Ted J. Hanson's Weekly Blog – ted4you.com

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

I am enjoying the summer months of Northwest, Washington. Our youngest granddaughter, Eleonore, has kept Bonnie and I busy and full of life the last couple of days. Another great sleep over at Gopa and Oma’s house for the little one. Life is good! It is good to be grandparents, but especially good to be part of a family that knows God and His love in many ways.

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.

What does it mean to know the ways of God? Is it some form of information that we embrace in order to discipline our flesh to make actions we think God would make? I think that 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. This is why we worship God. It brings life to our world. It is not because God needs our worship, it is because worshipping God releases the life of God to our world. When we give God His proper place in our lives, our lives are transformed to become like Him in our way of life.

What does it mean to walk in the paths 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.

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

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

We had another great day yesterday at Alife here in Bellingham. Pastors Jonathan and Danie gave us a great challenge to say yes to God for our part in His corporate testimony and purpose. Our yes is not merely for our dream in life, but to be a part of His vision and dream together as the family of God. This will include our yes in areas we don’t think we can. God is the qualifier, and it is for His glory that we live.

As believers in Christ our way is not the way of the world. Our way is the way of Christ. People in the world are seekers of self and not seekers of God. They are seekers of life, but their perspective of life is what they can receive from the world they live in. Their identity is wrapped up in the world they find themselves in or the world they create for themselves in their natural environment in life. They are disconnected from God so their focus in life is to fulfill their needs in created things and created beings. They look to other people and other things to meet their needs. They even unknowingly, and sometimes knowingly, look to see their needs met by spiritual influences that are less than the Creator. Mankind, natural creation, and even spiritual creation are all creation, and they all need the one Creator who gives life, breath, and all things. It is through a personal relationship with God in our hearts that we find our way in life. Our counsel in all things comes from Him, not from the things of this world.

Psalms 1:1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.

Our counsel comes from the voice of God in our hearts. It is not merely a counsel that gives us right information to live by. It is a counsel that changes our hearts and gives us right desires to live by. Our path in life is determined by the One who puts the desires of life in our hearts. He puts before us life and death and the Spirit of the Lord within our hearts inspires us to always choose life. Our security is found in our connection to God in every situation of our lives. We are seated with God in Christ in heavenly places, and it is from the inside out that we find true life. The law of God is not the Torah law of the Old Covenant. His law is love that was only reflected in the principles, patterns, and values of the Torah law. Our meditation is upon the love of God. His love gives life. We don’t meditate on His law to know His law; we meditate upon His law to know His heart. We meditate upon all that He says so that we will know who He is. We don’t study our Bible so that we will know the Bible. We study the Bible because it is the book that reveals secrets to our Father’s heart.

Our world consists of everything, and everyone, joined to us in life. How can we be sons and daughters who give life to our world? This is all found in His manifest presence. It is the manifest presence of God in our lives that gives us life. This is the true water of life. There are many seasons in our lives but the key to the fruitfulness of every season of our life is to live in Christ and for Christ to live in us. This is true prosperity, and it will even guide us into physical realms of blessing.

To meditate upon the law of God means to ponder upon it by talking to oneself. This is the meaning of the Hebrew word. It is to murmur to yourself regarding God’s words. What an interesting thought. It is not merely keeping the things that God says in our hearts, but it involves expressing them to ourselves and to the atmosphere around us. This is stirring up the ways of God from the inside out. I believe that the true strength of our meditation is not merely saying God’s words to ourselves but in saying them with God’s presence from within. We must be active and proactive in our relationship with God.

These words of the Psalmist were words spoken by God to Joshua as the entrance to the Promised Land. They were instructions as to how to dwell in the land of God’s promise. These instructions were the key to the victory of God’s people over every opposition to their Promised Land. These instructions also apply to the Promised Land of God’s blessing in our world.

Joshua 1:8 “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Our meditation is to know God wherever we go in life. God is with us, and we must demonstrate that we are with Him. Our observation is not an observation of the things that He has said or the book that He has inspired to be written. Our observation is of His heart. By this He will teach us His ways, we will walk in His paths, His law of love will be in our hearts, and our lives will be an expression of those who are a part of His community of life. Our vision will be one of peace with God in all things and the testimony of our lives will be that of being part of the community of God’s favor. It is a testimony of being in constant and continual communion with God by His Holy Spirit.

