Whom He Honors – He Prunes

Posted on July 4, 2016 by ted4you

Greetings;

Happy 4th of July to my friends in the U.S. I hope you are celebrating with family and friends. Happy Canada day for my Canadian friends who celebrated on the 1st. It was good to be home and to minister at Alife yesterday. I am looking forward to a good day with family as we celebrate the 4th of July. More than my freedom as an American I appreciate my dependency upon Christ. This is what makes me truly free!

Jesus compared our relationship with Him with that of being branches on a vine. God honors the vine by pruning it. God honors us by pruning us. He cuts away the things that are dead. He trims back the things that grow quickly, but will not carry the weight of the destiny of the future. That is part of a culture of honor.

John 15:1-2 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

John 15:5-6 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

Pruning is an honorable thing to do for the vine. The objective is to prune it for its own destiny and purpose. I have fruit trees in my garden. I also have grape vines and with grape vines you cut a lot off vines every year. Last fall I cut my grape vines way back. Now they are grapes growing to maturity everywhere on my vines. During the dormant season I went to my apple trees and I examined how they were shaped. I cut off the branches that were not matching the destiny of fruit so that the other branches would be able to bear more fruit. In that process I was honoring the destiny of the tree. There are branches on the tree that if I don’t tend to them would grow straight up. If I have feelings for the branches of the tree that are beyond the feelings of a creator, or less than the feelings of a creator, and I will look at that tree and I say, “I will never cut a branch off this tree.” I might think that I am being kind and I don’t want to hurt anything, but I am being less than a creator in my thinking. In my own life God honors me by removing things that are not beneficial to my destiny. He shapes my attitudes. He shapes my desires so I will bear more fruit. It is the same in a family. A family’s attitudes are shaped. A family’s attributes and characteristics are shaped so the family will fulfill a family purpose. That is honorable. God honors the vine by pruning it. God honors me by pruning me. He cuts away the things that are dead and trims back the things that grow quickly, but will not carry the weight of the fruit of the future. That is part of a culture of honor. So I pruned my trees last year in my garden and now I have many apples and pears, but some things were cut.

When we talk about honor we are not just saying anything goes. We are talking about relationship. When we talk about honor we are not just talking about kind love on the surface. We are talking about a relationship filled with destiny.

In Malachi chapter 4, we find the last verse of the Old Covenant prophets before the prophetic voice of God was silent for 430 years. There were historic things written, but nothing was said prophetically after this. This is the last word that was prophetically spoken concerning destiny of humanity. The next word that came from God was the word made flesh in the form of Jesus Christ.

Malachi 4:6 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.

God does not want the earth to be cursed. He desires to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children to the children to the fathers so that there will be generational blessings of life in the earth. He wants to eradicate and cleanse the earth from all curses of dishonor. A culture of honor creates an environment where fathers live for the future generations and the future generations live to fulfill the destiny of the fathers. Jesus said a scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of God is like the head of a house who draws from their treasure things that have never been seen, heard, or thought before and things that were antique and lost before their time.

Matthew 13:52 Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

When someone realizes the purpose of life is God’s kingdom they accept the responsibility of who they are. They are then able to say, ‘here I am’ and they are able to unlock things that have never been and give continues destiny to things that were before. This is a culture of honor. Honor is a force of life that leads to the generational blessings of inheritance, but honor begins with God.

Blessings,

 

Ted J. Hanson

Posted in #honor, #newcovenant, #peopleofGod | 1 Comment

Honor is Sourced In God’s Thoughts

Posted on June 27, 2016 by ted4you

Greetings;

Wow! What a great week with the RIM leaders and various RIM connections. Thank you to those who came and thank you to those who prayed for a good gathering for us all. God’s presence was wonderful and the leading of the Holy Spirit was a treasure. Today I am in Wisconsin after a good family reunion on Saturday. I am now having a special time with a life-long friend. Before my day begins, let me continue on the subject of honor.

Honor is a respect for who someone is. If someone says they are not part of our lives than our respect has to be as being separate from their lives. We must remain willing for whatever the future may hold for relationship as God may bring about a healing and restoration of connection, but that willingness of restoration begins with a willingness to accept that we are now separate. We must honor the decisions of others towards us in life. Our love must remain intact in the midst of separations, but respect for separations must include an open attitude of reconnection.

A culture of honor is a culture of truth, love, nobility, and recognition of others for who they are. Truth is based upon who and what God says we are, not upon our own perceptions that are often based upon our own deceptions. Love always begins with an attitude and judgment of mercy towards others, but also invites others to continue in a relationship of grace. Grace can only be given to someone who chooses to walk with us with a desire to see a testimony of life for what the future holds. It is freely offered to everyone, but only experienced by those who search for it and find it. Grace must be available for all who seek it, but grace must be found. It is the testimony of relationship. Mercy is a welcome to grace and grace is the testimony of covenant and transformational change. Grace empowers us to be a culture of nobility. A culture of nobility is one that seeks to live for the sake of the kingdom. A community of God is an expression of the kingdom of God; therefore true honor is for God’s will and not for the will of individual members of the community. We honor others for their decisions, but it is deceptive to think that honor for them is a blind acceptance of their decisions to embrace something that is not God’s will or way in life. We can respect them for their decisions, but if someone chooses to live in an uncovenanted way, we must treat them as un-covenanted people. Like Jesus, we must treat them as sinners and tax collectors. We don’t hate them nor do we condemn them. We invite them to follow us in the way of God, but we don’t follow them in the ways of sin. We don’t condemn them for their sin; neither do we condone their sin as though embracing a way of life that has not been authorized by God is honorable. We love by accepting them, but we do not condone any lifestyle of actions that opposes the character, nature, way, power, or authority of God. It is by this that we demonstrate honor for God and for the truth of who and what God says we each are.

What is honor? Honor is recognizing the value of someone else and then giving him or her something of us; our attitude, and our action as a testimony of recognizing who he or she are. When we give honor to someone we give something of ourselves to approve and distinguish the value of who they are. Within a healthy sphere of life there is a healthy measure of honor between joining members of that sphere. A culture of honor embodies an atmosphere and a reality that always thinks life. Life honors life! Honor creates, promotes, inspires and protects life. Honorable life does not produce the fruit of death.

