Greetings,
What a great day it was yesterday with my church family in Bellingham. Pastor Jonathan did a great job releasing some prophetic keys for the coming year concerning the testimony of God’s love at work in the earth. Thank you Pastor for your heart, love, and commitment to God’s kingdom of grace!
There are two administrations in the earth. One is the administration of the kingdoms of the world and the other is the administration of the kingdom of God. The kingdoms of the world are externally manifest and they attempt to influence human lives through external pressures. The influence of the knowledge of good and evil is an influence upon the human soul by external means. The opinions of the world seek to shape the opinions of the minds of others by shame, control, manipulation, or some other form of earthly, sensual, or demonic influence. The kingdom of God is internally manifest and it influences human lives from within. It is a testimony of freedom within the boundaries of an influence of love for the sake of others. It is an influence of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit that is manifest in the human heart. The kingdoms of the world call darkness light and seek to make their perceived light the light of human souls. The kingdom of God is an internal light that shines out of darkness, thus transforming the darkness of men by the light of Christ within. The kingdoms of the world value the treasures of what they know. The treasure of the kingdom of God is Christ within the human heart and the fruit of the Spirit is evident in a life-giving influence that comes from the internal source of light. When we embrace the life of the internal kingdom of God we don’t make it our goal to change the lives of others, we merely demonstrate the life of God that can change all men. Living with the administration of kingdom of God empowers us to be an example to others that can inspire them to embrace the love of God that is only found in Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6-7 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). It is an internal reality of life that transforms the human heart from within.
Luke 17:20-21 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, “See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
The kingdoms of the world are focused upon the external realities of life and thus the internal realities of the heart are abused, restrained, controlled, damaged, and bound to a diminishing reality influenced by bitterness, dysfunction, and death. People who embrace the power of the kingdom of God become increasingly focused upon the internal realities of Christ within and thus the external influences of their lives are influenced by an increasing reality of life and peace in Christ. Jesus was such a man! A right relationship with God from the internal realities of His heart empowered Him to make decisions for others based upon who He was and not what the tree of knowledge of good and evil mandated they deserved. The motivator of His heart was the love of God and the tree of life!
Isaiah 11: 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist.
A right relationship with God gave Jesus the ability to make life-giving decisions for others. His acts of love towards others were the testimony of His faithfulness to the administration of the tree of life. This is the testimony of those who embrace the New Covenant life of God in Christ. The justice system of those who embrace this life-giving administration of heaven becomes one of love and not mere right and wrong realities. It is an open door for the outrageous power of God’s grace. Only the administration of love can make former enemies friends in the kingdom of God.
Isaiah 11:6-9 “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
People living by the standards of the world seek to destroy one another based upon the strongholds of their own definitions of what is right and what is wrong – what is good and what is evil. They build their monuments, their high hills, and their mountains of opinions even seeking to destroy the lives of others beneath the weight of their personal convictions of right and wrong. Their efforts to conform others to their own personal views only prove to create division, dysfunction, and death. People empowered by the love of Christ within their hearts become part of the mountain of God, a place of unity through diversity where the opinions of God outweigh the opinions of men. It is a life-transforming mountain of intimacy with God and not one of informing knowledge of judgment and death.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
It is my thought that people bound by the Law of right and wrong are not completely conscious of the destruction and dysfunction they are initiating based on the agenda of self. I believe there are a number of movements in the earth that are attempting to promote an idea of “being true to who you are,” and “become your best self.” However, this perspective remains in the realm of “self.” Even people void of the Spirit of the living God know how to love and be benevolent towards their fellow men. People of most religions want to do the “right” thing and be “good” people. What is wrong with this picture then?
Perhaps the difference is that The New Covenant is all about “original self” as in created at the foundations of the world and being knit together in our mothers womb by the hand of God. Because of an irrevocable attitude of Love birthed by the Holy Spirit, we can experience transformation while remaining who God created us to be. This is accomplished dynamically through illustrating and growing the fruits of the Spirit in love-based relationships in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. The thing that makes a believer in Jesus Christ different is in “works of righteousness.” The word “right” is in there but it means doing the will of God led by the Spirit of the living God. How does reading the Word fit into this equation? The Word is eternal and living–it is a mystery but I believe we cannot have a transformed life without a balance of Word, Spirit, fellowship, prayer while living works of righteousness (living who we are created to be the whole while experiencing every aspect of Life.) Even and maybe especially through the trials, tribulation, dysfunction, and destruction of the system of Law. Perhaps Love is more powerful than we really know–tell me how we deal with any of this without a “whole lot of love?”