ted4leaders

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders, we are to lead others in their obedience to God. Their obedience is an obedience to the faith. Faith comes by hearing God in our hearts. Faith is not a discipline of the flesh; it is an empowerment of the heart from within. When we hear God in our hearts, faith happens. Faith toward God is seen in actions of love. Leaders set an example in this, and they lead others to walk in this same way.

Faith toward God is not a means of merely getting His blessing to endorse our personal desires in life. We live in a world where personal desires are exalted, and personal opinions are encouraged like fanning the flames of a fire that seeks to consume the opinions of others. Whether it be our own opinions or the opinions of others, only God’s desires can lead us to life. We must learn to be led by God’s Spirit in all things and not by our personal desires.

Bonnie and I raised three children, and all our children were raised to have faith towards God. They were raised to hear God’s voice within their hearts. I have written of these things in my book, Grafted Into Love. This is an exert from my book:

“Submission is an attitude of love, while mere obedience can be a bitter action of resentment. How we teach our children to respond or not respond to us is how we expect them to respond or not to respond to God’s voice in life.

When our children were little, we always sought to reach their spirits, not just their heads. Solomon recognized that true wisdom is found in reaching the spirit of a child. It is in the place of their spirit that their lives will either be safe or left defenseless from some enemy.

Proverbs 25:28 Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls.

It is our job as parents to train our children in knowing how to rule their own spirits. In the Hanson house, we had what we called the happy up discipline. It was a means by which we taught our children to rule over their spirits. It involved deciding to draw happy from their spirits to their soul. We would say, I want you to fold your hands, calm yourself down, and happy up. Where’s happy? Give me happy!

“This discipline empowered our children to have souls that are like a city with walls, because we taught them how to rule over their spirits. It was not an exercise to teach them to be fake. It was an exercise in teaching them to be real. It was an exercise to teach them how to draw life from within and not to allow the things around them to determine what was in their hearts and minds. This was also an exercise in learning to respond to God’s voice and be connected to the Rock. The place of true strength doesn’t come from our souls. True strength comes when our spirits are one with God’s Holy Spirit, and then that strength from within floods our souls with the strength of life.”[1]

God wants to give us desires. His understanding will surpass our own, and His understanding will lead us into life. The testimony of life is found in being empowered to give life to others. The influence of our lives will empower others to know the love of God in their hearts and minds.

Psalms 37:4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.

When we delight ourselves in the Lord, we don’t get what we want. The desires of our hearts change to desire what He wants in our lives. We must know how to rule our spirit by submitting our hearts to the Spirit of God. When we quiet our souls and look to God in our hearts, God puts desire in our spirits, and our spirits flood our souls with thoughts, reasoning, imaginations, emotions, and desires that come from God. Leaders must rule their spirits and teach others to do the same.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Grafted Into Love: Parenting, Family, and the Destiny of LIfe

Available on Amazon in Print, E-Book, and Audiobook

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[1] Ted J. Hanson, Grafted Into Love: Parenting, Family, and the Destiny of Life, (Bellingham, WA: House of Bread Publishing, 2022), pp. 48-49.

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,

We were born to be loved, not because we are worthy but because God is good. He is a good Father and His nature is to love us. He gives life, breath, and all things. It is not fair that God should love us. It is simply His nature. Leaders know that God is not fair. He is better than fair, He is good.

In the parable of the workers in the vineyard, the owner of the vineyard hired people at the beginning of the day and promised them a certain wage. He hired people at the middle of the day and promised them the same wage. He hired people at the end of the day and also promised them the same wage. When the day was finished, those who were hired at the beginning of the day complained because those hired later received the same wages as them. They thought they should have received more, since they worked longer than those hired later.

Matthew 20:10 But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. 11 And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ 13 But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.’ (Mt. 20:1-15).

The owner of the vineyard didn’t pay his workers an unfair wage. He gave a generous wage for a days’ work, but he decided to give that same generous wage to everyone. He didn’t pay them for their work; he paid them from his generosity. This story is a testimony to the nature of God our Father and His desired nature for His children.

