ted4leaders

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Leaders don’t merely lead others in knowing the power of God or doing the works of God, they lead them in becoming the testimony of His character, nature, and way. Leaders lead others in being transformed by Holy Spirit to manifest a testimony of the Father’s likeness and image in this world. For this to happen, a leader sets an example to others in growing in a relationship with God. That relationship includes a responding to the voice and presence of God in all things and at all times. God’s voice and presence will transform our hearts and minds by the power and testimony of His grace.

The life of Holy Spirit doesn’t just flow through us to reveal a powerful God. The life of Holy Spirit flows through us to reveal a supernatural testimony of God’s love. Knowing God means knowing His love. When we know His love will transform our hearts and minds. When we know God’s love, we love others. It is a working of the power of Holy Spirit within us. That work is one of the Father’s powerful love.  

Cultivating a relationship with Holy Spirit will be evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit. We will grow in a testimony of the fruit of Holy Spirit. That fruit increasingly becomes the substance of our own character. Knowing Christ will cause us to become like Him in His ways.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Leaders set an example of growing in the testimony of the fruit of God’s Spirit. Love should increase in their lives. They are increasingly filled with joy, and they walk in peace. The are steadfast and able to endure hard things. They become more kind, and they live to do good for the sake of others. They have a reputation of being good people. They are not easily shaken but are more and more faithful in their connection to God and others. They are not hard and bitter but gentle in their deminer to others in their world. Leaders grow in tenderness; they don’t let opinions driven by their personal emotions dictate their attitudes or their actions towards others. Leaders lead others in knowing the liberty of inner change that comes by intimacy with God in Christ.

Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 

A leader sets an example to others as a child of light, and they walk in God’s goodness, righteousness, and truth. Some translations of this Scripture in Ephesians chapter 5 say that the fruit of light is goodness, righteousness, and truth. These verses in the New King James Version reveals that the fruit of the Spirit is in whatever is good, righteous, or true. In either case, the evidence is seen in the fruit, not pretend doing. Sometimes the lines between good and evil, righteous and unrighteous, true and false get blurred. A good indicator that we are walking in the path of life is the evidence of the fruit of life. We cannot do fruit; fruit is something that happens when we live in the place where fruit grows. Fruit is something that gives life-energy to someone else and produces seeds for a future generation of life. Fruit is not a self-gratifying thing; it is a life-giving thing to others beyond your own life.

Cultivating a relationship with Holy Spirit will be evidenced by the character of God’s Spirit. Leaders set an example for others to also embrace the life-changing testimony that comes through a relationship with God in Christ.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

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

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

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

The kind of unity that God calls us to is not merely a unity of belief. It’s a unity that comes from God’s presence. When we experience God’s manifest presence in our lives we are transformed in our hearts and minds. This inspires our beliefs. As leaders we don’t merely lead people in beliefs. We lead them to know the One to believe. The manifest presence of God is most important in all that we do. True unity is not found in the place of man being the center of the world. It is found in the place where Christ is in the center of the room. Today I am reposting something that I have written before. Out of the mouths of little children comes truth. The following is a testimony of an experience in my granddaughter Zaria’s life when she was four years old.

