Ted J. Hanson's Weekly Blog – ted4you.com

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am in Bellingham. I was blessed to minister in our home church yesterday. It was a great morning. God’s presence was there and the people were hungry and ready for what God is giving to us in this new year. I am expectant of and with life.

The kingdom of God is not a natural kingdom. It’s a supernatural kingdom that has the power to transform the kingdoms of our world to become heavenly testimonies of God’s grace and truth. The truth is not merely what is true. The truth is a matter of becoming what the kingdom of heaven declares us to be from within our hearts. The kingdom of heaven is a reality of the New Covenant testimony of God’s love transforming our hearts and minds to become what we could not be before. We become a testimony of the One who dwells within us in increasing measures. From glory to glory He changes us.

2 Corinthians 3:16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The Spirit of the Lord within our hearts transforms our lives from within. The treasure within us is Christ, and Christ in us is our hope of glory. That hope is in our lives today and into all the days of eternity. We are a dwelling place of God by His Spirit, and we have the celebration of God’s life within us.

What were meant to be feasts in the Old Covenant become celebrations of life within our hearts in the New Covenant. Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles were but a shadow of an internal knowing of God’s presence in our lives.

Our righteousness is found in our relationship with God—spirit to Spirit. He abides in us and we abide in Him in Christ. Righteousness is not about being right. It’s about a right relationship with God who loves us and gives us life. Jesus’ death reconciled us to our Heavenly Father and our relationship with God in Christ transforms our hearts and minds from within. We are not justified by doing right things. We are loved by God and that is what justifies us to live. The once for all shed blood of Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death. Our sins have been forgiven, and we know the Father’s love. Being loved by God in our hearts empowers us to know His righteousness. We must seek righteousness in the Holy Spirit to grow in the testimony of God’s love. Knowing God’s presence in our lives produces the fruit of life and love to our world. We will do right things—life-giving things. Our righteousness is by faith, and the sign of our righteousness is the circumcision of our hearts (2 Cor. 5:14-17). We are new creations in Christ, and we live by faith in Him with love in our hearts. He gives us life!

We have peace in the Holy Spirit. There is no separation between us and God. All of His promises to us from heaven become the testimony of our lives. We have a feast of internal Pentecost. We are growing in being strong in God’s word and strong in the testimony of His Spirit. We overcome everything that seeks to separate us from being a heavenly testimony in our lives.  Our peace is a gift by the blood of Jesus Christ that puts us in the Father’s house (Eph. 2:13-18). The evidence of our peace with God is seen in the manifestation of His promises in our lives. He gives us breath and we are expressions of Him to our world.

We have joy in the Holy Spirit. Joy is not dependent upon happiness. Joy is deeper and stronger. In the presence of the Lord there is the fullness of joy (Ps. 16:11). That Joy is connected to purpose, and our true purpose is found when we partner with God and He partners with us in all things. We have an internal celebration of Tabernacles, and our kingdoms become expressions of God’s kingdom within us. He gives us all things for His glory in all things.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am in Bellingham. I have enjoyed being home with family and I am looking forward to a couple more weeks here before I am out again. The sun is shining and I am grateful for life today. I hope you are all well and that you have a blessed week. I am praying for miracles and divine testimonies of God’s love for you all.

The kingdom of God is the kingdom of heaven. It’s an internal kingdom of life that influences the kingdoms of our world by transforming us to become sons and daughters of God. The kingdom of God doesn’t come by observation; it’s within us. Although the kingdom of God doesn’t come by observation, its influence upon our lives can be seen in our kingdoms in this world.

A revelation of Christ in our lives gives us the influence of Christ to our world. Christ in us is the hope of glory and that glory is not just going to heaven when we die. It’s the influence of the kingdom of heaven in our hearts. That influence causes us to be motivated by God’s presence, His promises, and His purpose in all things.

Matthew 16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

A revelation of Christ, and from Christ, in our hearts will give us the keys of the kingdom of heaven. We are the body of Christ, the church—the co-reigning partner of Jesus on earth. The realm of the dead, Hades, cannot keep out the influence of the light and life of heaven. What God has determined to be loosed in heaven must be loosed upon the earth to release the blessings that come from the open door of grace. Darkness and death will be subdued as light and life prevails in all things. What God has determined to be bound in heaven must be bound upon the earth to bring God’s dominion in expanding ways in our lives. The goodness of God’s truth will crumble the lies that oppose God’s purpose in the earth.

