Abundant Life Intro

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John 10:10  The thief comes to do nothing but steal, kill and destroy: I came so that they may continually have [zoe] life, and have [it] in far greater measure. [GBMV]

Let me ask you, what kind of day did you have today? Do you agree with me that it’s wonderful to be alive? You know, we sometimes take this life of ours for granted, but every morning when you wake up and see the sun in the sky, which marks the dawn of a new day, you should wake up with gratitude that God has granted you another day in this life. 

God wants us to have a life filled with blessings, joy, and an abundance of good things. That’s how He created us. If you cannot approach each day with joy, then you are falling short of what Jesus came to give us. We are going to begin exploring that now in a new series of teachings on abundant living or the abundant life.

Some years ago, when we first started this ministry in Mexico, I preached a series that we entitled The Way of Blessing. And the reason I preached it was not only to share with everybody the principles God taught me for us to tap into the blessing of God and to live a life of blessing. 

But at the time, we were struggling financially. We were living in a foreign land with no guaranteed source of income, facing numerous pressures and difficulties, and we needed to find out how to receive God’s blessing. 

So when I first preached that series, although I was sharing something that would eventually become the flagship of our ministry, I was primarily preaching it to the members of my family who were sitting there watching me. There are only six of us: my two daughters, their husbands, my wife, and me. Together, that’s six of us. 

We preached, and God revealed amazing insights on how to live a life of blessing. Shortly after that, I began to minister on the prophetic ministry and subsequently on all aspects of the fivefold ministry, including the apostolic ministry. Our entire focus shifted towards training leaders in the body of Christ. 

We established comprehensive training for all members of the fivefold ministry. That was the first mandate that God gave me, and I fulfilled it after God eventually brought us back to our homeland of South Africa. 

We also included the last few, addressing the pastor, the teacher, and the evangelist. Before that, we primarily focused on the prophet and the apostle. Thus, for several years, this ministry was solely a training ministry.

We were teaching people how to embrace their calling if they were called to a fivefold ministry. A few years ago, however, the Lord suddenly changed my direction. He told me to let go of the training and hand it over to someone else.

And that was quite a shock for me because I thought my main purpose in life was to train the fivefolds. It took a few years for the Lord to change my entire orientation and to show me that what I originally started with in teaching the way of blessing was actually far more encompassing and far more significant. 

Even if people knew how to function in ministry, if they did not understand how to live the abundant life that He has created for us, then what would be the point? They would continually struggle in their lives as we did, fighting to survive and trying to keep their heads above water. 

Many believers find themselves in that situation. Unfortunately, even when some people enter ministry, they start putting pressure on those they are ministering to, urging them to pay tithes and offerings and provide support. This often happens because they have never learned to tap into the abundant life God has for us. 

Well, we were stranded in Mexico. At first, I had someone supporting us financially each month. Then, suddenly, that support was taken away, and we were left with nothing—no guaranteed source of income. 

All we had was our ability to preach and teach, but we had no congregation to preach and teach to because we couldn’t speak Spanish and everyone there spoke Spanish. 

So our next option was to go online and minister to English-speaking people. I had bought a small video camera after we arrived, and we decided to set it up and preach into the lens. I mean, me preaching to five little people. 

And actually, since one was behind the camera, there are really only four. It would just go into the air and disappear. At least by capturing it on camera, we could have it available to replay for others in the future. 

What started as simply holding our Sunday services and preaching to a camera instead of a congregation turned into a habit of envisioning all the people behind that camera. I preached to everyone out there behind the camera. The teachings we produced years ago are still in use today. 

We still use many of them in our training schools because the principles we taught were solid and powerful. One of those series was the Way of Blessing, which we continue to promote. It was the flagship of our ministry for 17 years. 

We applied the principles of the Way of Blessing to survive in Mexico without a guaranteed source of income. But now, the Lord has said to me, “your ministry was limited to the fivefold because there’s only a very small percentage of the body of Christ that actually are called to the fivefold ministry.” He said, “I want you to teach things that apply to every single believer.” 

And actually, every believer has a ministry, even if it may not be fivefold. So we should now focus on ministering to everyone. If you are watching this right now and you are a believer, that is all you need to benefit from what we will be teaching. 

If you are a leader or a member of the fivefold, you will still benefit from this. What we’re teaching now applies to all levels of spiritual experience and maturity. Each one of us needs this truth. 

