Part Two

 I met an Indonesian woman who had been attending an American church in Seoul for over ten weeks. She confided in me how lonely she was. She kept hoping someone from the church would invite her out to lunch after church, or even just introduce themselves to her  -  yet no one ever did. All the contact she ever had with this church's members was when the pastor told the people to stand and greet each other for two minutes during their religious ceremony.  Tgey would smile, shake her hand and say "welcome to our church", then immediately forget about her. She was in Korea working on her doctorate, living apart from her husband and children,  so she really did need fellowship.  But she never got it. 

This church's "love" was expressed through organized programs   - Come feed the homeless! Of course  - that's a good thing, but again, but not if it becomes a religious activity to be seen of men  - that avoids relationship entirely.  The homeless person remains homeless and becomes another notch in the church's belt, something to be proud of.  They may not be prideful about it but they still won't take the crucial step real, genuine love would take  - that is, invite the homeless into their homes. Invite them into a personal relationship.  Instead, they remain a part of their "ministry" and ministry is a religious activity to them, that proves they are Christians. 

Keep in mind  - what I'm suggesting must always be led by the Spirit. Am I saying every homeless person must be invited into our homes? No, but be sensitive and obedient to the Holy Spirit - to Divine appointments He's arranged.  Be willing to, at all times, go the extra mile, and sacrifice time, money, personal space food and possessions. Give, give, give! Then give some more. When you invite someone to the altar, to enter into a relationship with God   - show them how real it is by inviting them into a personal relationship with you and yours. Begin to disciple them personally.  Invite them to your house  - for your house is His HOUSE, is it not? Indeed, no one will receive a house in Heaven from God that hasn't given their house on earth to God, if they have one. But have a physical house or not, invite them to live in your heart, as the Apostle said "I love you because i have you in my heart".

      It's one thing to say "God loves you" or "Jesus loves you" but it's another thing entirely to say "I love you" and mean it, to back it up with deeds, not just words.

       A religious ceremony in no way expresses the love of God. We contend that our religious ceremonies express our love for God but He tells us we cannot love Him apart from loving each other. There may be seasons when we draw aside to Him, alone in the wilderness,  but He always sends us back down the mountain,  to the people we belong to, eventually.  He no more wants our private, intimate fellowship to end than we do  - but He is always attentive to the needs of His people. 

       Altar calls are worthless if they are merely inviting people (precious souls) into an impersonal religious ceremony where they are taught from the start their relationship with God is a religious tradition- to be fulfilled in the church service,  primarily.  They met Him at church and they're told (or it's intimated) that is where they must continue to meet Him. A pseudo love says (feigned) "I will meet with you only during these prearranged religious ceremonies  - but i will not take time to meet with you from my personal life. I will only know you during "ministry"  -  so now the young children learn that relationship is religious and not real  - love is just a word to be spoken   - a noun, not a verb.

We, believers,  must break bread with one another, house to house and heart to heart  - it is imperative that we do so; because Love wants to personally touch every hurt inside.  Love wants to know each of us personally.  He not only meets with us privately   - He uses us to meet with us, amen. He loves each of us so deeply  and He wants each of us to be just like Him  - deeply in love with one another.  And our love does not need to be dressed up as "ministry" -   it must be organic, not organizational. The only one who should ever "organize" our love for each other is the Holy Spirit.  We should never be told how to love each other and when. And who. We should let God connect individual,members with one another as He sees fit  - and fleshly "cliques" should be avoided at all costs.  The Holy Spirit will never allow anyone in our midst to go unloved and unnoticed. 

Part two coming soon

 I rejoice not

 for those satisfied 

 with the life they've got 

 rather my heart abounds

 with sympathies profound

 for those who struggle mightily 

 with this life they've no choice but to lead.

 All who are dissatisfied 

 contemplating suicide 

 all through their lives

 denied

 the peace and happiness 

 with which others seem blessed  -

These are my companions,

 the sorrowful who don't "fit in" -

 the lonely,  rejected, 

 ignored, disrespected, 

 the ugly (in the world's eyes),

the ill thought of  - i will not despise...

