MY LIFE: #59 Hello Tree of Life

Dr. Stephen Phinney: Have you ever hugged a tree? Sounds stupid, right? When it comes to hugging the Tree of Life, my grip is ironclad.

GOOD-BYE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

(1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

Most talk about love today like it is some kind of beloved acceptance of all forms of emergent lifestyles. Real love comes from God’s heart.

HELLO TREE OF LIFE

Have you ever hugged a tree? Sounds stupid, right? When it comes to hugging the Tree of Life, my grip is ironclad - very rigid, exacting, and unbreakable. It means to me that I will die for the Lord’s doctrines, rules of guidance, and defend them unto death. I refuse to leave any room for ambiguity or passivity.

When I finally embraced the fullness of God’s love, while I enjoy the intimacy thereof, my love for Yeshua became exceptionally secure, reliable, or unassailable.

Those of you who have read through my journey of My Life, know, my childhood was filled with horrific lies and deception. I am living proof that our weakness become our greatest strengths. Here are some of the contrasts:

• I was a “Bubble Boy” | Today, I enjoy being out and about with people.

• I was a boy who cried “wolf” | Today, I cry out “wolf” for others.

• I was detached as a child | Today, I work to connect others to Christ.

• I suffered inferiority | Today, I am inferior to nobody.

• I suffered with “feeling” stupid | Today, I release the wisdom of God.

• I was filled with self-pity | Today, I pity lost souls.

• I was self-occupied | Today, I am compelled to reveal Yeshua.

• Unable to express my “feelings” | Today, I could care less about “feelings.”

• I insulated myself | Today, I openly reveal my weaknesses.

• Fear of being examined | Today, nobody exams me outside of God.

• I was a perfectionist | Today, I focus on God’s perfection.

• I lacked in self-discipline | Today, I am meticulous in excellence.

• I was irresponsible | Today, I am orderly in all things.

• I suffered worries, doubts, and fears | Today I am known for being fearless.

• I was self-condemning | Today, I embrace condemning the self-life.

• I was plagued with guilt | Today, I am obsessed with Grace.

• I was a people-pleaser | Today, I am all about pleasing Yeshua.

• I would cling to those who accepted me | Today, I am accepted in Christ.

• The list grows and grows from there.

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While all that might sound a bit arrogant, I’m still slow on the draw at times, however, I’m not stupid. I know the enemy can call forth all those weaknesses in a split second. Amid the enemy’s distractions, I might even slip into those lies. However, due to my everlasting love of Yeshua and His love for me, I typically rise to the occasion of embracing what is true about me from God’s perspective in the next split second - OK, maybe on rough days, it takes me a day or two.

I do know this: whatever is NOT in the heart of Yeshua will never be a part of His everlasting love. So… why does God send 90% of the world’s population (past, present, and future) to Hell? Because 90% never discover the true power of His love and refuse to internalize it through indwelling salvation. He is very particular about His love, for He knows in advance who will accept it and who will reject it. I praise God daily for accepting the authentic purpose and meaning of His Divine love.

Love comes from a pure heart – the heart of God. The same love that is in God’s heart is in Christ. After becoming indwelt by Him, that love becomes a dominating force in our lives. God’s love is the only kind of love that will manifest in the believer. Any other “kind” of love a human is determined to express is self-love, the sinful kind. Keep in mind, since Christ is within the believer, God’s love has a few conditions attached to it. Due to this, it takes the Life of Christ to fulfill these requirements. In the Old Testament, love was proven by the letter of the Law. In the New Testament, it is proven by the Law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus - who now lives within authentic believers.

A person with a pure heart considers others more important than himself (Phil. 2:3). Love comes from a good conscience – the mind of Christ. This means that for those who are saved, no unreconciled relationships exist between God and those believers. Our wrong choices can damage the flow of God’s love though us. Love comes from a genuine faith that can only be found in His Son. This genuine faith is what gives the believer the prerogative and power to trust in what He says.

The tree of Life is the source of all our resources in Christ. Our mortal bodies become the vessel in which the Lord communicates these truths to all observers.

Loving God is expressed by obedience. Luke 22:42 tells us how Jesus was obedient to God even though He might not have wanted to go to the Cross. He always obeyed His Father (John 6:38). His obedience demonstrated His love for God. We love God because His first loved us (1 John 4:19). We demonstrate our love for God through Christ when we listen and obeying His voice from the inside out - even when it hurts like Hell. Yes, since we are redeemed, it is the actions of Satan that punishes us into thinking God’s love is impotent because, at times, we don’t “feel” His love. Satan wants us to hurt like Hell because that IS the place he will be spending throughout eternity. Misery indeed loves company. People propagate what they fear, in Satan’s case, it is no different.

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God, and whatever we ask, we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. (1Jn 3:21-22)

This passage clearly reveals that when we obey God, we will not experience any condemnation. Condemnation comes from the heart of the one who is making fleshly decisions, not decisions from God (Rom. 8:1). There are two different kinds of condemnation being represented. The first type of condemnation comes from us, when we don’t obey God. The second type of condemnation comes from God. The only people who receive this kind of condemnation are those who have never received the Life of Christ through a born-again experience. Christ is the only one who can remove the condemnation placed upon the unsaved souls by God.

The final result of our journey regarding our topic of love is to give it away.

To love others is expressed by giving the Life of Christ away. As believers, offering love toward mankind is expressed by sacrificing our own lives. This is agape love, God’s love flowing from the inward life of Christ outward to humanity, which is demonstrated by His Divine perfect love. This kind of love has a motive which is right and righteous. Agape love comes only by a decision of the will – a deed with a motive from its source, God.

Those who have been plagued with the fleshly habit of trying to gain love and acceptance from & in others – classically struggle with embracing real love and acceptance from Christ. In fact, it is idolatry to gain love from others. As for me, when I have been required by the Lord to shift my focus to Him instead of the constant and relentless attempt to find life and fulfillment in others, I become a powerful minister who speaks the Truth without the fear of man.

Fear blocks love – true love that is. What we love is what we fear! If we love worthless things, we will fear humanity but if we love God, we will fear Him. We need to give ourselves to Him and meditate on what He says to be true about us and trust in all His ways.

O sons of men, how long will my honor become a reproach? How long will you love what is worthless and aim at deception? Selah. But know that the LORD has set apart the godly man for Himself; the LORD hears when I call to Him. Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and trust in the LORD. (Psa 4:2-5)

“The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:8-9).

Go ahead, hug that Tree of Life. Make your grip as ironclad - rigid, exacting, and unbreakable. Be willing to die for the Lord’s doctrines, rules of guidance, and defend them unto your death. Don’t leave any room for ambiguity or passivity. For if you do, you will discover the power of God is Love.

Coming up next is #60, “True Indwelling Relationships.”

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