Tree of Life Blog

Today we went to an outdoor store, selling bows and arrows, camping gear and the like. There’s really no equivalent in the UK. I didn’t buy anything but if I did, all my UK money would be worthless. They are absolutely not interested in my money because this is a different kingdom.

When you travel to a different nation, a different kingdom, the currency is different. The shops are different. The food is different. The cuts of steak are not the same. They may not drive on the same side of the road. Everything is different. And as the one who has travelled we are the ones who have to adapt to the new kingdom.

Now, it’s exactly like that in God’s kingdom. One of my big concerns is people who live like Christians but are not different. You have not just changed kingdoms, you have become a whole new species of being. To quote Paul walk worthy of your calling – or you say “try acting like you have a reborn spirit”! That’s the theme of today’s chapter of our epistle from Canadaland: walk worthy of your calling. Act like you are saved. Live like you are in a new kingdom.

If I drove the way I drove at home, on the left of the road, using miles not km, I would be in trouble right now. Sadly, many Christians get saved, enter the kingdom of God, and then act the same way they did in the old kingdom. They still steal, still lie, still play political games. I’m still dealing with other Christian leaders playing games and bring dishonest to grow their ministry, and that’s because it hasn’t dawned on them they don’t live the old life in the old kingdom any more.

The new kingdom has many principles that if you put them to work, things would work for you. The principle of sowing and reaping, according to Mark 4, is of course the principle of all principles, yet even today I meet many Christians either totally unaware of what sowing and reaping means, or they are aware, but are not consistently using it in their lives to increase and grow and walk in Victory.

You will never prosper in the kingdom of God without understand and DOING sowing and reaping.

What was the last thing you sowed? I assume you tithe, but people keep proving me wrong on this. It stuns me that any Christian would expect to prosper, see miracles and be in ministry, without the lowest level of fidelity in their finances, the most basic level of living. Tithing is such a small, tiny application of faith, so fundamental to us growing in Christ, it still surprises me every time a Christian tells me they don’t tithe. It would be like someone telling me they are a chef but think it’s legalism to go into a kitchen. This is the fundamental level of operating in the new kingdom we live in.

What was the last seed you sowed of humility? When was the last time you genuinely let someone else go before you and rejoiced in their success. When was the last time you supported someone else and promoted them? I see few doing that in ministry or in business. Even siblings. Come on now! Sow these things.

What was the last seed you sowed of God’s Word itself? What I mean is when was the last time you had a problem, and rather than doing what you felt like doing, rather than doing what made sense, you studied the Bible until you found out what God said about that situation and did what God said by faith. That’s the approach Mary took when Gabriel spoke to her… Let the Word be real in me. Let me be in line with the Word. When was the last time you took the time to make sure you are in line with the Word?

We have Christians who marry non Christians because it feels right, people who choose the church they are most comfortable in – or the church they think will benefit them and their ministry the most – when the pastor isn’t even Spirit filled and a tongue talker, and preaches eight minutes on nothing every Sunday morning. We have Christians who are living together, Christians supporting causes that hate Christianity and hate the Bible. All because they do not sow the seed of the Word in their heart.

Jesus said Him dying on the cross was a seed. What was the last thing you died to? What was the last thing you didn’t watch of listen to? The last place you didn’t go, that you died to because you knew Jesus did not want you to do it. Are you still going to church the weeks you feel like or are you there like clockwork, feelings or not? You are in a new kingdom now, and there is a new King in your life called Jesus. When was the last instruction you obeyed even though you didn’t want to?

What was the last thing you did for someone else without a spotlight on it? What was the last piece of wisdom you sowed in your life? I know pastors who cannot go to a conference unless they are platformed, or at the very least think they can make a few connections – and they miss out on so much wisdom because of it, and it shows.

We had an elder leave the church a while back, and when we took over his living church there were many problems as he didn’t teach the Word first. He also did some work for us that my son had to spend hours redoing because he didn’t listen.

I told the Lord this was a big surprise, his attitude was so wrong, the way he left so ungodly.

