ted4leaders

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

What will give us confidence in our walk of faith in Christ? What will give us confidence in leading others in the path of life? We must know that our path is a spiritual path. It is of the spirit and of the natural. We are influencing our natural world by the spiritual reality of the kingdom of God. We must know that the realm of the spirit and the realm of the natural are connected. There are more with us in the spirit than are with anything that is against us in the spirit or in the natural. We are connected to all that is in heaven.

Hebrews 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Mount Zion is not a geographical location on the earth. It is a reality of the Spirit, and it is filled with all in Christ in the place that is, the place that was, and the place that is to come. We are joined to the full force of the general assembly of the church in heaven and upon the earth. Our greatest connection is with Jesus, the name that is above all other names. We have an assurance of triumph over everything that opposes the life of God in our lives.

What is it that gives us the ultimate connection to the life and power of God’s Spirit? We have a multitude with us in the realm of the spirit, but the strength behind our connection is God’s love for us as His children. Because nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ, nothing can separate us from the force and power of all that in the realm of the spirit.

Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Connection to God in the Spirit doesn’t mean that we are free from opposition and suffering in this life. It simply means that in all things we will conquer because of God’s love for us. We can have confidence as believers and as leaders that we are connected to the spirit because of God’s love. When faced with spiritual opposition of darkness we must remind ourselves and one another that we are joined to spiritual powers of light, most of all, we are joined to God our Father through Jesus Christ the Son and God in His love will give us all wisdom, knowledge, and understanding in our path of life.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

The wisdom of God is different than the wisdom of men. The wisdom of mankind seeks to discover a future of independence and some measure of personal success. The wisdom of God seeks to discover a future dependent upon God and some measure of significance for the sake of others in the calling, testimony, and the purpose of God in our lives. The wisdom of men is empowered by natural experiences and personal discoveries. The wisdom of God is empowered from a personal encounter with God in our hearts. It is not a wisdom based upon natural understanding. It is a wisdom based upon the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Wisdom in our lives. Wisdom will lead us to tomorrow, but only God’s wisdom leads to the destiny of who we are in Christ. God’s wisdom is always life-giving, and the wisdom of self is self-preserving and self-seeking.

We each need wisdom and knowledge to acquire true understanding in our lives. We discover the wisdom of God through an awe of God in our lives. Wisdom and knowledge will give us understanding. The knowledge of the moment with the sense of tomorrow will give us understanding for today or we’ll be stuck in the knowledge of the past. The knowledge of the past always resists the knowledge of today and rejects the wisdom that will lead us into tomorrow, so it is left with a lack of understanding. God’s wisdom will lead us forward in the will of God, therefore when it is embraced by us, we experience a sense that is peaceable, pure, and willing to yield to what God wants in our lives. It is never self-seeking or self-preserving; therefore, in the path of God’s wisdom we never fear death. Human wisdom is focused on self, and it is filled with a fear of death. It makes us unwilling to let go of our way so we can move beyond what we have known. It binds us to not want to change because changes require our present to die and we are afraid to lose what we have accepted as human gratification and security in our lives. Human wisdom seeks to preserve self by having intimate relationships with things that give identity instead of a trust relationship with God that leads us into the future. This is a testimony of the spirit of Jezebel. God’s wisdom is connected to the prophetic nature of God. It involves the voice of God speaking that leads us into new testimonies of God’s life. Self-preserving wisdom is a testimony of a spirit of Jezebel, and it seeks to bind the words of God in our lives and substitute them with seductive words that tempt us to live to gratify our personal desires in a world of carnal ways and carnal plans. Those carnal ways can be clothed in the deceptive clothing of our own personal desires and plans. When God leads us in a path that is moving forward, we will be tempted by the spirit of Jezebel. We will be tempted to not move forward in hearing God, but to be a voice of self that refuses to allow God to be the voice in our lives that leads us forward. This is a deception, and we must live in the place of wells to be free from this binding spirit.

We discover the wisdom of God through an awe of God in our lives. Wisdom and knowledge will give us understanding. What is a key to moving forward in the path of God in our lives? A first key is that we must live in a place of wells. We are going to have to live in a place of God’s life-giving voice of freedom that moves us forward in the path of God’s destiny in our lives.  This was the testimony of Elisha when he was attacked by the Syrians when he was in Dothan (meaning the place of wells). Living in the place of God’s presence in our lives will give us a clear vision of faith on good days and on days of opposition. As it was with Elisha, we will see that those with us in our path forward are more than those with those that are with what opposes our path in Christ.

