“Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do. ” (Proverbs 4:23). TNLT
Watch the information you receive because now, man has opened the other door!
A sponge soaks in everything presented to it; water, powder, oil, dust, even sand. With a little pressure, either through squeezing or beating, it releases part of its content.
The heart is like that. It soaks up every information presented to it. With the pressure of everyday, they come out as actions and attitude. The information you digest form the actions that become you!
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” – Proverbs 23;7a
Because of free-will, every information or knowledge you receive comes to you as a suggestion. Not a force or a thing of compulsion. You are responsible for your actions!
Neither God nor Satan will force you.
God punished Adam and Eve, not just because they received information from another source but because they CHOSE to believe that voice! It was a suggestion that Eve received from the serpent. A suggestion or advice. An advice, is a thing that can either be accepted or rejected. The point where the suggestion is received and begins to be “desirable” is the point of choice; the point of “open eyes”, where the “door” of evil knowledge is opened.
Through your thought, you surrender to either side. Your actual person is determined by your thought. You cannot be bigger, better or different than your thought.
“And remember, no one who wants to do wrong should ever say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else either. Temptation comes from the lure of our own evil desires. These evil desires lead to evil actions, and evil actions lead to death.” (James 1:13-15 TNLT).
“The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust.” (James 1:14 MSG).
It is your own evil desire, the final conclusion of your thought process that drags you away from God.
Though your thoughts are not visible in that they cannot be seen physically, your actions play them out!
The process starts as a suggestion or advert; aimed at making you participate or patronize.
“See how beautiful this tree is. Its fruit will make you wise!”
“Will it, really?” You reply, curious.
Or
“Someone may be hiding in the dark!”
“Oh, that’s true!” You reply in fear.
Every suggestion or advert targets your will. You either walk away or participate. The decision is always yours!
Every time you respond positively to a suggestion, good or evil, you make it your own, and will not remain the same afterwards. It leaves you better or worse.
This is the process that opens the door!
This is the reason we should be careful what we hear and how we interpret what we hear!
To be continued.
For as long as man sits there against the will of God, he remains under the control of Satan.
The question is, how did the image get here?
Man brought it in when he opened a door that should have remained shut!
Through his desire, Man opened a door too powerful for him to shut.
“HE WHO willfully separates and estranges himself [from God and man] seeks his own desire and pretext to break out against all wise and sound judgment.” (Proverbs 18:1). AMP.
“An unfriendly man pursues selfishness, And defies all sound judgment.” (Proverbs 18:1). – New English Bible.
A man’s desire misleads him.
“Temptation comes from the lure of our own evil desires.” (James 1:14). TNLT
Man fell when the door of desire was opened in him.
“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” (Genesis 3:6).
Now the mind has got two open doors! The door of good and the door of evil! The door of the Spirit and the door of the carnal.
This means that the heart of man from where thoughts originate to make the man who he is, can be accessed by either God through the good door or by the devil through the evil door! This is what corrupted the heart and made it deceitful and wicked!
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
Now there is confusion!
Before the fall of Adam, only one door was open: the door of good. The other door was shut, passive. Adam opened it when he chose to willingly disobey God. Man’s mind has since then been in a battle. A battle to know direction!
God had told Adam not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of good and Evil.
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:17).
It is like saying “don’t depend on the product of this chamber; just obey me, follow what I say!”
Man could make plans but they have to be based on instruction from the Lord.
“A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9).
Man’s every step should be on the directions of God!
“The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.” (Proverbs 16:1).
No matter your plan, thought or word, God should guide you.
A man should not direct his steps.
“O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” (Jeremiah 10:23).
“Man that walketh” means man that is alive! If he should not direct his ways, who should?
“Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?” (Proverbs 20:24).
Man was not to know good and evil. He was to know only good.
“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil. (Genesis 3:22a)
“Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.” (3 John 1:11).
God should guide us.
“And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” (Isaiah 30:21).
“You will hear a word ……… this is the way.” Information activates thought. Knowledge is of the heart/mind. Knowledge is nothing but information we have received; which in turn activates our thinking. The things we hear, see, perceive, touch, taste, make us think.
“O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.” (Matthew 12:34-35).
“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;” (Romans 1:28).
The children of Israel thought defeat after they received information from the spies.
“And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.” (Numbers 13:32)
“And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.” (Numbers 14:1).
Eve thought after receiving an information.
“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” (Genesis 3:6).
What she heard opened the eyes of her heart and she “saw that the tree was good ….. and a tree to be desired to make one wise.”
Information makes one think!
The devil did not tell Adam he was naked. How did he know? He knew after he ate the fruit, an information that made him think!
When he said he was naked, God was like, “what led you to that, have you received information that I did not give you?”
No wonder the bible says:
“Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.” (Proverbs 4:23). TNLT
Watch the information you receive because now, man has opened the other door!
To be continued.
WHAT IS FRUIT?
