Jesus' death and sacrifice on the cross gave Man the opportunity to choose between the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil again. As believers we need to continual renew our minds to choose the Tree of Life in our day-to-day experience. The cross is the tree (Gal 3:13) and Jesus is the fruit (1 Cor 15:23). When we feed on the truths of who Jesus is and what he has done for us (John 6:54) we enjoy the relationship with God that is eternal life (John 17:3).

The fruit of the Tree of Life brings eternal life (Gen 3:22) and the leaves bring healing (Rev 22:2). This gives us the picture of applying the leaves as salves to our wounds. We receive God's truth by believing on it, and we experience God's truth by acting on it. The word of faith, which is the gospel of Christ and His redemptive work, requires us to believe in our hearts and speak with our mouths (Rom 10:8). Believing in our hearts is eating the fruit, which gives us righteousness. Confessing with our mouths is applying the leaves, bringing us salvation, God's intended wholeness for our entire being (Rom 10:10).

We experience the blessing when we apply the truths of God's word (Jas 1:25) and the first step of applying the truth is to align our speech to it (Jas 1:26). Jesus himself spoke and testified of what he knew and had seen (John 3:11). He also taught us that we will receive what we believe in our hearts and speak with our mouths (Mark 11:22-24).

Jesus has shouldered every curse from us on the cross (Gal 3:13) and that includes generational curses, the consequences of sins passed down for three or four generations (Exo 20:5). When we apply the leaves of the Tree of Life the power of curses will be broken (Rev 22:3). We should not speak negatively about our children but instead declare that they are gifts and blessings from the LORD (Psa 127:3, GNB).

God offers us the choice between death and life, and when we choose life we and our children will live (Deu 30:19). In day-to-day life we choose life by choosing to carefully guard our speech (Pro 18:21) and we do so knowing that we will enjoy the fruit of our speech (Pro 18:20).

Points to Ponder:

1. In what ways can we consciously use our tongue and speech for experiencing more of God's manifested goodness in our lives?
2. Do you see any generational curses that may have been passed down to you from your ancestors? What does the Word of God say about those curses? Speak the word of God to break those curses and replace them with blessings.