2 Kings 6:16 So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

There was no need to fear. Those in the realm of the spirit with Elisha were more than those in the spirit that were with the Syrians. Faith to move forward in our path of destiny in Christ is love filled and fear empty. It is a path of supernaturally trusting God because He loves us. There is always an assurance of God being with us and with God we know that our future is secure and filled with a testimony of life. We must live in the place of wells in every decision we make in life and not in the place of natural sight. God’s Spirit flowing in and through our lives will lead us forward in the path of life. We can’t just be servants of others who live in the place of wells. We must live in the place of God’s fresh presence. We must live as sons and daughters of God and not mere servants of the things of God. What is going on around us in the natural has nothing to do with who we are or what we should do in life. The environment that needs change has nothing to do with what we should do in life. Only the voice of God in our hearts can determine what we should do today to find the path that leads us forward to our tomorrow in Christ. We must live in a personal connection with God in our lives to know who we are and what we are to do in every season of our lives.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

Blog in Audio:

Greetings,

What does it mean to have the favor of God upon your life? We often think of favor is a form of blessing that gives us good things from God in our lives. I don’t believe that this is the favor of God. I believe the favor of God involves having a part in God’s purposes in the earth. Mary found favor with God when she became pregnant with Jesus by the conception of the Holy Spirit. That made her a young girl, unmarried, yet pregnant in a time and a culture where this kind of circumstance would be a shame in your life, not a blessing. Being a pregnant single girl would not make her popular in her community with good connotations. It would no doubt make her popular, but her popularity would likely be spoken of in various groups of gossip in the community. She was blessed to see the birth of the begotten Son of God, but had to also witness the conflict her son Jesus had to endure in His life. The favor of God upon Jesus brought Him to a place of trouble, persecution, rejection, and ultimately crucifixion upon the cross. So, what does it mean to find favor from God? The favor of God on Mary seemed to invite trouble. The favor of God upon Jesus seemed to invite the greatest trouble of all time. I don’t believe that the favor of God grants us an easy life. I believe it is likely the opposite in many ways.  I believe that God’s favor makes us part of the will of God for His glory in our generation and in the earth for the generations to come. This makes us popular with God and ministering spirits of light, but it also makes us eligible for persecution from anything that opposes God’s will in the earth. When God is with us, it is not the enemy that opposes us. The opposition of spiritual influences of darkness is an opposition to the light of Christ in our lives. It is an opposition to the purpose and will of God for greater things than merely ourselves. For this reason, we must be strong in God’s Spirit and strong in His Word in our path of standing in life. What we carry is not for ourselves, but for others in our world and for the future generations. 

Favor with God will give us favor with men, but that favor will not be a favor for the will of ourselves or the will of other people. It will be a recognition that we carry a blessing of God’s goodness and will for men. It is not an approval of our self-seeking way. It is an approval for embracing a God-seeking way that brings God’s influence of life into our world. It is a blessing, but not a blessing to exalt humanity. It is a blessing to exalt God in the midst of humanity that will enable Him to bring an abundance of life to be transformed in our ways from being people who live for ourselves to become people who live for God’s glory in all things. It is a good thing to find favor with God so that we can live our lives for a greater purpose than ourselves. 

As leaders, we must set an example to those we lead of being people who live with the favor of God upon our lives. In this, we must never confuse God’s favor with personal success or personal satisfaction. We must live to be significant, not merely successful. To live for success is to live for the importance of ourselves in some way. To be significant is to live to bring greater value to others by bringing the greater values of God into our world in a way that empowers others to willingly receive God’s favor upon their lives. This will invite opposition, but it will also invite the overcoming power of God’s grace to manifest in the testimony of our lives that will inspire others to find God, know God, and live for His will in the earth.

I do believe that God has loosed another measure of favor and we must stay in His path of increase. We must say yes to God’s favor, not merely our personal desires in life. The favor of God will empower us to bring life to others. The path of destiny is not a path of personal desires, it is a path of hearing God’s voice and waking forward in response to all that He says. It is a path of faith that demonstrates God’s love and brings increased hope. We are called to be obedient to the faith for supernatural demonstrations of our Father’s will.

