Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
As leaders, we must know the desirable place of God in our lives. That is the place of God resting in us and us resting in Him. This is what was known as Eden. Eden is a place of knowing God and knowing the abundance of life that is known in a place of intimacy and connection with God in all things. From Eden flowed four rivers. I believe that those rivers represent the life that we are called to give to our world. True life is the fruit of God resting in our lives and us resting in Him. This is the source of true purpose. It is the place of true identity. We can only give true identity to our world if we know our true identity that is found by God resting in our lives. Eden is the place of the manifest presence of God in our lives. It is the place of personal relationship with God in our hearts. It is the life of God flowing through our lives that brings life to our world. I have proposed that those rivers found in Eden represent the place of belief, action, imagination, and influence in the world. These are the things we wrestle against in the flesh. Carnal, fleshly desires inspire carnal beliefs, carnal actions, carnal imaginations, and carnal influences in the world. These are really self-seeking ways made manifest in and through the lives of humanity. We are called to bring healing to those places in the world. The principle things are the first things. They are the things of first response and first influence. This is the result of the true beliefs of our hearts. It is only through God resting in our lives that our beliefs can be transformed by what God believes. That is when the actions of our lives become expressions of what God is doing. This is where we do what we see the Father doing. These are actions of inspiration and not obligation. They inspire the creative imagination of our minds. This creates a force of influence through our lives that expands the boundaries of our world in a way that influences others. For this reason, we are to be God-seekers and seekers of the wellbeing of others in all things. We cannot be self-seeking in our beliefs and inspire a God-seeking influence. What we do in life is connected to who we are in life. God is a giver of life in all things. When we become givers of life, we can do many things in our world. As leaders we are to set an example in being receivers of the life that God gives and givers of that life to others. We are leading others into being sons and daughter of God in giving life to their world. They must be receivers of the life that God gives and givers of that life to the world in which they live.
Love and life must come from the place of desire in our hearts. These cannot be actions required by law, but realities manifested from the living place of Christ in our hearts. That living place is inspired by the life of God in us. Knowing God’s presence in our hearts will inspire us to be givers of love and life to our world. This is the desirable place. It is the place where true desire is found. We are good at doing what we want to do, and God wants to inhabit the place of our ‘want to’. Eden is found within the heart of man in connection with God in His Spirit. Our spirits joined to God’s Spirit is the source of the salvation of our soul. The soul is the throne of our life that is meant to be inspired by our spirits made alive by the Spirit of God within our hearts. I believe that the salvation of our soul is not just for the hereafter, but for today. I believe that when our spirits are joined to God’s Spirit it inspires life from our spirits to our souls. It is then that our thoughts, reasonings, desires, emotions, and imaginations can inspire the actions of our lives to be life-giving actions that influence the world around us in a life-giving ways. The real key is to discover the place of God resting in our lives.
Psalms 37:3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
We must embrace our lives with God’s presence in all things. When we embrace the responsibly of our lives and we attach ourselves to God’s presence in that responsibility, God will give us the desires of our hearts. He will put His desires within us. Those desires will transform our beliefs to see what He sees and be as He is in our lives. This will inspire the actions, imaginations, and influence of our lives to be like the rivers of Eden. We will bring the fruitfulness of the God of the garden to the barren places of our world. In this, God’s presence in our lives is most important. Leaders; seek Him before you seek to lead others and you will lead others in the path of life.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
Help us fulfill our Mission!
Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:
Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:
House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225
