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

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Greetings,

I hope you had a great weekend. Yesterday we had our ‘church at home’ gathering. This is what we do at ALife on the last Sunday of each month. I hope you were able to connect with some believers and I hope you were able to focus on God’s presence. This is a great week to see what God is doing new in your life. Expect God and look for Him as you face your week!

1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

The letter written by Paul to the believers in Thessalonica was one of the first letters written to the believers of the first century church. It was written to the church, the habitation of Christ, as they had now existed for a little over twenty years and they were facing increased opposition by the anti-Christ spirit of that day. Like all words from God, there are increasing layers of truth and life in what God decrees. The traditional view of the fourth chapter of 1 Thessalonians has often been that it is a letter regarding a one day coming of the Lord in the future and a rapture of Christian believers into the presence of the Lord. Since God’s words increase from glory to glory, there is clearly a culmination of this truth for us all in some way. There are various interpretations as to what that looks like, but there is for sure a guarantee of a full glory of being one with God in Christ for eternity. Paul wrote this letter to a firstfruit church concerning things that were literally occurring in their day. His purpose in writing this letter was to comfort the first century believers who were facing persecution and the tribulation of being a church that was birthing the New Covenant reality of the growing Body of Christ for the generations to come. Christ was being opposed by anti-Christ, but Christ would overcome and in the future there would be more realities of the constant and increasing coming of the Lord to cause the kingdoms of the world to become kingdoms of Jesus as Lord and Christ. The words of Paul were not merely a promise for something thousands of years in the future. They were words of promise for the moment at hand. Some had already died in the faith and Paul was charging the church to know the truth of present and future promises of glory. In these Scripture verses, Paul was encouraging the church in regard to the coming of the Lord. The word for until is a Greek word that can also be translated as to or into. It is not a word necessarily indicating a moment of time but can also be a process of time. The word for ‘coming’ in this Scripture is the Greek word parousia. It is a present tense word and not a futurist tense word. It is a happening and a continued happening. The promised place of destiny for the dead in Christ and for the living was, and is, a transition to a dimension of increased life. It is a place of being caught up in the breath. This is not a place of going up into the sky, but a place of entering into the further dimension of life in Christ. The dead in Christ rise first and those in Christ who continue into the constant and increasing realities of the coming of the Lord will be participants with them in the breath. The breath is the connection of the Spirit. It is not a natural air, but the breath of the Spirit that keeps us and unites us in life in this world and in the world to come. The living believers in Christ and the cloud of witness in Christ are partners in the coming of the Lord. Clouds speak of the manifest presence of the Lord in Scripture. There have been numerous aspects to the manifest experiences of the church and the Lord in the ages of men that have brought increasing testimonies of God’s glory in the earth. If you will, there have been many comings of Christ “in the clouds”, comings of the Lord in many aspects of God’s grace that have brought forth increasing glory and change in the church. The comfort of the first century church was, and our comfort is, that each and every one in Christ is promised greater glory of eternal life in Christ in every aspect of their lives. The last trumpet is resurrection life for those in Christ. Paul said that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. This is our greatest hope! In the history of the culture of the shadow of the law, the last trumpet is the trumpet that sounds the completion of the harvest. It is a sound of tabernacles where a new season of rest leads to a new season of increasing life. Everyone has a last trumpet to the completed harvest of their lives. Though there may be a full culmination of this in a future day to come, I believe that there is a last trumpet for each of us in life. For us in Christ it is a sound of greater glory. It is therefore a reason to live this life to the fullest as the glory of God subdues the things that can be subdued in this world. This is the testimony of the increasing harvest of God in our lives. The unshakeable kingdom of God continually removes the shakable things in our lives and in our world. Our comfort is that life and purpose doesn’t end when the last trumpet is blown for us in this life, but Christ receives us to join those who are alive in Christ in heaven, those who have already fallen asleep to this life.