Even when we have problems we must always think of how we can bring life to the situation. If I was in a snowstorm and I was stranded in the mountains for many days it is very likely that I would freeze my fingers and my toes and I would have trouble in my body. I would need to recognize that I have trouble in my body and it is a danger to my very life. In that situation some difficult decisions would have to be made that would recognize the value of who I am as a person. Those decisions would involve pain and sacrifice. Sometimes honor includes difficult situations and decisions. If I want to live I would have to remove what is dead in my body. If I don’t cut away what is dead the rest of me will be dead.

We tend to think in humanistic ways. Sometimes we confuse wisdom with abuse by believing that wisdom from God will never involve pain or decisions that cause pain in the body. We often think that honor involves being kind to one another, but in the case of having frozen fingers or frozen toes, the kind thing to do is to take some drastic measures of amputation in order to preserve the life of my body. If I want to live I have to remove what is dead or the rest of me is going to be dead. Honor sometimes includes hard decisions.

In John chapter 15, Jesus compared our relationship with Him with that of being branches on a vine.

John 15:1-2 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

John 15:5-6 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

In this story there are branches that are dead that are removed and there are branches that are fruitful that are cut back. The process of cutting can be viewed as painful to the vine and very misunderstood by someone who loves the vine more than they do the vinedresser. The vinedresser is God our Father and He knows the value of who we are. His act of pruning is an action of honor to who we are as part of the vine. The vinedresser does this so the vine will produce much fruit. He cuts things off that are dead and He even prunes living branches in order to shape them in a way that will produce fruit and carry the weight of fruit without breaking branches. No branch is allowed to simply grow for the glory of itself. If we have feelings for the branches of the vine beyond the feelings of the Creator, or less than the feelings of the Creator, we will fall short of honor by resisting what the Creator sees to do. We might think we are being kind when we don’t want to harm anything, but we are being less than the Creator in our thinking. In our own lives God honors us by removing things that are not beneficial to the fullness of life. He shapes our attitudes and our desires so that we will bear more fruit. A family’s attitude must be shaped and the attributes and characteristics of a family must be shaped in order to fulfill the purpose and destiny of the family. That process is honorable.

Blessings,

 

Ted J. Hanson

Posted in #honor, #newcovenant, #peopleofGod, Relationship | 1 Comment

A Community of Honor

Posted on June 20, 2016 by ted4you

Greetings;

It was great to be home birthdays, family, Father’s day and the blessings of my church community. I am looking forward to a great week with my RIM brothers and a gathering in Bellingham.

Today I am beginning a series on the subject of honor and a culture of honor. Honor as a noun is a tangible symbol given to another that signifies approval or distinction of who they are. It is recognizing of who another is and acknowledging it through the attitudes and actions of our lives in the direction of another. When we give honor to someone we give something of ourselves to approve and distinguish the value of who they are. The value of each and every human being is that of being a one and only. God gave His only begotten Son as the price of redemption for each and every person in the history of humanity. This is deserving of honor. Our honor for each person is an honor for the only begotten Son of God. It is an honor for the value that God has placed upon each and every person that has ever lived or will ever live upon the earth.

The community of God is a community of honor toward one another and it must therefore be community of God that nurtures and exhibits a culture of honor. A culture of honor is a culture of truth, love, nobility, and a recognition of others for who they are. In a culture of truth we recognize who someone really is, but we don’t pretend they are something they are not. It is not honorable to recognize someone for who they are not. True honor is not something given to what someone thinks they are, it is something given to who they really are. This includes an honor for us. When we don’t know who we are we don’t treat ourselves honorably. When we don’t know who another is we don’t treat them honorably. It is dishonorable to put an identity upon someone that God did not give them. For this reason, true honor begins with knowing who God is. If we don’t know who God is, we will not know who He says we are. We will end up giving ourselves false identities and then expect others to honor us in our lives. This is not the testimony of honor. Honor only works in truth.

Honor is also found in love. For this reason a culture of honor always chooses life. A culture of honor deals with things that are wrong, but the focus is never on what is right or wrong. The focus of honor is always life! We must look at situations and always choose what will bring life. A culture of honor must find its foundation in the Tree of Life, not the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The family tree of the community of God is the Tree of Life. For this reason, our honor towards one another must be based upon a revelation of love. A culture of honor must be rooted in a revelation – a revelation of who another is and a revelation of love.

Familiarity is an enemy of honor because honor involves faith towards another. Sometimes natural experiences blind us to the truth of who someone is. When this happens it is a test of love for them. The opposite of faith is natural sight. When we base our honor towards another upon how they treat us, or how we perceive them to treat us, we fall short in having an attitude towards them that is one of love. Faith only works through love and faith is demonstrated in our actions towards them. How we act toward others in a culture of honor is based upon a revelation of love and a testimony of faith. Without a revelation of love our actions will often be motivated by fear and fear is not an atmosphere the can be inhabited by honor.

Many believe that honor is absent of judgment, but this is not true. A justice system of good and evil requires a judgment, but true honor is found in the justice system of love. In honor there is judgment, but the ultimate judgment of honor is one of mercy towards another. Mercy ends the judgment of condemnation towards another and invites them to live in a relationship of grace. Mercy is the beginning of every new day in a culture of honor, but grace is the furtherance of new days. Mercy ends the past and opens the door to the future, but grace requires an ongoing willing relationship. We cannot give someone grace unless they invite us into their lives. There is a different honor for those in relationship than for those who choose to not be in relationship. When someone treats us dishonorably we still choose to embrace a culture of honor towards him or her. That honor however, can only be one of mercy by not condemning them for their actions. This is not releasing them from the consequences of their own actions. It is simply preventing us from entering into negative consequences for our own actions. Each person is responsible for his or her attitude and actions towards another. When someone’s actions are less than honorable the consequences are less than life giving. If someone chooses to disconnect in their relationship with us it is honorable to respect their decision and honor them by showing them mercy for any miss giving or misunderstandings they may have projected in our direction. To expect them to remain is relationship with us is less than honorable to their decision. Love says we must show them mercy, but love also says we must allow them to experience any consequences they may have placed upon themselves for their own decision in the matter.

Blessings,

 

Ted J. Hanson

Posted in #honor, #newcovenant, #peopleofGod | 1 Comment

God Uses Worldly Leaders

Posted on June 13, 2016 by ted4you

Greetings;

I am presently at the Amsterdam Airport after a great weekend in Ede with Pastors Bruce and Angelique Wijnen and the church in Ede. I also finished a wonderful time of prophetic training last week in Spain with the G42 students. I am excited now to go home to my family. I am looking forward to being home later today and seeing my family after three weekends on the road.

