ted4leaders

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

The written letters of the New Testament did not exist for some time at the launching of the New Testament church. The New Testament church as a whole had been functioning for around twenty years before any Scriptures of the New Testament were written. During that time, there was no structure known as the church. The church was understood to be a body of believers who were ambassadors of Christ as the corporate dwelling place of Holy Spirit–a dwelling place of God in bodily form.

The early church had been keeping in the apostle’s doctrine for at least 20 years with no written New Testament Scriptures. Keeping in the apostle’s doctrine was not about obeying the written letters of the apostles. It was about keeping in the way of life of the apostles. It was about living with the testimony of the laying on of hands. Even as the word apostle means “sent one”, the New Testament believers were sent ones of God’s authority to bring life to their world. To keep in the “sent ones” way of life (doctrine), was to be sent ones of life to others. It was about living as sons and daughters of God who gave life to their world through the testimonies of God’s supernatural love.  

When the New Testament Scriptures referred to the church, they were never talking about a physical structure or building known as a church. Church buildings didn’t exist until the third and fourth century. It was about being a body of believers who lived to love God and to love one another as a testimony of the dwelling place of God by His Spirit. When we read the New Testament Scriptures, we must keep that in mind to properly understand what the written letters regarding the church were and are about. I believe we should remove all the added subject titles in our Scriptures to position our hearts and minds to allow God to teach us what the letters really address. One such case is the fourteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians. Paul’s first letter to the church of Corinthians was written around A.D. 55 or slightly earlier.

Paul’s letter to the church of Corinth was not about what you can or cannot do in a church meeting. It was about functioning as a dwelling place of God’s Spirit. It was about living in a relationship with God and with one another. It was not just about loving God, but also about loving one another in a supernatural way. It wasn’t about proper protocol for ministry in a meeting. It was about proper function of love to be sons and daughters of God and family members with one another, seven days per week.

1 Corinthians 14:1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. 3 But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.

Paul was encouraging the believes in Corinth to speak to God first and most, but to then also seek to be givers of life to one another with words inspired by Holy Spirit. Paul was encouraging them to allow the mysteries of God to lead their path in life. Edification from God would empower them to be life-sources to one another in their everyday world. Prophecy was not meant to be some religious form of ministry by which one is made important. It was simply allowing God to speak so that life would happen! God speaking to their spirit would make them come alive from within and God speaking through them to one another would inspire life to happen in someone else.

1 Corinthians 14:18 I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all; 19 yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

The word for “in” in verse 19 is the GSRN 1722. ἐν en; a primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or state), and (by implication) instrumentality (medially or constructively), i.e. a relation of rest (intermediate between GSRN 1519—to or into and GSRN 1537—from or out). When Paul wrote this letter there was not a building known as the church. So, in the church is not about being in a building or merely a place of gathering. It is being the place of the church. It is about being in relationship with others as the dwelling place of God by His Spirit. This is a relational word, and it can be translated as in, or towards one another as a matter of relationship to be the church. God wants us all to be connected to Him first, but then to also be towards one another to give love and life in supernatural ways.

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 in Christ, we guide the body of Christ to know the life and peace found in Him, even in the midst of every circumstance we may be facing in our lives today. God is good, and He is our Father. He will not withhold any good thing from us as His children, and He knows what is good—better than we do. No weapon can succeed against us, for nothing can separate us from His love. We need not be shaken by anything that can be shaken in the circumstances of our lives shakes.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

The good in our lives is for the purpose of God in all things. We are not called to live for our purpose but for the purpose of God. We find our identity, testimony, and purpose in Christ. When we set our focus on God, we can know that every aspect of who we are in this world and in that which is to come will reveal a testimony of God’s love that will resonate into the inheritance of all that we are for His glory.

Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We face many things in this world in our journey of eternity but all that we face can only reveal the love of God in supernatural and amazing ways. Things are not as the appear in the aspects of creation. Things are only as the can be and will be from the heart of our Creator. God is our Father and we can trust Him in all things. As leaders, we lead others in trusting God in every circumstance of life.

