Greetings;
I am going to continue to write on life-giving relationships again today. I had a wonderful time sharing these truths in Castlegar, BC, Canada a couple of weeks ago and I feel these are essential qualities for leaders and every member of the community of God.
Commitment to Christ and to one another begins with a revelation of love. Without a revelation of love our commitments will fall short. The strongest force of life is the power of love. When we have a revelation of love for someone we can easily give our all in our commitment to them. This is true for our relationship with God as well as our relationship for one another in life. This is the foundation and the strength of marriage, family, friendship, and all manner of human connections in life.
The fuel of our commitments will create the force of our actions. The source of commitment is the empowerment of our actions. The empowerment of our actions determines the willingness of our responses. The willingness of our responses determines the trust of our submission and the trust of our submission determines the focus of our contribution to another. The focus of our contributions determines the value of our community, while the value of our community reveals the determination of our destiny. The determination of our destiny is rooted in the source of our commitment. The destiny of God in our lives is one of reigning in life in all things, but its foundation is God’s love. True destiny is not about being successful in life. It is about being significant. The measure of our legacy is not seen in the years of our lives, but in how our lives effect the generations beyond our days upon this earth! This is kingdom of heaven destiny! Jesus asked His Father for the nations, and the posterity of His name is seen in the generations of men.
Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. 11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.
The empowerment of your actions determines the willingness of your responses. When we know that God loves us we believe Him when He speaks. That belief is demonstrated with actions that testify of our love for Him. These are acts of faith towards Him. This same truth carries over into our human connections. Faith is toward a person and without a revelation of love there cannot be a testimony of acts that speak of our faith towards one another. Faith comes by hearing the one we love. The empowerment of our actions is revealed through faith that works through love. Those works reveal that our hearts are with the one who speaks. We have no fear of losing ourselves, because we are empowered in our hearts to live for another. There is no fear of death, because our actions are a testimony of love from our hearts. Perfect love in our hearts casts fear from the environment of our motivations. We are motivated to act in love toward another because we know how much they love us. This is a testimony of our love towards God or towards anyone in a relationship that testifies of God’s kingdom. This is the testimony of true covenant. It is not true for a contract of law. Law measures commitments by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, while love liberates its joining partners by the tree of life. When we are empowered to act in faith towards another, we become inspired to willingly respond to who they are in our lives.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
Special Request and Thank You;
I want to give a special thank you to all of you who have been so faithfully and lovingly supporting me. Without your support, I would not be able to provide the equipping and resourcing that God has called me to do in this season of my life. Last week I shared a need in our ministry and several of you have responded. Thank you so much to those who have supported and to those who have freely responded to my request. Thank you to all who support in prayer.
I am asking that others of you please consider assisting me in fulfilling my part in the call of Christ by way of financial support and prayer. Last year House of Bread Ministry experienced a 31% decrease in annual support. This is the lowest since 2012. Many new doors have opened in international arenas and I am traveling about 60% of my time. Many places that I go cannot cover my full travel expenses and most of the time I do not receive funding from travel that provides much more than travel expenses or something towards it. This is part of going to the places that I have committed to go. Covering my travel expense alone does not allow for funds to support myself, my family, or the other needs of our ministry. I am presently needing to buy numerous airline tickets to travel to the places God has called me, but I am unable to purchase tickets in a timely manner due to a financial burden I am carrying from last year. Please consider helping in this matter if you are able. I am asking God for the freedom to do what He has called me to do without the restraint of finical burdens. Any support that you may give will be greatly appreciated.
Thank You,
Ted J. Hanson
Checks can be made payable to: House of Bread Ministry -3210 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA. 98225
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