How to Walk After the Flesh in 20 Easy Lessons

Author : Paul Ellis
Website: Escape To Reality 
Post Title: How to Walk After the Flesh in 20 Easy Lessons
Written On: 11 August 2011


If you’ve ever taken young children to the zoo, you will know that the big animals are initially more popular than the small ones. Elephants, rhinos, and tigers get more attention than otters, turtles, and geckos. And so it is with works of the flesh.

Ask any Christian to list the works of the flesh and they will likely respond with the list found in Galatians 5:19-21: adultery, hatred, idolatry, murder, etc. Paul calls these the “manifest” or “obvious” works of the flesh. They are the biggies, the elephantine examples of what it means to live apart from God. But the Bible also provides dozens of lesser examples of fleshly living that you may not be so familiar with. I’ve listed some of these lesser works of the flesh below.

Walking after the flesh is when you attempt to get your needs met independently of God. It’s trusting in yourself (your abilities, your understanding) and living solely from the basis of your earthly experience (what you see, hear, touch, etc.). Now here’s the important bit: You can walk after the flesh in the pursuit of both good things and bad things. Paul’s manifest works of the flesh – the biggies – are all clearly associated with bad deeds, but some of the lesser works in the list below are not bad at all. This is a critical point. We are not comparing good deeds with bad but flesh with spirit. And as we saw in the last post, when you’re walking after the flesh even good things can be bad for you.

A classic example of something that is good yet bad for you is God’s law. It is not sin, it is good! But try to live by it and you will find yourself walking after the flesh. Paul said his ability to keep the righteous requirements of the law was ineffective because he tried to do so in the puny strength of his flesh (Romans 8:3). Living under self-imposed law is one of the primary ways we walk after the flesh – hence its position at the top of my list.

Just a reminder: The wrong way to read this list is the carnal way – identifying things you should or should not do. Christianity is a bit like marriage – it’s a love-relationship. You will kill it if you try to reduce it to a set of rules. We are less interested in the what than we are in the how. So how do we walk after the flesh? 

Here are 20 ways:

1. Try to keep God’s law (Romans 7:9-25): Think that you have to do stuff to be blessed (Ephesians 1:3), that you have to perform to stay saved (Galatians 2:21). The old covenant is the fleshly covenant; the new covenant is the spirit covenant.

2. Set your mind on earthly things (Philippians 3:19, Jn 3:12): Keep your eyes on the here and now. “What you see is all there is” (Colossians 3:2). Entangle yourself in the affairs of life (2 Timothy 2:4).

3. Think about how to gratify the lusts of the flesh (Romans 13:14): If it feels good, do it (Romans  14:17).

4. Pursue your goal through self-denial (Colossians 2:21-3): Don’t look. Don’t drink. Don’t touch. Fast twice a week. Practice perfectionism (Galatians  3:3, KJV).

5. Make sacrifices to impress God (Hebrews 10:1,8): Be conscious of your debt to Jesus and consider it your duty to serve. Put your ministry or business before your marriage.

6. Load others with heavy burdens (Luke 11:46): Expect your Christian staff to work harder for less pay. Send the message that the work is more important than their families or their health. Shackle them to your vision. Use emotional manipulation or, worse, scripture, to pressure people to support you.

7. Take pride in your independence (Jeremiah 17:6): Respect no one (1 Peter 2:17). Scorn authority (2 Peter 2:10). Flaunt your freedom (1 Corinthians 8:9). “Who needs fathers? I follow Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:12).

8. Worry about your life (Matthews 6:25, Luke 8:14, Philippians 4:6): “What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear?” Entertain fear and doubt. “I can’t do it” (Philippians 4:13).

9. Cultivate self-belief (2 Corinthians 12:10): “I can do it!” Boast in your accomplishments (2 Corinthians 11:30). Boast in your wisdom, strength and riches (Jeremiah 9:23).

10. See yourself as a victim (Romans 8:37): “Woe is me. I’m not worthy. My sinful nature made me do it.” Blame God (James 1:13). Blame the devil (1 John 4:4). Blame your circumstances (Deuteronomy 28:13).

11. Be a man-pleaser (Galatians 1:10): Wonder, what will my boss think? How will the board react? How will this affect the tithers? Say only what they want you to say.

12. Make plans in a worldly manner (2 Corinthians 5:7, Jeremiah 17:5): Do a SWOT analysis; list the pros and cons; make decisions based on money. Manage the risks and stay in control.

13. Try to grow a ministry (Psalms 127:1, 1 Corinthians 3:6). Work hard to make things happen.

14. Define success by human standards (John 8:15, 1 Corinthians 1:26): It’s all about the numbers. “How many soldiers do we have? How many attend the prayer meeting? Are donations increasing? Are we doing better than last year? Am I doing better than my predecessor?”

15. Nurture your reputation (Philippians 3:8): Put on a good show and make a good impression (Luke 16:15; Galatians 6:12). Be face conscious. Make a name for yourself (Genesis 11:4) and blame the wife when things go wrong (Genesis 3:12).

16. Pray long prayers, especially if others are listening (Matthew 6:5-8).

17. Regard people from a worldly point of view (2 Corinthians 5:16): Engage in office politics. View new-comers as potential recruits or leaders for your programs. Cultivate task-based friendships. Choose the best-looking man for the job (1 Samuel 16:7). Show favor to the one with money (James 2:3).

18. Sacrifice people on the altar of your principles (1 Corinthians 3:1-4): “I’m right, you’re wrong.” Judge the weak (Romans 15:1). Distance yourselves from those who aren’t as doctrinally pure as you (1 Corinthians 9:22).

19. Combat worldly problems with worldly weapons (2 Corinthians 10:4): Put your faith in politics. Start fights (Zechariah 4:6). Picket the abortion clinic. Protest the gay parade (Isaiah 42:2).

20. Pretend to be Jesus (Matthew 24:24): Draw people to your ministry and build toward yourself (1 Thessalonians 3:8). Teach others to depend on you. Stand in the gap. Try to crucify yourself (Colossians  2:20).

This is a yukky list and frankly, I didn’t enjoy writing it. Just about everything on this list, I’ve done. God help me, some of the things on this list I’m still doing! Don’t let this list condemn you. A better response is to get mad because we’ve been conned! The prince of this world has deceived us into thinking that this is how things are done, that the fleshly way of life is normal. But this is not normal life for one born of the spirit. We act this way out of habit and ignorance. We walk after the flesh because when we were in the flesh this was how we lived:

You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. (Colossians 3:7)

I have to say this again: Some of the activities on this list are good! Please don’t think I am against the law or fruitful ministries or planning or praying without ceasing. I am not. But understand that the carnal mind longs to be told what to do when God is much more interested in how we are doing it. Are we trusting in the power of our might or are we resting confidently in His? Are we walking as “mere men” (1 Corinthians 3:3) or are we being revealed as mature sons and daughters of our Father? Flesh cannot give birth to spirit. Neither can walking after the flesh empower you to live the life God has called you to live.