Do you know why? Because very few have actually learned how to live and experience the abundant life. So tonight, I’m starting a series that will be the first of my new mandate from the Lord, which is to teach His people how to live a life of abundance and blessing that He intends for them. 

Jesus said, “I came to bring abundant life.” He’s stating that this is the main reason He came. And, you know, when we preach the gospel, we emphasize that you don’t have to go to hell anymore; instead, you can go to heaven one day. However, we often forget that there’s a space between now and the time we reach heaven.

And that space can represent a long lifetime. In fact, it should be a long lifetime, because God promises, “With long life, I will satisfy you.” What do we do in the in-between, while we’re waiting for our opportunity to enter permanently into His presence? We’ll explore that a bit more shortly. 

But Jesus came to bring life, and life abundantly. He compares His actions to those of the thief, and we know who the thief is. 

His name is Satan or Lucifer, along with all his demons. God created Adam and Eve and blessed them with a world and a life full of blessings. But then the thief appeared. 

He came to steal all that blessing. And Jesus had to come many years later and pay the supreme price on the cross of Calvary to reverse everything that was lost and to restore the abundant life to us. Therefore, He says, this is the main reason I came to give you life and life in abundance.

Now, what occurred when Adam and Eve sinned and the fall took place in the Garden of Eden? The first thing that emerged was a curse. And if you observe what the thief does, you’ll see where the curse originates. Jesus said the thief comes to steal. 

One of the first symptoms of a curse is theft; you begin to lose things that are taken from you. 

He said the thief has come to kill. One sign of a curse is conflict, strife, and hatred. He said the thief has come to destroy. 

And a third evidence of a curse is destruction.

Things start to break or malfunction. You know, when the children of Israel walked in the blessing of the Lord for 40 years in the wilderness, their shoes didn’t wear out. And they weren’t made the modern way shoes are today to last. 

They were just simple leather shoes. However, their shoes lasted even with the blessing of God. There was no destruction. 

There was no theft. This is why the abundant life that Jesus came to bring us is to help us get rid of all the elements of a curse that exist in our lives. 

The Original Creation<

Let’s look then more at the original creation.

When God first created this world and placed Adam and Eve in it, it was perfect and filled with blessings. Adam and Eve enjoyed a life of abundance, and the earth yielded its goodness freely. 

The Bible states that God placed Adam there to tend to the ground, but he didn’t actually have to do a lot of work. Essentially, he just needed to trim a few things. Regardless, he held tremendous authority and power. 

There wasn’t much manual labor involved. There was no fear of theft. Who’s going to come and steal? There’s an abundance.

Why should anybody steal it? They can actually help themselves freely. So there was no theft. There was no strife. 

There was no destruction. You know what? Even the animals didn’t fight with each other. Nowadays, when we put a couple of dogs together, they become agitated, snapping and snarling at each other. That didn’t exist in the first creation. 

Adam and Eve were so deeply in love that they had a perfect marriage and enjoyed all the wonders of married life along with all the wonderful things that come with it. Nothing broke down or was destroyed. 

Wow, what a wonderful world to live in! Right in the middle of the garden, God placed a tree called the Tree of Life. The fruit from that tree prevented death. 

So if you ate from that tree, you’re never going to die. They lived in paradise and were immortal. They would live forever. 

It’s not the way the world looks today, is it? We have a crude expression that people use, and I won’t repeat it, but it effectively conveys that bad things happen. You know the expression, I’m sure. Bad things happen. 

Nothing good ever happens; only bad stuff. You don’t even have to look for it. Don’t even bother. It just happens. 

Now, what was God’s original plan? His plan for human beings, which includes you and me as the offspring of Adam, was for us to enjoy a full lifespan and make the most of this wonderful life. Now, can you honestly say that you are living such a life right now? 

You say, well, what about heaven? Isn’t heaven an important part of that? Wasn’t God’s plan for us to all go to heaven one day? You know, it’s commonly taught in the church that we should give up everything in this world because it’s considered worldly, and in exchange, we’re going to receive eternal life in heaven one day. 

You know, unfortunately, that’s not true because if you read the Bible all the way to the end—well, I’m a sucker for reading lots of books and never finishing them. I usually just browse through and find the parts I’m interested in. I’ve bought so many books that I never fully read. 

Then sometimes, years later, you pick up the book and finally decide to read it from beginning to end, and you discover remarkable things that were in there. I wish I had known that before. Well, you know, if you had bothered to read the book, you would understand, and I must say it’s true for us believers. 