Leaders don’t set an example of who God is by being fair. They set an example by being good, as our Father is good. We are all to be good. This is the nature of God!

Isaiah 55:1 “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. 3 Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you—the sure mercies of David.

God’s ways are ways of generosity. They are ways of love. His thoughts are always life-giving thoughts. They are thoughts of redemption and reward. This same mindset should be in us as leaders and in every member of the family of God. God gives, because He is a giver. He doesn’t think according to right or wrong. He doesn’t think according to fair or unfair. He thinks according to His nature as One who is good. His nature is that of a Father who loves His children. As leaders and members of His family our ways and thoughts should be the same. We are to be generous in the ways of love towards others.

Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. 10 “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

These verses are not about how bad the thoughts and ways of men are. They are about how good God is. God’s heart is to cause all to prosper. He doesn’t speak words to condemn us, but to give us life! He is good. This same nature is to be in the heart of every leader and in the hearts of those they lead.

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 know how to be strong in the Lord and strong in His Spirit. They lead others into this testimony. Being strong in the Lord is being strong in His word. His word inspires His desires in our hearts. A willingness to know His word is a willingness to receive His desires in our hearts. What has He said? What is He saying? What is His general will? What is His specific will? If we don’t know the general will of God, we have no foundation for knowing the specific will of God in our lives.

To be strong in God’s Spirit is to know His presence in all things. It is a matter of being dependent upon His presence in all things. A discernment of His presence will give as a discernment of His will. It will manifest the fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

The discipline of God’s word and Spirit lead us into the path of life. We are givers of life to our world when we trust the One who gives life to us. We demonstrate our trust in God by listening to and responding to all that He says.

Hebrews 12:11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

How do we keep strong hands, strong knees, and straight paths before our feet? We can find these answers when we consider God in the entirety of His word. There are some key words written in the book of Job in regard to the character of the righteous man Job.

Job 4:3 Surely you have instructed many, and you have strengthened weak hands. 4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have strengthened the feeble knees…

If the instructions of a righteous man can strengthen weak hands, the instructions of God’s Spirit can do even more. Our hands are a testimony to what we give to our world. The blessings of being life-givers comes from our ability to bless our world with life. When we trust the instruction of Holy Spirit in our lives and when we respond to His instructions, we will be givers of life to all that we touch. His instructions surpass our own understanding so we must discern His presence and trust His presence to guide us in all things.

If a righteous man can strengthen the knees of others by his words, how much more can God’s word strengthen our knees? When we stand on God’s word, we can overcome all things that seek to cause us to bow our knees to things that are less than truth. I believe God’s instructions are the testimony of His Spirit and God’s words are a testimony of His truth. When the Word and the Spirit come together in our lives we can surely be who we are meant to be for the sake of our sphere of influence in this world.

What about finding the straight path for our feet? I believe the key to our straight path is the manifest presence of God in our lives. It is not about knowing what to do. It is about knowing God in all things. His presence will give us the path of life in all things.

Psalms 16:11 You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Isaiah 42:16 I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them.

As leaders we must face everything in life for the sake of others. This is not just a testimony of leaders; it’s a testimony for us all. Leaders lead to inspire this truth in others. If we follow the instructions of God’s Spirit in every situation of our lives, we will be givers of life to our world. If we stand fast on all that God has said and is saying in His word, we will not bow our knees to compromise to the ways of the world. We will be overcoming sons and daughters of God in all circumstances. If we hold fast to God’s manifest presence in our lives, we will find the path of life and light before us in every step of our journey in life. These things are attributes of sons and daughters of 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,

As a leader, what is the priority of my life? For what do I lead people to know? I believe that being loved by God, loving God, and loving others is the testimony of life. We were all born to be loved by God. We are born again to love God and to love others in life.

Knowing God’s love in our lives leads to knowing who God is. Knowing who God is, leads to knowing who we are. Our identity, testimony, and purpose in life are dependent upon God’s manifest presence in our lives. I lead others that they might be envisioned, impassioned, and transformed through knowing God.

