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

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Greetings,

I hope you are enjoying summer and that you are seeing the goodness of God in your life. I have been doing a lot of physical tasks, at home and at our church. I hope to get a lot more done this week. My dad always said that you have to make hay while the sun shines. It is a good season to focus on getting things done close to home and to make preparations in being ready for our increased coming together in the days ahead.

We are in a time where God is releasing the grace to become the people of God. The test is in the grace! Grace does not mean there is no resistance to the outcome. It actually is the power of God to overcome all resistance to the outcome. In a time of manifesting as the people of God there is an opportunity to be the people of the people, the people of self, the people of some created thing or the people of some other external influence in our lives. To be the people of God is to be the community of God, but there are many causes of unity. Unity apart from Christ creates unity that opposes others. As it was in the encounter of Joshua and the Lord at the entrance of the Promised Land, God is neither for us or against us – He is the Commander of the army of the Lord.  It is only when we present our bodies to God that God can influence us to become expressions of His community in the earth.

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.

I have been addressing the context of Romans chapter 12. Each of us are to present our bodies to the calling of Christ, the testimony of Christ, and the purpose of Christ to become the corporate expression of the community of Christ. We cannot think like the world. This doesn’t mean that we seek to condemn the world for thinking as they do, it means we demonstrate to the world what it looks like to be the people of God. We are to demonstrate what is good, acceptable, and perfect in Christ. We each do this in the uniqueness of each and everyone. We are all motivated differently, but we must all express the attributes of being the people of God in the character of our own uniqueness. The attributes of being the people of God are all giving attributes. They are never taking, but expressions of life for the wellbeing of others.

Romans 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

Our first priority is to live for God and to live for the community of God in all things. We are to love the world, but we are to live for God and His community. When we do this, we will face opposition and we will even experience suffering at times. When we experience the opposition of the world we are never to oppose the world. We are to be life for and as the testimony of Christ to the world. We live for Jesus our head, for one another as His body, and corporately together as the body of Christ in this world.

Romans 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

Our attitude at all times is an attitude of being life givers to our world. The world is strong in opinions, but we must be strong in mercy and grace. We must be strong in the life of God in all things. If circumstances can change who we are, we are not truly living to be who we are meant to be. We are the people of God!

Romans 12:17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

To heap coals of fire on the head of your enemy is not to destroy them. It is to destroy what is destroying them. The custom of the culture was to transport coals in pots on one’s head in order to have light, heat, and cook your food in wherever you found yourself. The idiom implies that because your enemy lacks the essentials of true life, they act as they do. It is not opposing the enemy that destroys the enemy, it is refusing to become an enemy as they are that inspires them to be released from the strongholds of their own imprisonment. Light is more powerful than darkness, life is more powerful than death, and healing is more powerful than sickness in all things. When we act as the people of God we influence the evil to be transformed from their wicked strongholds. We inspire them to know the love and life of God in the midst of their 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 today. I am enjoying the sunshine of the Northwest. It appears that summer has finally arrived here in Bellingham. I am enjoying the diversity of harvest with many good things to eat from the fruit of my own labors in my garden. Last week was filled with lots of writing, recording, editing, and physical labor at church and at home. Life is always full!

As sons or daughters of God we must know how to keep our hearts for the sake of others. Our ‘heart’ includes our emotions, and all about us that is spiritual, mental, and physical in life. If we confess that our heart is into something, it means that all that is spirit, soul, and body, embraces it.

Our heart is the seat of our collective energies and the focus of our personal lives. It is the throne from which life flows. It is the seat of our thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, and endeavors. Our heart is our personality, our inner life, and our character. A son or daughter of God must guard their heart. We are not to guard our hearts in the way the world guards their hearts. Those in the world seek to protect their hearts and often find themselves in situations where their hearts become hard and small, due to the wounds of life. King Solomon said that keeping our heart had to do with keeping the springs of life open and flowing.

Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.

How do we as sons or daughters of God guard our hearts so that we shine as light in our world? How do we keep the springs of life flowing from within us? The apostle Paul gave some great instructions to the Philippian church.

Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

A decision to live a lifestyle of rejoicing is key to living as a healthy son or daughter of God. This doesn’t mean that we laugh when we should cry; it means we choose to embrace God’s life and God’s presence every day of our lives. We must seek to be gentle among people and not forceful in our own ways, our own desires, or our own agendas. God is always at hand. He is always within our reach. If we realize that God is with us every step of the journey we can embrace a face-to-face relationship with Him that will keep us from being anxious. We should keep an open line of communication between Him and us, as we would with a friend. We don’t go to God with our needs of crisis expecting Him to give us a bailout or to deliver us from our circumstances. Once in a while God wants to get us out of our circumstances, but 100% of the time He wants to get into our circumstances with us. When we realize that there is no gap between God and us we can have a peace that surpasses our own understanding. Peace is not the absence of conflict; it is being in a place where there is no gap between God and us. It works on good days and on bad days. Peace is a knowing that our house is in the right place and that no change of circumstances can separate us from the love of God in our lives. It isn’t necessarily the absence of conflict. It is the assurance that we are joined to God and His house in all things and at all times. There is no separation between God and us and we can live near to Him in all things.

Paul goes on to write some key things for us to embrace in order to keep our hearts open to the flow of God’s life. We must keep our hearts so the issues of life will freely flow to those around us. This is true for all believers as sons and daughters of God.

Philippians 4:8-9 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

We can talk about and think on things that are just. Can we make a decision for others based upon who we are and not what they deserve? Love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace – these are all things of God’s justice. We must give our hearts to things that are pure! Resisting the things of impurity is not as powerful as embracing the things of purity with our whole hearts. We must give our hearts to things that are of a good report. Indulging in the good reports of life is more violent than embracing or waging war against the things of negativity and of bad report. Let’s give our hearts to things that are of good report. How about virtue? This is giving our hearts to every opportunity to give life to others. To live for the wellbeing of others and for the purposes of God and His kingdom is a virtuous thing. Life will come off of us that will empower others to live too! We must give our hearts to anything that is praiseworthy. If we think this is hard all we have to do is think of ANYTHING! Anything praiseworthy is a good thing to give our hearts to.

Rather than focusing on the things we cannot think about, we should fill our hearts with the things we can think about. We must give our hearts to things that are true. Here is something true. He loves us! He will never leave us! He cares for us! Nothing can separate us from Him! We must receive the things that He says about us and embrace them with our whole hearts. We must give our spirits, souls, and physical lives to all that is true. What about things that are just? I am not talking about complaining about injustice! If we receive, hear, and emulate those who give life in the journey of Christ’s life, we will be doing a good thing in keeping our hearts with all diligence. These things are essential for us believers that we might be true to who God says we really are for the sake of our world. It is time to shine in the world as the light and life of Christ in all things!

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 have had a great week. I spent last week recording more training material, editing material, launching more resources, and other purposed activities that will allow House of Bread Ministry to serve the body of Christ in an effective way. I also spent a couple of days painting the assembly room of our church. We are not yet gathering corporately, but a lot of things are being done for a clear vision of the focus, vision, and purpose that God is calling us into. I am doing my part in buying into, supporting, and participating in what God is bringing into our expression of church in the earth. I have a great expectancy for what lies ahead of us in this journey of faith.

We are not living in uncertain times. The world is in uncertain times, but the people of God should be certain of times in all things. Even what the enemy intends for evil, God always turns for good in our lives. We can be certain of God in all things! We can be certain of His love! We can be certain that being a part of the body of Christ is a certainty of life. This is not a time to think like the world, but to think like the body of Christ and members of that body. The world is facing the fear of isolation, separation, loss, and anxiety. This is not our course of destiny. Our course of destiny is to shine as light, even in dark times. While the world wrestles with the darkness of times we must be people of eternity that bring stability to a shaking world. This is not a time to worry, but to be at rest because God is resting in our lives. We are not living in a tomb; we are living in the light and as Christ’s light in all things. It is not a geographical location or a position of instruction of righteousness. It is a matter of relationship with God and with one another. For this reason, we must discover who God says we are. This will fulfill our destiny in this world. Anything less is missing the mark.

We have each been given a combination of motivational gifts from our heavenly Father that serve the uniqueness of our ability to bring life to others. Those internal motivations determine our ability to function in various realms of responsibility. Those realms of responsibility are the place of our destined authority. They are not motivations that are bound to church structures or meetings, they are motivations that enable us to be who we are for the sake of others as the church. A change of meetings, forms of meetings, types of gatherings, or other circumstances of life don’t stop us from being the church. We must all love and live for the wellbeing of others at all times, but we each do so in different manners and by different ways of thinking.