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.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am in Wisconsin. I have been blessed to spend several days with my good friend Tim. We have known each other for many years and have known God together for almost fifty years now. Our time together has been precious as our time with God is precious in all the seasons of our lives.

God didn’t send Jesus so that we would know what to do. He sent Jesus so we would know who our Father is and in knowing who our Father is we would know who we are. God sent Jesus to reconnect us to our Father so that we would become manifested children of God and bring life to our world. We were born to be loved by God and being loved by God empowers us to love others in our world with love that comes from God. This is knowing the kingdom of God within us and knowing the kingdom of God within us causes are kingdoms to become expressions of our Lord and Christ. This is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit from within our hearts.

Today I am grateful for a relationship with God in Christ. Jesus made a way for the desires of my heart to grow from a place of knowing God. He reconnected me to the One who loves me. God did not separate from me. I separated from Him. I sought to fulfill the desires of my heart in a created world and a world of created things. My life was upside down because I was trying to fill my life from the outside in. My Father in heaven wanted to put my life right-side up. For this reason, God came into my world as Jesus the Son of God, the Son of Man. He didn’t just do this as an act of a man 2000 years ago. He did this as the eternal word of God and He is in my life by the reality of His Spirit joined to my spirit within. Jesus was the firstborn of a new creation. That creation is one of being joined to the Creator in our hearts. This is true righteousness, to be joined to the One who makes all things as they should be from within. Christ in me is the hope of all glory. I can become the authentic me because I am joined to the authentic Creator, the lover of who I truly am. He gives me desires that are empowerments of change from within. He is Lord of my heart. My desires are changing, and they are growing as life-giving expressions of our family DNA. That family is the family of our Father in heaven. I am a child of God and my relationship with God from within is empowering me to be a son of my Father in heaven with His character, nature, way, power, and authority growing from within me. He gives me the desires of my heart because of my relationship with Him. I am growing in knowing Him! Those desires are not my desires alone, they are His desire becoming my desires from within my heart.

I am thankful today because I have found, and I am finding, true peace. I am connected to the giver of life in all things. Nothing can separate me from the love of God. He is the source of my testimony in life. He is the giver, but I am an expression of all that He gives. He delights in loving me and I delight in loving Him. There is no gap between my world and His and His world and mine. All that He is and all that He has is changing the expression of who I am. Being joined to Him fills me up to overflowing and what He is doing on the inside of me becomes an expression that others can see. This is the testimony of my peace with God. He was never angry with me and the testimony of His connection to me and my connection to Him is eradicating the things that destroy life. God’s anger is an anger of love, and it is anger that only destroys the things that seek to destroy me.

Today I am grateful for a partnership with God in the power and the goodness of who He is. His manifest presence in my life is precious to me. I can’t live without Him, but with Him I can do all the things I need to do in my responsibilities of life. To know Him in my world empowers my world to declare His name for His glory. He doesn’t force His presence upon me, but He invites me to open the door to His presence in every aspect of my life. It is there that He feasts with me and I with Him. It is there that He drinks with me and I with Him. We experience the treasure and the power of life together. This is true joy! God, I love your house! My heart and my flesh cries out for You! This is not because You are far way, but because You are so willing and near. When You are with Me, what power can be against me? You strengthen me from within. What an amazing grace that I should be a place where You dwell!

We are part of the calling of God in Christ, we are part of the inheritance of Christ, and we are a part of His purpose in our generation for the sake of the generations to come. My prayer today is that you would know the righteousness of God in Christ from within your heart. It is a right relationship with the One who loves you and Who gives you the desires of your heart that are empowered by His love. My prayer is that you will know the peace of God from within. To know that nothing can separate you from the love of God. To be an expression of His love that your world can see that is an authentic expression of what you can see within your heart. I pray that you will know a partnership with God that is intimate and near, yet powerful and prevailing in all things. By this you will reign in your world with joy filled purpose and joy filled focus as you celebrate the life of knowing your Father in Heaven, Jesus His Son, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit at all times.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Yesterday I was able to minister at Everyone’s Church in Mt. Vernon, Washington. God’s presence was there, faith was in the hearts of the people, and God revealed Himself as good in His family. I hope you also had a great weekend. God is surely creating a family testimony and a testimony of being God’s family in the earth.