What is loosed within us can be loosed by us to our world. What is bound within us can be bound in our world. What happens within us is the key to what can happen through us to our world. The kingdom of God within us is the secret to releasing the power of Christ’s influence to our world.

What is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is within us, and it’s righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God is an internal influence of God’s life.

Romans 14:17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

The kingdom of God within us gives us our identity, testimony, and purpose. Our righteousness is found in Christ through a personal relationship with Jesus as our Savior in all things. His righteousness is a testimony of His presence in our hearts. His presence gives us our true identity. Our peace is an internal connection to God, whereby the promises of God are a daily reality that reveal the testimony of God’s Spirit and Word working within us. Our lives become expressions of the promises of God, empowering us to overcome anything that seeks to separate us from God and the power of His love.  Our joy is a testimony of an internal partnership with God for the will of His kingdom in all things.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings.

Today I am heading home after a great weekend in Deming, New Mexico with CityLife Church. It has been a busy season with Portugal, Angola, and now New Mexico. I’m looking forward to a little time at home.

We are in a new year and there is a new season at hand. There is a new season within our reach. What are we seeking in 2026? What are we asking? Those who ask receive, and those who seek, find. Our focus must be upon the kingdom of God and not the kingdoms of men. Our responsibility is in the realm of the kingdoms of men, but our source for all things is the kingdom of God.

Psalms 115:16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’s; but the earth He has given to the children of men.

The heaven and the heavens belong to the Lord, but our earthly world has been given to the kingdoms of men. When we look at the kingdoms of men, we can quickly discern that they don’t look like heaven. They don’t look like heaven because they are not. They are the kingdoms of men. God’s kingdom is heaven and even the heavens and He has always desired to bring the influence of His kingdom to the kingdoms of men.

He wants us to abide in Him and for Him to abide in us. When we know Him, we live. When the kingdom of heaven fills the hearts of the kingdoms of men, it influences the earth. This is the testimony of sons and daughters of God in Christ.

Psalms 115:17 The dead do not praise the LORD, nor any who go down into silence. 18 But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the LORD!

Without God, we are the dead, but Christ in us is the hope of glory. We are no longer the dead, but those who live as God’s praise in all things. Eternal life is to know God the Father and Jesus the Son. This is made possible by the abiding presence of Holy Spirit in our hearts.

John 5:24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. 25 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.”

God loved humanity so much that He became one of us and moved into our neighborhood as a man. God the Father, God the Eternal Expression, the Word, and God the Holy Spirit determined that the fullness of the times had come, and the Eternal Word became flesh and came to our world. He was born of the Spirit but formed in a human womb to be the Son of Man, Son of God, that would reconcile our world to our Father in heaven.

His death ended our old life, and His resurrection from the dead was our gift of a new life in Him. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, exercising the authority of life for all who receive Him. Holy Spirit has come as the life-giving Spirit of Jesus in us. He is the anointing of Christ upon us. Jesus is our rescue from the strongholds of a world separated from our heavenly Father. The kingdom of God is an internal kingdom of life. When the kingdom of God is within us, our kingdom increasingly becomes a testimony of our Lord and Christ (Acts 2.36).

Luke 17:20 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; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

We find the kingdom of God within us. When the kingdom of God is within us, it empowers us to be expressions of His kingdom through the kingdoms of our lives in this world. Our lives, marriages, families, jobs, businesses, ministries, and everything about us becomes empowered from within to be expressions of the ways of God to our world.

Heaven is in our hearts, and heaven and even the heavens belong to God. We must seek the kingdom within us to be expressions of His kingdom through the kingdoms of our world. Like the stars of heaven, we have been sent to rule in the night.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am in Angola, Africa. I have had a full and wonderful weekend ministering to many leaders, churches, and ministries. It is always good seeing hungry people being touched and transformed by the love of God. I am looking forward to a full week of seeing what God is doing and going to do here.

To know Christ is to know the Father’s love. When we know the Father’s love, we become people of love. Love is not just an emotion; love is demonstrated through the actions of our lives. To love someone is to give of oneself to them in a sacrificial way. To be sacrificial doesn’t necessarily mean to suffer, but to be sacrificial we will be willing to suffer for another’s sake.