This is a prophecy that I gave on April 12^th, 2026:

For God says, It’s My great joy to partner with you in all things. It’s My great joy for you to partner with Me in all things. For I am the triumph. I am the victory. But not just in times that are a shout. But in times of quietness. In times of resistance. In all times. For it’s My joy for you to know Me in the deepest place.

The joy of the Lord is your strength, and My joy is to partner with you. My joy is for you to partner with Me. For it’s not just in the celebration. It’s in the victory. It’s in the triumph. For I have defeated all things. I have defeated separation. I’ve defeated isolation. I’ve defeated every feeling, every condition of oppression. I’ve defeated death. For I have brought the victory of My presence, and I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I will never abandon you. Nothing can separate you from Me. Nothing can separate you from My love. For My joy is your strength, and My joy is to partner with you and for you to partner with Me in all things. For My purpose is your purpose, and Your purpose is found in Me.

Let this be the day of My triumph. The day of My Spirit, the day of My presence, the day of My victory. For I am sounding forth the sound of life in all things. For My joy is to partner with you 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,

This is an exert from my book, Authority – Control? or Release!; Chapter 9.

Authority is a process. Within that process there is a birthright, training, and a testimony of becoming the substance of a specific measure of authority. Authority doesn’t come merely from birthright. There must be a receiving of that birthright and then a training process to become what that birthright proclaims one to be. Authority requires an appointment from God and that appointment comes in the timing of God. There is an age of authority. It is not a set age in the natural, but it is a moment of appointment for authority. Authority requires a time of appointment. There is an anointing in authority, but that anointing is only proven to be legitimate when there is a God-ordained appointment for that anointing to function for the purpose of that appointment. I believe that authority is a measure of inheritance from God. That inheritance is given to bring life to the world. When Jesus was thirty years old He received the first measure of His authority for His heavenly inheritance as Lord and Christ.

Matthew 3:17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Jesus proved that His inheritance was not just natural, but also Spirit. After He received His appointment of authority the Spirit led Him into the wilderness. It was there that He manifested the full authority to defeat the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride life for mankind. He defeated the power of the devil by walking in the authority of the Spirit. He opened the door of the kingdom of God for the spirits, the souls, and the bodies of all humanity. Jesus could only defeat the devil because of birthright and years of training. He re-established the truth that man lives, moves, and has their being in God. He was a living testimony of a man who loved God with all His heart (spirit), soul, and life (body). He was a walking demonstration of authority that comes by faith. As a man, Jesus lived by faith, walked by faith, and His full being in God was made known to others by His faith. He could walk in the kingdom business of His heavenly Father because He had become a testimony of a manifested Son. Let’s look at His first temptation.

Matthew 4:1-4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

I don’t believe that Jesus was quoting Scripture to the devil. He wasn’t quoting Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy was quoting Him. Jesus said that the Scriptures were a testimony of Him (Jn. 5:39). The Old Covenant was a shadow of that which was to come (Heb. 10:1); it was not a testimony to be copied to bring to pass that which was to come. Jesus was a living testimony that the word was written in His heart and in His mind. The devil thought He was quoting a book, but Jesus was simply confessing the testimony that was within Him that gave Him discernment as to the voice of God. He knew that the voice promising bread was not the voice of His heavenly Father. The devil probably didn’t announce who he was. He is a deceiver, and his voice was no doubt a deceiving voice of temptation to Jesus. Jesus discerned that the Spirit of the words spoken were not the substance of His Father’s voice. Jesus was walking in His God-given authority as the Son of Man. The devil challenged the identity of Jesus by using words like, ‘if you are the Son of God’. Jesus had no question in who He was. He knew He was His Father’s son, and that God was pleased with Him.

Jesus had come through the process of training to become what He was in the authority of life. He had the sound of God in His character, nature, way, power, and authority. The sound of God had come into Jesus’s name through a process of training. It wasn’t just an anointing given to Him at the pouring out of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of John.