The Lord showed me that a few years ago that same elder wasn’t at Heal the Nations and went to another churches’ conference that same week. The reason he went was they gave him a session to speak at. The Lord showed me that this man had always out himself above what was happening at Tree of Life. He was born again, had taken a plane from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God, but never acted like he was in a new kingdom.

There are several people in Tree of Life right now who are also in other churches, some gaming for positions, others hoping to get our church to sponsor their ministry, or at least use our people to help them. These are people who are using us, NOT sowing into us. One person told me, I only come to Tree of Life, because you know such and such a pastor and I believe you will get me a chance to get a job with him. There is no sense of seed there. No sowing means no reaping.

I’m saying all of this because I love you. I don’t desire your giving, I desire fruit to your account.

I want everyone in Tree of Life to be as fruitful as possible. I want you to be fruitful. It pains me to see people so unfruitful when simple steps like turning up at church every week, bringing a notebook, tithing, dropping their agenda, genuinely serving from the heart. True seeds sown and they wouldn’t be so unfruitful all the time.

God woke me in the middle of the night in March 2010 and called me to inspire people to dream big and challenge them to make the right steps to walk in those big dreams. It pains me to see people lost and confused and not in their dreams. But you will never walk in any dream if you do not learn sowing and reaping and out it into every area of your life.

Go out for lunch with a friend… Go to give, to give comfort, wisdom, to pay the bill, to find out ways to help them more.

Don’t be the one always looking for a handout or leg up. Just you work on sowing seed and watch God bring the harvest.

Every church service you go to, living church, or Celebration Church, look for ways to sow. And start with ways out of the spotlight until you have got this right. Don’t be like the guy who week two at Tree of Life emailed me ten ways he could serve, and all of them included the phrase “up the front”… When I suggested he start serving up the back he left the church shaking the dust off his feet. Unless he has learned to sow, he will still be a very fruitless man.

You are in a whole new kingdom. It’s a better kingdom than the one you got saved from, but some things are different and can be uncomfortable when you do them for the first time. Turning left as a far side turn is still strange to me right now. Sowing and reaping might seem strange to you because you are used to grabbing and fighting and manipulating but that’s a different nation, you are a Christian now, so do what is right no matter whether it feels strange.

Someone said my teaching on tithing made them sick to the stomach. That’s a commentary on their stomach not on what is right to do in God’s kingdom! Just like when I feel strange turning right on the red light (you can do that here!) is a commentary on my upbringing not the right thing to do in Canada.

Selah.

Don’t read this post and nod. Sow something. Sow your finances into the church, and sow your life into this weekend, and sow your heart into the Word of God, and do what He tells you to do. You have a new King, live like it.

Grace and peace

Ben

So this morning, I woke up in Canada for the first time in my life. Today is a rest day to relax and adjust to the time difference. And do an hour round trip to get a toy for a friend!

And I must admit, I am not good at relaxing. I have to force myself to have a day off. I was on the plane yesterday and wrote six chapters of a new book the Lord instructed me to write to fivefold ministers. I’ve gone through emails, dealt with pastoral situations and all sorts yesterday, but today I need to rest.

God set that pattern in motion. 86% work, 14% rest. It’s a good ratio, perfect in fact. It’s in the Ten Commandments, which of course means over the years both Jews and Christians have gone overboard in implementation and come up with some strange ideas, but the principle is very sound: everyone’s diary should have some white space in it, some margin, some space where nothing is happening. That’s where you recharge, that’s where you dream, that’s where you work smart not hard.

Now like I said, I struggle to do that. I’ve always worked hard, I have worked from 14, worked through school and uni, worked my way through Bible College, and today I still, all jokes about pastors only working Sundays aside, still work exceptionally hard. I have to refocus to ensure I have rest time. I have to put rest into my to do list, treat it as an essential high priory task. I’m sure some of you are in the same boat… Make sure you rest.

We’ve pressed pause on a few things at the Tree of Life Family because I can see my pastors and elders also need some more rest time and we cannot drive people, especially volunteers 24/7. God didn’t do 24/7 and He does not need to eat, sleep or use the bathroom.

It’s good to rest, but in my experience most people do not work as hard as they should. Entertainment and amusement is better than it has ever been, computer games and films more realistic and engaging, there’s social media, travel is cheaper and easier. The problem many people have is that they are not productive enough.