When we have a relationship with God in our hearts, we are strengthened in our inner man. When we are one with Holy Spirit, we become renewed in our spirit and our souls become infused with life-giving thoughts, reasonings, imaginations, emotions, and desires. The result is that the outer actions of our lives change. We live for the wellbeing of others.

Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man…

Our inner man is strengthened when we live each day in and from the presence of God. We don’t fellowship God in the Spirit to just know His presence. We fellowship Him to know His love. We fellowship to become a testimony of His love to our world. The strength of our inner man is found in the testimony of God’s love. God’s love defines His purpose and the more we know His love the more will come to know our part in the testimony of His love to our world.

Ephesians 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Our relationship with God is not merely about knowing what actions to take in life. It is about knowing His love. When we know His love, we become loving. The more we come to understand His love, the more we become like Him is being loving of others. Holy Spirit working in and through our lives is not about supernatural ministry. It’s about being able to love others supernaturally. God’s love becomes the influence of our natural abilities and love becomes the motivation for growing in the supernatural ability of God in our lives.

Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

God wants to take us to places we wouldn’t dare go without Him. He wants us to embrace a world that is bigger than our world without Him. He wants us to embrace a perspective of the kingdom of heaven. This is not just a kingdom that we will go to one day; it is the influence of God’s kingdom in our kingdoms today. There is a greater horizon in the kingdom of God than in the kingdoms of men. There is a greater expectation—an expectation of the overcoming power of God’s love.

We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Without God’s presence in our lives, we cannot know God’s strength. We need more than merely the supernatural giftings of God working in our lives; we need the motivation for those giftings. God’s motivation in all that He does is love. His purpose is to transform a world that lacks a testimony of His love so that it may be changed by the power of His love. The works of God are works of love. The works of God will destroy the works of the devil.

1 John 3:8 For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

The context of this verse in 1 John is to be changed by God’s love with a testimony of loving others. We know His presence in our lives by the testimony of His love through us to our world.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am in Portugal. I have had a wonderful weekend with the CCVA family in Lisbon. Today I am in Aveiro with my good friends João and Ana. I will be in Portugal until Friday and then I will be heading to Angola for some time there. I am looking forward to all that God is going to do.

The present season of God is not just a season of blessing; it’s a season of purpose. That purpose is one of the Father’s will. How do we know the Father’s will in our lives? We often wrestle to know the specific will of God, and our wrestle is often connected to an ignorance of God’s general will. The general will of God in this season is to live for the Father’s will in a corporate way. This is not the way of the world. It’s the way of the kingdom of God.

When we know the general will of God, we are able to receive the specific will of God in our lives. The world seeks the rights of the individual, but we are called to live for the purpose of the family—the family of God. When we seek the rights of ourselves, we will miss the mark of the season of God.

Psalms 133:1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. 3 It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing — Life forevermore.

God has commanded His blessing to abide in the place of His manifest presence in the earth. This is the place of Zion. Zion is a corporate place of God’s presence, promise, and purpose in the earth. It is from Zion that unity emerges. Zion is the place where the anointing oil on the head of our eternal High Priest runs down His face, down His garment, and touches the earth. It’s the place where the dew of heaven touches the baron rocks of Zion. That is where God commands the blessing, and that blessing is – Life forevermore! The result is a testimony of unity.

The cultures of the world don’t seek Zion. They seek the place of personal blessing. They seek the season of self, but this is a season of God’s purpose. It’s a season about His story. His story will be greater than our own self-seeking agendas that inspire us to live for ourselves to make our own story in some way.

Eternal life influences our world from the place of fellowship with God, as the place of His dwelling presence. We are called to know the mystery of that fellowship. In knowing the mystery of that fellowship, we will make known the wisdom of God to principalities and powers in heavenly places. We will influence the world through the power that comes from the kingdom above this world—the kingdom of God.

Ephesians 3:8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; 10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. 13 Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

The apostle Paul was not shaken by the tribulations of his day. The resistance that comes to us is only an opportunity for the life of God within us to shine to the world around us. When we embrace the fellowship, we become strengthened in our inner man. That strength is an empowerment of Christ’s resurrection might.

Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man…

Our inner man is strengthened when we live each day in and from the presence of God. We don’t fellowship God in the Spirit to just know His presence. We fellowship to know His love. We fellowship to become a testimony of His love to our world. The strength of our inner man is found in the testimony of God’s love.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

I hope you are all well today. We have had some cold, but beautiful days here in the Northwest. I know that many of you have had snow and the fridged days of winter. These are the seasons of life. No matter what season we find ourselves in, it is a good day to know the Lord!