God is inviting us to live in a place of partnership with Him and with one another in Christ. We are not merely servants of God. We are children of our Heavenly Father. Our purpose in the earth is one of being the family of God. Why does God want us to know partnership? Partnership is not merely about purpose; it is about love. But love is always filled with purpose. That purpose is a furtherance of God’s love that changes the world in which we live.

We often think of God’s purpose as a matter of power, but power alone doesn’t create the greatest purpose of God in the world. When Moses was sent to deliver the children of Israel from Egypt, God used the wicked Pharaoh for His purpose.

Exodus 9:16 But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.

God can use the wicked to proclaim His name to the earth because God is more powerful than those who oppose Him. God uses the wicked and the hard of heart to demonstrate His power, but what about us when we partner with Him as children of God? Our partnership with God and His partnership with us is not a matter of power. It is a matter of love and the testimony of love. God offers this partnership to anyone who seeks to know Him. I believe that God looks for those who seek to know Him to demonstrate His willingness to go to the place they live. I believe that Jesus demonstrated this when He encountered Zacchaeus as He passed through Jericho.

Luke 19:1 Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 2 Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3 And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. 7 But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.”

In this story, the hunger of Zacchaeus to see who Jesus was stirred Jesus to go to His house that day. Jesus told Him to make haste and come down because Jesus wanted to stay at His house. This was more than a superficial visit. Jesus didn’t care that Zacchaeus was someone that the religious considered a sinner. Jesus saw Zacchaeus as a child of God. I believe this story reveals God’s desire for partnership with us in life. God wants to stay in our houses. He wants to live in our lives. God wants to live with us and us with Him. It is not our works that justify us, but our willingness to receive Jesus into our lives. God wants us to know the mystery of a connection to God.

Ephesians 3:8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; 10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.

Reigning in life is not a matter of knowing what to do. It is not merely a matter of doing the right thing or making the right decision. It is a matter of being a place of God’s presence. It is the place of knowing the mystery of the fellowship of God and man in a partnership of intimacy, one with another. Jesus living in our house and we living in our Father’s house is the testimony of our dependency in life.

Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”‘”

Several years ago, God told me that grace is the evidence that God lives in our house. He also told me that peace is the evidence that we live in God’s house. When God is in our lives, we increasingly change in life-receiving and life-giving ways. When we partner with God and live in His house, our access to the substance of all that He is and all that He has enables us to know the substance of heaven in our lives. Our aim should be for Jesus to live in our lives in an intimate way of eating and drinking the food and drink of grace and peace. It is through a partnership of love that we will reign in life.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

We had an awesome time in the manifest presence of God yesterday in our local church. There was a free flowing of the Holy Spirit with our personal connection to God and to one another. God was speaking and His family was responding.

True communion is a sharing of the bread of the body of Christ and a drinking of the Spirit of Christ as the life of being the body of Christ. The bread that we experience is the testimony of humanity made to become the word of God in flesh. The cup that we drink is a cup of the Spirit. It is a cup of resurrection life. How do we drink the cup of resurrection life? Our connection to one another as members of the body of Christ is not merely a connection of the soul. It is not merely a connection made by attending the same church or becoming a member of a fellowship. Our connection is a connection to God and to one another by the manifest presence of the Spirit of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ in us, upon us, and with us as the body of Christ. This is the testimony of grace! This is the testimony of the resurrection life of Christ in our lives. Even in the Old Covenant, there were times when men had a revelation of the presence of God and their need for His Spirit in their lives.

Psalms 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice. 9 Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You. 14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.

David’s appeal to God was that God wouldn’t look at the errors of his departure from God, but that God would heal the root cause of his disconnects so that he wouldn’t disconnect ever again. He called for God to change his heart with the strength of David’s spirit from within. He knew that the Holy Spirit in him and with him was his salvation. David understood his need for the presence of God in His life. His salvation was the presence of God with Him. He understood that God is a giver and not a taker. His view of the Holy Spirit was that of being the generous Spirit. He knew that God’s manifest presence in his life would be a testimony to sinners and that they would be converted by the testimonies of God’s love. The beginning and the end of the testimony of God’s Spirit in his life was the removal of all shame and every cause for shame in his life.