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.

Our path of destiny is about a relationship with God that is made manifest by faith.  That faith is faith by and towards the One who is wise. It is not determined by the natural circumstances of our lives but by the supernatural ways of God at work in and through our lives. 

2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

God is prophetic. He speaks, and life happens! He speaks to the season of today, and the season of today yields to the reality of a new day for a new tomorrow. This is the way of faith in Christ. This is the way of our path of destiny as the body of Christ. As leaders, we must be aware of spiritual realities that seek to bind us to the seasons of the past. In the story of Elijah, Jezebel depicts a controlling spirit of compromise that seeks to bind us to a comfort zone of our past. The spirit of Jezebel is a seducing spirit that binds us to the desires of our own flesh. It depicts the impossible strength of the flesh and it depicts a spiritual force that attempts to intimidate us from pursuing a path of faith, trust, and new freedom in Christ. God always leads us forward into paths of new blessing that empower us to be a blessing to our world. In blessing, God will bless us! In multiplying, He will multiply who we are for a multigenerational journey of destiny in Christ. This is a continual journey that requires us to let go of old things and embrace new things in Christ. The spirit of Jezebel seeks to bind us from being the blessing of God upon the earth. Elijah found himself in such a place when he retreated to a cave in the wilderness because of the intimidating spirit of Jezebel

1 Kings 19:11-12 Then He (God) said him, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

Elijah wasn’t obedient to God. He didn’t come out of the cave and stand before the Lord. While he remained in the cave God passed by and:

1. There was a breaking (wind broke up the things build).
2. There was a shaking (earthquake shook and revealed instability).
3. There was a taking (fire consumes and takes away).

God was not in these events, but He was speaking while these events were taking place. He was speaking before they happened, while they were happening, and after they happened. His voice was a “still small voice”. There had to be a removal of other things before Elijah was able to respond to the voice of the Lord, who had been speaking to him all along. When God enters our today, the things of our creation are revealed as less important than who the Creator is and what the Creator can do. When God enters our present reality, things in our present reality shake and prove to be things that are no longer useful for God’s will today and tomorrow. When God comes into our space, fire consumes what can be consumed. Things are consumed so that we can hunger to be filled with the eternal realities of God. God wants us to know Him and His love. Our created realities are not a substitute for what the One who loves us can bring into our lives.

God loves us enough to take drastic measures in His attempt to allow us to hear His voice. A season of loosing is a season of God speaking. Elijah should have known that it was a season of loosing and therefore he should have immediately come to the mouth of the cave and stood before God to hear His voice. Elijah was bound to his own thoughts from his past experiences, he was reluctant to respond in obedience and “come” to the place where he could hear the voice of the Lord. If we are focused on our own history and experiences in a season of God’ loosing, we are not ministering to the Lord. We are ministering to ourselves. It is “ministry to self” or “selfish ministry”. It has an impartation of death to ourselves, and to everyone around us! Proper ministry of God while God is in a season of “loosing” is a ministry of “loosing. Freedom is the cry of God’s heart!

1 Kings 19:13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

It was after the fire consumed the things around Elijah, after things were taken away, that Elijah was able to hear the voice of the Lord that had been calling to him since before the wind, the earthquake, and the fire. When Elijah finally responded to the voice of the Lord, he wrapped his face in his mantle. Elijah hid under his gift. He hid under the fact that he was a prophet. When he had lost everything else, he still put his trust in his gift, not God. When he came to face God, he did not come a humble servant, but he came as a “prophet”. I believe that he was justifying his actions by his gift. Instead of doing what he should have been doing, he was hiding under the fact that he was a prophet. When he had lost everything else, he still put his trust in his gift, not God.

