Lifestyle warfare I
Ge 2:9 And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
· The knowledge of good and evil.
Ge 2:16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
*This was a statement of fact not a threat or a punishment!
Gen 3:5 "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing(by experiencing it in your own lives) good and evil." 6 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. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
*The law was born and they knew instantly that they were not able to stand before God the way that they were. They were afraid of God! v:10
Ge 3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
*They hid themselves from the presence of the Lord! This is the result of eating from the wrong tree. We are hidden from his presence.
9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
1. Where are you?
2. Who told you?
o was it just knowing that they were naked that was so bad? why couldn´t the devil have simply said “Hey, your naked!”
o Why did they now think that it was wrong?
o Self conscienciousness
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
*self consciousness and self preservation myself and themselves gives a good clue to what happened to them. They were no longer dependant on God, but themselves. Their eyes were opened and they knew like Gods, but they did not have the power or ability to live like one.
Every day we have a choice between the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Living in the tree of life means making choices that will lead to life.
There are some things that were always hard for me to understand
Ÿ One is why are there so many mean christians?
Ÿ Why are there so many Holy people that were so angry.
Ÿ Why those those that are trying to be so doctrinally right were so bitter and mad at everyone else?
It depends from which tree you are eating from when you read your bible! i.e. encourage or discourage!
· Choosing the tree of knowledge makes you filter everything through a value system of judging what is good and what is evil. If you are an expert on what is good, you will judge yourself and others so harshly that you will die. If you are an expert on evil, corruption will creep into your heart and kill you. Knowledge of Good and Evil always have the same result: Death!
Jn 8:1-12 (woman caught in adultry) 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
· Both Jesus and the Pharisees were trying to accomplish the same thing. One brought life and the other death!
Deut 30:19 "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
q First we must begin to eat from the right tree concerning our own lives. This is restoration in our relationship to God.
q secondly we must begin to feed that fruit to others (imitate God Eph 5,1)This is what we are called to do, become ambassadors to the world of God´s reconciliation. But I will not be able to do the second unless I do the first.
The result of the tree of life is the innocence of a child.
Matt 18:3
3 and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. (NKJ)
Children: Easy to laugh, quick to smile, instant forgiveness, and a sparkle in the eyes.
Matt 11:25-26
25 At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
26 Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. (NIV)
What was the Father´s pleasure? To reveal spiritual truths to humble people who had a simple, heartfelt love for him. This verse explains why so many are so knowledgable, but lack the freedom and power in life.
Example of the difference between the perspective of the two trees. zb.. Running into a man on the street and finding out that he is blind! He is the one that is wrong until we discover he is blind. That´s how God treats us, as if... That´s the view from the tree of life. The legalistic view is from the wrong tree!
Will you be right or will you be well?
God knew that if we began to live according to the wrong tree that we would die! One of the first fruits of this tree is the fruit of UNFORGIVENESS!
n Unforgiveness comes when our sense of right has been offended! We get hurt, disappointed, rejected or offended in some way! Because we always want to be RIGHT!
n The second thing that happens if we do not deal with unforgiveness is it turns into BITTERNESS! Bitterness will cause roots to grow in our hearts.
Heb 12:15 15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. (Bitterness always leads to SIN!)
n The third thing that happens is the beginning stages of death in the physical. SICKNESS! Not all sickness comes from bitterness, but much does!
n The next thing that happens is our relationships suffer.
o First with God (We lose our desire to pray)
o We feel condemned or even worse perfect
o With others
o We become critical
o Condemning and judgemental
o Competitive, comparative
Forgiveness: We hesitate to forgive when we are offended because we know the other person is WRONG! or we think we are right! Forgiveness has nothing to do with who is right or wrong! It simply means we will not let another persons sin ruin us! Forgiveness is our protection from the sins of ourselves and others.
(Matt 18,15-20 There are sins that you can forgive without confrontation others need it so that the brother is free too!)
Matt 5:38-48
38 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' 39 "But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 "If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 "And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 "Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. 43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 "For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 "And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. (NKJ)
We have to agressively pursue forgiveness! This is a spiritual battle. Some are so hurt and bitter that they find it almost impossible to forgive. In these instances we must stand against Demonic Spirits and attitudes of unforgiveness, bitterness and rage, disappointment and other influences that keep us miserable.
1. Evil spirits cast out.
2. attitudes renewed by God´s word
3. give the Holy Spirit the freedom to change us.
Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus I have a confession to make. Instead of loving certain people I have resented them and have unforgiveness in my heart toward them. In obedience to your Word, I rebuke a spirit of unforgiveness, rebellion, grief, sorrow, hurt, self-centeredness and pride and command all related spirits to loose their grip on my life. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I now forgive... (give their names) I release all these people in the name of Jesus. Lord I ask you to forgive all of them too. In
addition, I forgive myself for my sins and shortcomings and ask you to heal my wounded spirit. In Jesus Name. Amen!