We have the book of books. We wait for preachers to tell us what is in the book. We never actually sit down and read it ourselves. 

Now, if you read the Bible all the way to the end—and I must admit, I’m one of those guilty people who seldom reads it entirely—unless I’m captivated by an exciting story and can’t wait to see how it unfolds. Even then, I often jump to the end to find out how it concludes. The ending is important. 

So, what does it say at the end of the Bible? At the end of the Bible, it tells us that we’ll be forever in heaven with the Lord. No, it doesn’t. It doesn’t say that at all. 

In Revelation 21:1, John states, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea.” He then describes something that resembles the Garden of Eden very closely. 

He discusses the tree of life as being present, visible, and accessible once more. In other words, we began in Eden, which was known as paradise. 

We’re going to come full circle. One day, we’ll return to the original paradise. The entire earth will be renewed, and God will create a new paradise. 

We will spend eternity in his presence, immortal. The tree of life will be there to prevent death. The scripture states that the leaves will be for the healing of the nations, ensuring there will be no sickness or disease.

That’s your eternal destiny, not some planet up there called heaven. You hear so many people say, “I had a vision of heaven.” You didn’t. 

Heaven is simply the realm where God resides. The Bible refers to a place called the second heaven or paradise. That is where, when Jesus died, he descended into the depths of the earth, where all the souls of the dead were kept. 

He took them to this new place known as the third heaven. When he returns, He will bring them back to join us here on earth. We’ll have our bodies back again. 

Although they’re going to be transformed, they will no longer be mortal bodies. They will become immortal, but I’m afraid you’ll still look the same. I know you don’t like the way God made you, but I think you just have to accept that one day it won’t matter because we’ll be in His presence forever.

Not just floating around up in heaven somewhere. No, no, no, no. No, we’ll be living real lives down here, the way God intended us to. 

We will live the full, abundant life that God wants us to have. However, while we’re in this world, we have an enemy and face all sorts of problems. And living the abundant life doesn’t come naturally. It’s not automatic. 

Your Life

Let’s consider your life, shall we? Let me ask you: are you enjoying the life God has given you? Do you leap out of bed each day with positive expectations, grateful for another day to enjoy life? Or do you moan and groan, pulling the blanket up a bit higher and saying, “I just want to go back to sleep again.” 

I don’t want to face another day. If it’s anything like yesterday, I’d rather stay in bed all day. Is that the kind of life you’re living? Let’s consider the life that God has given us and what kind of life we can expect.

Three Life Forms

We are made up of three parts: a spirit, a soul, and a body. Each of these parts has a different form of life. Those wise ancient Greeks had distinct words for the life that exists within each aspect of our being.

Physical Life

So let’s first look at life in the body. That’s the aspect we are primarily concerned with because everything we do takes place in the body. The Greeks had a word, bios, B-I-O-S, which refers to life in general or the life shared by all living things.

Life exists in all living things, including plants, animals, and humans. We have transliterated the word “bios” into the English term “biology,” which refers to biological life. Biology is the study of all life forms. 

This is the kind of life that our bodies provide us. Together with plants and animals, we all share a body, a physical form. There are three functions.

Nourishment

Three main functions that take place in biological life, or in the body, if you like, of a creature. The first one I refer to as nourishment, or the need or desire to eat. The body continually cries out for food, and we respond to that cry, most commonly about three times a day.

Some people can get away with less. Some people eat even more. We have to, because if we didn’t eat, we would die. But is that the main reason we eat?

Well, you know, if I don’t eat, I’m going to die, and I don’t want to die. So let’s have a meal. When’s the last time you thought, why don’t we sit down and eat so we don’t die? I’ll tell you that thought never even entered your mind. 

What comes to mind is that I could taste a nice, juicy steak right now. Wow, that would be great. Or whatever your favourite food is. It’s the taste of the food that makes you want to eat, not the good that it does you. Not at all. 

And you know what? We don’t always eat what’s good for us anyway. You know, children always need to hear moms say, “Now, little Johnny, eat your veggies, eat your broccoli, it’s good for you.” And little Johnny replies, “But it tastes yuck.” 

But it’s good for you, Johnny, so you have to eat it to grow up strong and healthy. I was never convinced. I was forced, but I was never convinced. 

Well, that stuff is disgusting, but yeah, let’s eat it so I can grow up strong and healthy. No, no, no, no. Mom, give me some of that nice sweet stuff. The nice tasting stuff. 