Last week I presented Scriptural thoughts concerning the appointment of king Cyrus as a shepherd of God’s people. He was God’s appointed instrument for purposes that were beyond the understanding of natural kingdoms. As I stated last week, Cyrus was not likely aware of the heart of God in the matter. He was a worldly king used by God for His heavenly plans among men.

Isaiah 45:8 “Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds pour down righteousness; let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit, and righteousness spring up with it. I, the Lord, have created it. 9  Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker — an earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’ Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’?”

10 “Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’ Or to a woman, ‘To what are you giving birth?’” 11 Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: “Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons, and you shall commit to Me the work of My hands. 12 It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it.”

I stretched out the heavens with My hands and I ordained all their host. 13 “I have aroused him in righteousness and I will make all his ways smooth; he will build My city and will let My exiles go free, without any payment or reward,” says the Lord of hosts.

It was 210 years after the prophecy of Isaiah that Cyrus became king of Persia for the purposes of God in the earth. God aroused his righteousness and it was through the commission of Cyrus that the process went forth to build God’s city and to let His exiles return to the freedom of their holy city. Cyrus was not of the covenant of Israel, but he purposed in his heart to support the desires of God’s’ people in the land.

2 Chronicles 36:22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled (the end of 70 years of captivity), the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, 23 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up!

Ezra1:1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, 2 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. 3 Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. 4 And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.

Ezra 1:5 Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all whose spirits God had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. 6 And all those who were around them encouraged them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with precious things, besides all that was willingly offered.

Ezra 1:7 King Cyrus also brought out the articles of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and put in the temple of his gods; 8 and Cyrus king of Persia brought them out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9 This is the number of them: thirty gold platters, one thousand silver platters, twenty- nine knives, 10 thirty gold basins, four hundred and ten silver basins of a similar kind, and one thousand other articles. 11 All the articles of gold and silver were five thousand four hundred. All these Sheshbazzar took with the captives who were brought from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Ezra 3:7 They also gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the permission which they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

The first century Jewish historian, Josephus writes in The Works of Josephus:

BOOK 11:CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY- THREE YEARS FIVE MONTHS FROM THE FIRST OF CYRUS TO THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT

(1) In the first year of the reign of Cyrus, which was the seventieth from the day that our people were removed out of their own land into Babylon, God commiserated the captivity and calamity of these poor people, according as he had foretold to them by Jeremiah the prophet, before the destruction of the city, (2) that after they has served Nebuchadnezzar and his posterity, and after they had undergone that servitude seventy years, he would restore them again to the land of their fathers, and they should build their temple, and enjoy their ancient prosperity; and these things God did afford them; (3) for He stirred up the mind of Cyrus, and made him write this throughout all Asia:– “Thus saith Cyrus the King:– Since God Almighty hath appointed me to be king of the habitable earth, I believe that he is that God which the nation of the Israelites worship; (4) for indeed he foretold my name by the prophets; and that I should build him a house at Jerusalem, in the country of Judea.”(5) This was known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left behind him of his prophecies; for this prophet said that God had spoken thus to him in a secret vision:– “My will is, that Cyrus, whom I have appointed to be king over many and great nations, send back my people to their own land, and build my temple.” (6) This was foretold by Isaiah one hundred and forty years before the temple was demolished. Accordingly, when Cyrus read this, and admired the divine power, an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to fulfill what was so written; so he called for the most eminent Jews that were in Babylon, and said to them, that he gave them leave to go back to their own country, and to rebuild their city Jerusalem, and the temple of God, (7) for that he would be their assistant, and that he would write to the rulers and governors that were in the neighborhood of their country of Judea, that they should contribute to them gold and silver for the building of the temple, and, beside that, beasts for their sacrifices. (8) When Cyrus had said this to the Israelites, the rulers of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with the Levites and priests, went in haste to Jerusalem, yet did many of them stay at Babylon, as not willing to leave their possessions; (9) and when they were come thither, all the king’s friends assisted them, and brought in, for the building of the temple, some gold, and some silver, and some a great many cattle and horses. So they performed their vows to God, and offered the sacrifices that had been accustomed of old time; I mean this upon the rebuilding of their city, and the revival of the ancient practices relating to their worship. (10) Cyrus also sent back to them the vessels of God which king Nebuchadnezzar had pillaged out of the temple, and carried to Babylon. (11) So he committed these things to Mithridates, the treasurer, to be sent away, with an order to give them to Sanabassar, that he might keep them till the temple was built; and when it was finished, he might deliver them to the priest and rulers of the multitude, in order to their being restored to the temple. (12) Cyrus also sent an epistle to the governors that were in Syria, the contents whereof here follow:– “KING CYRUS TO SISINNES AND SATHRABUZANES, SENDETH GREETING.”

“I have given leave to as many of the Jews that dwell in my country as please to return to their own country, and to rebuild their city, and to build the temple of God at Jerusalem, on the same place where it was before. (13) I have also sent my treasurer, Mithridates, and Zorobabel, the governor of the Jews, that they may lay the foundations of the temple, and may build it sixty cubits high, and of the same latitude, making three edifices of polished stones, and one of the wood of the country, and the same order extends to the altar whereon they offer sacrifices to God. (14) I require also, that the expenses for these things may be given out of my revenues. Moreover, I have also sent the vessels which king Nebuchadnezzar pillaged out of the temple, and have given them to Mithridates the treasurer, and to Zorobabel the governor of the Jews, that they may have them carried to Jerusalem, and may restore them to the temple of God. (15) Now their number is as follows.– Fifty chargers of gold and five hundred of silver; forty Thericlean cups of gold, and five hundred of silver; fifty basins of gold, and five hundred of silver; thirty vessels for pouring [THE DRINK OFFERINGS], and three hundred of silver, thirty vials of gold, and two thousand four hundred of silver; with a thousand other large vessels. (16) I permit them to have the same honor which they were used to have from their forefathers, as also for their small cattle, and for wine and oil, two hundred and five thousand and five hundred drachmae; and for wheat flour, twenty thousand and five hundred artabae; and I give order that these expenses shall be given them out of the tributes due from Samaria. (17) The priests shall also offer these sacrifices according to the laws of Moses in Jerusalem; and when they offer them, they shall pray to God for the preservation of the king and of his family, that the kingdom of Persia may continue. But my will is, that those who disobey these injunctions, and make them void, shall be hung upon a cross, and their substance brought into the king’s treasury. “(18) And such was the import of this epistle. Now the number of those that came out of captivity to Jerusalem, were forty-two thousand four hundred and sixty.

