Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Today I am heading home to Bellingham after a great time with my grandson Kaden, granddaughter Zaria, son Aaron and daughter in law Amani. Bonnie and I had a great time connecting with them again. We will miss them and look forward to our next time together.
In a world of redeemed family, children are born to a dad and a mom as the fruit of intimacy. Love births those who are loved that they may find their identity, testimony, and purpose for the sake of those God loves in the world. That testimony of love will defeat every weapon of hate and it will be an overcoming power of life to every influence of death. This power of life is found in the friendship of family. It is found in a family’s friendship with God and God’s friendship with them.
The culture of family is rooted in God, and it is not something that is artificially created by the will of humanity. Family isn’t merely about creating an atmosphere where one’s desires and needs are fulfilled. Family is divinely designed by the nature of God. Family is part of the character, nature, way, and even the power and authority of who God is. God is the Father, but He is also an expression of the Father in the testimony of the Son. He is also the Comforter, in the form of Holy Spirit exhibiting the nature of a Mother. God is both a shield, as One who protects us, and a many breasted One, as a One who nurtures us and cares for our needs. Family begins with parents and children, but the growing testimony of family is a testimony of friends and the fruit of life and love that manifest from that friendship. The strength of husbands and wives is found in their friendship with one another. True friends don’t seek to get something from another but to give support and life to another as a testimony of being a friend. Friendship is not just defined by being nice to someone else in a way that satisfies their desires and needs. Someone exhibiting true friendship lives as who they are for the sake of supporting who another is. The strength of parents to children and children to parents is found in a healthy perspective of parents and children. Parents serve their children in helping them find their identity, testimony, and purpose in life, while children find their internal identity, testimony, and purpose with the assistance of parents.
Friendship doesn’t negate honor, nor does honor destroy friendship. Honor is a recognition of who another is and giving them something of yourself in recognition of the value of who they are. God is the Creator, so our honor to Him is that He is the giver of life, and we are dependent upon what He gives to be able to be who we are for the sake of our world. God is our friend, but He is also the giver of life, breath, and all things. We are not simply dependent upon His friendship; we are dependent upon Him in all things to be who we are meant to be in our world. God fulfills His role in a way that exhibits a culture of honor. He recognizes who each of us are and He gives of Himself in recognition of who we are meant to be in our world. We must recognize who He is and in recognizing Him there is an awe in who He is, though He is our friend.
The identity, testimony, and purpose of every person is to be a blessing of God’s life to their world, to live with a testimony of life that becomes an influence of life for others and thus the strength of their testimony doesn’t merely add value to themselves but multiplies a value of life in others. The purpose of every person is to transform things of death and dysfunction to life and function of life as a blessing to their world. They will destroy death with life and crumble every lie with truth.
Because God is our Father and God is our friend, we will be clothed in the testimony of our Father’s name. We will rest in all things, knowing that we have the authority of the Father’s love. We will walk in the inheritance of our Father’s kingdom to bring the Father’s life to our world. We will be the will of our Father and we will fulfill His will in our world in all that we do. This is the testimony of family and our security of the fulfillment of these is that God is our friend. He is who He is, but He is near to us in who He is. His friendship empowers honor within our hearts for who He is.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
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Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728