When my granddaughter, Zaria, was four years old, she was video recorded by her parents presenting what I believe to be excellent theology. She had several pillows on the floor in the living room of their house. There was a pillow in the center, small pillows to the side, and two big pillows on either side of the pillow in the center of the room. She explained to her parents that the little pillows were the Holy Spirit. She said, you ride them like a horse. This is good theology. Holy Spirit is a seven-fold Spirit that is like a horse. Riding a horse is prophetically symbolic of moving in the strength of the flesh. Perhaps riding the Holy Spirit like a horse is moving in the power of God’s Spirit and not the power of the flesh. Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel, the Spirit of Might, the Spirit of Knowing, and the Spirit of Fear of the Lord. Like the many little pillows in Zaria’s illustration, Holy Spirit knows exactly what aspect of the Spirit is needed in every situation of our lives. Zaria also told her parents that the pillow in the middle was Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes in the name of Jesus but does not replace Jesus in the center of the room. For us to be able to move in the Spirit, we must see Jesus in the center of our lives. We must see Jesus in the center of the room. In the back of the room was a very large pillow. Zaria said that the large pillow behind all the pillows was God. The apostle Paul wrote that all things will be summed up in Christ and that when this happens, Jesus will present all things to the Father. The Father is God. He is behind everything and the object of the summing up of all things in heaven. In the very front of the room on the other side of the pillow representing Jesus was another large pillow. Zaria said that this pillow was the Holy Wife. Perhaps the Holy Wife is the Body of Christ upon the earth. Zaria said that she keeps her songs in the Holy Wife.  The Body of Christ must always be filled with song of life, the song of the Lord, to carry the testimony of the Holy Wife. I believe that Zaria’s concept with the pillows is good theology. To be the living room of Christ we must be in the place where God in His trinity can be found. Jesus is in the center of the room, God the Father is behind everything, Holy Spirit is means by which we move forward, and the Holy Wife is what we become with the testimony of the new songs of God for every new season of His will. Good job Zaria! Gopa (grandpa) still thinks you have great theology. I think we should all embrace this theology in our lives.

Psalms 133:1-3 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing — Life forevermore.

God doesn’t bless unity; He blesses Zion. Zion is the place of the manifest presence of heaven on earth. It is the place where the anointing oil on the head of our eternal High Priest runs down His face, down His garment, and touches the earth. It is the place where the dew of heaven touches that little hill of Zion. That is where God commands the blessing, and that blessing is – Life forevermore! The result is a testimony of unity. Unity is not the starting point; it is the finished testimony. It comes when everyone finds heaven’s grace in the same place. If God simply blessed unity, we could all agree to be religious, we could agree to lie, or we could all agree to hate and expect some form of blessing from God. God doesn’t bless our agreement. Our agreement comes from the place of God’s blessing. The place of His blessing is the place of His kingdom invasion in our hearts. That kingdom invasion is one of knowing God and becoming a testimony of Him in the earth. We must become a house of God’s presence before we can be a community of His testimony. We must be a community of His testimony before we can be a people of His purpose. Our Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit, and the Lord Jesus Christ are the source of true unity that comes by diverse individual experiences that express the testimony of the Holy Wife among the nations of the world. We must be filled with the song of the Lord, the song of life and love in Christ. Leaders must lead for this testimony and purpose in all things.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

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

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

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Leaders lead others in walking in the light of God’s love. Knowing God’s love inspires and empowers our love for Him and for others. The light is not some measure of right verses wrong. The light is what turns our night into day. The light is what turns our death into life. The light is what turns our world into a testimony of the kingdom of God. The glory of God is to be like Him in our character, nature, and way.

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

The blood of Jesus is a testimony of God’s mercy for us all. It’s a testimony of His great love for mankind. No greater love has anyone than one who lays His life down for a friend (Jn. 15:13). Jesus gave His life for us upon our cross because He saw us as His friends. He saw us through the eyes of our heavenly Father.

God saw us as His friends when we were acting like His enemies. He could do this because He has always looked through eyes of love. Jesus saw things through the eyes of His Father. He always did what He saw the Father doing. Loving his children is what a father does. God is love and His actions are actions of love on our behalf.

As leaders we grow in being loved by God. With each new day comes another opportunity to know God. In this, we grow in knowing His love in our lives. When we know His love for us, we can’t help but love Him. When we love Him, we trust His words to us, and we obey what He asks of us in our lives.

1 John 2:3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

How did Jesus walk as a man in our world? He walked this world as a man demonstrating the Father’s will. That will was one of love for all men. He destroyed the works of darkness by being a testimony of the Father’s light. He didn’t condemn men but loved them in the midst of their darkness. His love in their life destroyed the darkness that held them in bondage. His light was God’s love for us in our world. We should walk in this same way. It’s not about ministry. It’s about God’s love. This is why we minister.