When we face the election of worldly leaders, worldly kings, or worldly presidents, we are not necessarily looking to appoint covenant keeping, God understanding leaders among men. I would hope that God can give us covenant keeping and God understanding leaders, but sometimes He appoints leaders that we do not understand. Sometimes what appears to be hard becomes what God uses for our good. Sometimes what appears to be a ruler who seeks to conquer for his or her will becomes the very instrument used by God for His will in the earth. As we face decisions of our time we can only ask God’s Spirit in our hearts, who has God appointed for such a time as this among the kingdoms of men? These are not appointments to the kingdom of God. They are appointments to the kingdoms of men. Those leaders may even destroy the strength of kings to open locked doors and closed gates. They may be anointed to make rough places smooth and to shatter doors of bronze so that new gates cannot be shut. The wealth of nations may be given to them through their exploits and God’s hand may be upon them for such a cause. These are secular kings, but they may be the ones who will partner with the purposes of God in the earth. They may not exhibit what we may call an intimate relationship with God, but God may use them for His heavenly purposes in the earth. God may use them for both wellbeing and calamity. The secular kings of the world do not bring the kingdom of God to the earth, but they can be called by God to serve the expression of God’s kingdom that is already in the earth. So, when you vote, don’t vote for Jesus to be the external king of the nations of the kingdoms of the knowledge of good and evil. Pray for Jesus to become the King in the hearts of men and women in the nations of the world and pray that the appointment of the secular kings of the world will serve God’s purposes among men. Even if it does not look the way you may expect it to look.

I challenge each of us to pray and trust the Spirit of God within our hearts as we exercise our voting responsibilities among the nations. I challenge each of us to not judge one another in the way we cast our votes. I also challenge each of us not to measure those being elected by the standards of the kingdom of God, but to trust God as He often appoints secular leaders with different standards to serve His purposes in the earth. This is not a compromise of God in His character, but a willingness of Him to use anyone in spite of their understanding or lack of understanding in whom He is. The kingdoms bound to the knowledge of good and evil are not the same as the internal kingdom freed by the Tree of Life!

Blessings,

 

Ted J. Hanson

Posted in 2016, Uncategorized | Comments Off on God Uses Worldly Leaders

Worldly Kings For God’s Purpose

Posted on June 6, 2016 by ted4you

Greetings;

Today I am in Spain after a great week in Bulgaria. The time in Bulgaria was richly blessed with the presence and purpose of God. Thanks to my Bulgarian family for a very fruitful week. I am now doing prophetic activation here in Spain and I know this is going to be a great week for the students to experience the power and presence of the Holy Spirit working through them.

Last week I began to present a challenging thought concerning our stand in the election and appointment of leaders in the kingdoms of the world. The kingdoms of the world are not the kingdom of God. They are kingdoms that operate according to the knowledge of good and evil. The kingdom of God is within the hearts of those who have activated the life of Christ to know the increasing reality of true righteousness, peace, and joy that comes through the life of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. We cannot measure the kings of the world by the understanding of our own hearts. Sometimes tough things happen in the kingdoms of men that don’t seem to match what we think is the love of God that we know in our hearts, but God determines the actions of kings to fulfill His purposes in the earth. God has often stirred in the hearts of worldly kings to serve His purposes in the earth, but the governments of the world are not the kingdom of God. They are the kingdoms of men. We could hope that God would appoint covenant men and women to the position of leading the nations of the world, but the Bible has numerous examples where this is not the case. For Joseph there was a Pharaoh who served to provide the resources for a land of provision for God’s people. Did that Pharaoh act like Jesus in his rule? For Moses there was a Pharaoh to raise him and a Pharaoh to prevail before with God’s power. For David there was a Saul to reveal the true testimony of God’s choosing. For Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah there was a Nebuchadnezzar to recognize the favor of God upon them and to appoint them for the wisdom of God in the midst of the worldly kingdom of Babylon. For Nehemiah there was a Cyrus to give his commission for Nehemiah to rebuild God’s temple, which would be the word that would ultimately rebuild the city of Jerusalem. These worldly leaders were not converted to become covenant-keeping Israelites. God even used an ungodly system of Roman Caesars to prove His true Church and to remove the apostate system of the politicized law. The Spirit/Truth system of the body of Christ prevailed in a time of persecution and the persecuting system proved to be a tool in the hand of God to remove the obsolete Torah/Temple system in Jerusalem. Even the end of the persecution of the early Church was brought about by an emperor named Constantine, to whom God gave a dream that He might put the seed of His written word in the nations of the world. Without the actions of Constantine the persecution would have continued and the written word of God may have been lost. The Bible as we know it with its value as a witness to the voice of God in our hearts may have been lost. The leaders of God’s kingdom are not the leaders of the kingdoms of the world, but God appoints His children in the midst of the nations to influence the hearts of those in the lesser kingdoms of the world. In this, God uses the leaders of the world for His purposes among men.

The prophet Isaiah foretold King Cyrus, the Persian King in much different terms than his secular account as a Persian king. The textbooks of men reveal a king who conquered the nations of the world to see an empire prevail above the nations of the world. You can do some research on your own and find that Cyrus was not a covenant keeping, God serving king. God used him, however, for His purposes in the earth. God pre-ordained him for His purposes in the earth and Cyrus would fulfill the purpose of God as the Redeemer of His people. Isaiah the prophet foretold the birth of Cyrus the king of Persia 210 years before his day of rule. In God’s appointment of Cyrus He would turn wise men backward and make their known knowledge as foolishness to them. God’s intent was that a vision of peace (Jerusalem means vision of peace) would be inhabited and that His communities of praise (cities of Judah ­– Judah means praise) would be built.

