ted4leaders

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Leaders live for the will of God, and they live to lead others to know the will of God in their lives. The will of God for each of us is that we are filled with His Spirit, led by His Spirit, and manifest a testimony of God’s Spirit in our everyday world. In these things we will fulfill the purpose of God in our lives.

When we are filled with God’s Spirit we bear the fruit of the Spirit. This will make us loving people. We will know joy and we will be people who exhibit the joy of the Lord even in difficult times. We will live with a testimony of God’s peace. Holy Spirit will empower us to endure. We will be longsuffering in our attitude and actions, and we will be patient and understanding of others. We will be kind. We will be good and do good for others in our world. When we are filled with God’s Spirit, we will be faithful to God and faithful in His way towards others. We will be gentle. When we are filled with God’s Spirit we will exhibit self-control. These are the fruit of the Spirit.

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

My word for this year is “truth”. When we know the truth, the truth will make us free. The fruit of the Spirit is manifest in the lives of those who are free. When we embrace the truth, we will always find the testimony of the fruit of the Spirit. Things that we deem to be true are not necessarily the same as things that are truth. Living for God’s will leads us into the truth. In the truth there is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When these things are not present, we are missing something of the truth.

Galatians 5:24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

We don’t live for the will of our flesh. We don’t live for the passions of our own opinions. When we live for our own agendas, we become conceited. We provoke others with an attitude of self-righteousness. We seek to benefit ourselves and our own ways through the destruction of others. This is the way of the carnal world. This is not the way of sons and daughters of God.

We don’t always get things right, but when the fruit of the Spirit is not present in our lives, we must reassess our focus. Reaction to the ways of the world is not the same as actions empowered by faith in Christ. Faith comes by hearing God in our hearts and God’s voice gives us life-giving desires, wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and a life-giving fear of the Lord. The fruit of God’s Spirit brings God’s holiness to our spirits, souls, and physical expressions of life to our world. This is not some pious religious testimony. It is a testimony of life to others in our world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

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

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

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

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

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

We are justified and empowered to live by the life that we find in Christ. We know that our sins have been forgiven and we are loved by our heavenly Father. This is the foundation of our faith. It’s a revelation of God’s love. Leaders must embrace the simplicity of this truth in their own lives and live to lead others to find this foundation for their lives. It is the kindness and the goodness of God that leads us to change. What the law could never do, a revelation of God’s love does. Only the manifest presence of God in our lives can give us that revelation. We are fully dependent upon Him! This is the grace of God.

Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

The foundation of our lives is one of being loved by God. The testimony of our lives springs out from that foundation of love. Our heavenly Father is a giver of life. His works are life-giving works that destroy the work of death in all things. Leaders do works empowered by the Holy Spirit that destroy the works of the devil. They lead others in doing the same. Jesus set the example for us and we must embrace this same purpose in our lives.

1 John 3:8b For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

Our testimony is given by the working of Holy Spirit in our lives. We are called appointed and anointed to give life to our world. We give our lives fully knowing that not even the second death has any power over us; thus, we give our lives to give life to others in our world. Our overcoming is not for our sake, but for the sake of Christ in others. We overcome by the blood of the lamb, the word of our testimony, and loving not our own lives even onto the sacrifice of death. We give life as our Father gives life! Our overcoming is for the sake of others.

Leaders set an example in knowing God’s love and His overcoming victory in all things. These two things are the focus of their lives. We live to empower others to know God’s love and to overcome every wicked thing by the power of God’s love working in their lives. Like fathers and mothers, leaders live for the perpetual testimony of life in the family of God. This is God’s glory. God’s glory is that all would be saved, that all would know the miracle of being a part of God’s family in this world and in that which is to come. We have been reconnected to God our Father through the love of His only begotten Son, Jesus. We are born again in Christ and greater is the One in us that anything in this 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,

Leaders set an example in being filled with and influenced by Holy Spirit. They lead others in being a dwelling place of God by His Spirit and by this they give life to others in their world.  

Ephesians 5:17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,

We must understand what the will of the Lord is for us in this life. Being filled with the Spirit is the truth. Paul compares it to those who are dunk with wine in the world. Why do people get drunk with wine? So they can get everything they want to get. Why are they in bars getting drunk? So they can give to one another? No, they have one thing on their mind. To get something for a self-gratifying time. The primary focus of their time is their time. What am I going to get? That is the way of the world.

As sons and daughters of God, we should be under an influence of life. It’s a different kind of drunkenness. It’s not measured by what we get but by how much we give to others. Holy Spirit fills us to give us a right spirit, a right focus, and a right anointing to empower us to give life to one another. The presence of Holy Spirit in our lives will cause us to become unashamedly bolder than usual. We won’t be afraid to sing, but we won’t sing to get attention. We will simply sing to give life to others. This is a metaphor that challenges each of us to be filled with the Spirit giving life to one another. The true songs our lives are manifested in the atmosphere we bring to others. Paul was not merely talking about a church service. He was addressing a way of life.

