Greetings,
I have just finished a great time in England with Impact Community Church in the Manchester area and the folks of NEDCF in Clay Cross. The presence of God was drawn by the hunger of His family in these places. Holy Spirit is moving in the hearts of men and women with His New Covenant life and grace. Thank you to all who welcomed me and made it possible for God’s word to be spoken freely. This blog is a few hours late, but I will post it when I land in Seattle after a long day of travel. I am continuing with the subject of a culture of grace.
The kingdoms of the world find their roots in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, while the internal kingdom of heaven has its roots in the goodness of God’s tree of life. This is the family of God that is made available to the kingdoms of the world through a personal relationship with God by His Holy Spirit through the blood covenant of Jesus Christ, the begotten Son of God. The internal kingdom of heaven is a kingdom with an administration of grace while the kingdoms of the world are manifestation of an administration of law and conscience though the information of good and the information of evil. The kingdoms of the world leave men bound to a mere knowledge of good and a knowledge of evil but they leave men bound from understanding the power of God’s love and administration of grace.
The entrance to grace is through a verdict of mercy! The justice system of the knowledge of good and evil demands a verdict of right or wrong, but our ability to be just always comes up short in some way. The true issues of justice are found in the human heart and mind, thus only a transformation of the heart and mind can render true change that leads to life. This is only found in the power of God’s grace. The presence of God’s Spirit within our hearts is the only means of bringing about true change. Christ in us is the only hope of glory. To find this, we must discover God’s mercy that ends our past and God’s grace that empowers our lives to change in the character, nature, way, power, and authority of who we are. God invites us to experience mercy and to find grace. He wants us to grow up and become a testimony of those who are merciful and gracious. God’s grace helps us in our times of need.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
We have many times of needs. We need a job. We need provision. We need love. All human beings have these needs. Jesus instructed us not to worry about the things that people in the world worry about. He said those are the prayers of people who don’t know God. He said that our Father in heaven knows we need the practical realities of life and the practical needs of the human soul. He knows we need them before we even ask. He said we are not to seek those things. We are to seek the kingdom of God. All those things will be added to us.
Matthew 6:31-33 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
Since Jesus instructed us not to pray for the needs of our lives, what does it really mean for us to find grace in our time of need? I am going to propose that grace is not just so we can get our needs met, but to become the substance of the character, nature, way, power, and authority of our family. We are called to be the likeness and the image of our Father in heaven. Our Father will meet our need, but God’s grace empowers us to become His family in the midst of the families of the world.
What is my real need? My real need is to look like my heavenly Father when I grow up. My real need is that I look like a child of God. It is not to pretend, but to manifest as a legitimate child of God with the character, nature, way, power and authority of Christ. I become like Him, therefore I act like Him in all things. This is my real need. I believe that this is the real need of each and every one of us as children, sons, and fathers in the family of God.
We must become the family of God in the midst of the families of the world. The greatest need in the nations is the family of God. In America, we just had elections and half the people are happy and half the people are angry. But the greatest need in America is not a president, but the family of God. Our present circumstances are surely enough to manifest something. In the world there are justice systems of information based upon a knowledge of good and evil. In the kingdom of God the justice system is one of the Father’s love. His grace makes us strong in Him and strong in His word, so no wicked thing can overcome us. Maturing sons and daughters of God can actually overcome every wicked thing. Our enemy is every wicked thing, but every wicked thing is not waring against us. We have been called to overcome every wicked thing! We have been called to war against every wicked thing! Every wicked attitude, every wicked action, and every death consuming, death attacking thing is to be beneath our feet as sons and daughters of God! This includes every dysfunction of life and every dysfunction of relationship.
Dysfunction of relationship is not waring against us. We are to overcome dysfunction in relationships. Hate is not waring against us. We are to overcome hate. Poverty is not waring against us. We are to overcome poverty. This is not just the lack of substance, but a poverty mentality that binds our hearts and minds from the prosperity of life found in Christ. We are children of God! It begins with knowing your sins are forgiven. Each of us has a Father and He loves us.
I am going to be like Him when I grow up. Ge ready world here I come! I am ready to overcome all wickedness. Grace empowers me to overcome all wickedness. I don’t need law to tell me how to act and what to do. Something inside me knows who I am, but I have to come boldly every day to the throne of grace where I can receive mercy and find grace to be who I am.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
I am approaching 44 years old in Christ and I have to come boldly to the throne of grace each and every day. I must continue to hear what I have been hearing for these many years. My sins are forgiven. I have a Father who loves me. Every day I must look around in the throne room and to find God’s grace. Grace makes me strong in Him. Grace makes me strong as an expression of His word. I have been a young man who has had to mature to become a father, but as a father I am also still a young man in my heart and mind for the sake of overcoming every wicked one. I boldly come to the throne of grace so I can receive mercy. I am a child of God My sins are forgiven. I have a Father who loves me. If I don’t know that, I won’t look at people in the world with correct vision. He shed His blood and paid the price for me before I boldly came into the throne room. What I found was what He has already done for me. He has already done it for every human being on planet earth. Someone needs to show those still bound to the kingdoms of the world the way to the throne room of grace. This is not some law of justice, but an invitation to come and receive mercy. It is an invitation to hear it in their hearts and to hear it in their minds – My sins are forgiven. I have a Father who loves me. Those bound to the administration of law and conscience need to see an example of what it looks like when human beings find grace. Someone who has found grace can now show mercy to those who are still bound to conscience and law. Someone who only knows conscience and law, when they are faced with an issue of injustice, will always demand a justice based upon the knowledge of good and evil.
When this is the case, you know they haven’t tasted grace. Why do I want to be a person of grace? Is being a person of grace the means to having help when the rent is due? Is it so I have help getting a job when I need a job? Is it so I will have help getting a new car when my car breaks. No, I need His grace so that while I am in this world I look like Him and I grow up and become a father who lives for the sake of others.
We must grow up. We must overcome every wicked thing. Not because the wicked one is attacking the church, but because the church has been anointed to destroy what is wicked. We have been called and commissioned in Christ to overcome every wicked thing.
Holy Spirit would you visit us with your presence and show us our Father’s love? Holy Spirit empower us to be children of God who grow to be strong in Your presence and strong in being the substance of God’s word. Empower us to be people who live for the sake of others in this world. Write upon our hearts and minds Your testimony of love so we will be quick to show mercy to those who do not understand. We want to shine in the darkness so that those in darkness can be drawn to the light of Christ in our hearts.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
Thank you again.