God’s grace in our lives is not simply about being better informed; it is about being transformed. Jesus didn’t come so we would merely know what to do or how to act in life. He came so that we would know who we truly are. We were created to be a testimony of God’s likeness and image on the earth. This is only possible when we become sons and daughters of God. We must be born of the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit, and transformed by the Spirit. Our administration is not one of law, where we live by instructions and commands; it is an administration of grace. God’s grace transforms our lives from within. God’s grace gives us new hearts and minds in Christ. This is the testimony of being part of the body of Christ. We are not independent people living for individual victories; we are members of one body—the body of Christ!

God is our friend, and His desire has always been for us to be empowered by an internal force of freedom that comes from living as His sons and daughters in our world. He never intended for us to live our lives controlled by law or merely restrained by our conscience. His desire was for us to become a dwelling place of His Holy Spirit, empowered by the greater power of grace.

Law is an informing force, and the human conscience is the same. Law doesn’t really change us—it just makes us a killer in prison, or it makes us a killer restrained from acting upon our internal desire to kill. A violator of the law doesn’t just need to be freed from prison, but to have a changed life so they never go to prison again. God wants us to live by a higher law—a law of life and peace in Christ. This is a testimony of the passion of God’s presence, giving us desires in our hearts. This law is one of love. Love produces fruit of change that looks like law, or doing right things, but it’s really an internal passion.

Grace is something we find when we boldly come to live before and from God’s throne of grace. This is a place of daily relationship with God in our hearts. God doesn’t change us because He is not pleased with us; He is pleased with us and invites us to live with Him in all things. Living with Him changes us! When life moves into the room, everything in the room comes to life. When light moves into the house, every dark room becomes filled with light. You cannot shine light in a dark room and find darkness; when you shine light into a dark room, the room becomes filled with light. When we find God’s grace, it changes us, and we receive a testimony of God’s life that transforms us in some way. We must receive a change of government in our lives to see different fruit in our lives.

In Christ, we receive the testimony of God’s friendship. People in the world don’t recognize that God is their friend; therefore, they pursue a way of life that seems right in their own eyes. True freedom only comes by embracing a culture of grace. A revelation that God is our friend inspires a desire for His grace. Grace doesn’t free the world from a culture of law; it invites them to come to the place of the kingdom of God, where grace frees them from a culture of law. The blood of the cross is found on the mercy seat in the throne room of grace. The life of the flesh has been exchanged for the life of God’s Spirit. God never intended for law or merely the human conscience to be the rule of administration for mankind.

The empowerment of the heart of mankind was always meant to be by a personal relationship with God through the human heart. Jesus was the proof that the internal empowerment of the kingdom of God was the way of life for all men.

Luke 16:16 “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time, the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.”

Although man was created in the likeness and the image of God, the law revealed to mankind that they were no longer like God in their character, nature, way, power, and authority. They were guilty of being disconnected from their true-life source. The judgments of the law were not attributes of an unloving God, but a consequence of the flawed character of unloving men.

The law told men they were guilty and that they should die, but there were provisions to help men in their weakness. Adam’s shame was covered by a death sacrifice and the covering of skin, as Adam was to wear the testimony of that death. It revealed God’s willingness to give life to redeem mankind. It testified of God as our friend. The law only proves that men want to be like God, but it cannot inspire change from within. The law controls the external actions of men, but it cannot transform their hearts and minds. Only intimacy with God in our hearts can change us.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

We had another great weekend here in Bellingham. The presence of God was wonderful yesterday in church and the family of God responded with shouts of celebration as Jesus was exalted. I believe we are on the brink of a breakout of God’s Spirit in a fresh and powerful way.

God is our friend, and He is pleased with us. We don’t need to change so that God will love us. We need to embrace His grace, which changes us so the world can see how powerful His love really is. Knowing God transforms our hearts and minds to become who He sees us to be. This is grace!

Colossians 1:9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Paul was saying, “Because God loves you, I am praying that you will walk in a way that is pleasing to Him. Because He loves you, and because you are a child of God, I am praying that you will be fruitful in every good work. I am praying that you will grow in knowing who He is. I want you to be fathers. I pray that you will be strengthened with all might by His glorious power.”

