Poverty only exists because evil exists.  There is enough wealth in the world to feed and care for everyone,  and I mean every man, woman and child on earth, yet, many are starving-  living without life's basic necessities-  clean water, plumbing, food and shelter. Poverty exists because in too many hearts a lack of love exists. No one on this earth should live without love - it breaks the heart of the God who said about himself  -  "God is love". 

What the world calls "love" is selfish, carnal,  self- centered. "What's in it for me? It does not suffer long, it is not kind -  it envy's, it vaunts itself,  it puffs up and behaves unseemly.  It seeks it's own, it is easily provoked, it thinks evil of others and rejoices in iniquity. In short, it stinks. 

In God's Kingdom-  no one, absolutely no one, lives without love. All have all they need, food, water, basic necessities,  hugs and kisses and dignity and respect and purpose. No one is left unfilled, according to His perfect will".

Selah

 The Law (of Moses) was given to those who eat from the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is God's view of good and evil in excruciating detail. The Christ of God is given to those who eat from the Tree of Life -  for through Christ, all mankind has been invited back into the garden, back into right standing and fellowship with God. Yet so many choose to continue to eat from the wrong tree. One tree appeals to our flesh, is pleasing to the eye, it's fruit delicious.  The other appeals to our higher state of being, our spirits -  it is not attractive to our flesh at all. It's pleasure is derived from long term consumption-  not instant gratification like the other. One brings death to us, the other life. If we choose the right tree we will abide with God forever, walking and talking with Him, in the cool of the evening in the midst of the garden. If we choose the wrong tree it's fruit will rot within us, and we will rot along with it. We are ourselves the fruit of one tree or the other -  and when God will come to eat of us, what will He taste? Rotten fruit fit only to be cast out and burned? Or good fruit, fully pleasing to God, fit to be planted as a seed in His garden, growing forever? 

"As for me and my house (my flesh, my soul, my spirit) we will serve the Lord"  Come taste of the Lord.....

 Often, Satan's strategy is to poison us slowly, over a long time. The end result is all that matters to him. With many of us, he knows he can't take us out in battle -  he will lose a direct confrontation, so he sneaks us a bit of poison to swallow  - a small lie here, a tiny lie there. He tries to get us to compromise in small ways not big. He isn't blatant. He mixes a bit of truth in with his lies to make them more palatable,  easier to digest. You sip a little poison every day and you don't notice till it kills you.

 Small doses weaken the immune system (the ability to recognize truth) till the day comes when he presents you with a large lie - a major false doctrine, that's offensive to the Holy Spirit-  and you swallow it whole without question -  especially if it comes from someone you trust, like a popular Christian speaker or author or your pastor. If your pastor says it, it must be true, right? Let the Holy Spirit examine everything you digest, let Him pick out the bits that are not from Him -  let Him teach you how to shine His light on all you are taught. Learn how to recognize His voice, His touch, His gentle nudge deep inside you, telling you when someone is not authorized or anointed to speak on His behalf -  whether prophecying,  preaching or teaching. 

Be willing to expose and reject teaching when you sense it is not of the Holy Spirit.  If it's not His voice coming from another, do not accept it. Even the very elect may be deceived. Anyone who gets offended when you question their teaching probably shouldn't be teaching.  Love truth more than the one sharing it. Don't put them on a throne above you -  where they cannot be disputed or held accountable for what they teach. If your sitting under a minister like that - get out. Don't swallow the poison! No matter how good it tastes and no matter how many other people are swallowing it. 

I've been to churches where the pastor has several cheerleaders scattered throughout the congregation, yes men, if you will, who shout "AMEN PASTOR! PREACH IT! throughout the sermon. I've heard these pastor's teach  blstant, quite obvious (to me), false doctrines while the yes men shout Amen! Yes pastor! This does the pastor (and the congregation) no good at all. It can stroke his ego and make him think he's teaching truth when he isn't.  It puts him in a place where the praise of men can replace and become more important than the praise and honor God gives, and it makes the baby Christians, and any non-believers present,  think they are hearing truth -  which becomes much more difficult to hear over the sound of Satan's laughter. 

"None calls for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they hatch serpent's eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eats of their eggs dies, and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper."

 "Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee"

I would like to pause for a moment and let thar phrase "perfect peace" sink in. Meditate on it. I love that wording. My spirit kind of leaps within me when I think about it.  Because I don't think it's attainable in the world. It can't be found anywhere else but in Christ,  our Prince of Peace.  Think about every movie you've ever seen - every TV show, every book you've ever read - they all revolve around conflict. Some kind of conflict.  From the dictionary-

CONFLICT - To come into collision or disagreement; be contradictory,  at variance or in opposition,  clash. To fight or contend, do battle.  Incompatibility,  discord of action.

