More Reasons To Hear

Posted on February 26, 2018 by ted4you

Greetings;

I have just finished a great weekend with Pastor Paul Fowler and LifeChurch in Bryan / College Station, Texas. It was a full and blessed weekend. From Friday through Sunday God’s presence and goodness was with us. Thank you so much to all the hungry, willing, and teachable people here.

Last week I began to address reasons to hear God’s voice. Today I want to continue with four more reasons to hear God. I presented last week that:

  1. The first reason to hear God is to know the life that comes by being loved by God. It is to have a relationship with Him and know Him – this is eternal life. Revelation2:7
  2. A second reason to hear God is to overcome the fear of death in all things. Love does whatever is necessary and thus it will physically manifest that love in the actions of our lives. Revelation 2:10, 11
  3. A third reason to hear God Is to know the inward transformation of God’s word in our hearts and His outward testimony in our lives. These are the fruit of responding to God’s gifts of His Word and Spirit in and through our lives. Revelation 2:17

If we look at the fourth letter in the book of Revelation we find the church of Thyatira. The name Thyatira means, sacrifice or labor of love. True authority is the ability to give life to others. Having been judged in Christ, we can now give life to others. We are under authority and thus we have been given authority. The ability to give life in and to any circumstance has been given to Jesus as the Son of Man, therefore, we can give life to those who are in our sphere of life. It is a matter of submission to receive authority and submission to give that substance of life to others. A fourth reason for hearing God is to give life to our world. We can bring light to any darkness and transform it to day.

Revelation 2:26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations— 27 ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—as I also have received from My Father; 28 and I will give him the morning star. 29 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’

The name Sardis means, prince of joy. It is in the presence of God that there is the fullness of joy. We are awake to God and we are children of the day and not the night. We know the power of His Might and the testimony of who we are in Christ reveals His resurrection power to our world. We are each a part in the testimony of His calling, His inheritance, and His power to the world around us. A fifth reason for hearing God is to walk in the works prepared for us in Christ. We are sent ones; thus, angels work with us to reveal the goodness of our Father through our lives as part of the testimony of His Son.

Revelation 3:5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’

The name Philadelphia means, brotherly love. We are increasingly experiencing the testimony of communion with Him and one another that inspires the testimony of His community in the earth. We are increasingly knowing God in our midst as the family of God. We are the people of God in the earth. A sixth reason to hear God is to be a pillar of God’s presence in the earth that loves and lives for God and His family.

Revelation 3:12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. 13 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’

The name Laodicea means, just people. True justice is not a testimony of what is right verses what is wrong. True justice is to become the substance of who God is as those who have clearly obtained His mercy. We can know the power of prayer that is really a face-to-face relationship with God in all things. A seventh reason to hear God is to be consumed with His zeal for His glory. This only comes by knowing Him in us and us in Him in all things. We can partner with Him in all things and reign in life.

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

These are reasons to hear God. None of them are focused on knowing what to do, being independent, being successful, or doing some great thing in life. All of these reasons are about being connected to Him in all things.

  1. The first reason to hear God is to know the life that comes by being loved by God. It is to have a relationship with Him and know Him – this is eternal life. Revelation2:7
  2. A second reason to hear God is to overcome the fear of death in all things. Love does whatever is necessary and thus it will physically manifest that love in the actions of our lives. Revelation 2:10, 11
  3. A third reason to hear God Is to know the inward transformation of God’s word in our hearts and His outward testimony in our lives. These are the fruit of responding to God’s gifts of His Word and Spirit in and through our lives. Revelation 2:17
  4. A fourth reason for hearing God is to give life to our world. We can bring light to any darkness and transform it to day. Revelation 2:26-29
  5. A fifth reason for hearing God is to walk in the works prepared for us in Christ. We are sent ones; thus, angels work with us to reveal the goodness of our Father through our lives as part of the testimony of His Son. Revelation 3:5, 6
  6. A sixth reason to hear God is to be a pillar of God’s presence in the earth that loves and lives for God and His family. Revelation 3:12, 13
  7. A seventh reason to hear God is to be consumed with His zeal for His glory. This only comes by knowing Him in us and us in Him in all things. We can partner with Him in all things and reign in life. Revelation 3:20-22

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Thank you to all of you who have partnered with me in prayer and support. More resources are being developed and we are moving forward with reaching the nations with the message of New Covenant Life and Grace. 

Donations can be made at the above right link or mail your donation to House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, Wa. 98225.

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Reasons To Hear God

Posted on February 19, 2018 by ted4you

Greetings,

I had a great time at Everyone’s Church yesterday in Mt. Vernon, Washington. Thank you Pastor Brice and the family of God at Everyone’s Church. I appreciate your hunger and your willingness to receive all that God has. I pray that God blesses this year in His winds of change!

In the book of Revelation there are seven overcoming promises to seven churches that represent the church that was at the time of the revelation, was in the history of time before, and would be in the generations to come. This is a New Covenant truth. When we receive a revelation of Jesus Christ we receive the ability to see Him in the place that is, that was, and will be in our lives. In the seven letters written in chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation, the ultimate goal is to hear God for seven reasons. Today I am going to write concerning the first three. The first three letters of Revelation Chapter 2 give three reasons for hearing God that are foundational to the other reasons to hear God in our lives.

Ephesus is the desirable place, the place of paradise. Paradise is a place of intimacy with God in Christ. It is the ability to know how much God loves us. It is a place of knowing that God walks with us in life. It is not about what is good and what is evil, it is about knowing the love of God. Our hate for evil or our desire to do good things cannot exceed our ability to know the love of God. Our first love is to know how much God loves us and to say to Him, “here I am.”  The first reason to hear God is to know the life that comes by being loved by God. It is to have a relationship with Him and know Him – this is eternal life. It is not a matter of hearing whether He loves us or not, it is a matter of hearing that He really does!

