Greetings,
Today I am in Bulgaria. I have had a great time in Sofia and Plovdiv. Tomorrow I will go to Blagoevgrad and I know that God will do good things. It is wonderful to be with hungry, willing, and teachable people. There is great hope in the nation of Bulgaria. The influence of the kingdom of heaven is moving in the hearts of many.
God’s grace is at work among the people of God in the nations of the earth. I believe we are in a season of the increasing grace of God upon the earth. God’s grace is available, but His grace must be something that we find when we boldly come to live before and from His throne of grace. There is a testimony to embrace in the power of God’s grace. Jesus made it so the world can be under grace, but each one of us must first lose our lives so we can save them. We must lay our lives down so we can truly find the life we were intended to live. If we want beauty, we must let go of our ashes. If we want praise, we have to let go of our heaviness. If we want good news, we must let go of your poverty. We must receive a change of government in our lives to see a different fruit in our lives.
Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn,3 to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
The good news is the substance of His riches in our lives instead of the emptiness of our poverty. We cannot grip the poverty of our old kingdom and be able to receive the riches of God’s kingdom. One is a characteristic of the kingdoms of the knowledge of good and evil and the other is a substance of life from the tree of life. One is a reality of a kingdom under conscience and law and the other is a reality of the kingdom of grace and truth. We must let go of our broken hearts to receive the healing He gives to make them whole. We must release our captivity to receive the liberty that is ours from Him. We must let go of our prison cells to be empowered to walk through the open doors. The door is opened, but we must let go of the prison environment and walk through the open door. We must be willing to move from our old environments into the environment of heaven. We must let go of being disinherited and receive the inheritance that comes by His acceptance of our lives. We must let go of our enemies as the vengeance of God destroys them. If we grasp unto the enemies of our past the destruction of God’s presence will create an environment of discomfort and even what appears to be harmful in our lives. We must let go of our mourning to receive the consolation of His presence and word. We must let go of our ashes to receive the beauty that is ours in Him. We must let go of our sorrow to receive the joy of the new day. We must let go of the spirit of heaviness to be clothed in the praise of His name. Grace is the presence and power of God in our lives that changes our old environments to the heavenly environments of God. It involves a change in our character, nature, way, power, and authority. It includes a change in our beliefs, our actions, our imaginations and our influence in life.
In presenting a culture of grace I want to propose that the kingdoms of the world still live in a culture of law. A culture of law can only offer poverty, broken heartedness, captivity, bondage, disinheritance, oppression, deception, blindness, mourning, loneliness, shame, condemnation, sorrow, heaviness, and all the fruit of unrighteouness. 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. Grace doesn’t mean we don’t change. It means we finally really change. Instead of being informed we become transformed and our hearts and minds change. Our desires change. Our focus changes. How we see things changes? The way we are changes! Grace empowers us to reign in life.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
Thank you so much to those of you who have been able to contribute to our cause. In this past month I have been in the Netherlands, Ireland, Wales, England, Spain, and again in England. This week I head to Bulgaria and after that I will be in Luxembourg. Without your prayers and support we are limited in our ability to do our part in the place of our calling in Christ. If God blesses you to bless us, please consider supporting House of Bread Ministry. Checks Payable to: House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225
Online Donations can be made above at the column to the right.
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