Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Today I continue to enjoy a blessed time at home with my family and church community. I was blessed to speak at Alife yesterday. The presence of God was felt in our midst as we worshipped Him and were blessed with His word of life to our hearts and minds.
Last week I addressed the fire of being loved by God. We are a lamp for the abiding presence of Holy Spirit. We are a dwelling place of God as believers in Christ. The all-consuming fire of God’s presence captures our hearts and minds and our identity, testimony, and purpose in life is centered around Christ in us. The first fire we must know is the fire of being loved by God. Each of our lives is a garden for God’s presence. Knowing God’s love will give us the freedom and liberty of His presence walking with us in our journey in life.
Today I want to address a second fire of God. This is the fire of loving Him. Perfect love casts our all fear and when we know God’s love in our lives, it empowers us to love Him!
The second fire is revealed in the second letter that was written to the Church of Smyrna. The name Smyrna means “myrrh”. Myrrh was burial oil. Myrrh is a witness signifying death and a willingness to make a sacrifice. The testimony of this letter is like our submersion into the identity of Christ. We must die to live. Faith toward God is a death to the natural wisdom of men and a rising to receiving the wisdom of God in Christ. That wisdom will cause us to do works that testify of our faith (the book of James). I believe the angel of the Church of Smyrna is the Spirit of Wisdom (Isa. 11:2; Zech. 4:10).
In this letter to Smyrna, we see that some were about to be thrown into prison, as was Joseph at the hand of his brothers. They were told to remain faithful in the midst of suffering. Those who remained faithful would receive the crown of life, just as Joseph was rewarded for his faithfulness. It is through death in Christ that we receive the crown of life (Jam. 1:12). Faith towards God will empower us to even endure suffering with a testimony of works that speak of our faith. That faith is simply the testimony of the fire of loving God burning in our hearts. Having been loved by Him, we can’t help but make sacrifices of love towards Him.
The testing for ten days is reminiscent of the language of the children of Judah in Babylon. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were among the captives placed into service of the king after Babylon laid siege to their nation (Dan. 1:7). These men were placed into a natural circumstance that destroyed all of their former expectations of the future as sons in Judah. Natural sight was for sure a challenge to their faith. After assessing the situation, these men requested that they be allowed to eat only vegetables and drink only water for ten days (Dan. 1:12). The number ten is symbolic of ‘completeness’, ‘totality’, ‘judgment’ – more specifically, a ‘judgment of love’, as the ten commandments sum up a love for God and a love for others. The lives of these men exhibited a faith towards God and a testimony of not fearing death. Faith works through love (Gal. 5:6, 13). These men refused to compromise in their love for God and they were not shaken in their belief of His love for them. They had faith to eat the Babylonian vegetables and drink the Babylonian water, but eating the other delicacies of Babylon would compromise their faith towards God. They refused to be separated from their love for God. Their faith towards God proved to reveal them as the wisest in the kingdom of Babylon.
The Spirit of Wisdom is a testimony of ‘faith’. This kind of wisdom inspires actions that testify of faith towards God. Faith without works is dead, but faith motivated by the Spirit of Wisdom is seen in works done with the absence of the fear of death.
As New Covenant sons and daughters of God, we are granted resurrection life whereby the second death has no power over us. We have passed from death to life and have been justified to live by faith (Eph. 2:1-5; 1 Jn. 3:14). In Christ we have experienced a first resurrection, and we live our lives fully prepared for the physical resurrection at the end of our journey in this world (1 Cor. 15:22-28). We are forever alive in Christ (Eph. 2:1, 4-6; Jn. 5:24-29; Rom. 6:4 -1st and 2nd resurrections).
Revelation 2:10 Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”
We are circumcised in our hearts to live by faith towards God. We have no fear of death because the fire of loving God burns in our hearts. Love does whatever is necessary and thus it will physically manifest that love in the actions of our lives.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
As we conclude the year of 2023, please consider making a contribution to House of Bread Ministry. We have increased our input to many parts of the world and your contribution will help us equip, train, equip, and send many for the purpose of God’s New Covenant Life and Grace in the nations. Thank You – Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
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