Romans 12:4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Those who are motivated to perceive are not greater than those who are motivated to serve. Those who teach are not greater than those who are motivated to exhort others. Those that exhort are not better or less than those who are motivated towards mercy. Those who lead are not greater than those who join to their leadership for the purpose of God’s life in this world. We are each motivated to fulfill a measure of authority. That authority will bring life to others. We are not called to measure others by the motivations of our own hearts. We are called to present our bodies for a corporate purpose according to the measure of grace given to us by God for the sake of being the body of Christ in the world for the calling of Christ, the testimony of Christ, and the purpose of Christ in all things. When we measure others by our own motivations we reject the gift that they are for the sake of our corporate testimony in Christ. When we live for ourselves we rob the community of the grace given to us for the sake of being who we are meant to be together in Christ. All are called to demonstrate love, but each and everyone loves in the way that they love. Some see the precious in what is vile, while others have a grace to break open the vile vessel that contains what is precious so the precious can become useful for the sake of God’s glory. Everyone is called to give, but some have a grace motivation of giving. Those with the grace motivation of giving are not to measure others by their standards. They are to demonstrate giving for the sake all being an expression of Christ together. They are even called to give to the extent that other expressions can receive the necessary supply to accomplish the greater purpose of the being the body of Christ. Those who serve are not called to measure those who teach by their standard of serving, but to serve to fulfill their part in being the body of Christ. No member is to measure the other members but to present their bodies for the corporate purpose of God in Christ. We must not allow any enemy to distract us from who we are meant to be, nor to be taken out from the corporate purpose of life in Christ. We must be true to whom God has made us to be. When we embrace who we are in life, we can bring life to others. We were created to bring life to 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. We are continuing to move on in the midst of world restraints. God is good and His presence is in our lives. Yesterday was another day of church deployed in small home gatherings, but we are preparing the building for coming together again in a fresh, new and focused way. A new church, a new form, and a fresh focus of purpose is stirring in the atmosphere.

We are living in a time of being the people of God. We can expect weapons to be formed against us in this since it is the power of God’s grace and grace alone that will empower us to be who we should be in such a time as this. Our being real in who we are is for the sake of who we are together. This is a supernatural reality. We are called to be the community of God, not the community of self or some community of humanly created form. If we had the same speech and the same language we would seek to build a city unto ourselves, but God has called us to be part of something greater. We are to be a community of God’s grace that is empowered by the unity of God’s Spirit. God doesn’t want us to build a heavenly tower, He wants to invade our earth with heaven’s grace.

In a time of separation, we must willfully choose to connect to our corporate purpose as the body of Christ. God is opening legitimate doors and closing illegitimate ones. The thought came to be yesterday, maybe we are wearing masks so we will get tired of wearing masks. Maybe we have been wearing masks for years, not revealing who we really are? Maybe we have been wearing masks for fear that others will see us for who we relay are? Maybe we have been wearing masks to prevent others from entering into our space of living? Maybe God wants us to be tired of wearing masks so we can be grateful to come together in the diversity of identities, testimonies, and purpose in life? Perhaps God is laughing in heaven at our frustration over masks and control only to wake us up to truly be free. To be free is to be a giver of life to our world. This is a season of fruit, not a season of thorns and thistles. This is not a time to be distracted by things that poke the flesh. It is a season of fruit that brings life to the world. This is the testimony of being people of God. It is by the mercy of God that each and everyone of us are justified to live and it is by God’s grace that can be empowered to be who we are meant to be for the sake of our world.

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.

The presenting of our bodies is not for our own dreams, visions, and self-focused agendas in life. The presenting of our bodies is for the corporate identity, testimony, and purpose of God in the earth. It is good to be loved, it is acceptable to overcome every wicked thing by the power of God’s grace, but it is perfect to become givers of life to others, even as God gives life to us. It is righteous to be loved by God and to know the goodness of His life in our lives. The only thing acceptable is to be one with God to be empowered to take on the testimony of holiness, even as our heavenly Father is holy. The power and the fruit of God’s Spirit is the true testimony of life in and through each of us in our world. The true joy of life is to know the partnership of God in all things for the glory of our Father’s purpose in the generations of humanity. This is good, acceptable, and perfect in the journey of our life in Christ. We are part of the body of Christ for the identity, testimony, and purpose of God in our world. We each make a great son or daughter of God for the contribution of life to the community of God in the earth. We are each enough and to think beyond the boundaries of who we really are is to think more highly than we ought. Who we each are is good, acceptable, and perfect to contribute our part to the glory of the community of God in the earth.

Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

To think of ourselves more highly than we ought is to think outside of the metron or sphere of who God has made us to be. We don’t need to become smaller so that others can be bigger. We need to be true to who we are so that who we are will bring life to those who are what we are. We each supply life to one another. We cannot live in false humility thinking we are nothing; we must embrace true humility simply living for the sake of others within the boundaries of our own authority. We are all part of a corporate plan of life. Faith comes by hearing God and it is in hearing God that we come to know who we are. We cannot do anything or be anything we want to be 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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

We had a great week last week. Our son, his wife, and two of our grand kids came home for the week from California. We were blessed to have the whole family together for the 4^th of July celebration. We love our family, and nothing is better than when we are all together. I hope you had a blessed week as well in whatever circumstance you have found yourself. We continue to do church online and look forward to being able to come fully together again in the near future.

We are living in a time where God is releasing a grace to become the people of God. This can only happen by the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives as the Spirit of Knowing. This is not a knowledge of intellect, scientific discovery, human opinion, or experience learned or observed. It is a knowledge of intimacy – a knowing of who God is and who we are as the habitation of His presence in the earth. The knowledge of our own minds will resist the communion of the heart. True communion with God and one another is a communion by the Spirit of God. It is a testimony of our freewill to love God and love one another. In the curse of futility, it is by the sweat of the human brow that man was subject to eat their bread. The sharing of our lives with one another is resisted by the judgments of our own minds. The judgments of human will, and human understanding alone are established within the bitter wounds of offense. Only the eternal judgment of God’s love can heal our hearts and empower us to become the people of God in this world.

We are the gate of heaven, the place of God’s heavenly community influencing the world around us. Today is a time to overcome, not to be overcome. The hordes of hell have unleashed numerous spirits of deception, fear, and intimidation to resist the grace of God in our day, but grace is the manifest presence of God in our lives that overcomes all evil. Grace is not merely a gift given to us that lacks the power of change; it is gift of God’s overcoming power in our lives and it can be found by those who have an ear to hear. It is a gift that can be found once we come boldly to God’s presence to receive mercy that frees us from the judgments of the flesh and justifies us to find God’s grace that changes everything from within our hearts. God’s grace is found in the place of resistance, because when it is found it reveals that we are sons of God (male and female) to bring the liberty of heaven to the futile places of the world. It cannot be found by those who don’t seek to find it, but it can be found by those who do. Nothing is more powerful than God working in and through our lives. It is impossible for man alone, but by God’s grace miraculous testimonies are discovered.

Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 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. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

When we find the grace of God for a transformational change by God in our lives, we can expect to face opposition to that change. We are in a time of becoming the people of God in a greater way, we can expect disunity in a time of unity. We can expect division in a time of community. We can expect temptations to see isolation as a path to the future when the true path before us is connection. This is the tribulation that resists the change of grace. The will of God is to cheerfully embrace the way of God and to become transformed by God through His Spirit interceding from within our hearts. He is the guarantee of the working of grace in our lives. We must embrace the identify of us, the testimony of us, and the purpose of us in the midst of the temptation to be people of self. The way to the true path of life is a corporate one and not a solitary one. We are not our own, we belong to the calling, inheritance, and purpose of Christ in all things. This is the purpose of Jesus and the purpose of being the body of Christ. While the world seeks to live for the uniqueness of self, we must embrace the grace of God to become the testimony of us through the uniqueness of each one living for the greater testimony of us all together. It is our perseverance to be the body of Christ that will grant us the testimony of being the body of Christ in a greater way. We are not the people of the world; we are the people of God. We are not black people, white people, red people, brown people, yellow people or any other division of humanity. We are the family of God made of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation though the diversity of each unique characteristic of each family member. We are not in competition with one another, we ae comparable to become the full testimony of God as the people of God in the earth.

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;

Yesterday we had an outdoor gathering of ALife Church. It was good to see some faces that we haven’t been able to see for some time. We look forward to the day of increased gathering together. The restraints of the present time are not the end of the story. God is going to make a way where there seems to be no way.