Revelation2:7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” ’

Smyrna means, Myrrh. Myrrh is a burial oil. Christ died once for all, thus all have died in Christ, but because of the overcoming power of His love we can also live in Him. It is only in Christ that we can truly live and that life is eternal life. It is life beyond death and life that overcomes death in all things. It is not just life that comes from being loved, it is a life that testifies of our love for God. It is a place of hearing the voice of life in our hearts that empowers us to do works that speak of that life in all things. Our actions in life are empowered by faith that works through love. Perfect love has cast out all fear and thus the life we live is empowered by the overcoming love of God. No death can destroy us. A second reason to hear God is to overcome the fear of death in all things. Love does whatever is necessary and thus it will physically manifest that love in the actions of our lives.

Revelation 2:10 Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” ’

Pergamos means the place of height or elevation. It is a place of becoming the testimony of God’s heavenly power and fruit in life. It is the place of heavenly realities in the lives of men. It is the place of the circumcision of the heart where heaven becomes a part of our testimony in life. It is the reality of the gifts of God’s word and Spirit at work in us. A third reason to hear God Is to know the inward transformation of God’s word in our hearts and His outward testimony in our lives. These are the fruit of responding to God’s gifts of His Word and Spirit in and through our lives.

Revelation 2:17 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” ’

The first reason to hear God is to know the life that comes by being loved by God. It is to have a relationship with Him and know Him – this is eternal life. Revelation2:7

A second reason to hear God is to overcome the fear of death in all things. Love does whatever is necessary and thus it will physically manifest that love in the actions of our lives. Revelation 2:10, 11

A third reason to hear God Is to know the inward transformation of God’s word in our hearts and His outward testimony in our lives. These are the fruit of responding to God’s gifts of His Word and Spirit in and through our lives. They are testimonies of His love! Revelation 2:17

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Lots of things are happening this year for many places in the world. Please consider partnering with me in prayer and financial support. 

We accomplished many things in 2017 with New Covenant life and Grace in the nations. We have many goals for 2018 and we are believing for God’s kingdom’s influence in many life-giving ways. Two new courses have been recorded in Portuguese and I will be taking them to Angola in the next couple of months. 

If you wold like to support us financially you can do so by donating at the above right link or mail your donation to House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, Wa. 98225.

God Bless

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The Poetic Experience of God

Posted on February 12, 2018 by ted4you

Greetings;

I just finished a great weekend with my friends in Wichita, Kansas. I was blessed to share with the hearts of those at Christ Life Ministries, to worship God together, and experience His presence. I pray for God’s blessing and goodness for the church here in all that God will do in 2018.

God is always with us, but He wants us to experience Him in our worlds. He wants us to know His poetic presence as much as the theological reality of His constant presence. Whenever we face a challenge in our lives, God can work in our place of need and bring a poetic reality of His goodness to us in life.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

These first verses in Genesis are not meant to be theologically correct. They are meant to be poetically correct. They describe what happens when God manifests in a situation. Life works best when things need God’s best. Life is the antidote to anything that is formless, void, or dark in some way. These verses don’t tell all of the history of planet earth. They are simply meant to reveal to us what happens when the Holy Spirit shows up. A battle about how the earth was created is not the issue. A battle over whether the earth is young or old is not worth fighting. These verses in Genesis are not meant to be merely theologically correct, they are meant to be poetically correct. When things are formless, void, and dark there is an opportunity for life.

In the beginning the earth was formless, void, and dark. I have never known God to make things that are formless, void, or dark. I don’t know how things got formless, void, and dark, but things become that way and there was a need for the presence of Holy Spirit and for an expression of God – an expression of God’s word. When light is absent, it becomes dark. When we step away from the fullness of who God is we are left with emptiness. When we forsake the order of God we become formless in our way. I don’t know how the condition of the first verses of Genesis came about, all I know is that it was in need of God. It was in need of God’s presence and it was in need of God’s word. When God hovers over a situation, something good is about to happen. When God speaks, life happens.

These verses are not meant to explain scientific or theological fact. They are meant to reveal an experience. The point of these verses is not science, but a spiritual reality. What happens to formless, void and dark places when God shows up? We have to be ok with not understanding some things. We have to be ok with not understanding a beginning. We know that in the beginning God created, but where did God come from. There are some things we cannot understand. We have to be ok with things we cannot understand. There are things beyond our capability to fathom. One thing we must know, God is good and He can work things out by the power of His love. God’s love brings about poetic realities in our lives. I have learned that poetry is more powerful than theology. There are some things we cannot understand.

In the very first verse, what is the point? What are things that God wants us to know? What is the point? What happens in formless void and dark places when God shows up? What is God’s heart towards formless, void and dark places? What are the possibilities even in seemingly hopeless situations? If we are given a formless, void, dark situation, what does the future look like? In the beginning Holy Spirit was brooding, hovering, and creatively forming a plan for life. The Hebrew word for hovering is a word for what a chicken does in hatching its eggs. For 21 days a chicken sits on a nest of eggs in order for them to hatch. This is the word brood. The chicken commits her life to sit on those eggs so that life can happen. Holy Spirit had an expectation in the formless, void, and dark place. Holy Spirit is God. He hovered over the face of the waters. The potential for the future was dependent upon Holy Spirit’s presence in the situation. This same thing is true in the formless, void, and dark places of our world. What is going to happen? Where the Holy Spirit broods God’s voice is ready to speak. That is when God said, let there be light. What was bound to a seemingly hopeless situation broke open to the power of God’s creative and creative glory.

God’s theological presence in our lives wants to be made known as a poetically true experience.  What looks like a struggle is actually a happening. He who has an ear to hear let him hear. Let there be light. He didn’t say, I command light. He just said, let it happen. Be loosed! Light! Come! Let it be! Life! Life!