What was the process that brought Jesus to this place of authority? Was Jesus ever chastised? We tend to think of chastisement as a punishment for being wrong. We do this because we filter things through a paradigm of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Chastisement is not a punishment; it is a part of our training process in life. Jesus learned things like patience, endurance, long suffering, mercy, and grace. All of those things are testimonies made manifest through chastising events. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. In the flesh He was chastised because of the sin of man. In the Spirit He was chastised by the Father of Spirits that He would have life. Chastisement is an expression of love. It is in the disciplines of life that we manifest who we really are. It is pressure that reveals a diamond and irritation that reveals a pearl.

Hebrews 12:3-14

Jesus learned obedience through the things that He suffered. Do you suppose He ever hit His hand with a hammer in the carpenter shop? Do you think He may have been misunderstood and wrongly disciplined by His natural father Joseph? He knew how to be led by the voice of His heavenly Father even in everyday life. He knew that it was the instruction of the Spirit that strengthens hands and the word of God that strengthens knees (Job. 4:3, 4). He knew how to walk in a practical world in a spiritual reality. This is how He could defeat the devil in life.

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 people to become expressions of God. We lead them to become testimonies of the work of Holy Spirit in their lives. We don’t lead them to be obedient to the written word of God. We lead them to be obedient to the faith, and thus they become expressions of God. They become expressions of the principles, patterns, and values that are found in the written word of God. They are a letter written by the Spirit, not merely people trying to mimic some form of obedience to the law.

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.

The Scripture is not our teacher; Holy Spirit is our teacher. This is probably one of the most important things when it comes to understanding God’s word and receiving a revelation of the secrets hidden in it. This is a great principle: Scripture is not our teacher; Holy Spirit is! Jesus said to the Pharisees, “You search the Scriptures thinking that in them is salvation. But let me tell you the truth. The Scriptures, they testify of Me” (Jn. 5:39).

In the Scriptures, when you’re reading about people and you encounter pronouns such as them, they, him, her, you, he, she, or any pronoun, it is a reference to someone at that time. Any pronoun or noun from that time that refers to a human is not you or me.

There is no place in Scripture where it says, “And I say to you,” and the term “you” refers specifically to you or me. Now, Holy Spirit can speak that Scripture to you right now, and in that moment, the term “you” is you. But when you’re reading Scripture concerning something Holy Spirit wants to say to you, what you’re reading first applies to someone at the time the Scripture was inspired. It might even be the exact same words that God is choosing to use with you right now, but only because it is true to the principle, pattern, or value of the voice of God. God can use Scripture to speak to you, but there is no Scripture in the Bible where the pronoun in the text is directly referring to you or me.

Pronouns in Scripture are relevant to the people present at the time of each story. So, when you read about Jesus speaking to a crowd, the noun refers to the crowd of that day. When He is talking to His disciples, the people He is addressing are His disciples.

When we’re talking about application of Scripture, Scripture is always applied by principle, pattern, and value. It isn’t applied by fact. So, there’s no place in the 66 books of the Bible where the literal verse is talking to you or to me. There’s no place—not even the book of Revelation is talking to you or me—but it has principles, patterns, and values that apply to you and me.

As leaders, we don’t lead people to live their lives in obedience to the Bible or in fear of warnings they find in the written word of God. We lead them to know God personally in their hearts. The Scriptures are essential to our learning, but only because they are a witness to the voice of Holy Spirit in our lives today.

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.

We are being changed from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord within. Leaders set an example for others to follow, and leaders inspire those they lead to know the work of Holy Spirit within their own 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,

Love inspires true hope and hope inspires faith. What is a proper perspective in finding our hope? Our hope cannot merely be in the things that God does or the promises that He makes to us. Our hope cannot be in beginnings and endings, since we don’t always know which we need in our lives. Our hope must be in the One who gives beginnings and endings. He is the one who really knows what we need?

Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “ who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

When we put our hope in God our hearts are clear to hear what He says to our hearts. When we lay down our preconceived ideas as to what He should do in our lives and we simply trust who He is in our lives, we hear Him clearly. When we hear Him in our hearts, we become inspired in our actions. Our actions become those of faith. Our worlds are changed through a partnership with His voice in our hearts that inspires the actions of our lives. This is the testimony foreshadowed in the history of God and the men and women of faith.

