What kind of day have you had today? Isn’t it wonderful to be alive?

Today, I want to begin exploring a vital subject. It has now become my new mandate from the Lord.

I have spent some years working on the fivefold ministry and helping to prepare folks for their calling. But most of the time, what gets us all bogged down is just life itself. We are too busy putting out fires to get going with the work of the Lord.

The Lord said He wants His people to live a life of abundance. This was my first emphasis when we started this ministry, and I put together a detailed study called The Way of Blessing, to show how we can break free of the problems of life and begin to live in victory.

But the way of Blessing has lain dormant for many years because I moved the emphasis to training the Fivefold. Now the Lord has told me that I have completed my training mandate. I have prepared materials for training all of the Fivefold. Now I must return to showing His people how to live the life He intends for us to live.

Here is the main reason Jesus came.

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]

The thief came way back in the Garden and did his dirty work, and he still continues to do the same. But Jesus came to reverse this and to bring us back to a life of abundance and blessing.

So I am going to be looking at what we need to know about living the Abundant Life, and along the way, I will be introducing you to the main elements of the Way of Blessing.

I plan to publish these in a weekly blog, so that you can get everything a piece at a time. Then all the pieces of the puzzle can come together, and you begin to see the whole picture.

The greatest gift God has given us is the gift of life. But few are living the kind of life God intends for us. We tend to experience more of the effects of the thief Jesus spoke about.

These are manifested in three signs of a curse instead of a blessing. Here is what Satan does and its result in our lives.

1. Steal - one of the first signs of a curse is theft in your life. Good things are stolen from you

2. Kill - the second sign of a curse is strife, which ultimately can lead to killing

3. Destroy - the final sign of a curse is destruction - the things we possess are destroyed.

When you see evidence of theft, strife, and destruction in your life, then you are operating under a curse.

The Original Creation

When God first created the earth, He made it perfect and full of blessings. Adam and Eve were given a life of abundance. The earth yielded its goodness freely for them to enjoy.

There was never a fear that something would be stolen. There was no strife - even the animals got on without conflict. Adam and Eve were deeply in love with one another and enjoyed the pleasure of a good married life with all its benefits. Nothing broke down or was destroyed.

Then, a special tree was added to the middle of the garden, enhancing all of this. It was known as the Tree of Life. Eating that fruit would have prevented death from taking place, and they could have lived forever in Paradise.

If only that state of living had continued until today. But instead, our experience is everything that the thief brings. A common crude expression used in the world goes something like this.

“Sh…(bad stuff) happens.”

We all know only too well how true this is. But this was never the Lord’s plan for us. When you came into this world, His plan was for you to live out your lifespan, enjoying this wonderful life and getting the most from it.

Unfortunately, we have been taught to give up everything good in this world in exchange for a future life in heaven, where everything will be perfect again. Let's burst your little bubble there and show you what the Bible says concerning our eternal destiny. You can read it there at the end of your Bible.

Revelation 21:1 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.

Revelation 22:1 And he showed me a pure river of water of [zoe] life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

According to this Scripture, our future will be spent back on the earth in a new kind of Garden of Eden. And the Tree of Life will once again be freely available.

Because of the sin of Adam, the whole world and everything in it came under a curse. But Jesus came to reverse all of these effects and bring us back to our original life of blessing.

Your Life

Let’s look at the life you are living right now. Are you enjoying and getting the most from each new day that the Lord gives you to live in this world? When you wake up in the morning, do you jump up with joy to greet this new day with a positive expectation. You are thankful that the Lord has given you another day to be alive and enjoy all the good things He has given us.

Let’s look at some of these.

1. Life in the Body

The Greeks had different words for life that referred to different parts of our being. The Greek word ‘bios’ relates to life in general, or that which is shared by every living thing. This life is in the plants, the animals, and every human being.

We have transliterated the word ‘bios’ in English into Biological Life. This is the life that our bodies give us, and it has three main functions in it.

a. Nourishment

The body cries out to be fed to survive and continue functioning. This causes us to take time out every day, up to three or more times, to eat some food.

Now let me ask you some questions concerning your body’s function of nourishment. Do you eat because it is necessary to keep you alive, and is this your primary motivation for eating?

If you are honest, you will admit that you eat because you begin to crave something tasty to put into your mouth. Many things can nourish your body, but you may never eat them because they don't taste great.

