Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Today I want to remind us of some things that I have written in the past. We live to be blessings to our world and to lead others in being a blessing to their world. That blessing is the gift of God’s life. It is a gift of an intimate relationship with God and the life that is known through that relationship.
As leaders in the body of Christ we lead others in becoming a testimony of the character of Christ to their world. This is perhaps the greatest testimony of our leadership to the lives of those that we stand before in the spheres of our influence in life. The process of God’s grace in each of our lives is one of revealing the testimony of Christ in us. This means that the character, nature, way, power, and authority of Christ must become embodied in each of our lives.
Genesis 22:15-18 Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
The good news that God gave Abraham was not that He would merely bless him. It was that in blessing He would bless him. The Hebrew word for blessing here is placed in a double. It is the word blessing repeated twice. It can mean great blessing, but it more clearly states that in blessing God would bless. This is the foundation for belief of every human being. Do we believe and know that we are the blessing of God in the earth? When we realize who we are, we will live to be who we are. We are a testimony of God’s likeness and image in this world, and we were born to bring glory to His name. As leaders, we must lead people in a way that they know who they are in Christ. They are not only blessed by Him they are His blessing in the earth. While the enemy pronounces “shame on you” words of bondage and death, God pronounces “shame off you” words of freedom and life. Being a blessing starts with believing who God is so you can believe who you are in Him. This is the foundation of the good news preached to Abraham. God’s plan was to make a way for humankind to be restored in the likeness and image of their heavenly Father in the earth. As leaders, we must lead others with a foundation of believing God and believing who we are in Him. It is the power of God’s Word and Spirit conceived in the human heart that establishes a foundation of believing God and believing who they are in Him. As leaders, we must be facilitators of God’s Word and Spirit in the hope of transforming the beliefs of men.
As leaders in the body of Christ we are not just gifted to lead by the grace that is given to us in Christ, we are to also be examples of the character of Christ to those we lead. This is perhaps the greatest testimony of our leadership to the lives of those that we stand before in the spheres of our influence in life. The process of God’s grace in each of our lives is one of revealing the testimony of Christ in us. This means that the character, nature, way, power, and authority of Christ must become embodied in each of our lives. God gives us promises and leads us forward to face pressures in life so that we will manifest who we are in Him. Whether it is the promises of God or the pressures of testing, both are part of a process in our lives that makes us partakers of God’s divine nature. The promises are the substance of life that He gives us, and the pressures of testing are the proving of what is being given to us by God within our lives. The pressure only manifests what is within us and Christ within us is the hope of glory.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
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