Holy Spirit broods for the moment of Life! Holy Spirit is God. The older I get in my relationship with God the more aware I become that it is God who lives in me. I pray that this year will be filled with poetic experiences of God’s presence in our lives. I pray that there are many sun rises, many refreshing experiences, and many sudden poetic realities that come by His brooding and speaking to every situation we find ourselves in.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

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Holy Spirit Guides Us to Truth

Posted on February 5, 2018 by ted4you

Greetings,

Today I am in Bellingham. I had a great week being home and teaching with the Christ Life Training group. I was looking forward to being in my home church yesterday, but a  head cold kept me at home. This is a very unusual occurrence for me and I am looking forward to a week of renewed health. I did my early morning, four mile, run today to stir my body in the direction of health. Today is a another day.

Jesus wants to say things to us. Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. He guides us into all truth. Jesus in the room talking to us does not enable us to handle all the things God wants us to know, but Holy Spirit in our hearts causes us to change. He changes our ability to hear, to believe, and to handle the things we could not handle before. He tells us new things. I believe things today that forty years ago I would not have been able to handle. Holy Spirit is in my life guiding me. Some things I thought were true I found are not and some things I thought were a lie I have found they are not.

John 16:12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

Jesus was talking to His friends; the ones He had walked with, talked with, ate with, and lived with on a daily basis for several years. He had been in the room with them, but now He promised them something even better. He would make a way for them to be one with by the same Spirit that made Him one with the Father. Holy Spirit is the Helper in us, with us, and even upon us to demonstrate that God is in us and we are in Him.

There is a difference between God’s love and God’s favor. Holy Spirit first shows us God’s love. But He also helps us in our ability to walk in the favor of God. My grandson is a very brave young man. He is an eager, willing, hungry young man. He wants to do all things. Sometimes he believes he can do all things. I love him with all my heart. He says the same to me. He tells me he loves me to the top of outer space. I tell him I love him the same. He would love to use a chain saw. He might even think that he could. I would love to teach him. I know how to build a house with one of those. I built a five bedroom, two story house with a chain saw. I would love to teach my grandson that skill. I can cut boards and I can cut logs. He would love to do the same. I am creative and so is my grandson. I have the ability to teach my grandson how to do that and if I do, it would me showing favor to him. I would be giving him a gift. I am not going to love him more when I do that. It would just be me giving him favor. Right now, he is only five. Not too long ago, my grandson asked his dad, “Dad, when do I get to drive the car?” Some day he will. It will be a matter of favor, but it won’t be a matter of love. His dad loves him now as much as he ever will. I love him now as much as I ever will. God cannot give us more love, but He wants to give us more favor because of His love. God’s favor involves our ability to handle something that He gives. It is not about us being blessed, but about us being a blessing. God’s favor doesn’t mean He loves us more, it means we are able to handle more responsibility because of our connection to His love. Giving a chain saw to my grandson at five years old would not be loving. He would hurt himself or someone else. Holy Spirit first reveals God’s love in our lives and then He reveals truth to us according to our ability to handle it. Truth is not head knowledge. Truth is becoming something for the sake of others. Being able to become something for the sake of others is the testimony of truth.

What does it meant to become something for the sake of others? When someone does something to us that requires us to forgive them, Holy Spirit will guide us into the place of becoming forgiving. There is only one place forgiveness can work, it is where forgiveness is needed. Until someone does something that requires us to forgive, we never know the truth in regard to forgiveness. For the Holy Spirit to guide us into the truth of forgiveness it requires that someone does something that needs forgiveness. God is going to allow someone to come into our lives that needs our forgiveness. How can we know mercy unless we have received mercy and we have also had to show mercy? The justice system of the kingdom of heaven is not a justice system of right and wrong. That is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The justice system of heaven is one of love. It is the tree of life. When someone does something wrong, the justice system of heaven declares; “I forgive you for being wrong.” Not only does it forgive someone for being wrong, it demonstrates the ability to change your character so you are never wrong again in that same way.

Holy Spirit guiding us into all truth doesn’t mean He is giving us all revelation of Scripture. It means He empowers us to become something. Revelation about something is not the same as becoming a revelation of something. Deep truth of information could simply be yogurt or cottage cheese, or some other form of ‘thick milk’. Truth involves reason of use. Meat, solid food, something of truth; is putting something to use. No one can do that for us. Only Holy Spirit can guide us into that truth. Holy Spirit is intimately involved in our lives to empower us to become something that enables us to do something. Intimacy with Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth.

God is in me. I must cultivate my relationship with Him each day. I make myself aware that He is there. I stir up my spirit by His Spirit. Aaaahhh!!!! I speak in tongues. I allow my spirit to inspirit my soul as His Spirit inspires my spirit. I recognize that Holy Spirit is in me. I don’t know what my day is going to be. I make myself ready by being intimate with Holy Spirit. Someone may be coming to prick my flesh, to restrain me, restrict me, or try to stop me in some way. The most these things can do is prove that God’s grace is sufficient. When we are resisted, Holy Spirit helps us manifest the character of Christ. We may not get out of our circumstance, but we will find Christ in the midst of it.

One day I was driving down the road on my way into the city. My highway can be a little busy in the morning. I turned into traffic and a lady driver came speeding behind me and swerved to the side of me and gave me a look that could have killed. I didn’t get upset, but I did react a bit as she sped on her way. She continued forward in traffic and almost hit two more cars as she swerved in  and out of lanes. I have to admit, I was talking out loud in critical way concerning her driving patterns. The Holy Spirit said to me, “you don’t know her story.” I realized that my quick conclusion was quite shallow. Who am I to speak out loud about her cutting in and out of traffic. I began to pray for her. I began to pray in tongues. I began to pray that God would keep her safe and help her with whatever she had going on in her life. Holy Spirit was guiding me into truth. He wants to bring us into truth. He wants us to become truth.

We may start our day feeling really good, but need to see the Holy Spirit guide us into truth as the day unfolds. In all things, the one who is good lives in us! This gives hope to each new day!

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Lots of things are planned in this year for many places in the world. Please consider partnering with me in prayer and financial support. 

We accomplished many things in 2017 with New Covenant life and Grace in the nations. We have many goals for 2018 and we are believing for God’s kingdom’s influence in many life-giving ways. Two new courses have been recorded in Portuguese and I will be taking them to Angola in the next couple of months. 

