Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Today I am still in Redding, California with my family hear. Bonnie and I have had a wonderful time, and we look forward to returning again to be with our children and grandchildren. This week I will head to Portugal, and I believe that God is going to do wonderful things by the power of His grace.
In the past weeks I have addressed the fires of the lamp of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We are a temple of Holy Spirit – a dwelling place of God by His Spirit. The presence of God in our lives should be something that affects us internally and reveals a testimony of God’s life to our world.
The light of our lives is the manifest presence of Holy Spirit in our lives. This is the testimony of Christ in us. It is a work of God’s grace and a testimony of God’s grace that we can know, and others can see. When we have the fire of God’s grace burning in our hearts and minds it becomes evident to the world around us.
We must know the fire of being loved by God. This is to know Him loving us each day. We can only love others to the degree that we know His love for us. Jesus told his disciples to love one another, even as He had loved them. This is true for us in our relationship with Him today. We can only truly love another when we know how much, and in what ways, Jesus loves us. This includes His gift of mercy through His death upon our cross, but also His triumphant grace that makes our hearts come alive where we were once dead.
When we know the fire of being loved by God, we can also know the fire of loving God. I remember the fire of loving Him when I first came to know Him more than fifty years ago. I passionately loved Him because I had a revelation of His amazing love for me. Each of us needs to know this simple truth in an experiential way in every season of our lives.
We must know the fire of responding to God that gives us a heavenly testimony inside and out. That heavenly testimony affects us in our whole being – spirit, soul, and body. When we know the fire of responding to Him, we are transformed. Our lives reveal the evidence of responding to Him internally even unto external expressions of what comes from Him in heaven.
We must grow in knowing the fire of giving life to others. This is the life-giving authority of God working in us that empowers us to give life to others in our world. We receive life from Him to give life to others in every area of our responsibility in life.
We must grow in the fire of being life for others. This is growing in knowing who we are in Christ. It is only in Christ that we can discover our true identity and our ability to reveal the resurrection life of Christ to our world.
We must know the fire of community – a love for God as our Father and for one another as His family in the earth. This fire will enable us to be the fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and all that reveals true community and communion of life.
We must grow in the fire of partnership with God in all things. This is knowing the abiding presence of Jesus in the power and purpose of His name that enables us to reign in life. This fire gives us a zeal for God’s house. It gives us a zeal for God’s kingdom to come in our lives and His will to be done.
Holy Spirit, we welcome you to burn in our hearts and minds and reveal us to be sons and daughters of God our Father in heaven. Reveal the testimony of Jesus’ name in all that we are and do. Give us the fire of being loved by You God and the fire of loving You. Grant us the fire of responding to You with heavenly testimonies – inside and out. Give us the fire of giving life to others in the boundaries given to us in this world. Give us the fire of being life for others. Help us grow in knowing who we are in Christ for the sake of our lives together as the body of Christ revealing your glory in our world. Give us the fire of community with a love for You as our Father and a love for the family You have given to us in this world. Give us the fire of purpose and destiny so that we can see Your kingdom come and Your will being done in our spheres of reigning in this world. We open the door for you to abide in us and we choose to abide in you each day of our path of destiny.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:
Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:
House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225
To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.
Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728
