Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
As leaders we are called to lead others into the realities of God today. We are not called to merely teach people about what God did yesterday. We are called to help them hear God and to respond to Him today. This is the place of faith. This is called the obedience of faith. Faith is a supernatural response to God’s voice in our hearts and it is demonstrated in the actions of our lives. It is seen in the outworking of our path in life. Leaders set an example in this, and they lead others in embracing an intimate relationship with God in their hearts that is seen in the actions of their lives. This path is a testimony of love for God and the fruit of a revelation of God’s love for us. This truth was depicted in the journey of Israel to the Promised Land. The Promised Land was to be a place of relationship with God and walking in the path set by Him in their lives.
Deuteronomy 30:15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
The blessings and life of God are found TODAY – they are found NOW! God wants us to walk in all that is life and good in our world. Life will destroy death and good will destroy evil. We don’t kill death with death. Death is destroyed by embracing life! We don’t destroy evil by acting evil. We destroy all that is evil by becoming all that is good! Knowing God’s ways, commandments, statutes, and judgments will guide our vision and all that we embrace as our path in life. These are what reveal who God is in His character, nature, way, power, and authority. When we know who God is, we don’t turn away from Him in a pursuit of other things. We don’t pursue our way but run to Him to learn His ways in all things. We don’t demand Him to serve our desires, but we seek to know His desires as though they are commands to our hearts and minds. We don’t pursue our mandates, but we embrace His statutes as the mandates of our lives. We don’t try to convince God that what we judge a thing to be is better than what He had judged it to be. We trust Him! Therefore, we trust His judgments in all matters of life. God wants us to walk in life and blessing, not death and curses. The path is our choice but knowing Him will empower us to choose the path of life and blessing. Walking in His path is the path of loving Him. It is a path of clinging to Him. It is a path of family inheritance and a generational family name. It is a path of dwelling in the land – a decision to fully embrace our own life and live it as the world that God has given to us to bring heaven’s grace and truth to. It is a walk of faith!
Romans 16:25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began 26 but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith— 27 to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.
We are called to be obedient to faith. This is involves embracing God in our world for the sake of His glory in our world. It is a personal acceptance of the voice of God to our own hearts to walk in the path of life and good. It is the place of knowing the blessing of eternal life. Eternal life is to know God as our Father and to know Jesus the Son. This is only possible by our personal acceptance of being a place where Holy Spirit abides. Leaders live for this, and they lead for this, in the measure of authority given to them in this world.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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