The kingdom of God is an internal force of love and life upon the human heart that is the testimony of intimacy with God in Christ. The administration of the law was an external influence upon the human soul and was limited to the instruction of words and the voice of a prophet. The administration of grace is an internal influence that brings about true change of the hearts and minds of men. It is not an administration of mere accountability to God. It’s an administration of intimate and powerful relationship with Him. It’s an unshakeable testimony of God in the human heart.

Hebrews 12:25  See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” 27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

The voice of God within our hearts is a more sure voice than a covenant of remembering what He has said in the past or the discipline of keeping to rules that He has established for us to follow. The writer of Hebrews was admonishing the Jewish people to remember that they were meant to be Hebrew people, and it was time to know the intimate voice of God within their hearts that empowers children of God to be children of faith. This is the power of the kingdom of God for each and every one of us.

External things can be removed, but the internal realities of the kingdom of God in our hearts is enough to frame a world of love, hope, and faith in any environment we find ourselves in. The kingdom of God is not just a promise for us in heaven to come, but also for heaven coming into our world in increasing measures as we respond to the internal voice of the One who loves us in all things. We must let the shakable things be removed so we can become the unshakeable people empowered by His love. Faith is the foundation for that which cannot be shaken.

Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Faith is the foundation of lives established by knowing God’s love. Love is the unshakeable attribute of God’s kingdom that God desires for each of us to know. Reverence and godly fear is found in a revelation. God’s way in our lives is one of faith because God’s character is one of love. By faith we see Him, by faith we know Him, and by faith we love Him in all that we are and do. As leaders we must lead in faith, and we must lead for faith in those 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,

The foundation of our faith is a personal, intimate relationship with God in our hearts. We first believe that He is and then we come to know who He is. God’s way is faith because God is Spirit and He wants a personal relationship with each of us in our hearts. We cannot know God through a cognitive knowledge. We know Him through an intimate knowledge in our hearts. Faith comes from God and is manifest in our hearts towards God. It is seen in the actions of our lives.

The way of slaves is to live in fear of a master, but the way of sons and daughters of God is that of faith. We respond in total surrender to the One who loves us. Faith inspires us to see God as our Father and ourselves as His family in all things. To grow in faith we must indulge in God’s presence, respond to His promises, and partner with Him in His purpose in all things.

The nature of faith is love and life and the evidence of that nature is seen in life-giving testimonies that declare our love for God. That love will also be seen as a love for one another. Love is the true nature of faith. It is giving in nature and not self-seeking or self-gratifying in its way.

Hearing God in our hearts will change our world. This was the testimony of men and women in the past who were moved by God’s voice within their hearts. A person of faith is someone who responds to the voice of God in their hearts and the evidence is seen in outward changes in their lives. It even brings change to their world—to their time in this world.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

The word for worlds in this verse is the GSRN 165, αἰών aiōn; an age. The worlds that were framed in Hebrews chapter 11 were not the worlds that God created. They were the worlds of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, and many other men and women of God. Their futures were resisted by the natural realities of their lives, but they were empowered to overcome all things by hearing and responding to God’s voice. Their present and their futures were framed by hearing God in their hearts.

The law was not a substitute for faith. The law only revealed our need for faith. Obedience to the law is obedience to a principle, but obedience to faith is a response to the voice of love. That voice is the voice of God within us.

God is at work in our hearts through His internal, eternal kingdom of life and peace in Christ. We were born to be loved by Him and when we receive a revelation of His love for us, we cannot help but love Him and all that He loves. We are being transformed from the kingdoms of self to the kingdom of our Lord and Christ by His anointing within our hearts. It’s a testimony of His great love for us.

Although the kingdom of God is an internal kingdom, it affects all that we do in life. If Christ is in our hearts, our lives should be filled with expressions, works, and endeavors that give life to others. The kingdom of God within us is expressed through acts of love for God and for His children.

The internal influence of the kingdom of God is made real through a partnership of faith, hope, and love. Love is the foundation, hope is the inspiration, and faith is the facilitation of the internal kingdom of life through external expressions of that life. God loves us as we are, but His love empowers us to change to become as He is. As we become as He is, we are inspired to give life to the world. We become empowered to live for the Father’s will and for the future generations of His family in the earth. This is the fruit of Christ within our hearts. As leaders we are called to lead people to walk in the path of faith.