The communion of the Holy Spirit in our midst is the removal of all shame. God’s presence in our lives removes the consequence of every shame in our lives and His presence heals the root cause of our iniquities. Hearing God is not about knowing what to do, it is about knowing God. True communion is knowing God in our lives and in and through the lives of one another. It is the life of Christ in us, upon us, and with us that testifies of the death of Jesus Christ to give us the resurrection life of Christ. It is the presence of Holy Spirit in our hearts that creates clean hearts within us.

I hear God saying for us to listen with our spirits! Holy Spirit speaks to our spirits, not our heads. God wants us to trust what He is saying to our spirits more than we trust what we think He is saying to our heads. We need to discover the rest, the revelation, and the transformation that takes place when we dwell in the presence of God, and we allow Him to dwell with His presence in us. We wrestle in hearing God because we believe that hearing God is understanding God in our minds.  God says that those who have ears to hear are those who hear. Hearing God is not an effort of the flesh, but a response to the Spirit. Both Jesus in the gospels and the Holy Spirit in the book of Revelation declared, “He who has an ear to hear, let him hear.” Hearing is a response to the Spirit, not a strain of human effort. It is a matter of letting our spirits hear that empowers a process of letting our minds hear the voice of God from within us. The fruit is an empowering of our thoughts, reasoning, imagination, emotions, and desires from within. It is not something that we strive to see happen, but a supernatural inspiration from within. It is a drinking of the Spirit of Christ in our lives. It is a communion of the Spirit – God’s Spirit to our spirit. I believe this is the true power of God’s grace. This is the blood of the New Covenant working in us and when we allow this to happen in our place of corporate connection it is an empowerment of life to us all.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings;

I hope you are enjoying your summer months. We have had some great weather here in the Northwest and we are enjoying the immunity boost of summer sunshine. Yesterday we had a great time of gathering as Alife Church in Bellingham. Pastors Jonathan and Danie did a great job of refreshing us all in how to strengthen ourselves in the Lord. There was lots of connection to one another as the family of God in our spiritual living room in Bellingham.

Last week, I posted a portion of my book, The Seven Eyes of Grace – Empowered to Live, concerning communion and the present grace of the Spirit of Knowing in the earth. I want to post another segment of this today. This book is available in Print and in E-book on Amazon. It will soon be available in audiobook on many sources.

Chapter 6.2 – The Sixth Eye of Grace; Pages 182-184:

Have you ever been in one of those condemnation services where the minister challenges you to examine the works of the flesh in your life around the elements of bread and juice? Truly there is a truth presented in the act, but many times the act ends up being a tool of condemnation in the hands of men in their ministry. Many people become condemned at what they believe to be the “communion table”, but fail to consider the other times they gather together as the Body of Christ. They fail to see the importance of living their daily lives for the purposes of God and one another. They may practice religiously the partaking of the bread and the drinking of wine as symbols upon a sacred tray, but they are spiritually, emotionally, and physically cursed for despising the true bread of the Body of Christ and for rejecting the cup of being led by the Spirit.

Communion can be described in the act of “breaking bread”, but communion itself is also an act of truly “breaking bread”. It is not just the natural bread of communion, but rather the spiritual bread of life that each of us represents as members of the living Body of Christ. I believe this is what was testified of in the practices of the early Church.

Acts 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

True communion was initiated in the fulfillment of Passover. Jesus became the true Passover Lamb, who took away the sins of the world. In preparation of that sacrifice, Jesus ate the Passover meal with His disciples. He had eaten that meal with them before. He had most likely eaten the bread of Passover and drank the cup at least twice before with His men. He had experienced the physical elements of bread and wine at numerous settings of his 33^1/2 years of human life. As the Word of God, He had observed the Passover meal hundreds and hundreds of times from the realm of heaven. However, this meal was different. This is the one Passover meal that He had longed to see. This was the one that would fulfill all of the previous meals leading up to that moment. This is why Jesus said, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Lk. 22:15). This was the one that would reveal the truth of the Passover meal. At that meal there was the Passover bread and the cups of the Passover wine.