Oh, I grew up with oats shoved down my throat for breakfast. And I vowed that when I grew up, I would never eat oats again.

Well, fortunately, when I grew up, I discovered how great oats are, and I love them now as a breakfast option. However, if you don’t like them, you’re not going to eat them. You see, eating brings us pleasure—a certain kind of pleasure and satisfaction. 

It satisfies our taste buds and our sense of smell all together. Additionally, there’s an extra benefit to eating: when we share a meal with others. There’s something special about gathering around the dinner table, isn’t there? While you’re eating, you’re chatting with someone else.

Well, I grew up in an old-fashioned home where I was told that children should be seen and not heard. At the dinner table, you’re there to eat, not to talk. How foolish of my parents.

You know, I’ve realized that the best part of the meal is the fellowship, which is sometimes the only time we actually sit together and look at each other face-to-face, occasionally sharing our hearts. 

Food and sharing meals with friends is a very important part of our lives. Can you imagine going through life without having meals? Can you really picture that? I know those of you who do the cooking might think, wouldn’t that be wonderful? But I’m a cook myself, and I love cooking because I’m a foodie. 

I love food and always enjoy discovering new recipes. Now, if you don’t believe me that food is probably one of the most important things in your life, I’d like you to do this. I’d like you to check your monthly financial budget and see how much of your income you spend on food. 

And you know, often we spend quite freely on our food. You might go shopping for something else that could be really useful or that you want in your life. 

You look at it and see the price, thinking, wow, that’s really expensive. I’m not sure I can afford to spend that much on this. Maybe I could just do without it for a while. 

Then it’s lunchtime, and your tummy starts to rumble. You head to the nearest restaurant to find a place that serves food, pull out the menu, and immediately look for the cheapest item on it. 

It doesn’t matter how cheap you are. You will look at the price, but that’s not the first thing you’re considering. You’re seeking the thing that you love. Oh, they make really good bolognese or whatever at this restaurant. I love the way they do their lasagna. I think I’m going to have some of that. 

And you look at the price, and it’s clear this place is not cheap. And you know what’s amazing? You don’t approach this the same way you did with that other item and say, well, look, now that’s too expensive. I can live without it for now. 

I’ll guarantee you didn’t say this food is too expensive. I’ll skip meals for now. I’ll just buy the cheap stuff, the junk food. I enjoy that kind. 

You will find the money for it. In fact, you happily spend the money for the joy that enjoying that food brings you. Is this sinful? Is it wrong? Well, let’s look at our master, Jesus. 

Jesus enjoyed dining out. People frequently invited him to their parties and meals. He indulged in the food and drink to the fullest, which led to him developing a bad reputation for being a glutton and a drunkard. 

You don’t call someone a glutton unless you truly see them eating excessively. Similarly, you wouldn’t label someone a drunkard unless you witness them indulging in alcohol. And Jesus did. 

He consumed the food, wine, and whatever else they offered. He enjoyed the companionship and the atmosphere. He often used that as an opportunity to preach and teach as well. 

Jesus loved dining out. When Jesus first appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, they saw someone on the shore as their boat approached. It was then that they realized it was Jesus. 

Oh, wow. Jesus was waiting for them on the shore. He’d made a fire, and he already had some fish cooking for them. 

Come on, guys, it’s breakfast time. Food was important, and he considered it significant enough that to bring his disciples back together again, he made a meal for them. 

Like I said, I’m a foodie. I think most South Africans are foodies. We love our food. 

I’m always on the lookout for new recipes. I have a special WhatsApp group just for sharing them. Occasionally, I’ll come across something I really like and post it in that group so the rest of the family can see and suggest, “Let’s give this a try next time we cook.” 

It looks really nice. That’s really carnal, isn’t it? No, it’s not. It’s part of the pleasure of being alive that God has given us.

What makes a day good? When you reach the end of a day, how would you describe it? Would you say something like, well, that was a really tough day. I’m glad it’s over. Or would you say something like, that was such an awesome day, especially that nice meal we had? I enjoyed every little bit of it. 

Could you reflect on some fun things you did today? Things that made you laugh and filled you with joy? If you can’t find any of these, then I’m afraid to say you haven’t yet discovered how to live the abundant life. Because all of these things are part of the life that God has created for us, and He intends for us to enjoy it, not to go without. 

If you have this misguided belief that you must go without in this life to earn the right to enjoy heaven someday, then you have certainly not grasped the grace of God and the truth that Jesus came to give us a life in which we can relish everything He has created for us. 