I encourage you to review the list again and ask the Holy Spirit to help you identify those areas that He wants to deal with today. “But Paul, that’s pretty much everything on that list!” Don’t panic! Your heavenly Father knows you are a work-in-progress. Some of these issues can be dealt with now; others can wait. He loves you regardless, without any reference to your performance. He knows everything that you’ve done and everything that you’re ever going to do. It’s impossible to disappoint Him.

In this post I’ve given you 20 generic examples of walking after the flesh. In my next post I’m going to provide some classic examples of walking after the flesh found in the Bible. Then, in the post after that, I will give you a simple “flesh test” that you can take on your own. This test consists of two easy questions that will help you determine whether you are walking after the flesh or the spirit in any given situation. In other words, it will reveal those areas in your life where freedom and joy and peace are about to come bursting through!

His Love Is Perfected In Us

Christmas and New Year is a season of giving and giving is one of many ways that we can express our love.

1 John 4:12 ~ No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us.

I want to love others, and I long for others to love me too. The ability to love is inside every created things on earth. The desire to love is in man. Ever since I have become a believer, the felt of the need to love others become stronger because of the many verses stated in the Bible about love. Especially with the verses from 1 John chapter 4. I felt the need to love others more or at least, I was taught that this is the basic requirement from the Lord for a believer. From the way we used to read the Bible, we might conclude that loving others is also a sign to show that we are believers! Because of the way we are brought up in the Christian circle, we do not really know the true meaning of what is “we love because He first love us”.

After I have been enlightened by the grace of God, I gradually learn that we are actually the subject of His love and men are created for His love.  Men are created to be loved by Him and we are created to receive His love. Even though the teaching on the grace of God has overturned the inception that was rooted in me on how men should love each other, and even though I have been proclaiming the verse “we love because He first love us” over and over again, the Lord is still showing me through my circumstances that I still do not really know what is He trying to say...

It was after I have been led to learn on how to engage my heart to receive His revelation a few months ago; I started to receive new insight on what kind of love this really is. Incidentally, this revelation was immediately confirmed by a Christmas card given by a sister in which 1 John 4:12 was quoted: “No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us.”

This kind of love is not our human kind of love. It is His love which perfected in us. We all know we have to love, but without knowing that when we are using our own effort in trying to love, we are doing it out of our flesh (brain), i.e. the dogs that God asked us to be aware of. At the end of the day, we murmur and we are not satisfied with others responses in respect of our “love” for them.  We have seen this over and over again and do not even realize that we are using our own effort to love each other. We did not love others out of the overflow of His love which is perfected in us.  We do not love others out of His love for us.

On the 31st of October last year, our church declared that, the church offering collection of that day would be used as a love gift to three of the churches in Israel . Through this event, the Lord revealed to me the meaning of “His love perfected in us”.

As believer, we have our Jewish brothers in the holy land. These are the kind of brothers that we never know of and we have never seen them before. But as we know more about the message of His grace, the desire of this kind of love to our Jewish brothers grow stronger each day. This is what we call the "supernatural love" from our Lord because our Jewish brothers are His chosen people and our Lord loves them very much. As such, this "supernatural love" is His love perfected in us.  If we have this kind of love towards our Jewish brothers, His love is already perfected in us! If we know that His love is perfected in us, we can rest assure that we can love and we shall love.

The only problem is on how are we going to dispense this perfect love to each other?  Perhaps the only solution to this problem is how much we can rest in Him. When we rest in Him, this perfect love shall flow in and through us. When this perfect love is flowing, we are in the flow of loving each other with the love that He perfected in us. And now, we love because He first loves us.

Understand that once we have put our faith in Him, His love is already perfected in us. Rest in Him and let this perfect love flow in and through you by His grace. After all, we love because His first loves us and only His grace can bring us there...

CSI

For the past eleven years, I have heard preachers and my previous pastor preaching on the verse where the LORD spoke to Cain regarding the consequence of his offering. Their explanations had never satisfied my inner being until the LORD led me to take a different point of view in a different angle and to link this incident with the happening in the Garden of Eden.

Genesis

4:6 ~ And Jehovah said to Cain, Why have you angrily glowed? And why did your face fall?

4:7 ~ if you do well, shall you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin crouches at the door; and its desire is for you, and you shall rule over it.

To understand what is “sin crouches at the door; and its desire is for you, and you shall rule over it”, we need to connect this incident with what happened in the Garden of Eden. The moment God put enmity between the serpent and the woman, and between the serpent’s seed and woman’s Seed, the devil had started his scheme to eliminate her Seed.

If you were to take the Bible as it is, I suggest to you that it was indeed the first murder case in human history. Assuming that I am a crime scene investigator and looking at this story from the TV series CSI (crime scene investigation) point of view, I began to understand what the LORD meant by ”sin was crouching at the door“. As the devil was not all-knowing, it had to judge from outward behavior. It had to put thought in people's mind so that it could observe their responses. He saw that the LORD had respect to Abel and his offering while He did not have respect to Cain and to his offering. In the situation of Cain being rejected, the devil put thought in the prideful mind of Cain and therefore Cain glowed with anger and his face fell!

From here, the devil made the judgement that Abel must be the woman's Seed that the LORD was talking about because the LORD had respect to Abel and to his offering. Due to Cain behavior, the devil grabbed the oppertunity to make use of Cain to get rid of Abel. Did the LORD know about this? Yes, the LORD reminded Cain why have he angrily glowed? And why did his face fall? If Cain does well like Abel, will he not be accepted like Abel? And if he does not do well, sin (the devil) crouches at the door; and its desire is for him, to make use of Cain, and Cain shall rule over it (Cain had a choice to rule over the devil by offering up what Abel was offering). 

The LORD had given man free choice… This free choice had caused Eve to fall and again, this free choice had caused Cain to fall too. This so called free choice or human's right, that this modern society is fighting so much about, has also causes this world to fall. The LORD said to Cain that he should rule over it, meaning Cain had a free choice to offer up the kind of offering that Abel was offering and he and his offering would be respected as well. A devil could not rule over a man with humble heart... But instead, the kind of pride that caused Satan to fall was in Cain and Cain chose not to offer up the kind of offering that the LORD respected. He chose to kill Abel and the crouching devil had its desire fulfilled. 

