Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Yesterday was another great day at Alife here in Bellingham. Pastor Jonathan challenged us to let Holy Spirit speak to us as to what gift we would give to God in this Christmas season. He also challenged us to hear from God as to who we should give a gift to and to be listening and looking to see what that gift will be. The final part of the process was to ask God what He wants to give to us. Another great day of activation, Pastor Jonathan!
The life that we have been given, is a life that to be lived for the glory of God. Our lives are meant to end in harvest. Harvest is not so glorious for the one being harvested, but it is glorious for those receiving the life of that harvest. Harvest is symbolized in bread for eating and seed for sowing. It can be literal bread and literal seeds, but more importantly it is some substance of life that can be received by others and some seed of life that will produce more life in the days to come. Our lifetime should be filled with seasons of seedtime and harvest that create a story of increasing glory for the Creator of all things. Just as the earth is destined to be filled with a knowledge of the glory of God, so our lives are meant to be filled with a knowledge of the glory of God. The true glory of our lives can only be seen when we manifest as sons and daughters of God. True glory cannot be seen by those who simply serve God as a God of laws and obligations. True glory can only be understood by those who see God as their Father. He is our source of identity, testimony, and purpose in all things. God has sent the messenger, the Holy Spirit, into our hearts to make this possible. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that our hearts cry out Abba, Father! The last prophet of the Old Testament, Malachi, appealed to God’s people concerning what is essential for all of humanity.
Malachi 1:6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’ 7 “You offer defiled food on My altar, but say, ‘In what way have we defiled You?’ By saying, ‘The table of the Lord is contemptible.’ 8 And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?” Says the Lord of hosts.
God is not concerned about what we give Him. He is concerned with us knowing who He is and knowing who we are. God is our loving Father and we need a revelation of who He is so we can give Him the glory due His name. Only true sons and daughters of God can do that. When we know who He is, we know who we are. It is then that we live to please Him, because we know how pleased He is with us. A father is pleased with his children because they are his children. He doesn’t become their father because they are pleasing with Him. He is the father and he wants his children to be true to who they really are. God is the same. He wants us to respond to Him for who He is, and He wants us to act like Him in our character, nature, way, power, and authority in life. The result will be an increasing harvest of life for the glory of His name. Life will happen in our world because life is happening in us. Life is happening in us because Life lives in us. Holy Spirit is the Messenger who lives in our hearts that we might become a message of Christ to our world. God doesn’t need anything from us, but our world needs something from us. Our world needs the life of Christ in us to manifest as the life of God to our world. This is what God has always desired.
Knowing God as our Father is the inner power to honor Him in the earth. For this reason, God sent His Son, Jesus. Jesus was the word made flesh so that each of us could be expressions of God in the identity, testimony, and purpose of our lives. Jesus was born in Bethleham, the house of bread, so that each of us could be living bread to our world. This is seen in the harvest seasons of our lives.
As we consider the perfect gift of Jesus in this Christmas season, let us consider who each of us are. We are sons and daughters of a perfect Father; therefore, our lives are destined to be a living harvest that gives living bread to others and sows seeds of life that will go on beyond every ending moment of the seasons of our lives. Our lives are a gift of life to the world we live in and our lives are a gift of life for things that are even beyond our lives. A perfect Father has perfect children. God’s gift of love made it possible for His gift of life to live inside our hearts. It is the life of Christ in us that is the hope of glory in every season of our lives. Let’s be all in and know that this encounter with God is seven-days per week and twenty-four hours per day to see our Father’s name made known in all of our world.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
Help us finish the year strong. We are already facing the need to purchase tickets for travel in January and February of 2020. If God gives you the means to help, please consider making a donation to House of Bread Ministry.
Thanks Again – Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225