It's both a verb and a noun and it permeates the World through and through.  " But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked"

"Wicked"  are not simply those who do evil but also those who do not do good. But beyond good and evil, the wicked are they who choose not to be in right relationship with God, who declare in their hearts "No, God" and "I am good" without Christ, who basically say they don't need Him or want Him. The "peace that passes all understanding" can only be known  by those in right relationship with God.  Every story the World produces has conflict because that's all they know. "Perfect Peace" would be boring to them (as entertainment) but to me it's incredibly exciting.  The world invites conflict because of their pride. When, in their endless stories, good overcomes evil, it's always through man's ingenuity, strength or wisdom,  or through a fictional personage man created. It stokes their pride to think they are "good" - victorius without Christ, which every Christian knows is impossible.  

 Our blood is a river of life flowing inside of us - it's a wonderful,  amazing thing really. But notice- without the heart to pump the blood, it would cease to flow and we would die because "the life is in the blood". But the only thing our blood keeps alive is our fleshly bodies. To keep our spiritual self alive, our spiritual body,  we need the Holy Spirit flowing inside us, again, like a river. And just like our blood, it's our heart that keeps the Holy Spirit flowing - a soft heart. Depending on our heart's condition; the Holy Spirit's flow within us can be a mighty, raging flow or a tiny trickle. It can even cease. In which case we die, spiritually.  Our hearts can be, spiritually, stone or flesh. They can be "stony" ,that is to say, full of stones, that people have thrown at us, and that we in turn pick up and use to throw at people. We can break up the fallow ground,  fortunately.  We can God mend our broken hearts - we can let Him change our heart's condition by letting Him in - by letting Him flow in us as a river - for that river will take those stones of offence, and some it will sweep away in it's life-giving flow, while others it will smooth over the passage of time - even polish them and make them look beautiful: what once hurt us now becomes a jewel in our crown of glory - that we can then pick up and use to defeat our enemy, our Goliath, when he dares to challenge us. 

So having the Holy Spirit flow in us is as essential to our eternal life as our blood is to our fleshly, mortal life. Without the Holy Spirit the written Word of God is our death, for it brings condemnation to all that are not submitted to Him, for our protection,  for our good. To serve us as a loving father would, who has made us able ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter (written word) kills but the Spirit (spoken word) gives life. Unless the Holy Spirit speaks the written word to you (reveals), it will not save you, but condemn you.

Think of that breath you just breathed. It gave you another few moments of life, by oxygenating your blood - which then carried it throughout your body. Something outside you came inside you and gave you life. Likewise,  the Holy Spirit "oxygenates" the blood of Jesus- the Word of God, in us, keeping us alive, spiritually, with true, eternal life. Our flesh, thank God, is the only part of us that is not eternal - it is the part of us that God in His mercy allows to take the full brunt of our sin and rebellion, so that when our flesh dies, all that resisted and rebelled against God dies with it. Our flesh does not profit us for the life therein is temporary, mortal, but a passing fancy, quickly fading. It is our spirit that profits us - for it is our spirits that carry His Word and it is His Word that grants us true life BECAUSE HE SAID SO. Because all He says is true - eternally true. So when His Word says -  of us, "I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish" we know it's true because HE SAID IT, for He is the Way, the TRUTH and the Life. He has power over all flesh so He can give eternal life to as many as have been given to Him. And this is life eternal, that they might know You the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Knowing the word is not the same as Him knowing you. Those whom He knows will abide forever with Him. So, our eternal fate is sure - because He said it is, and as anyone who has read Genesis chapter One can testify - all He says comes to pass.

It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing (quickeneth: To cause to come alive, to receive life). Does not our body testify to these truths? And there are three that bear witness  in earth (in flesh): the Spirit, and the Water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. We cannot remain alive without 1) Water 2) blood and 3) air. Likewise, we cannot remain alive eternally without 1) the Word of God 2) the Blood of God and 3) the Holy Spirit of God. These three quickeneth us - not our mortal flesh, brethren. We might as well give our flesh to God to consume as a pleasing sacrifice on the altar of His daily will for us, for it's dying anyway! Why cling to something that's dead? Yet so many do. They choose death, thinking it's life and they reject life thinking it's death. They're thoroughly deceived.

 I want to switch places with Jesus. I want to sit in Him at the right hand of the Father and I want Him to sit in me here on earth. I want to sit with Him on His throne while He sits on the throne of my heart. I want to partake of His glorified body while He partakes of my flesh - given to Him in sacrifice   - which is reasonable, after all He's done for me, my sacrafice pales in comparison.  Please Lord - take control of me completely.  You've prepared a place for me in Heaven - please accept my heart as a place prepared for You on earth. You said You had nowhere to lay Your head when You walked among us, in Your own flesh.....please, lay Your head on my breast, lay Your head in my heart - rest in me; as You've invited me to rest in You. May I refresh You with pure, clean water -  flowing out of the throne of my heart wherein You sit.  As You sit on the throne of my heart-  and the water of life flows out of,  from underneath the throne- may You dip Your feet in it, and may I wash them, Lord.