From Dust to Paradise!

Greetings;

I am presently in Bulgaria. We have seen many people baptized in the Holy Spirit this past week as well as a few new salvations. People have been healed and miracles have been released. The greatest of all is, we have seen God’s presence resting in our lives. Our Father in heaven is present with us now by His Holy Spirit. The name of Jesus is bringing life in amazing ways. It is wonderful to be a place upon this earth where God lives.!

I mentioned last week of my introduction to Jesus forty-five years ago. I celebrated that date this past Saturday. I celebrated it by seeing many touched with the life and love of God in our midst. What a great life it is!

Forty-five years ago, I was in a desperate state, but some wonderful daughters of God prayed for me. What bothered me the most was, my life was harming other people. I was using drugs and drank many beers every day. I was in a desperate state. I sold people drugs. I was by no means a drug dealer, I just sold a few drugs to be able to buy more expensive drugs for myself. This began to bother me. I decided I should stop selling drugs to others, but my way of making money was selling drugs. God, who sees things from His perspective. spoke to these ladies again. He told them I was trying to get out of debt for selling drugs. One of them came to me one day with a handful of cash. She said, we heard you are trying to get out of debt for selling drugs. So, we took an offering and we want you to know this is a love gift from God to pay your drug debts. I thought they were idiots and fools, but when I touched the money the fear of God hit me, and I paid my drug debts. So, before I knew He loved me, I knew that He was the One who paid my debts. Very shortly after that, I invited Jesus into my heart.

When those young ladies were praying for me, it was like Genesis chapter 1 through chapter 2:3. God wasn’t worried. God saw the potential of who I am. But God also saw that He wanted to rest in my life, so that any enemies in my life could be subdued. In May of 1973, on the 12^thday, God touched the dust of my life. I felt Him touch me. A man was talking about how Jesus had come into his heart. As I sat there in my dryness, in my barren condition, I felt God’s hand begin to form me and I began to cry. Water came to the desert. As I went to go home from that meeting, I pulled my car to the side of the road and rives began to break out in the desert. My eyes began to stream. Even my nose began to leak. My heart began to leak. I confessed everything I had ever done to Jesus. I don’t know if He needed me to confess, but I needed to confess. I begged Him to come into my life and like Geneses 2:7, He breathed into me the breath of life. His Spirit came into my spirit.

Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. 8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.

By no means was the earth a paradise in the original creation. There was a place among the dust of the field where God planted a garden. It was there that He put the man he had formed from the dust. It was in a place called Eden. Eden means desirable place. The place of desire. It was in the East. When we wake up in the morning, we see the sun and the sun gives us a testimony of a new day. It is full of promise and expectation. The East signifies a new day. In reality the earth turns towards the sun, but the experience is a sunrise and a new day. If this is a truth of revelation I can apply it in my life. Forty-five years ago, I turned towards God and I experienced new life. He touched me and He breathed His life into me. The very next morning I woke up and I found that in the midst of my barrenness God had planted a garden. It was a desirable place. I woke up and I was smiling. I could not stop smiling. It took me two days to tell a couple hundred people about Jesus. I told them all about Jesus. I was popular for all the wrong reasons, but my popularity gave me a basis to share my faith. I told them passionately about Jesus. I found myself in Paradise. There were trees. There was life everywhere. God was allowing me to experience His goodness and his presence in my life. I am reminded of this as I have finished a 45^th year of knowing Him.

Today is a good day to recognize Him in your life. He is the desire of our hearts. Before you do another thing, remember the dryness from where you have come and embrace the goodness and the presence of God who has taken the time to plant a place of relationship for you and Him in this world. For this, I am a fire for Jesus! My past was dust, but my present life is the result of God resting in my life!

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

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