As I consider the present situation in the earth I am stirred in my spirit to remind us of the greatness of our mandate and destiny in Christ. We are the body of Christ, not individuals unto ourselves. Right now there are distracting spirits at work to thwart who we are in Christ. We are the people of God and that is a corporate identity, testimony, and purpose. We cannot live for ourselves and think that we are fulfilling our purpose in life. We cannot live for the purposes of the world and think that we are fulfilling our true purpose in life. As the people of God we are led by the Spirit of God, not the spirit of the world. The world is under the sway of the wicked one. That doesn’t mean that God hates them. It means they are confused as to who God is and therefore they are also confused as to who they are really meant to be. If we succumb to the agendas of the world we are also submitting ourselves to the sway of a wicked agenda. This will cause us to have misconceptions of who God is and who we are. The result will be a self-seeking, self-inspired, and self-oriented direction in life.

1 John 5:19 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.

The way of the world is a way of deception. Wherever there is a dry place, there must be a devil. God subjected the serpent to crawl on his belly in the dust. When our hearts are dead to God, we become a place where deceiving, conflicting, and devouring spirits must rest. God subjected the earth to this futility in the hope of all becoming sons and daughters of God who are led by His Spirit. Only God’s Spirit can transform the dry and barren places of our lives to become a watered garden of God’s life-giving presence. Only the Lord who gives life can expel the things that rest in the dry places of our hearts. It is the Spirit of the Lord that makes us come alive!

Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

It is disobedience to live our lives for our own identity, testimony, and purpose. To live for ourselves is to live for a consequence of missing the mark of true life in Christ. When mankind lives for their own agendas it results in the consequence of wrath they place upon themselves by not coming to the place of God’s grace. God is love and to live apart from Him is to live for something less than true love and life. God has called us all to be the people of God and to live for the corporate identity of the family of God. That means that each of us are part of a greater testimony than our own personal testimony. Our purpose is greater than living for ourselves. It is living to be the community of God that invites all to find their part in the corporate expression of Christ.

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. 

These verses describe the greater purpose of humanity. Jesus gave His life so that we could be a part of His house. He gave His life so that we could live our lives in the hope of His calling, the testimony of His inheritance, and the purpose of His life in all things. The Holiest place is to be a part of the corporate dwelling presence of God. It is to live as a member of the body of Christ and not a body of self. As I approach this topic, please consider the greater destiny of your life. This is not a time to be distracted, divided, or disconnected from our purpose in Christ. Look for creative ways to focus on God’s will, be united with God and one another in your testimony and be connected to God and one another in His purpose in all things. The enemy has formed weapons against this, but by God’s Word and Spirit we can become sons and daughters of God who live for our true identity, testimony, and purpose in life.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Blog In Audio:

Greetings;

I hope you are all well today. The sun is shining here and I am ready to get some things done today. It feels like hope is in the air. We had a prayer meeting at ALife Church on Friday night and this coming weekend we will have a church family outdoor gathering. I am ready to see more faces that I have missed.

As the people of God, our lives are empowered by the internal kingdom of God in our hearts. Mercy has triumphed over every judgment based upon the knowledge of good and evil and God’s grace is transforming our hearts and minds to become real as new creations in Christ for the glory of God in all things. We are new creations for the sake of being salt and light to the world. The old administration of our lives was one of the knowledge of good and the knowledge of evil. The decisions of our lives were governed by the informative input of the knowledge of good and the knowledge of evil in the world in which we found ourselves. We were trying to be good people, making good decisions, and living a good life as we determined it to be. Our family tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thus the decisions of our lives were determined by our own assessment of what was good and what was evil. In truth, we sought to govern our own affairs, make our own decisions, and creating our own worlds. We lived with others with an independent will, an independent attitude, independent actions, and we sought independent results in life. We were expressions of a kingdom unto ourselves – a kingdom of the world. Now we are experiencing an internal revolution of God’s glory that is significant enough to affect every area of our lives. The outward decisions, actions, and influences of our lives are a testimony that our kingdom has become a kingdom of our Lord and Christ. We are the people of God.

Isaiah 11:1-3 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears…

The old tree has been cut down and the eternal tree of life has sprung up where the old one once ruled. We are new creations in Christ and the Holy Spirit is the anointing in and upon our lives. The Spirit of the Lord, Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Might, Knowing, and Fear of the Lord is the activating substance of our lives. This means, we are no longer governed as we were in the past. We are not governed as people in the world, we are governed as the people of God. It is not our job to condemn those who are governed by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we are to shine as light in the darkness as children of the light. Natural sight is not the ruling factor of our lives. What things look like, sound like, feel like or what we think they look like, sound like, or feel like does not determine the attitude, action, or attributes of our lives.

Isaiah 11:4-5 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist.