From this incident, we can see that the behaviour of Abel was a picture of Grace where he depended on the goodness of the fat. While the behaviour of Cain was a picture of religion (works of the flesh) where he depended on the goodness of his labour.

Hallelujah, the LORD had offered up His Begotten Son to this world at the cross. The LORD had cut an everlasting covenant with mankind through the cross. Yet He extended His free choice once again to all mankind; a free choice of choosing this Offering that He respect or otherwise.  If you have chosen the Offering that He respected, He respects you. If you choose grace (unearned, undeserved and unmerited favour) that He has extended to you, He respects you. It is all about His grace, His finished work at the cross not our works. It is all about His grace not our religion.

He is asking this question again. “And if you do not do well, sin crouches at the door; and its desire is for you, and you shall rule over it…”

See The World Through His Heart

See the world through His heart… what a blog title! This blog was started because of  the Mango Cheese Cake made by my wife. I could still recall that moment while I was enjoying my Mango Cheese Cake, the Lord spoke in my heart with the verse from Mark chapter 16 verse 15:  And He said to them, Go into all the world, proclaim the gospel to all the creation. While looking at the pieces of MANGO slices in the cake, my heart connected with His prompting as MANGO..., "MEN GO" into all the world, proclaim the gospel to all the creation...! My first blog post was the picture of that Mango Cheese Cake made by my wife Penny, and I called that Mango Cheese Cake an Evangelistic Cake. 

As I walk and grow in the Lord through this blog, I was amazed to realize that as I learnt to see this world through His heart, I started to see thing the way He see and the whole Bible become real and alive…. So with this insight of the function of our heart and seeing thing through His heart, I recompile and post this revelation under the title of  "SEE THE WORLD THROUGH HIS HEART".

I have been wondering and asking the Lord why is that some believers who have tasted His grace and still shy away from Him after a short period of time… With this question, He is not slow in revealing the answer to me. To my surprise, His answer has become a series of my preaching in 3 separate sessions.

Ever since He started to reveal His answer, He has been showing me the biblical truth in respect of our mind and our heart.

Way back in the Garden of Eden, we could find the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. In the wilderness, we could see the Israelites asking for the two tablets of Stones even though they had the leading of the Lord. Even in this dispensation of grace ever since the resurrection of our Lord, we, the believer, the temple of the Holy Spirit, have been using our mind instead of our heart.

The Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, two tablets of Stone and our mind have the same characteristic, whereas the Tree of Life, the Lord’s leading and our heart are of the same characteristic. With the help from the structure of the tabernacle, we can actually see the picture of the two Trees at the outer court, the two tablets of Stone and God’s leading at the inner court and our mind and heart as the Holy of Holies.

In the outer court, Adam and Eve had chosen the wrong Tree and were driven out of the Garden. In the wilderness, the Israelites had chosen the two Tablets and they took forty years to complete an eleven days journey. My oh my… in this dispensation of grace, believers are using their mind, intellect, and their head knowledge to walk with the Lord. These three eras shared the same consequences which gave birth to human religions…

2 Timothy 1:9 -10 ~ who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

It is NOT only those who preach GRACE is under GRACE... GRACE is not for Christians only, but as long as you are a human being, you are under His GRACE. As long as you are born after the death of Christ, you are under this Grace Dispensation! Believers of Christ are no more under law but under grace. Believer did not invite Moses into their heart to be their Saviour... Believer has invited Jesus into their heart, and Jesus is their Saviour. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time...!

From the picture of the tabernacle, we could understand that Jesus’ death had already positioned us in the Holy of Holies where we can freely commune with Father God. The problem with many believers is that, we are using our mind, intellect, and our head knowledge to dwell in the Holy of Holies. As a result, we are moving the furnitures that are supposed to be in the inner court into the Holy of Holies. We are practising the rituals of the inner court in the Holy of Holies. We are still abiding to the law even though we are now in the dispensation of grace.

Because of these reasons, the Lord pointed me to a verse in Philippians chapter 3 and reminded me to watch out for dogs. Yes..., He meant dogs… dogs that bark, and there are two dogs!

Philippians 3:2 ~ Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.

Although the Lord had used this verse to speak to me before and warn me to be aware of those who used the Law to bind believers, but He regards that incident as in the outer court when I was still in “Babylon”. He wanted me to look at this verse again from a different point of view in the Holy of Holies.

I then realized that He was referring these dogs as our brain. Our brain has the shape of the two tablets of Stone brought down by Moses from Mount Sinai. Our brain is the storehouse of our memories, rules and regulation, our intellect and etc… Our desire to work and to abide the law is from our brain. Our brain is also our religion stronghold. Our brain barks at us whenever we made mistake… and we might consider this as self checking. Our brain pushes us to do well… Accuse us of our failures… condemn us of our pass mistakes, sins, failures… and even condemn others! Our brain is actually the shadow of the two tablets of Stones. Our brain is also the shadow of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

If we associate our intellect with what Apostle Paul called flesh, we will have a better understanding on what Paul meant by living according to the sinful nature and according to Spirit.

Romans 8:1 ~ There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh (using their intellect), but according to the Spirit (using their heart).

We are under the dispensation of GRACE. We are already in the Holy of Holies. We cannot use our intellect anymore; we have to use our heart…Or else, we can never walk in His grace and we can never walk with Him. Grace is not in line with our logical mind. We need the Holy Spirit to reveal His grace to us. Can you still remember the moment when you decided to put your faith in Our Lord Jesus, you invited Him into your heart...!? From that moment onwards, He has given you His own heart and His heart is the way of grace.

In respect of the revelation on our hearts that He has given me, the Lord used the Chinese’s writing character of  LOVE （爱） to show me His heart.

In the old way (I see it as Old Covenant) of writing this character of LOVE (愛), there is a heart （心）in it… But in the new way (I see it as New Covenant) of writing LOVE（爱), it is without a heart （心). This is the question I have been asking the Lord for a long time; and He answered my question with a revelation of His heart.  

Matthew 22:37 ~  Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.

In respect of the Old Covenant writing on LOVE (愛), The Lord said we have to use our own heart to love God… that is why there is a heart（心）in the old writing. But for the New, He said He had already help us to love God with all His heart and with all His soul, and with all His mind. We cannot find the heart in the new way of writing (New Covenant) because He has given us His own heart.