Knowing God is not a matter of knowing the correct theological information concerning who He is. It is personally knowing Him. We grow in knowing His person. We experience His presence, His touch, His words to us, His impartations, and the activations of life that He puts within our hearts and minds. We cannot know who we are without first knowing who He is. We cannot walk in the testimonies of transformation without experiencing the supernatural touch of His Spirit. We cannot live for His purpose without a partnership with Him in all things.

The identity of our lives is made known through God’s presence in our lives. The testimony of our lives is the fruit of His promises manifesting in our lives. The purpose of our lives is the result of our partnership with God in all things. This process begins with allowing God to love us. He doesn’t love us because of what we have done or what we will do. He loves us because of who He is. A leader must grow in knowing who God is before they seek to grow in the skill of leadership. Our gifting and anointing are not the goal. These are but tools that help us to lead others into a relationship with God. Without the manifest presence of God in us and in those we lead, we have nothing.

To know God and to become who we are meant to be in life, we must be loved by God, we must be transformed by His love, and we must become the substance of His love to our world. God is love so He will always act in love. He will not act according to our understanding. Our perceptions of Him must be shaped by His love working in our lives, even through difficult situations. We can trust Him because He is our Father, our Savior, and the empowerment of life within us.

These things can only be understood through the tree of life. They cannot be understood through the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The fruit of the tree of life is life to us and to our world. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil only leads to judgments of right and wrong. It leads to offenses, even to being offended by God for lack of understanding.

As leaders, we can know much, but our message is simple. Embrace God’s presence, overcome all wickedness by His Spirit and Word within you, and live to give life to others. Like our heavenly Father, live to give life!

Seek to know Him, let Him know you, receive His presence, be transformed by His promises, and become an expression of His love to your world. For this I lead!

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,

God is a trinity. God is not a power. His power simply testifies of Him. God is a person. He is our Father, He revealed His love to us through His only begotten Son, and He comes to us by His ever-present Holy Spirit. God is a trinity held together by love. He is a testimony of a threefold relationship. He is revealed to us through three distinct persons in His being. Without Jesus, we cannot fully know God as our Father, because it is only through the embodiment of a son that we can grow in knowing God as our Father. Without Holy Spirit, we cannot know the Father or the Son, because no one can come to God but by the Spirit of God. Our vision of peace, our connection to heaven, is Holy Spirit within our lives.

To be spiritual people we must embrace a relationship with God as the Spirit, God as the Son, and God as our Father. To know Jesus the Son, we must also embrace knowing God our Father. To know God our Father we must embrace knowing Jesus the Son. To Know God the Son and God the Father, we must know God the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is God and Holy Spirit has been sent to us by God our Father in the name of Jesus, God’s Son. To fellowship with Holy Spirit is a fellowship with the Son. God, in His trinity, reveals attributes that can only be found in the relationship of love. That relationship is meant to be seen in family.

As leaders, we are not called to lead people into the testimony of ministry. We are called to lead people in the testimony of being the family of God. The nature of God is revealed with attributes of relationship. Those attributes reveal God as a Father, Jesus as the Son, and Holy Spirit as the Comforter. Holy Spirit is the presence of God within us that enables us to be the body of Christ. Holy Spirit grants us a testimony of being one in Christ that births the life of God in the earth.  In a sense, Holy Spirit gives us the nature of knowing God as a mother, the one who nurtures His children.

In the family of God, there is an identity, a testimony, and a purpose. The identity of family is found in being loved. Every child is born to be loved. We were not born to be right; we were born to be loved and when we know we are loved we will do right things. This is the first attribute of the culture of the family of God. It is filled with an atmosphere of love. Like little children, we know our sins are forgiven. We have a father who loves us.

