Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Today I am home in Bellingham. It has been a wonderfully sunny week. I have done my spring work, and the garden will soon be growing. It is the season of new life. The natural world is a good reminder of God’s plan for new seasons of life in the world in which we live.
I have been addressing the need to partner with God in all things. I believe this is a season to partner with God in a deeper way. Partnership with God is not a matter of partnership for works. It is a partnership of intimacy with Him. Friendship with God will surely empower us to do works that testify of Him but knowing Him is the goal. Knowing Him will empower us to live for Him, for His purpose, and for His will in all things.
The church of Laodicea was said to be lukewarm in their relationship with God. Their works were not a substitute for an intimate relationship with Him.
Revelation 3:15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.”
The testimony of this church was seen in their works. Their works were a manifestation of their motive for doing them. They were not motivated by love but by a self-righteousness exhibited through half-hearted ceremonial works of mere religion. Their works were not works of faith but works of the flesh. Faith is the testimony of a personal relationship with God whereby we hear Him in our hearts. Faith is the testimony of being a son or daughter of God. It is by being God’s sons and daughters that we are able to find our true identity, testimony, and purpose. It is through a personal relationship of faith towards God that we find the works that God has prepared for us. These are works empowered by a personal relationship with God in Christ.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
God wants us to seek Him in all things, because He wants us to find Him in all things. He wants us to come alive in Him and to be transformed by Him in all things. He wants us to move forward in our lives from every today into every new tomorrow. This process involves finding God’s presence in our lives every day. God’s presence will give us God’s wisdom for each day. God’s wisdom in our lives is empowered by the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of wisdom in our lives. The Spirit of wisdom is testified through the faith that rises in our hearts when we hear His voice internally. We may not even be able to articulate what He has said, but something of a new desire and vision begins to rise from within. These things happen when we find the place of seeing God in the reality of His greatness. An awe of God is the beginning of knowledge, and that knowledge is the ability to be aware, and even wittingly aware, of the greatness of God’s thoughts present in our hearts and minds.
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
The fear of the Lord is an awe of His presence in our lives. It is an awe for His glory and a zealous willingness to fulfill His will in all things. An awe of God is the beginning of wisdom. That wisdom is an internal substance of things hoped for with thoughts, strategies, desires, imaginations, and emotions of faith that can’t be denied. This kind of wisdom doesn’t come from being smart, it comes from the greatness of God’s presence in our lives. We need God’s presence in our world in order for us to find the path of life that God has for us in this world. This is a time to find God’s presence and allow Him to inspire us with knowledge and wisdom that brings about His future and hope.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225
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Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728