Ezekiel 11:19 ~ I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 

Our heart that is now beating is the heart from our Lord. By the grace of God, He has given us His own heart for us to believe in Him. It was this heart that healed the sick. It was this heart that casted out demons.  It was this heart that feed the multitudes. It was this heart that sympathized our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. It was this heart that accomplished all the written code of the Ten Commandments. It was this willing heart that sent Him to the cross. 

It is this heart that understands the grace of God. It is this heart that understands the will of God. It is this heart that is full of love and compassion. It is this heart that Jesus has given us. He has given us a new heart…. In this mortal body of ours, only our hearts are new and living. With this statement from the Lord, He led me to a deeper understanding on what the Bible meant by "Do not walk in flesh but walk in the Spirit".

Our mortal bodies are subject to death. Apostle Paul was actually struggling in Roman chapter 7 and his struggle ended with him asking WHO would rescue him from this body of death not how or what he could do. He did not ask HOW but WHO. By asking WHO, the WHO, Who is always faithful, revealed to him that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.  The Who did not revealed to him that he must repent… The Who revealed to him that there is now no condemnation. Who would have known that Paul condemned himself because of the tenth commandment which was nailing his innermost being? It was the dogs (his brain) barking at him... The 1st to the 9th commandments are of external behavior, while the 10th deals with the hearts of men.

From here, the Lord asked me to add the word “brain” in bracket after the flesh and the word “heart” in bracket after the Spirit.

In the Garden of Eden, the eyes of Adam and Eve were opened. Their minds were activated by the fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When their minds were activated, they started to see their nakedness. They started to see their lack and fear came into them.

On the road to Emmaus, the couple by the name of Cleopas, ate the bread broken by the Lord and their eyes were opened too, but they see the Lord and their heart was burning. The Lord said "Shalom...!"

Romans  8:1 ~ There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh (our brains) , but according to the Spirit (our hearts).

The revelation from the Lord at this point of time becomes very clear and easy to understand. If we walk according to our flesh (using our brains) condemnation will come! Remember the Lord reminded us to beware of dogs? Our brains are the shadow of the two tablets of Stone and they bark at us when we fall short. If we walk according to the Spirit (using our heart), there will be no condemnation. It is so clear that under the dispensation of grace, we cannot use our brains anymore. To walk in flesh (to use our brains) is death; to walk in the Spirit (to use our hearts) is life. After all, when we put our faith in the Lord, we never invited Him into our brains but into our hearts.

Our whole body is death… there is no life. In this resurrected body, only our hearts are new and are from the Lord. But the hope is found in Romans 8 verse 11 where we can find the Trinity God appears together in one verse…

Romans 8:11 ~  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you (our heart), He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you (our heart).

Oh Hallelujah! The power that gives life to our mortal bodies is in our hearts! He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in our heart. It is all by grace through faith, not of us; grace and faith are gifts from God not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.

We can do nothing. We are human being not human doing. We don’t do good deed to become a believer but as a believer, we produce good deeds. The Lord did not ask us to do anything. He said He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in our heart. Being in Christ alone, is already doing our good work because we are His workmanship, created in Him to produce good work...!

Proverbs 4

20: My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings.

21: Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart;

22: For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.

23: Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.

Proverbs 4

20: My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings.

-             Romans 10:17 ~ Then faith is of hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.

We can only listen to the preaching of the Gospel of Grace. Let His living water washes our feet day in day out. This Gospel of Grace will point us to see Jesus and His finished work. We are then transformed from glory to glory by beholding our wonderful Lord Christ Jesus. We can do nothing but give attention to His words; incline our ear to His sayings. Let His living water washes our feet...; It is finished,,,!

21: Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart;

-             On the road to Emmaus, Jesus expounded the Word from Moses to the Prophets things concerning Himself, He broke bread and their eyes were opened to see Jesus and their heart was burning.

When we read the Word be it Old and New Testaments, we must find out the Spirit of Jesus. Where the Spirit is, there is freedom.

22: For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.

-             Romans 8:11 ~ But if the Spirit of the One who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the One who raised up Christ from the dead shall also make your mortal bodies alive by His Spirit who dwells in you.

He has given us His own heart. That is the fountain of life, the abundant life that He has promised.

23: Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.

-             Matthew 12:35 ~ A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings out good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings out evil things.

A verse before this is “Offspring of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” His definition of good and evil is : When you trust in His grace that is good. If you trust in your performance by abiding the law, He calls that evil. There is nothing good coming out from our performance through obeying the Ten Commandment because a man of sinful nature can never abide to the holy standard of the commandments.

Coma patients have non-functioning brains yet as long as their hearts are still beating, they are considered alive.  Heart Attack patients are dead because their hearts stopped beating... Patients suffering from Heart Attack are certified dead once their hearts have stopped beating...and Heart Attack is caused by stress and the root of that lethal stress is from our mind...

Matthew 6:34 ~ Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow; for tomorrow shall be anxious for its own things. Sufficient to the day is the evil of it.

Faith is to depend on Jesus' performance while work is to depend on our own performance. The Lord said, "It is finished...!" It had all been taken care of... It had all been done by our Lord Jesus... ! Go now, and preach this God's news, i.e. the Gospel, the too good to be true news. Go into all the world, proclaim the gospel to all the creation... and see the world through the heart that He has given you.

Rest In the "PEACE"!

Have you ever wondered why it is that when believers die, in a flick of a second, they are in heaven? Those who believed in Christ Jesus are being guaranteed of this greatest miracle the moment they put their faith on the Gospel of Christ the Saviour. Indeed, the gospel of Christ is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.

From the Bible, we also know that once we put our faith in Christ Jesus, our health, financial standing, peace of mind are restored and line up with the truth because the word "salvation" stated here is from the Greek word "Sozo", which means saving in our every situations and conditions.

Have you ever wondered also, why the miracle of going to heaven can happen as fast as a flick of a second, whereas in some of the "smaller" miracles like healing, financial break through and being set free from bondages take so long to come forth?

The answer is simply because those who are in heaven are DEAD! Yes, I mean they are DEAD! νεκρός ! TOT! מת ! MUERTO ! 死了! There is not a bit of self effort from the dead persons. They are DEAD and REST in peace! There is no man effort but Holy Spirit effort. There is no participation from man’s flesh but the Holy Spirit only.

We are unable to see our break through simply because we do not rest in Christ. Somehow or rather, our flesh is still participating in helping the Holy Spirit and in turn we delay the manifestation of the miracle that we are hoping for.

Hebrews 4:11 ~ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. 

