every good thing in Him. That is what the Tree of Life is all about.

But we have fallen short of that wonderful experience. The Greek word for “sin” literally means to “miss the mark.” That is, we have “missed the mark” of knowing the glory of God.

We do not need to know good and evil; we need to know the glory of God. The whole earth is full of His glory, but the world does not see because it is still eating from the wrong tree. Paul said,
If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them … For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:3-6)
The “god of this age” is the one who tempted Adam and Eve to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He wants us to be consumed with that knowledge. He does not mind us knowing the good, but he also wants us to focus on evil. He is quite content with those who will even identify and avoid evil and focus on doing good. For they are deceived into thinking that their good works will bring forth life and the intimate, personal knowledge of God’s glory. But His glory will never be revealed to us in that way.

The only way to know the glory of God is to eat of the Tree of Life. For the light of the knowledge of the glory of God is not revealed in our good works but in the face of Jesus Christ. He is the Tree of Life, the righteousness of God by whom we are made righteous. The knowledge we need is in knowing Him.

Wednesday, September 7, 2005

The Table of the Lord is the Tree of Life

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for may for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:26-28)
In the Garden of Eden, Eve thought that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was good for food, so she ate of it. But the fruit was deadly. It could not be otherwise since it was eaten apart from the will of God.

In the Upper Room, on the night He was betrayed, Jesus offered a different food — Himself. He is the bread and drink that sustains us. His body, given to the stripes and the cross, and His blood, brutally shed to pardon and deliver us, are life for us. The bread and the wine are the symbols which minister the reality of these things to us in the Table of the Lord.

The Table of the Lord gives us a tangible answer to some basic concerns Jesus raised in the Sermon on the Mount:
Therefore do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:31-33)
These questions express legitimate concerns, for the Father agrees that we need all these things. Many people fail to realize that every physical problem is based on a spiritual need, and they try to use material things to solve what is a spiritual problem — that is eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The real answer to these needs, however, is found in the spiritual realm. That is why we must seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, for only then do we discover that all these things have been taken care of.

That is what we are doing when we come to the Table of the Lord — seeking the kingdom of God. Jesus is the righteousness of that kingdom, and He took our sin on Himself so we, too, might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). The blood He shed for us is the very basis for the covenant of God’s kingdom. In that covenant, we find every provision, physical and spiritual.

In the Table of the Lord we discover that Jesus is the answer to our every need — the Tree of Life.
  • What shall we eat? “Take eat; this is My body.”
  • What shall we drink? “This is My blood of the New Covenant. Drink from it.”
  • What shall we wear? “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14)
The Table of the Lord is the Tree of Life.

Monday, September 5, 2005

From Which Tree Are You Eating?

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? (Matthew 6:25)
This goes back to the original choice in the Garden of Eden: Eat of the Tree of Life, or of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Notice how the Tree of the Knowledge appeared to Eve:
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. (Genesis 3:6)
Jesus said, “Is not life more than food?” Eve could have tasted life, but she settled for food.

Many people are worried about where their food is going to come from, where they will get their clothes, how they will be able to get to where they need to be. They do not realize it, but they are actually looking for the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, as if it will take care of all their concerns. “If I can just discern good from evil, and then follow only the good, I’ll be okay.” Apart from the Tree of Life, good works are nothing more than dead fruit.

What we really need is life. Jesus said, It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

Bread alone is death to the spirit. We need to hear God, for every word He utters brings us life in abundance.
Therefore do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:31-33)
Gentiles, the pagan followers of this present world system, vainly seek fruit from the wrong tree. They will never be satisfied. But seek after the Tree of Life — the kingdom of God, His rule and reign, His way of doing and being right — and all these things will be added to you.

The fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil leads to fear, anger, sickness, poverty, and death. The fruit of the Tree of Life leads to abundant life, full of every blessing and provision of God.

From which tree are you eating? The one that fills you with worry and has you frantically scrambling after the things you need? Or the one that has you hearing the life-giving words from God and fills you with faith, hope, love, joy, and peace?

Sunday, September 4, 2005

A Wholesome Tongue—a Tree of Life

A wholesome tongue is a tree of life,
But perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
(Proverbs 15:4)
The wholesome tongue is a soothing and healing tongue. It is a tree of life. Its opposite is the perverse tongue, full of distortions and cutting remarks. The perverse tongue fractures and wounds the heart.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.
(Proverbs 18:21)
Words are very powerful. They have the capacity to wound or to heal, to give life or bring death. Those who respect the power of wholesome words will eat the fruit of the tree of life.