I go on some Pastor’s social media, and you think – has this person retired? They are just always on holiday, even when they are not they are. That kind of constant rest does not grow healthy churches or healthy Christians.

The most extreme version of this is David who quit his God given role of leader of the king’s armies and stayed at home and ended up meeting Bathsheba while on furlough. Idle hands are the devil’s hands indeed. Whenever I read about a pastor having an affair I am immediately confused as to how he even had the extra time! If we get busy about the kingdom, we won’t have time to be selfish.

My appeal today, ironically on my day off, is don’t take too much rest. Rest one in seven like Jesus did. Then fill the other six days with hustle, bustle, working, praying, going to church, getting there early, serving, investing, loving, witnessing, helping, producing…

Proverbs 14. 23 says there is profit in hard work. I see a lot of people never profit because they don’t work hard. I regularly meet Bible College students and graduates who know the Word, are personable, engaging and could be great pastors, evangelists, etc. But they aren’t. Because they are not profiting because they are hardly working, not working hard. They are saying they live by faith, but faith comes by hearing the Word and the Word says if you don’t work you don’t eat.

Or they have a job but want the pulpit but never work in tbe church, they don’t even turn up regularly. We had a Bible College graduate storm off because he turned up so late to do his offering talk the service was nearly over, I was wrapping up the sermon! He wanted us all to have say there waiting for his glorious moment.

Another one wanted more money a month than Amanda and I got paid together to work two days a week because he was so anointed and special. And he barely did any work on those two days.

If you want to succeed in life you have to work at it. I’m in Canada speaking at a healing conference. I have more invites than I can manage to do healing conferences right now. Mainly the Healing Book. How did that book come into existence? Because for 40 days I got up and for at least one hour, mostly two or more, I wrote on healing to get people in the Tree Family healed. Those emails saw a lady healed of hundreds of tumors and my son Adam – also a grafter – put them into book form.

A lot of you want to have a book. Very few of you have spent aorund one hundred hours writing. That’s the power of work. You might know more than I do on healing, but if you don’t work it doesn’t get done.

When I go, I want to be able to say like Paul, I ran my race, I kept the faith. But if you never run you cannot run a race. If you don’t work you can’t work it.

Right now Jesus is working hard building the church. While I am here in Canada, my desire for everyone in Tree of Life is that you put your hand to the Plough and actually work.

When I come back will you be where you are when I left, or did you get up an hour earlier every day and write that book in your heart? Will you get your charitable trust sorted out, your business registered at company house? Will you build what you need to build, design what you need to design, sign up for the course. Going to Heal the Nations will be work. Travel is work, taking time of work is work, getting into the Word takes work. Will you work on building up your faith this summer? Or will you keep procrastinating?

Keep hoping that you are so special that you are an exception to the Biblical principles and that someone else will come along and do all the work for you? Will you let another week go by that you will never ever back and not work for your dreams, for the kingdom, for Jesus Christ?

Grace doesn’t mean not working, it means to get to work. To do work that matters. Don’t send me an email telling me I don’t understand Grace if you are limiting God and falling apart like a two dollar suitcase. If this message means you let Satan steal your lunch and pop the bag, I contend it’s you who doesn’t get Grace. You need to live in the balance of grace and faith, not the balance of grace and laziness.

There is no dress rehearsal, you only get one chance at this. Work!

Selah.

Love you all, Tree of Life is in my heart and I am believing for great testimonies from this post. I’ve already had several from yesterdays!

Tired? Do the work tired.

Bored if it? Do the work bored

Under pressure? Work under pressure

In a storm! Work in the storm.

There’s always profit in this. See you all soon

Grace and peace

Ben

I am currently in a taxi heading to the airport getting ready to fly to Canada, and I was about to pen a short WhatsApp message to my sons about some things they need to do in my absence, and as I was doing that, I felt I should pen some thoughts to the Tree Family about what to do this week while I am away too. Not sure what to write, but I will keep writing and see where we end up…

If you didn’t know, we are off to Canada. I’ve never been to Canada before, but we met a wonderful couple at a Pastor’s conference a few years ago, and they have invited us to come minister. We are very excited and honoured indeed.