If you wold like to support us financially you can do so by donating at the above right link or mail your donation to House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, Wa. 98225.

God Bless

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Holy Spirit Brings Good News

Posted on January 29, 2018 by ted4you

Greetings;

Today I am on my way home after many wonderful days in Portugal. I was able to video record two more courses for use with Portuguese speaking communities in many countries. The project is moving forward! Now I am excited to get home and see my family and be with my local church community again. God is good!

I am writing in regard to being free by the simplicity of Christ in us, the hope of glory. We have been made free in Christ, but we can embrace something less and end up with a deception in our lives.

2 Corinthians 11:1 Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

In these verses Paul was concerned that believers in the church could be deceived as Eve was deceived. Deception involves a different means of salvation, a different spirit, and a different good news. If something other than a relationship with God through the Holy Spirit becomes a source of salvation, a motivation of our hearts, and a testimony of good news to our lives – it will result in deception.

An example could be one of choosing law over a love relationship with Holy Spirit and the power of His grace in our lives. If we see the law as better than Jesus, we believe that obedience to the law is salvation, it then carries with it a spirit of legalism which is a different Spirit than Jesus. Without realizing it, we have made obedience to the law our good news. Our confession is, ‘give me Law that makes me legal.” If this happens, we may well put up with it. It is a different spirit. It is a demonic spirit. It is a religious spirit. Can we as Christians have a demon? Only if we want one.

Here is some good news. We are the eternal Eve of Christ. We are in relationship with Jesus. We can be deceived at times, but our Adam never bit the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and His love will cover a multitude of sins. He doesn’t want us to have a lifestyle of drifting from here to there. Paul was writing to help believers stay in a relationship of simplicity in Christ, not to be going after foolish things. Holy Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness, and of judgment. Whether it be the legalism of law, the condemnation of shame, the self-fulfilling desires of the flesh, or whatever else becomes a substitute for the simplicity of the good news in Christ – we may end up having to put up with something God did not intend to be in our lives.

Let’s use the condemnation of shame for a moment. I am saved by Jesus, but I am constantly wrestling with shame. I don’t realize it, but I have actually fallen in love with shame. I have created a world that I would be lonely if shame didn’t show up today. When I look in the mirror I look for reasons to see shame and to be ashamed. I have a lover called shame and I look in the mirror to see if shame is still there. I look in the mirror to see if shame sees me today. This is a stronghold of deception and it is earthly, becomes sensual, and can even be demonically inspired. Holy Spirit is intimate with us showing us that shame has been judged so when I look in the mirror I realize that shame doesn’t live here anymore because the ruler of this world has been judged. The more intimate I am with Holy Spirit the more I realize my ex-lovers have been judged. When I look in the mirror, how do I see myself? It could be unforgiveness. It could be when I look at others.

God wants to free us from judgment to show us that the ruler of the world has already been judged. Do we see ourselves as loved? Do we see ourselves as forgiven? If we look in the mirror and we see the places where I cannot be forgiven it is because we have a lover. Unforgiveness is a lover in our lives and God wants to free us. He wants to convict us to know that unforgiveness has been defeated for the ruler of the world has been judged.

Holy Spirit convicts of sin. Even as believers, sometimes we sin. Holy Spirit convicts people in the world. He doesn’t condemn, He convicts. He is drawing us and calling us into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The more we choose to indulge in the Holy Spirit, the more we embrace grace. Grace is the manifest presence of Holy Spirit in our lives. He convicts us when we look for love in the wrong place. He convicts our hearts to turn toward God. He convicts us of righteousness, a right relationship with God. He doesn’t shame us or condemn us. He calls us to move near to God and not move away. He convicts of judgment because the rule of the world is judged. He reveals that the things that are against us that seek to destroy us have already been judged. He frees us from the strongholds of the past. He frees us from the power of the enemy. This is not just in the moment we came to Jesus, but continually and increasingly in our lives. We are embracing the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. God likes us, He loves us, and He wants to be in our lives. Holy Spirit is the Spirit that causes our hearts to cry out Abba Father. God is our Father! We love you God! Holy Spirit causes our spirits to confess our desire for God in our lives.

 

Blessings,

 

Ted J. Hanson

 

 

 

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Prophetic Direction

Posted on January 22, 2018 by ted4you

Greetings,

Today I am in Portugal. I have had a great weekend in three of the churches here and I will be recording video teachings with Portuguese translation all week. We are putting together training materials for leaders in the Portuguese speaking world. I know this is going to be a full and blessed week. Next weekend I look forward to ministering in a few more of the churches in CCVA here. There are my friends and part of my destiny!

Ok, I am doing my review of 2017 for House of Bread Ministry and looking at a prophecy that I gave at the beginning of the year. I see that this prophecy is happening on a global scale in the natural and in the spiritual dynamics of the church. I wanted to post it today, along with a significant portion of what I posted at the first of this year. I believe God is speaking and He is about to do some awesome things in the earth, especially in the church. Here are the prophecies from the beginning of 2017 and the beginning of 2018. God is surely doing something!

Prophecy for 2017 by Ted J. Hanson

I hear that God says that this is a season where there’s going to be an uncovering, there’s going to be an unveiling, and then there’s going to be a recovering of things as they should have been. There’s going to be an uncovering and there’s going to be an unveiling, and there’s going to be a recovering of things, as they should have been.

The uncovering is not the uncovering that is done like the uncovering of men, not the uncovering like the uncovering of Noah’s son who exposed his nakedness. Not an uncovering that uncovers sin because love covers a multitude of sins. But an uncovering that exposes roots. Because it’s from roots that fruits come. For it is roots that create that which is good or roots that create that which cannot be life.