It will still be good if Jesus say He will or he is going to help us to accomplish the will of the Father on our behalf, for Jesus with His integrity, will surely accomplish for us. But here is better deal, for it is the Good News/Gospel of Christ; Jesus said “It’s Finished!” It was a completed work which our Lord Jesus had accomplished at the cross. He had finished everything that needed to be finished and He is now inviting us to rest in His finished work. By knowing this Good News and believe in His outrageous grace through the spontaneous faith make the promises sure. For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through Him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. 

Hebrews 3:19 ~ So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. 

Our believe is the key issue for the miracles to manifest. Believe is not work or self effort. Believe is trusting Jesus’ outrageous grace and His finished work. Believe is not that you have once believed but keep on believing… For the just shall live by faith!

Galatians 3:9 ~ So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. 

The Book of Hebrews encourages us to labour in resting in our Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace. For He came and stood among His disciples and said, "Peace be with you!" and after he said that, He showed them His hands and side! Peace be with you too… for He had finished the Father’s will 2,000 years ago. Let us, therefore, have peace in our heart and make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the example of Israelites’ disobedience, and we see that they were not able to enter the Promised Land, because of their unbelief. 

Believe His Finished Work and rest in the "PEACE"!

Romans 8:11 ~ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

New Covenant Prayer Life

The Old Covenant Saints were not born again and they did not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. They were looking forward to the Cross prophetically and they had to seek, ask and knock at the door for answer. Begging prayer is Old Covenant prayer.

The New Covenant Saints are born again and we have the Holy Spirit living in us. That is why the Bible says no one ever born on this earth is greater than John the Baptist. But whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. We, as a born again believers, our Daddy has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. So instead of seeking, asking or knocking, we have to look back to the Cross for the revelation of what Daddy means by having blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

In this context, we are to listen to the preaching anointed by the Holy Spirit that unveils Christ and His Finished Work because every answer for our needs is found in the Person of Jesus. In this dispensation of grace, I think it is wise for us to use our ears more than our mouth… for the Bible says: faith comes by HEARING, and hearing by the word of Christ. Through faith then, we confess what we already have. It is the word about what Christ had done that bring forth faith, and surely, without faith it is impossible to please God. We do not have faith because we do not believe the word of Christ. We cannot produce faith from our Law keeping.

In the Book of John, the crowd was asking Jesus: "What must we do to do the works God requires?" And Jesus answered them that: "The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent." So believe His Finished Work is the key to our faith.

In order for people to believe, Apostle Paul asked this question: How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

God is pleased through the foolishness of preaching the word of Christ (the good news of the Finished Work of Christ) to save those who believe. Jesus’ Finished Work is a stumbling block to those who seek their own righteousness, but is the power of God and the wisdom of God for those who believe.

What kind of preaching have you been listening to?
- Preaching that points you to the Cross and unveil Jesus and His Finished Work or preaching that points you to yourself and what you should do?
- Preaching that points you to Jesus’ righteousness or preaching that points you to your sinfulness? Preaching that preaches the unearned and unmerited favour of God or preaching that preaches on what you must do in order to be qualified for God’s blessing?
- Preaching on the Bread of Life or preaching from the “stone”?
- Preaching from the Tree of Life or preaching from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?
- Preaching that preaches the grace of God or preaching that preaches legalism?

Grace minsters to our spirit while law ministers to our flesh. Christ centered preaching edifies our spirit man while legalistic preaching edifies our flesh. Preaching of grace balanced with law confuses us; we call this Babylonian teaching. If that is the case, have you been edifying your spirit or your flesh? Are you feeding on the Bread of Life or on the stone tablets? Are you climbing the Tree of Life or the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?

Matthew 7:9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
Matthew 7:10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

See what the Bible is actually implicating - Which of you, if his son asks for GRACE (Manna, bread from heaven), will give him LAW (Two tablets of stone taken down by Moses)? Or if he asks for JESUS (Fish – A symbol for Jesus), will give him Satan (Snake – who tempted Eve in the Garden)?

We need to listen to the grace (word of Christ) of God and faith is responsible for the growth of a Spirit filled, born again believer. Our ear therefore, is an important channel for the growth of our spirit-man. New Covenant believers feed their spirit-man through their ears…

I think it will be wise for us to humble ourselves and listen to Him. Find out what Jesus’ Finished Work is all about. All the answers that we ever need are in Him. I also think it makes sense when revelation makes us understand that the act of listening is actually part of our prayer life in this grace dispensation.

Fine Pearl Of Great Value

I have been sitting under Pastor Joseph Prince’s teaching since early 2003. If Pastor Prince claims that it was on the shoulders of great men of God like Kenneth E Hagin that he is able to see further into the Word of God today, then it is my honor to say that I am on the shoulder of Pastor Joseph Prince that I can see further in the revelation of the grace of God. He is indeed my mentor… and I will not have so much revelation on the mystery of Christ if I did not sit under his teaching through his tape ministry. For this, I praise the Lord for He chose to reveal His heart to me in this special way…

In these seven years of his ministry on Gospel Revelation, I have been playing his tapes or CDs in my car day in and day out. Pastor Prince not only making Jesus our friend and our center focus, in a way he himself has become a friend to our family because through his messages, we know quite a lot about him, his beloved wife Wendy, cute little Jessica, his awesome church and his band of leaders… especially Pastor Henry… but one thing for real is that, Pastor Prince does not know us… :)

As a preacher, Pastor Prince has done a marvelous job in pointing us to Jesus. From the way he shares the Gospel of Grace, I always have a feeling that what Pastor Prince has shared is only a tenth of what he had received… hmmm, this is from the principle of tithing. My spirit just tells me that he has a lot of revelation that he cannot reveal because we are not ready yet. The Gospel of Grace will be revealed from glory to glory and our life will be transformed from glory to glory... That is why he always says: “Feed the sheep, not the giraffe!” Now having said that, as I grow under his ministry, the Lord would ask me from time to time where my focus is. Am I focusing on Him or on Pastor Prince…?

Though it is a simple question, it took me years to understand… There were times I would tell the Lord that my focus is on Him… but the Lord showed me that whenever I shared His Word then, instead of quoting from the Bible, I always quoted from what Pastor Prince had said. Instead of quoting what the Apostle Paul had said, I quoted what Pastor Prince had said… For this reason alone, the Lord rebuked me by telling me: “Did Pastor Prince quoted from the Bible? Is he not quoting from what Apostle Paul had said in the Bible? If you can quote Pastor Prince’s name, why can’t you quote Apostle Paul’s name?”