Now, if you back around five years, we were at another Pastor’s conference (I invest so much in my personal development, that’s a revelation for some people – invest in yourself, buy a book on faith and read it, book in to Heal the Nations, make plans to be at church this weekend before seeing what you feel like Sunday morning!) and one of the speakers who is now a dear friend was Prophet Jerome Fernando.

During one of his sessions, Jerome prophesied over me that my apostolic ministry would come to the forefront and reach a new level after my first trip to Canada! This is my first trip to Canada, so right now we are waging warfare with our prophetic word to see this happen.

Maybe that should be the theme of this post. Waging war with a prophetic word. That phrase comes from 1 Timothy 1.18:

This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before concerning thee, that thou by them mightest wage a good warfare,

1 Timothy 1.18, KJV

Paul, an experienced senior minister, is writing to Timothy, a younger and more inexperienced minister. Like any pastor in a charismatic church, Timothy has received several prophetic words. We presume he is able to separate the wheat from the chaff and isn’t moved by some word from some wannabe that doesn’t resonate with his spirit or doesn’t even agree with the Word of God. But Timothy may have been a bit passive… Well if God said it then it will happen. Well if it is meant to be, que sera sera.

And Paul had to interrupt this train of thought with the most strongest of language… Grab those prophetic words, Tim, and fight. War. The Greek word is stratia. It means to violently assault and attack something. It means to go aggressive and stop an enemy.

If you have got a prophetic word about anything, you cannot just sit there, twiddle your thumbs and say that you are under Grace.

We are saved, delivered, transformed by grace through faith, so we need to reread the genuine prophetic words we have received, we have to pray over them, dream them, imagine them, meditate on them, declare them, find Scriptures that line up with them and declare them. We have to be aggressive. We have to carve out time in our lives and do this.

I have several prophetic words about my future. About the churches we will plant, the Nations we will go to. We don’t just sit there and go, hey ho, that’s nice… We fight. We declare, we pray, we believe, we listen and read and reread. That is what we must do.

I believe that one of the most important things that we need right now in the UK, an attitude of aggressive war waging. I am seeing a creeping passivity forming in the church right now, at a time where we need to be extending God’s kingdom like never before. We need to grab the sword and fight. Have you spoken God’s Word over yourself today? Have you prayed in tongues and built yourself up today? Have you out some immense images in your mind, and cast down teeny tiny picture and selfish images and every high thought that exalts itself against Christ? Have you taken time to fellowship with the Lord and get your marching orders for the day?

Has God given you a prophetic word and you can barely remember it? FIGHT!

I was at a pastors conference (again! I know! Because that’s part of my warfare, going to the blacksmiths to get some weapons) last October. In that conference, Bob Nichols, prophesied over me about finances.

I have a huge dream and need a huge amount of money to do it. You could give me about £50 million right now, and I would know exactly what to do with it. I am dreaming like that. I know if God gave. Bob Nichols a word about my finances over anyone else in the room I have to listen and fight with it. So I bought a new wallet and I got it engraved with the first sentence from the prophetic word.

Every day I reread that first line and meditate on the word. I am not passive about it, I am aggressive with it.

It’s a war in my mind and I intend for God and glory and goodness to be on the winning. And then there is a war in the church to live the high life, not fall into petty doubts, small thoughts, and so on. Stop scrolling through Facebook looking for someone to sort out and bring down to your small level, dream bigger and get excited about your dreams…

Fight for the Words you have been given. Stand, be aggressive, you are a child of the living God. You have been called for such a time as this. Find out what God has called you to do and do it. Stand up and stand on what God has said to you.

Stop being so passive. One of the problems I am seeing recently that makes as passive is a sentimentality that has nothing to do with Scripture.

When someone falls over, we want to show love, but we show a sentimentalism, we get down with them and we say “poor you, that so sad, we understand” rather than say get back on your feet, stand on the Word, you are more than a conqueror, you are above this, get forgiven, move forward and keep fighting. That’s might sound unsympathetic but it is true love.

Paul didn’t tell Timothy to get counselling for his timidity, he didn’t tell him we understand life is tough. Paul said that spirit is not from God, you have power, love and a sound mind. You have prophetic words… Fight with those words, get aggressive, get off your backside.