1 Thessalonians 5:1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. 11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

Like those going through the great tribulation of the birth of the Body of Christ in the first century, we need not be shaken or troubled in the times and seasons of the world. We have already embraced a Day that never ends. We have embraced the Day of the Lord in Christ. Our last day was the day we lost our old life and we found resurrection life in Christ. Our personal kingdoms are increasingly becoming a kingdom of our Lord and Christ. The life we live we live by faith in Him! There is no death that has any power over us for the second death has been destroyed by the resurrection life of Christ within us. The day of the Lord comes for everyone, but that day does not come as a thief to those who are already alive in Christ. For those who are not alive in Christ, the last trumpet of their life is a surprise, and their life is taken from them. They live their lives as though they have peace and safety, but the last trumpet of their life reveals to them that the peace they held on to was not peace at all. The safety they clung to, was not safety at all. The constant coming of the Lord into the generations of humanity proves to destroy those things that are not true peace or safety and what people trust in apart from Christ is destroyed. What is life for those in Christ proves to destroy anything that is not true life. It destroys anything that is not life or life-giving. Our comfort is that we are sons and daughters of God. We are sons and daughters of the true light. We are of the Day and not the night, so the constant and increasing coming of the Lord into the generations of men proves to be the light of Day to us. We must remain awake, aware of God and His presence. We must remain alive to the fellowship and purpose of God’s Spirit in Christ. What keeps our hearts in all seasons of our lives and of the earth is faith and love in our hearts. Our minds are secure because we know that Jesus is salvation in any and every situation of our lives. While we live in this world, or after we rise in Christ, we are together in the life and purpose of Christ for eternity. This is comfort to us in all seasons of 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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Once again, it was good to be in my home church yesterday. God is speaking clearly for a new season of intimacy with Him. The Spirit of God inspired me to prophecy concerning our attention in this year. If we have felt the earthquake, experienced the blowing of the wind, or been touched by the consuming flames of fire we must know that God is not in these things. These are simply things that happen when God walks into our space. When the mountain of the Lord’s dwelling rises in the nations the earthquakes, the wind blows, and the fire burns but we must look for God in the midst of these things. We cannot find Him in our ways, we will not see Him in our paths, but we will find Him in His ways, in His paths, and with His law of love in our hearts. Would we come to Him or will be drift away by the actions of His presence in our world? Things that move by His presence are simply driftwood fit for the fire and we must not drift away from Him in such times as these.

I have been addressing three key things to the present season in the church. Those three things are in regard to the courage of the Lord, holiness of the Lord, and faith in God. These are not attributes empowered by our own abilities, but testimonies of God’s grace as the power of His Spirit at work in our lives. How can we be strong in the courage of the Lord? Discouragement comes when we are detached from the true courage that comes from God. To be encouraged is to be attached to the place of true courage. That place is an abiding in the presence of God and He abiding in us in our journey of life. When the children of Israel entered the Promised Land, their doom was their continued detachment from God in their hearts. They constantly sought the works of God, but they did not seek to know the ways of God. The Lord had told Moses that this would be the fate of a stiff necked people.

Deuteronomy 31:22 Therefore Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel. 23 Then He inaugurated Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and of good courage; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land of which I swore to them, and I will be with you.” 24 So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, 25 that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying: 26 “Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there as a witness against you; 27 for I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. If today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD, then how much more after my death? 28 Gather to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29 For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.”

It was upon entering the Promised Land that Moses instructed Joshua to put the Book of the Law, the Torah, into the ark of the covenant as a witness against those who would not seek to become the people of God in the character, nature, way, power, and authority of His name. That Book of the Law was but a shadow of the truth that was meant to become the real testimony of what would one day be written upon the hearts and minds of the people of God. It was a testimony to the internal change that comes to the hearts and minds of humanity when they abide in the presence of God and they invite His presence in them in all things. When the people of God become the people of God they become a testimony of His ways, they walk in His paths, their hearts become a resting place of His Law of love and their lives become an influence of life to the world around them. The true Promised Land is the place of knowing the kingdom of God in human hearts. It is the place of knowing righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit from within.

