ROOTS.
You will know a tree by its fruit. The outward signs of a tree tell what kind of fruit it will bring forth. However the type of fruit it brings forth depends on the nature of the root of the tree. The root is the part of a tree, which controls the life of the tree.
The root of the tree of the fleshly life is the nature of Satan. Man received the nature of Satan by joining Satan in his rebellion against God. When Satan rebelled against God, he was rejected by God and there was no way back for Satan into the presence of God. Satan’s desire was to spoil God’s World and His created beings. When Adam ate of the forbidden tree he received the fallen nature of Satan. When anyone loves the flesh nature, Satan will be his master, because he will be able to control his heart and life through thoughts and suggestions, which fulfil his selfish desires.
The powers of darkness will lead him to seek the selfish opportunities of the World, because he lives for himself. He is the centre of his own World. Since he loves selfishness, the powers of darkness will also begin tearing down all his relationships with suggestions and thoughts of jealousy, distrust, ejection, suspicion and un-forgiveness towards his neighbour. He will welcome these thoughts since he seeks his own self-interest rather than the interests of his neighbour. He will seek an advantage and be deceitful in all his deeds like his master, Satan, until he has a change of heart. This change of heart is called repentance.
When anyone loves the nature of Satan, he does not love his neighbour. Since God demands that he loves his neighbour, every act or word that does not show love for God or for his neighbour is sin and rebellion. Man is designed by God to complete his fellow man and not to compete with him. God made a provision through the last Adam, Jesus Christ, to restore man to fellowship by taking all of his sins and placing them on Jesus through the cross of Calvary.
If a man loves the flesh nature more than he loves God, the selfish motives of the flesh nature will fill his heart. The evidence of the fruit of the flesh nature is:
Jealousy. Envy. Rejection. Anger. Impatience. Greed. Stealing. Unmerciful.
Slander. Hatred. Criticism. Worry. Sarcasm. Malice. Retaliation. Stubbornness.
Rebellion. Revenge. Negativism. Fear. Bitterness. Scoffing. Grumbling. Irritable.
Boastful. Scoffing. Murder. Unforgiveness. Coveteousness. Approval of man.
PRIDE. If someone comes to God and does not repent and turn from pride, he is still walking in rebellion. He is really saying in his heart, “I will not give up pride, because I love pride more than I love God. When a man has a root of pride in his heart, the root becomes a mighty fortress for the powers of darkness. Satan uses pride to deceive the body of Christ and to build many strongholds of deceit. If a person has a root of pride, his motive will be to build an image for himself. He will take part of the glory due to Jesus. He will exploit relationships with others to achieve his selfish ambition. He will flatter and deceive others to look good and receive the approval of men. Pride always wants to be the centre. Pride receives glory from men. Pride is interested in image and holds up his own image. Pride is always right. It loves the approval of men rather than approval of God.
The root of pride builds an image of exaltation of self. The following characteristics manifest themselves.
Vanity. Rebelliousness. Masterful. Man-pleaser. Rude. Attention seeking. Arrogance.
Conceit. Self interest. Always right. Presumptuous. Ego. Superiority. Insensitive.
Insolence. Haughtiness. Overbearing. Unsubmissive. I, Me, My. Name for self. Boasting.
Unloving. Self-righteous. Selfishness. Self-glory Control. Self-justification. Self-love. Selfish ambition. Looking down on others.
GREED. Greed is a symptom of numerous strongholds built by Satan. Greed does not love his neighbour. Greed loves the things of the World. A man controlled by greed hoards and spends his whole life living for himself and building a fleshly kingdom for himself. Greed encourages a man to act as if he is going to last forever. He is deceitful and manipulates his neighbour to fulfil his selfish ambition. When a man loves the nature of greed, he is loving the nature of Satan rather than the nature of God. A salesman who loves greed will exaggerate, withhold information, apply pressure, manipulate, intimidate his customer to make a sale. The god of this World has trained the World to love greed and o get to the top, regardless of who suffers. This is called success by the standards of the fleshly World.
If a person has a root of greed, the following characteristics will manifest themselves.
Manipulation. Flattery. Cheating. Strife. Selfishness. Lover of money. Stingy.
Discontent. Control. Jealousy. Lying. Covetousness. Exaggeration. Envy.
Possessive. Deceit. Hoarding. Pride. Material lust. Selfish ambition
When anyone loves greed, he will love the thoughts and suggestions from the powers of darkness, which tell him how to deceitfully manipulate and exploit his neighbour. Greed hates and uses his neighbour.
LOVE. The man who in repentance accepts Jesus as Lord and Saviour becomes a totally different man. The Spirit of God then leads him to be perfected in love. He has seen the gospel. He has seen the judgement and destruction that is on each man who loves and walks in the ways of Satan and the flesh.
He also understands that God is demanding that he love Him with all his heart instead of loving the flesh nature of Satan. Since he now loves the Lord instead of this selfish flesh nature, his motives are changed from selfishness to love. Previously the root or motive of his heart was to please the selfish desires of the flesh. Now the root motive of his heart will be to please the Lord Jesus with all his heart.
Jesus leads a man by His Spirit to overcome the flesh, the World and the Devil in order to purify his heart and perfect him in love. The Spirit of God will lead the man to put to death the deeds of the rebellious flesh one by one, until he has a pure heart. This is how he overcomes. Because his mind will be renewed by the Word of God, he will walk and talk like Christ instead of like Satan. Since he now has the mind of Christ instead of the mind of Satan, he will bear a new kind of fruit. This fruit is the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of a pure heart - the fruit of love. His heart believes in righteousness and he walks in holiness. He has a new heart and a new mind and no longer walks according to the flesh. Gal ch 5 v 24. Gal ch 5 v 14.
The root of the heart is the love of Jesus. The following characteristics will manifest themselves:
Peace. Purity. Honesty. Mercy. Patience. Gentleness. Sincerity. Thankfulness. Excellence.
Joy. Truth. Wisdom. Humility. Kindness. Self-control. Devotion. Faithfulness. Edification.
Love. Grace. Justice. Fairness. Compassion. Steadfastness. Diligence. Forgiveness. Goodness.