These are they whom my soul loves,

  or have no-one tto love them,

 Oh God, please may I be their friend  -

All who have no  one who cares  -

 I've more than enough love to spare;

  For in your heart, Lord, is an endless supply 

 of love for those the world cruelly denies...

May I never be

  selfish nor greedy

  with the love You've given me...

May I daily

  pour it out to

   every poor empty heart who

  longs for the love

    they were born to know  -

The love of The Father, The Son,

  and The Holy Ghost...

 They don't know it, but I love them so,

 their songs have touched me so deeply

 through the years.

 And I wonder who I've touched

 that I'll never know

 till I get to Heaven

 and then I'll hear

 the stories and testimonies 

 of how God used my life

 in small ways or large

 to bless His bride.

Songs of the heart

 are so much more satisfying 

 than all other songs...

 Thank you Rich Mullins 

 and Michael Kelly Blanchard 

 Both the Tree of Life and the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil are eternal. Like each of us, they are both natural and supernatural simultaneously.  The Tree of the knowledge of good and evil will stand forever as a testimony to the foolishness and rebellion of man  - against all who chose it's fruit over God's will for them. It will forever testify of theyvwho chose to discontinue fellowship with God   -  who prefer each other's company to His. They even prefer Satan's fellowship to God's,  and so they shall have it, forever. 

The Tree of Life will forever stand as a testimony to all those who chose fellowship with God over their own lives. They chose obedience over rebellion.  They chose to pursue Him over knowledge about Him. Everyone born of the flesh is born out of fellowship with God. Everyone born of the Spirit is born into fellowship with God.  Those born of the flesh alone prefer to fellowship with flesh alone. Those born of the Spirit prefer to fellowship with the Spirit  - having crucified the flesh with it's affections and lusts thereof. Those born of the will of the flesh  (the will of man), prefer to obey the will of the flesh (the will of man). Those born of the will of God prefer to obey the will of the Father.

The fruit of eating from the tree of the knowledge produces a religion men call "science"  - the pursuit of knowledge.  This replaces the pursuit of God; hence, science cannot admit God exists nor that He teaches truth, for in their pride, they themselves must discover,  or learn what is true, what is fact. They become their own gods, as Satan told them they would, but they are mortal gods, for the one realm they can never access or conquer is Eternity. Their powers are limited, they're unable to sustain the life of the flesh,  all must succumb to death. It is sadder than any Shakespearean tragedy ever was, for their desire to be gods, apart from God, will be granted.  They shall live forever as gods in hell and the lake of fire, eternally tormented by the prideful choices they made while in the flesh.

 The Bible can be read two ways  - with our minds or with our hearts. One way leads to death, the other to life. As for me and my heart, we will seek the Lord. I want to eat the fruit of the Tree of Life,  who's leaves heal the nations: we are leaves on the Tree of Life! E who believe on the Christ, the Holy One of God. The sap in that tree is the blood of the Lamb- our Christ  - the BREAD OF Life. When his side was pierced,  when his hands and feet were pierced,  the sap of that Tree of Life all ran out and it died  - Eternal life itself tasted death and died on our behalf,  for it was a very lonely tree, for if no one could eat of it's fruit, grown for all mankind to partake of  - then it would die of loneliness so that it could be ressurected when all could eat of it again.  The Father created a new tree (recreated I should say) and planted it in the midst of the garden of our hearts  - where we may partake of it's fruit freely, joyfully,  Our souls, our flesh becomes the soil of the new Eden. Now that Jesus has been ressurected   - the Tree of Life is flourishing once again.  When we allow Jesus access to our hearts  - the Tree of Life is planted in us, and we are to eat of it's fruit in each other - through daily fellowship and communion. We really do need each other - for our life is found by giving away the Christ in us to each other: and receiving Him back again  from those we gave Him away to. Our words to one another  -  they are spirit and they are life (or death if we're eating from the wrong tree for then we submit our tongues to the wicked one. Then hell's fire is manifested by our words instead of Heaven's fire). Our lips will reveal our hearts, who our hearts belong to, who is residing in them, which tree we are eating of. The more we consume the Word of God with our hearts (the Tree of Life), the more of us it consumes. It occupies more and more of the soil of our hearts till one day there's nothing left in our hearts for the enemy to occupy and plant and cultivate his lies and unbelief and hate and lust and all that opposes God: the true, living and Eternal God  - the legitamate claimant to our hearts affections  - not that usurper, that false god, who wants to exalt us in disobedience to He who knows us best. He wants to keep us eating from the wrong tree - the Tree of sin and death.

