How to Eat from the Tree of Life
Throughout this series, I unpack a dynamic connection between purity and power that we don’t often hear about. What an exciting revelation! You will want to dive into Part 1 and Part 2 if you have not done so already. In today’s blog, I will finish with how operate in this flow from a practical vantage point and provide additional resources to help. Throughout this series we have seen the link between purity and power. Operating from our original innocence, while being as wise as serpents is a fascinating study and brings about unleashed transformational power! This is accomplished by eating from the Tree of Life or abiding in the vine, Who is Jesus (John 15:5). In this blog, I give solid practical helps to do just that!
So, practically, how can we eat from the Tree of Life?
1. Feed on Scripture.
However, it is crucial that Scripture is filtered through an accurate lens of the Person of Christ and His finished work. Christ, Himself, is known as Wisdom (Proverbs 3:13 – 26) and the Tree/Bread of Life (John 14:6, John 6:35). When we partake or eat of Him, we have:
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- Eternal life (Genesis 3:22, John 14:6)
- Length of days
- Riches
- Honor
- Pleasantness
- Peace
- Life
- Grace
- Safety
- Guidance
- Sweet sleep (Proverbs 3:13 – 26)
- Ongoing healing (Revelation 2:22)
I want to separate these benefits so that we can slow down and take each in. When you eat a rich, delectable and life-giving meal, you don’t inhale it. Despite my fast eating habits (only exceeded by my husband – I’m not proud of this), I like to slow down to feast on each and every life-giving word as it accurately points to Christ. This is one of the ways we feed on the tree of Life. Another luscious scripture is Psalms 103:2-6 (NKJV):
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 The Lord executes righteousness
And justice for all who are oppressed.
Breaking this down into digestible courses, we see that Jesus gives us –
- Forgiveness, not only of all sin, but the bent to sin (iniquity)
- Healing of ALL things that cause DIS-ease
- Redemption from all that destroys
- A crowning of kindness and mercies that are loving and tender (– what a beautiful God!)
- Satisfaction with good things
- Youth renewal (Amen!)
- Righteousness and justice for oppression (huge!)
This is a practical look at how I feast on Scripture. Spending time meditating is a huge part of abiding in the Tree of Life.
Meditation means to ponder, ruminate, speak/mutter to oneself, imagine, study, and muse. Picture a cud chewing animal, chewing its meal over and over, swallowing it and bringing it back up and chewing more to extract and absorb ALL the nutrients. This is what meditation is like, and actually where the word comes from!
Meditating on scripture is powerful, but it is not the only way.
2. Contemplative Prayer
Prayer is simply a conversation back and forth between you and God. Prayer can absolutely involve requests! This is crucial when you are in any kind of pain or lack because God longs to meet your needs and heart’s desires. This is a crucial part of your relationship with God. He cares about what you care about and this is part of sharing your heart. But if your prayer life has been limited only to requests, this makes for an anemic relationship. It’s like filling out a form of your needs/wants and dropping it off at someone’s door to be filled like a prescription. God knows better than you about your needs and wants (Matthew 6:8, 32; 12:30, Psalm 37:4). Let’s not stop there. I love William Thrasher’s definition of prayer. Prayer is a bidirectional flow of transmission and reception between two tightly linked parties (Thrasher, William. The Jesus Purpose: Born to Die, Created to Live. Book Logix. Kindle Edition; http://thejesuspurpose.com). Two-way conversation/engagement with God is very personal and relational. It is powerful.
Another aspect of contemplative prayer is known as “practicing the presence of God” or abiding in Him (John 15:5). Here we hone in our awareness spiritually so that we can sense God’s presence everywhere we go. Practically, this looks like asking Holy Spirit to open our eyes to God – present and working in our midst. It can also practically look like thanking God for His company wherever we are; this helps fix our minds on the truth that He is always present. Conversing with Him is part of this, but we can also just feel/sense Him without conversation – just like anyone else we know intimately. Contemplative prayer is a beautiful way to feast on the Tree of Life.
