Greetings,
A Leader must know how to guard his or her heart. The enemy targets the human heart. It is with the heart that we hear God, therefore, the heart of every leader must be kept to flow with the issues of life. People in the world protect their heart by setting boundaries around it as a wall of defense. As time passes, and life is experienced, the heart very often becomes smaller. Believers in Christ must keep their hearts in a way that allows life to increase within them. They cannot allow offenses, judgments, defilements, insubordinations, apathy, atrophy, or disconnections to cause their hearts to fail. As leaders in the body of Christ we must lead to enable others to know how to keep the issues of life flowing freely from our own hearts.
The enemy targets our hearts. The enemy can be one of affliction. This can include spiritual, emotional, and physical pain. The enemy can be one of captivity, which would include forms of bondage in the spirit, soul, or body. The enemy can be one of harassment, including demonic assault against our souls. The enemy can be an enemy of defilement, where a bitter poison causes spots, blemishes or strongholds of unforgiveness, resentment, or some deep infected wound in our lives. The enemy seeks to establish STRONGHOLDS in our lives and we must know how to keep the issues of life flowing from our hearts in spite of the attacks of the enemy. .
2 Corinthians 10:4-6 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Our weapons are not fleshly weapons. The strength of our hearts is not found in our ability to stand strong in our own abilities. Strongholds are issues of the heart. They are created when an expression of a word and a spirit come together and conceive a belief within. Lies and deceptions create strongholds in the human heart. Truth and life-giving Spirit also create strongholds of life in the human heart. The truth of Christ within creates a strong life-giving belief. A lie creates a strong life-taking belief. The lies and deceptions rooted in our hearts by the attacks of the enemy create beliefs that resist the knowing of God. We must know how to access the life of Christ within our hearts that allows us to cast down the arguments of the enemy in our lives. Our weapon against the attacks of the enemy is the life of Christ within us. It is a mighty power of life within and it gives us a belief that allows our hearts to be free and free flowing in the life of God. These are realities discovered through the mystery of Christ in us and they are spiritually discerned, received, and manifested. God’s weapons are foolish to the natural man.
1 Corinthians 2:9, 10 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit…
We must know how to allow the life of God’s Spirit flow from within us. We must trust the life of Christ within us more than we trust what our natural eyes can see, our ears can hear, or our thoughts have thought. The weapons of life are accessed by faith and manifested as a testimony of God’s love in our lives. As leaders we must seek to be people with hearts that freely release the issues of God’s life from within.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
July 6, 2014 – Sunday Morning at ALife in Bellingham
Ted J. Hanson
Hang 10 – ten is a number of judgment. But it’s not a number of judgment according to law, it’s a number of judgment according to love. Just as God has it in His heart to love, this is a season where there’s – not a second chance – but there’s a new momentum for your life. The things and areas where you could not stand before, you’re going to stand because you’re going to Hang 10. You’re going to stand in My love. You’re going to stand in My grace.
I hear the Spirit of the Lord saying: “Many are looking for the wave of My presence, but what if I bring the wave of My momentum in your life? What if I bring the wave of My momentum that causes you to stand in My grace? What if I bring the wave of My momentum that causes you to stand where you could not stand before?” For God says, “I’m moving by My Spirit in a new way. I’m not moving by My Spirit according to the expectations of the hearts of men, I’m moving by My Spirit according to the expectations of who I AM. I’m going to cause My people to rise up and to stand in a new place.”
God says, “I’m going to cause the places of disconnect to become places of connection. I’m going to cause the places that have been lost to be redeemed. I’m going to cause the places that have been missed to be found again. Because,” God says, “I’m bringing forth a momentum of My grace. And My body is going to stand – and they’re going to Hang 10. They’re going to Hang 10. They’re going to stand on their feet and they’re going to possess the inheritance for My name. That which has been robbed, and that which has been stolen is going to be restored in a new way. You’re going to know the momentum of My love. You’re going to know the momentum of My purpose. You’re going to know the momentum of My grace, because this is a season that I AM WHO I AM. And I’m going to reveal who I AM in your midst.”
So, to the Body of Christ, Hang 10.