The first cup of the Passover meal was a cup of Thanksgiving (Kiddush), for bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt. This cup is sometimes referred to as the cup of Sanctification. The second cup of the Passover meal was a cup of Telling or Testimony (Maggid), for stories of deliverance from Egyptian slavery. The third cup was the Cup of Redemption or Blessing (Birkat Hamazon), to demonstrate God’s redemption power for all who believe in Him. It testified of the death of the flesh of Egyptian inheritance and the protection unto new life for the believer in Israel. The fourth cup was the cup of Praise (Hallel) to testify that God had acquired His people as a Holy nation unto Himself (Ex. 6:6, 7). Jesus had come to the world as the Word made flesh. He was born as flesh to proclaim that all flesh could be born-again in Him. We can be thankful that He lived a natural life for 30 years that we might all live our everyday lives as new creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). He Himself had fled to Egypt to free all who were bound to the bondage of sin. He was born as the cup of Thanksgiving to God. He lived his life as the cup of Telling. When He was baptized by John the Spirit of God came upon Him in full measure and He went about demonstrating the deliverance power of God in Israel. He healed the sick, cast out devils, multiplied bread, and even raised the dead as a testimony of deliverance for all people. His life in the flesh set precedence for all who would follow Him to become the living testimonies of God’s story in the earth. The time had now finally come for Jesus to take the unleavened bread of the Passover and the third cup of Passover wine (the cup of Blessing or the cup of Redemption). Jesus finished its symbolism in the presence of His disciples. He proclaimed to them that He was about to give His life as a ransom for all men. The cup to follow the cup of Redemption would be the cup of Praise.

Jesus has become the resurrection life within the Body of Christ that we might drink the Cup of Praise anew with Him (Mt. 26:29). That cup is not a cup of earthly wine. It is a cup of heavenly wine! It is the cup of resurrection life given to all who believe in Jesus Christ. It is the cup that testifies that the cup of Redemption and Blessing has been drunk once for all men through the shedding of the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. To drink that cup of resurrection life one must first be a partaker of the Bread of Life. By drinking the Cup of Praise, we proclaim the fulfillment of the Cup of Redemption for all mankind. We proclaim that Jesus was the testimony of the cup of Thanksgiving, the cup of Testimony (Deliverance), and the cup of Redemption for all men. In sharing the cup of the Spirit, we experience the intimacy of the Body of Christ. In experiencing the intimacy of the Body of Christ we proclaim the death of Jesus Christ for all men.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson –

Updated Version in Print and E-book on Amazon

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings;

Blessings to all my American friends on this Independence Day. I pray that the freedom of your independence stirs you to find your dependance upon Jesus Christ and the Body of Christ. It is in our freedom that we can choose by our freewill to seek the One and the place of true life. This is the testimony of true love.

I have spent this past week recording my book, The Seven Eyes of Grace – Empowered To Live, in audio form. It will soon be available as an audiobook. There is now an updated version of this book in Print and E-book form on Amazon. As I was recording this book, I felt to share a portion of that book today. We are in a season of becoming the people of God as the body of Christ who knows the life of the Spirit over the life of flesh.

Chapter 6.2 – The Sixth Eye of Grace; Pages 181, 182:

What is communion? Webster’s Dictionary defines communion as: “A sharing, an intimate relationship with deep understanding.” Communion is not merely the ceremonial act of breaking bread and drinking juice or wine. Huge debates, conflicts, judgments, and divisions have come about over the dispute of the details of the elements of the “communion table”. We must be missing something! Communion must be more than the elements of “bread” and the “fruit of the grape”. How can we share and come to an intimate relationship with deep understanding simply by taking the elements of the “communion table”? Maybe if we find the true elements of communion, we will automatically find the true “communion table”?

We are so easily distracted by things, events, and moments of tangible evidence. I believe we have deviated from the true reality of communion by viewing it as a thing we do. We have seen it as an “event”. We have left churches because the “event” wasn’t often enough; or the “event” was with the wrong “elements”. For the sake of a debate on what we have called “communion” we have chosen separation, isolation, and even division. Have we missed something here? We have had great theological debates over wine and juice. The improper choice of bread has caused some to depart from the sharing of their lives with the congregation of saints they thought was their home. I have seen this dozens of times in various congregations around the world.

