Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Today I am out in the field on a hunting trip. I had a blessed time ministering yesterday at Alife in Bellingham. I am now hoping to reap some harvest and have a good time with God in the forest in the process.
As sons and daughters of God, we have been appointed and anointed to be salt and light to our world. We must be internally motivated by the kingdom of God within us and not shaken by the instability of the kingdoms of our world. Where is our focus? Are we looking to the light of Christ or are we looking to the darkness in the world? When things become troublesome in the world, some Christian believers become focused on things they believe to be signs of the end of the world. They say, It must be getting close to the end, because look at how dark it is getting. This is good. Finally, persecution will come to the church in America or the church in Europe, or the church in the world. Now maybe we will become the real church.
It is true that pressure does make what is real manifest in our lives. So, should we get excited to invite undue pressure? Or should we say: It is time to arise and shine! It is not time to arise and judge. It is time to arise and demonstrate what true fathers and mothers look like, what true businesses look like, what true music sounds like, or what true art portrays. All that we are and all that we do must become life-giving to the world. It must produce life-giving testimonies. We don’t need more movies that condemn the world. If we only aired good news on the radio and the television, we could impact the world in a life-giving way. If we only told good news to our neighbors, we would change the world. If we simply broadcasted all the good news something good would happen. The world is not going to do that. I wonder if someone who is part of the church will.
Are we waiting for people in darkness to speak as light? They live in darkness! They are not going to speak as the light, nor can we expect them to. They cannot see. They don’t need us to condemn them for their ways of darkness. They need us to demonstrate what it looks like when someone lives in the ways of light. Are we are waiting for people who live in darkness to speak light? They live in darkness, and they are not going to speak light. They don’t need us to condemn their darkness. What if we became competitive with good news, good music, good art and everything that is good in life. I am not talking about old things or old sounds. I am not talking about safe business ideas. I am talking about radical ideas that have never been thought of before. I am talking about life-giving ideas with life-giving expression and life-giving sounds.
Grace always gives to others. It never takes from them. Mercy is given so you can be empowered by grace to give mercy to others. When we experience God’s mercy, we can empower others to come into grace. Grace is working in our lives so we can be merciful to those who are in the law or to those who are bound to promiscuity. Grace doesn’t work in legalism or promiscuity. It works in the hearts and minds of those who have become hungry, willing, and teachable in and for the presence of Christ within their hearts. We don’t condone darkness, nor do we condemn those who live in it. Darkness is already condemned. We simply look for a way to help people out of darkness, but we must first demonstrate light.
Isaiah 60:3 The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
People who do not understand God will be attracted to people of grace. People who don’t understand covenant will come and say, Wow! What is this? How can I get this? Even kings will come to the brightness of their rising. Wow! How does it work? How does this wellbeing for others thing happen? Where did this revolution come from? What are your ideas? I need some ideas! What are your ideas?
A dog barks like a dog, that is how we know it is a dog. If an animal sounds with a meow, it is likely a cat. If it clucks, it may be a chicken. If it moos, it might be a cow. We identify animals by their sounds. When a cow sounds like a cow we don’t say, why don’t you act like a lion? We don’t condemn a cow for being a cow. We don’t put a saddle on a lion and expect it to behave like a horse. In the same way, we cannot expect people who do not know God to act as though they do. We live in the world, but we are not of the world. We are to shine in the world, not to condemn the world for being darkness. What do we expect? People of grace don’t measure people in the world by law. They measure them by love!
Can we be the people of God? Can we become people of grace with one another? Can we become people of grace who show mercy to those who need mercy? Can we arise and shine and live for the wellbeing of others? The world is a mess, but we can manifest with the testimonies of a life-changing, life-restoring God.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
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I believe this issue is regarding the way in which we have been conditioned in living in the world. We have been conditioned to judge whether or not we are aware of it or not. Judgement is an automatic reaction to other people, places, and things. Judgement is essentially on the “tip of every tongue” in one way or another and is at the core of an antichrist mode of existence.
I believe the Christ-life of grace, His living water is the substance of love. I believe rest is the gift of love. When I am partnering with God in rest beside the still waters of love it flows over, in, and through me. When I am partnering with judgment, darkness invades the atmosphere with thick choking smoke. As a child of God, it is my desire to change the atmosphere with love and initiate the fragrances of Heaven. 1 Corinthians 13–unpacks how to navigate this world in the perfume of His presence.
I believe when I am partnering with God in the ways of 1 Corinthians 13, His love through me cancels out judgment-the word says, to God, “even the darkness is light.” Love is the light in this present darkness–therefore, the substance of mercy is the absence of judgment. Grace is the faceted crystal colors of light in all the Fruit of the Spirit, “against such there is no law.”
The law was all about relational engagement with others: don’t do this or that to/ by harming other people or you will sow death. Jesus summed up the law–“do love instead” and you will sow LIFE; in the process you become light and that light changes the atmosphere because it is you engaging my prime desire. We know the higher law is love–and it is the antidote to all negativity in any shape or form. I cannot muster love on my own. That is why I need a savior. I need to recognize that the “issue is not the issue;” every situation is about becoming the image of Jesus.
I do this by allowing Jesus to do His thing: resting in the assurance that Jesus in me is reigning in love. I choose to partner with Jesus in allowing others to have the freedom to make their choices, however, I do not need to react in judgment to negativity; I do not have to live in negativity because Jesus in me is RESTING–He is my resting place.