1 John 2:9 He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

The older we become in Christ, the more loving we should become. The testimony of knowing God is seen in the way we walk in our world. Knowing God’s law will make us judgmental of others in our world, but knowing our heavenly Father will empower us to be loving towards others in our world. This is not weak love. It’s love that understands weakness but also love that empowers others to receive God’s presence to overcome every weakness in their lives.

We should walk as Jesus walked. Everything that He did was done in love because He knew the love of the Father in His life. Everything that we do in life should be done in and for love. This is the testimony of Christ in us, and this is the hope of God’s glory!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

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

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

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders we lead others to grow in knowing God’s love and to grow in loving others. Knowing God is not about knowing His power. It is about knowing His powerful love. He is our Father who happens to do God stuff! It’s not about His miracles; it’s about His miraculous love. The more we know our Father and the more we know Jesus His Son, the more we should become like Him in our character, nature, way, power, and authority. The more we know God’s love, the more we love one another. God is the one who teaches us by changing our hearts and minds from within. Holy Spirit in us reveals the testimony of God in and through us enabling us to shine as light in the darkness of our world.

1 Thessalonians 4:9 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10 and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more…

Paul charged the church of Thessalonica to grow in love. God teaches us to love one another through an increasing revelation of His love for us in our hearts and minds. As a leader Paul knew that knowing God’s love was the foundation for us to be His sons and daughters in our world.

John was a disciple of Jesus and his testimony to the church was one of knowing God’s love. He had known God’s love in the days of Jesus as a man. He ate with Him, walked with Him, talked with Him, and experienced His friendship in his own life. As an older man he had grown in knowing the love of God in His life and he understood that the fruit of that was evident in his life and in the lives of others who embrace a fellowship with God in their lives.

1 John 1:2 …the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

Our fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ is a matter of growing in knowing God’s love. The true light of Christ is the testimony of God’s mercy and grace. His mercy justifies us all to live. This is a testimony of His love for all people. His grace empowers us to live.  This is a testimony revealing the empowerment of His love working in and through our lives when we willingly and passionately seek to know Him in our lives. Our obedience is not to commands of the letter of His word to us. Our obedience is an empowerment that comes from within us through a growing intimate knowledge of His love.

1 John 2:9 He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

If we are going lead people in loving one another we must first lead them into knowing God’s love for them. Our rule of faith is not the Bible. The Bible is a testimony to our rule of faith, but it is not our teacher. Our rule of faith is a knowing of God in our hearts. This is knowing His love. This is knowing His voice. The evidence of this truth will be seen in our love for others. Faith is towards a person, not a promise. We trust God’s promises because we trust God. We are growing in knowing that He loves us and His love is a light in our hearts and unto our feet.

As leaders, we must grow in knowing God’s love. By this we can set an example for others to follow. Each one must grow in knowing God who loves them. The more we get to know Him the more we know His amazing love. The fruit will be love from our own hearts to others in our world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

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

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

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders, we set an example as those who allow God to visit the weaknesses of our lives to transform our hearts and minds by the power of His grace. By embracing the internal change that comes by God’s grace we become a message of hope that can then lead others into embracing the same. God heals our iniquities and thus He eradicates our transgressions and demonstrates our freedom from sin. This is our freedom from a disconnection with God. We become a testimony of Christ’s light because we walk in the light.

Ephesians 5:13 But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. 14 Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

Leaders lead others into finding their true identity in Christ. When we find our true identity, we live with our true testimony, and we walk in the purpose that God intends for our lives. When we allow a characteristic of a crook or a bent of weakness to become the character of our lives, we move beyond merely a potential characteristic, and we become someone we were not destined to be. We become a testimony of twisted truth of who we are intended to be as a man or a woman of God.  When we do this, we think we are being real to who we are, but it is a distortion of who we were meant to be. Each of us are responsible to turn to the Lord in our hearts and see God transform our iniquities to testimonies of His healing grace.