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 faith? Faith happens when we hear God in our hearts (Rom. 10:17). Faith is not towards a promise or some tangible thing. True faith is a supernatural response towards God when we hear His voice in our hearts. God doesn’t speak to our souls. He speaks to our spirit and then our spirit responds with the substance of faith to speak to our souls. We are inspired from within with thoughts, reasonings, imaginations, emotions, and desires that testify of our belief in God who spoke to our hearts. We believe in Him, therefore we respond to His voice. We don’t just believe that He is. We believe in who He is. We believe Him! We believe Him when He speaks; therefore, we respond to His voice with the actions of our lives. Faith is a spiritual substance, and it testifies of the Spirit of Wisdom working within us. It will motivate us to move forward in our relationship with God in life.

As leaders in the body of Christ, we must set an example, inspire, and lead those in our sphere of influence to a lifestyle of being obedient to the faith. This is not obedience to a belief system; it is an obedient response to the personal voice of God within our hearts. Faith toward God, as the Being who loves us and has our best interests in mind, will be evident through actions on our part that create a path to the future in all things. Faith works through love; therefore, where there is no revelation of love, there can be no faith. Since faith works through love, faith is towards a person, not merely a promise (Gal. 5:6).

Faith is a testimony of true wisdom. That wisdom is the wisdom of God and not the wisdom of men. It’s not a wisdom based upon experiences in our lives, but wisdom inspired by God’s voice to our hearts. If experience plays into it, it’s an experience of relationship. It’s an experience of growing love. It’s a wisdom of changing character, nature, way, power, and authority. It’s a wisdom that has many unknown realities in its reception and thus it requires a constant trust and intimate connection with God in our hearts. Because of this, it’s a wisdom that is constantly willing to yield. It’s a wisdom that inspires a continual teachability within. It’s a wisdom that empowers us to change, grow, and mature in our relationship with God. It empowers our love for God and that love is demonstrated with continued acts of faith. It’s a wisdom of the tree of life and not a wisdom of the knowledge of good and evil.

God’s way is faith because God’s way is relationship—Spirit to spirit. Faith is the evidence of hearing God speak to our hearts. It results in actions on our part, but those actions are inspired by a revelation of God’s love for us. As leaders, we don’t lead people for works of ministry or service. We lead people to demonstrate works inspired by faith. We know that God loves us and thus we hear Him in our hearts. We respond with actions of love towards Him and towards who and what He loves. It’s by the power of God’s grace that we are granted a right relationship with God in faith. We hear Him and we respond to His voice of love with the actions of our lives. The life that we live we live by faith towards Him in all things. It’s a testimony of grace and the power of God at work in our lives. It’s not a discipline of the flesh or a mere obedience to a ‘what to do’ code.

Romans 2:28-29 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

God is at work in our hearts through His internal, eternal kingdom of life and peace in Christ. We are born to be loved by Him and when we receive a revelation of His love for us, we cannot help but love Him and all that He loves. We are being transformed from the kingdoms of self to the kingdom of our Lord and Christ by His anointing within our hearts.

Faith without works is dead. The evidence of faith is seen in the outward actions of our lives. Those actions are not efforts to attain to faith. The are the fruit of faith from within. Faith is a matter of the heart, and true works are works that are motivated by the heart. They are works that are motivated by God’s love for us and our love for Him. Faith is the testimony of being loved by God and loving Him. In this, we love others not just with the words of our lips but the actions of 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,

The kingdoms of the world are administrated by the knowledge of good and the knowledge of evil. They are governed by information, upon which they make judgments about what is good or evil. They define that knowledge by what they perceive to be good or evil in their own eyes. Without an internal nature of a life-giver, mankind becomes focused on judgments that either kill themselves or others. The informing knowledge of good is not enough to create a nature that is good within us. An informing knowledge of evil is not enough to restrain us from doing evil. A government of the knowledge of good and evil is a government of judgment that always leads to death.