 I see men as trees walking  - either the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or the Tree of Life,  and when we meet each other we will partake of whichever fruit the other is bearing in their soul. One tree bears death, the other, life. One unbelief,  or belief in one's self, the other, faith. One is the fruit of the flesh, carnal, the other is the fruit of the Spirit,  holy. "You shall know them by their fruits. Every good tree brings forth good fruut, but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit  - neither can a corrupt tree brings forth good fruit. Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them." 

Is their tongue on fire of Hell? Bad fruit = bad tree. Is their tongue seasoned with salt  - speaking kind, gracious words that witness of Christ? Good fruit = good tree. Like the Tree of Life died and has been ressurected and now bears much fruit  - so must we  - "I say to you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit. Every branch in Me that bears not fruit He takes away  - and every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. He that abides in Me and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit  - for without Me you can do nothing."  When we are "Born Again" we are meant to switch trees. We are supposed to stop focusing our lives on pursuing knowledge  and start focusing our lives on pursuing God, the source of knowledge.  A passionate heart seeking Him He will never despise nor turn away from. It is what He longs for  - the same unbroken fellowship He enjoyed with us in the Garden of Eden.

So seek Him with all your heart mind and strength and you will find Him. "Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you" (as the prodigal son found out). What a glorious promise! I love you Lord and i always will. I've tried to fight it  - I've foolishly tried to resist you,  but you are more pleasurable,  your fruit is far sweeter than the other tree's fruit.  I want to eat of you, again and again.  I want to be your "Johnny Appleseed". I want my words and deeds to plant your seeds in the hearts of everyone i meet. I want to live by what you feed me. I want to drink the juice of the Tree of Life  and taste tgat gloriously abundant life you promised me. I choose life! Not death. Amen and Amen. 

 At one time animals were harmless  -  all animals-  because they did not crave flesh. The idea of mudering flesh came from man  - man introduced death to all creation - as it's head. They follow the head, wherever he leads. All sin comes from some form of fleshly craving or desire and death comes from sin.

When Cain slew Abel, it was the first deaths to ever occur on planet earth that was not done by God. God slew animals to provide clothes for Adam and Eve, but of course when He did so  - it was not a sin. When Cain slew Abel, he sinned by cutting short the life God had decreed Abel should live. Yet still - animals did not follow suit till adter the flood, which helped them to survive each other on the Ark, especially when getting on and off the Ark.

Each body, animal or human, was created by the Eternal God to live forever in companionship with Him. This is why it took so long for their bodies to die. The generations immediately following Adam took much longer to die than we do. There is no such thing as dying of "natural causes"  - death is unnatural,  it was never meant to be a part of our existence. 

Our Father, which art in Heaven, hallowed be His name, is the source of holiness and life. Sin seperated us from Him: that's when death entered in to the world. Man chose to please himself instead of God. He chose to listen to and obey Satan's voice rather than their Father's.  So, eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil brings death, to our souls and then to our bodies for EVERYTHING SEPERATED FROM OUR FATHER DIES....man is seeking to know good and evil apart from the creator and planter of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Mankind wants to decide his own fate. We want to exist apart from Him  - denying Him the very purpose for which we were created: to be His people,  in loving relationship with Him.