The more that we think we know in God, the more we become susceptible to this trap. We were saved by the grace of God! It was the mercies of the Lord that called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. We must never allow the religious trappings of spiritual pride to cause us to hide behind our gift. God gifted us because we humbled ourselves before him. We were nothing so He gave us ALL! We must never lose sight of that. The presence of the Lord and the fellowship of His face Is more to be valued than the gifts of His grace. The Father of the house is to be more valued than the house. It is the Father who makes the house a home. Without the Father the house is just a house empty of all the things that make the house a place one wants to live.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

Part of living in the spiritual realities of life is knowing how to go to the presence of God and how to allow the presence of God to come to us. We often think of the presence of God as something that we can easily find, and surely God is always near to us. He is never far from any of us. He makes His presence available to each of us in real and tangible ways. When the Scripture describes the presence of God, it is often revealed on the mountain of God. I have been doing a bit of hiking in the high hills where I live. I find that the view is amazing at the heights I go to, but the walk to get there requires an effort on my part. I believe that there is a climb to make for us all in every season of change in the church. We must climb to find God where we have not been in order to find what God wants to do in the land in which we live. How God reveals Himself to us on the mountain is how He wants us to see Him in our everyday life. What God is doing on the mountain is what God wants to do in our everyday world.

When we come to the mountain of God we come to the presence of God. Every season is a season of change and coming to the presence of God in our present season will always propel us forward into the new season of tomorrow. If we come to the mountain of God in a season of loosing and we ourselves are in a season of binding, our only response can be to try and hide from the presence of God. We cannot hold on to our bondage (binding) in the presence of God in a season of loosing. There must be an exchange for us to receive the life and power of what God wants to give. Jesus gives us beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, a spirit of praise for a spirit of heaviness, freedom from captivity, and the like. It is an exchange of a season we have known for a season we have not known. We cannot hold on to ashes and expect to receive beauty. We cannot hold on to mourning and expect to receive joy. We cannot hold on to heaviness and receive praise. Coming to the presence of the Lord in a season of loosing requires us to let go of the things that bind us to the past.

In the story of Elijah, Elijah was facing a season of change, but he was bound in his thinking to the years of binding in a season of loosing new things. When He went to the mountain, instead of looking for the presence of God, he went into a cave.

1 Kings 19:9 And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

When Elijah came to the mountain of God, instead of going to the presence of God he went into a cave. A cave can be a mind-set. The only light in the cave is that which we have within us. The air isn’t fresh. There is no new revelation. It is the ultimate place of binding. There are only three things that we can do in a cave according to Scripture:

1. “hide” for fear,
2. “relieve” ourself of human waste, or
3. “die” and decay (be buried)

1 Kings 19:10 So he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”

Elijah displayed all the classic symptoms of being tainted by the “spirit of Jezebel.”

1. A bragging of what one has done in the past (a rear-view ministry focus).
2. A pointing of the finger to blame others for the present condition.
3. A thinking more highly of oneself than they ought.
4. A grasping to not lose what one has.

When we lose sight of a greater day tomorrow, the only light that we can see by is the fading light of the past. We become disillusioned with tomorrow when we choose to live a disillusioned life today. Life in God’s Spirit is GOOD! The kingdom of God is not meat nor drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. A focus on the things of the past (good or bad) will bind us to the past. When we become “rear view focused” we look to blame other things and other people for our inability to have faith for a future. If we become convinced that our problems are the fault of others, we make a judgment that we are better than others. We further separate and isolate ourselves from the reality of a proper relationship with God and the children of God. The body of Christ is one body made up of “many members”. All those members make up one body. There are no “lone rangers” in the body of Christ. There is one Spirit, one Body, and one voice of the Lord that has the sound of “many waters”. No member of the body is unique unto themselves, and no member is of more importance than the need for every member of the body to function and live in their divine placement. To have a “body of Christ” mentality, one must embrace a “die to self” attitude. The more we grasp to keep our position, the more we grasp to preserve our life, the more we will lose! If we want to save our life, we must lose it! If we want to find our life, we must lay it down! These are the principles of loosing in the kingdom of heaven. If we want to embrace the season of change in our lives, we must learn to lose what we have so that God can give us more than we have ever had.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

We must keep our focus upon God in all things. God does not control our lives, He inspires our lives from within. He gives us the freedom of knowing the Spirit of the Lord within our hearts. I have been addressing the testimony of Elijah in the book of 1 Kings. Elijah was commission by God to bind the blessing of God in the earth for a season, but then God commissioned Him to bring the word of release for the loosing of God’s blessing. It was no longer a season of binding but now a season of loosing. Elijah had to transition from where he had been to where God desired him to be in his present situation. As leaders, we lead others into seasons of change in Christ. In doing this, we must release the expectations of our past for the realities of God in our present world.