When God’s presence lives in our hearts, we find the courage of the Lord from within. Our attachment to His Word and His Spirit within our hearts empowers us to know the courage that comes from Him in every situation of our lives. This is the true testimony of a Promised Land that cannot be overpowered by any enemy in our lives. This was shadowed in the journey of Joshua to the Promised Land. His testimony is a key to overcoming all the powers that are greater than us. They, like the seven nations in the land, are greater than us but not greater than God in and with us.

Joshua 1:6 Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. 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.”

To be strong in the courage of the Lord is to be strong in His ways, to walk in His paths, to live with His values in our hearts, and to influence our world with the heavenly influence of His presence in our lives in all things. Our knees must be strong, our hands must be strong, and our footsteps must walk in the path that leads in light and the increasing life of God to our world.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Once again, it was great to be at ALife Church yesterday. Pastor Jonathan challenged us all to remember what God said and did in 2020 before we seek to move forward in 2021. The glory before us will come if will focus on Him in the midst of our present sufferings. God is going to obliterate our doubts about who God is and who we are.

1 Corinthians 1:26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”

This is not a season to be strong in the flesh. It is a season to be renewed in the courage of the Lord. This is not a courage that comes by a knowledge of right that seeks to destroy those who are wrong. This could even include a deemed knowledge of being right and a deemed knowledge of others being wrong. Human wisdom produces human strength, but the wisdom of God gives us a strength of God’s Spirit from within. It is a strength that empowers a willingness to change in our own hearts. It is an ability to be strong in the courage of the Lord. This is a courage of the Spirit of God found within our own spirits by an intimate connection with God. It is a courage that empowers internal change in our own heart and a willingness to be uncompromising in our faithfulness to God in all things. God is not on our side for the sake of being on our side. Life is about God being on our side because we have willingly sought to be on His side. He is the Creator, the Commander, and the Author and Finisher of our faith. We must seek out His will in all things. This is the source of true courage, the courage of the Lord to become an expression of God as life to our world.

This is also a season to be renewed in our holiness to the Lord. This is not a religious piety, but an uncompromising inspiration to be empowered by God’s ways to walk in His paths in all things. It is an internal inspiration to live for God and an internal willingness to value what He values and to be changed in our ways to be as He is in all things. True holiness is to be like God in our character, nature, way, power, and authority. It is to be life-giving as He is life-giving. It is not peace where there is not peace. It is peace that comes when we boldly come to Him and become transformed by His presence in our lives because there is no gap between us and Him. It is not the testimony of Him coming into our lives. It is the testimony of Him in our lives because we have boldly run to His presence. We have laid our lives down to find that our true life is only found in Him. The fruit is that we are transformed into an expression of Him. His presence is not about us preserving our way of thinking it is about us being transformed in our thinking. If our ways match the ways of the world, we have not found the holiness of God. If our ways match the ways of the Pharisees, we have not found the holiness of the God. God is neither law nor lawless, He is life that transforms us to cast a shadow that looks like life.

1 John 5:18 We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

If our thinking is the same as those in the world, there is something wrong in our thinking. If our thinking is the same as the religious Pharisees, there is something wrong in our thinking. We must be renewed in our holiness to the Lord.

