Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
The role of Jesus in the life of His disciples was to declare the name of the Father to them. The Father’s name is the substance of His character, nature, way, power, and authority. Jesus’ purpose was to reveal to His disciples the true identity of His Father. This was His role in their lives. The Father sent Him to them for this very purpose. When Jesus had finished His earthly commission to them, He prayed that they too would be sent as He was sent. He prayed that the eternal life that is known by intimacy with the Father and with Him as the Son would be the testimony of their lives also. If mankind is in the likeness and image of God, it is imperative that we clearly see who God is. To be His likeness requires us to know what He is like. To be His image requires us to see Him for who He really is. As leaders we are called to reveal what God is like to those we lead. We are called to be the light of Christ so that those we lead see something of who God is in our lives. This inspires them in their own personal journey in Christ.
John 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Knowing who God is, is more important that merely knowing about Him. Knowing Him is a matter of intimacy and knowledge of Him is merely a point of information. Leaders are not called to give those they lead information regarding who God is. They are called to demonstrate intimacy with Him. We are called to activate, facilitate, and release others into knowing God. It is though knowing God that His law of love is written upon our hearts and upon our minds. In our teaching others, our goal is not information. It is introduction. We are to introduce others to the One we know so that they can know Him also.
The prophet Jeremiah declared that the testimony of the New Covenant would be the love of God written upon the hearts and minds of those who know Him. This should be what we illustrate and demonstrate to those we lead.
Jeremiah 31:31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
It is not the responsibility of leadership to take the hands of others and lead them. It is not their responsibility to teach others to know God. The focus of our teaching and instructions to those within our sphere of responsibility is not that of how to act or what to do. The essential element of the New Covenant is a personal connection to God. Our role is to activate, facilitate, and release others into their personal connection to God as their Father. We cannot inform others to become the likeness and image of their Father in heaven. Becoming the likeness and image of God is the fruit of a deeply personal and intimate relationship with God. We are called to reveal God to those we lead in a way that inspires them to connect to Him also. When we connect to God in our hearts and minds the law of God is written there. That law is not the law of Torah, it is the liberty of the Father’s heart. It is the liberty of love. That love is inspired by a revelation of God’s love for us that in turn inspires us to do the same to others. It is a love based upon revelation, not a love based upon a command.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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
To avoid us paying a transaction fee from your donation, you can also set up a payment or an automatic payment from your bank to House of Bread Ministry. Just set it up as a ‘bill pay’ through your online bank account and your bank will mail a check to House of Bread Ministry. We will record your payment as a donation to House of Bread Ministry (E.I.N. 91-2009037) and we will send you a contribution receipt at the close of the year.
Our Ministry Information Is:
House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728