I wrote last week that Elijah had certain expectations of ministry. He expected the change to come about immediately according to his view of what that change should be. We all have these same tendencies. We must seek God’s will and way above what we think His will and way should be. Elijah’s expectations made him vulnerable to receiving the messenger of Jezebel and it put him on a road to being disillusioned and discontent.

When faced with the intimidation of Jezebel, Elijah ran from Jezebel into a dry, wilderness land. It was in this desert place, this place of isolation and separation, that Elijah found himself resting beneath a broom tree. The word for broom tree is the Hebrew word “rotem” which means “to bind”. Elijah had just “loosed” the blessing of God in the earth, but the spirit of Jezebel had caused him to retreat to “binding” again. The broom tree is a leafless shrub (juniper) which grows 4 to 12 feet in height. It provides shade in the desert regions. It has “no leaves for healing”. It simply provides a minimal shade from the heat in the desert. I believe that Its purpose represents something that is self-focused. One person can find a little relief beneath its shade, but it cannot provide shade for many. Its pliable branches were often woven together and used as ropes for binding. Its roots were burned for making charcoal. It can burn hot and intense and can perhaps provide an impressive flash of fire in the dark, but it provides no food, healing, or strength to others.

1 Kings 19:5 Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.”

In Job 30:4 it speaks of those who eat the roots of the broom tree. They are those who find themselves in a wilderness and desert land. They are those who find themselves in a place of separation, isolation, and despair. In a time of loosing the blessing of God, it is not good to be found in the isolation chambers of a desert prison. The only food that one will find in a place of isolation is that which will poison the heart and drive one to further depths of despair and isolation. The broom tree root is bitter, it makes you nauseous, and it is even poisonous. I believe that this is what happens when we eat the food our own self-pity or any inward focus of selfishness. When we become concerned about ourselves, rather than God and others, we eat a food that will make us lethargic, further bound, and destined for a ministry of death and not life.

1 Kings 19:6 Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again.

God was calling Elijah into His presence, but he was bound up in his own loss. Because he was bound in his own loss, he was tired and couldn’t find a focus or purpose for any future journey. He lay down again. Like Elijah, when we become inwardly focused, we become lethargic, and we become ready to give up on our destiny in life. This is a classic response to receiving the influence of the “Jezebel spirit”.

1 Kings 19:7 And the angel of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 8 So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.

Forty days and forty nights is the length of time used by God to manifest the effects of death and bring forth the fruit of His covenant life: the ark in the flood, Moses on the mountain, the Israelites in the wilderness, and Jesus in the wilderness. At the end of a “forty-day experience” there is hope of the new thing of God. I believe that Elijah’s forty-day journey symbolizes our need to lose our old ways in order to receive God’s way in every new season of life. The new ways of God only come by faith and God wants us all to be empowered to come to faith in every season of our lives. Faith is the substance that causes the fountains of life to spring forth in our heats. Faith comes by hearing the word of God’s own mouth. It is God’s desire that we all come to the place of hearing His voice so that we can inherit His precious promises in the land. If we can’t come to faith in a “forty-day experience” then we will miss out on the promise of God that lays ahead. The children of Israel didn’t “come to faith” in the wilderness so they “didn’t enter the Promised Land”. The old generation died in the wilderness, but a new generation was also born during that time that would enter the Promised Land that was before them. God wants us to enter the Promised Land of today and not be bound to any past season in our lives.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders our focus is always upon God’s kingdom and God’s will in life. We lead others to have a kingdom focus and a desire for the will of God in all things. This should be easy but there are spiritual powers that seek to turn our focus in life so that we become distracted from what God is doing in our lives and in our world. I have been writing on the story of Jezebel and presenting that Jezebel was not merely a woman in the days of Elijah. Jezebel is a spirit that seeks to put our attention and desires upon some aspect of creation to meet our needs in life. In the story of Elijah, Jezebel was sent to turn the focus of the prophet to himself. By her actions, the prophet became the “key issue” – “not God and His power”. It was not the power of Elijah on Mount Carmel that brought victory on that day. It was the power of the God who answered by fire! God was the issue not the prophet! The power of Jezebel to stop the mouth of the prophet was found in the prophet’s inability to stay focused on God, but rather receive the massage of Jezebel. Jezebel had not bound the blessing in the earth for 3 ½ years. God had bound the blessings through the binding ministry of Elijah. It was now time for a “loosing” ministry and Jezebel was attempting to drive the prophet back into a “binding” season.

