Greetings;
I am writing today again regarding living in, and being leaders in, the Father’s house. God has given to each of us a boundary and a measure of rule and influence in life. We are responsible with what God has given to each of us. Who we are and what we do in life is to be part of the calling of Christ, the inheritance of God, and a demonstration of the power of God to the world.
Acts 17:26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their reappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.
We were not born to worship God, we were born to be loved by Him. God is a giver, not a taker. He gives life, He gives breath, and He gives all things. He doesn’t need anything from us, He just wants to be Himself with us in all that we are and all that we have been given in life. When we allow God to be who He is, He gives us all that we need to be who we are because of Him. He makes us come alive, we become expressions of Him, and all that we do in life becomes a partnership with Him to give life to our sphere of influence in this world. God has given each of a measure of time and a measure of boundary. Time is given to us that requires us to find Him to know what to do with it. Boundaries have been given to each of us that require us to find Him to know how to fulfill our commission in life. He expects each of us to find His presence within the measurement of time and the boundaries of the influence of our lives. God is not far from any of us, but near to each of us. He is our Father and we are His children. As leaders, we must lead with an example in our own time and boundary given to us by God and we are to inspire those we lead to do the same.
To know who, He is and who we are we must see Him for who He is and ourselves for who we are. We are His family. God has overlooked our ignorance in times past, but now He commands us to repent. That repentance is not a repentance from being evil, but a repentance from being dead. He desires that each find Him, live with Him, and that we receive all that He gives to be alive!
Acts 17:29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. 30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent…
If God is a taker, repentance is denied as a measure of death and sacrifice on our part. If God is a giver, repentance is a measure of grace given to us by God so we can receive the life, the breath, and the all things that God wants to give to us. The testimony of true repentance is that we become alive because of Him, we become an expression of Him in a life-giving way, and all that we do in life releases the life-giving authority of God to the world that has been given to us. True repentance is not something we can do in the flesh. It is a gift given to us by God in Christ. It is the testimony of God in our lives. Christ in us becomes the hope of glory. God has made a way for each one of us to come alive in Him and to give life the world given to us. Our days in this earth become a measure to be life and our boundaries become the sphere of life-giving influence to all that has been given to us. This especially includes the people that God joins us to in life.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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