Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Today I have been blessed to be home in Bellingham. I got to speak yesterday at Alife. It was good to be home. I will be heading to the Netherlands this week, then to Portugal, and then to Angola, Africa. It will be a busy month.
God speaks and life happens. That’s a good definition of prophecy. God speaks; life happens. So, if God speaks and life happens, then our lives speak and life should happen. The expressions of our lives should bring life to our world. That life is not merely the life of humanity. It is the life of Christ in and through humanity.
We live in a world that is difficult at times. That difficulty manifests our inner character. Our character influences the actions of our lives. No created thing can change who you are. No circumstance, no situation can change who you are. It can only manifest who you are. The whole earth was subjected to futility in the hope of the manifestation of the sons of God, male and female. So, a tough world manifests God’s children.
Romans 8:20 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.
God subjected the earth to futility. He made it difficult. In life we deal with many thorns and thistles, metaphorically. God caused it to be that way so that you and I would manifest, so that you and I would manifest as sons and daughters of a Father who gives life, who gives breath, and who gives all things. God gives us life, breath, and all things. The more we experience who God is, the more we respond to who He is. This is worship. The more we experience who God is, the more we declare who He is. This is praise.
When we experience God, we worship Him. When we experience God, we become His praise. We experience God when we invite Him to be the center of our life. When I was young, I became serious about wanting to put Jesus first in my life. In church, I was instructed that as a believer in Christ, I must put God first in my life. I used to be a little frustrated with that, because life is filled with responsibilities. Those responsibilities require an investment of our effort and time. I discovered that as a young man, I needed a job. I found in the military they expected me to do what I was told. I found there were a lot of things required of us in life. I wanted a wife, but I found out that marriage includes responsibilities. Being a husband required change in me and in my life. I could not live as who I was as a single man, I had to become who I was meant to be as a husband to my wife.
If you’re not husband material, you’re not going to make a good husband. So, you must allow your heavenly Father to make you husband material. Otherwise, you’ll end up getting married, and your wife will be frustrated, because you’re not yet husband material. It can go the other way, also—or wife material to a husband. But we have a Father who trains us, who disciplines us, who brings us through things, so that we become who we’re meant to be. This involves embracing responsibilities and making actions that help us to become who we are.
I used to think, well, I’ll put God first, and then second will be family, right? So, we put God first. We put church third. But then we may put education, employment, recreation, etc. I quickly discovered that doesn’t work, because that’s not putting God first. That’s putting God amid a lot of things. That’s adding Jesus as Lord but not letting go of a whole lot of other lords.
The only way you can put God first is to put Him in the center of everything. He’s in the center of everything, not so that you or I can do everything, but so that we can know Him in everything. He delights in you. He delights in your time together as a church gathering. He delights in your family. He delights in your marriage. He delights in your time in the shower, in the bathroom, in your garden, and in every space of your home. He delights in you being a dad or a mom. He’s the center of you as a grandpa or a grandma. He loves you in your job. He loves it when you go out in the woods to hike, to hunt, to explore. He loves you in your daily activities. He loves you. He wants to be the center of everything.
I must live my life growing in keeping the presence of Jesus, my connection to my Heavenly Father, and my fellowship with Holy Spirit in the center of everything that I do. I seek to put Him in the center of everything I am and do, and I’m growing in that. He the center of my life!
Can you say that? God You are the center of my life! That means I need His desire. I need His wisdom. I need His understanding. I need His counsel. I need His strength. I need His intimacy. I need His partnership in everything so that I can be an expression of Him in everything. To be the first and to be the last, Jesus must be the center of my life!
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
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Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728
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