So what are the benefits of an abundant life? Firstly, it encompasses all good things that bring joy to the body, including health and triumph over illness. If not, then I’m afraid the thief is controlling your life. 

Well, that’s not fair. I’ve been trying really hard to serve the Lord, and I keep getting attacked. Yeah, you’re getting attacked by who? By the Lord. No, the thief, he’s still around, folks. He’s still alive. 

He’s still coming to steal, kill, and destroy. And you need to learn how to deal with him. And we’ll look at that when we get to it and show you how to deal with these things. 

But the nourishment of the body is natural and is meant to be enjoyed. We don’t eat to live. Well, some people live to eat and that’s also wrong. That’s an excess. 

But the Lord wants us, when we do eat, to enjoy it, to have a good experience with it. And, you know, it’s only then that we can pray over our food. 

Different people express different kinds of grace. What do we receive? May the Lord help us be truly thankful. You heard that one? My folks had a simple one. 

Thank you, Lord, for this food. Bless it to our bodies in Jesus’ name. Amen. 

How can we thank the Lord for something we’re not going to enjoy? Thank the Lord for this awesome food that my mother put in front of me. I really hate the taste of it, but I will eat it because it does me good. Time will come when you’ll say, Mom, don’t cook this anymore. 

If you’re now married and your spouse is cooking for you, please, honey, no more of this food. You know, I don’t like it. Why didn’t you cook me my favorite meal? Why didn’t you cook us that stuff that I really love? Nothing wrong with that. The Lord wants you to enjoy.

Reproduction

Well, there’s a second function in the body, and that is reproduction. And that’s the ability for a body to reproduce itself. If that weren’t there, all the human race would die out, wouldn’t it? As each person dies, there’d be nobody to replace them. 

Reproduction enables us to create more members of the human race. However, some individuals have become so spiritual that they believe sex is solely for procreation. You’re only supposed to use it to have babies and extend your life and to have a family. 

But that’s not what Jesus came to give. That’s not what God came to give. The pleasure of the sexual union is actually far greater than what we get from food. 

I can imagine that day when God brought Eve to Adam for the first time, and he took one look at this gorgeous creature. And I think he couldn’t wait to get his hands on her. 

And God probably said something like, well, you know, I’ve got a few things to do up in heaven. I’ve got some things to sort out with angels and other stuff so if you’ll excuse me. 

And I imagine Adam turned to him and said, well, what’s keeping you? Take your time. No hurry back. He wanted to be alone with this beautiful woman and enjoy her. 

And that’s what God intended. That’s what he made her for. God has designed the sexual experience to be such an awesome thing. 

Such a wonderful thing that it’s better than eating food. And it’s more than just lust. It’s an expression of something far deeper. 

And that’s why he set the standard that can only be done with somebody that you’re married to. Because there’s a union, a combining of hearts and souls, that brings two people together in the Lord in a fantastic way through a sexual relationship. And you are supposed to enjoy this experience as much as possible.

Well, let’s get through it so we can have a baby. I’m not supposed to enjoy it. So let’s just hurry it through. I don’t think anybody’s that stupid. Are you? 

No. God made it as a gift to you, as one of the most wonderful gifts actually of this life. 

But Satan uses it to destroy marriages and to take away the joy of the abundant life that God’s given us. He steals the wonder of the sexual experience that we’re meant to have with our spouse. And he just takes away the fun out of it. 

You get bored with it. And you begin to desire someone else for a better experience. And there’s a category of demons known as spirits of lust. 

And they are dedicated exclusively to this idea, to make you stop loving and enjoying your spouse and going to find satisfaction elsewhere. 

And the world system that’s run by Satan, they encourage it. They promote drugs and substances that will enhance the sexual ability and the desire. 

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You just need to go and look at what’s being advertised all the time. Some legally and others illegally on the black market. This common one they call the blue pill and many others like it that actually don’t enhance the sexual experience that just increase the ability to do it.

But people are always looking for another chemical or substance that will heighten the sexual experience and make it more exciting. Is that wrong? Is it wrong for us to want to have a really, really awesome sexual experience? Something even better than we’ve used to have? No. In fact, God is able to make you enjoy the experience far greater. 

Now I’ve got a full teaching on this. I call it spiritual sex. You see, it takes a spirit to enhance sexual desire. 