My dear friends in Christ, Pastor Prince has been facing tremendous attack for revealing and sharing the Gospel that Apostle Paul preached. He has been crowned with all sorts of funny name just like our Lord Jesus who had the honor to be crowned by the Pharisee and Sadducee during His ministry on earth. It is a spiritual battle between grace and law..., nevertheless, grace had won this battle 2,000 year ago.

2 Corinthians 3:14-16 ~ 14But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

Those who have their faces unveil know that Pastor Prince preaches the truth in the light of the New Covenant. The problem is with those whose faces are still covered with veil and they cannot see what the truth is. Praise be to our Lord for He is still gracious and patience with each and every one of us and He has the time for each and every one us the same way he had for the Apostle Paul, a onetime church prosecutor…

1 Corinthians 3:3-9 ~ 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men? 5What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe — as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

As we have been enlightened by the grace of God, we are spiritual and mature enough to handle solid food instead of milk. Being acquainted with the teaching about righteousness, we should be wise enough to quote direct from the Bible for what the Apostle Paul had said instead of what Pastor Prince had said. In this way, we divert the tension to Apostle Paul (who is gloriously with the Lord) and protecting Pastor Prince (who is alive and gloriously preaching the Good News) from any fiery drat. If people still wish to attack, they are attacking Apostle Paul and the ascended Jesus who revealed this mystery to Apostle Paul… Friends, even Apostle Peter who was with the Lord day in and day out for three and half years, also find Apostle Paul's teaching hard to understand ...

2 Peter 3:16 (Amplified Bible) ~ Speaking of this as he does in all of his letters. There are some things in those [epistles of Paul] that are difficult to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist and misconstrue to their own utter destruction, just as [they distort and misinterpret] the rest of the Scriptures.

I am not sharing this purposely to side Pastor Prince but to share with you what the Lord has revealed and taught in my heart… a new wine is to be kept in a new wineskin. Be gracious as He is gracious… Be patience as He is patience…

Once we were like any other ordinary Christian, considered as the hidden treasure in the field with a general identification as "hidden treasure". But now, the Merchant has come to look for fine pearl; and our Lord by His grace and mercy, handpicked us one by one among the hidden treasure. We have been handpicked and identified as fine pearl, pearl of great value because He chose to enlighten us with His grace. Because of His grace, we are now a glorious shining pearl because pearl by itself is already a finished product. Those who have been enlightened by His grace are now crowned with a specific identity call the "Pearl of Great Value" to magnify His finished work. We shine as fine pearl of great value because His finished work shines from inside of us. We are now raise up as Royal Priesthood to administrate blessing of His grace with kingly authority. We are no more under the the curse of the law which administrating condemnation...

Shalom... we love because He first loves us…!

Fasting

I was quickened by the Spirit to realize that I have been fasting for the past five years ever since the Lord has enlightened me with His teaching on grace. This revelation shocked me a bit but I was immediately comforted by a fresh insight on fasting.

Please bear with me for awhile and if you feel this is misleading, you are welcome to throw stone at me at the end of this sharing. So be cool…

With this fresh insight for a rather controversial topic in the body of Christ, I went around asking for answers from the average believers with charismatic background, the purpose for fasting. The answers I gathered are as followed:-

1) To restrain and weaken our flesh so that our spirit can grow stronger.
2) Spiritual discipline.
3) To be closer to God and hear His voice.
4) To obtain spiritual power.

Hmm… what is your answer?

I don't think fasting is what we used to think as restraining ourselves from eating our meals for certain period of time and achieve the purpose of weakening our flesh to gain spiritual power or to make God obligated to move in the area of our needs. If this is so, any other religion that practices fasting would also achieve the same purposes. In fact, they claimed to have the same result too!

The only thing that sets Christianity apart from the rest of the religions is God's grace. Grace is not natural but supernatural. We need the Holy Spirit to understand grace and most of all, Christianity was born by the grace of the Father through the death of the His beloved Darling Son. If only we can have the revelation knowledge of this truth, we will be led by the Spirit to understand more including the meaning of fasting.

Those of us, who are so much into grace, are very familiar that our flesh is edified by legalistic and performance oriented doctrine which is self centered and based on law abiding. It is this self righteousness doctrine that give strength to our flesh! The preaching of law is the food to our flesh!!! The moment we embark ourselves on Christ centered, grace based doctrine, that is the moment we start our FASTING!!! Because we have restrained ourselves from exposing to legalistic and performance oriented teaching, we have stopped supplying “FOOD” to our flesh. I think this is a more biblical way to define fasting in the light of the New Covenant.

Can you find evidence in the bible to support your claim? (You may ask…)

Let’s go on…

Matthew 4:1~4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.' "

So, after being baptized at the River Jordan and before Jesus started His earthly ministry, He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting for forty days and forty nights, He was hungry…!

Jesus was born under the law and was brought up in a legalistic, law abiding Jewish society. This was the darkest era in the history of Jewish culture. After the baptism, He was immediately led to the wilderness to stay away from the law abiding, legalistic environment. He restrained for forty days and forty nights. John the Baptist was growing up in the wilderness and was isolated from Jewish legalistic society. Paul, the Apostle of Grace to the Gentiles, was led to Arabia to be away from Jerusalem which was their religious center and Judaism's stronghold.

The number 40 here is the representative number for one generation. It was not what we literally think as our forty days and forty nights. The Israelite were wandering in the wilderness for forty years while Moses was up in Mt. Sinai for forty days and forty nights.

The devil was quick to draw Jesus’ attention back to the “stone” again right after Jesus' fasting by saying, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus said, “It is written: ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.”

Do you think this kind of dialogues are dialogues of our human nature? I don’t think so… A spiritual being was talking to a SPIRITUAL BEING; I think these dialogues are spiritual!

The devil was quick to point Jesus in turning the Ten Commandments (Two tablets of stone) into His food. The devil was asking Jesus to feed on Law... How did Jesus reply him? Jesus said man does not live on bread only (the bodily man), but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (the spirit-man). As far as the devil is concerned, if our flesh is strong, our spirit will be weak. As such, Jesus expounded the existence of spirit-man in man that the spirit-man lives on every word that comes from the mouth of God. He was in the wilderness, being far away from the legalistic environment, He was there to receive words direct from the Father.

What kind of word did the Father minister to Jesus? At Mt. Sinai, God was showing Moses the beautiful story of the Tabernacle which is a typology of Jesus. The Father was ministering grace to Jesus in the wilderness just like Jesus Himself ministered grace to Apostle Paul in Arabia.