In a culture of family there is also the testimony of love. The testimony of love is to overcome all things that oppose love. This is not just things as in works, but things as an attitude, a mindset, our ways of being. Leaders lead the family to be strong in the Word and strong in the Spirit. To be strong in the character, nature and way of love. To be strong in loving God and to be strong in loving others. Without a culture that finds their identity in being loved, we cannot be a culture that overcome all things by the power of love. Leaders lead the family to be overcomers.

Leaders also lead the family in the purpose of love. The purpose of love is to be like the Father. The Father doesn’t need anything. He gives life, He gives breath, and He gives all things for the purpose of love—to love others more than oneself. To not love onself, even unto death. To be a father, a mother, to be a parent is to make sacrifices for the children. To live today for the future tomorrow. To live today so that the culture of tomorrow’s experience is the love of God today. To live today so that the culture of tomorrow learned to overcome all things today by the power of God’s love. To live today, so there is a culture of love tomorrow. To raise children who learn to give their lives even unto death for the sake of cultures beyond them—for the generations beyond them. Leadership is given for the sake of a testimony of family.

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,

I have been addressing the subject of honor, using exerts from my book, Friendship With God – The Empowerment of Honor and Grace. I am going to continue on that same topic today and present another excerpt from my book. This book can be found on Amazon in Print, E-book, and audiobook.

Defining Honor:

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

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

We tend to think in humanistic ways. Sometimes we confuse wisdom with abuse and believe that wisdom from God will never involve pain or decisions that cause pain in the body. We often think that honor involves being kind to one another, but in the case of having frozen fingers or frozen toes, the kind thing to do is to take some drastic measures of amputation to preserve the life of my body. Though this is difficult, it is wisdom, not abuse.

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

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

In this story, dead branches are removed and there are branches that are fruitful that are cut back. The process of cutting can be viewed as painful to the vine and even misunderstood by someone who loves the vine more than they do the vinedresser.

The vinedresser is God our Father, and He knows the value of who we are. His act of pruning is an action of honor for who we are as part of the vine. The vinedresser does this, so the vine will produce much fruit. He cuts dead things off and He even prunes living branches to shape them in a way that will produce fruit and carry the weight of fruit in the future without breaking branches. No branch is allowed to simply grow for the glory of itself.

If we have feelings for the branches of the vine beyond the feelings of the Creator, or less than the feelings of the Creator, we will fall short of honor by resisting what the Creator desires to do. We might think we are being kind when we don’t want to harm anything, but we are being less than the Creator in our thinking.

In our own lives, God honors us by removing things that are not beneficial to the fullness of life. He shapes our attitudes and our desires so that we will bear more fruit. A family’s attitude must be formed in the heart of every family member and the attributes and characteristics of a family must be shaped in them to fulfill the purpose and destiny of the family. That process is honorable.

Jesus compared our relationship with Him with that of being branches on a vine. God honors the vine by pruning it. God honors us by pruning us. He cuts away the things that are dead. He trims back the things that grow quickly, knowing they will not carry the weight of the destiny of the future. That is part of a culture of honor. [1]

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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[1] Ted J. Hanson, Friendship With God – The Empowerment of Honor and Grace, (Bellingham, WA: House of Bread Publishing, 2022), pp. 18-19.

Available on Amazon in Print, E-book, and Audiobook: Link

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,

Last week I addressed the subject of honor, using an excerpt from my book, Friendship With God – The Empowerment of Honor and Grace. I am going to continue on that same topic today and present another excerpt from my book. This book can be found on Amazon in Print, E-book, and audiobook.

Many believe that honor is absent of judgment, but this is not true. A justice system of good and evil requires a judgment, but true honor is found in the justice system of love. In honor there is judgment, but the ultimate judgment of honor is one of mercy towards another. Mercy ends the judgment of condemnation towards another and invites them to live in a relationship of grace.

Mercy is the beginning of every new day in a culture of honor. Mercy ends the past and opens the door to the future, but grace requires an ongoing willing relationship. Grace is the manifest presence of God in our lives. Grace is the substance of God’s life that gives us life and transforms us to be givers of life to our world. Grace is something we receive and give.