Usually that spirit is the demon spirit called the spirit of lust. It causes a strong sexual desire to arise in you for somebody else, an illicit relationship. But you have a spirit living in you called the Holy Spirit, far greater than any demon spirit. 

And do you know what? He can enhance the desire even more than the demon spirit can. So if you think of how strong it feels when lust hits you and you get this deep, strong yearning you look at a beautiful woman and oh, it just rises up in you. If you think that’s strong, I want to tell you, the Holy Spirit can give you an even stronger desire than that for your own spouse. 

So when you come to making love, you have the most wonderful, awesome experience in the presence of the Lord. Spiritual sex. I’ll cover it sometime and show you how it works.

So our bodies can nourish themselves and God has given us the wonder of food and the beautiful tastes that go with it for us to enjoy. Bodies reproduce themselves and God has given us awesome experience called the sexual experience to enhance that procedure. And he wants us to enjoy it. 

He wants us to enjoy it frequently. I know some women are saying, please no, don’t teach that. My husband will want it every day. 

Well, actually, if he wants it more than once a day, that’s still okay and acceptable to God, provided he’s not motivated by lust and he’s just trying to use you to satisfy his lust. But if there’s a true desire between a husband and wife, there’s no reason at all why they cannot have a sexual experience frequently, all the time. In doing it, they can enjoy one another and enjoy the experience.

Now, all of these things take place in the body. There is another function in the body called defense or self-preservation and I’m not going to cover that now, but there is an aspect of that that enables us to do some things that keep us healthy. Okay, but let’s look next at the soul. 

The Greek word translated soul is psuche, p-s-u-c-h-e and this exists not in the body, but in the soul and it is a form of life. Now, from the word psuche, we transliterate into the English word psychology or psychological. This is psychological life. 

In the soul, there are three functions. There is the mind or ability to think where our thoughts dwell and your mind plays a very significant role in the kind of life that you live. There’s the emotions and that’s where your feelings and your desires reside. 

Actually, this part of us probably exerts the greatest influence. We tend to do the things that we desire and give us good feelings. Your emotions are very strong controlling power. 

Then there’s the will, which we think is the strongest, because it makes all the decisions, but actually, the will is strongly controlled by the mind. And the emotions. How does God’s life, the abundant life, affect our soul? Your soul is the control tower. 

What takes place in the soul affects every part of us. It’s a control tower and lies at the center of your life. When God first made man, the process is described like this. 

Genesis 2 verse 7 And the Lord Yahweh formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. The soul is the most important part of all, so much so that God considers the person as a soul. You’ll often see that term in scripture. 

There were so many souls involved. It means so many people. Now, the soul lies between your spirit and your body, and it decides what happens in life.

And it can be affected by the body, and it can be affected by the spirit. The state of our mind, our psychological makeup, is so important that if we are not happy in our emotions, we have an unproductive life. The Bible says the joy of the Lord is your strength.

And the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, and all the others, they are controlling forces that make life worth living. Isn’t it wonderful to be in love? Isn’t it wonderful to be filled with joy, that you might jump up and down and shout with gladness? Isn’t it wonderful to be filled with peace within, that you’re not stressed and full of conflict? But then we come to the Spirit, the life in the Spirit. And the Garden of Eden and the way God made things is very much like what actually we have now in our body, soul, and spirit. 

So if we return to the Garden of Eden, we see that the Tree of Life was a picture of what is in our spirits. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is a picture of what’s in the soul. That’s where the knowledge is. 

God wanted Adam and Eve to choose the Tree of Life, but instead they chose the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. So instead of their spirits being strengthened and controlling them, their soul rose up in independence and submitted instead to the body. And now we grow up living a life ruled by the desires of our body, and the Bible calls that living in the flesh.

Now let’s see what happened in Calvary. What Jesus accomplished on Calvary was to make a way for us to return to the original pattern. He brought the Tree of Life back, gave us a chance to build our spiritual power. 

Now to do this, we need to get to work on our souls. We need to bring our soul back into subjection to the Spirit, because that’s where God works. And the life that Jesus comes to give us is the Greek word zoe. 

It’s zoe life. That is a life in the Spirit, and it is the highest form of life. It is far greater than the bios life in the body and the psyche life, the psychological life in the soul. 

And it actually has the power to influence or to create other kinds of life. See, God created the worlds using Spirit. If you like, Spirit was the essence out of which everything was made. 