I believe in many cases communion has become nothing less than a thing of judgment. It has become a “Nehushtan”. Do you recall the story? The children of Israel on their journey in the wilderness had become discouraged against God and against Moses (Num. 21:1-9). The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people as a result of their murmuring and complaint; those serpents bit them and many of the people died. The people came repentant to Moses, begging that they might be forgiven of their sin. God instructed Moses to make a fiery serpent of brass and lift it up on a pole among the people. All who looked to the bronze serpent on the pole were healed of the serpent bites. It was a wonderful picture of Jesus Christ being lifted up upon our cross for our deception and sin. When we look to Jesus Christ as the sacrifice for our sin, we are healed of the bite of sin in our lives. Moses’ obedience to craft the bronze serpent was a response to a God-given instruction. However, there remained a problem. The children of Israel kept that bronze serpent around for hundreds of years and even began to include it with the articles of worship upon their high place. The very God-given thing became an abomination of idolatry. It became a place of judgment, rather than a place of blessing. King Hezekiah, a righteous king of Judah, broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses made, for the people burned incense to it and called it Nehushtan (2 Kin. 18:4). The name Nehushtan means, “brass thing”. Brass is often symbolic of judgment in the Scriptures. The thing of blessing had become a thing of judgment, because the people chose to worship it. I believe the elements of communion have often become like that. We have chosen to worship the table upon which the elements of communion reside instead of worshipping the God in which everyone abides. We have worshipped the elements of communion and missed the true intimacy of communion. We have failed to honor the Body that contains the presence of the Bread of Christ and the life of the Spirit of Christ. I believe the true communion table is the coming together of the Body of Christ. I believe the true elements of the bread of that table are the members of the Body of Christ. I believe the true cup of the communion table is the life of the Spirit within each and every member of the Body of Christ. We eat that bread when we lay our lives down for the lives of one another. We drink that cup when we choose the life of the Spirit over the life of the flesh.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Well, it appears that Summer has finally arrived in the Northwest. What a great weekend we have had here! The sun is shining, the garden is growing, and the sound of life is everywhere. I hope you have had a great weekend as well.

We have a great hope in Christ. Jesus is the name that is above all other names and Holy Spirit has come in the name of Jesus into our lives. The testimony of Jesus in the flesh, is not just the testimony of Jesus as a man for the salvation of mankind. It is the testimony of His resurrection from the dead. That testimony is manifested as Christ in our flesh. There are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit. There are three that bear witness in the earth – the Spirit, the water, and the blood.

1 John 5:6 This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. 7 For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.

Our relationship is with God in His plurality. He is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He is fully in heaven, but He has also given us access to Him as believers in Jesus and members of the body of Christ. The blood testifies that we are believers in Christ. The water testifies that we are members of the body of Christ. The Spirit is the empowerment of our lives as believers and members of the body of Christ.

Hebrews 9:13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Our bodies washed with pure water is the work of God’s Spirit and Word in our lives. This sanctification in Christ is the true testimony of the water containing the ashes of the Red Heifer. The shed blood of Jesus gives us access to the blood of the New Covenant – the empowering grace of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We sprinkle the water by holding fast the confession of our hope without wavering. We must encourage one another for this cause in the testimony of Christ. We can only hold fast to our confession by depending upon the faithfulness of God. It is the faithfulness of God in one another that encourages and empowers one another to remain strong in Christ. We are washed with the pure water when we seek to stimulate one another with love and to love. Our love towards one another is evidence of being part of the body of Christ. We do not judge one another according to the flesh, but according to who we are in Christ. The life that we live is a life of faith towards God in Christ. We must seek to stimulate one another with and for good works. Those works are the external testimony of our faith towards God and towards one another. We experience the washing of pure water when we come together. We must make seeking to come together as of the most importance in our lives. We cannot experience the washing of pure water by isolating from one another. We must come together as often as we can to encourage one another as members of the body of Christ. We do this especially as we see the day approaching. The approaching day is the seventh day, the perfection of our lives. It is the day of the full harvest of our destiny. It is not merely an event in the future, but a testimony of the increasing perfection of Christ in our lives. Surely the enemy will seek to distract us from these things in our lives. If the enemy can distract us we will be altered from the course of our full destiny in Christ. We must stay the course and be true to who we really are. We are members of the body of Christ and members of one another in Christ.

God’s grace is the manifest presence of His Holy Spirit working in our lives. This is Christ in us, the hope of glory. The testimony of the Spirit of God to us, is the life of God’s Spirit within us. God’s mercy justifies us all to live, but it is the testimony of His grace that empowers us to live. The apostle John wrote to the church in His day reminding them that the test of a true voice of God was the witness within them.