We are to be filled with psalms. This is a joyful and thankful sound. It is the testimony of being  filled with God’s word, not religious singing to one another, not religiously reciting Scripture. It’s giving life because something of life is coming off us. I believe in you. He is in you! I saw that! Yes, that is Christ in you. Wow. I appreciate you. I am so glad you are here. You are a child of God. I believe in you! He loves you! We have the same Father. Hymns are happy songs. Hymns are joyful songs. This is a testimony of something coming off of us to one another that fills others with joy and not complaint, not murmuring, but joyful life.  We should be like poetry. We should express life-giving words to one another. Something of life should be coming off us.

Ephesians 5:20 …giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…

This is not to be religious in our thankfulness. It is an attitude of our hearts. It is to be real and to be really thankful. It is to remain in Christ. To remain in the place of the Spirit. How often are we to do this? Always! The more we are thankful the more life will be in our lives. It is a matter of being givers of life.

Ephesians 5:21 …submitting to one another in the fear of God.

This is not control. It’s relationship. The parts of my body are in submission with the other parts of my body. It’s not a matter of one part being greater or controlling another part. It’s a matter of relationship and the ability to give life and to receive life from one another for the sake of being a healthy living body.

As the body of Christ, we express the life of Christ in us and through us to others. We must be life-giving at all times. This is not just in the setting of a Sunday service, but wherever we are in life. We don’t do anything in life as independent individuals. We do all for the purpose of being the gate of heaven.

As leaders we must lead others to the way of being the church that is filled with the Spirit, life-giving in character and action, and life-receiving and life-giving in submission one to another.

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 are strengths of leadership? Leaders are not to be strong in themselves. They are to be strong in the Lord. They are strong in His word—His character, nature, and way. They are strong in His Spirit—His power and authority. For this reason, they are vulnerable before God. They are dependent upon Him. They eagerly respond to Him. They set an example in being transformed by Him. God is love and the fruit of these qualities is to bear the fruit of love to others in our world. Leaders set an example in loving God and people. They inspire and lead others into the testimony of love in all times and through all things. Their endurance is not a disciple of the flesh. It is a testimony credited to their passion for God’s will and way of love in every season of their lives.

God is not a master who seeks to control us. He is a master in love and life, and He will always empower us in love and life for the truth of every day. Our way is not hidden from God and He is always faithful in every season of our lives. When we are vulnerable before Him, we are open and willing to be transformed by Him in our way. When we are weak, He is strong. When He is strong in our lives we become testimonies of His great love. We depend upon God to become like Him—givers of love and life to our world. The most important thing for a leader to have is the presence of God in their lives. This is not His presence for power, but His presence for powerful love. Leaders lead others into the testimony of God’s love.

Isaiah 40:27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my just claim is passed over by my God”? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, 31 but those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

To wait upon the Lord is not a season of emptiness, waiting for Him to do something. To wait upon the Lord is to bind ourselves together with Him. Our expectation is one of knowing His presence in our lives each and every day.  The Hebrew word for wait in this Scripture is the HSRN 6960. קָוָה qâwâ; a primitive root; to bind together (perhaps by twisting), i.e. collect; (figuratively) to expect. When we bind ourselves together with our Creator, we experience the creative power of His life to give us the power and strength we need for today. We become expectant of His love, His direction, and His purpose in our lives.

When we wait upon the Lord, we are vulnerable before Him, we are dependent upon Him, and we willingly respond to Him at all times. We trust the wind of His presence. We ride the currents of His Spirit as we partner with Him each day. We learn the mystery of the eagle. We dance with God’s Spirit and trust the wind of His presence to guide us in all things.  

Like the eagle, we find the strength in our wings to ride the winds of our day. Our wings are the power of His word and the power of His Spirit. Through these we can be above and not beneath. We find the realities of heaven as we overcome every earthly storm. We grow in the strength of God’s word when we abide in His word. We grow in the strength of His Spirit when we abide in His Spirit. When we partner with God and when we invite Him to partner with us, we find our identity, testimony, and purpose in Him in the season of today. Our ways are never hidden from Him, and nothing can separate us from His love. We will find His way in our way when we wait upon Him.

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, the effectiveness of our leadership is directing connected to our connections in relationship in Christ. Leaders are connected to an expression of the body of Christ. They lead in the testimony of Christ, not some human expression of themselves. This is manifested in life-giving communities of believers that express the life and love of Christ in natural and supernatural ways. Leaders are an expression of that body.

If we are not connected to something living, we cannot give living words that join people to community expressions of life. We must be planted in relationship to produce the fruit of relationship. We must be a part of love to be expressions of love to and in our world.

Psalms 92:13 Those who are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing.