That’s the Biblical way to change your life and walk in Victory. Fight, fight, fight.

The next verse after 1 Tim. 1.18 starts with “Holding Faith”. That’s my desire for everyone in Tree of Life while I am in Canada, hold the faith. Hold is the Bible word for pregnant! It’s first used when Mary had Jesus and was pregnant with him! We need to get pregnant with faith.

It was Fathers Day on Sunday and my thought was how much having my children changed my life. It changed Amanda more! We need to be pregnant with faith, hold that faith and trust in the Word inside us so much it changes our shape, our future, our priorities, our time keeping, how we spend our money, when we get up in the morning, what we do with our spare time. Grab faith and never ever let go.

When God speaks to you, whether through the Word or through a prophetic word, hold on tight, and do not let go.

Satan is trying to mug you and steal your prophetic word, Hold on tight, fight like a mad man. That’s my word for you all. Satan will try any trick to stop you getting to church this weekend, fight like a madman to get there. Satan will try to break your dreams, fight! Fight fight FIGHT!

And the good news for all of you is I am fighting for my word and my ministry will reach a new level. Ministry is a synonym for serving. So if my serving gets lifting to a new level, you all get served better and more effectively. Selah!

Love you all. See you all soon. Don’t forget http://www.tree.church/healthenations this August. It will be life changing.

We shall all have to wrestle with greed as we renew our minds. Solomon says there is nothing new under the sun, and he says: Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. (Ecc. 5.10).

If we love money, we will never have enough money. That’s not a good place to be in. Proverbs 15.27 actually tells us that the greedy will ruin their own houses.

One of the reasons some people do not tithe is greed. They cannot bear to be without their 10%, they need all 100% of their income. You can always tell the greedy because whenever you teach on tithing, they are going to complain! Proverbs 28.25 says “the greedy stir up conflict, but those who trust in the Lord will prosper“. We all have to choose which side of this verse we want to be on! One of the characteristics of good leadership according to Peter is “not pursuing dishonest gain, eager to serve” (1 Peter 5.2).

There are many people around who are greedy. They want more and more all the time, especially when it comes to material wealth and possessions. They want to get rich quick and without God! Because these people want more and more so much, they cannot get the idea in their head of giving ten percent consistently and reliably. It makes more sense to their heart and mind to keep as much as they can! Greed is one of the biggest problems you can have in your spiritual life. Greed has destroyed so many lives – and through greed, many churches are deprived of tithes that they can use to extend the kingdom! Greed steals blessings!

Let’s break the power of greed over our lives right now and become radical, joyful, consistently, godly tithers! Let’s invest our finances into the kingdom of God the way Jesus has called us to!

Did you know one of the biggest non-tithers in the Bible was King Saul. No one wants Saul to be an example for their life! In 1 Samuel 15, the nation of Israel “smote” the Amalekites and beat them in battle, and took all their sheep, oxen, and lambs. God told the people through Samuel the prophet to sacrifice every single one of those animals to the Lord.

This would have been Saul’s tithe, his firstfruits, and it would have opened the door to so many victories going forward. But Saul withheld offering the animals to the Lord and held them back and kept the best ones. He sacrificed the sick and weak animals, but kept the best ones for himself. Not only was it greed and immaturity, it was actually rebellion. One of the issues of being a non-tither is that you are a rebel to God and His Word.

The instruction from God was clear – sacrifice all the animals, but Saul ignored that and tried to give an offering that was in disobedience to God’s instruction.

What God says to Saul next through Samuel is exceptionally powerful, and everyone who is giving 1% or 3% or 9% of their income and calling it their tithe, or paying their Bible College fees and calling it their tithe, or throwing the smallest note in their wallet in the bucket when it pases, needs to hear these words and consider them very carefully:

“What is more pleasing to the Lord:
    your burnt offerings and sacrifices
    or your obedience to his voice?
Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice,
    and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.
²³ Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft,
    and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.
So because you have rejected the command of the Lord,
    he has rejected you as king.” (1 Samuel 15.22-23, NLT)

A rebel will not tithe. They will not obey God’s Word and tithe. They will sacrifice but they are not obeying God’s command to give 10 percent. It’s an outward show of obedience but it is sheer rebellion to God. Don’t be the next Saul, hear His Word and submit to His commands!