Our identity comes from our connection to God in our hearts. When we discover our identity, we make ourselves available to God for His heavenly testimony in our lives. That testimony empowers us to walk in a partnership with God for His purpose beyond our own. As leaders we must lead others into embracing the presence of God in their hearts with a willingness to be transformed by God. We do not lead into legalistic law, nor do we run to the ways of our own hearts. We live and lead others to partner with God to become who He declares each of us to be for the glory of His name.

Each of us are accountable for what we become in life. We are not limited by our past nor bound to the past. If we choose to find love in things other than God, we will be responsible for what we become (Ezek. 18:10-13).

Ezekiel 18:21-23 “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord GOD, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?”

God’s desire is that each man and each woman find’s the goodness of His love and the testimony of His character, nature, way, power, and authority in their lives. He wants to meet us in our weaknesses and transform our lives by the power of His grace. He wants our characteristics of iniquity to become subdued by the power of His life-changing grace. His justice system is based upon our embracing Him in our lives so we become a testimony of who He is, not who we used to be or could have become had we not encountered Him in our lives.

Leaders lead others into their true identity, testimony, and purpose in Christ. This is the testimony of our redemption in Christ. When we know who we are we sing the song of the redeemed to bring about the testimony of the purpose of the family of God in our world.

Food For Thought, 

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of: www.ted4leaders.com www.ted4you.com or www.houseofbreadministry.org. Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to: House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225 To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year. Our Ministry Information Is: House of Bread Ministry 3210 Meridian St. Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

In September of 2004 I released a prophetic word in regard to a grassroots revolution that was going to sweep the nations. Since 2004 the term ‘grassroots’ and the evidence of ‘grassroots revolutions’ has been evident in the world and in the church. God is shaking things up and transforming things in the earth at a ‘grassroots’ level. I believe that the present grassroots actions of humanity are both testimonies of what God is doing and counterfeits to what He is doing in the earth.

At the releasing of the prophecy in 2004, the clock on the wall stopped at 7:45 p.m. as well as my watch and two other watches in the congregation. The clock battery was replaced and the following morning the anointing came during the morning worship session and the clock stopped again at 9:45 a.m. as well as my watch and the same two watches in the congregation that stopped the night before, all on the exact same minute. I believe the stopping of the time was an act of God and very significant to this word. It was also a sign as to eternal expectations and the eternal abilities of God that are not bound to the realm of time.

God is moving by His grace in the nations, and He is calling for a grace to heal the iniquities of the human heart. This is a segment of the prophecy given in 2004:

And the Lord says, I’m exercising My righteous decree to declare to you that the opposition of bondage and promiscuity – that those oppositions shall bow the knee before Me. For I am bringing forth My true Spirit of Liberty, but My true Spirit of Liberty will be a spirit of passion, it will be a spirit of compassion, it will be a spirit without compromise. And there will be a releasing of those who have been held captive to the bondage of legalism, and to the bondage of liberality that goes beyond the boundaries of life. And the Lord says, I’m exercising My righteous decree even now to declare “Will you be My people? For My anointing oil is here for you. Will you be My people? Will My anointing oil flood your soul? Will you rise up and touch the nations and make them whole? For I am God, and I decree My righteous decree in the land this day.”

I heard God’s Spirit say that promiscuity and legalism come from the same root. Both of these come from the knowledge of good and evil and are mindsets based upon bitterness that is rooted in the realm of time. I believe that the stopping of the time pieces was a prophetic witness to the fact that God intends to deal with the iniquities of our hearts that come from experiences in our past that have now become issues in our lives today and hinder us in moving into all that God has for us tomorrow. Neither legalism nor promiscuity is a testimony of being the people of God. It is the anointing within us, Christ in us, that is the true testimony of life that brings about a witness of being the people of God. This involves the redemption of our character, nature, way, power, and authority in life.