“”Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are really wolves that will tear you apart. You can detect them by the way they act; just as you can identify a tree by its fruit. You don’t pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles. ” – Matthew 7:15-16 (NLT)
True believers are known by their fruit: their character: “the way they act”!
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.” -1 Corinthians 13:1-2.
Gift is not fruit!
You may be gifted to move mountains, heal the sick, raise the dead, speak with tongues of fire, and all; if you do not have a good and godly character you are nothing! Gift can never equal Fruit! Godly fruit is your Visa into Heaven.
Fruits are cultivated, gifts are given.
We should cultivate godly character, and keep it even in extreme conditions. That is why Jesus said “if your fruit remain”. (John 15::16)
Everyday, things threaten your fruit; your character! The North and South winds would always blow upon you. What fragrance (character) would you display?
“Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.” (Song of Songs 4:16).
People, things and circumstances would be used against you; how would you react?
Your character would either make the Holy Spirit take delight in you or get repulsed from you!
WHAT KIND OF TREE IS MAN?
Man as a tree, is the moveable double or replica of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Tree, though rooted to a spot in the garden, has the power of knowledge: good and evil knowledge. Man not rooted at a spot, has the power of knowledge: good and evil.
In Ezekeil 8, God took the prophet into a wall and showed him a chamber.
“Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about. And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.”
-Ezekiel 8:8-12.
“…. Every man in the chambers of his imagery?”
Should your heart be split open, what kind of images would be found there? Would they be things you would be proud of? Would they give glory to God?
“Every man,….. his imagery.”
This is the CHAMBER OF THOUGHT in the heart of Man; where he thinks, imagines and creates his actions; where his secret motives are rehearsed before being played out!
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” – Proverbs 4:23.
It is the power house in Man, from where the issues of his life flows! Whatever a man is, is from here, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Prov. 23:7)
If a man is godly, it is from here, if he is ungodly it is from here! Man becomes what is in this chamber!
“A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. ” – Matthew 12:35.
He is THE product of his thought. His emotion, intellect, imagination, memory and will are rooted here.
A Chamber is a Judge’s room for hearing cases that need to be taken out to Court. It is a place for private hearing; a room where two parties are listened to privately. It is a secret place.
The mind is like a Judge’s Chambers. Here two parties, good and evil, are heard without any one else knowing or hearing. But you, the individual, being the Judge presiding over the Chambers, hear both parties in order to make a decision.
It was not supposed to be so! We were not supposed to be there, judging good and evil.
“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.” – Genesis 3:22a.
“Man is become”, has become; meaning he was not like that before! Not like what?
“To know good and evil”, he now judges!
Man has usurped God’s place: to judge situations, take decisions and lead himself!
It was not so!
This was exclusively God’s Chambers! God desires to be here; alone. The place He called “My Sanctuary”.
Paul, speaking by the Spirit of God confirms:
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” – 1 Corinthians 3:16.
But another image is seen here! An image that desires to have the place, by manipulating man, putting him there and turning him against God!
“For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:” – Isaiah 14:13.
Man has glorified himself under the influence of Satan!
For as long as man sits there against the will of God, he remains under the control of Satan.
The question is, how did the image get here?
Man brought it in when he opened a door that should have remained shut!
To be continued.
TREES!
“Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” – Matthew 12:33-37.
All through the scripture, God refers to man symbolically, as a tree.
“And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” (Psalm 1:3).
“To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.” (Isaiah 61:3).
All the trappings or features of a tree can symbolically be seen in man. Paul understood this and encourages us to be rooted in Christ.
“Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:7).
Trees take root. Man takes root. Any tree whose root is shallow will fall. Any believer who is not rooted deeply in Christ, will fall at the least tempest or storm.
Trees have leaves.
Leaves do not add to the future of the trees but to its present; they are useless once they fall from the trees.
Man has a form of godliness.
“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” (2 Timothy 3:5).
This form is useless to him in eternity. An outer religious covering that has no power. Man has decked himself with various colours of garments for various kinds of worship. He follows a form, lifeless rituals of do’s and don’t’s, “official” practices that cannot make one acceptable to God, because the form lacks true righteousness. Such trees can deceive.
Religion may make us visible to all, yet it can not approve us before God; and even before men. Our fruit -character- does.
Trees bear fruit. Man is encouraged to bear fruit.
“Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:” (Matthew 3:8).
“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. ” (John 15:16).
This is the real power of the believer! Not being denied but acknowledged by heaven.
“Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20).
In being the “meekest” of men, Moses possessed the character of gold, which gave him power both with God and with men, and took him to the top. A loss of character also brought him down! Just obey the Word; speak to the Rock, and he disobeyed by striking it.
WHAT IS FRUIT!
“”Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are really wolves that will tear you apart. You can detect them by the way they act; just as you can identify a tree by its fruit. You don’t pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles. ” (Matthew 7:15-16 NLT)
True believers are known by their fruit: their character: “the way they act”!
(To be continued)
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