Greetings;
It is now June and we continue in the path of navigation for 2019. Last week I addressed the need to connect to the beliefs of the past. What we believe will determine how we act. Actions without faith in our hearts quickly become burdensome and only bind us to some form of law or rule in our lives. The actions of our lives have to be inspired from within our hearts in order to actions of liberty and life. Actions not inspired by faith will produce death to us and to others because of us. Those actions are void of life-giving beliefs inspired by God in our hearts.
The actions of our lives will not necessarily inspire our faith, but our faith will inspire the actions of our lives. Actions inspired by faith will spark the imaginations of our hearts and minds with creative strategies towards the future. The foundation of our imaginations are the actions of our present. The actions of our present are inspired by the beliefs of our hearts. As leaders, we must lead people into proper beliefs to inspire life-giving actions. In order to lead others in this path we must embrace this path ourselves.
We cannot just believe the beliefs of the past generation or even our past decades of life, we must hear God again in our hearts today so the beliefs of yesterday become the fresh beliefs in our hearts today. We will most-likely discover even deeper realities of the beliefs of yesterday when we hear the why of those beliefs in our hearts today. We will likely see things that could not be seen before from the foundation of the beliefs of the past. We must grow in our faith, our beliefs, and our life-giving actions in Christ. We cannot be bound to a limited understanding of beliefs given to us from the past. At the same time, we should not just blindly reject the beliefs of the past; we should revisit them in our relationship with Holy Spirit and see how these things are today. Faith comes by hearing God in our hearts and hearing God in our hearts works through a revelation of God’s love in our hearts. God is great, He is good, and His mercy endures forever. This is the atmosphere of His voice within. This is the foundation for further defining the beliefs given to us by God. This is the foundation for further defining the beliefs embraced by the church in the past. Sometimes the past generations received the voice of God in some twisted bent from His true words to human hearts, even as we do the same in our generation today. God may have spoken clearly to their hearts, but they could only hear him though the paradigm of their present understanding. Though their interpretations and applications of God’s voice may have been twisted, the voice of God to their hearts may have been perfect and clear. Rather than rejecting the views of the past we should seek to hear God again, from the foundation of life. I believe that even people who hear God in a twisted bent, hear God. Rejecting their hearing can lead us to hear things that are not connected to God’s voice in the past. I believe that the river of Ezekiel chapter 47 has been flowing in the earth since the New Covenant became a reality in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. I believe that even in the shadow of the New Covenant that was given in the law, still points to the reality of the voice of God in Christ. What others could only hear with their minds, can still be heard in human hearts. What others twisted by soul manipulation can be clearly heard again by Holy Spirit inspiration.
We cannot reject the principles, patterns, and values revealed through the law and think we have a solid foundation for understanding grace. Grace should cast a shadow that can be seen as the principles, patterns, and values revealed in the law. Grace is entered by faith. It is entered by the hearing of Holy Spirit and experiencing the work of Holy Spirit in our hearts. If our beliefs of today cannot be found in the principles, patterns, and values of the law we must question our beliefs. If our actions do not cast a shadow that can be found in the law, there is something wrong with our actions. We must consider those principles, patterns, and values carefully. We must look at the law through a paradigm of grace, we cannot look at grace through a paradigm of the law. We must look at the Old Covenant through a paradigm of the New Covenant, we cannot look at the New Covenant through a paradigm of the Old Covenant. God is great, God is good, and His mercy endures forever! This is true of God in all generations. We must look at the past to hear God in the present. God is the same today, yesterday, and forever. God’s voice and our hearing of His voice today is fully connected to His voice and the hearing of His voice by others in our past.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
Thank you to all who support House of Bread Ministry in prayer and in financial contributions. We are reaching the nations for the sake of the generations in God’s plan. Your prayers and support have partnered with us and we are reaching the people of Portugal, Bulgaria, Nations in Africa, Spain, Wales, England, Ireland, Netherlands, Canada, and the U.S.
Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:
Checks can be made payable to House of Bread Ministry and sent to:
House of Bread Ministry, 3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98225
Thank You – Ted J. Hanson