Iniquity in the human heart is the weakness that leads to transgression and sin. It is the vulnerable place within us that needs a visitation of God. It is the place of weakness within us that must discover God’s manifest presence and healing. God is releasing a grace for a grassroots revolution in the midst of humanity that heals the weaknesses of our hearts and causes us to become a testimony of being the people of God. The inherited characteristics of weakness are going to be transformed by the characteristics of Christ within us. Our potential character as sinners is going to be overcome by our ability to embrace Christ within and be transformed to the character of God in our lives.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of: www.ted4leaders.com www.ted4you.com or www.houseofbreadministry.org. Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to: House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225 To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year. Our Ministry Information Is: House of Bread Ministry 3210 Meridian St. Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders we lead others in the path of knowing God and His love. God desires for all to experience His salvation in all things. That salvation is not just a salvation from hell or a salvation to heaven. It’s a salvation of each one’s soul. It is a salvation of our thoughts, reasonings, imaginations, emotions, and desires. The fruit of our salvation is seen in the testimony of love through good works in Christ that exhibit His love in all that we are and do. Leaders don’t oppose lies. They speak the truth in love and lies oppose that truth, only to reap the consequence of that lie.

As leaders we set an example in trusting who God is. God is love therefore all that He does is an act of love. Love is the motivator of His character, nature, way, power, and authority.

1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

God is love, so what is the wrath and judgment of God? The wrath of God is upon anything that destroys God’s life. God gives life therefore anything that destroys life is destroyed by His presence. Death comes against His life, but death is destroyed by that life. God’s wrath is against death.

1 John 5:11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Anyone who comes to God and embraces Him experiences the life of God. Anything that comes against the life of God experiences the wrath of God because the wrath of God is against all wickedness and unrighteousness that suppresses the truth with a lie. God’s ambition is not to destroy. His ambition promotes life in all things. He gives life, breath, and all things. The ambition of anything that opposes God is destructive.

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

When people embrace a way of life that is contrary to God’s way of love, they experience the wrath of God that is against the ungodliness and unrighteousness that they embrace. God doesn’t hate people. He hates what destroys people. Earthly, sensual, and demonic influences seek to destroy what is heavenly, spiritual, and God-inspired. The things of death seek to reject and destroy the life of God, but the life of God destroys death. His light destroys darkness. The attributes of God, are life-giving so when men experience the wrath of God it’s because they choose to attach to something that God knows brings death. As leaders, our focus is not upon destroying ungodliness or unrighteousness. It is upon promoting godliness and righteousness that comes by an internal intimate relationship with God in Christ.

What are the judgments of God? Because God is love we can trust His judgments. If He says, don’t touch that, it will kill you, and we touch it, we will experience the judgment that God made concerning that thing. It’s not God who kills us. It’s the thing that God told us not to touch that kills us. God’s judgments are preemptive not reactive. He makes a judgment of things even as we make judgments of things. We make judgments of things based upon our own experiences, our expectations, what happened or what didn’t happen, because we by nature choose a tree of the knowledge of good and evil and seek to be good in our own site. We end up choosing the judgments of ourselves and others based upon our own views of right and wrong and not upon the judgments that God made. We love our judgment more than His, and thus we experience the negative consequences for not trusting God’s judgments. God’s judgments are judgments from and for a tree of life, not death.

God revealed His ultimate judgment upon our cross when Jesus said, Father forgive them they don’t know what they’re doing. He gave us a judgment of mercy because the truth is, we didn’t know what we were doing. Had we known the love of God we would have willingly embraced Jesus, His Son. Our rejection of Jesus was a rejection of life and rejection of life has a consequence of death. But Jesus made a way for us to exit that judgment of death by receiving His judgment of love. He had the Father‘s heart so He said, Father forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing. He made a judgment of mercy with an outcome of eternal life for all who believe.

