Greetings,
It was a great day at ALife yesterday in Bellingham with Harold Eberle. We were all challenged in our thinking and blessed by a Father who loves us and is including us in a relational process of purpose in the earth.
My blog today is the first in a series of blogs on the subject of harvest. I have termed this The Law of Harvest, but I must first explain the term law. Laws do not exist because something is written. What is written simply explains the natural/spirit-natural boundaries and the natural/super-natural empowerments of all that is created. Even the things that were revealed in the Torah (Law) of the Old Covenant were simply written explanations of things that were hidden in the fabric of creation. Laws are not bad. Laws are good. They are a shadow of the reality of all that is found in God. They are part of creation and thus they testify of God in His being.
Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse…
Natural and supernatural laws do not reveal a legal contract aspect of God, but a covenantal relational aspect with Him. Righteous laws were intended for the good of man and the glory of God upon the earth. Jesus didn’t set us free from laws. He set us free from the law of sin and death. He translated us into the life of life and peace in Christ Jesus where we find the perfect law of liberty. When we were disconnected from God we were disconnected from our source of life and the result was death in our souls. Now that we have been reconnected to God in Christ, we are free from the consequence, reality, or law of disconnection and death. God doesn’t not kill sinners, sin does. It is a reality of choosing to be disconnected from God as our Father.
God has designed laws to serve His purposes. God does not serve laws. Laws serve Him. There is a law of gravity that keeps us on the ground. It’s a good thing. If we defy the law of gravity we have to make compensations in order to function in a normal operation. When astronauts travel outside of the bounds of the earth’s gravity, they have to take measures to artificially simulate the law of gravity in order to function the same as when they are within the earth’s atmosphere. The law of gravity was created by God to allow us to function in a natural world. There is another law called the law of density. While the law of gravity keeps us on the floor, the law of density keeps us from falling through the floor. I am glad we have been given the law of density. I believe that all laws that God has woven into the fabric of creation serve a greater law of harvest, the law of God’s destiny for our life in Him. Synonymous terms for law could be principle, or realities. They are boundaries, forces, and influencing measurements infused into the fabric of creation.
In order for us to properly understand God’s law of harvest, we are going to have to begin to think like Him. God is a covenant God and He is raising us up to be His covenant people upon the earth. Those of us who are from the western world have a mind-set that is contrary to the covenant thinking of God. We have been raised to think with linear thought patterns. A linear thought pattern is one that thinks in a logical, chronological fashion. We believe that A + B = C or 1 +1 = 2. We believe that cause and effect is the pattern of life. Most of us believe that we are a product of our past. We are the way that we are because of the things that have happened to us in the past. We are poor because we were raised in a poor home. We are rich because our parents were rich. We are insecure because we were raised in a broken home. We have been raised with the subtle supposition that our destiny in life is based upon our past. God does not think that way. God’s thoughts on a matter determine the cause; the cause is not determined by present circumstances. What God declares in heaven determines what happens in the earth. How we were born into this earth is not merely the beginning of our lives. It is a foundation beneath us meant to serve our destiny. The resistance in the earth to who we are meant to be is the very thing that causes us to truly manifest. What God says concerning our destiny outweighs the measurements of our beginnings, thus an Abram becomes an Abraham, a second born Jacob becomes a firstborn Israel, and a Saul of Tarsus becomes apostle Paul to the Gentiles. The shepherd Cyrus requires a prophet Isaiah to proclaim his name 200 years before his birth because God has determined his end before the beginning.
A cause and effect mind-set will not allow us to receive the benefits of the Kingdom of God here upon the earth. God did not determine our future by our past. We have a past because God has determined for us a future. Lesser things than God become things that only steal, kill, and destroy in hopes of stopping our future. The devil, confused people, and the religiously minded have used the laws of nature against us in an attempt to stop God’s law of harvest in our lives. In many cases the devil doesn’t even have to become involved. We do a fine enough job all on our own of thwarting God’s plans for our future through twisting the laws intended to serve our destiny.
It is good to know that God is greater than all of the violations we have done, others have done, the devil has done, and circumstances have created in all of the attempts to destroy our destiny. God is the one who knew us before we were formed in our mother’s womb. He has determined C (the end) and He knows that it is going to require us to embrace A + B in order to accomplish the determined C. He has determined 2, thus he knows we will need to embrace 1 + 1 to see it come to pass. These metaphors are not meant to imply ridged limitations, but concepts of diverse options that lead in the path and journey of destiny in our lives. If harvest is C, then C requires the laws of A and B to serve the greater law of C. God does not just desire a completed work. He has commanded it. In the concept of harvest A and B serve the greater purpose of C and 1 + 1 serve the greater purpose of 2 in our lives. It is not that A + B has the required result of C or 1 +1 has the required result of 2. It is that the result of C requires A + B and the result of 2 requires 1 + 1. Our business, our ministry, our call in life requires us to honor God first, sow our time in study, invest our money wisely, work hard and diligently, and whatever else is necessary to serve the greater end. We don’t work hard to get ahead. God says we are to get ahead so we work hard. We don’t sow our time in studying business technology in hopes that we might have a future in business. God says we are called to business so we study business technology in order to serve the success of our call. God doesn’t think in a linear, chronological way. The Scripture says that He has determined the end from the beginning.
Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure…
I will continue with thoughts on the Law of Harvest next week. Consider the end to discover every beginning and every step of your journey in destiny.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
RIM broadcast for the month of March