Isaiah 44:24 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who makes all things, Who stretches out the heavens all alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself; 25 Who frustrates the signs of the babblers, and drives diviners mad; Who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolishness; 26 Who confirms the word of His servant, and performs the counsel of His messengers; Who says to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be inhabited, ‘To the cities of Judah, ‘You shall be built,’ and I will raise up her waste places; 27 Who says to the deep, “Be dry! And I will dry up your rivers’…

God’s description of Cyrus was one of being a shepherd to His people. He was not a covenant keeper of God’s ways, but a servant appointed by God for His purposes. He was not of the faith of Israel, but a foreign king sent to partner with the purposes of God in the earth. He was not understanding of God’s plan, but used by God as one who could be moved in his heart to assist in God’s plan for His people in the earth.

Isaiah 44:28 Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and he shall perform all My pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” and to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.” ’

Cyrus was God’s appointed instrument for His purposes in the earth. Cyrus was not likely aware of the heart of God in the matter. He was a worldly king used by God for His heavenly plans among men.

Isaiah 45:1 Thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed, Whom I have taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before him and to loose the loins of kings; to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: 2 “I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars. 3 “I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden wealth of secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.”

God’s commission to Cyrus was one of subduing nations, destroying the strength of kings, and opening locked doors and closed gates. He was commissioned to make rough places smooth and to shatter doors of bronze so that new gates could not be shut. The wealth of nations would be given to him through his exploits and God’s hand would be upon him for such a cause. A study of the history of this Persian king can easily show that his actions were not the actions of a pastor of a church or of Jesus the King of the hearts and minds of men. He was a secular king simply called to partner with the purposes of God in the earth. Cyrus was not a king with an intimate relationship with God. He was a secular king who would be used by God for heavenly purposes in the earth.

Isaiah 45:4 “For the sake of Jacob My servant, and Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor though you have not known Me.”

God was with Cyrus, though Cyrus did not know God. God knew him and He knew that His purposes would prevail through the rule of Cyrus.

Isaiah 45:5 “I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; 6 That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, 7 the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.

God would use king Cyrus for both well-being and calamity. God did not call Cyrus to bring the kingdom of God to the earth. He called Him to serve the expression of God’s kingdom that was already in the earth. Cyrus didn’t even do this knowingly, but he did do it willingly.

I will continue this thought in my next week’s blog posting. Please consider God’s ways with king Cyrus in His appointment of leaders today in the earth. He may be choosing those we do not understand for a purpose that is beyond our own understanding.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Posted in 2016, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Worldly Kings For God’s Purpose

Worldly Kings

Posted on May 30, 2016 by ted4you

Greetings;

I am now in Bulgaria after a wonderful weekend in Utrecht, Netherlands. Thank you so much for the hungry hearts with Pastor Niels. Tonight God was good again as I have arrived in Bulgaria. Jesus is surely here. It is a good trip so far and it was a blessing being with the family in Blagoevgrad tonight. It is going to be a good week.

Today I am going to begin several postings in light of events concerning the elections in the U.S. and for sure elections and changes of governmental administrations in various places of the world. Today is the first of thoughts intended to challenge your thinking in the plans of God in the earth. I have held this word since December of last year, but have resisted writing it until now. I realize that we all hear what we hear and not necessarily what is said. I also realize that some will not understand what I am presenting; some will think they understand, and some will understand in some measure. I am not writing this blog to promote any candidate for governmental office, but to challenge those in the body of Christ to keep a right attitude and perspective concerning worldly governments and the kingdom of God. We are in the world and I do believe that we should exercise our voting rights as citizens of the nations we live in. I also believe that we are children of God and that we must be careful not to confuse the kingdom of God with the kingdoms of the world. In times of elections, it is not our responsibility to judge one another for how we each vote. It is not our responsibility to judge leaders of the world by measuring them according to the standards of the values of the kingdom of God either.

If you study the history of God’s work among the nations of the world you will discover that God has always determined the future of the kingdoms of the world by the altar of heaven in the earth. He has never determined the future of the church by the kingdoms of the world. For ten righteous people He would not have destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. The presence of a small measure of the righteous is more powerful than multitudes of the unrighteous. A little light is more powerful than darkness. A little light is light and it cannot be overpowered by darkness. The kingdom of God is an internal kingdom that changes the hearts and minds of men and women from within and is not a kingdom appointed to rule over the will of those who do not know God. The governments of the kingdoms of the world rule over men, but the government of God rules from within the human heart. We are not called to impose the government of the kingdom of God upon the lives of others as an externally administrated form of right. This is law and it does not change the hearts and minds of men. This is the mode of operation in the kingdoms of the world, however. It is the testimony of all systems governed by the knowledge of good and evil. The true hope of the world is for each one to find the administration of life and peace in Christ Jesus through the internal kingdom of God and the Tree of Life. Even though we have the internal kingdom of God in our hearts, we find ourselves in the midst of the operation of worldly kingdoms and we are called to be an influence of salt and light in the midst of the kingdoms of the world as those whose hearts are motived by the kingdom of God, a kingdom of life and peace in Christ. Though we know the power of the kingdom of God within our hearts, God uses kings of the worldly kingdoms of men to bring to pass things that serve His purposes in the earth.

Daniel 2:37 You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; 38 and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all —you are this head of gold. 39 But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. 40 And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.

The dream of a secular king revealed God’s plan for the people of the nations of the world. Within that dream was a statue that revealed four kings of the secular societies of the earth. The king to follow king Nebuchadnezzar would be the ruler of the Mede/Persian Empire – King Cyrus. He was portrayed in the dream as the part of the statue represented in the arms and chest of silver, symbols that represent an ability to take or to give with redemptive purposed in the earth. Would you have voted for the leader with the chest and arms of silver? This king was also represented in a vision of Daniel as a fleshly kingdom with the attributes of a bear. Would you have voted for the leader of an empire represented in the bear? The description of King Cyrus in the Scripture is not one of covenant character in all of his dealings. We often think that he sounds nice when Isaiah the prophet described him as the shepherd of God’s people, but there are other verses that reveal the mystery of this God-appointed king.

Daniel 6:5 “And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it:‘ Arise, devour much flesh!”

King Cyrus was described as a bear and he was also described as a ram. A bear is relentless it its ability to hold on to its task and it is the testimony of one who walks according to the flesh. A ram is a symbol of one who is determined in the authority given to it. It is willing to but heads with whatever may oppose its rule. Would you have voted for the ram that conquered kingdoms of men for the purpose of a Persian kingdom and the will of a Persian king?