And this is a season where I’m uncovering and this shaking is going to go into the world. Watch and see because even in the natural arenas, in the secular arenas this is a season where much corruption is going to be uncovered. Many things are going to come to the surface and come to the light that have been hidden but that’s not the good news. The good news is I’m coming to you to uncover in your life things that have held you back. The things in your life that are like a gift, they’re a flaw; left to themselves they destroy you. But when they’re uncovered and revealed they show the very place that you need me the most. And when you find that place in this season you’re going to find that I’m quick to love and I’m quick to heal, I’m quick to transform. For as you were born is not as you should be, it’s as you were born again to be. And I’m going to come and I’m going to deal with things that are even generational in your heart, generational in your family, generational in your city, generational in the communities of God. And I’m going to cause there to be an uncovering only so there can be an unveiling and the unveiling is going to be an unveiling of solutions to that which has been uncovered. But it’s not an unveiling of what is far away. It’s an unveiling of what I’ve put in your house. Don’t you know that you are the house of my habitation? And in the house of My habitation every treasure is there. Yet you cannot see what’s before you unless there is an uncovering to see the need and an unveiling to discover ‘there it is’! My Kingdom come, my will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And then I’m going to restore that which should have been and some things you thought were lost. Some things you thought could never return again. Things the cankerworm devoured, things that were destroyed by the moth, destroyed by the pestilence or the disease. I’m going to cause the very root of that which should have been to be restored and I’m calling in a seven-fold return for all that has been taken from your house and that which would have been will return in full perfection. But it will happen because this is the season where I’m uncovering, I’m unveiling, so I can restore what should have been. You’ll see signs of this in the arenas of the natural but don’t look to the arenas of the natural to understand what I’m doing. For those are just signs of what is real. Look to your hearts. And let me uncover and don’t be so strong that I cannot heal. For this is a season you’re going to understand love like never before. You’re going to understand justice in a new way. You’re going to understand that mercy ended your past and grace empowers your future and you’ll become people who are mercy full and you’ll become people who are full of grace. For this is another season in my measure to be the people of God says God. And I’m doing it here. Don’t look for the things that you can do. Look for who you can be in the things that you do. For the things that you do will not make you who you are but when you discover who you are the things that you put your hands to do will bring in a great harvest says God.

And I’ve given you many giftings and many talents, many abilities, many endeavors, many possibilities. But understand that it will only be as effective as My kingdom come and My will being done on earth as it is in heaven. But know that My kingdom is not far away. My kingdom is within you. It’s a place of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. It’s the place where I rule and I reign. It’s the place where I guide steps into peace. It’s the place where I heal disease and I heal all sickness. It’s the place where light comes to darkness. It’s the place of Christ. It’s the place of desire. It’s the place of the Lord of lords. So, listen to your heart. Listen to your heart.

WOW! In light of the prophecy given for 2018, the ‘roots’ thing is pretty significant. The 2017 prophecy continued to address many things that have come out in the natural, even in the natural arenas of America and the world. There is clearly an ‘uncovering’ and a ‘shaking’ going on in the world. Much corruption is being uncovered. In our lives as believers, we are seeing God reveal our hearts and we are having to be vulnerable, transparent, and real in our relationship with Him and with one another.

I posted a blog at the beginning of this year concerning a prophetic word God gave me for 2018. I believe that this word is relevant to the body of Christ and for covenant relationships in the body of Christ. I believe our roots have been shaken and that we have been tested there. Many things are different for us than they were in the past. I am reminded that our connection is in our roots, not our fruits. We are each expressing diversity in the branches of our lives, but our connection is in our roots. I am blessed to be joined to others in the roots of love. I want to renew, restate, and refresh my commitment those divinely joined in my life. I believe that we are connected in our roots and that this year is going to be a new season of shoots and fruits for each of us.

Here is a portion of my blog that expressed the prophetic word for 2018:

I have a grafted tree in my yard that represents covenant. It is a pear tree with four grafted pears. Four represents covenant and God wants the fruit of our lives to be the result of covenant connection and not ministry opportunities. In 2016 my trees were full of fruit, both my grafted apple tree and my grafted pear tree. There was an expectation at the close of the harvest season that 2017 would be a year of even greater fruit. In the winter season of 2016 there was a strong windstorm where I live. I believe that 2016 closed with a strong windstorm in many ways, naturally and spiritually. My neighbor has a huge trampoline and in the windstorm that trampoline became converted into to a flying saucer! Something that seemed to be a tool of pleasure and personal fitness became an instrument of destruction. It turned on its radar detection system and targeted my pear tree. It literally obliterated my tree! It was a beautifully shaped tree that was all of a sudden devastated! I was shocked and concerned! My tree that represented covenant relationships was being tested to its very life! What would happen now? I wondered if I could graft a tree to itself? Could I mend its existing branches in the same way new branches were added before? I grafted my tree back together. I fastened it, tied it, sealed it, and propped it up so it could be healed. Last year there was no fruit on the tree, but it lived! By the end of the year the tree was beautifully shaped and full of green foliage everywhere. It had more than survived, it was set to thrive!

In 2017, my grafted apple tree didn’t have any apples. I was shocked! I was ready for a year of fruit. My apple tree was barren, except at the end of the season I found two apples hiding under a branch. They were huge! I picked those two apples and I shared one apple with my grandson Kaden and my granddaughter Zaria and I shared the second with my granddaughters Aubrey and London. I did that, because God wants a church that bears fruit for our children’s children. Those two apples were a witness of the life for the future! The tree is planted and the future is still in the fruit that will come from that tree. This is a testimony to God’s church!

For 2018 I prophetically declare: Things are not as you suppose. God has taken you through a season of roots and He has brought your root down to a place of dependence upon Him and that rooting has been taking hold and you have been in a season of roots – not been in a season of fruits. And although you thought there was going to be a season of abundance it seemed like there was a season of depletion and a season of lack and there was even a season of devastation, like the neighbor’s trampoline became a flying saucer and destroyed the tree. Some things seemed like they would be destroyed, but God’s hand has been in the midst of your situation and He has grafted things together that seemed like they would be apart and because the root has gone down – you get ready, because this is going to be a season of two things. One, this is going to be a season of new fruit – fruit you have not seen before. Fruit that you have not expected before. And even where things have been laid bare to the ground this is going to be a season of new shoots. This is a season of new shoots and new fruits, because this past season that you just came out of was a season of roots.