In the same way, zoe life has the ability to create or change the other life forms. So if you want to make a change to your life, whether it be in your body or your soul, you need to tap into this zoe life that has been put into your Spirit by Jesus, by His Holy Spirit living there. And as you tap into that power that is in zoe life, it will enhance and create new elements in your body, in your physical life, and in your psyche, in your psychological life. 

If you like, zoe is a new form of the tree of life. Now, when I taught the way of blessing principles, I taught effectively that God has deposited into our spirits everything that we need to live a life of blessing. Just like other life forms, there are three main functions in zoe life, and they are faith, hope, and love.

And these function in different ways, and they actually also function in different tenses, because faith is always a past tense and is based on something that God has said. Hope is a future tense, which points to the things that we don’t have yet, and love is a present tense that controls our life on a daily basis. And you can use zoe life to create what you desire.

When they combine together, these three forces can create anything we desire. If you think of this as a tree of life, imagine picking a few fruits of the tree of life and combining them to a recipe that together makes the most awesome meal. So, depending on what you need to live the abundant life, you can choose. 

You can choose. You’ve been given the essence, you’ve been given the source, you’ve been given the power, the creative power and the ability to create whatever life you desire. Yes, it must be within the confines of God’s laws and not sinful.

And none of the things that we’ve discussed so far are sinful, they are natural, and God intends us to enjoy them. And we need to deal with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because from the time Adam and Eve partook of that fruit, it remained in them, in their bodies, and has been passed down to their descendants right up to you and I today. And we still have within us the elements of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

So, before we can make full use of the tree of life, you need to know how to deal with it. Knowledge of good and evil is opposed to the tree of life. They are two opposites, and they cannot work together.

And because this is in our bodies, it’s firmly linked to the functions of the body. We call this sensory knowledge. We live by what we see and hear and taste and touch and smell. 

That’s the way we get any input from the world around us. But faith doesn’t come from out there. Faith comes from deeper down in your spirit, and it’s not connected to the senses at all. 

So, before you can move in faith, you must put aside all of your sense knowledge. In other words, you must believe something because God said it, not because you can feel it in your body. And we are so used to obeying our senses. 

We find it hard to obey our spirits. Your body tells you that you’re sick, but God tells you that you’re healed. Which one is the truth? Well, I’ve got the symptoms, can’t you see? I’m sick. 

But God says by his stripes, you were healed. Which one do you believe? They may both seem true, but right now, the pain in my body actually is more true than my healing. But I have to make a choice. 

It’s not a feeling, it’s a choice. I have to choose to say, if God says I’m healed, then I choose to say I’m healed. Can you see that? When you look at your life and you can see that you’re poor, but God says you’re rich.

Scripture says that Jesus was rich, he became poor in order that we could become rich. Now, which will you obey? Will you follow that song that says, and then let the poor say, I’m rich. Let the weak say, I’m strong because of what the Lord has done. 

When your body tells you that you’re all alone and rejected, God says, I’m with you always. Which one are you going to believe? Do you know the word says that even your enemies can be made to turn towards you? You can see it in Proverbs chapter 16 and verse seven. It says, when a man’s ways please the Lord Yahweh, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with them.

You see, we’ve got to move out of our sense knowledge, out of the influence of the body alone and tap into that inner life, the life within and hear the voice of God speaking and respond to his voice first, rather than the senses of the body. You see, faith lets you see. You know, people say, well, you know, we say seeing is believing, but faith is believing when you don’t see. 

Now, faith is believing when you don’t see with your physical eyes. It doesn’t mean you don’t see. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 11, verse one, faith is the assurance of what we are hoping for, the proof of the existence of what is not seen. 

Faith is like another eye, another vision. We look at things with faith and faith allows us to see what our eyes cannot see, what our senses cannot see, but our eyes can see. And faith comes from your spirit. 

So, the faith in your spirit can allow you to see the answer long before it manifests. You say, well, you know, I’m trying my best to believe, but man, the pictures in my mind are so strong. Well, what’s the problem? The problem is you’re listening to the wrong words.

You’re listening to what your circumstances and your senses are telling you, and you need to override this with better words. Well, there’s only one kind of word that you can totally rely on, and that is God’s words. You can get these in two ways. 

You can read what he says in his word, the scriptures, or you can listen to what he tells you in the spirit. Of these two, the written word is more reliable, because the words you hear in your mind are not concrete or set in stone. So, you’ve got to begin by filling your mind with the written word, because that’s there. 