However, as I continue with this passage, the phrase “He was hungry” caused a bit of doubt in my mind… What about you? Hey, the Bible says He was hungry you know...? Well, I was "asked" to put this phrase aside and continue with the reading... So, let’s go on.

Let us look at what Jesus talked about fasting in replying to the Scribes and Pharisee...

Luke 5: 33~38 Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?" And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days." Then He spoke a parable to them: "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.' "

In this passage, Jesus interchanged in referring the man with flesh and spirit-man. Jesus was saying as He (the Bridegroom) was with them in flesh, it was time for celebration. How could the Bridegroom make them fast in the time of celebration? When the time had come for Him to be glorified at the Cross, they (their flesh) would have to fast because grace dispensation only came into effect when the Holy Spirit was poured out at the Feast of Pentecost. Under the grace dispensation, His disciples were already made righteous by His blood and were justified by His resurrection. They were to live by faith not by law. So by then, they were to fast from partook the Law and to live by the Spirit.

It is funny that Jesus did not continue to expound on fasting but changed the subject from fasting to the famous parables of new and old garment, new wine and old wineskin. Eh..., very interesting!

We all know that the parables of old and new garment together with new wine and old wineskin are talking about the doctrine on grace and law dispensation and is telling us that grace cannot be mixed with law. Jesus is not interested in how we abstain ourselves from eating our meals as a way of fasting. He is interested in the feeding and the health of our spirit-man. Babylonian teaching (confuse by mixing grace with law) mixes up our flesh and spirit-man which causes confusion in our Christian walk. While legalistic and law abiding doctrine edify and strengthen our flesh.

Christ centered, grace based doctrine is LIVING and ACTIVE (because of the witness of the Holy Spirit). The message of grace is sharper than any double-edged sword, can penetrate even to dividing our souls and spirits, joints and marrow and judge our thoughts and the attitude of our hearts. Grace divides our souls and spirits so that we can be sharp when Holy Spirit prompts our spirit. Grace divides the joints and marrow so that the life supply to our flesh is cut off. Grace judges our ungodly thoughts and the religious attitude of our hearts!

If the purpose of fasting is to stop feeding our flesh and build up our spirit-man, I think it is wise for us to sit under a Christ centered Ministry. In order to stop feeding our flesh, we are to restrain ourselves from sitting under a Ministry that emphasizes legalism with law abiding preaching and Babylonian teaching that causes confusion in our midst. As born again believers, we are Spirit filled and we need the Gospel of Grace expounded in the light of the New Covenant Spirit, as food for our spirit-man... Amen!

Oh ya... now back to my doubtful phrase: "He was hungry"…

The Lord told me, “You have been sitting under a Christ centered Ministry for so long, do you still feel hungry…?” Ha...ha...ha... If you know what He means…

So, how long have you been fasting? As for me and my household, we are not going to fool around but to steadfast with our FASTING for the rest of the "generation" and continue to sit under an anointed Ministry that preaches Christ centered message and glorifies the Finished Work of Christ.

Who say those who are under grace are not fasting?

On Ground Level

Romans 8: 1 ~ 2 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

From this revelation, Apostle Paul expounded his understanding that sin is a long settled issue on the Cross as he continued with Romans 8:1 – Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (in the Person of Jesus)… In the same manner, when the revelation on sin issue in a believer’s life is established, the ability to distinguish good from evil mentioned in Hebrews 5:14 manifested spontaneously as the revelation of the Person of Jesus revealed the Tree of Life and the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil before him in Romans 8:2 - because through Christ Jesus (in the Person of Jesus) the law of the Spirit of life (the Tree of Life) set me free from the law of sin and death (the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil).

On ground level, issues that can hinder our progress to the Tree of Life are condemnation from the accuser of the Brethren and our willingness to renew our mind (repentance). To tackle the condemning voice from the accuser of the Brethren, we need to confess who we are in Christ. We confess the same thing what God says about us. i.e. "Homo Logo" in Greek. We renew our mind as we confess...

What did God say about us?
We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! (renew your mind!)

What did God say about our sin?
We are forgiven, past, present and future! Hallelujah! (renew your mind!)

What did God say about our life?
He came to give us life and life more abundantly! (renew your mind!)

What did God says about our financial standing?
For I know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for my sakes He became poor, that I through His poverty might become rich. Hallelujah! (renew your mind!)

What did God says about our lacks?
God says he who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (renew your mind!)
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, accordingly to the power that works in us. (renew your mind!)
And my God shall supply all my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus! (renew your mind!)

What did God says about our infirmity?
By His strips we are healed! (renew your mind!)

To have the revelation knowledge of there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus give us the strength on this ground level in approaching the Tree of Life. Again, it is by grace through faith that we can confess our way to the Tree of Life.

Climbing Down the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil

The Book of Romans has 16 Chapters and Chapter 16 is greetings from Paul. If we take the 15 Chapters and divide them by 2, half of this book has 7.5 chapters each. The first 7.5 Chapters has a revelation of Apostle Paul’s journey in climbing down the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the next 7.5 Chapters of the Book of Romans is Apostle Paul’s journey in climbing up the Tree of Life.

Law is good and Evil is sin.

Law is Good
Romans 7:7 ~ What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not!...
Romans 7:12 ~ For the law is holy, and the commandments is holy, righteous and good.

Evil is sin
Romans 7:8 ~ But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead.

Therefore, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil means the Tree of the Knowledge of Law and Sin.

What kind of preaching will cause us to hang around the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?

- The preaching that is not Christ centered but self centered.

- The preaching that is not righteousness consciousness but sin consciousness.

- The preaching that is not emphasizing on resting in the Lord because of His Finished Work on the Cross, but emphasizing on working for the Lord as if Jesus had not died on the Cross.

- The preaching that is not pointing the believers to Jesus, who is all able, all powerful, and full of grace and mercy, but pointing the believers to themselves who are unable, powerless, and full of hatred and unforgiveness.

- The preaching that is not hot but lukewarm. The preaching is not of the Tree of Life but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

On the other hand, when grace revolutionizes our hearts, grace shall awake and edify our spirit. The preaching of His grace glorified Jesus and exalted Christ’s Finished Work on the Cross. It is food to our spirit and gives life to our being. This is the Good News that Apostle Paul was not ashamed of, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

Romans 1:17 ~ for in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith.

The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came from Jesus Christ. When we know the truth and the truth will set us free. Paul, the Apostle of Grace to the gentiles, received God's abundant provision of grace and the gift of His righteousness reign in life through Jesus Christ.

