The Tree Of Life

Truth is a river flowing from the throne of God. Walking in this river, one truth leads to another. Truth brings life. Deception brings death. Truth is that tree of life which Adam abandoned in the garden, preferring the tree of knowledge. Knowledge on its own is not life. But when knowledge of the Scripture enters our spirit as revelation, it is life. It is this ‘life’ that heals sickness, casts out demons, and gives it’s possessor in dominion on this Earth.

There are two trees in Eden. The tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam gets distracted from the unlimited abundance available to him, and temptation draws him to the singular small thing God has forbidden. The devil draws Adam’s fascination to the forbidden tree. So, he eats from the tree of death.

Accumulating knowledge is not the gaining of ‘life’. LIFE comes from the Word of God. We receive a ‘knowing’ in our spirit, rather than knowledge in the mind. The ‘tree of life’ is the Word and the Spirit.

John 6:63 The words that I speak to you are Spirit, and they are life.

All the branches of the Kingdom of God spring from this tree. Salvation, new life, freedom, healing, and prosperity flow from this tree.

Revelation 2:7 To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”’

Every day we get to eat from this tree of life. When we feed on the Word of God, our spirit receives revelation. This is a transforming power, changing us into the image of Christ. Living in the Word of God brings us faith and the power to overcome. It is overcomers who get to eat from this tree.

Thanks for reading this week! If you’d like to hear more from me, feel free to check out my website. Otherwise, swing by one of our services this weekend. We would love to meet you!

Spirit, Soul + Body.

We are spiritual beings. This means we are not just a body. We do not only exist in a physical dimension; we also have a spiritual dimension. When God formed us, He made us spirit, soul and body.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This Scripture tells us we have a spirit, a soul and a body. Our body exists in the physical world, and we engage with this world through our senses: touch, taste, sight, smell, and hearing. Our physical being experiences the physical world.

Our soul is that part of us that includes our heart and mind. It is the place of imagination, trust, desire, rhythm, song, art, emotion and dreams. We relate to others and to ourselves with our soul. We experience the heart and emotions of others through our soul. We are creative in our soul. We are ‘moved’ in our soul by various influences, all of which cause us to behave in a variety of ways (2 Pet 1:21).

Our spirit is the wellspring of our life. It is the basic attitude of our life. It is the seat of motivation. All our life comes from that invisible, mysterious, God conscious area called the spirit. Once the spirit has departed from the body it is dead (James 2:26). Daniel spoke of his spirit in the ‘midst’ of his body (Daniel 7:15). Jesus said that living water flows from the ‘innermost being’, (‘belly’, KJV), of believers when they are filled with the Holy Spirit (John 7:38).

Our spirit is that part of us where God dwells after we have received Christ. God communicates with us from deep in our spirit. God is a spirit.

John 4:24 “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

If we want to commune with God we must be spiritually alive. Our spirit finds expression through our soul and ultimately through our body.

However, regardless of where and of what substance our spirit is, the Bible continually reveals the high significance of the spirit through countless references to its influence in our lives. When we receive Christ, our spirit is regenerated, that is, it is born again (John 3:3-7).

The complete process of our salvation covers three areas which can be located in three different timings:

1.   Our spirit receives complete salvation when we receive Christ (John 1:12). At that point we are born of God (1 John 5:1), who is a spirit (John 4:24). We are born spiritually (John 3:60. This rebirth awakens our spirit to God, and grants to us a ‘God awareness’.

2.  Our soul is being saved (1 Corinthians 1:18), that is, the inner man of our mind is being renewed daily (Romans 12:2). Our emotions, our desires, and trust, our heart, all our being saved as we walk with Christ and feed on the things of God.

3.  Our bodies are not yet saved, but at the resurrection will be (Romans 8:23). Then our redemption will be complete. God shows His guarantee that our salvation will be completed, 
through filling us with the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 5:4,5), who, when He comes, is accompanied with supernatural phenomena such as speaking in tongues (Acts 10:45, 46).

This study just goes to show, once again, that God is wholly invested in us; body, soul and spirit.

Thanks for reading this week! If you’d like to hear more from me, feel free to check out my website. Otherwise, swing by one of our services this weekend. We would love to meet you!