3. Engaging Our Spiritual Senses
Another wonderful way to feed on the Tree of Life is to engage our spiritual senses. We have 5 physical senses; we have at least 5 spiritual senses. If you can see, hear, taste, smell, and feel in the natural realm, you also can do so in the spiritual realm. John 3:11-13 talks about this. Our spiritual senses may need activation, but God did not make you with defunct spiritual equipment. Usually we operate with one sense predominantly, but we can ask Holy Spirit to help us engage each sense.
Seeing in the Spirit involves pictures, video in your mind, visions and dreams. Someone highly gifted and developed in this area is called a seer.
Hearing in the Spirit is usually internal – we sense a word or words or sounds.
Tasting/Smelling are often interrelated and are rarer (humans naturally see and hear better than we taste/smell), but it can be very tangible in the Spirit.
Touch is what you sense physically – sometimes, weightiness, electricity, or a touch from the heavenly dimension.
These senses improve like anything else with practice. Encountering God with our spiritual senses is definitely feeding from the Tree of Life!
4. Thinking God Thoughts
We also feast on the Tree of Life when we become increasingly aware of God thinking through us. What does this mean? The word says we have the “mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). We can tell when God is thinking through us because the thought is intermingled with supernatural peace/joy/empowerment.
Many people think, “God doesn’t speak to me.” However, a lot of these people are wired to hear God in their thoughts. The thing about our thoughts is sometimes they sound like us. I can promise you that God HAS spoken to you before; He is a communicator, He is the WORD! You might not have recognized it as His voice, though. It takes practice to discern when God is thinking and saying, but it is an exquisitely powerful way to receive from God. Those wired this way are often internal or external processors. They often get their “aha” spiritual encounters after some processing.
The greatest commandment is the love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls and MINDS. Opening ourselves to hear God’s thoughts is a way to love Him and feast on Him.
5. Feeling the Heart of God/Knowing God
Some people have a very highly developed emotional connection with God. They simply feel His emotions. All ways of connecting to God require discernment, but with “feelers” it is important to unpack whose emotions they are feeling.
Others are led by “knowing.” This is basically intuitive sensing. They don’t know why they know, but they know something in their “knowers.”
Connecting with the heart of God and with deep knowing are other ways to eat from the Tree of Life.
6. Worship: Fasting/Journaling/Communion
Worship is a tool to cause us to focus and turn our affection on God. It causes us to turn away from other things and magnify Him in our hearts and minds. This can become more powerful when we worship corporately. Note, worship is transformational – especially when it becomes a lifestyle wherever you go.
I include fasting in this list because fasting is a form of worship. There are times when this practice helps us get over natural senses by depriving them of our focus. This can help us connect better with the spiritual realm. Be mindful that this does not curry favor with God, but can help you connect to Him better.
Journaling what God speaks to you or shows you is also a method to help you focus on God. Practically, practice jotting down/drawing whatever you are getting without analyzing it. It can be reviewed later to confirm the source. You will be surprised how God will speak through it.
A final worshipful practice that turns our focus to Jesus is taking communion. This helps us remember Christ and what He has done for us(1 Corinthians 11:24-25).
God Desires Connection
The bottom line is, God desires connection with you and longs for you to feast on Him. God can connect with you in limitless ways. When you intentionally open or turn your heart’s affection toward Him, you partake of Him. Ask and trust Him to help you as you do so. Be patient and practice. There are so many ways to eat from the Tree of Life as we operate from innocence and wisdom. Transformation happens here!
For more help you can check out my blogs:
And my free teachings on YouTube:
To get some excellent guided practice connecting with God, you will want to go through the Love Encounter Breaks in “Marked by Love” book. You can pick it up on Amazon.
I trust that this has been empowering – I’d love to hear your encounters as you feast on Christ, The Tree of Life!
Love,
Catherine