This is also a time to be renewed in our faith in God. This is not merely the faith that comes by hearing God that empowers our actions to be those of faith towards Him. This is a faith in God that clings to Him with trust in who He is in every situation of our lives. God is who He is and He invites us to partner with Him in all things. It is not about us getting what we want, it is about us being transformed in our hearts and minds to seek what He wants. Life is a family business. He is the Father, and we are His sons and daughters. We were lawless and we were law bound, but our Heavenly Father is in the business of LIFE! We need to acknowledge that it is His robe we wear, it is His ring upon our finger, it is His sandals that we are walking in, and it is His food that we eat. His faithfulness will reveal the true story in our lives. We can expect to see a deeper revelation of trust in Him in the days ahead. This is a year to be renewed in our faith in God.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Well, here we are in 2021. We had a great day yesterday at ALife. Pastor Jonathan gave us a clear prophetic charge to build our section of the wall of Christ community, to find our proper place in the gate of our calling, and to be who God has made and gifted us to be for the expanding community of Christ. We must not be distracted by trying to be strong in ourselves, by only embracing what feels or looks good to us, or by putting our trust in what we think we need. It is time to find our strength in the Lord, true holiness in the Lord, and our faith in God. God’s hand is upon us for such a time as this.

What can we expect to see in 2021? We must keep a right focus as we enter this new year. Our focus cannot be upon the world. It must be upon God and the influence of His kingdom in our lives. We can expect to see God as greater than whatever is in the world. He who is in us is greater than anything in this world. Our destiny is to bring life to our world and that life is greater than the influencing gates of death in the world. What is the world? The world is not the planet, but the spirit that keeps those in the world under the sway of wickedness. People in themselves are not wicked and unrighteous, but they can yield to wickedness and unrighteousness that suppresses the truth with lies. When people yield to the spiritual powers of darkness the beliefs of their hearts, actions of their lives, imaginations of their minds, and influence of their lives become those of darkness and death.

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

There are spiritual powers that are at work in the heavenlies, but we have the power of Christ at work within our hearts. God’s wrath is not targeted towards humanity. It is targeted toward ungodliness and unrighteousness. Ungodliness and unrighteousness destroy the true identity, testimony, and purpose of mankind. When humanity aligns themselves with the spiritual powers of ungodliness and unrighteousness, they think, reason, imagine, desire, and exhibit their emotions in selfish and carnal ways. To be true to our humanity we must discover God in our lives. Only Christ in us can cause us to be the likeness and image of our Father in heaven. Christ in us must be the source of our beliefs. It is a conception of God’s Spirit and His words to our heart that empowers us to belief life-giving realities. When we believe God’s ways we become empowered to walk in His paths of life. The actions of our lives become the actions of nobility. It is then that the imaginations of our hearts become creative in life-giving ways. When these things are true, the influence of our lives in our world is an influence of life and light and this offers hope to our world.

We can enter this year looking at the ways of the world or we can enter this year embracing the ways of God’s kingdom within our hearts. Our focus must be life in order to be life-giving to our world.

1 John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

It is the testimony of Christ in each of us that reveals the true prophetic Spirit of life. God speaks and life happens! It is not a matter of calling for God’s voice to condemn the world. The world is condemned by their own deceptions already. They need the hope of life and transformation. The truth is suppressed with lies and we have the power to destroy the spiritual powers of lies that are suppressing truth by the spiritual force of the life-giving Spirit of God in our hearts. It is a matter of becoming God’s voice to bring life! It is not the spirit that says Jesus came in form of flesh 2000 years ago that will change our world. It is the confession of our own spirits that knows the love of God in our hearts that confesses Christ has come in our flesh. Jesus has come into our hearts as we have embraced the life of Christ through our new birth in Him. We lost our worldly life to find our true life in Christ.

1 John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Our focus for 2021 must be that Jesus is the Son of God and He lives by His Spirit in our hearts for the glory of our heavenly Father in all things. We can expect supernatural testimonies of God’s mercy and grace in this new year. It is not a time for defeat. It is a time for victory! That victory is not a victory of the flesh, but a victory of the life of the Spirit of God that destroys the powers of ungodliness and unrighteousness that seeks to suppress the truth with a lie concerning who God is and who we are in Him.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

I hope you had a great Christmas and they you are expectant for the new year. As we come to the close of our year, I wish I could say that all or our problems will now be gone and the new year will be a year of ease; but I don’t believe that is the case. This is a year to stand on the Rock of Christ. This is not a year of merely receiving the blessings of God in our lives. It is a year to know the blessing of God in our lives.

