The Tree of Life

Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"-- therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 3:1-24

Man was not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He was to enjoy the fruit of the tree of life and live a spiritual life in communion with GOD.

The temptation to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil was from the devil. His motive that caused him to fall from his position with GOD, was imparted also to man - "You will be like GOD, knowing good and evil." Man was enticed to step on the pedestal of pride which caused his fall. This broke his relationship with GOD. He lost his peace and immediately experienced shame, guilt and fear. Rather than walking with GOD, he hid from GOD his Creator!

We have inherited the sin nature and continue to crave for the fruit fromthe tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. The fruit from the tree of life is love.

We need to overcome this situation to have access to the tree of life.

We tend to steer our lives according to the selfish way of our soul, but as believers, we must yield our will to the Holy Spirit.

 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
James 1:12-1

Selfishness desires fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Once eaten, the fruit makes us self- conscious and self-centred. This leads to feelings of shame, guilt and fear.

The solution is, another tree!

 "If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.
Deuteronomy 21:22-23

 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"),

Galatians 3:13

The LORD JESUS carried His cross to Calvary and He was crucified on it. He was nailed to the tree and hung on it.

 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
Genesis 6:5-6

 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.
Isaiah 53:11

The LORD, being pure and holy, had to go through the most unpleasant experience of seeing, hearing and knowing all the obscenities, vulgarities and evil that come out of wicked and perverted minds. That was the cup that was so difficult for the LORD JESUS to drink. At the garden of Gethsamane, He made the decision to drink it for the sake of you and me.

The cross of CHRIST gives us the picture of the curse that came out of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He took the curse of sin upon HImself by carrying the cruel cross and being nailed to that cross.

The cross of CHRIST also is a picture of the tree of life! The blood that flowed down the cross, washes our sin away, releasing forgiveness and freedon from guilt, shame and fear. The perfectly pure Son of GOD, changed the cursed tree into a tree of blessing. JESUS hung on the tree of the cross and through His intercession, changed the cross as it were, into the tree of Life! The cruel cross became the wondrous cross! By His immense love He took our punishment for sin upon Himself, and now releases blessing and life to those who come to the cross in repentance. 

Therefore it is only the cross of JESUS that bridges the gap between the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. He is the  Resurrection and spiritual Life to all of mankind who are dead because of the fruit from the cursed tree.

How do we overcome?  We overcome, by repenting and returning to our first love - the LORD JESUS.

 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have, you hate the works of the Nicola'itans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.'
Revelation 2:4-7

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Knowledge of Good and Evil

... and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." And the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." So the Lord God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you." Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return." And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. 

The guilt of unclean thoughts and deeds causes us to hide from GOD, spoiling our relationship with GOD. We can give excuses, blame others and try to cover up. None of these things will help.

The only way to overcome this knowledge of evil is to go to the cross of CHRIST. As we linger at the foot of the cross and pour out out heart to the LORD, there is cleansing, release, deliverance and victory! The Holy Spirit cancels the lie and the uncleanness with the truth of the pure word of GOD. 

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil can be likened to the soul of man. The tree of life can be likened to the spirit of man. All knowledge should be brought into subjection to  our spirit that has been revived by the Sprit of the LORD, to separate the good from the evil and the false from the truth. We have the capacity and ability to make decisions in life, because we have control of our soul that consists of the will, intellect and emotion. 

It is so important for us to study, meditate on and memorise Scripture, to overcome the knowledge of evil in this world. We need to have more knowledge of GOD and the truth of His goodness than the knowledge of the devil and his lies and evil works.

Copious news and especially opinionated information crowding our mind affects our soul. It can create 'pride and prejudice' and cause us to have strongly biased views that can cause devision in the home and in the Church.

So let us beware of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you have a craving for knowledge that is more than what you can bring before the LORD and submit to Him, you must deal with it. You must discipline yourself to limit watching and reading even news to only what is necessary for prayer and intercession. The more information we gather, the more time we must spend with the LORD in prayer.

A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, But the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness.

Proverbs 15:1-2

 Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that "all of us possess knowledge." "Knowledge" puffs up, but love builds up.
1 Corinthians 8:1

We are responsible to the information we receive and need to handle and deal with it correctly, beginning by taking it to the LORD in prayer. If not, it will puff us up and make us prideful and also poison our soul causing wrong attitudes. Therefore all knowledge that we receive should be processed through prayer into love.

 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:21

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 FRUIT TREES

What kind of a tree are you?

 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so.
Genesis 1:11

Just like the different kinds of fruit trees which carry the specific seed in the fruit, the LORD has made each one of us with specific skills, talents and personalities to bear fruit for the LORD.

 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:9

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 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 2:16-17

Fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was poison to the soul.

Isn't it so even now? There is more knowledge of evil than good. Lies, deception, perversion and violence are rampant in the media, flooding the minds of adults and children. Once you know something, you know it and it will affect your soul. You cannot 'unknow' that. It sticks in your mind and is able to change your attitude towards people and GOD. 

The cursor on your screen can be your curser if clicked on the wrong spots!

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' " 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." 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. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; 

The devil continues to offer fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, to people everywhere through the various media. Even when one looks for the knowledge of good, evil pops up to corrupt the mind! Fruit from this tree continues to open the eyes of innocent ones to more and more evil while blinding them to the truth revealed in and through GOD!

 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?' He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and gather them up?' But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn." ' "
Matthew 13:24-30

Like sowing seeds in the ground, we receive information into the mind by seeing and hearing. Our mind is exposed to many things good and evil that we don't choose to receive. We can of course choose to weed out the evil and unedifying thoughts. Meditating on good thoughts is like puposefully planting them in the heart, watering and caring for the seed. The truth of the word of GOD is good seed that should be planted in our heart and watered by meditation, memorisation, prayer and obedience.

 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man."
Matthew 15:17-20

The serpent of old, the devil, still deceives people into eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, doesn't he? He says to the innocent, "click here; click there; watch this; listen to that; you need to know..." Then he prompts those people to share that evil fruit and to scatter that garbage by talking to others about it, passing it around and forwarding it on all kinds of media. 

 For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil.
Romans 16:19

 "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
Matthew 12:33-35

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Progressing in Love 

The Love Machine

Adam, Mark and Gracie teach us how to progress in love!

This story can be used for a skit or a puppet show!

Click on the link and enjoy!

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b5ySqRJ6wFhTTJCzMtEhyQ2_BfWGDq-GxTbq7vWmZaI/edit?usp=sharing