Ge. 2:7 KJV And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Ge. 2:8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.
Ge. 2:9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground — trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Ge. 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;
Ge. 2:17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

God created mankind just as He created other animals, from natural elements. Then God breathed into mankind His Holy Spirit and mankind became a living soul. The implication of mankind being a living soul is that man is a spirit being that can grow or decline in spiritual stature. In the garden that God created for mankind, God made all kinds of trees to grow out of the ground. But the two trees in the middle of the garden did not grow out of the ground; they were spiritual entities that could feed the soul of man. The fruit of one entity (the tree of life) makes the soul of man to live forever; whereas the fruit of the other entity (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) makes the soul of man to die.

Ps. 8:5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour.

Angels of God were not quite comfortable with what God turned mankind into. One third of God’s angels rebelled against God because of the elevation of mankind. These rebellious angels took it upon themselves to make sure that the soul of man does not grow, so that mankind will not rise up to the level of angels. That was how the tree of the knowledge of good and evil came to be in the Garden of God. The tree of life is God Himself, whereas the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is Satan. The fruits these two trees yield are words that come out their mouths. In Ge. 2:16-17, the tree of life released His fruit. In Ge. 3:4-5, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil released his own fruit. Unfortunately, mankind chose to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Mankind died immediately, just as God’s word said.

Ge. 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

A human being dies when the soul separates from the body permanently. As soon as Adam and Eve fed on words of Satan, their souls separated from the glorious bodies with which God had clothed their souls. The souls thus became bodiless or naked. Due to their spiritual level, they were able to quickly clothe their souls with plant matter. A bodiless soul is extremely uncomfortable. (See 2 Cor. 5:1-4).

In the Word is Life

Jn. 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Jn. 1:2 He was with God in the beginning.
Jn. 1:3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Jn. 1:4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

Mt. 4:4 Jesus answered, “It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’“

Eternal life is in the word of God. The only food that makes the human soul to grow into the image of God is every word that came out of the mouth of God. Satan deceived Adam and Eve by telling them that it is his own words that would make them to become like God; the reality is that it is only by eating God’s words as food that a human being could grow into exact image of God.

Eating God’s words as food to the soul

Jo. 1:8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Ro. 10:8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming.

Ro. 10:10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

2Co. 4:13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” [Psalm 116:10] With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak.

Re. 12:11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

During my late twenties into the thirties, I fell so much in love with God’s word that by the time I speak a few sentences, some word of God must be included. I got into literature evangelism and continued to grow in knowledge of God’s word. Then the manifestation of the Spirit of God began to grow in life. Unfortunately, evil spirits used their agent that was closely related to me to sow a lot of tribulations into my life. Even in the midst of the tribulations, I continued to grow in the Spirit, but I did not know how to overcome all the tribulations by the word of God that I knew. I therefore suffered great pains and losses for many years. Up till this day, I am still facing tremendous witchcraft and demonic attacks on my life. But recently my knowledge of God’s word has been extending to using God’s word to solve all my problems.

Always fill your heart and your mouth with God’s word and you will see yourself growing rapidly in the Spirit. When problems come to challenge your faith, overcome that problem by divine power through the promises of God’s word.

2Pe. 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
2Pe. 1:4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

This is Eternal Life

Jn. 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Jn. 17:4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
Jn. 17:5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
Jn. 17:6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.

Eternal life is to know the word of God and to be baptized into Jesus Christ. The Word is God (Jn. 1:1). Everything centres on obedience to the word of God. But obedience to God’s word is not by might, neither by power, but by the Spirit of God (Zec. 4:6). As you always fill your heart and your mouth with God’s the Spirit of God enables you to easily obey God’s word.

Jn. 6:63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit [Or Spirit] and they are life.

Similarly, as you speak God’s promises into your situation, the Spirit of God will move into your situation. As you continue to grow in the practice of overcoming sin and tribulations by the word of God, your soul will continue to grow towards exact image of God. You will eventually get to a point where neither sin nor the problems of this world can affect you and you will experience resurrection in the land of the living. Your earthly body will dissolve and God will clothe you will a heavenly body; the type that Adam and Eve had before the fall of man, the type that Jesus Christ had after his resurrection from the dead. You are about to be snatched up to heaven in the rapture of the saints.

I hear many people saying that the rapture could happen any moment, and the believers in Christ, in their current state, will suddenly be snatched up to heaven. That is not true. Only believers who completely overcome sin and the world could experience resurrection in the land of the living and then the rapture. Overcoming of sin and the world does not happen instantaneously; it follows a learning curve and takes some time. Begin the process now if you want to make it. Have you been baptized into Jesus Christ in water and in the Spirit? (Jn. 3:5)

Lk. 13:23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them,
Lk. 13:24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.