How it is that the tongue contains such great power? It is because God created the heavens and the earth by means of the spoken word. “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God” (Hebrews 11:3). For example, when God said, “Light, be,” there was light. And God saw that it was good, for His words were wholesome.

When God created man in His own image, He breathed the breath of life into his mouth. The Hebrew word for “breath” is the same word for “spirit.” God breathed His spirit into Adam, and Adam became a living spirit. The Targum Onkelos, an ancient Jewish commentary, says that man became a “speaking spirit.”

God breathes out His word by His Spirit. Paul said that “all Scripture is give by inspiration of God.” A more literal translation would be that all Scripture is God-breathed (Greek, theoneustos). It is not that God breathes into the words (which is what we understand by “inspire”), but God breathes out His words. They are not external to Himself, but come from within.

When we speak, we breathe out our words — our breathe arising from within and passing over our vocal cords. More than that, we speak by the spirit in us (only man is a speaking creature). Our words have such great power because natural reality arises from the spirit realm, just as God, who is spirit, called the physical world into existence.

Remember, the first assignment God gave to Adam was to call the animals, giving them their names. A name is a word of that tongue that calls forth and establishes the nature and purpose of the thing which is named. By naming the animals, Adam established their destinies. That is what the Bible means when it says, “And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name” (Genesis 2:19).

You have the power of life and death in your tongue. If you respect that power and speak the words God would speak, your words will be wholesome — a tree of life for many others as well as yourself.

Thursday, September 1, 2005

Desire Fulfilled—a Tree of Life

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.
(Proverbs 13:12)
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil creates false hope and leads to sickness of heart. But God’s way is a Tree of Life. It is not the squelching of desire, as some suppose, but a fulfillment that brings healing to the brokenhearted.
Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
(Psalm 37:4)
God’s way is delight and desire. When you choose to delight yourself in Him—in His ways, in His Word, in His will — the desires of your heart will be fulfilled. This is because, in choosing Him you are choosing the Tree of Life.
Praise the LORD, O my soul …
Who satisfies your desires with good things
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
(Psalm 103:1, 5 NIV)
Eating from the Tree of Life — getting into deeper personal relationship with God — will develop your passions for the things that give life. God will satisfy every one of them, so that your youth, your strength, your life will be made new.

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

The Fruit of the Righteous ~ a Tree of Life

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
And he who wins souls is wise.
(Proverbs 11:30)
It has been said that “you are what you eat.” I think that has application here. When you eat of the Tree of Life you become a tree of life yourself and the fruit of your life becomes a great blessing to others. The wisdom of God begins to shine in and through you and give light to those around you.

Let me put it this way:
Q. How do you “win friends and influence people?”
A. By eating of the tree of life.
The Righteous
Who are the righteous whose fruit is a tree of life to others? They are the ones who do what is right. They walk according to rightness. Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). The Amplified Bible expands upon this righteousness of God as “His way of doing and being right.”

In other words, righteousness comes from God. Our own righteousness misses the mark of what God requires. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). But, thank God, everything He ever requires of us, He has already provided. “For [God] made [Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Notice that, in Christ, we not only receive the righteousness of God, we become it.

How do we receive and become the righteousness of God?

By faith. We discover this in the first book of the Bible, where it is said of Abraham,
And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)
We find this over and over in Scripture, but let one more example be sufficient. Paul said,
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. (Galatians 2:16)
The righteous are the ones who are justified, that is, made right by faith in Jesus Christ.

The Fruit of the Righteous
Let’s consider what is the fruit of the righteous that becomes a tree of life for others. The Bible says, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).

This Spirit is the Holy Spirit at work in the spirit of every believer. He is the “breath of life” God puffed into Adam’s nostrils when Adam became of living being. He is the Spirit by whom we are “born again” in John 3:3-6 ( the Greek behind that phrase literally means “born from above”). The fruit the Spirit brings forth in us is life-giving for others because it comes from the source of life Himself.

Have you ever noticed that fruit is never pinned on to a tree from the outside? There would be no life in that. No, fruit comes from the inside of the tree and is the overflow of the life of the tree. That is why it can give life to others.

Earlier in Galatians 5 we read, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). Many Christians somehow get this verse backwards and think it means “Do not fulfill the lust of the flesh, and you will then be walking in the Spirit.”

That is poison. It is trying to pin fruit on to the tree of life, but it is actually eating the deadly fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The choice remains the same for us as it was for Adam and Eve:
  • Eat of the Tree of Life and overflow with the life of the Spirit, or
  • Eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and try to clip on the fruit of good (but dead) works.
One will bless many through you; the other won’t even bless you.

