Greetings;
I have just finished another great weekend with my church family in Deming, New Mexico. We had a great time and God challenged us to become the light of life in the community. We are New Covenant people of life and our culture is one of mercy and grace. Mercy ends our past and grace empowers our future in all things. God’s grace empowers us and helps us in all our needs.
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.
What is our need? We probably give at least 90% of our focus to things when it comes to needs. We do need things. We have bills and other expenses that require God’s help. We need healings. We need direction. These things are good, but I believe that the greatest power of overcoming is not what we get from God, but what become because of Him. Our greatest need is to become fathers and mothers who live to give life to others. God’s grace empowers each of us to become someone who is life to others. To become like God in our character. To become like our family should be in character and way. To be love.
Love is giving your life to give life to another. That is different than just giving your life for another. Without God, I cannot give my life to give life to another in the way it should be. I can give my life, but not in a way that gives life. Jesus died on the cross and it was His judgment of mercy that forgave us of our sins, but that is not the ultimate reason that He died. He died so He could live. Through His death we have mercy, but only through His eternal life can we find grace. The power to become like Him is the power to overcome and it can only be found through a living encounter with Him who is alive. The issue is not where are we going to go when we die. Mercy is enough to determine where we go when we die. The issue is where are we living now. Eternal life is to know God the Father and Jesus the Son.
John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
The real issues is His kingdom come and His will being done on earth as it is in heaven. How do we become increasingly transformed to become a testimony of sons and daughters of God? How do we become the real thing? God’s grace empowers us to become who we were meant to be. How we were naturally born is not how we were meant to be. God’s grace grants us the power to overcome every challenge to our true identity in Christ and it is the power of God’s presence that restores everything that has been lost in our family destiny. We were born again to accept a headship in our families that causes even generational things to be transformed in our family households. What was lost before our time can be redeemed in the family. What was bound in the future can be unbound and things never seen or heard before can come. It is in His presence that we find grace.
Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith justifies us to have peace with God. This is a testimony of mercy. There is no gap between God and us. That is peace. It is not because of anything we did, but everything He did. He made it so our sins are forgiven. He reconciled us. He reconnected us to our Father. This is another way of saying our sins are forgiven and we have a Father who loves us. We have peace with God. There is no gap between us and Him. We have access to His house. This even describes our destiny when we die. This verse guarantees us heaven when we die. When we know Him, we can know this. It comes by faith. When we hear Him in our hearts it is made real in our lives. It becomes real in our lives when we boldly come to His throne and receive our gift. It is true for all human beings, but each of us must come to Him to receive our gift. When we boldly come, and receive His mercy we know His peace. There is no more shame or condemnation. It doesn’t matter what we have done or who we are.
Romans 5:2 …through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Standing implies overcoming. Standing is a prophetic term for possessing the land and receiving the inheritance given to us by God. The Bible teaches that the enemy is under the soles of our feet. Jesus is held up in the heavens until all His enemies are placed under the soles of His feet. The feet of Jesus are the feet of the body of Christ. The enemies of God and the life of God are to be under the feet of people like us. Wickedness is overcome and we stand upon our possession. We stand upon our inheritance. God doesn’t just want us to go to heaven when we die. He wants us to invade the earth with heaven’s goodness. He doesn’t just want us to have laws that deal with injustice issues. He wants to transform human character so people no longer act unjust. He wants to change the hearts and minds of humanity so they are not under a law, but they are empowered by grace and their lives cast a shadow that looks like law. A law looks like thou shall not commit adultery, but grace says, Honey I Iove you. You are a one and only! You are the one and only in my life! I could never want to consider thinking of another because my heart is constantly empowered and transformed to love you more. To those who don’t understand this grace, they can look at my life and think I live by a law that says you shall not commit adultery, but it is really the power of grace that empowers me in my heart and mind to love my wife as I should.
It is great to be the place where God lives. Not just a place where God visits, but a place where God lives. God has always wanted a place of dwelling in the earth. That is His family. The family of God lives with a culture of grace.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
