There are two basic pathways, the way of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the way of the tree of life. The first path leads to death and the second one leads to eternal life, which is a quality of life. It is the life that is inherent in God our father and is imparted to our spirit when it comes alive to God in the natural realm and is outworked through our spirit causing it to grow and develop in it, and then through our soul, renewing and transforming it and then into our body healing and eventually transfiguring it.
The first pathway we have all walked on, it is the knowledge of good and evil where everyone chooses what they think is right in their own eyes. It is the pathway of independence, where we are depending on our natural abilities, but not on the Spirit of God.
A lot of people on this pathway, are religious, they think they are doing the will of God, but in reality they are walking in dead works, everything that they accomplish on this pathway will be burned up in the consuming fire of God’s presence because it did not originate in Him and is not a fruit of His Spirit. The substance of it is not age-enduring.
The second pathway, the way of the tree of life is twofold. It is the pathway of increasing intimacy with God, and the pathway of responsibility where we have matured enough in the spirit to be given responsibility as male and female sons of God.
Walking on the pathway of the tree of life, is walking with God, it is a flow of His Spirit within us. The eternal life of God flows into our spirit, and then out of our spirit into our soul and expressed through our body in action. God works from within us to desire and then gives us the ability to do what He desires as we yield to the influence and moving of His Spirit within us.
In order to begin walking on the pathway of intimacy, God has to draw us to Himself and reveal Himself to us. The Father is drawing us to Himself through the Holy Spirit because He wants relationship with us. He is drawing us right now closer than we can at this time imagine and making Himself real to us.
He wants us to walk on the pathway of relationship, which is a mystical union with him, typified in the marriage of a husband and wife, but even more intimate because of God’s ability to put His thoughts and feelings, His nature into us.
It starts by a continuous joining of our spirit to His Spirit in a first love relationship. As we begin to encounter the love of God for us in our awareness of His presence, we begin to trust His leadership over our lives because of His goodness. It is called the lordship of Jesus over our spirit, the government of the seat of rest. We begin to take His yoke upon us and walk in step with him.
In order to walk on the pathway of relationship, the Father has to draw us to himself. We cannot come to Him unless he draws us because experiencing salvation is God’s work from start to finish.
There is a sound coming out of heaven, it is the voice of God- it is the calling of God. It is summed up in the statement- repent for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near.
Because we have been walking on the pathway of the knowledge of good and evil and we do not understand mystical union with Christ, and what we have heard from the religious church system, we think that to repent means we are to be sorry for our sins, that God is displeased with us, we need to stop sinning and get our heart right with God.
So instead of realizing that we are on the wrong pathway and we need to change pathways, we continue on that pathway because we have not encountered God. Before we were just living unto ourselves, but now we enter into religious dead works.
We confess our sins not understanding what confession and forgiveness really means. Father I am sorry for my sins, please forgive me, I promise I will never do it again.
We either think that we have the ability in ourselves to stop sinning, because we do not understand what sin is, or we ask God to help us to do better not realizing that we are still managing our own lives.
Our English translations of the bible and our understanding of what those words mean are misleading because we have heard from others what those words mean, and have not encounter the presence of God in those words, and we have not taken the time to find out what the root of the word means in the original language it was written in, and what the inspiration of the Holy Spirit was when that person wrote it.
The word repent in the Greek is metanoeo-it consists of two words; the first word is meta- it is mostly translated as- with, it means close association or relationship.1-it speaks of accompaniment, implying companionship, fellowship. 2- It also means- after- implying change, to perceive afterwards, it speaks of motion into the middle or into the midst of something.
The second word is noeo -which means to perceive with thought coming into the consciousness. It is translated as- mind, think, understand, consider.
What does it mean to repent? What is God saying to us when he says repent?
In association with, in relationship with God’s thoughts coming into our consciousness we come into alignment with them.
Repentance is a gift from God; it comes through encountering the presence of God in His communication to us.
Mathew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent (command for continuous action, active tense, metanoéō, two words 1-in relationship 2-to perceive with thought coming into consciousness.): for (the reason for, because) the kingdom (the spiritual realm of God’s rule) of heaven is at hand (has come near you, as close as the air you breath).
Why do we repent? Because we have just encountered the Kingdom of God through a personal encounter with the presence of God which inspires us, we have experienced the voice of God in intimacy directing us to obey His voice which is partaking of His nature.
This is the beginning of the pathway of intimacy which leads to face to face encounters with God. It all starts with hearing His voice, feeling His love, realizing how good he really is.
Rom 2:4 not knowing that the goodness (the root of the word means to furnish what is needed. It is the kindness of God) of God leadeth (to lead or carry along, the activity of the Holy Spirit in us) thee to repentance?