Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Today I am finishing ministry in Portugal. We had another great week and weekend in Lisbon with numerous venues of ministry. The people were hungry and receptive, and God was good to give life to us all. I am blessed to see God’s grace revealing the power of His love working in and through His children.
In third world cultures, people are often desperate for physical needs. That desperation inspires them to seek God as a savior and as a deliverer. In western world cultures, people are not as much desperate for need. They are often busy and desperate for comforts and the fulfillment of their own personal desires. Their search doesn’t inspire them to seek God as a savior or as a deliver. They seek God as their provider and promiser of good things. In eastern world cultures, people are desperate for knowledge and power. That desperation inspires them to seek God as wisdom and knowledge. They consider sources of wisdom and knowledge as life to their souls.
In the third world cultures, Jesus can be found as their Savior and Deliverer, but people in cultures of poverty sometimes find other spirits or other sources as their salvation or deliverance. Whatever promises to meet their physical needs becomes a stronghold or a god in their life. In western world societies, people don’t often see God as their provider, they see things as the fulfillment of their comforts and desires. These can be physical things created by men or they can even be physical things created by God. These things can even be physical experiences of pleasure and adventure in life. People in western world cultures often see their god as whatever offers them the fulfillments of their personal desires and plans. Jesus can be found as their Provider, but they seldom seek Him first. In Eastern world cultures people often see what offers their souls wisdom and knowledge as a god in their lives. It can even take on the form of law by which one is governed in their soul. Jesus can be found as their true Wisdom and Knowledge, but they often settle for lesser powers of truth to enlighten their souls.
I believe that God desires to save us amid our troubles and pain. I believe that God desires to deliver us from our oppression and bondage. I believe that God wants to give us blessings and comfort in life. I also believe that He wants to give us desires, but those desires are not merely desires of our own flesh. They are desires that fulfill our destiny in Christ. I believe that God desires to give us wisdom and knowledge, but that wisdom and knowledge doesn’t exalt the inner power of our minds. God’s power gives us the mind of Christ from within. He empowers a change in our character, nature, way, power, and authority as life-givers to our world. God can be all that is necessary for these things, but He is even more. He is our Father, and He is our friend.
Do we seek God to fulfill our needs, or do we seek God to know Him? Do we seek Him to save us amid our troubles, or do we seek Him on good and bad days simply to be with Him and He with us? Do we seek God to fulfill our desire for adventure, or are will willing to embrace whatever dream or adventure is in His heart for our lives? Do we seek God to know what to do or to be wise, or do we simply seek the One who is knowing and wise in all things so that we can become what He desires?
The center of our world must be Christ, it cannot be us. Humanity is not the source of life to the world. Our Devine Father is the source of life in our world and in all the world. What we value in life becomes the god of our life. I often say, “If hearing God is knowing what to do, then knowing what to do is our god.” What about when we make “beings saved” our god? Or “being delivered” our god? What about “receiving comfort”, “fulfilling our desires”, “having knowledge”, or “having wisdom”? God is our friend, and He wants us to know Him for who He is, not merely for what He can do.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
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