The Rod from the stem or stump of Jesse was the greater David, Jesus the Son of God born in Bethlehem. The Branch was Christ. Jesus told His disciples that He was the vine and they were the branches; the Branch from the Rod of Jesse is both Christ the head and Christ the body. He was both the head and the body of Christ that made a way for us all to become part of His body through the blood of His mercy and the Spirit of His grace. The sevenfold Spirit upon our lives anoints us to live by a different justice system than that of the knowledge of good and evil and mere judgments of right and wrong. The Holy Spirit empowers us to delight in the awe of God and to judge things by a different standard than what can be seen or heard naturally.

Isaiah 11:3 His delight is in the fear of the LORD, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears…

The Holy Spirit’s administration of grace empowers us to make judgments for the poor by a righteousness of life. With the equity of who we are we can make decisions for those who do not qualify according to the standards of right and wrong. They simply qualify through a judgment of love. As people of God we must set the example of destroying evil through the power of love. When the devil strikes the earth, it is with a blow of hate and death, but the breath of God is a wind of love and the measure of His mouth is a life-giving expression that destroys the power of evil.

Isaiah 11:4, 5 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.  Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist.

The substance of who we are in Christ is enough to give life to those who lack it. We are the substance of good news to the destitute, healing to the broken hearted, liberty to the captives, an open door to freedom for the bound, restored heritage and inheritance to the enslaved, deliverance to the controlled, comfort to the mourning, clarity to the confused, beauty to the destroyed, joy to the sorrowful, and praise to the oppressed. Who we are is a testimony to who all can become! We are the people of God and our love for another is not dependent upon them loving us – it is an anointing upon our lives given to us by our Father in heaven! We are trees of righteousness; the planting of the Lord that God might be glorified!

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,

Blessings to you from my house in Bellingham, Washington. Last week I completed video recording another course of training that I will be offering in the next couple of weeks as another resource through House of Bread and Christ Life Training. I will begin another course this week. My hope is to create some key and essential training resources for the body of Christ during this time of being based at home. We had church in our house again yesterday and we were blessed with a great message from Pastors Jonathan and Danie as well as a touch of God’s love and life as the Church Deployed.

God is up to something good. We are in a grassroots revolution, but not as the world would perceive it to be nor would those holding on to the monuments of the past perceive it to be. There is a counterfeit expression of what God is doing in the cloak of law and in the cloak of lawlessness, but God is doing something good. God wants for each of us to discover the authority of being who we are meant to be as expressions of Christ in the expressions of God’s community in the earth. Power takes, but authority gives life. Authority is neither control nor manipulation. It is an attribute of giving life to others. It is the testimony of a measure given to each of us to provide life to the world we live in. The people of God are called to be people of true authority. That authority is the ability to be real in the substance of who each are for the sake of others. True authority is not found in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it is an attribute of the tree of life. Without Christ in us, we lack the ability to walk in true authority. We seek to subdue and exercise dominion through force and manipulation. We impose our will upon others. God wants His will to be the flow of life that comes from within our hearts. God’s will always empower us to be a blessing to others, to give greater value to others, to transform hearts and minds in a generational way that becomes a force of influence for life in our world. The external expressions of our lives are directly connected to the revolution of our own hearts. The kingdom of God is an internal kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. It is time that we as the people of God shine as people who bring form, fullness, and light to the world around us. We need God’s manifest presence and supernatural wisdom for such a time as this.

As members of the body of Christ our heritage and inheritance come from a different tree than the family tree of the world. We were once people of the world and of the world system, but now we have become the children of God. As children of God we must grow in maturity to see our lives led by the Spirit of God and not the wisdom of our own hearts and minds. When we are led by God’s Spirit we take on the testimony of being sons of God. What we believe, how we act, how we respond to others, how we receive from others, how we contribute to others, how we relate to others, and how we stand with others in this life is motivated by the Holy Spirit of God in our lives.

Romans 8:14-17 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

The old administration of our lives was one of the knowledge of good and the knowledge of evil. The decisions of our lives were governed by the informative input of knowledge of good and knowledge of evil in the world in which we found ourselves. We were trying to be good people, making good decisions, and living a good life as we determined it to be. Our family tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thus the decisions of our lives were determined by our own assessment of what was good and what was evil. In truth, we sought to govern our own affairs, make our own decisions, and create our own worlds. We lived with others with an independent will, an independent attitude, independent actions, and we sought independent results in life. We were expressions of a kingdom unto ourselves – a kingdom of the world.