So, don’t despise the darkness of dirt. The darkness of dirt is where God takes you down to the place where you cannot see and you don’t know where you are going, because it is not your ability to see or your ability to go that is going to cause it to grow. It is in your ability to be connected in the place of the root.  And God says, this is going to be a season of great fruit! Things are not as they suppose.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Thank you again for your prayers and your financial support. Good things are happening! We accomplished many things in 2017 with New Covenant life and Grace in the nations. We have many goals for 2018 and we are believing for God’s kingdom’s influence in many life-giving ways.

If you wold like to support us financially you can do so by donating at the above right link or mail your donation to House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, Wa. 98225.

God Bless

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Can a Christian Be Deceived?

Posted on January 15, 2018 by ted4you

Greetings,

Today I am headed home after a great weekend in Deming, New Mexico with CitiLife Church. It was a blessed weekend as we gathered for prayer, were challenged to be disciples of Christ, and inspired to find true satisfaction as people of God. Christ in me is the hope of glory!

Last week I wrote how Holy Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He never condemns us, but He convicts us to draw near to God. He inspires us to be one with God. Holy Spirit also demonstrates our victory over every enemy in our lives. Today I want to write in regard to levels of deception in the life of a believer.

In the original creation, mankind was one flesh, male and female. God became flesh in the Man Jesus and He proved to be the Christ for the purpose of reconciling us to our heavenly Father and receiving a restoration of our mandate as mankind upon the earth. Jesus and the church are one flesh. Paul confirmed this in writing to the church of Ephesians with understanding of a husband and wife. The testimony of a husband and a wife is really the mystery of Christ and the church. This is a strong reason for understanding the mystery of marriage. Marriage is the exact example of Christ and the church. It is the covenant testimony of Christ Jesus and Christ the body together as one for the calling, inheritance, and testimony of God and man together as one in the earth. The church is the wife of Jesus in Christ. She is the Proverbs chapter 31 woman dealing in the real estate of the earth on behalf of her husband, who sits in the gate.

Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

We are to be one flesh with God as the body of Christ. Jesus gives us life, He washes us with life-giving words, and He brings us alongside of Him in all things as His wife without spot, blemish, or wrinkles. When He presents us to Himself, it is the act of bringing us alongside of Him to rule with Him in life for the purpose of bringing life to our world. As the bride of Christ, we submit to Him by receiving the life that He gives, believing the life-giving words that He speaks, and coming alongside of Him in all things for the glory of our Father in heaven. We are one with Him in His calling, His inheritance, and His power at work in all things.

In the original fall, Eve was deceived and then Adam ate the fruit and man (male and female) became disconnected, separate, and independent of God. The moment Adam ate, sin entered into mankind. Sin didn’t enter until Adam ate. Eve was deceived. I believe if Adam had not eaten, but had loved instead, that Eve could have been freed from her deception. Perhaps Adam and Eve could have been whole and holy before God, but when the headship embraced the fruit of the tree it was the full embracing of independence from intimacy with God. When Adam bit of that tree mankind become sinners. They became disconnected in their hearts from God. Jesus came to reconnect us to intimacy with God in Christ. Jesus is the eternal life-giving Adam to all who are in Christ. He has reconciled us to God and the sting of death does not need to prevail over us anymore. His love covers us even when we are deceived, but can we be deceived?

Can a Christian have a demon? Only if they want one! But sometimes we don’t realize we want one. It is called deception.

2 Corinthians 11:1 Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

Paul was writing to believers. He had labored for the church that they would be intimate with God through Jesus Christ and not with other things. He wanted them to hold on to the relationship of love found in Christ.

In these verses Paul was writing that the believes should be in relationship with Jesus and not other things. He was concerned that they could be deceived as Eve was deceived. The context was one of being deceived, not sin unto death. Does one know how they have been deceived? They don’t! It is deceptive! That is why it is called ‘deception’. The criteria for being deceived is receiving a different Jesus, a different spirit than the life-giving Spirit of God, and a different good news. Preaching another Jesus, is another God saves – another salvation. It is receiving another means by which to be saved or receiving a different spirit which we did not receive that brought us the life of God. Deception involves a different means of salvation, a different spirit, and a different good news. If something other than a relationship with God through the Holy Spirit becomes a source of salvation, a motivation of our hearts, and a testimony of good news to our lives – it will result in deception.

As members of the body of Christ we are to keep a strong connection to the family of God. We must seek a relationship with God and others to guard our own hearts, and we must also seek to live connected to God and all that expresses the headship of Jesus in our lives. I will address this further in my blog next week.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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The Holy Spirit Convicts

Posted on January 8, 2018 by ted4you

Greetings,

Wow! What a great week! We started our training process with Christ Life Training and then we had a fantastic weekend with the great folks of Canada in Castlegar, British Columbia. God was good and life was in the house! The Helper was in us, with us, and upon us for a blessed experience of life!

John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

God is Spirit and we were born to be loved by Him. We were created to have a close relationship with God and that relationship is one of spirit to Spirit. It is a place of connection between our inner man and God. It is a connection with God’s Spirit and our spirit. God speaks to our spirits and then our spirits flood our souls with life producing thoughts, reasoning, desires, emotions, and imaginations. It is by this that our souls become empowered as the throne of our lives to inspire actions that testify of the life of Christ within us. We used to practice being disconnected from God, but Holy Spirit convicted us of our sin. Our sin was our disconnection from the One who loves us. Holy Spirit drew our spirits close to God and revealed to us that we had been reconciled to God by Jesus Christ. The blood that Jesus shed gave us access to the true source of life. Holy Spirit in our lives is the blood of the New Covenant. He is the source of life within us. Just as the life of the flesh was in the blood, the life of our spirit is only found in the Spirit of God. This is the power of Christ within us. This is why Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin. He convicts of sin only to welcome each and every one to find the true life within. Having been reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus Christ, we should now live our lives empowered by the life of Christ within us.