Daniel 8:3 Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and there, standing beside the river, was a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. 4 I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward, so that no animal could withstand him; nor was there any that could deliver from his hand, but he did according to his will and became great.

King Cyrus was the ram of the two horned kingdom of Mede and Persia. His empire went from the east to push toward the west, the north, and the south. He proved to be stronger than the other strengths of flesh even as the prophet declared that no animal (strength of flesh) could prevail against him. King Cyrus did not seek to do the will of God. He sought to do the will of his own heart, but God moved upon his heart to see to it that God’s will was done in the earth.

Proverbs 21:1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes. 2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts.

The future of the church is not determined by the world, but the altar of heaven in the earth determines the future of the world. What God does in the altar of heaven upon the earth determines what moves in the nations of the world among men. The altar of heaven is an internal altar of the heart that can be seen with outward expressions, but it is a hidden mystery of heaven within a place of intimacy with God. That altar is one inspired by the Tree of Life and it is grassroots by nature, not a government that comes through the overt actions of nations governed by the information of good and evil. We must be careful not to measure the kingdoms of the world by the internal kingdom of our own hearts. We cannot expect the kings of the world to understand the principles, patterns, and values of the kingdom of God in our hearts, but we can expect that God will use the kings of the world to partner with the plans of God in the earth. It may not look the way we think and it may challenge the values of our own hearts, but God uses the men who do not even think as He does or understand the ways of His heart.

I will continue these thoughts in my next week’s blog. For now, pray that God will guide our hearts in the selection of His appointed servants in the earth, even if we do not understand what looks different than the kingdom of God. Please continue to read the next couple of week’s postings as I present my complete thought and challenge on this matter. I ask that you hold your opinions on this matter to the full presentation of my thoughts on this subject. I could have posted this in its entirety, but I felt that pieces at a time might help each of you grasp hold of what I am presenting.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Posted in #newcovenant, 2016, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Ambassadors For The Harvest

Posted on May 23, 2016 by ted4you

Greetings;

Today is another great day in the Northwest of the U. S. It was my anniversary yesterday. Bonnie and I have been married for 39 years. What a wonderful journey with a wonderful lady. Bonnie is the best and I look forward to many more years of first experiences with this woman. We live for the harvest and the harvest of our relationship is seen in the love of God being made known in the generations beyond us. Thank you Bonnie for being one with me in this life!

I am an ambassador of Christ. I reside on the earth, but I live in heaven. I was in Christ before I was in the world but when the rule of right and wrong came I died. It was then that judgments became the measuring rods of my life in all of its shortcomings. Then Christ came and by His manifestation of truth and gift of grace I lived again. I came from heaven, I am going to heaven, and I am in heaven right now. I am seated with Christ in heavenly places. I live upon the earth, but my citizenship is in heaven. I have been sent to establish embassies of the kingdom of heaven upon the earth. Those embassies have all the rights, privileges, benefits, and characteristics of heaven. From that place I am exercising the rule of Christ to cause the barrenness of the earth to take on the characteristics, ways, power, and authority of as it is in heaven.

I am blessed by God! Because I am blessed, I am a source of blessing to the world in which I live. God has brought stretching to my life so that I can continually see Him where I could not see Him before. This is not just for my life but also for many others because of Gods stretching in my life. I am consistently moving forward from continued places of seeing God. I am not on a journey to find God; I am on a journey empowered by knowing Him. I believe Him, because I know that He is good and He is the source of everything good.

God is ever increasing and ever expanding in my life. I am a source of multiplication in the world in which I live. I walk by faith and not by natural sight. God has proven and is continually proving to be my friend in every place that would be bitter without Him. Every bitter place is receiving the increase of God’s life and I am continually changing. He even takes what the enemy intends for evil in my life and works it out for good. This is not just for my life alone. It is for many others associated with my life. I am bringing increase to many. I obey Him because I know I can trust Him in all things.

I am a receiver and a gatherer of inheritance. Because of this, I am a source of inheritance to my children and my children’s children. It is not by any work that I have done, but is a work of God’s Spirit in my life. It is not by the power of my flesh, nor by my own creative abilities. It is because of God’s favor in my life. I continually know the Melchizedek Priest of my life. Because of Him I know there are no earthly limitations for my future generations. I have experienced God’s sound and the mark of His Spirit upon my heart. God is my friend and He comes to me continually as my friend. It is not just for me but also for those who follow me. I live with vision and I can dream dreams beyond my own lifetime. God is my friend.

I am an influencer of the world I live in. This is not just the world I presently live in, but also the world of my descendants. I am digging a well and planting trees for the generations that follow me. I am leaving a legacy even to the unclean and unsaved portions of the world. God’s specific grace in my life is releasing increased common grace to the world beyond my lifetime. He has done great things and has made me become a friend of God. He is my first and my last.

See yourself as a blessing today and you will bless the world around you. It is a gift of grace to you from your loving Father in heaven. See yourself as a source of the increase of His kingdom in the world in which you live. Be renewed in the thinking of your mind and decide to live for the Father and the future generations. You are a source of inheritance when you live from the place of inheritance. Recognize that you the light of God in Christ. The opposite of light is not darkness. Darkness is the absence of light. You are light to the darkness of the world. God is your friend and by His grace you are becoming a friend of God.

Blessings,

 

Ted J. Hanson

Posted in #harvest, #newcovenant, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Living a Significant Life

Posted on May 16, 2016 by ted4you

Greetings,

Today I am back in Bellingham. It was great being in my home church yesterday after being gone for five Sundays. Thank You Pastor Jonathan for another great day at Alife!

I have been addressing the subject of the Law of Harvest. True harvest supplies life and a future to others beyond our own lives. Harvest is not a matter of success, but one of significance. God wants us to be people of significance. What is the difference between being people of significance and successful people in life? Successful people are not always significant people and significant people don’t always look the most successful. Our greatest example is found in the natural life of Jesus Christ. He lived for 33½ years and by the standards of success it appeared that He was a failure. By the standard of significance Jesus changed the entire world. We know that to be a huge success, but by appearances it didn’t seem that way during His life upon the earth. Let me give you some definitions for success and significance:

Success:

  1.  the achievement of something planned or attempted
  2.  impressive achievement, especially the attainment of fame, wealth, or power
  3.  something that turns out as planned or intended
  4.  somebody who has a record of achievement, especially in gaining wealth, fame, or power

Significance:

  1.  the quality of having importance or being regarded as having great meaning
  2.  implied or intended meaning
  3.  status as a statistical value that is not accidental or random (often used before a noun)

(Encarta® World English Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.)

