Greetings,
Today I am in Mijas, Spain for a week of teaching at the G42 Leadership school. I am teaching New Covenant Realities and I am expecting God to do good things in the student’s lives! I had a great time in Portugal last week and weekend. My daughter Joanna and her husband Patrick were with me. When my daughter was 13 years-old she publicly gave me to the nations in a service where God had touched her heart. The next day I was in Portugal, crying for missing my daughter and knowing that my path in Christ meant that there would be days when I would not be with my daughter, though that is where I wanted to be with all my heart. It was great to see my daughter and son-in-law meet people I love. They enjoyed their days experiencing both the country of Portugal and the people. God was good yesterday in the churches we ministered in. It was a good time.
I have been writing regarding tough questions in the church. It is the grace of God that enables us to become all that we should be in life, but God’s grace is also God’s power in our lives to overcome in the midst of imperfect realities in life. Being a believer in Christ doesn’t mean you will never make a mistake. I know many believers who have made mistakes and I know many believers that have suffered the consequences of decisions of others. We all want to grow in the perfection of the Lord, but what happens when things in life come up short of what we deem to be the glory of God? We are on a journey as believers to become what we should be and to experience what we should experience in our lives, our families, and our ministries. In our journey as believers, we sometimes find ourselves in the midst of a failure. Let’s say as an example: as a pastor, your wife leaves you and it wasn’t your fault. Your wife decided to leave you and you were unable to alter her course of decision. Does it disqualify you from being a pastor? It might? It might not? God looks at the heart. We are leading imperfect people into the place of intimacy with the One who perfects us. We are not perfect pastors, but we are following the One who perfects us. If we find ourselves in a difficult place it is our response in that situation that either qualifies us or disqualifies us. If my wife were to divorce me and it was due to her decision and not mine, would that disqualify me from being who I am? If I divorced my wife and it was due to my decision and not hers, would that disqualify her from being who she is? If the innocent party was willing to love, to cover with love, and to receive the other in love; when the relationship failed in divorce would that disqualify the faith-believing partner? For whatever reason, the failure of the marriage now leaves individuals who must now become one. They must become whole to move forward in life. If my wife divorced me, I would have to bless and release her so she could be whole and one. I would also have to become a whole single individual through walking rightly in intimacy with God. If grace empowers the transformation of life that would make a person more qualified to lead people and not less. People are going to make mistakes. People are going to experience things that are going to happen to them. Marriages should not fail, but some will. This is not an excuse for making mistakes, but it is a challenge to walk the path of love, hope, and faith in all things. Only God’s grace can empower us to walk that path.
When a marriage fails, we have to be able to lead people through those difficult situations. When we read the word, we can find the picture-perfect world that God says it should be, but we have to find God’s grace for any world to be or become as it should be. God’s mercy is new every morning for the mistakes of our lives that measure us by the law of what is good and the law of what is evil. Mercy is a available judgment in our lives in the midst of our failures. God’s mercy qualifies us to find God’s grace to be perfected from our imperfections, heal us from our wounds, and empower us with victory in any situation we find ourselves in.
Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
Please help me reach the nations. With your help tickets can be purchased and a way can be made for us to fulfill our purpose for the generations.
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House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225
Thank You So Much – Ted J. Hanson