1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

It is the Spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come into your flesh, that is of God. This is the internal witness of life, and this is what separates us from the world. Everyone in the world is welcome to come, but each one must come to God in Christ. Only Christ in you is the greater power. It is the power of the resurrection life of God working within. It is not merely the spirit that says Jesus came in the form of flesh two thousand years ago, but the spirit that acknowledges Christ in humanity. Christ in humanity is the testimony of Jesus, the Lord, coming into our own personal lives. Any voice of God to us will be witnessed by the life-giving Spirit of Christ within us. We must willingly receive Him to be internally empowered to confess our believing Him. The internal motivator is the Holy Spirit who has been sent in Jesus’ name to bear witness to the One whose name is above all other names in every age.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

I was blessed to minister at my home church on Sunday. I have been a part of Alife Church (Abundant Life) for more than 31 years. It is always good to be home. Thank you to all that came and to those who tuned in online. Blessings to you all in your journey as you live your lives from the inside out. Christ in you is the hope of glory!

In the birthing of the church in the first century, there was a great persecution that was an attempt to destroy the birthing firstfruit body of Christ. Anti-Christ sought to destroy all that was Christ, but all that was Christ overcame and the anti-Christ opposition was destroyed by their own weapons of war. The weapons of the flesh were no match for the weapons of God’s Spirit and the church proved in its foundation to be a spiritual house of destiny for the ages to come. The first century believers overcame by the blood of the lamb, the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives even unto death. They had discovered the testimony of being living stones in the living house of God. They were stones that knew the love of God and held on to hearing God’s voice in their hearts. The hate of their enemies could not destroy the revelation of God’s love in their hearts. The testimony of Jesus being the fulfillment of Passover was a revelation within them. The blood of the Lamb was a testimony of the mercy and grace of God. They were alive to God in their hearts, even in the face of opposition and persecution of their day. Like the large stones shadowed in the temple of Solomon, those comprising the temple of the New Covenant body of Christ were unshakeable in their foundation.

The first century church knew the testimony of Pentecost fulfilled. They were growing both in an inward and an outward testimony of being the body of Christ. The fruit of the Spirit and the charisma of the Spirit were proof of the word of their testimony. No power of the enemy could triumph over their testimony of being empowered by the Holy Spirit in their lives. The values of God were revealed in the overcoming testimony of their lives.

The first century church knew the testimony of Tabernacles fulfilled in that they lived in partnership with God as their Father in all things. That partnership also included a partnership with one another as a tabernacle of God’s presence in all things. The zeal of the house of God had lit a fire in their hearts that empowered them to live for the purpose and destiny of the birthing and growing church in all things. Their relationship with God and with one another was the fruit of being shaped by God their Father to fit together for His will in the earth. They held on to this testimony even in the face of death, and for some it was even unto death by the hand of their persecutors.

What happened in the firstfruit church established the substance and the testimony for an overcoming church in every generation to come. As believers in Christ, we live, move, and have our being in Christ. We have embraced a revelation of God’s love in our hearts, and we can overcome every weapon of hate by the voice of God in our hearts. We can know the increasing testimony of the Holy Spirit in and upon our lives in a supernatural testimony of life. The fruit and power of God’s Spirit will bring us increased life and we will overcome the resistances of lack by God’s grace of more. We can know the increasing testimony of tabernacles with God as our Father.

Revelation 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

We overcome the enemies of God by finding our identify in God by the mercy of the blood of the Lamb. We find our testimony by being submerged in His Spirit in every circumstance of our lives. We partner with God as our Father in the power of His love and our kingdoms become testimonies of His purpose of glory. It is for the zeal of the house of God that we live! We don’t live to fulfill our will in the earth. We live for the will of God and for the power of His kingdom to come. Our identity is found in our part in the calling of Christ. Our testimony is found in our part in the inheritance of Christ. Our purpose is found in being part of the power of the God to be a part of the body of Christ, the fullness of Him in all things. It is by this that we can expect to see the glory of God fill the earth. He who began a good work in us, will be faithful to complete it.

