Greetings;
The justice system of God’s kingdom is different than the justice systems of the world. The issue is the roots of our beliefs. The roots of a tree determine the life that is in the tree. When man chose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they chose an ability to be wise. That ability made them independent from God and thinking that life is about making decisions based upon a knowledge of good and a knowledge of evil. I believe man’s choice of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil caused them to become as a generational family tree that finds its roots in human decision based upon a knowledge of good and evil. The other option in the garden would have been the tree of life. I believe that that tree of life is eating of a personal relationship with God. Its roots draw life from a relationship with God of intimacy and love. Eating of that tree creates a generational family tree that finds its roots in a personal relationship with God who is love. It is not possible to be dependent upon God and dependent upon the knowledge of good and evil, thus the choice in the garden of choosing the tree of the knowledge of good and evil caused man to be separated from an access to the tree of life. It is only in Christ that we lose our old family tree of knowledge and we are born again to find our roots in the tree of life. A personal relationship with God and a dependence upon His love is a testimony of eating of the tree of life in a relationship with God. As leaders in the body of Christ we must set an example of finding our roots planted in a relationship with God in Christ. It is only then that we can live with a different justice system than those in the kingdoms of the world.
When our roots are in Christ we become sons and daughters of God. As leaders in the body of Christ we must embrace the justice system of the kingdom of God’s love in order to activate, facilitate, and release God’s people into the same. As I have stated before, we are not called to lead people with mere Biblical principles, demanding that people adhere to the rules of a Christian faith. We are called to lead others into the empowerment of God’s grace, whereby they become sons and daughters of God with the attributes of the family of God among the families of the earth. We must lead people to know who God is, who they are, what their purpose is, and how to rise by the power of God’s grace to subdue the world with life and to manifest truth that crumbles every lie. This cannot be done from the family tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It can only be done from the family tree of life.
Isaiah 32:1 Behold, a king will reign righteously and princes will rule justly.2 Each will be like a refuge from the wind and a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry country, like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land. (NAS)
What does it mean to be a shelter from the storm? In the Scripture, the storm represents the circumstances and challenges of life that come against us all. Every person is guaranteed a challenge of facing the storms of life. To be a refuge from the storm we must set an example of those who find the secret to standing in the storms of life. If we neglect the counsel of God in our lives, we will not be able to stand in the midst of the storms that come our way.
Luke 6:46-49 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”
In this story of two houses, both houses were built in the same geographical location. Both may have been the same design of house and even the same size of house. Perhaps they both were drawn with the same architectural floor plan. Both houses are likened unto people who God was speaking to and who were hearing what He had to say. The difference is that one responded by acting upon the words he heard while the other did not. Jesus says that the one who heard and responded to the words was like one who digs down to the rock and establishes a foundation for his house. The one who merely heard is like someone who built his house without any foundation at all. The response of acting upon what God was saying is a testimony to the process of setting a foundation for the house. Both houses were faced with the violent storms of life, but only the house with the foundation set upon the rock was able to stand. This is the testimony of true ‘belief’. The most important thing in this story is the rock. I believe that that rock is Christ and our relationship with Him is what will allow us to stand in every storm. Our relationship with God is cultivated by our response to His voice in our lives. As leaders we must set an example for others in how to listen to and respond to God’s voice in our lives.
I believe that the basis for our ability to respond to what God says to us is based upon a revelation of God’s love. When we know how much He loves us we will respond to all that He says. It is a revelation of who He is that empowers us to do all that He says. It is a matter of love!
People in the world don’t seek God’s counsel. They don’t want to do His will; they want to do their own will. The result is dread, calamity, distress and anguish. They don’t have a revelation of God’s love.
Proverbs 1:27 When your dread comes like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.
The justice system of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil produces independent people who base the counsel of their lives upon their own perceptions of good and evil and they fail to desire or trust the counsel of God. Sometimes the counsel of God includes pain in the process of responding, but that pain is only a testimony of God’s love.
When we fail to listen to the counsel of God in our lives, we will fail to stand in the storms of life. As sons of daughters of the king we must set an example in seeking and responding to the counsel of God in our lives.
Zechariah 7:13 “And just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen,” says the Lord of hosts; 14 “but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is desolated behind them so that no one went back and forth, for they made the pleasant land desolate.”
Isaiah 25:1 O Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
Our roots are in God’s love and our family tree is a tree of life. We depend upon God’s presence in our lives and upon responding to His counsel in our lives.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
Good food. ✨✨