It is possible to achieve things that we plan or attempt to do in life. Those achievements can be very impressive and even gain us fame, wealth, or power. Things can turn out as we plan them to and we can be people of success, but we may not be significant people. Successful people can be self-fulfilling. We can say we are living according to the Law of Harvest in our lives when we are really only attaining the personal goals that we have set to succeed in during our lives. Remember, harvest is for export. Harvest brings life to others and causes them to become what they could not be before. It is bread that transforms the world to become more than it was before. Harvest is for seed to the generations that follow. To attain true harvest in life we must be significant people.

Significant people impact the lives of others. Each of our lives is intended to have great meaning. We were born for the nations and the generations. We were born to impact the world with the life of Christ. It is not an accident; it is our destiny in Christ. When God called the man Abram and transformed him to become Abraham the father of our faith, it was all about being significant. There were four parts to the good news preached to Abraham.

Genesis 22:15-18

1)  In blessing I will bless you

2)  In multiplying I will multiply

3)  Your descendants shall possess the gate of  their enemies.

4)  In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed

These four things were all about Abraham’s ability to impact the world that he lived in. These four promises are our promises today. These four things empower us to become significant in this world. Jesus Christ made a way for us to fulfill the commission of this good news in the world in which we live. We are born again in Christ to impact the world by being a blessing, expanding through multiplication, possessing the gates that influence the generations, and see the nations blessed in Jesus name.

Jesus told a parable that well describes the purpose of our lives. It is the parable of the talents (Mt. 25:14–29). A talent was an amount of monetary trade. In weight it was the equivalent of 1200 ounces of gold. In today’s market, that would equate to over 1.5 million dollars per talent. That is a lot of cash! In the story, one man was given 5 talents. That is almost 7.6 million dollars. Another was given 2 talents. That is over 3 million dollars. The least was given 1 talent, about 1.5 million dollars. Each was given an amount according to their ability. The parable is about handling money, but it is even more about handling our lives. Our lives are meant to impact the world in which we live. We weren’t given lives simply to live for ourselves. We are to be a blessing, bring multiplication, see our descendants possess what couldn’t be possessed before, and see all the nations of the earth blessed.

The man with 5 made 10, the man with 2 made 4, and the man with 1 kept 1. In monetary value it would be the same as saying the man with 7.6 million dollars turned it into 15.2 million. The man with more than 3 million dollars increased it to 6 million. The man with 1.5 million dollars kept it as 1.5 million. He was afraid that the master would simply take any gain when he came anyway. He was not mindful of being significant in any way. When the master did come he took the 1.5 million from the man who failed to increase what had been given him and gave it to the man with 15.2 million dollars. No doubt the man with the most impacted the world in a big way. He probably had many employees. He no doubt affected the economy of every one within his sphere of influence. He was a significant man. The master told both the man who had doubled the 5 talents and the man who had doubled the 2 talents to enter into the joy of their Lord. The joy of their Lord was to impact the world with the purposes of Gods kingdom. These two men proved to be significant and could change the world in which they lived.

The man with 1 talent failed to see the purpose for what he had been given. He lived a life filled with fear. Living fear-based lives will rob us of being significant. This parable is about money, but it is a story about much more than money. It is all about the purpose of our lives in that which we have been given. We are called to be significant people. Remember, harvest is meant to bring supply to the world in which we live and to provide seed for the generations to come. We are meant to change the world in which we live. We are not here to simply succeed in seeing our needs met. We are to make investments for the future of the world. Investments beyond our daily needs will bring blessings to others. We must live to bless others, to multiply all that has been given to us, to see our descendants possess what could not be possessed before, and to see the families of the earth blessed because of our inheritance. This is what significant people do.

Significant people think:

  • Not my will but Yours be done
  • I give my life for the increase
  • I live with a generational mindset
  • God will be glorified

You are not one in a million. You are not even one in seven billion. You are one in eternity. You have been given a measure in life to change the world by the uniqueness of all that has been given to you. Choose to live your life as a significant person.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson

Posted in #harvest, 2016, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Living a Significant Life

Living Beyond Ourselves

Posted on May 9, 2016 by ted4you

Greetings;

I just finished a great weekend with my friends at CitiLife Church in Deming, New Mexico. We had a great weekend as God’s grace continues to mature and grow His family of inheritance here. Thanks to all of you who came. It was a blessing to be with you once again. I look forward to the continued journey of life!

We are people of purpose and the actions of our lives serve the destiny of our journey. We live for the harvest and thus we submit all of the lesser realities of life to the testimony of all that God has determined to be the harvest of our lives. We don’t just sow seeds in the hope of reaping a harvest. We see the harvest; therefore, we sow seed. Blindly sowing seed is seed sown from unbelief. We must submit the lesser law of sowing and reaping to the greater law of harvest. I believe this to be the highest law, the fullest boundary, and the greatest liberty of the kingdom. It is the place where the end determines a beginning. It is where life mandates relationship. Harvest is the place where hope beckons life-giving decisions. A vision of the harvest mandates the actions of the process to that harvest.

If we are going to walk out the daily steps of the process of that harvest, it is essential that we understand the character, nature, way, power, and authority of the Author of the harvest. God is the one who gives the harvest for He is the Creator, the Supplier, and the Finisher of all things. To attempt to walk out the steps to the harvest by any other way than the way of God will produce results that are less than and even perverted from the destiny of true harvest.

The law of harvest requires the service of the law of sowing and reaping. The law of harvest must empower us to appropriate other divine laws of order. False things must be removed and true things must be cultivated in order to attain the goal of the completed fruit. The end result of God’s harvest is always food for others and seed for future generations. God wants our lives to be like trees. We must branch out to become sources of fruit that bring life to others and places that offer a touch of healing for the hope of the generations to come. I believe this is true for every harvest. The law of harvest is important, even when working a simple job or accomplishing menial tasks. The harvest may be a family environment or a seed supply for endeavors of life beyond our own lives. The harvest can never be simply to pay our bills. That kind of harvest is only eaten with a bitter stomach and carries the forever disappointing news of never having enough. The harvest that God has for us involves the vision that God has for the world because of us.