God’s grace activates a cheerful endurance that transforms human character and manifests hope. Paul was praying for the One in them to empower their patience and longsuffering with joy—not with misery, but with the evidence of His manifest presence. Mercy declares that we can be delivered, but God loves us even if we are not delivered. Grace says that because we can be delivered, here He is, and He is delivering us! He is delivering us from the power of darkness because we have been conveyed into the kingdom of the Son of His love. God’s grace enables us to be those who influence our world by the power of the kingdom of God—the kingdom of God’s love.

God’s grace in your life is not just for you. It is for the sake of others. It is for the sake of the world you live in. When you embrace the change that comes to your life by God’s grace, it brings a reward to others in Christ.

Colossians 1:24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church…

Jesus came to twelve men (Jn. 17:6). He manifested the Father’s character, nature, way, power, and authority to them, and He has called each of us to do the same for those in our world. Jesus told His disciples; “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” He gave His life for the relational connections in His life to reveal to them the source of all life. God has called us to live our lives as sent ones to our world, even as Jesus was sent to His disciples. When we go through suffering for the sake of others, we demonstrate the character of God, our friend.

God’s grace transforms our hearts and our minds to enable us to live for the wellbeing of others. This is the testimony of knowing God as our friend. When we see grace as the power of personal liberty, we often substitute God’s power of transformation for an excuse to not change our ways.

1 Corinthians 10:23 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. 24 Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being.

The first part of this verse reveals a liberty to do all things, but doing all things is not the true freedom of grace. When we know who we are, we can’t just do anything. We take on the character of God who is a friend. Grace is the power of God’s Spirit in our lives that transforms us, anoints us, and empowers us to live for the wellbeing of others. Grace empowers our friendship with God and with one another.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

I hope everyone is well. I had a bit of a different end of year and entrance to the new one. I spent the last two days of December in the Emergency Room of the hospital. On my morning run on the 30th, I experienced chest pain and pain in my left arm. I went to the ER and spent the day undergoing many tests, but my heart looked great on all of them. I went home, but when I woke up on the 31st, the pain was much worse. I spent that day at the ER again for many more tests. I have been going through many tests since, and so far, everything looks good with my heart. I have a couple more tests to go.

I did fall flat while running on Christmas morning, and they think that I may have bruised tissue or an organ internally, and it just took five days for symptoms to show up. I am getting better each day, but I have had to change my morning run to a walk. I hope to be back to 100 percent soon. Spiritual, physical, both—whatever it may be—all is well, and I am expecting a great year.

God’s grace is not just His presence to give us God’s blessings; God’s presence empowers us for God’s purpose. God’s presence is the power of His grace working in our lives. God’s grace causes even the things that the enemy intends for evil to be turned for good according to God’s purpose in our lives.

Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

God wants us to partner with Him in all things. Each of us is part of the calling of Christ, the testimony of Christ, and the purpose of Christ in our world. God’s grace is not just His presence to give us His blessings; God’s presence empowers us for His purpose. God’s presence is the power of His grace working in our lives. God’s grace causes even the things that the enemy intends for evil to be turned for good according to God’s purpose in our lives.

Jesus sits in the seat of authority in heaven as a resurrected man for the sake of all mankind. His intercession empowers us to fulfill the Father’s will in our world. His intercession testifies that we are justified to live because of the Father’s love demonstrated to us through Jesus’ shed blood. Jesus intercedes for us, that we may walk in the authority of Christ and reign in life by the power of Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives. We are not only protected by the Father’s love; we are also empowered by His love. God’s grace is a testimony of His everlasting love. Nothing can separate us from God’s love.

Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Grace is God’s presence in us, with us, and for us. Grace is God’s love manifested in our lives. The things that oppose us in this world are things that seek to oppose God’s purpose in us and our purpose in Him. Our purpose in Him is to walk as sons and daughters of God, empowered by His love to be ministers of His love to our world. God’s love gives us our identity, testimony, and purpose in Christ, and nothing can stop the power of God’s love in our lives. This is His amazing grace!

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

I am expecting the presence, the promise, and the purpose of God this year. If we keep our focus on the kingdom of God, we will see the purpose of His kingdom prevail in many ways. I was blessed to speak at Alife yesterday. I always enjoy being home in my home church community. I hope you had a great week and that you are ready for all that God is calling you into in this one.