We cannot give someone grace unless they invite us into their lives. There is a different honor for those in relationship with us than for those who choose not to be in relationship with us. When someone treats us dishonorably, we still choose to embrace a culture of honor towards him or her. That honor, however, can only be one of mercy which does not condemn them for their actions. This is not releasing them from the consequences of their own actions. It is simply preventing us from entering negative consequences for our own actions.

Each person is responsible for his or her attitude and actions towards another. When someone’s actions are less than honorable the consequences are less than life-giving. If someone chooses to disconnect in their relationship with us, it is honorable to respect their decision and honor them by showing them mercy for any misgivings or misunderstandings they may have projected in our direction. To expect them to remain in relationship with us is less than honorable to their decision. Love says we must show them mercy but love also says we must allow them to experience any consequences for their own decision in the matter.

Honor is a respect for who someone is. If someone says they are not part of our lives our respect towards them must include a willingness to be separate from them in life. When someone separates from us in life, it doesn’t authorize us to judge them according to the flesh. Our judgment towards them must always be one of mercy. We must remain willing to accept whatever the future may hold for relationship, as God may bring about a healing and restoration of connection. That willingness for restoration begins with a willingness to accept that we are now separate. We must honor the decisions of others towards us in life.

Our love must remain intact amid separations, but respect for separations must include an open attitude for continued separation or reconnection through a testimony of grace. Grace enables us to see our need to change and empowers us to change. Without an acknowledgment for a need to change, there is no path to enter the chamber of grace. Acknowledging our need to change empowers us to ask for mercy. Mercy is a gift of love that grants us access to grace. Grace is the power of love that changes us, so we don’t remain in an error that led to our separation. Mercy justifies an entrance, but only an acknowledgment of the need for mercy can open the door for the power of grace to bring about change.

A culture of honor is a culture of truth, love, nobility, and recognition of others for who they are. Truth is based upon who and what God says we are, not upon our own perceptions that are often based upon our own deceptions. Love always begins with an attitude and judgment of mercy towards others, but also invites others to continue in a relationship of grace. Grace can only be given to someone who chooses to walk with us with a desire to see a testimony of life for what the future holds. It is freely offered to everyone, but only experienced by those who search for it and find it. Grace must be available for all who seek it, but grace must also be found. It is the testimony of relationship. [1]

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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[1] Ted J. Hanson, Friendship With God – The Empowerment of Honor and Grace, (Bellingham, WA: House of Bread Publishing, 2022), pp. 16-17.

Available on Amazon in Print, E-book, and Audiobook: Link

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 honor God and to honor one another. A foundation for honor is friendship with God. Friendship with God will empower us to have a revelation of God’s love. Today I have decided to post and exert from my book Friendship With God – The Empowerment of Honor and Grace.

God has called us to be a part of something intimate and awesome. We are the body of Christ, the community of God in heaven and on earth. We are the place that has access to heaven and the place where heaven touches the earth. The body of Christ is made of life-giving relational connections. It is not merely a matter of Christian ministry. It is a matter of Christ-life relationships. For this reason, we must seek to develop and maintain healthy relationships with one another as the community of God.

I believe that we should treat all people with the value of belonging. Then we should demonstrate what the community of God looks like when we choose to embrace Jesus and one another as the testimony of God’s love and destiny in our lives. The true strength of this is seen in our friendship with God and with one another.

All life-giving relationships are created and sustained by a culture of honor. Honor as a noun is a tangible symbol given to another that signifies approval or distinction of who they are. It is recognizing who another is and demonstrating their value through attitudes and actions. When we give honor to someone, we give something of ourselves to approve and distinguish the value of who they are.

The value of each human being is that of being a one and only testimony as an expression of their Heavenly Father in this world. God gave His only begotten Son as the price of redemption for every person in the history of humanity. This is deserving of honor. Our honor for each person is an honor for the only begotten Son of God. It is an honor for the value that God has placed upon every person that has ever lived or will ever live upon the earth.

