Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
I hope you are all well today. I have been in the woods for a few days hunting my yearly groceries. I am hoping for success today. I almost had elk in the freezer yesterday, but not quite the right opportunity. I am having a great time with my Friend and Father.
The glory of God is the testimony of God and the formation of His character in our lives. His glory is not just the brightness of His presence filled with signs and wonders. Surely supernatural power is part of the glory of God, but the glory of God is much more. The glory of God is more about a relationship with God than merely His power. He wants us to be a testimony of the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person. He wants to reveal His character, nature, way, power, and authority in and through our lives to our world.
Isaiah 2:3 Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
God’s ways are ways of love and life. God doesn’t seek His own way for His own desires. His ways are to give life to the world. Holy Spirit in our lives empowers us to give life and love. Knowing the ways of God is a changed character. It is a changed nature within us that empowers us to demonstrate a life that is true to the character of God. God is a giver and not a taker. He doesn’t need anything from anyone, but gives life, breath, and all things. I believe that knowing the ways of God is about being transformed from living for ourselves to living to give life to others. The way of God is always a matter of choosing life that brings life to others. It brings life to the world we live in.
What does it mean to walk in the path of God? I believe the path of God is not a discipline of our flesh, but an empowerment of the Spirit. It is not merely a way of walking for our own sake, but a way of moving forward in life that reveals the testimony of God’s love and life in every circumstance. That path also serves to help others find a way forward to life in their world.
Psalms 27:11 Teach me Your way, O LORD, and lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
Proverbs 4:18 But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.
Perhaps the smooth path is the path that causes no pain to others. Our enemies seek to cause us pain, but the path of God brings life. I believe the path of God includes the testimony of God in and through our lives and it empowers us to move forward and even make a way that others can follow. It is the witness of the testimony of life. God’s path is a path of justice that makes a way for life in the earth. It reveals the goodness and the greatness of God in our lives. The path of God is always a path of deliverance from our enemies, and it leads to a place of transformation and inheritance in Christ. The path of God in our lives always leads to life.
Isaiah 43:16 Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea and a path through the mighty waters, 17 Who brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power (They shall lie down together, they shall not rise; They are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick): 18 “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
What does it mean for the law to go out of Zion? In the Old Testament, Zion was the place that David set up his tabernacle for the manifest presence of God in Jerusalem. Zion was the geographical place of the stronghold of the Jebusites, a name meaning “to trample” or “to tread upon”. I believe that Zion represents the human heart. This is where the tabernacle of David is found. It is the place of the human heart that has been redeemed in Christ. What was formerly a stronghold of destruction, becomes a stronghold of God’s mercy and grace. God’s presence is in our hearts. God’s law is a law of love. I believe that knowing God causes our hearts to become a habitation of His love. Love for others even as we are loved by God becomes the rule of our hearts.
What does it mean for the word of the Lord to go forth from Jerusalem. The name Jerusalem means “vision of peace”. The influence of our lives is determined by a vision of peace, a vision of our lives being one with Christ in heaven as we increasingly become the community of God in the earth. We become expressions of God’s word in some way as a testimony of those who have a vision of peace, an increasing reality of being part of the community of Christ in the earth. We become transformed to influence the world as expressions of the people of God. We don’t condemn the world; we give love and life to inspire all to come to the mountain of the Lord.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728