So when we don’t choose the judgment of God, His mercy and love, we end up with a consequence of other judgments. Those judgments carry a consequence of death. God doesn’t kill us, our deception of embracing what opposes His character carries a consequence for not trusting His judgment. Choosing what He has judged as death will kill us. Let this be our understanding and focus as leaders that we might lead others into the path of knowing God’s eternal life in all things. It’s not a path of opposing darkness, but a path of choosing to shine with the light.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of: www.ted4leaders.com www.ted4you.com or www.houseofbreadministry.org. Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to: House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225 To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year. Our Ministry Information Is: House of Bread Ministry 3210 Meridian St. Bellingham, WA 98225-1728

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

What is the difference between a culture of life and imposing systems of control? Christ in humanity is not a controlling system of Christianity. It is a testimony of light shining out of darkness, not light that is to darkness that ultimately becomes some form of judgement to the darkness.

2 Corinthians 4:5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Our strength as believers and as leaders is not in our human abilities. Our strength is found in the testimony of Christ within us. The light of Christ shines out of us to transform our lives from within. As leaders we lead others in the path of knowing the glory of Christ within them. The testimony of life does not come from an outside source. It comes from the manifest presence of Christ within us. This is the anointing that teaches us all things. That teaching is not a teaching of information. It is a teaching of transformation in our character, nature, and way. We increasingly become a testimony of the life of God in our hearts and minds. This affects all that we are and do in life.

A Christian structure, methods, or laws are not a substitute for life. As leaders our main objective is not to merely teach Christian principles or beliefs that govern the actions of our lives. Our main focus is to see the life of Christ empower the heart desires and thoughts within the minds of ourselves and those we lead. This is the fruit of Christ within each one who embraces a personal relationship with Christ in their lives.

The environment we believe we have within us becomes the environment around us. As leaders we lead others to know the environment of Christ within them. We are a dwelling place of God by His Spirit. Without Christ we are each a body of ourselves but with Christ in us we become a body with God’s manifest presence within. Knowing God within us enables us to know a partnership with Him in all things. This is more important than merely knowing and teaching biblical principles.

The Scriptures are filled with principles, patterns, and values that testify to God’s character, nature, way, power, and authority. The Scriptures are not a substitute for God’s character, nature, way, power, and authority. They are a witness to them. They are not meant to be the measurement by which we live as believers in Christ. The measurement by which we live is Christ Himself. Only Christ within us in the hope of any and all glory in our lives. As leaders we lead others in knowing Christ within them. When the Scriptures become our rule of faith alone, they become a law that controls us and a law by which we judge ourselves and others. This is not true life. True life only comes by the atmosphere of life within our hearts. That atmosphere is created by Christ Himself living in our hearts.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

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

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

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

Blog in Audio:

Greetings,

Today I am taking an exert from by book, Authority – Control? or Release! As leaders we lead others in walking in the life-giving authority of who they are in the world in each season of their lives:

Authority and destiny are not the same. Life comes out of authority, not destiny! Dreams come out of destiny, but dreams alone are fantasy. The authority of today is not the authority of tomorrow, nor is the authority of yesterday the authority of today. The perfect will of God is for you to be who you are today.

Authority is a Testimony of God’s Kingdom:

Flesh and blood does not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15:50). We do have flesh and blood though, don’t we? I am flesh and blood, but I want the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). The kingdom of God is not a natural kingdom, but when it is manifested within us it affects even the natural things of our lives. It doesn’t come by what we see in the natural, 103

but when we embrace the power of Christ’s kingdom within us it brings God’s influence into our everyday worlds. When Jesus was fulfilling the law, the kingdom of God was at hand, but now by the power His grace it is made alive within us.

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

If the kingdom of God is within, shouldn’t there be some form of inheritance today? There is an inheritance that comes from the kingdom of God that is within us. That kingdom within us has the power to affect the things of our lives in both spiritual and natural ways. The authority of the kingdom of God within us will influence the practical areas of our daily lives. God wants us to bring the influence of heaven into earth. He wants His kingdom to come and His will to be done upon the earth as it is in heaven. This is a daily reality and a continual advancing and maturing process in our lives.