The community of God is a community that lives with honor toward one another, and it must therefore be a community of God that nurtures and exhibits a culture of honor. To be a culture of honor, a source of inspiring life must be within the substance of that culture. The source of ultimate honor is found in the place of knowing the friendship of God and growing in being a friend of God.

A culture of honor is a culture of truth, love, nobility, and recognition of others for who they are. In a culture of truth, we recognize who someone really is, but we don’t pretend they are something they are not. It is not honorable to recognize someone for who they are not. True honor is not something given to what someone thinks they are, it is something given to who they really are.

This includes an honor for ourselves. When we don’t know who we are, we don’t treat ourselves honorably. When we don’t know who another is, we don’t treat them honorably. It is dishonorable to put an identity upon someone that God did not give them. For this reason, true honor begins with knowing who God is. If we don’t know who God is, we won’t know who He says we are. We will end up giving ourselves false identities and then expect others to honor our deceptions. Showing value to another person doesn’t mean we must value their choices. Showing value for choices that produce dysfunction and a testimony of death is not the testimony of honor. Honor only works in truth.

Honor is also found in love. For this reason, a culture of honor always chooses life. A culture of honor deals with things that are wrong, but the focus is never on what is right or wrong. The focus of honor is always life! We must look at situations and always choose what will bring life.

A culture of honor must find its foundation in the tree of life, not the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The family tree of the community of God is the tree of life. Therefore, our honor towards one another must be based upon a revelation of love. A culture of honor must be rooted in a revelation – a revelation of who another is and a revelation of love.

Familiarity is an enemy of honor because honor involves faith towards another. Sometimes natural experiences blind us to the truth of who someone is. When this happens, it is a test of our love for them. The opposite of faith is natural sight. When we base our honor towards another upon how they treat us, or how we perceive they treat us, we fall short in having an attitude of love towards them.

Faith only works through love and faith is demonstrated in our actions towards others. How we act toward others in a culture of honor is based upon a revelation of love and a testimony of faith. Without a revelation of love our actions will often be motivated by fear and fear is not an atmosphere that can be inhabited by honor. Honor lives in a culture and atmosphere of love. Only love can cast out fear and faith can only work in a culture of love.[1]

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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[1] Ted J. Hanson, Friendship With God – The Empowerment of Honor and Grace, (Bellingham, WA: House of Bread

Publishing, 2022), pp. 14-16.

Available on Amazon – Print, Ebook, and Audio

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 I stated in my last blog, we inherit spiritual, psychological, and physical traits from our parents, but we are each responsible for our decisions in life. The bad decisions of others cannot hinder our ability to rise above our circumstances in life. We can rise above and beyond inherited weaknesses when we find the strength of God’s presence in our lives today.

Ezekiel 18:19 “Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?’ Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. 20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

God holds each of us responsible for our own hearts and actions in life. We cannot blame others for our own choices. Leaders lead others to be responsible for their own attitudes and actions in life. They set an example in allowing God to change their hearts and minds in areas of error. God is ready and eager to assist each of us in our path of life. He is ready to empower us to manifest the character, nature, and way of sons and daughters of God.

Ezekiel 18:21 “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. 22 None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live.”

God is ready to help anyone who turns to Him. He desires that all come to know His love. He wants everyone to know His passionate presence that transforms lives. We inherit weaknesses but those weaknesses can be overcome by the power of God’s grace working in our lives. The weaknesses are inherited iniquities, but they don’t need to lead to inherited transgression or sin. God destroys wickedness in our lives, but He does not desire to destroy the wicked. He desires for them to find His mercy and grace.

Ezekiel 18:23 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?”

Each of us can turn from our ways to the way of God. When we turn to God, He is willing and able to greet us with the power of His love.

Just as we do not inherit the wickedness of our fathers, we do not inherit a free pass unto righteousness. We must each find our righteousness in Christ. When we fail, we are charged to find God’s gift of repentance unto life. Leaders accept the responsibility of finding life in Christ and they lead others to do the same.