You can put your stand on it. Do you know that’s all Jesus used to overcome Satan in the wilderness while he was being attacked and tempted? So, find some powerful passages that promise you things from God, and then start speaking those out loud until they begin to sink deep down into your inner being. I have a personal verse that the Lord gave me recently. 

I often feel physically weak and lacking in energy. One day, as I was thinking about it, the Lord brought to my mind a passage, and I had to look it up because I only remembered some of it. But it’s in Isaiah 40, verse 29, and I’ve re-translated it in the GBM version, and it goes like this. 

He gives strength to the weary and to those that have no energy. He increases power. Now, every time I’m feeling weary and drained, and life is an effort, I just pull out this verse. 

He gives strength to the weary. To those that have no energy, he increases power. And I shove it in the devil’s face, and I say, yeah, devil, it is written. 

Now, if you learn to do this often, eventually he’ll leave you alone. But you don’t know the word, and you don’t use it, and you try and fight with your emotions and your willpower, and you lose. So, make it a daily practice to lay hold of the eternal life that is in you. 

That eternal life is his life, and it’s been given to you as a permanent possession. Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6, 12, says, Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life, to which you are called, and have professed a good profession before many witnesses. 

Take that piece of word. Take up the sword of the word, and give Satan a thrust in his belly. See, the abundant life’s already there in your spirit.

It’s his eternal life. All you need to do is to tap into it. Now, I’ve written other books and given teachings which cover a lot of this in more detail.

One of them is called Tapping Your Inner Resources, where I explain all that God has put into us. The way of blessing itself, I’ve taught all of this in a lot of detail. And those books have been available for years, and they still are. 

But right now, the ball is in your court. It is up to you to tap into it and to use it. So, stop waiting for the Lord to do it, while you weep and wail and cry out to him, Oh Lord Jesus, please help me. 

He’s done his part, now we’ve got to do ours. Stop groveling like a loser, and start to see yourself as a king in him. And rise up and use the authority he’s given you, because the abundant life is yours for the taking. 

We will be learning more on how to do this in future lessons, and I’m going to give you a lot of detail. And these new series, combined with the original way of blessing, will give you everything that you ever need to break free of all the curses that are in your life and to rise up and to walk in the way of blessing. Now, the Lord can deal with problems that are in your life right now, but you need to learn to grow into these. 

You need to learn to apply these yourself, because these things don’t come by the laying on of hands, they come by spiritual growth. But I’m going to pray for you now anyway, that God will touch you and deal with some of the problems you’re facing right now. And then, as we provide these new lessons, go through them, study them carefully, and apply them. 

And I’ll guarantee, before long, you’ll start to see the signs of the abundant life. Amen. Lord Jesus, I thank you for your word. 

I thank you for this wonderful gift that you’ve given us, of your eternal life living in us, enabling us to break out and to live in our body and our soul and our spirit, all the wonders of the heavenly realm and the life that you came to give us. I pray for the person listening to this right now, in the name of Jesus, if you are struggling with sickness and disease, I speak healing to your body now, reach out to the Lord, lay your hand on where the body is suffering, and just trust Him to heal you now. In the name of Jesus, I speak forth the healing power of God. 

I break the powers of darkness, and Satan, I say, come out and leave that body alone, in Jesus’ name. If you’re struggling financially right now, stop trying to work out in your mind how you can make more money, and instead begin to trust Him to provide new sources of income for you in a miraculous way. We need to rejoice in God’s provision, because it’s never small. 

God never gives us enough. He always gives us in abundance. He’s the God of more than enough. 

And Lord, I pray for this person now who’s struggling with the burden of finances and the pressures of the world that’s being brought on them as a result of finances, and I break this curse of poverty now over you, in the name of Jesus, I command you to be set free, and that abundance will begin to come to you from many different quarters, and you will see it and know that this is a miracle from God. To those who are feeling alone and rejected, the Lord is with you, and the Lord will bring to you those who will stand with you. To those who are single and desiring a life partner, God can bring to you the partner that you desire. 

Shall I say the kind of partner that you desire? You cannot choose a person and tell the Lord to make them fall in love with you, but you can say, Lord, this is the kind of husband, this is the kind of wife that I desire, and the Lord will arrange and bring to you exactly what you desire. And so, Lord, I ask you to do this now for every single person that’s listening to this, that you’ll make it clear that you are working and you are bringing them into the best loving relationship according to the things that they desire, the kind of person that they would enjoy being married to. You’re able to do it, Lord, and I thank you for it now, in Jesus’ name. 

Amen.