Blog In Audio:Greetings,
I hope you had a great weekend. We were blessed at ALife with a great word from Pastors Jonathan and Danie. Our ministry time together in our breakout groups was also filled with the presence of God. It is great to be part of the family of God. In the midst of a world of darkness the light of Christ is shining brightly.
We live in a world where humanity sees creation as the source of all life. This is the way of the world. Those in the world live in darkness and the power of darkness binds them from the light of Christ. Creation is not the source of life; it is the testimony of life. In truth, God is the source of life to all of creation. The source of life is not creation. The source of creation is found in the life of God. God wants us to see Him for who He is so we can become as we are meant to be. God is not formed in our likeness and image. We are formed in the likeness and image of God when we see Him for who He really is.
Who is Jesus? Jesus was not just God as a man to show us how to live. Jesus was the word of God made flesh so that He can now come by His Spirit to our own flesh and transform our lives to become as we should be for the glory of God our Father. It is through Jesus that we become testimonies for the Father’s glory and expressions of the image of God in this world. Jesus is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, in our lives. He is the center of all of our being. He was the body of Christ that made a way for us to be joined to Him as part of a growing body of life for the glory of our Father in heaven. Jesus didn’t come to this world to show us how to live. Jesus came to this world to come into each of our lives in order to transform our hearts and minds to be as we should be as sons and daughters of God. He is the name by which we find our lives as new creations in Christ. The name of Jesus is above all other names and He is the focus of our lives. We are not independent from Him, but dependent upon Him in all things.
Colossians 1:9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
Do we live our lives for our own will or for the will of God in all things? God is the source of our wisdom and He is the One who gives us true spiritual understanding. A revelation of God’s love in our lives will empower us to live to please Him in all that we are and all that we do in life. It’s not a matter of bondage, but a revelation that passionately empowers us to live life to the fullest with a focus of loving God and pleasing Him in who we are and what we do in life. In every season of our lives we are to grow in knowing God. Growing in knowing about God is not the goal. Knowing Him is the true testimony of life. We are part of something greater than independent lives of humanity. We are part of the light of Christ as the living body of Christ in this world and in all that is to come. We are part of the testimony of God’s light!
Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
How much focus do we give to Jesus in our lives? I believe that God is calling us back to the simplicity of the knowing Jesus and the power of His name in all things. We have been in a season of confinement, but perhaps we are in a season of stripping things away so we can know what is really important in our lives. Jesus is the Lamb who redeemed us from a life of separation from God. He is also the Lion that empowers us to become a testimony of praise to God in all that we are and do. Jesus is our salvation in every situation of our lives! He is not a means to a religion of Christianity. He is the source of Christ in our humanity. He is not just a godly man or an example of what it means to be godly. He is our righteousness, our way to truth and our source of life in all things. May we know Him more and more and may we see Him as the center of our lives in our everyday world.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:
Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:
House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225
