Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
I hope you are all well. We had another great weekend here at Alife in Bellingham. I was blessed to speak yesterday. The family of God was blessed by the presence of God and one another. It is good to be a part of a community that is a dwelling place of God by His Spirit.
As sons and daughters of God in the New Covenant, we live in and from the presence of God to be kings and priests to our God. We are new creations in Christ, and we have the testimony of living creations before God in Christ.
The first living creature is like a lion. In Christ, you are a lion. The devil goes around like a lion seeking whom he may devour and destroy, but you are a lion. You are a part of the lion of the tribe of Judah. The lion is who you are toward the enemy. Your attitude, your thoughts, and your actions are a testimony of praise to God. This is the weapon of life that overpowers every foe. Praise is not simply something we do with words or songs. Praise is the testimony of God’s victory working in and through our lives. This is the high praise of God. It is an attitude of victory of life even as we sleep at night.
Psalms 149:5 Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud on their beds. 6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, 7 to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; 8 to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; 9 To execute on them the written judgment—this honor have all His saints. Praise the LORD!
Praise is a testimony of the victory of God in Christ. It is not by our strength but a testimony of God’s love for us as children of God. Our childlike expectation of God’s love gives us victory over our enemies. God silences the enemy through the mouths of little children in their praise. When we are like little children, we praise God.
Psalms 8:2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger.
The second living creature is like a calf or an ox, particularly a young male ox that has never been put in a yoke. A calf speaks of worship and service. We may be bold as a lion and victorious over the enemy, but we never go to God as a lion. We go to God as a calf. We go to God as a new creation no longer living by a dependency upon the strength of the flesh but upon the love of God. We, the creation, worship and serve God the Creator as a response to His love. The life that we now live, we live by faith in God. I don’t need to be a lion to God. No, I’m an ox. I may have angels that follow me around. I may glow in the dark, but to God, I’m a creature. He’s the Creator, and my life is for Him.
The third living creature has a face like a man. The lion has the likeness of a lion, the ox has a likeness of an ox, the eagle has the likeness of an eagle, but this creature has a face that is like a man. Why? You used to be a man, but now you’re a new creation in Christ. But you still have a face like that of a man, which means when it comes to mankind, when it comes to sinners or believers, when it comes to expressing our lives towards one another, we make ourselves the size of the other. We make ourselves of no reputation. We take on the attitude and action of Jesus, who didn’t consider it robbery to be equal with God, yet He humbled Himself, and He made Himself a servant, and He washed feet (Phil. 2:5-8).
So when we come before people, we never allow people to worship us. We never go before people to be a lion. We go before people to be like them. We have a face like their face. That’s how we say, holy, holy, holy. We love people because He loves us. We have a face like that of a man. I’ve known Jesus for 52 years, but I’m just as much a man as someone who doesn’t know Jesus at all. So I’m going to treat all people as though they know Jesus, and then I’m going to invite them to know Him. I’m going to talk to my neighbors as though they hear God, because they do. They just might not know it is God they are hearing. So I always have a face like that of a man when I go before a man. I don’t have a face of an ox to man. I don’t worship people. I don’t have a face of a lion toward people.
The fourth creature is like an eagle. The whole creature is like an eagle. We are strong in God’s word. We are strong in the Spirit, and others can follow us as we follow Christ. Like an eagle, we have two wings that make us heavenly beings in Christ. Our access to heaven gives us the wings of the Spirit and the Word. We’re strong in the word and we manifest the testimony of Christ to our world. We’re strong in faith. Others can follow us as we follow Christ. We are led by the Spirit and not by our own carnal desires. We live from a divine connection to God in the realm of the spirit of life and peace in Christ Jesus.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728