The revolutions of the world seek to take life from others to propagate their own personal agendas and wills to form a world according to their own perceptions of what they deem as right or wrong. A revolution of the kingdom of God is an internal revolution that transforms us to become people who seek to give life to the world in order to see the kingdom of God rise up in the hearts of those who are touched by God’s love. Human love will inspire us to seek to be loved, but God’s love will inspire us to seek to love others. True love empowers us and others to overcome everything that prevents us from being life-giving people of faith, hope, and love. Love is not an entitlement, it is an empowerment to be alive, be an expression of life for the life of others, and a partner with God in brining life to our world in all things.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Blog In Audio:

Greetings;

I hope you had a great weekend. There is for sure a lot of things going on. There is a grassroots revolution going on, but the true revolution is what God is doing by His Spirit, not what man does in the flesh. Knowledge will spark a revolution of the flesh that provokes the people to be the people, but only a knowing of God by His Spirit of Knowing (intimacy knowledge) can reveal the people of God.

If we look at the world around us we can see that there are many things rising up. New events, challenges, problems, and realities seem to be rising one after another. Just when you think you have seen everything, there seems to be another reality on the horizon. We can see this in what appears to be bad news to many of us, but is there good news about to rise in many new ways? Is it simply bad news being revealed by good news? Or is there something greater than good and evil or right and wrong being revealed in this time called now? It is not merely a time for things to rise up, but for the people of God to arise and shine in the midst of the darkness.

Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine; For your light has come! and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. 2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.

I have been enjoying this present season as a season of working in my garden. Not a big crowd, just some personal time to make the most of my personal space. I have said that in my neighborhood, 2020 is the year that everyone became a farmer. Everyone has been working in their yards and their gardens. My own garden is filled with many kinds of vegetables and fruits. I have also been dealing with weeds in my garden. I have been watching carefully to discern the appropriate time for extracting the weeds from my garden bed. I am also finding that there are many weeds that look like the plants that I am expecting, but they soon become manifest as something different than what I thought they might be. It even seems that the weeds grow faster than the plants that I have strategically placed into the soil. I don’t deal with the weeds in my garden with a focus of simply eliminating the weeds. I focus on the plants that I am expecting, and I extract the weeds in a way that does not destroy what is true. In truth, the weeds are growing because the soil is fertile, and the weather is filled with sunshine and rain. Where I live the sunshine and rain keep coming in close proximity to one another and everything is growing at an accelerated rate. There are times when we think of sunshine as good news and rain as bad or rain as good news and the sunshine as bad. The environment of our own hearts and minds often define what is good or bad in our own eyes, but only God who is good can truly define the season. It seems that the mix of the good news and bad news, the bad news and good news, is causing the truth and the lie to grow together at an accelerated rate. Things that God has planted for such a time as this can be easily missed when we become distracted by the counterfeit weeds growing in God’s garden. We are the people of God and we must not be distracted from being the people of God in a time when knowledge is falling like the rain or shining like the sun to inspire the growth of things that cannot give us the true fruit of life. When the environment seems to propagate a rule by information, we must depend fully upon God for a harvest that comes by transformation. We must see ourselves as planted by God at such a time as this to be the light of life to the world, not a light of condemning knowledge. The true grassroots revolution is a revolution of changed hearts and minds and an awe of a great, good, and merciful Father.

Are you discovering that things you used to be able to hide in, or hide behind, are no longer places of refuge? Even in the natural, things are coming to the light. In a day of much knowledge, there is a revealing of many secrets. In a day of information, people make judgments based upon knowledge. But their knowledge is limited by their own understanding and translated through the filter of their own judgments and perspectives. Many things prove to be lies, but then the lies become exposed to truly be lies. The truth is being revealed, whether it is truth proving to be true or lies proving to truly be lies. This is the present season of grace and it is being made manifest by the true plants growing in the garden compared to the weeds that are only the counterfeit plats that distract from the true destiny of life in the garden. We must embrace this season to discover the life of Christ in our world. What is the true grassroots revolution in the earth?

God is stripping away hiding places so we can become what God desires us to be as a people who are transformed by the power of God’s love in our midst. Iniquities are being exposed, not to be condemned, but to reveal a place of dependency upon the presence of God and His transforming grace. It is not a time to hide because of our differences, but to come as we are for the wellbeing of others and the generations to come. Christ in us is the hope of glory and the glory of God is to become all that He says we are for His family name. We are a temple of God in the Spirit and it is from the place of His habitation that we will become a multigenerational, Christ-centered, Christ-filled, community of brotherly love. We will be a community of little children, maturing sons and daughters of God who overcome all things by God’s grace, and fathers and mothers who live for the children and the children’s children as we see Him as the Father of us all.