When Moses was on the Mountain of God receiving the commandments of the Lord, the people grew impatient and created a god in the form of the golden calf, the worship of a creation as those in the world serve. Rather than trust the Creator of all life, they gave life to exalt a created thing, making the treasures of their own hearts to become the likeness and image of their god. The people made the golden calf from the treasures wore upon their own ears. Rather than trusting God to give them His desires, they sought to make God in the likeness and image of their own values. The golden calf was a created work made of treasures that look and sound like the ways of the world. It was a created work of human values, desires, and expectations. It was at this point that God presented to Moses the option of going into the Promised Land with a stiff-necked people, but God would not go with them.

Exodus 33:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ 2 And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

Moses knew that an Angel is not the same as the manifest presence of God. It wasn’t a miracle from God that God’s people needed. It was the miracle of knowing God that they truly needed. Moses knew that the supernatural power of God was not the same as a knowing of God in life. The Presence of God is more valuable that all of the miracles or promises fulfilled in life. To know who God is and to live with Him in all things is the secret to all of life. It is the source of true strength and the root of true love.

Exodus 33:15 Then he (Moses) said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” 17 So the LORD said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.”

It was at this moment that God put Moses in the rock and revealed a glimpse of His glory to him. The glory of God is the manifest presence of God in our lives that gives us our true identity, testimony, and purpose in life. That identity, testimony, and purpose can only be found in a place of being transformed by God to become expressions of His character, nature, way, power, and authority. This is the testimony of God’s manifest presence working in the through men to cause them to become people of God in the earth. Moses knew that without the manifest presence of God it would not be possible to be the people of God in the earth. God wants us to know His glory. He doesn’t want us to settle for earthly blessings in our lives. He wants to give us heavenly realities in every earthly situation. Rather than remove the giants of the land, God left challenges that were greater than His people. He left them to draw out the character of God from the hearts of His people.

Deuteronomy 7:1 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, 2 and when the LORD your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. 3 Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. 4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the LORD will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. 5 But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire. 6 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 “Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; 10 and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. 11 Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them.”

Those who hear God and respond to what He says are those who dig down to know who He is. These are those who are a house of His presence, built upon the foundation of the Rock of Christ in all things. God wants for us to live with Him in every aspect of our lives. I believe that 2021 is a year to know the Rock of Christ in our lives. It is a year to stand upon the Rock of Christ and to know another measure of God’s grace working in and through us to be the people of God in the earth. To hear Him and respond to all that He says. To know Him and to respond to who He is.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

I had a great day yesterday speaking at Everyone’s Church in Mt. Vernon, Washington. God was in the house and I was able to speak in two services in regard to Christ as our Rock in the coming season of 2021. This new year is going to be a year of knowing the Rock of Christ in our lives. In knowing Him we will become like Him in our place of standing in this world. By the testimony of Christ in us and us in Him, we will stand as a place where God shines to our world. When Joshua was about to enter the Promised Land, he encountered a Man that was a testimony of the Lord. His encounter with that Man was essential to his continued journey into the Promised Land.

Joshua 5:13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?” 14 So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?” 15 Then the Commander of the LORD’S army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.

The Lord is the Rock of Christ and this is a year to encounter Him in a fuller measure. Joshua wanted to know if the Lord was for the Israelites or for their adversaries, but the Lord’s response was that of being the Commander. We may be asking the same questions. Our encounter with the Lord is not an encounter to prove whether the Lord is for us or for our adversaries. It is an encounter to invite us to be for the Lord. He is the Commander, and He is calling us to be for Him in the testimony of our lives. Like Joshua, we must take off our sandals. We must stand barefoot upon the ground of Christ to become a testimony of Christ in our lives. It is a place of embracing vulnerability before God. A place of inviting truth by the mercy of God and not by the strength of our own way. It is a testimony of trusting the Lord and submitting to His will in our lives.