The last night of this conference did not disappoint! The worship just kept getting better and better, and there was such a sense of the presence of God. Kenneth Copeland preached on the prayer of agreement, and I have never heard such a powerful message on the prayer of agreement (and I think my message on the prayer of agreement is pretty awesome!). It was so clear, and filled with some glorious examples and illustrations. We need to join together in prayer, not just for our needs but for our communities and nation!

Just before the meeting, we had a large rush to our stall, people wanted our books – especially the Healing Book, people were asking about church planting, and it was just awesome to be there and be honoured.

Let me end my blog on this three day conference with a huge thank you to the KCM UK staff, to Martin Hawkins, Julie, Andy and all the others. They were so professional, so kind, so honouring to the Tree of Life Church team, so grateful for us to be there, it was a wonderful experience on a level I have honestly never seen before. They all did a wonderful and glorious job, they made this conference so enjoyable and pleasant on every level and created a culture that was welcoming and positive, from the water bottles to the going to find my lost Bible, to ushering people who need a good church in our direction – all of it was just wonderful to be around.

Kenneth actually ended his message with a strong call about the importance to be in local church. It’s so true. Conferences are awesome, but they come and go – church makes us consistent!

I felt yesterday to double our monthly partnership with KCM, and I believe this seed will produce a life-changing harvest across the Tree of Life Family and the UK.

And rememeber JESUS IS LORD!

This morning was Healing School and KCM very kindly invited me to open the meeting, which was a true honour.

Kenneth Copeland preached a very comprehensive message on healing, starting with how sickness is in the curse and how we are redeemed from the curse, and ending focused on God’s compassion.

It was a powerful time with people laying down crutches, receiving mobility and all sorts of healings. There was not nearly enough time for all tbe testimonies.

For lunch today, I surprised my wonderful wife with lunch at Betty’s. Apparently it’s got a reputation. I enjoyed spending some time with Amanda. Massive thanks to Lee, Jannet, Jon, Reuben and Lydia for manning the stall while we sneak off for a dinner date.

This evening will be very powerful and I am expecting to be stretched even further. Something powerful has happened in my heart at this conference.

The atmosphere here has been so powerful, Amanda and I have been so loved and celebrated and honoured. So many people are finding us and telling us testimonies from watching Tree of Life TV, and how the Healing Book healed them, and I’m sure that the churches will have a few new people going forward.

What a glorious evening. I mean just so powerful. Kenneth Copeland continued teaching on how to pray effectively, and of course, majored on the essence of faith in prayer.

We heard that faith is an attitude whereas prayer is a discipline. We need to have the discipline of prayer in our lives and routines AND then bring the attitude of faith into our prayers by believing God loves us and believing our prayers are answered.

Kenneth said “Faith is acting like it’s done” which I consider an awesome definition of faith because it lets us know if we are in faith just by checking out how we act.

The whole evening was inspiring and challenging. Glad I was here.

Today has been sublime. Kenneth Copeland preached with so much passion and wisdom this morning on the power of partnership. Stories of how he started out with some powerful Biblical truths about what it means to partner. I’ve never heard it more clearly.

Then Kellie Copeland took us out for lunch with Kim Stephenson, and she had purchased Amanda the most beautiful necklace. It was a very thoughtful and beautiful gift.

This afternoon Jerry Savelle spoke his Year of the Maximum message. I’ve heard it in France, I’ve heard it on YouTube (at least eight times from eight different churches) and heard it in the Tree when Brother Jerry came to preach for us, but each time it goes deeper in my heart. God wants to load us with benefits not once in a blue moon but every single day of our lives! God wants to turn every area of our lives up to the maximum. I was so inspired by today.

Following that, a quick visit to our stall. People are buying books and asking about our churches. It’s wonderful. The secret that is Tree of Life Family is being found out!

Then I took Reuben and Lydia, and Cal, who is doing a remarkable job for Andrew Cannon, out for a curry.

Part 2 will let you know what happens in the evening service. Whatever it is, it will be awesome.