If I ask you to list the foods you love most, you would not likely include the healthiest options. As a child, you probably resisted your mother when she told you to eat your vegetables, like spinach and broccoli, because they were good for you.

Thank God He made foods that taste great, or many of us would die of starvation. But food is far more than that, as we all know. In fact, sharing a meal with others is one of the best ways to enjoy fellowship and each other’s company.

Now if you want to try and get all spiritual with me and say you eat to keep alive and not because you crave certain foods. Let me ask you just one question.

If you examine your monthly budget, you will find that a significant portion of your income is spent on food. And if you enjoy eating out, where you do not have to cook but are served in a restaurant, it costs even more.

How fleshly and carnal you are to think so much of your stomach instead of saving your money for better things. However, I can guarantee that your experience will be similar to this.

You see something that you need to help you in your work or to function better in life, and you are hesitant to spend that much on buying it. But then it is lunchtime and your body is crying for food. So, you find a place to eat and pick up the menu to place your order.

What is your first choice from the menu? It is not the cost of the food, even though that might bother you.

No, you will likely choose the option you enjoy the most. And you won’t hesitate to spend so much money on something that will only last a short while.

Is this bad or sinful? Well, Jesus enjoyed dining out when He was invited. So much so that they referred to Him as a glutton and a drunkard. After His resurrection, He appeared to His disciples waiting for them on the beach, where He had lit a fire and cooked a meal for them.

Some of us have become so ‘spiritual’ that we won't admit we enjoy a good meal and would gladly go to better or more expensive restaurants if we could afford it.

I may be different. Here in South Africa, we are real ‘foodies’, and since I love cooking, I am always looking for new and exciting things to make for meals.

When you come to the end of a day, and you look back on your life for that day, how would you describe it? Would you say something like,

“Well, that was a really tough day, I am glad it is over.”

Or could you say something like.

“That was an awesome day. Especially the wonderful meal we had at lunch or dinner.”

Could you think back on some fun things you did today that filled you with joy and laughter?

If you are unable to do this, then I am sad to say, you have not yet found out how to live the Abundant Life that God created us to have.

Jesus said that the main thing He came to do was to bring us into an experience of a life that is filled with good things. This includes your biological life and everything that you experience in the body. It also includes good health and victory over sickness and disease.

Otherwise, you are living the kind of life that the thief decided for you instead of what the Lord wants for you.

b. Reproduction

The second function of the body is the ability to reproduce itself. Without this the human race would die out.

We start out in life being ignorant of how this works. And many foolish believers think that the process of sexual intercourse was designed only to reproduce.

But just as we do not eat to live, but eat because we enjoy it, so we go through the motions of sexual activity because of the intense pleasure that it brings.

Enjoying sex with your spouse is not lust but an expression of something far deeper. And God made it so that we should enjoy this experience as much as possible.

As a believer, you should not only engage in sexual activity with your spouse, but you should also enjoy the experience. But here is where the enemy of our souls does his best to destroy marriages.

He steals the wonder of the sexual experience when done with the right person, and makes you lust after someone else to have a better experience. Spirits of lust are a category of demon power devoted exclusively to doing this.

The world also encourages it by promoting drugs and substances that enhance sexual ability and desire. But God has a better way, and we will look at it later.

Life in the Soul

The Greeks also had a word to describe the kind of life that exists in our souls. In fact, the Greek word for soul is also translated as life. It is the word

“Psuche”

Just like the body, the soul has three main functions that maintain its good health. These functions are as follows:

a. The Mind - this is where your thoughts dwell, and what is in your mind plays a significant role in the kind of life you live.

b. The Emotions - this is where your feelings and desires reside. These aspects exert the greatest influence on our lives.

c. The Will - the part that makes decisions and choices. But it is controlled by the mind and emotions.

What takes place in the soul affects every part of us. It is your control tower and lies at the center of your life.

When God first made man, we see the process described like this:

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD [Yahweh] God formed man [from] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. [GBMV]

You can see in that passage that the soul is the main part of our life. Your soul lies between your spirit and your body, and it decides what happens in life. Both the body and the spirit can influence it.

Life in the Spirit

If we return to the Garden of Eden, you could think of the Garden as a picture of what lies in the body. The tree of life was a picture of what was in the spirit, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was a picture of the soul.