As I have considered the Rock of Christ some attributes have impressed my spirit. What are attributes of the Rock? As I am considering this, the following attributes come to my mind, such as: steadfast; anchored; trustworthy; enduring; immovable; dependable; treasure house; hidden truth; faithful; solid; strong; unshakeable; foundational; generational; refuge; shelter; stronghold (of love); and salvation.

Responding to hearing God is what joins us to the Rock of Christ. It is a relationship of dancing with the Spirit of God, with Holy Spirit as the lead partner in our live. This is the true strength of our foundation that will lead to increasing life in our earthly and heavenly journey. It is our response to God’s voice in our lives that will empower us to find Him in an increasing way of intimacy. Hearing God’s voice and responding to what He says is essential for a sure foundation in our lives. Hearing God is not merely about knowing what to do. Our response to God in our lives is not merely about the things we do in life. It is about the substance of our lives. Hearing God is a matter of knowing God. Knowing God is more important than knowing what to do, because knowing God is what transforms our lives to become as He is in our character, nature, way, power, and authority. As we enter this new year we must seek to be people of God and not merely people who are blessed by God’s merciful love. This is to be people who walk in God’s life-transforming grace.

Grace is a testimony of God’s life overcoming all manner of dysfunction and death. We often think that we are wrestling with circumstances in our lives, but the truth is that God is wrestling with us in life. He is wrestling with us because He wants us to know Him and to manifest who we are meant to be because of Him and in Him. Our strength is not in the flesh. Our strength is in the presence of God in our lives. It is also the presence of us in the life and testimony of God. Jacob sought the blessing of God in his life, but God wanted Jacob to know that God had an even greater plan.  Jacob thought his journey was the journey of Jacob (a seeker of God’s love), but God wanted him to know that His journey was that of being Israel (a prince with God).

Genesis 32:24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. 26 And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” 27 So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.” 28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.” And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there.

I believe this year is going to be filled with things of wrestling, but there is also going to be a comeback to God, a comeback to victory, and a comeback to one another as the people of God.  It is our opportunity to become people who are steadfast, anchored, trustworthy, enduring, immovable in our faith, dependable, habitations of precious treasures, authentic testimonies of truth, faithful, solid in the character of Christ, strong in the Lord, unshakeable in our love, foundations for generational inheritances, refuges of hope, shelters of life, strongholds of God’s love, and ambassadors of the salvation God in the environment of our word. This is a day to know the sure mercies of David with the opening of legitimate doors and the closing of illegitimate doors to become the authentic truth of the people of God in this world.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

I hope you are well and growing in your connection with God in the midst of all that is going on in the world. Yesterday I was blessed to speak at our home church of ALife. I presented some things that I hear and see God doing in the season before us.

We are in the process of being manifest as the people of God in a fuller measure. It is the challenges of life that manifest the supernatural reality of being sons and daughters of God. The true test of grace is found I the process of tribulation, cheerful endurance, character change, and hope. That hope is the testimony of the work of grace proven in our lives. The revelation we receive becomes the substance we become by the work of God’s amazing grace.  A new gift of trust is being given to us that is unlike anything we have known before. We can expect to be tested in our trust. God desires for us know a work of trust that comes by the grace of God. That trust is not a trust in the works of the flesh, but in the goodness of God. To know the trust that God desires for us to have is to know Christ as the Rock of hope in our lives. He is the Rock that is solid and true. He wants our character to match the character of His truth as a Rock of our salvation. I believe a prophetic charge for 2021 is for us to know the call of the Spirit to God for us to find the Rock of Christ to cause us be people who are immovable in the testimony of God’s love.