The law of God was the perfect knowledge of good and evil, but the law cannot change our hearts and minds. Even when we are presented with the law of God our perception of that law is through a mindset of information. It’s not through the mindset of a life-giving Father who is good in all things. The law on earth is only a copy of a changed heart and mind that is found in heaven. Heaven is not just a place we are going to one day. God wants us to discover the mystery of heaven in us.

As leaders, we are not called to lead the body of Christ to know the knowledge of good and evil. We are not merely teachers of God’s law. We demonstrate a love for God that inspires those we lead to love Him also. We are called to lead others to know God, but we cannot teach anyone to know God. We can demonstrate what knowing God looks like through the testimonies of our own lives.

The most important thing in any and every Christ centered community is Christ! Christ in the room is not enough to bring about lasting life transformations. Only Christ in each one can transform someone to grow as a son or daughter in Christ. We must lead people by putting Christ at the center of all that we are and do. When we do this, we create atmospheres that invite the presence, the promises, and the purpose of God.

These things are found when we seek God. When we seek God, we find Him. When we find Him, we experience His presence in our lives. His presence transforms us. He is more than willing to reveal Himself to all who seek Him. When we experience God’s presence in our lives we grow in receiving His promises. His promises reveal a testimony of changed lives in Him. We become partakers of His divine nature.

2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

The kingdoms of the world are kingdoms of death, but the kingdom of God is a kingdom of eternal life. The Kingdom of God is not an informing kingdom. It’s a transforming kingdom. It’s a kingdom that transforms our hearts and minds from within. It has the power to change our character, nature, way, power, and authority. We are changed when God writes His name on our hearts and minds from within. His name is the character, nature, way, power and authority of a life-giving Father.

As leaders, our main focus is not in providing information. It’s in sharing truth in a way that opens up human hearts to know the One who is truth. God’s kingdom is a kingdom of love, and it produces the fruit of love in the hearts and minds of all who find it. Love is our victory in all things. This is not love based upon our own perceptions, but love inspired by God 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,

As leaders, we set an example for others in finding the right focus in life. Our focus should be to seek the kingdom of God in all things. We are not focused on meeting our own needs or fulfilling our personal desires. God is our Father, and it is His pleasure to meet our needs and fulfill our desires, but His ways are better than ours. We can be confident that as we live for His kingdom and His will, He will abundantly care for us.

Matthew 6:31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

God cares for the birds, and He cares for the flowers of the field. The birds don’t gather into barns, but people, made in the likeness and image of their heavenly Father, were born to bring life to their worlds through the barns and vats of their lives. Their barns are a testimony of their life to the world as the living bread of Christ. Their vats are a testimony of the life of the Spirit they bring to others. Sons and daughters of God are to be expressions of God in both natural and supernatural ways.

The character, nature, way, power, and authority of God should increasingly manifest in our lives. When we seek God’s kingdom first, we can fulfill our purpose in this world as sons and daughters of God who give life to others.

How do we seek the kingdom of God in all things? Jesus said that the kingdom of God is within us (Lk. 17:20, 21). The kingdom of God within us affects the outward expressions of our natural kingdoms to become testimonies for God’s glory. Our internal connection to God and His kingdom reveals true righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit within our hearts (Rom. 14:17). An increasing revelation of these will empower our identity, testimony, and purpose in life.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and depart from evil. 8 It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.

God’s path in life is the path of our true identity. Only God can give us our true identity. Who we are reveals who God is in a way that is uniquely our identity in Him. This can only happen when we trust Him, yield our understanding to His, and acknowledge Him in our ways in life.

Our testimony in life is one that reveals the goodness of God through the health of our flesh and the strength of our bones. The health of our flesh is not dependent upon us being physically healthy. It is in our ability to have a life-giving attitude in all things. The strength of our bones is seen in our ability to be strong in our spirits in all things.

Proverbs 3:9 Honor the LORD with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; 10 so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

Our purpose in life can only be discovered and fulfilled when we honor the Lord with all that we possess. We honor Him with our attitudes, actions, accomplishments, and even the physical things that we possess in life. We give Him the firstfruits of all that He gives us. In doing so, our barns will be filled with plenty, and our vats will overflow with new wine. These are the fruits of all that we are and do, which bring life to our world. This fruit is both natural and spiritual, and it brings the blessings of God to 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