God wanted Adam and Eve to choose the Tree of Life, but instead they chose the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. So, instead of their spirit being strongest and in control, their soul rose in independence and submitted instead to the body.

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 and gave us a chance to build our spiritual power.

To do this, we need to work on our souls and bring them back in subjection to the Spirit.

The Zoe Life of the Spirit

The Greek word for life that Jesus said he was bringing is ‘Zoe.’

This is life in the spirit. It is far greater than both bios and psuche, and it can influence or create the other kinds of life. God used the spirit to create the world out of nothing. It is the essence or material from which everything is made

In the same way, Zoe life has the ability to create or change the other forms of life.

Zoe is a new form of the tree of life.

You will learn from the Way of Blessing that God deposited into our spirits everything we need to live a life of blessing. Just like the other life forms, there are three main functions in Zoe life.

They are faith, hope and love, and they all function in different tenses as you will learn in the Way of Blessing.

Faith is always in the past tense, based on what God said.

Hope is a future tense pointing to the things we do not have yet.

And love is a present tense, controlling our lives on a daily basis.

When combined together, these three forces can create anything we desire. It is a bit like picking various fruits from the Tree of Life and combining them into a recipe. Depending on what you need to live the abundant life, you can choose.

But before you can make full use of the Tree of Life, you will need to deal with the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil that is resident in you. These two are opposites and cannot work together.

This knowledge is firmly linked to the functions of the body and what we refer to as sensory knowledge. We live by what we see, hear, taste, touch, or smell.

But faith comes from the spirit, and the senses are not connected to it at all. So, before you can move in faith, you must put aside your sense knowledge.

You believe something because God said it, not because you can sense it in your body. So when your body tells you that you are sick, and God tells you that you are healed, you must choose one or the other.

When your eyes tell you that you are poor and God says, “Let the poor say I am rich” which will you obey?

When your body tells you that you are alone and rejected, and God says. “I am with you always” which will you believe?

The Word says He will even make your enemies turn towards you. But we wait to see it with our eyes as evidence.

Scripture tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. So faith overrides all the senses.

Now you are probably saying something like this:

“I am trying my best to believe but the pictures in my mind are so strong.”

Here is the simple solution - you are listening to the wrong words. You are listening to what circumstances and the senses are telling you.

You need to override this with better words, and there is only one kind of word that you can totally rely on - God’s words.

You can receive these in two ways.

1. Read what He says in His word

2. Listen to what He tells you in the Spirit

The written word is more reliable because the words you hear in your mind are not concrete and set in stone. So you must begin by filling your soul with the written word. This is all Jesus used to overcome Satan in the wilderness.

Begin by finding some powerful passages that promise you things from God. Then start speaking these out loud until they begin to sink down into your inner being.

Here is one I found recently that really helps me. I often feel physically weary and lacking in energy. The Lord brought to my mind this passage, which I also retranslated to make more sense.

Isaiah 40:29 He gives strength to the weary; and to [those that have] no energy he increases power [GBMV]

Now every time I am feeling drained and washed out I start speaking this verse. I shove it in the devil’s face and say,

“Here, Devil, it is written.”

If you learn to do this often, he will eventually leave you alone. Make it a daily practice to lay hold of eternal life that is in you - His Zoe life. Then take up the sword of the word and give him a thrust in his belly.

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal [zoe] life, to which you are also called, and have professed a good profession before many witnesses. [GBMV]

The abundant life is already there in your spirit - His eternal Zoe life. I explained some of this in my book Tapping Your Inner Resources, and I also taught it in detail in the Way of Blessing.

But it is up to you to tap into it and use it. Stop waiting for the Lord to do it while you weep and wail and cry out to Him. He has done his part; now we must do ours.

Stop groveling like a loser and start to see yourself as a king in Him. Then rise up and use the authority He has given you. The Abundant Life is yours for the taking.

I will be presenting a lot more on this shortly. It is my new mandate from the Lord, and I will be faithful to carry it out. But first, we are learning how and putting it into practice here.

Then I can say again as I have in the past.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN

May your week ahead be one of the best and most blessed ever. Remember to make the most of each day. Live the wonderful life He has given us. Make the most of every opportunity.

Enjoy the wonders of the body. Enjoy the social interaction with others in fellowship, and above all, enjoy His presence.

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