1 Kings 19:3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

Jezebel sent a “messenger” to Elijah in order to intimidate him back into a ministry of “binding”. Elijah should have known that Jezebel had no power to stop what God had loosed upon the earth. She even came to him in the name of the “dead gods” who previously could not save the now “dead prophets” of Baal and Asherah. It was time for Elijah to stand fast in the loosing power of God, but the Scripture says that Elijah “saw” the spirit of Jezebel which the messenger had delivered. He “received” a spirit sent to stimulate a response of fear. Jezebel was the flesh embodiment of a controlling spirit. When we “receive” or “give an audience to” a spirit of intimidation we become “intimidated”. When we “receive” or “give an audience to” a spirit of control we become “controlled” and even “controlling”. Elijah received the spirit of Jezebel so what followed was an attitude in Elijah that sought to “control” the situation.

Elijah had “expectations of ministry” and things that he thought should come about immediately. His disillusionment of the work and way of God allowed him to receive this messenger of Jezebel. Jezebel didn’t come to him. She sent a messenger. Why didn’t Elijah stand fast to see God defeat the messenger like he did with the prophets of Baal and Asherah on Mount Carmel? It was Elijah that opened the door to receive the power of Jezebel to drive him back into a binding ministry.

Beersheba means “well of the oath” or “the seventh well”. On the seventh day of creation God rested. Elijah had “loosed” in the earth – thus it was “loosed in the heavens” and it was now time to release and rest. Elijah’s servant stayed at the “well of the oath” (“the seventh well”), while Elijah went into the wilderness. When he should have trusted in the seventh day – the Sabbath rest of God – he went another day’s journey into the wilderness. I believe that he entered into something new that God wasn’t doing.

1 Kings 19:4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”

Elijah “went a day’s journey into the wilderness”. Anytime we attempt to go beyond what God is doing, or even move away from what God is doing, we set ourselves up for a spirit of deception. We will “bind up” the very work that God is wanting to do in our lives, and we will find ourselves concerned and focused on ministry that is out of season and inapplicable to the times of God’s present restoration. This kind of activity will often drive a ministry, or an individual, into works of the flesh. These works of the flesh can be manifested in various forms carnal thinking and carnal actions. Simply said, these are things that offer carnal appeasement to our wounded hearts. When we go beyond where God said to “rest” we are not producing what God said to do. We will produce some new work that is a work of deception and heresy.

When a ministry or an individual person, moves away from the place of God’s work and blessing there will be a manifestation of legalism, defensiveness, pride, and the like. There will be a manifestation of confusion due to the self-seeking spirit that drives them to go beyond where God is. Where there is self-seeking, there is “confusion and every evil work (Jam. 3:13-18).

Elijah manifested this spirit of confusion by praying to God that he might die while he was under the broom tree. He had just run from the messenger of Jezebel so that he wouldn’t die. He said that he was no better than his fathers but when confronted by God he professed that only he was left who had not bowed the knee. He confessed humility but manifested pride. He prayed that he would die but ran so he would live.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

The ministry of Elijah, as it is recorded in 1 Kings, is seen as one of “binding” and “loosing”. Israel was found in a condition of sin, being further “seduced” and “witch-crafted” into abominable practices before God by Jezebel, the “queen mother” of Israel, in that she was the wife of the king, Ahab. She should have been a righteous, covered woman, but she, like the meaning of her name (her name means – unmarried, chaste) was an “uncovered” woman. She functioned out from under authority, out from the area of her responsibility. Her manipulative activity served to bring pagan practices to the nation of Israel. She seduced the nation of Israel to seek a relationship with things that satisfy the desires of the flesh and self, rejecting a covenant connection and desire for God and His ways.

The nation of Israel was intended to be a godly nation. Ahab as the king of Israel should have been a godly king. Jezebel should have been a righteous, godly woman, as the wife of the king, but she was not. She was an “uncovered” woman. She didn’t walk under the authority of her husband. She usurped his authority and became the head of the house of Israel. Ahab just simply gave up his responsibilities and authority and followed along at the wishes of Jezebel.