Holy Spirit in our lives is the guarantee of heavenly things—not just the guarantee of going to heaven when we die, but the guarantee of heaven’s influence in our world. This is especially true regarding our own lives. God has called us to be sons of God, both male and female, but sons of God are not natural children. They are born of the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit, and manifested as a testimony of the work of the Spirit. They are led by the Spirit of God from within. The empowered by God’s desires, wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and purpose—an awe of God in the fear of the Lord.

In this process, we face resistance. That resistance is often an enemy coming against us, but God allows that enemy to resist us. He allows that enemy to resist us because, in the opposition, we find the grace of God’s manifest presence in our lives that empowers us to overcome. It is under pressure that a diamond is formed. It is under pressure that oil is refined. Holy Spirit in our lives is the testimony of Christ in us. Christ in us is our hope of glory—not only of heaven to come, but of heavenly testimonies of our Father’s powerful love invading our world. His love enables us to always go from suffering to glory.

Romans 8:23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. 26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

God’s grace empowers us to manifest as sons of God. His grace brings liberty in us and to our world. God’s grace is God’s Spirit helping us in our weaknesses. That help is not an escape from our weakness, but a manifestation of His strength revealed. Holy Spirit knows what our true weaknesses are. He knows what our true need is. The mind of the Spirit is better than the mind of self. Holy Spirit is interceding in our lives, seven days a week and twenty-four hours a day. He is in heaven, but He is also fully in us. He is drawing heaven into our hearts. “As it is in heaven” becomes the increasing reality of an invasion of life into our world. We experience the supernatural testimony of grace by faith. God empowers His will in our lives. This is grace!

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Grace works things for good according to God’s purpose, not according to our personal will. Not all things are good, but God can take all things in our lives and work them together for our good according to His purpose. It’s not our good according to our purpose, unless we realize that our purpose is really hidden in His. As sons of God, we are like arrows in the hand of the Mighty Bowman to fulfill His purpose in all things. Mercy justified us to be children of God. Grace empowers us to know the glory of being God’s manifested sons. As sons of God, we are not easily shaken because we know the powerful love of our heavenly Father is in us and for us in all things.

Blessings,

Ted J.  Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

I had a blessed time yesterday ministering at Everyone’s Church in Mt. Vernon, Washington. God is blessing those who seek His presence, His promise, and His purpose in their world. We are at the close of another year, but we are continuing forward in our destiny in Christ. We are about to enter into another season and God is leading us in a journey that grows in the continuity of His grace working in our lives.

Overcoming the power of the flesh is not a discipline of the flesh. A discipline of the flesh is merely the control of something that remains alive in our lives. Only a life led by the Spirit of God can grant us the victory over the power of the flesh. Grace empowers us to live according to God’s Spirit; thus it puts to death the deeds of the flesh. God’s grace is the power of God’s Spirit working in our lives.

Romans 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

God’s grace enables us to live as sons of God, male and female for in Christ all are sons of God (Gal. 3:26, 27). Grace empowers us to be led by the Spirit of God. This is not merely instructions as to how to live, what to think, or what to do. Being led by the Spirit is to be led by a different desire, a different wisdom, a different understanding, a different counsel, a different might, a different knowledge, and a different awe of purpose – a fear of the Lord. This is the testimony of the sevenfold Holy Spirit of God – the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel, the Spirit of Might, the Spirit of Knowing, and the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord (Isa. 11:2). Grace enables us to know God as our Father – spirit to Spirit. Grace empowers us to endure and to overcome all things as sons of God.

Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

The opposite of fear is love. Perfect love casts out all fear. Being led by the Spirit of God is being led by God’s love. Beling led by the Spirit is a matter of intimacy with God. It’s not a matter of power. It is a liberty that comes by the Spirit of God working in our hearts. Sonship is empowered by grace. It is empowered by our spirits being one with Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

God is the One who subjected the earth to futility as a consequence of man’s disconnection at the fall. Man chose an outside/in administration when he chose knowledge over intimacy and trust with God. God’s desire has always been to restore the intimacy and trust that was lost by man at the fall. His subjection of the earth to futility put a demand for a supernatural transformation in the hearts of men and women to become sons and daughters of God. Man was created to live by the Spirit and not the flesh. God’s plan was to restore the truth of the Spirit to mankind. God’s grace enables us to be led by God as sons and daughters who grow in knowing God intimately and trusting Him to transform our lives to be givers of life to our world.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728