Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Wow! What a great weekend! We had our first meeting in our new remodeled space at the church and the presence of God was wonderful. The crowd was up and there was lots of hope and expectation in the house. We are in a new season for another measure of life!
At the close of 2020 I wrote that 2021 would be a year of knowing the Rock of Christ in our lives. It is in knowing Him that we will become like Him in the place of our standing. As a Rock, He is One to be trusted and He will prove to be trustworthy in our lives. As a life-giver He is immovable in His character, nature, way, power, and authority. It is through and intimate relationship with Him that we become empowered to stand as a place of God grace that shines to our world. As the year has been unfolding, I believe this is also a season of leaves. It is a season of personal testimonies in Christ. Our personal standing in Christ determines our personal testimonies in Christ. Our personal testimonies are connected to our personal connection to God. How well do we know God our Father? How well do we know Jesus the Son? How well do we know Holy Spirit in our lives? God is inviting us to know who He is in a fuller way. When we know Him, we can see Him! When we see Him, we become like Him for He is a life giver, and His life transforms us to become life in increasing ways. That life is a testimony of love, forgiveness, kindness, truth, and peace. Leaves of a tree turn towards the light of the sun. As we turn towards the light of Christ in us, we find the life that comes from that light, and we then bring that same life to our world. This includes change in our hearts and minds to become like our heavenly father in our character, nature, way, power, and authority.
How important is the word of God in our lives? How important are His words to us in life? How important is His instruction to us in life? How important is correction to our way in our path of destiny?
Hebrews 12:11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
God words to us are different than merely the words of men. His words are words of a Creator, not words of the creation. All creation testifies of Him, but He is the Creator that causes creation to be His words. We must value the words of God more than we value the words of men. We must value the words of the Creator more than we value any expression of creation. As a Creator, God gives life and as His sons and daughters we are to be givers of life to our world. This is the true work of our hands. It is the true testimony of our lives. How do we strengthen our hands to be givers of life when we are tempted to grasp as the world grasps to get rather than to give? How do we strengthen our knees when we are tempted to bow to other life forces? How do we make straight paths for our feet when the ways of the world tempt us to walk a path of human compromise? We can find a secret in the book of Job in words that were spoken of Job, a righteous man. If these words were true for the righteous man Job, how much more are they true for our heavenly Father.
Job 4:3 Surely you have instructed many, and you have strengthened weak hands. 4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have strengthened the feeble knees…
Only the instructions of God by His Spirit can empower our hands to be instruments that give life to our world. The instructions of other voices feed our personal desires to receive, but the instructions of the Spirit of God fuel our hearts and minds to be givers of life to our world in all that we are and do. It is God’s words to us that empower us to stand as men and women who will not compromise in the true character as sons and daughters of God. When we know God’s words to us, we become strong in our knees. We do not bow to created things, but we stand as life-giving sons and daughters of God in all things. It is the knowledge of God, His word, and the wisdom of God, His instruction by His Spirit, that give us understanding. That understanding is the straight path of life that charts our course of destiny for the glory of our family name whereby we can say; Our Father in Heaven, holy is your name!
Job 5:17 “Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. 18 For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole. 19 He shall deliver you in six troubles, yes, in seven no evil shall touch you. 20 In famine He shall redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. 21 You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and you shall not be afraid of destruction when it comes. 22 You shall laugh at destruction and famine, and you shall not be afraid of the beasts of the earth. 23 For you shall have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. 24 You shall know that your tent is in peace; you shall visit your dwelling and find nothing amiss. 25 You shall also know that your descendants shall be many, and your offspring like the grass of the earth. 26 You shall come to the grave at a full age, as a sheaf of grain ripens in its season. 27 Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear it, and know for yourself.”
God’s correction in our lives is not a correction of merely right and wrong. It is a correction that keeps us moving forward in a life-receiving and life-giving way. We will walk through troubles, and we will experience evils in this world, but God will lead us through all things. There will be days of famines, death, war, and various forms of destruction, but God will demonstrate His love to us in all the circumstances of our path. The fruit of life cannot be destroyed by the power of death because that life is eternal, and it contains the power of the resurrection from the dead. This is the way of peace in Christ. It is the way of connection to God at all times.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225