Habakkuk 2:14 (also Isa. 11:9)  For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

I had a great time yesterday at Everyone’s Church in Mt. Vernon, Wa. Thank you to all who showed up for a wonderful day. Congratulations to Tim and Nick on your commission to ministry. I believe that the anointing of Christ in and upon your lives will bring life to many.

Today I want to post a portion from my book, The Seven Eyes of Grace – EMPOWERED TO LIVE. I will be doing a new release of this book on Amazon in print and e-book as well as an audiobook in several sites.

Jesus is the cornerstone of the Church. The very substance of the foundation is the same as the substance of the house. The foundation stone of Christ is described in terms that quote the prophet Isaiah. We see that the substance of Christ is revealed in the attributes of being a tried stone, a costly stone, and a sure foundation (Isa. 28:16).

We can find some principles and patterns in the construction of the temple by David’s son Solomon that testify of these three elements of the cornerstone of Christ. It was king David’s desire to build a house for God’s habitation. His desire was for the manifestation of the presence of God upon the earth. He was a man after God’s own heart, and he sought for the glory of God to be revealed. Truly this was an expression of a New Covenant truth that God desires to raise up in the heart of His Church. David was a man of war, however, and was therefore disqualified from the task of building God’s house. God responded to David’s heart by making a promise with him that David’s son would build God a house. We know that God was testifying of the day when Jesus, the Son of David, would build the spiritual house of God. In David’s day, Solomon represented the task. Solomon responded to that promise and sought to build God’s house in Jerusalem. A pattern of the three characteristics found in the cornerstone of Christ was seen in the material Solomon used to build the temple.

1 Kin. 5:17 And the king commanded them to quarry large stones, costly stones, and hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the temple.

The stones that were quarried were large stones. Large stones speak of “stones that can pass the test”. They are “faithful” stones. They are stones of “greatness” and not limited to the natural substance of humanity as fragile men. They represented the living stones of God’s spiritual house that can endure in the day of testing. Jesus was a stone of “greatness”, a stone of “faithfulness” and a stone that “passed the test”. The sevenfold Spirit of God is perfecting stones that are “large stones” in this hour even as Jesus, the cornerstone, is a “large stone”. Living stones are “large stones”. Living stones are stones that are “faithful”, stones that “pass the test”. Without a “test” there is no “testimony”. Stones that pass the test are stones that hear the voice of God. Stones that hear the voice of God are stones that are filled with faith, as faith comes by hearing the word of God. Faith filled stones will be living stones of the testimony of God. Faith only works through love. Stones that hear the voice of God are stones that have a revelation of God’s love for them. We are becoming spiritual stones with a great “testimony” in this hour. It is a testimony of God’s love for us and His love working in and through our lives!

The stones that were quarried for Solomon’s temple were “costly stones”. Costly stones are “precious stones”. They are stones with an extremely high value. Father God set the value of the stones of His house when He allowed His only begotten Son to die for our sins. Jesus was a “costly stone”. Costly stones reflect the heart of the builder. Cheap stones come from a cheap builder. Costly stones come from the heart of an extravagant builder; one who is willing to pay a high price for a “passionate” building. “Costly stones” are “passionate” stones that reflect the builder’s heart. They reflect the heart of the Father. Jesus was a “passionate” stone who reflected the values of His Father’s heart. As a spiritual house for God, we must become “costly stones”. We must become “passionate stones” that reflect the values within the heart of our Heavenly Father. These are stones that reflect God’s glory. We must become stones that pay the price of our own lives for one another in order to see the glory of God manifested within His house.

The stones of Solomon’s temple were “hewn stones”. Hewn stones are “stones that fit with other stones”. They are “relational” stones. Hewn stones are polished and finished. They are stones that find their place in relationship with other stones. Jesus was a “hewn stone”. He was the firstborn of many that He might establish a house built upon relationship with one another. Even as He brought us back into relationship with God as our Father, He also brought us into relationship with one another to become a house where God can dwell.  Living stones are “relational stones”. They are stones that fit with other stones in order to see the full manifestation of God in His covenant love. Hewn stones are stones that provide a “sure foundation” and a “sure structure” that can be depended upon as a shelter and a house of provision. They reveal a house of relationship with God and one another in every room. These living stones will never act hastily, but will depend on God’s presence to sustain the divine relationships of their lives.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:

House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225

To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.

Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728