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Chapter Twenty Five
The Hidden Power of Belief
Both trees were in the Garden of Eden because Adam and Eve were there and as long as they had a choice -- the two trees were there to choose from. But like we have already stated -- it was their belief and choice that determined what the tree would become to them.
So in our lives -- the same choices are there and we make them every day. I believe that what ever we believe and act on will manifest itself in our lives. The Bible says that God created us in His own image and likeness and what would be more like God than for us to be able to speak to the mountain and have it obey us.
The garden of our life has two trees growing in it. The Tree of Life in Christ Jesus in me as Lord. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is my desire to be my own lord and live in the world of self-rule.
On the one side we who know the Scriptures know what Jesus has said to us. On the other side we have the kingdoms of this world – including the so-called Christian world telling us about what is good and what is evil. Who shall we believe and what will happen to us as a result of our belief?
We will speak and act on what we believe and according to the understanding we have. As far as I can determine we will get what we believe and act on.
(Mat 9:28 KJV) And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.
(Mat 9:29 KJV) Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.
(Mat 9:30 KJV) And their eyes were opened;...
So we -- being the blind man -- come to Jesus about our troubles and ask Him to help us. He asks -- Do you believe that I can do this? What we reply shows us what we believe. If we don’t even go the Him for help -- we don’t because we believe He can’t or won’t help us. We turn to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and rely on the kingdoms of the world to help us. Sometime it can help us through its knowledge -- but it doesn’t last and it is usually very expensive in sorrow -- pain and money.
Say we are a person with cancer. If we don’t believe what the Lord has said about our inheritance and our healing – we will go to the world and its solutions and be subject to their solutions. If we happen to have cancer of the breast – they will remove the breast to get the cancer and they helped us – but the price of their help is both expensive and painful. The world’s ways leave us disfigured and weakened in our faith and in our body.
If we turn to the Tree of Life in Christ Jesus and ask for His help -- He asks us -- Do you believe that I can do this for you? We say -- Yes and He helps us. Every day we eat from one or the other of these trees depending on what we believe.
Changing Your Mind
How can I change my heart so that I believe what the Lord has said is mine by inheritance when all the time my mind is telling me is isn’t so?
You can change your mind without changing your heart. It’s what you believe in your heart that determines what tree you eat from. Changing your mind because you heard someone preach a good sermon isn’t the same as changing your commitment to the Truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and committing your life to the Truth.
Faith comes by hearing -- but hearing means that you act on what you are hearing. Just hearing and hearing over and over without any action is ever learning and yet not coming into the knowledge of the Truth.
(2 Tim 3:5 KJV) Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
(2 Tim 3:6 KJV) For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
(2 Tim 3:7 KJV) Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
It’s possible to remain in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and to move from one side of the Tree to the other side of that same Tree. We stop doing evil and change our minds and decide to do good. We stop doing things the world’s way and decide to do what the Bible says. We believe that what the Bible says about good and evil is true for us -- but we don’t believe that if we act on what it says about receiving blessings by inheritance -- we will receive the blessings it promises as gifts. We set about to work for the blessings that the Bible promises us rather than speak Kingdom Truths – then move on those same Truths until the problem goes away.
When our action is only deciding about good and evil with our mind -- we haven’t left the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We have merely changed our minds and begin to outwardly live good lives instead of evil lives.
To leave the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil -- I have to die to my own ideas and ways -- then submit to the Lordship of Jesus over me. It requires that I die to self-rule and my own ideas. When I do --the life of Christ in me begins to live. Remember -- Christ in you won’t make you submit to His Lordship. You have to come to Him and make Him Lord by doing what He says to do about everything.
You can move from the evil side of the Tree of knowledge to the good side of that same tree by just changing your mind about what is right or wrong -- but to move from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil to the Tree of Life you have to die to your self-rule.
(Gal 2:20 KJV) I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Well I might ask -- How much will I have to surrender to Jesus’ Lordship? Everything -- and I mean everything. (Luke 14:33 KJV) So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
To try to do that just because you see it as the right thing to do will only cause resentment and anger to rise up in your heart because of the loss of everything you love. You must see the inheritance before you can give up what you have worked so hard to get so Jesus can give you what He has.
For Jesus to do what He did He had to see something that was so wonderful that it gave Him joy to give up what He had to get what He saw. If there is no joy set before you – you will not be able to die to your self-life.
Remember – you must see the Kingdom of God as a real place and the great treasures of that Kingdom as yours now. The only thing that is keeping you from them is the small treasure you have in your hand that you worked so hard to get. Jesus wants you to give Him all the things that you have acquired by doing good works in your life.
As soon as you surrender that old life and all of its so-called treasure – Jesus will give you what He has in His Kingdom for you. There is no comparison as to their value and it should be something that I eagerly do when I see the magnitude of the treasure being offered to me.
Seeking and knocking on the door of the Kingdom of God until it opens in your life will make forsaking this world and it s kingdom a delight. Do it soon. One of the hardest things to do after you see and believe the Truth of the Kingdom of God is to wait for the Lord to manifest Himself to you.
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