Our connection with Holy Spirit in our hearts inspires righteousness in our lives. Being loved by God inspires us to be right and to do right things in life. God does not just forgive, He is forgiveness. It is the substance of who He is, that is why He forgives. He loves, because He is love. Love is His character, nature, and way. He wants us to be like Him. He wants us to become the substance of love, forgiveness, mercy, grace, and all that He is. This is righteousness. Holy Spirit transforms our lives from within and inspires the manifestation of the character of Christ in our lives. The more we indulge in Holy Spirit, the more we have a sense of what gives life. We are drawn into the place of transformation that causes us to be the substance of life. Some days we will feel like we are not being real, but we are practicians. Holy Spirit is transforming us from within and what is partly real becomes fully real in the process of our relationship with Him.

Righteousness is about a relationship. We don’t judge anyone according to the flesh anymore. We make this judgment, Jesus died once for all, thus all have died. The life we live now is one of being a new creation in Christ. Holy Spirit is helping us and we will be able to become righteous even as our righteousness if found by faith in Christ.

Holy Spirit also convicts of judgment. He convicts the world of sin so that people in the world will believe in God. He convicts of righteousness so we will continue in a relationship with Jesus, though we cannot naturally see Him. It is our relationship with God our Father that empowers our relationship with one another. Holy Spirit is in our lives to inspire a relationship with God the Son, God the Father and with one another.

Holy Spirit convicts of judgment because the ruler of the world is judged. This is not a judgement of condemnation to us. It is enforcing the condemnation of the enemy. One judgment was pronounced upon us and that was a judgment of mercy. The judgment of the devil and all of the enemy is that he has no more power over us if we willingly choose to embrace the judgment of God’s mercy in our lives. We have to boldly come to the throne of God’s grace where we reach out and receive the mercy given to us and then we look around to find the specific grace needed to overcome the enemy in every situation of our lives. We have already been judged and our judgement was mercy. Things that destroy our lives can only live in our lives if they have a legal right to live there. God’s mercy frees us from the strongholds of the enemy.

Blessings,

 

Ted J. Hanson

 

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2018 – A Season of Shoots and Fruits

Posted on January 1, 2018 by ted4you

Greetings,

It was great to be home for the holidays and great to be able to share in my home church yesterday. I was blessed to share a message on finding satisfaction in life. I am very hopeful for the new year. I closed the year blessed and alive and I entered the new in that condition.

I want to begin this year by presenting some prophetic perspectives, thoughts, and declarations that I feel are relevant to the new season of 2018. In the past God has spoken to me through trees in my yard. I have an apple tree that I planted in 2000 and it has six grafts. God told me to plant the tree and that the six grafts represented the kind of church that He wants. Six is the number of man and God’s church is both Spirit and human. It is a place of connection of God with man where God reveals who He is through diverse expressions of humanity. Each branch on my tree produces a different kind of fruit. There are red apples, green apples, yellow apples, and many combinations of diversity in the fruit of apples. There is one tree, one root, and one life-flowing sap in the tree, but there are six branches with unique fruit on each branch. I believe that this is truly the kind of church that God is revealing in the earth at this time. God does not want unity through conformity, He wants unity through diversity. He doesn’t want many trees, He wants one tree. He wants a tree of life that produces life in many wonderful and diverse ways.

In the past years God has used my tree to speak to me prophetically. In 2001, I had my first apple on the tree. It was an August Red apple. Just before I was about to go through a huge test in my ministry, there appeared twenty blossoms around the apple overnight. This was in August. Ten years prior to that, in the month of August, I had received a prophetic word: “You have been a faithful servant. Where you have reaped one you will now reap twenty.” God was speaking to me through my tree. I didn’t know I was about to go through a tremendous test in the ministry. God was telling me that everything was going to be ok. He was telling me everything was going to work out. I was in the season of reaping one, but He had promised me twenty.

Once in a winter season, in late October, my tree was absent all of its leaves and overnight every branch was filled with blossoms. I was in a season of transition in the church and I was calling for the inheritor of the ministry. Although it didn’t look as though there was hope in what seemed to be a winter season spiritually, God had everything taken care of. Blossoms filled the branches in the midst of winter to assure me that the fruit of the future was still in the hands of God and it was planted in my yard. It was planted in the soil of my inheritance.

God is always speaking and He speaks in supernatural ways. It is not strange for God, only strange for us because we are so used of looking at things through natural perspectives. God speaks supernaturally and if we have ears to hear it, or eyes to see what He is trying to reveal to us, we can grasp on to His prophetic word in the seasons of the earth.

My grafted apple tree continued to grow and a couple of years ago that tree began to really bother me, because that tree is extremely short. I was a little frustrated at the time because things in ministry had not taken off the way I thought they should. I knew the tree represented the church (locally and globally). I was now in a season of supplying equipping and resources to the body of Christ internationally. The tree being short was bothering me a bit because it was short. I thought things should be growing, expanding, and becoming more influential that had been. I was training some young people in Spain in the area of the prophetic ministry and I stepped in front of a young man to challenge him to prophesy and declare what he could see. He began to speak; “I see you as a tree and there is fruit all over you and it is different kinds of fruit, but the tree is really short.” His first words grabbed my attention. I thought, “I need to listen to this!” He continued; “God says you are the kind of tree that even little children can reach the fruit.” I fell in love with my tree! That is the kind of church God wants, even little children can reach the fruit! I have a picture in my office of my grandson reaching up and pulling an apple off of the tree. God wants a tree that has one root but diversity of fruit and even little children can reach its fruit. Perhaps we must become like little children to reach its fruit as well?