Psalms 61:2 From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

A house is only as secure in its standing as it is in its connection to a foundation. Christ is the foundation of our lives and He is the life-giving Rock that empowers us to become a house that reveals the substance of who Christ is to the world around us. As we enter this new year we must embrace an authentic connection in hearing and responding to all that God says to us. Foundations guarantee the future of the house. Every house that is built faces the elements of testing and the opposition of many seasons of life. In Christ the foundation of our lives is established in the Rock of Christ. The objective is to be connected to the Rock, not to see how great our house can become, but our connection to Christ causes our house to reveal a testimony of who Christ is to our world. When we are connected to the Rock of Christ, even if the house were to fall down, we will be ok. Our connection to the Rock is a connection to LIFE in every moment and season of our lives. We are a house of God’s presence in all seasons of our lives.

Luke 6:47 “Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 49 But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”

Foundations guarantee a future. When Christ is the foundation of our lives, the trials in our lives cannot prevail over the faithfulness of God in the foundation of our lives. The man who dug down to the rock, was the one who responded to the words of God in his life. In this story of two houses, both houses were built in the same geographical location. Both may have been the same design of house and even the same size of house. Perhaps they both were drawn with the same architectural floor plan. Both houses are likened unto people who God was speaking to and who were hearing what He had to say. The difference is that one responded by acting upon the words he heard while the other did not. Jesus says that the one who heard and responded to what he heard was like one who digs down to the rock and establishes a foundation for his house. The one who merely heard is like someone who built his house without any foundation at all. If we just hear God’s words of love for us without responding with love for Him, we will fall short in becoming who we are meant to be. Our love for Him is seen in our responding relationship with Him. The response of acting upon what God is saying is a testimony to the process of setting a foundation for the house. Both houses in this story were faced with the violent storms of life, but only the house with the foundation set upon the rock was able to stand.

Deuteronomy 32:1 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. 2 Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, as raindrops on the tender herb, and as showers on the grass. 3 For I proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe greatness to our God. 4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He.

This new year is going to be a year of knowing the Rock of Christ in our lives. In knowing Him we will become like Him in the place of our standing. As a Rock He is One to be trusted and He will prove to be trustworthy in our lives. We will stand as a place where God shines to our world.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Once again it is great to be back in Washington. We had a great service yesterday at ALife. God’s presence was there and Pastors Jonathan and Danie gave us a great word concerning being thankful for 2020 and to see it as a gift from God. We must be thankful for all that is good, thankful for things that didn’t happen or happened in a way we didn’t expect, and thankful even in the bad for how God works things out for good. It was a great challenge and a good day.

Some things are impressing my spirit in this present time. I spent a few days in the woods last week and I feel some important words were stirring in my heart. Words that are relevant for this present season are words like: transparency; vulnerability; truth; intimacy; connection; faith; love; loving; transforming; and authentic. On Saturday I heard God say that 2021 is a ‘Come Back’ year. A year to come back to Him, to come back to victory, and to come back to one another. There will be some tough things to walk through, but God is birthing something new and stripping away the non-important things in our lives. He is stripping away performance and birthing authenticity in who we are and what we do. This is the story of being the people of God.

The Spirit of the Lord says that in living in the moment you have not lost My momentum in your life. I am your Father and ours is a business of purpose and destiny. You will find that this year is a year of a great come back. Nothing that I have set in motion will be lost. What looks like loss in your life will prove to be great gain because I am the God of ‘Come Back’. Though it looks like the path is a path of depletion things will turn and what seemed to be lost will come back again. I am birthing the fruit of generations and the plans of men will not thwart My path of life. I am the God of redemption and the price has been paid for mercy and for grace.

God is making it possible for us to be transparent in our lives. Our transparency is not a transparency of our own perfection. It is a transparency that empowers us to take hold of God’s loving gift of mercy and the power of His love to find grace that brings about His transformation so that we can become authentic sons and daughters for our Father’s glory. A new gift of trust is being given to us that is unlike anything we have known before. In the environment of our world, it is impossible to trust, because so many things are being revealed to be not trustworthy. Who can we trust? We can trust God because He has proven He can be trusted. Jesus was a man for all of mankind, men and women. He was the word made flesh as the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person. He opened the door to the throne room of God’s grace for us all. The Old Covenant Law was merely a shadow of the good thing to come. The good thing to come was the manifest presence of God as the word made flesh. He was the word made flesh so that all flesh could become something of an expression of God in his or her being. Each and everyone of us is meant to be something of the brightness of our Father’s glory and an expression of His person in the flesh.