Our ability to flourish is directly connected to our planting in the house of the Lord. When we are planted in the dwelling place of God’s presence, we know the life that God freely gives. We know the love that He gives. When we are planted in life, we can bring life to the surrounding courts. We will bring life to the places that God sends us.

When we read about the church in the New Testament, none of the New Testament letters existed for the first twenty to thirty years of the church. There were no buildings or structures called the church for two hundred to two hundred and twenty years. The believers gathered in homes and various places, but they gathered together as the family of God. They gathered together as the dwelling place of God’s Spirit. They were people joined together to know the presence, testimony, and purpose of God in them for their world. They were a governmental influence of life to the world around them.

So, when Scripture refers to the church, it’s not referring to something that is locational. It is referring to something that is relational. It is not referring to a structure or system by which we agree upon common information. It is referring to a living body by which we become life-giving expressions of God for His will to be done and His kingdom to come in an increasing way to our world. When we study the Scriptures as leaders, we must keep this in mind.

We are called to help those we lead to live in an intimate relationship with God and a relational connection with others. For this to happen, we must be connected in relationship ourselves. Our first relationship is with God, and our second relationship is with the body of Christ. It’s all for love that we do anything! It is not for the power of ministry! It is for the testimony of powerful love!

We must be planted to plant others. Unless there is a spiritual letter that is joined to us, we don’t have credentials to speak. The testimony of the church, believers joined together in relationship for God for His will and purpose, is the fruit of our leadership. That fruit is life-giving.

2 Corinthians 3:1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? 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.

Human lives are the testimony of a spiritual letter written by Holy Spirit. It is written in the heart of leaders first. We lead people in a direction determined by Holy Spirit. We don’t seek the will of leadership. We seek the will of God in all things. It is for the will of God that we speak.  It’s not for the will of a Christian belief system that we lead. We believe Christ and lead others into that reality of believing Him. When we believe Christ, we join ourselves to Him. When we join ourselves to Him, we become an expression of Him. We cannot just say we are joined to Christ by being joined to Jesus as our head. We must also be joined Christ in His body. It is for this that we 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,

Our experiences with the presence of Jesus, change us. He is the word by which we are changed. Our experiences with Him as a life-giving Spirit cause us to be life-giving to our world. In the Scriptures, bread is a symbol of the food of our lives. The true food of our lives is found in God’s expressions to us. We don’t live on physical bread alone, but upon every word (every expression) that comes from the mouth of God. What we receive from God becomes the substance of life that we give to our world.

Luke 11:5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? 8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.”

In this story, there is a man who needed bread. He needed three loaves of bread. Now, in scripture, three is a symbolic number of God. Bread is a testimony of the word, the expression of God. Each of us needs the bread that comes from God to be strong as an expression of God to others in our world. We need the word of God to be strong as an expression of the word of God. We need the expressions of God to us to become expressions of God to our world. We need the Spirit of God to have the testimony of God. When we are strong in God’s word and strong in His Spirit, we can overcome every wicked thing (1 Jn. 2:14).

It is a wicked thing to become self-seeking in life. We are to be sons and daughters of God who live for the wellbeing of others. For this, we need to be strong as expressions of His word, and strong in His Spirit. That’s not just a religious theology. We depend upon God expressing something to us that makes us expressions of God to our world.

Leaders are strong as expressions of God, and they lead others in this same path.  When we are not strong in Christ, we will bow our knees to other expressions. We must be an expression of love, or we’ll bow our knees to hate. We must be an expression of forgiveness, or we’ll bow our knees to unforgiveness, and we’ll become unforgiving. We must be strong in God’s word. That’s not scripture memory. That’s a testimony of what the scripture talks about. It isn’t us memorizing what’s written in the book. It’s us becoming a life-giving book that can be read by others.

Now in the story, in Luke chapter 11, there was a man who needed God bread for he had a friend coming to his house and he didn’t have the bread that his friend needed. He didn’t have the life that comes from God. That’s why he needed God bread. We need God bread! Why do we need God bread? Because in our lives, there are some friends that are going to come to our house. They may be people that we thought were enemies, but they’re actually friends. They’re coming and they’re looking for God bread. They don’t have God bread, and there is God bread in our house. So they’re going to knock on our door. They’re probably knocking already.

They’re knocking on our door, and we might be asleep because we don’t know who you are.

We need times of experiencing the expressions of God that transform us so that we can be awake and know who you are. People are knocking on our door saying; Wake up! I need some God bread. I have people coming to my house. I have people coming to me. I don’t have what they need. I was born to give life to my world, and I can’t give life to my world. Hey, I need what you have. I need what you have, son of God. I need what you have, daughter of God. Son or daughter of destiny, I need what you have.

We must be strong in our experiences with God so that we can lead others into experiences with Him also. This is a testimony of true leadership.

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