Receive the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ and let the life of the Holy Spirit work in your spirit to bring forth His wonderful live-giving fruit in you. Only by eating of the Tree of Life will you become a tree of life to others.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Wisdom ~ a Tree of Life

Happy is the man who finds wisdom
  And the man who gains understanding;
For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver,
  And her gain than fine gold.
She is more precious than rubies,
  And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.
Length of days is in her right hand,
  In her left hand riches and honor.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
  And all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her,
  And happy are all who retain her.
(Proverbs 3:13-18)
Wisdom is a tree of life. It comes from God and brings all the things that many people are looking for: long life, happiness, peace, honor and riches. But wisdom is not automatic, you must engage it. For, as another proverb says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter” (Proverbs 25:2).
  • You must search out wisdom until you find it.
  • You must seize upon it with everything you have and establish it in your heart.
  • Out of the treasure of wisdom in your heart, you must bring forth understanding into your life.
  • Then wisdom will yield its reward and you will reap a rich harvest from the tree of life.
The wisdom of God is a tree of life to all who find, keep and walk in it. If you need wisdom, ask God and He will freely give it to you — no questions asked (James 1:5-6).

Monday, August 29, 2005

The Tree of Life

The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden. (Genesis 2:9)
Though mankind lost access to the tree of life through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, it was not lost forever. God has never abandoned His people, but has made a way for us to enjoy the abundance of His life.

The Word of God is the tree of life.
Psalm 1 speaks of the man who delights in the Word of God and makes it his constant meditation: “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper” (Psalm 1:3). Consider the life of this tree:
  • It is planted by rivers of water. Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John7:38 — verse 39 identifies this flow as the Holy Spirit).
  • It brings forth its fruit in its season. There is an appropriate fruit for every season and it will always come out at the right time.
  • Its leaf shall not wither. “The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. The shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing, to declare that the LORD is upright” (Psalm 92:12-15).
  • It prospers in all things. “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 2).
The Lord Jesus Christ is the tree of life.
He is the living Word who took on human flesh to dwell among us (John 1:14). By nailing our sins to the tree of death He has reconciled all who receive Him to the Father. He is the life-giving, fruit-generating vine in John 15:
I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing … If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father love Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:5,7-12)
Consider the overflow of the divine life we experience by abiding in Jesus:
  • Abundance of fruit.
  • Fulfillment of every good desire.
  • The revelation of the Father’s glory.
  • Abiding in the love of God through Jesus Christ.
  • Fullness of joy.
  • Divine love working through us.
The Holy Spirit is the tree of life.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). There is no law that can stand up against the work of the Holy Spirit in your life, no law that can now take away the life of the Holy Spirit in you, not even the law of sin and death. “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).

The fruit of the Spirit is the overflow of our life in Christ:
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness [faith], gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)
God has given His Word, His Son and His Spirit to restore to you the tree of life. Immerse yourself in His Word, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and yield yourself to the work of the Holy Spirit. You will experience rivers of living water flowing from your inner being to bless the world as well as your own life. Love, joy, peace and all the fruits of the Spirit will be in you in abundance. You will begin to lay hold of life, health and prosperity and experience the glory of God changing your world. This life will be at work in you even in old age and you will be fresh and flourishing in the courts of the LORD to declare His rightness. In short, you will discover the tree of life.

Saturday, August 27, 2005

Adam Failed to Exercise Dominion

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)

Then the Lord God took the ma and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. (Genesis 2:15)
Adam was given dominion over everything on the earth. That is, he had authority to rule and reign over the earth on behalf of God, in whose image he was created.

But somehow, Adam failed to fully exercise this dominion. For there cropped up in the garden a death-dealing tree — the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It did not come from God but from the enemy. Like the enemy in one of Jesus’ parables, who sowed tares among the wheat (Matthew 13:24-30).

Just as the tares looked very much like wheat — until they both came into fruition — so the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil looks so much like the Tree of Life. But the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge actually leads to death. God said, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17).

As soon as Adam heard that, he should have immediately exercised his authority to tend and keep the garden. He should have gone and ripped that tree out of the ground and cast it out of the garden.

And perhaps he would have done that, except that the idea somehow crept in that the evil Tree could not even be touched. That is what Eve thought. She (mis)quoted God as saying, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die” (Genesis 3:3). A seed of doubt was sown because someone added to the Word of God, saying what He did not say.

Adam missed another opportunity to exercise dominion when he failed to cast the serpent out of the garden. For God gave him authority over “every thing that moves on the earth.”

The rest is history.

The Lord Jesus Christ has given every believer the authority to call forth the kingdom of God and command the will of God to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Learn how to walk in this authority to release rivers of living water and the knowledge of God’s glory over all the earth.