Psalms 29:9 The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth, and strips the forests bare; and in His temple everyone says, “Glory!”

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Yesterday was Pentecost Sunday. We participated as the Church Deployed with live-stream of Pastor Jonathan and Danie and a gathering in our home of a few folks for worship, prayer, and ministry. The presence of God was wonderful and there was a strong prophetic anointing in our gathering. This is one prophecy released in my living room yesterday, as the presence of God filled another space of the Church Deployed.

I hear the Spirit of the Lord saying, that this is not even about My wave of momentum. It’s about your feet. For I’ve come to heal the feet of that which is good news, says God. I’ve come to cause you stand in a different place. Not a place of ground that is hard, but a place that is like riding the wave, says God. For you’re going to understand what it means to be the family of life as I stretch you out to the right and I stretch you out to the left and I expand that reach of your arms. For the reach of your arms is connected to the standing of your feet. So even as I paid the price to transition you from the old tree into this tree of life, it is in this season and in this time that your feet are going to be known as the feet of good news. And the feet of good news are going to have the victory because I’ve healed the bitter roots of your hearts that are the connection between your feet and your hands. For that place that you stand can only reach out through the passage that it flows through and I’m bringing a healing to the deep places within. You’re going to stand and you’re going to see even your children and your children’s children healed of the bitter roots that have come by the eyes. For that which is going to come is going to come from My eyes, and My eyes are eyes of the heart, says God. And so, I am healing the place of true sight because I’m causing there to be a true might, and that true might is the outstretched arms of love. But they’re connected to the feet of good news. And so, in this time and in this time and in this moment it’s not even about the wave, it’s the ability to stand on the wave. So, I’m blessing the feet today and I’m healing the feet, says the Spirit of the Lord, that you might stand in the grace of this intimacy and this love. And where you didn’t think you could stand, you will stand. But it won’t be feet that are on the ground that you used to stand on. It will be feet that are on that mystical movement of water, that mystical movement of life that could be horrendous if you were in the wrong place. But standing in the place of My grace it’s a different feeling that you’ve have ever felt before. You’ve never felt this before beneath your feet. You’ve never felt this before in the place of your standing. So, it’s from this place of standing, how lovely are the feet of those who bring this good news. So, Good news is going to sweep the nations, says the Spirit of Life! Good news is going to sweep the nations, says the Spirit of Life! But not in a rising up – in a standing up. That the arms can reach out, that the hands can be those who bring life because the connection between the feet and the hands is the heart and I’m healing the bitter places this Day, says God. 

The Spirit of Knowing is one aspect of Holy Spirit and God is healing our place of standing in the earth by this grace. It is not a knowledge of information, but a standing in full dependence upon the love of God our Father in all things. Jesus shed blood in seven places to give us the sevenfold perfection of Holy Spirit in our lives. The sixth shedding of blood was through the feet of Jesus. Jesus stood upon the nail of judgment according to the knowledge of good and evil and made a judgment for us based upon our Father’s heart. He released us all from the sin of presumption to the sin of transgression when He said, Father forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing. He didn’t say those words from the law of the knowledge of good and evil, right and wrong. He said those words while standing in the higher law of the Father’s love and the grace of the Spirit of Knowing. He has granted us all the ability to receive the forgiveness of all our sins and the testimony of mercy that has triumphed over all judgment. Jesus shed blood from His feet for the standing of all men. He shed blood from His feet so all men could stand in a relationship of intimacy with God and intimacy with each other. Living Bread stood on the nails of sweat and human will. He stood as the judgment of love upon the nail of the judgment of right and wrong. His pierced feet won back dominion over the places we walk, that we might freely give the Bread of Life to all we meet. We stand in the eternal judgment of eternal life for all men.

Isaiah 52: 7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” 8 Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, with their voices they shall sing together; for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord brings back Zion. 9 Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem! For the Lord has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The Lord has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

We must stand on the wave of momentum to bring good news to the earth. It is time to be the life! Be the light! Be the healing! Be the hope as the body of Christ that can stand because of God’s judgment of love on our behalf. Be the feet of good news in a day of distraction.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Help us fulfill our Mission!

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