Jezebel was the flesh embodiment of a “controlling, manipulating spirit” that embraces the fleshly needs of men or the self-seeking needs of women as the source of prophetic voice. As a result of her seductress activities all of Israel was led into deception and idol worship. God wanted to fix the situation, so He moved on Elijah by His Spirit to bind up the blessings of God upon the earth, in 1 Kings chapter 17, in an attempt to turn the hearts of the people of Israel back to God. God’s principle is that “whatsoever is bound on earth is also bound in heaven”. By the mouth of the prophet Elijah, and by his fleeing actions that followed, the earth was bound from receiving the blessings of heaven. There was to be no rain or dew found in the land of Israel, both symbolic of the spiritual life and blessings of God. For 3 ½ years Elijah went into hiding. He was bound by God, not by Jezebel. Jezebel did not bind Elijah! God ordained Elijah to be bound! God ordained the prophetic office and the prophetic ministry to be bound for 3 ½ years in order to deal with the sin of Israel. That sin was a connection to things that satisfy the flesh instead of an intimate connection to God and His life-giving authority.

After a period of 3 ½ years the word of the Lord came again through the prophet Elijah to loose the blessing of God through the open display of God’s power upon Mount Carmel, as it is described in 1 Kings chapter 18. The display of God was awesome on Mount Carmel and the prophets of Asherah and Baal were slain. In a time of drought, Elijah poured out water to loose the blessing of God upon the earth. The loosing of water (rain) came about through the acceptance of Elijah’s sacrifice of water by the one true God of heaven and earth; the God who answers by fire!! Now that there had been a “loosing” upon the earth there was an “inevitable loosing” which had to take place in heaven.

1 Kings 18:46 Then the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

The name Jezreel means, “God sows”. Elijah had just loosed on the earth. The Scripture teaches that “whatever is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven”. This was a time where Elijah should have been confident in the Lord. Elijah had sown on Mount Carmel; therefore, he should have known that God would sow the release in heaven. It was now time to receive the “loosing” of God from the heavens.

1 Kings 19:1 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.”

Jezebel was the flesh embodiment of a spirit of control and intimidation sent to destroy the loosing power of the prophet. She came against the prophet after a great ministry of “loosing”. Seasons of change and increase in the earth are resisted by the spiritual power of Jezebel. Authority brings life, but control and manipulation will restrain that life to some season of creation. Holding on to a season of creation will resist the unfolding season of the Creator. The spirit of Jezebel is a deceiving spirit. It is a seductive spirit. It is very deceiving and inviting to those who resist a path of faith. The spirit of Jezebel comes in the name of prophecy, but it is a prophecy for the will of mankind and creation and not the will of God. It is a voice invoking self-seeking wisdom for tomorrow.  It is a spirit that seeks to bind the earth to a season of the past. It is a season of natural sight, fear, and bitter roots. This is not a day to grasp unto the things of the past. It is not a time to hold unto our hurts. It’s not a time to hold unto the pain. It’s not a time to hoard our pleasures. The power of resurrection life is only seen through the power of “release”. Unless there is a death there cannot be a resurrection life! Unless there is a releasing of the things that we have, we cannot receive the increase of what God has! It is important that we remain in the ministry of “loosing” in every season of birthing in the earth. The river of God’s life is constantly flowing through the nations.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders we lead people to know God. We lead them to become spiritual dwelling places of God’s presence. That dwelling place is seen in their lives as individuals and as corporate expressions of the body of Christ in relationship with other believers in Christ. To do this, leaders must live their lives as men and women that live in and from the presence of God as an example to those they lead. That place of God’s presence is like a watered garden filled with God’s life. The guidance of God in our lives is not so much about information as it is intimacy with God in life. God’s presence in our lives empowers us to be sources of life to the world we live in the same way that a spring of water brings life to formerly dry and barren places in the earth.

Isaiah 58:11 The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

In the fall of man, aspects of futility were pronounced upon the earth that was initiated by words spoken by God over the serpent, the woman, and the man. Those words pronounced futility as a consequence of man’s exchange of intimacy with God’s presence for knowledge that deceptively promised the power of independence from God and one another. The words of futility pronounced upon the serpent, the woman, and the man were words that called for the manifestation of the sons of God who would one day liberate the earth from its futility.

Romans 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

The first aspect of the fall of man was that wherever there is a dry place, there must be a serpent. That serpent is the flesh manifestation of the Devil as a deceiver, a conqueror, and a devourer of mankind. If the ground is dry, a serpent will be bound there.