We often think of harvest in terms of thousands and abundance beyond our wildest dreams, but what if our harvest is to cause just a few to think as thousands and to see themselves beyond their wildest dreams. To cause one life to become the fullest life that lives to give life to others would propagate a harvest that would ultimately change the world. Blessing produces blessing, multiplying propagates multiplying, possessing secures possessing, and the influence of life fills life with life.

The harvest of my marriage is a ripe old age with my wife that has treasures of memories, discoveries, and values attained together. But more than these the harvest of Bonnie and I together is for our children and our children’s children to have the inherited substance of family life and abundance that becomes a treasure that multiplies to the generations to come. How many dreams came to pass because of us? That is a true question of harvest. How did the character, nature, way, power, and authority of God expand in the lives of those who came out from us? That is a question of harvest.

King David understood the principles of the law of harvest. His sights were always set upon the harvest. He did not live for himself, but for the generations to come. When he was faced with trouble, he could pray a righteous prayer of rescue.

Psalms 144: 10-11 The One who gives salvation to kings, Who delivers David His servant from the deadly sword. Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, whose mouth speaks lying words, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood—

Why did David pray the prayer of rescue? It wasn’t for his own need, nor was it for his own comfort. It was for that which was beyond his life and all that would happen because of his life.

Psalms 144:12-15 That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as pillars, sculptured in palace style; That our barns may be full, supplying all kinds of produce; that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields; That our oxen may be well laden; that there be no breaking in or going out; that there be no outcry in our streets. Happy are the people who are in such a state; happy are the people whose God is the LORD!

True sons and daughters of God live to produce sons and daughters. The harvest is sons and daughters, therefore we must live to be fathers and mothers. True kingdom influencers live to export produce from barns and provisions from abundant flocks. The harvest is for barns and flocks to provide supply for the world in which we live, therefore, we must live to be producers and farmers of life. True harvest is to create a better world behind us than was before us, therefore, we must live to change the world in which we live.

I pray that you each get a vision for harvest and live your life to the fullest that even the harvest of pleasure would reveal the goodness and the kindness of God to the world you live in. May God inspire your dreams and your visions to be according to the law of harvest and may you be committed to the character, nature, way, power, and authority of Christ in completing the joy of life. Only being true to who He is will produce the harvest that He has for your life. May God inspire your thoughts.

Blessings,

 

Ted J. Hanson

Posted in #harvest, #newcovenant, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

The End Determines the Beginnings

Posted on May 2, 2016 by ted4you

Greetings;

I just finished a great long run in Portugal. After leaving Lousã I have ministered in Moscavide, Entroncamento, and Queluz. I had a great time with each expression of God’s family here. Each of these cities are very special and the presence of God is among His people. Yesterday was a great completion to a great time out in ministry. It was wonderful in Moscavide, with five people accepting Christ in their hearts. Thank you God for your love and your presence!

Our food is to do the will of Him who sent us. Our food is not something that merely brings satisfaction to our own lives. Our food is going to have seed in it. Doing the will of God in our lives will automatically sow seed by which to reap the harvest of our destiny. God will require of us proper sowing for the proper of reaping of what He has promised. We want to do the will of Him who sent us because God has a goal, a target, a destiny, a purpose, a finish line, and a harvest for each of us. He has some place for us to arrive at in Him. Arriving at our destination does not invoke God’s love, it is God’s love in every step of the process that empowers us to arrive at every end. All that we do serves the greater purpose of who we are and the harvest that God intends for our lives to reap. If we are faithful to do what He has told us to do the law of sowing and reaping will serve that greater law of harvest in our lives.

Jesus ate the food that had seed in it. He did everything that was necessary to serve the purpose for which God had called Him. Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that we would have resurrection life. He determined that we would have resurrection life, so He died on the cross. He even went as far as asking His Father if there was any other way that it could be accomplished. The accomplished work was the reconciliation of all men and women to come to the reality of being children of God. Jesus took the crop of the cross because He had determined for us to reap the benefits of the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. He fulfilled the law of sin and death so that we could enter into the law of the Spirit of Life in Him.

The things we do not determine our inheritance. Our inheritance determines the things that we must do. The laws of the earth serve the greater law of harvest. The law of harvest asks the question: What must we do today to bring us closer to the day of reaping the promise of tomorrow?

Jesus became the first to guarantee the last. He is not only the first in Creation; He is also the firstborn from the dead. The law of first things says that whatever you do with the first is what will be done with the last. Even when it comes to the Church, He is the firstborn from the dead. He didn’t become the firstborn from the dead so that others might possibly follow. He saw all the ones that followed. He became the first so that all the others would follow. He caused the law of first things to serve the greater law of harvest.

We do not determine what we are to sow. God determines our sowing by what He has determined to be our harvest. If God has called us to be a musician we are going to have to submit the law of sowing and reaping to the greater law of harvest. We are going to have to study music in order to reap the benefits of understanding music. We don’t study music in hopes that we might become a musician. We study music in order to reap from our study because God has called us to be a musician. If God said He has called us to be an evangelist and a preacher of His word we had better start studying His word. Studying His word won’t make us an evangelist, but studying His word will reap the benefits of knowing His word in order to serve the greater law of harvest as an evangelist and a preacher of His word. We must sow seed according to who God says we are and according to what He has said we reap in our lives for the life-giving benefits of others. We don’t sow so that we might reap. We sow so that we will reap the harvest that God has shown us. We must find out what God has said about us and then we must sow the things that reap that result. It might mean that we have to study in some sort of school. We might have to sow time, money, study, love, mercy, faithfulness, or any other thing to see the reality of lesser things that only contribute to the fullness of what God has said.

It is God in His heaven who determines the seasons and the times. The seasons and the times do not determine God’s presence or God’s purpose. God sets the signs in the heavens to serve His purpose in the earth. It is the signs of heaven that determine the harvest on the earth. We must find our faith to sow from the presence of God and the signs in His heaven. Our reaping of our harvest has nothing to do with what is going on in the natural realm. Our reaping is dependent upon what God decrees from His heavenly throne. The natural realm will line up with God’s decree from heaven if we are faithful to respond to God’s season, not ours.

Blessings,

 

Ted J. Hanson

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