Ezekiel 18:24 “But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die.”

God’s nature is to forgive, but God’s nature is also to transform our ways to become as we should be as children of God. The kindness of God invites all to come to Him and find life. God wants to give each one a new heart and a new spirit. His desire is that all find life.

Ezekiel 18:25 “Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not fair.’ Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair? 26 When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies. 27 Again, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive. 28 Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 29 Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair? 30 “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord GOD. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord GOD. “Therefore turn and live!”

We don’t inherit sin, but we do inherit weaknesses. As we turn to God we find life. We find transformation in our hearts and minds. We find the divine empowerment of God’s grace that changes our ways to be as His. God desires to give each of us a judgment of mercy and a prognosis of divine change. Leaders set an example in this, and they lead others to take responsibility before God in their ways. When we turn to God, we find His mercy and grace because God’s way is love for us all.

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,

God forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. These three things are often confused, but they are different. They are progressively linked, but it is the testimony of sin that leads to death. Iniquity is the weakness that leads to transgression. Transgression is a rebellion in the human heart that leads to sin. The wage of sin is death. God does not kill sinners; sin kills them. Being disconnected from life results in the consequence of death. Where there is iniquity there will be transgression, and where there is transgression there will be sin. God in His amazing character, nature, way, power, and authority comes to forgive us fully. This is even to the root of our sin—the weakness of our hearts.

Exodus 34:5-7 Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

The double statement of Lord in these verses is connected to a Hebrew idiom. They imply that God forgives us before we sin knowing what we will do and He forgives us after we sin knowing what we have done. This is love! God is merciful, gracious, longsuffering, abounding in goodness, and abounding in truth. Jesus made a way for us to come near to God and to know Him intimately.  God keeps His mercy for thousands. The term “thousands” is an interesting symbolic and prophetic number in Scripture. It implies an aspect of eternity. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps. 50:10), meaning He owns all the cattle. God is God to a thousand generations (1 Chr. 16:15; Ps. 105:8), meaning He is God forever. A day with the Lord is as a thousand years, meaning His day has no end. Here we see that God wants to show mercy for thousands. He wants to show mercy to everyone, and He wants to show mercy forever!

God forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. God does not overlook the root cause of our disconnection from Him. He visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation. The words “the guilty” are not in the original text but are meant to clarify what He does not clear. It is somewhat accurate, but it must be taken into consideration in the context of the previous descriptions. It can only be understood in the context of forgiveness, mercy, grace, longsuffering, abundant goodness, abundant truth, and eternal pardon. It is not a judgment to destroy the person, but a judgment to destroy the root of iniquity that leads to sin. It is simply what happens to the iniquity when God visits it. God’s presence eradicates the flaws and heals the heart and mind.  

Leaders set an example in allowing God to visit the weaknesses that they have inherited. They know that God’s manifest presence in their lives will heal the weaknesses in their hearts. When the weaknesses are healed, transgression is no longer a path from within. We don’t inherit sin from our fathers, but we do inherit both strengths and weaknesses. Leaders set an example that others can follow by allowing God to change their inherited characteristics. If your Bible translation uses the word “sin” for “iniquity” in these verses of Exodus, it is in error to the original. It is the Hebrew word “avon” (iniquity) and not the word “chattaah” (sin). It is the flaw within us that causes us to come to sin. It is the weakness, or the propensity to transgress that leads to sin.

Think of it as a characteristic that has the potential of becoming your character. You may have inherited a negative characteristic, but it doesn’t have to become your character. God wants to visit the place of weakness and transform it to become a place of His strength and testimony. The weakness is your place of need for God that can lead to greater life when you depend upon Him. It doesn’t have to become your character.

We inherit spiritual, psychological, and physical traits from our parents, but we are each responsible for our decisions in life. Leaders lead others in taking responsibility for their own lives. The bad decisions of others cannot hinder our ability to rise above our circumstances in life. We can rise above and beyond inherited weaknesses when we find the strength of God’s presence in our lives today.

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