Apostle Paul realized the Tree of Life after his struggles in Romans 7 when he cried out “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” This reminded me of what our Lord says in respect of the tree and its fruits in Matthew 7:15~20, and in Proverbs 18:21. The word we say is the fruit of our belief. The fruit of Righteousness finally came out of Paul’s mouth with his utterance of “WHO” instead of “HOW”, “WHAT” or “WHERE” and worse of all “WHY”.

He had finally come to the end of his law keeping, self consciousness, self righteousness and self effort by not seeking HOW he is going to do with his struggles; and WHAT he is going to do with his struggles; or WHERE he is going to find help for his struggles or even WHY he needs to deal with his struggles. He cried out “WHO can rescue him?” The revelation of Righteousness, Peace, Joy, Wisdom, Prosperity, Healing, Abundant, Freedom… by His grace becomes alive as the Person of Jesus to Apostle Paul.

The revelatory knowledge of "WHO" is our answer will end all our religiosity. Therefore, renew our mind! In due time, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is no more our dwelling place and His grace will carry us down the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil unconsciously and effortlessly...

The Two Trees Are “In Us”

When we are young in the Lord, we have little knowledge about these two trees or we can say we don’t even care at all. We looked from afar; it is as if these two trees grow side by side to each other, very near. But when our spirit-man is growing through the awakening of His grace, we are led nearer and nearer to these trees and the distance between them become further apart. It is when we are under these two trees that we realized they have a marginal distance between them. They are different too…

With revelation through typology, I came to know that every human being has the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life in their life; Christian or non Christian… there are no differences. But for Christian, the Tree of Life comes alive the moment Christ is in their life. In typology, the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil typifies our flesh while the Tree of Life typifies our born again spirit.

Looking at these two trees with cross references from the Book of Romans, I received fresh insights on what Apostle Paul said about “living in our flesh” and “led by the Spirit”. The revelation from Apostle Paul in the Book of Romans helps to reveal the bisection of flesh from our spirit when grace has enlightened us. The wonderful truth in Romans Chapter 8 comes alive after this bisection of flesh and spirit takes place.

The Bisection

The message of Grace is sharper that any double-edged sword. Grace bisects our flesh and our spirit.

Hebrews 4:12 ~ For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Our flesh is controlled by our souls. Resurrection power of Grace divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow and judges the thoughts and attitudes of hearts!

Dividing Soul and Spirit

Divide the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (our flesh control by our soul) and the Tree of Life (our spirit).

Dividing Joints and Marrow

There are two types of bone marrow: red marrow (consisting mainly of myeloid tissue) and yellow marrow (consisting mainly of fat cells). Red blood cells, platelets and most white blood cells arise in red marrow. Both types of bone marrow contain numerous blood vessels and capillaries.

At birth, all bone marrow is red. With age, more and more of it is converted to the yellow type. About half of the bone marrow is red. Red marrow is found mainly in the flat bones, such as the hip bone, breast bone, skull, ribs, vertebrae and shoulder blades… Yellow marrow is found in the hollow interior of the middle portion of long bones.

In cases of severe blood loss, the body can convert yellow marrow back to red marrow to increase blood cell production. When joints and marrow are divided, blood supply to our flesh is cut off and life of our flesh is terminated.

Judges the Thoughts and Attitudes of Hearts

Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. Grace, the unearned and unmerited favor of God, judges our religious thoughts and our religious attitudes of our hearts. Our flesh delight in works and reject grace, but our spirit rejoices in receiving this double-edges sword.

In the early stage of my grace walk, I was very zealous but I dispensed grace legalistically. Instead of feeding people with milk from the grace I received, I vomited to others without digesting it.

Due to my immaturity, instead of edifying people with grace message, I felt I have slapped many on their faces. The devil took advantage of my immaturity and laid condemnation on me from time to time. I felt guilty and condemn for "slapping" on people's faces. The condemnation has somehow hindered the growth of my grace walk until six months ago, the Lord comforted me with this statement: This is a holy slap on a religious face...! From then onwards, He started to reveal to me the mysteries behind these two trees …

Grace provokes our religious mind. That is why when we minister grace to people around us, those who are religious are defensive and reacted as if they have been slapped on their faces. Grace message is indeed living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

I presume I was awakened by this holy slap too. What do you think?

I Believe

When we first believe in Jesus, we were running superbly! Due to our leak of knowledge, we were deflected from the true course in “the blind leads the blind” situation. We were zealous for God, but our zeal was not based on knowledge. Since then, we did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish our own righteousness through rule keeping system, we did not submit to God's righteousness. The truth is: Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. Do we really believe in Jesus?

Christ had set us free to live a free life through His death on the Cross. If we say we believe in Jesus, take our stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on us through their religious teaching. Our Lord Jesus Himself is emphatic about this because when we abide in rule keeping system, we do actually believe in ourselves, not our Lord. The moment any one of us submits to any other rule keeping system, at that same moment Christ's hard won gift of freedom is squandered. That is why we are repeatedly warned by Apostle Paul that: the person who submit to rule keeping system trades all the advantages of our Father and sons relationship in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law. When we attempt to live by our own religious plans and projects, we are cut off from Christ, we fall out of Grace.

As born again, Spirit filled believers, we are to depend fully on His Grace and expectantly with faith that He is faithful, wait for a satisfying relationship through resting ourselves in the Spirit and abide ourselves in the new covenant truth, and for the Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. In Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion means anything. What really matters is something far more interior: our faith in Christ expressing through love. Again this love is not our own love but His love manifesting through us when we appreciate His Grace. We love because He first loves us.

Do not be deflected from the true course of obedience by rule keeping system. This true course of obedience is "obedience by FAITH" not "obedience to MAN". This detour doesn't come from Jesus who called you into the race in the first place. And please don't toss this off as insignificant. It only takes a small amount of yeast to permeate an entire loaf of bread.

Be sensitive to the struggles of your spirit-man. If you say you believe in Jesus, stop all your rule keeping activities that come from religious teachings. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. This is the evidence of His grace. His grace will melt your religious being (flesh) and strengthen your spirit-man. If your Christian life is full of religious activities, you are believing in the Pharisee not Jesus. The evidence of your belief in Jesus is that, knowing that you are the weak and the helpless one, appreciating His grace lavishing upon you.

I have seen His grace and I believe, what about you?

The Opposite

The opposite of Law is Faith

if you observe the law, there will be no faith

The opposite of Work is Grace

if you work to deserve your blessing, grace stops flowing

The opposite of Flesh is Spirit

if you dwell in your flesh, you are not in the Spirit