Genesis 3:14 So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

The first curse of the fall was that of spiritual warfare for mankind in the earth. The enemy has been bound to the realm of natural dust. As a result, we are in a continual conflict of spiritual warfare with the Devil and spiritual powers of darkness. Spiritual warfare can be defined as a temptation of other life sources. Life is a journey. Without the reality of a relationship with God, we are bound to a journey going from one thing to another thing in search of life. In this perpetual process of searching, we soon find that everything we cling to for life fails to provide us true life. It quickly proves to be a false source of life that cannot satisfy the cry of eternity within our hearts (Eccl. 3:11). What does a dry place look like? A dry place is a place that seeks to fill eternity in our hearts with something less than God. It is bitter and self-seeking in its desire.

James 3:14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. 16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.

When we seek the fulfillment of our hearts in something other than God it proves to be earthly, sensual, and even a place of demonic inspiration. The apostle Paul was aware of this when he wrote to the church of Corinth that was looking for life in other sources than Christ.

2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

In these verses Paul was writing that the believes should be in relationship with Jesus and not other things. He was concerned that they could be deceived as Eve was deceived. The context was one of being deceived, not sin unto death. Does one know how they have been deceived? They don’t! It is deceptive! That is why it is called ‘deception’. The criteria for being deceived is receiving a different Jesus, a different spirit than the life-giving Spirit of God, and a different good news. Preaching another Jesus, is another God saves – another salvation. It is receiving another means by which to be saved or receiving a different spirit which we did not receive that brought us the life of God. Deception involves a different means of salvation, a different spirit, and a different good news. If something other than a relationship with God through the Holy Spirit becomes a source of salvation, a motivation of our hearts, and a testimony of good news to our lives – it will result in deception.

The victory in spiritual warfare is to be a resting place of dwelling for the Spirit of God. Leaders lead others in being dwelling places for God by His Spirit. This is the power over deceptions, conflicts, and the devouring agendas of every enemy.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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

Blog In Audio:

Greetings,

As leaders, we set an example of having access to the realm of the unseen world. The prophet Elisha knew the secret of access to the realm of the unseen world. I believe the key to his vision can be seen his place of dwelling. In the same way that Jacob was a testimony of the house of God in the earth, Elisha was living in the place of God’s presence and therefore he knew the realities of the realm of the spirit.

2 Kings 6:15 And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”

Elisha’s servant was tempted to fear based upon what he could naturally see. The army of the enemy with many horses and chariots were what he could see, but what he could see was not the testimony of truth. Elisha could see something that His servant could not see.

2 Kings 6: 16 So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

There were more horses and chariots in the realm of the spirit than there were in the realm of the natural. How could Elisha see what his servant could not. Elisha was in Dothan. Dothan means wells. Scripturally wells depict a source of life. God’s presence in our lives is the true place of wells. We must stay in the place of wells, the place of the life of God in our spirits. We must see what God is doing in the Spirit and we cannot be distracted by the flesh. God has not called us to wield weapons of death, but to exercise weapons of life. It is a time for sight for God’s people, blindness to those who will be deceived, but blessing for all because of the greatness of God. We must hold fast to all that God says – the sword. We must believe the covenant promises of God – the bow. If we hold on to God’s words in and through our lives and if we hold on to the promises of God in our lives, we can expect great blessings in our world by the Spirit of God’s grace!

2 Kings 6:16 So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

The issues of our world are not what we can see naturally. The natural world we can see is connected to a world of the spirit that we cannot see. Elisha knew that there was no need to fear, because there were more with him and his servant than were with the numerous soldiers that were against them. He didn’t tell his servant that there were more with them that those who were against them. He said that there were more with them than those who were with those who were against them. Who is with us?

Hebrews 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Although a third of heaven failed in the beginning, two thirds have never failed. The angels who are with us are innumerable. The general assembly of the church of the firstborn is increasing and not decreasing. We are those who have eternal life and will not die. We have the One who is the Judge of all with us. The testimony of those being made perfect in Christ is on the rise! Jesus is our eternal Mediator, and His name is above all names in this age and in every age to come. Let’s reside in the presence of God where His life will never fail but will prevail in all things.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Donations can be made at the link on the home site of:

www.ted4leaders.com

www.ted4you.com or

www.houseofbreadministry.org.

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