Revelation 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. 4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”

The seven seals on the scroll were the seven seals that contain the sevenfold grace of God. The opening of those seals by a Man opened a new and living way for us all. This is the testimony of the New Covenant. Only the Word as flesh could walk across the sea of God’s Word in full transparency and nothing that was not authentically an expression of God’s character, nature, way, power, and authority could be found. He walked across that sea as a fulfillment of the Law to make it possible for us all to boldly come to the throne of God’s grace to become authentic expressions of God in all that we are. I believe that we are entering another measure in the path of becoming the people of God in authenticity and truth.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

I have been back in Washington for a week and I am enjoying my time home, though I am missing my kids and grandkids in California. We had a great Thanksgiving here with our daughter Joanna, her husband Patrick, and granddaughter Eleonore. It was also good to see our other two granddaughters this past week as well. Family is wonderful!

Today I want to remind us all that the kingdom of God is an internal kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit that affects the external kingdoms of men from the inside out. Each of us are responsible to embrace the life-giving presence and power of Holy Spirit in our hearts Who gives us a true righteousness, a right relationship with God and man from within. Holy Spirit within our hearts gives us true peace; a oneness with God’s presence whereby the fruit and power of the Holy Spirit becomes an observable evidence of our lives by others. Holy Spirit within our hearts gives us true joy; a testimony of a partnership with God in all things that causes the focus of our lives to be one that fulfills the purposes of God in all things. True joy is connected to purpose and it is only found in the manifest presence of God from within. This is the kingdom of God – righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Romans 14:16 Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil; 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.

Luke 17:20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

The external acts and works of our lives are not the kingdom of God, but they should take on the characteristics of the life of the kingdom of God. The actions and works of our lives are the testimony of our own kingdom and each of our kingdoms should be expressions of the kingdom of God. I believe this is what it means when God says that through Jesus the kingdoms of this world would become kingdoms of God’s Lord and Christ.

Revelation 11:15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”

We don’t put our hope in the natural kingdoms of this world. We put our hope in the kingdom of God. That is not just a hope to go to heaven when we die. It is a hope of heavenly things made known in the natural realities of our lives by the internal connection to God in our hearts. God’s grace is the ability to reign in life. When Jesus reigns in our hearts we can manifest as sons and daughters of God who have a heavenly testimony in all things. Our hope is in the supernatural kingdom of God’s grace working in our hearts, but we also believe that God’s grace empowers natural changes in our lives in supernatural ways. The internal kingdom of God must be sought, activated, facilitated, and released in and through all that we are and do. We cannot blame God for our failures, we can only seek God to transform us from within in a way that transforms our attitudes, actions, and outcomes of our lives. This is true for us individually, our marriages, our families, our livelihoods, and every expression of our lives. God’s grace is the power of God working in our lives to overcome all wickedness that seeks to suppress the truth of God in our expressions of life in this world. Without the working power of God’s grace we are vulnerable to wickedness and unrighteousness in the expressions of our lives.

Romans 5:2 …through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

In grace, there is tribulation or suffering. It is during that resistance that we cheerfully endure. During challenges, we cheerfully endure and our character changes. That change in us brings forth hope. Is that hope just for us, or is it for the world we live in? Paul rejoiced in his suffering for the sake of others. He filled up in his flesh what was lacking in the afflictions of Christ. We must embrace the internal kingdom of God in our hearts and find God’s grace to overcome for the sake of our world. Our kingdoms must become expressions of the internal kingdom of God at work in our hearts. This doesn’t just happen. It happens by the overcoming power of God’s grace working in and through us as we stand by faith in Christ.

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