I have a second grafted tree in my yard. It is a pear tree with four grafted pears. Four represents covenant and God wants the fruit of our lives to be the result of covenant connection and not ministry opportunities. In 2016 my trees were full of fruit, both my grafted apple tree and my grafted pear tree. There was an expectation at the close of the harvest season that 2017 would be a year of even greater fruit. In the winter season of 2016 there was a strong windstorm where I live. I believe that 2016 closed with a strong windstorm in many ways, naturally and spiritually. My neighbor has a huge trampoline and in the windstorm that trampoline became converted into to a flying saucer! Something that seemed to be a tool of pleasure and personal fitness became an instrument of destruction. It turned on its radar detection system and targeted my pear tree. It literally obliterated my tree! It was a beautifully shaped tree that was all of a sudden devastated! I was shocked and concerned! My tree that represented covenant relationships was being tested to its very life! What would happen now? I wondered if I could graft a tree to itself? Could I mend its existing branches in the same way new branches were added before? I grafted my tree back together. I fastened it, tied it, sealed it, and propped it up so it could be healed. Last year there was no fruit on the tree, but it lived! By the end of the year the tree was beautifully shaped and full of green foliage everywhere. It had more than survived, it was set to thrive!

In 2017, my grafted apple tree didn’t have any apples. I was shocked! I was ready for a year of fruit. My apple tree was barren, except at the end of the season I found two apples hiding under a branch. They were huge! I picked those two apples and I shared one apple with my grandson Kaden and my granddaughter Zaria and I shared the second with my granddaughters Aubrey and London. I did that, because God wants a church that bears fruit for our children’s children. Those two apples were a witness of the life for the future! The tree is planted and the future is still in the fruit that will come from that tree. This is a testimony to God’s church!

For 2018 I prophetically declare: Things are not as you suppose. God has taken you through a season of roots and He has brought your root down to a place of dependence upon Him and that rooting has been taking hold and you have been in a season of roots – not been in a season of fruits. And although you thought there was going to be a season of abundance it seemed like there was a season of depletion and a season of lack and there was even a season of devastation, like the neighbor’s trampoline became a flying saucer and destroyed the tree. Some things seemed like they would be destroyed, but God’s hand has been in the midst of your situation and He has grafted things together that seemed like they would be apart and because the root has gone down – you get ready, because this is going to be a season of two things. One, this is going to be a season of new fruit – fruit you have not seen before. Fruit that you have not expected before. And even where things have been laid bare to the ground this is going to be a season of new shoots. This is a season of new shoots and new fruits, because this past season that you just came out of was a season of roots.

So, don’t despise the darkness of dirt. The darkness of dirt is where God takes you down to the place where you cannot see and you don’t know where you are going, because it is not your ability to see or your ability to go that is going to cause it to grow. It is in your ability to be connected in the place of the root.  And God says, this is going to be a season of great fruit! Things are not as they suppose.

Happy New Year,

Ted J. Hanson

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Jesus Greatest Gift!

Posted on December 25, 2017 by ted4you

Greetings,

Merry Christmas! The gift of Jesus grants us all the gift of Holy Spirit in our lives. This is the goodness of Christ to all men. God is in us, with us and upon us is the blessing of an abundant life. Through Jesus we have received the ever-present Helper, that leads us into the path of life in all things.

Holy Spirit is not less than the Father or less than the Son. Sometimes with think it was amazing that God the Son was upon the earth in the form of Jesus, the Son of Man the Son of God, but He is still here in the form of Holy Spirit. He is the Helper with us, even in a greater way than Jesus was able to be with His disciples. When you woke up this morning God was in your bed. When you took a shower, God was there. When you ate breakfast, God was there. God is with you as Holy Spirit. He is very present. God is humble, patient, kind and loving in that He lives with us and He is willing to move into our worlds with us even when we ignore Him. Even when we do not pay attention to Him, He intercedes for us. He doesn’t want us to be religious, He wants us to be real and He wants us to know God our Father and Jesus God’s Son.

John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He comes as the love of God and the kindness of God and He leads us to embrace a relationship with God that transforms our lives from the power of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love. When we were in the world we needed Holy Spirit to convict us of sin, but even as believers, sometimes we sin. The Holy Spirit doesn’t condemn us, He convicts us. He calls us and draws us to a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The more we choose to indulge in the Holy Spirit, the more we embrace grace. Grace is the manifest presence Holy Spirit in our lives and He convicts us of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He convicts of righteousness by drawing us into a right relationship with God. He draws us into a relationship of love with our heavenly Father. He calls us to move near to God. He convicts of judgment because the ruler of the world is already judged. He reveals that the things that are against us, the things that seek to destroy us, have already been judged. He frees us from the strongholds of our past. He frees us from the power of every enemy; not just in the moment we comet to Jesus, but continually and constantly in our daily lives.

As believers in Christ, we are no longer sinners. We aren’t practicing sin anymore, we practice a relationship with God, but sometimes we sin. Sinners sometimes do good things, but they are still practicing independence from God. Sometimes they have good moments, but that is not the same has having a way of life empowered by a dependence upon God. Holy Spirit is in this world wooing all people to embrace a relationship with God in Christ. As believers, we will have moments where we look for love in the wrong place. That could even include looking for love in ministry. We could seek to get our identity out of serving God in some way and when that happens, we are looking for love in the wrong place. When that happens, Holy Spirit convicts us of righteousness. He draws us into a relationship with God.

I believe a good definition of righteousness is a right relationship with God that leads to right relationships with people. Righteousness in my marriage is not about doing right things, it is about having a right relationship with my wife. When I have a right relationship with my wife, I will do right things. For this to happen, I need a right relationship with God. Sometimes I will do things that are not right and sometimes she will do things that are not right, but when this happens how we treat one another is the true test of righteousness. When we act differently than the way God loves us, we are not righteous. The testimony of true righteousness is seen in relationships, not law. Holy Spirit convicts of righteousness, a righteousness of love that inspires right relationships in life. He wants us to connect to God and to connect to one another with a right relationship that brings life in all things.

Merry Christmas! Let’s embrace the Christ of Christmas and let Holy Spirit convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment. When we seek independence from God, He will convince us to draw near to the One who loves us. When we seek to be self-righteous, He will convince us to choose love instead. When we feel afraid or bound in some way, He will convince us that every enemy has been judged and that our judgment was one where mercy has triumphed over every judgment that would be against us. This is the good news of Christ in us!

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

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