Greetings,
God wants us to be spiritual people. That is not just spiritual people within what has often been defined as the Church, but spiritual people as the Church in every aspect of life. I don’t believe that God intended for the Church to be separate from the world, the Church is to be the salt and the light of the world. Members of the Church are the salt and light of Christ in every aspect of life. We are human beings redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and empowered by the resurrection life of God in Christ for the purpose of bringing the world to life in God.
The curse of the fall left all of humanity in a state of imperfection (Gen. 3:14-19). We have been bound to a situation in the earth where there are many lords, many faiths, many submersions, many illegitimate authorities, many ruling powers, many sources of knowledge, and many paths that end in death. The testimony of the earth without God is one of entropy and imperfection. God subjected the earth to futility in the hope that one day the sons of God would manifest.
Romans 8:20, 21 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
It is only when we become manifested sons of God that the earth can be liberated from its state of imperfection. Thank God we have been given the Holy Spirit of life in Christ! He is the one who has come to liberate us from the testimony of sin and death. He has come to reinstate one Lord, one faith, one submersion, one family with one Father, one God above us all, one God through us all, and one God in all to restore our true destiny and inheritance of life in the earth (Eph. 4:4-6). The earth is to be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. This is our mandate in Christ and the Holy Spirit in His sevenfold grace is empowering us to become who we are meant to be (Isa. 11:1-5).
If we look at the type and shadow of the Old Testament we can find a form that reveals the ultimate testimony of being sons of God. That ultimate testimony is to drive out the imperfections of futility by the perfections of God’s grace. The Promised Land for the nation of Israel was a place filled with godless influences of godless men. There were seven nations possessing the land that were considered to be mightier than the nation of Israel (Deut. 7:1,17). Those nations were the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Parasites, Hivites, Jebusites, and Girgashites. There were seven nations in all. God commanded the children of Israel to enter the Promised Land and to trust His presence and direction for driving out each of the seven nations from the land.
There are many great teachings in the Body of Christ concerning the seven mountains of influence in the earth. Many teachers often relate these seven nations to those seven mountains of influence. I agree with many of those teachings on these mountains, but I also believe that these seven nations represent the imperfections of the human heart that resist the testimony of being led by God’s Spirit in the earth. I believe that each of these seven nations represent seven influences of death brought on by the curse of the fall. Although they can no doubt be seven influencing mountains of the earth, such as, religion, family, education, business, media–arts and entertainment, health–science and discovery, and the government of the world, there are seven influences of death in each of these seven mountains that will prevent us from being manifested sons of God to bring God’s freedom there. These seven influences are multiple motivators, fear propagators, bitterness testifiers, separation and isolation instigators, wickedness distracters, poverty and despair tramplers, and discontent and wandering gravediggers. I believe that every mountain of influence in the world has these seven influences of futility that are destroyed by the influence of the seven-fold Holy Spirit. When man chose the knowledge of good and evil over intimacy with God and relationship of love and trust, he caused the earth to be subjected to seven areas of futility. We must become spiritual people to liberate our areas of influence to the testimony of life in Christ Jesus. We must be spiritual people who are empowered by the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel, the Spirit of Might, the Spirit of Knowing, and the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord (Isa. 11:2).
Destructive lords, fear inspired bondages of natural sight, bitter submersions, controlling fathers, destructive gods above men, life-taking powers for self-seeking communities, and death enraged powers for the destruction of destinies are all influencing factors in the influencing mountains of the world. God wants the spirit of these things removed from the various influences of humanity. We must become spiritual people who are led by one lord, one faith, one submersion, one God and Father, one God above all, one God through all, and one God in all so we might see the influence of Christ’s kingdom effect every aspect of human life (Eph. 4:4-6). All that we are and do must express that we are alive to God, our actions are acts of love towards Him, our testimonies are responses to His presence, our authority is to bring life and light to men, we are awake to His manifest presence in all things, we live to love Him and our fellow man in all things, and we are dedicated to see His name made great in our posterity in the earth. These seven things should become the motivating factors of our lives in all that we are and do. These are not things we do on Sunday when we go to church, these are attributes of our lives that affect everything we do in life and also affect those around us in the world. We are not to be separate from the world. We are to be separate from the ways of the world, but we must walk in the ways of Christ’s kingdom to become a life-giving force of authority and influence in the world.
Let us lead to equip and empower the family of God to be the influence of God in the world. Our expressions together as the Church should be saturated with these attributes of life. Our testimony as families, our expressions as educators, our endeavors in business, our creativity in the media and arts, our initiative in health–science and discovery, and our influence in the governing of the world should all be filled with the attributes of being the Church of Christ among men. We must be spiritual people in all things!
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
