Greetings;
Today I have returned home after several weeks on the road. My foot is mending, but I am still depending upon assistance as I travel through the various airports I have been in. My heart is full of thoughts of testimonies of God’s grace working in the various places I have been. In the past weeks, I have seen the influence of God’s grace in the Netherlands, Ireland, Wales, England, Spain, and more of England. God is at work in the hearts and minds of men and women in the earth.
When I was a sinner it was because I wanted to be a sinner. I was looking for love in all the wrong places. I did not seek the kingdom of God through the internal portal of my heart. I sought to be satisfied by the external pleasures of the world. My quest for satisfying myself left me bound to the forces of my own carnal desire. That desire also opened my heart and mind to the forces of deceptive and evil spirits. I was not seeking to be evil, I was simply a slave to sin. It was a motivation of my life. It was a passion of my heart. It wasn’t informational, it was motivational. My motive was one inspired by the force and power of sin.
Romans 6:22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.
We used to be slaves to sin. We were under the influence of sin, but now we are under the influence of God. In a sense, we have become slaves to God. A desire within us is motivating our hearts and minds to be bound to God in all things. We are addicted to God! We are under the influence of God! We are captured by God in our hearts and in our minds. The word ‘slave’ in this Scripture is not implying bondage, but a strong hold. It is the ‘strong hold’ of God’s love. God’s grace in our lives is His grip in our lives. Grace empowers us to demonstrate change in our lives more than law does. Grace produces the fruit of holiness and the end is incorruptible everlasting life, but we have a few days in-between now and the end. God wants us to live those days under the influence of grace.
I believe that the grace of God in the earth is increasing. I believe that Holy Spirit began a good work and is continually increasing in that work. I believe we can experience a greater grace than our parents were able to experience. This in not greater love. It is simply a greater grace because of then and because of now. We can be under the influence of a greater grace than our grandparents could because of the grace they did experience. God is increasing the mountain of His glory in the earth. That mountain is a mountain of His influence in the earth. Grace is increasing. We are not smarter, we are just further in the journey. We are further in the journey of God’s relationship with humanity and humanities relationship with God. The influence of God’s grace even has an effect in natural ways and in practical things. The practical things of the world are the result of God’s grace. Clean water, a place to sleep, improved natural conditions; these are not salvation, but a fruit of salvation at work in the earth. Even education was influenced by grace, but none of those things are life. They are simply the evidence that life is having an effect in the nations of the world.
If we embrace grace we can no longer embrace law. If we embrace law it hinders us from embracing grace. Law exists outside of Christ. God did not do away with law. He just raised us up to a higher level. We were under the law, but Jesus enabled us to be above the law and under grace. The law was the shadow of something good that was coming. When humans could not be under the influence of the better thing they were under the influence of the law. We were bound to be under the influence of law. We were under a lower administration. It was not a heavenly administration. It was an earthly administration. It was informational evidence of something that was already true in heaven and was destined to be the true empowerment of the human heart and soul. The law was good, but God’s grace is God working in the hearts and minds of those who believe. Grace is the only power that can eradicate the influence of sin and death in our lives. Law longed for the day of grace, but it could never free us from the day of sin and death. Grace is the testimony of the eternal Day of the Lord at work in our hearts and minds.
Jesus didn’t set us free from the law. He set us free from the law of sin and death. Now the law serves a different purpose in our lives. The law is not something we are under. The law is under us. It is a shadow of who we are becoming in Christ. The shadow is for those who are still stuck in an administration of law. Our lives should cast a shadow that looks like law to those who are still living in the strong holds of sin. The human quest of carnal desire still leaves men and women bound to an influence of deception and evil spirits. Only in Christ can they be transformed by a greater influence. That influence in the internal power of God’s grace. Law has one purpose. It is simply the shadow of grace. The shadow is informational evidence that there is a God and each of us needs Him. God invites all people to be under the influence of His grace. He desires for all people to be intoxicated in His love and transformed by the power of His grace!
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
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