Christ is the Tree of Life, offered to us a second time  - another chance to get it right, to correct our mistake ( we all partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Adam ) and we all may eat of the Tree of Life because of the Second Adam  - the Word of God made flesh is the Tree of Life we are to eat, daily, to survive in a world eating from the tree of death. The "Life" the tree bears for us is Eternal, which is why we were banned from eating it (fellowshipping with,  walking and talking with, our Father, in the midst of the garden in the cool of the evening) after we sinned by eating of the tree of rebellion because if we had eaten of the Tree of Life then, after we ate of the other, we would be in an eternal state of sin and separation from God, otherwise known as damnation. Death is God's mercy to us, that there can be and is an end to our sinful state of being and there is a restoration to who we were before the Fall. We will be and are restored to our glorified,  eternal bodies that He prepared for us before Adam sinned,  for indeed, even every creature will be restored to their original condition,  their eternal state of being, at the glorious ressurection of the dead....a factory reset if there ever was one! "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,  and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock", "They shall not hurt nor destroy" anymore for sin shall be no more, therefore death shall be no more  "O death, where is thy sting?" We Christians thank God for death's demise, the "death of death" but sinners lament because at the Judgment,  all will abide in death or life forever.  All will eat the fruit of of one tree or the other  - forever, for the greatest torment in Hell will come from "The knowledge of good and evil"  - from knowing how evil they really were and are and from knowing how truly good God was to them in their lives (and is) and how good the Saints were (and are). The knowledge they chose will accompany them in Hell and the lake of fire, tormenting them forever.  They chose knowledge of themselves over knowing Him. All mankind is hungrily pursuing knowledge today. They crave it more and more and more, as Daniel put it  - "many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased"; an increase of knowledge, then, is a sure sign of the time of the end and it has happened in our generation before our very eyes with the advent of the Internet. There is more raw knowledge available on the earth today than at any other time in man's history.  Even Bible schools, even churches are fixated on seeking knowledge  - some may be seeking the knowledge of the Most High but the point is this  - we should center our lives on Him, on knowing Him, not merely knowledge about Him even it's from Him. 

Part two in Four days

 We are never to say we know correct doctrine (pride) rather we should say we know The Truth  - Jesus (humility), for He is the source for our doctrine,  our beliefs. Knowing Him is the goal of our existence (spiritual), not merely knowing sound doctrine (soulish). One comes from the mind  - the other from the heart. One engages the mind alone, the othere engages the heart, first, then the mind. This is always the proper order: the source of all wisdom and knowledge   - then the wisdom and knowledge that comes from Him (holy), not from the flesh or from devils (carnal, profane).

 Ask yourself   -

  If I'm an epistle read of all men,

  what kind of story are they reading, then?

  Is it full of faith?

  Does it witness of Christ?

  Is it manifesting true, abundant life?

  Do miracles abound?

  Are demons defeated?

  Can they hear the sound

  of Satan being unseated?

  Is it an adventurous book?

  Is it fiction or true?

  Just what do people see

  when they're looking at you?

  Who's story are they reading?

  Who's the focus of each chapter?

  Are they clearly seeing

  the God of the HEREAFTER?

  

  The pleasures of the flesh

  are fleeting at best

 But at the right hand of the Lord

 are pleasures forever more 

 Therefore 

I will set my affections on things above 

 where moth and rust do not destroy 

I will seek my Holy Spirit's righteousness 

peace and joy

In these alone will i rejoice 

 I see now what i did not see before, 

 yet I've so much still to learn my Lord.

I feel like I'm in kindergarten still

 but deeper I will go  - if it be Your will.

 It's as if the scales are falling from my eyes:

I need You Lord, not knowledge, to grow wise,

for knowledge apart from You leads to deadly pride,

Therefore I wish for only the knowledge You provide. 

Early will I rise and seek You,

not for what You can give me

for I dare to think this thought  -

Oh Lord, what can I give Thee?

How can I minister to

the One who is all-sufficient, 

all powerful,  omniscient?

All I have to give You is my heart

broken in pieces  - though not tiny enough, 

yet, laid at Your feet

to do with as You please...

Lord,

Increase my faith,

 show me my Father

 and I'll be satisfied 

  both now and forever...