Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Today I am back in Bellingham. It has been a great weekend with lots of sunshine and connection with family. It was good to be home in my local church community. Pastors Jonathan and Danie challenged us to stand believing for the testimony of fruit in our lives and for our victory over everything that opposes us in our path of harvest.
We were born into this world to bring life to our generation for the sake of the generations to follow. The impact of our lives upon our world is directly connected to our personal connection to God as our Father. Holy Spirit in our lives is the power of the presence of God to change our world. He is God, and His anointing in our life is a prophetic testimony of life. I define prophecy simply by saying, ‘God speaks, life happens!’ God speaks through our lives in the frequency of sight, sound, and experience. Our prophetic voice to our world proclaims life to our world through the way we live. It is heard in our world by the truth that we live. It is experienced in our world by the life that we express life-giving works in our places of dwelling in the spaces given to us to influence.
Our view of God will influence our prophetic voice to others. What Makes God, God? What is it the defines God? If we believe that God is an angry God, we will be a prophetic voice of anger to our world. If we believe that God is an informational teacher, we will become a prophetic voice of information to our world. If we believe that God’s ultimate identity is one of judgment, we will become a prophetic voice of judgment to our world. Whatever our view of God is will determine what we can become, and it will determine what our world can become.
Religious people often define God as the One who opposes sin. They often present Him an angry God that gave the strong command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When we look at the story in Genesis, we find that God’s command was not about avoiding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was about choosing the trees that gave life. If man were to choose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that tree would give man the consequence of death. God would not kill man, man’s choice of information over intimacy and trust would result in death. God’s desire was, is, and will always be a desire of life for mankind.
Genesis 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
The numerous trees in the garden were numerous choices for life and God commanded man to eat of every tree, except one. His command was to eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat! His second word was to simply avoid the tree that would bring death. God is a giver of life and not a controller by law.
Even when man made his choice to be wise and independent, God didn’t put upon them shame. The same came upon man from the choice of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The focus of man shifted from being loved by God to being ashamed of their own choices.
Genesis 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
Man’s decision to be independent from God didn’t stop God from desiring an intimate relationship with man. Sin stopped man from seeing who God was, but it didn’t stop God from seeing man through the eyes of a loving Father. In the day of sin, God still wanted a walk of relationship with man.
Genesis 3:8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
God wants us to know Him in an intimate way. He is our Father and He gives life, breath, and all things. Only seeing God is a giver of life will empower us to be prophetic expressions of life to our world. The voice of God is a voice that invites us to have a relationship with Him, to walk with Him, and to know Him in His mercy and grace.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
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Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728
