Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
I thought I would give an update as to my present situation. Like you, I am on a journey of faith. Faith comes by hearing God and hearing God is the fruit of being loved by Him. It doesn’t matter what is going on in our lives, good or bad, our journey in life is a testimony of a personal relationship with God in all things. Every day is a day to know God more deeply and to receive His love. The challenges in our lives are opportunities to become genuine in our faith toward, and in, God.
Today I am in Bellingham. I was supposed to be in Portugal and then the Netherlands, but due to some health issues, I had to cancel my travel at this time. I have been challenged with some heart issues since the end of December and have gone through many tests to find the answer to my situation. I spent a few days in the hospital last week, but the good news is that they found the problem—and the challenge is, they found my problem.
After undergoing an angiogram, I have been diagnosed with coronary microvascular disease. Although there is some blockage in some arteries, they said that my daily running routine helped so that even with some blockage there is plenty of blood flow. They did not need to put in any stints and there is no surgery needed. There is some damage to the tiny blood vessels within the heart that restricts some flow, causing the chest pain, fatigue, shortness of breath and other things. They will treat it with medication, and I will continue in my journey of life, knowing that God is my friend and He will work all things out for good according to His purpose in my life. I am believing for Jesus to create in me a clean heart—spirit, soul, and body.
I now know what has been going on. I will continue to do my routine of walking, running, eating right, taking some medications (to keep me humble) and most of all: knowing that in Jesus’ name all is made right! These are simply challenging circumstances in life.
God told me that this year is a year of truth. He told me this would be a year something new, something that I have never experienced in my life before. I’ve learned that when God says something to me, I have to lay down what I think I know. Because when He says something, it has to do with something I haven’t seen, or heard, or thought before. When you’re 70 years old, 53 years old in Christ, you’ve seen some things, you’ve thought some things, you’ve heard some things, so your biggest problem is you know too much. When you know too much, then you have to humble yourself and become like a little child so you’re willing to learn some new things. The circumstances of my life define things that are true, but God’s love defines what is truth.
Truth is a person and nothing can separate us from His love. He wants to meet us each day of our journey in this world. His meeting with us, defines who we are in life. When we see Him, we are changed by Him. He is truth and His presence in our lives is what defines who we are. True things, or lies, don’t define us. Knowing the truth in the midst of true things and in the mist of lies is what makes us free.
Acts 3:19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
Repentance in the New Covenant is an obedience to receiving God’s love. When we know His love, our hearts and minds are changed by His love. Repentance in the New Covenant is a repentance unto life. An encounter with Christ in our lives enables us to repent and be converted. When we experience God’s love we are changed by His love. Our connection with Him today, heals us of our disconnections from Him in the past. His presence in our lives blots out our sins. His presence in our lives gives us refreshing in the midst of our circumstance.
The word refreshing in verse 19, means to recover our breath. Sometimes our wind gets knocked out of us, but times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord in our lives. There is a day when we will experience the culmination of a full coming of Jesus to our lives, but each season of our lives is another opportunity to experience Him more. He desires to come to us each day as a life-giving Spirit. His presence in us restores our breath.
In these verses, there’s two different times. It says that times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord. That word for time there is the Greek word Kairos. Kairos times are the experiences, divine moments, and connections to God that transform our lives.
Jesus is held up in the heavens until the times of the restoration of all things. This word for times is the Greek word Chronos. Chronos time is the chronology of our lives. Our lives are measured in Chronos measurements. Our whole life would be a Chronos time, but in our Chronos time, there are Kairos moments that define us.
Chronos is the measurement of our destiny and Kairos is the measurement of experience in that destiny. Jesus is not held up in the heavens until a moment when He comes and magically fixes everything. He’s held up in the heavens while there’s a process of fixing going on. He’s held up in the heavens while there’s a process of Kairos experiences with Him happening in our lives. We don’t know the full measurement of the Chronos time of our lives, but we can find new life every day in our journey through the Kairos moments of Him revealed to us from within.
In your life, God has ordained that there will be Kairos moments. There will be experiences with Him in your life that will give you your breath, refresh you, refine you, redefine you, and transform you. These Kairos moments are the experiences in your life that make you different than you were before those Kairos moments, and they’re part of your whole destiny. Your whole life is a Chronos destiny and it’s destined for times of God’s presence that give you your breath in the midst of the journey.
Our lives are not measured by the circumstances that we go through. Our lives are defined by our experiences with God in the midst of our journey. I am praying for us all that we will find refreshing from God’s presence in our lives today. This is a season of truth and God is giving us breath that defines who we are.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
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