The glory of a king is everything that is in his kingdom. King Jesus owns all of creation: visible and invisible. Flesh and blood can’t inherit the kingdom of God, but we have the power of Christ’s Spirit within us that the inheritance of God in our lives might come by the power of His Spirit and even effect the things in the natural areas of our lives. God’s kingdom is the kingdom affecting our flesh, but it is not the kingdom of seeking the life of self. It is the kingdom of His glory. When we live for God and for the wellbeing of others we are living for the kingdom of God. The power to walk that out is hidden within the power of Christ within us. The life of Christ within us empowers us to live for God and the wellbeing of others. This is a spiritual reality, but it is seen in things that appear to be spiritual and in things that appear to be natural in our lives.

If you hate who you are today, you will never be able to be who you are destined to be tomorrow. There is a glory of who you are today. We are earthly and of the spirit. We are born of the water (natural) and bornof the Spirit. It is these two things together that make us spiritual (spirit-natural) beings. Authority is in the present and not meant to be a mere promise of the future. It is present and progressive in all that we are and do. That progression is both natural and spirit and thus it is revealed in our lives as spiritual beings of life.

The former glory is not the glory of today, nor is the future glory the glory of today. There is a glory of the earthly and to neglect or reject who you are today is a denial of who you are today. The earthly is today and the heavenly is to come. In the process of our journey there is a continued increase in the mix of these two values in our lives.[1]

As leaders, we must be examples to those we lead in both the natural and the spirit. We must embrace who we are in each season of our lives and encourage others to do the same. Today is the day to give life to our world in the testimony of who we are in the responsibility of our lives.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Authority – Control? or Release! By Ted J. Hanson – In print, e-book, and audio on Amazon:

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[1] Ted J. Hanson, Authority – Control? or Release!, (Bellingham, WA: House of Bread Publishing, Second Printing 2022), pp. 102-104.

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

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

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

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

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Leaders create pathways that others can walk in. Leaders take footsteps for the sake of those they lead. Leaders are a gift to those they lead but it is important that each believer is able to find their own footprints in the pathways that leaders create. In a sense, proper leadership creates footsteps that others can find their footprints within. In other words, God gives us leaders so that each of us can find our role in a corporate plan of God.

The apostle Paul addressed the fact that those in his sphere of influence were the fruit of a spiritual letter written whin his heart by God. What God put in his heart was not for himself but for something that God was doing in a greater way by His Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

Paul confirmed that the purpose of a spiritual letter is to express Christ, its source is the Spirit of the living God, and the parchment of the letter is the corporate heart of divinely joined believers. He professed a dependency upon Holy Spirit to participate in the administration of this letter to see the corporate expression of this letter become a living reality.

A key to leadership is a submission to Holy Spirit in all that God desires to write as a corporate expression of Chist identity, testimony, and purpose. For this reason, the identity, testimony, and purpose of every leader is connected to those they lead. They lead for the sake of those that God divinely joins them to in life. God is not merely interested in us leading some generic Christian ministry. God is prophetic and every expression that He creates is meant to influence the world in a prophetic way.

I believe that God has many spiritual letters to fulfill His prophetic purposes in our world. A spiritual letter is not the fruit of leadership skill. It is the fruit of a personal relationship with God that empowers and inspires each one to be a part of something greater than themselves. For this reason, Holy Spirit has the supreme authority in the life of every leader and every believer. The direction of Holy Spirit in our lives is more important than learned methods or practices of ministry. Not knowing what we are doing as leaders is a requirement for our dependency upon Holy Spirit in every season of our leading others in being expressions of the body of Christ in specific ways.

We need God’s plan in every situation of our lives. Turning to the Lord is the secret to becoming what the Lord desires. Turning to the Lord is made possible by our connection to Holy Spirit within us. Every measure of God’s glory is a testimony of God’s purpose and plan.

2 Corinthians 3:16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Leader’s turn to the Lord every day and they lead others in this as well. The footsteps of leaders are discovered by turning to the Lord for His direction of life. A leader’s footsteps create pathways that others can follow. Believers find their footprints in the footsteps of leaders when they too turn to the Lord in their hearts. Christ in humanity includes the spiritual letters of God’s choosing.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

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

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

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